Hello everyone and welcome back to Shoujo, your
favorite anime recap and discussion series. This
week we continue our coverage of Chihayafuru,
but first let's catch up. What has the great,
wonderful Joe been up to in the last week? Oh,
I should probably be like, I'm Sarah, you're
Joe. Sorry. I'm Joe. Again, I feel like nobody
is starting on episode 13. Yeah, I hope not.
Or whatever. Like, I feel like that's not a good,
not a good game. I don't know if there's a series
you could be more lost in by jumping into. That
would be pretty bad. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. That's
not a great maneuver. I have finally finished
After War Gundam X. I did it. I finished Gundam
X. This is a Gundam that got cancelled. So instead
of having like a run that is in the like 40 something
episodes, it was only 39, which means they had
to compress the end, which helped it a lot because
the pace was much better at the end. And also,
I liked it. I thought this was good. This is
a Gundam nobody watched and I thought it was
great. I had a good time. It's fun. I like, um,
I like the kid whose name escapes me. Uh, what's
his name? You're liking so much. You don't remember
his name. Listen, there's a lot of characters.
A lot of there's Tifa. I like Tifa. She's great.
And Final Fantasy. No, from Gundam X. Uh, whatever.
I can't, I can't believe I just can't remember
that kid's name. What's his name? Like, I just,
I'm just remembering all the other Gundam protagonists.
Anyway, I liked him. It was nice. It talks about
how, uh, new types. Which are the best part of
Gundam, by the way. I don't think I've mentioned
this, but new types are the best part of Gundam.
New robots? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You might
think Gundam is about robots, right? You might
think it's about. Well, what's a new type? It's
like a new type of guy. So just a new series,
new protagonist. No, no, no, no, no, no. Isn't
that a given? Some people, when you go into space.
and you get a different perspective on the world.
You become free of Earth's gravity in a metaphorical
sense, and you become a new type of person, which
means sometimes you have psychic powers. But
mostly it just means you're able to connect with
people in different ways, and you're also not
beholden to like old styles of thinking. There
isn't ever a Gundam where it's like the Gundam
ability is like radiating and like killing or
like hazardous to. Except for the freaking ones
in Witch, Witch from Mercury, right? Because
something, or those early models were doing something
to people to operate. I mean, like the Gundam
in like, you know, first off, the Gundam is kind
of evil. Like it's kind of, it's supposed to
show up and it's like the harbinger of war, basically.
And also being in the, like piloting the gun
for too long. I thought it was like friendship.
With the. Oh, no. Gundam is not about friendship.
It is absolutely not about friendship. You're
thinking of. Yeah, you're thinking of like Voltron
or something. Yeah. No, people are combining,
but they are not. This is not a show about friendship.
This is a show about like. Are they combining
like they combine and darling in the Franks,
if you know what I mean. They're not doing anything
like darling in the Franks. Thank you very much.
Garret, his name's Garret. That's the kid. I
like Garret. OK. Yeah. So anyway. Gundam is good.
I'm about to watch the the the Gundam Wing movie
after this. So that'll be fun. And then we're
into turn a, which people also like. So I got
I got a couple of good Gundam things coming up.
So I watched that. I also finished a thousand
times resist that game, finished that video game.
Do you know anything about that one? No. You
play. So it's in a facility. Uh huh. And like
they're all clones of this one chick who's the
all mother. And they're like, and all of these
clones are aspiring to be in one of five kind
of elevated positions. There's a a healer, a
knower who's in charge of knowledge, a fixer
that fixes stuff, a bang bang fire who is the
security detail. And you play as a watcher who
is supposed to observe things. And you learn
the history of why you all are here. And you
know, about like the all mother's parents and
like the diaspora and they and the issues going
on in like Hong Kong and stuff like that. And
it's like a very narrative heavy game. It's really
cool. There's a lot of really cool stuff. I think
there's one like awards and things like that.
And I think it deserved it. It's like 12 hours.
It's not that bad. Lots of really good voice
acting in it. Very nice. Yeah. So we're full
in it. We're back in. We're back in it. Well,
this is not Gundam, but. Okay, whatever. It's
sci -fi. Oh, sorry, the game. Sorry. Yeah. It's
like sci -fi fantasy stuff. Yeah, we're back
in it. Yeah, you're really into... We're back
in it. It's like, right? You played Halo and
all that in high school, but... I did. Was there
like, were you just like, ugh, this is all that's
coming out right now? Because I feel like you
are very drawn to science fiction and like magic
-themed things. Yeah, like, I like science fiction
in terms of, like, that's the genre that likes
to speculate about, like, how the future can
work and different types of ideologies and stuff
like that. But I'm not a hard science guy. Like,
I don't want to be like, oh, here's this world
building and here's exactly how it works and
all this other stuff. So it's like if you just
start throwing magic stuff in, I'm like, cool,
that's cool. What's the best, like, magic? The
best magic thing ever. Or what's your favorite
magical like world or with magic in it? Yeah,
I don't know. That's kind of where it acknowledges
that it's magic and not that it's some other
thing, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Like magic and I
mean, I was reading the Earthsea books for a
while. I kind of like that one where it's all
based on like names and like the first one. I
like the first one and I like the second one.
and then I didn't like the third one and then
I haven't read the fourth one because I am dragging
my heels through everything. Gotcha. Yeah, that
one's pretty fun because it's all about like
naming and names and stuff like that. Hmm. But
yeah, I don't know. I'm not like a huge like
if I'm doing fantasy, I want fantasy to be about
like an interesting like story and characters
and stuff. I'm not huge on like world building.
I feel like. Your name should be Wizard of Cool
rather than Mafia. Oh, because I'm a wizard.
I'm watching the Sopranos. I'm sorry. I picked
up my Sopranos watch. I'm back in it. All I know
about that show. Is that right? Like it begins
like the franchise begins and ends with the same
scene, kind of. Is that right? Like the. I don't
know. Oh, never mind, J .K. I don't know. It
might. I haven't watched it. I don't know anything.
I don't think so, because I know what the ending
scene is, because it's like famous or whatever.
Yeah. It probably has like the same like set
up, like the episode goes the same or something
like that wouldn't surprise me. Like the same
episode beats. That seems like a thing they would
do. But yeah, but that's what I've been up to.
What have you been up to? I still have this puppy
that I'm pretty sure I will be adopting. I know
last week I was like, puppies fucking suck and
this and that, but. I don't know, I guess it's
like she's getting better now that she's settled
in. She's not as much of a monster. And I can
see the light at the end of the tunnel. Okay.
Yeah, she's just very cute. And I think when
she's not in the, like, I want to chew on everything
you own phase, it'll be better. Yeah. We did
lose another cable to her though. Oh, no. In
the last recording. And it's just for like the
headset stand I have that has like some USB plugs.
So it's not like a... is, you know, mostly just
to rest my headset on, so it's fine. Uh, or I
keep saying headset. I mean my headphones. And
let's see. What else? Love Island? Getting good.
Um... How much is left? We're about halfway through
the season. Okay. U .S. is six weeks and then
U .K. is always eight weeks. Um, so that may
be why U .S. is better because U .K. really drags
that, like, the first... Week in the last week,
Dragon, the UK version. And freaking Meg, the
stallion. Did I talk about this last week at
the convention? I can't remember. No, no, she
was on Love Island. Oh, she was. I'm doing Meg.
The stallion's also doing a lot of it. You're
so connected. Do you listen to them? Do you listen
to music? No, no, you should. It's pretty good.
Is it some of it is. Yeah, I haven't listened
to her music. She seems like a really cool. I
love how much because she like knew everything
about everyone. So she's like watching it. Yeah.
Yeah, she seems cool. She was promoting like
a new bathing suit line she has and she was the
host for a game and blah, blah, blah. So it's
fun. I got a new mattress. I'm no longer in a
twin size bed. I'm a grown up again. There we
go. What size? And OK, a queen. OK. Also, Joe,
first time you're hearing, but OK, so I'm going
to renew for another year here. OK. Just because
even though I want to maybe allowed to doesn't
mean I can afford to move out of state yet, but
I can't afford to do anything that doesn't stop
me. But still, well, it's like because I was
like, oh, I'll get like a shorter lease. But
it like makes the rent per month so much more.
Yeah. And so I'll just do another year, but I'm
going to move into a bigger floor plan here.
OK. Yeah. So there will be a bathroom for when
you sleep over. Texas year. Yes. Yep. Get my
sister's wedding out of the way. New supervisor.
She's in town this week, so getting to know her
more, which has been really cool. She's I guess
she used to be apparently. Do you remember what
frag dolls were? No. It was like a Ubisoft like,
I don't know, like game or like e -sports team
that was all females. And I think she was like,
apparently they had a little almost like intern
program called like Frag Cadets or something.
But because she used to work at Ubisoft. So yeah,
getting to know her. I'm excited for what's to
come at work now. We have a new course coming
out this week. Cool. And we might be doing karaoke
this week. And yeah. Yeah. That's fun. Let's
see. Well, hey. I'm like trying to think. Yeah.
Not much. So update. Not update. Yes. I was talking
to my mom before this. Uh huh. And she mentioned
and this is a this is. Yeah. She mentioned that
that that what was it the tiny zoo thing you.
mentioned last time. Tiny tales to you. That's
right. Tiny tales to you. Her former coworker
used to work there at one of those. Oh, that's
fine. Mm hmm. So she's like telling me about
it and she's like, oh, she talked to Sarah about
it and I'm like, you should. Yeah. So my mom
who listens, if you haven't done it yet, this
is my call out on you. Yeah, get my number from
Joe. We can talk. I have more Sharjo recommendations
for you if you don't want to listen to. or watch
these Gundam things to connect with your son,
you can connect with me instead. Wow. It's OK.
I like every time I post something from our podcast,
I think it's your aunt is like, I've never heard
Joe laugh so much. God. It's true. I never laugh
in my outside life. I am. I never make jokes
or anything. I really don't. Well, I don't like
laugh, like cackle like that ever. I think I
did when I was younger, but I don't know, because
I feel like it's just definitely like you had
to be hanging out for a duration of time to where
you're like, ah, don't eat my hair, puppy. Um,
or chew on my chair, please. But that. Oh, she's
so cute. Um, OK. No, I've lost it. I'm done.
All right. Chihaya. Chihaya Furu episode 13 or
verse 13 is called in my dreams. I creep closer
to you if only Anything to do with this episode
for sure. There are creeps in this episode. That's
true There are there sure are we open back up
on our game against the weird girl Chihaya has
reconnected with the spirit of poetry and is
ready for the rest of the match because last
show yeah Her name's Magubo. She's kind of important
Yeah, I wrote her name. Her name is, I don't
just call her weird girl the whole time. Okay,
okay. Anyway, I noticed at this point that like
the show has really good musical cues. I haven't
pointed this out yet. I feel like I don't talk
enough about like how the show is constructed
or whatever, but really good musical cueing in
this where it's just like, oh, this person's
feeling this and here we go. We're gonna hit
the note. Yeah, I do like the music. Like the
music is quite, what? My mom is sending me pictures
of her at Tiny Tales. Anyway, Chihaya has just
taken a card close to Magumu, which is pretty
aggressive for her or for this match. Everybody
is impressed, including Chihaya, who gets who
like is so stunned that she gets taken against
twice in a row. Magumu and Chihaya both hit at
a card at the same time. She remembers Nishida's
advice to always contest cards, even though she's
like super shy about it. She's a wuss. Megumu
for her part is like, oh, yeah, that's cool.
You can just have it. And Chihaya feels so bad
that she totally misses next round. Everyone
else on Chihaya's team feels like she might lose,
so they need to step it up. Satomu in particular
is trying to step it up. He thinks about Sumire's
notes. She pointed out that her opponent is a
super fan of a singer who sings about broken
hearts, and he figures that his opponent wants
all of the poems that are also about broken hearts.
And then he takes one and tries to inspire everybody.
And Sumire also feels like she contributed, even
though I don't know how she knew he was thinking
that. But she did. Everyone's here. And doing
something. Except for Tsukuba, who sucks. Despite
Chihaya's poor performance, the rest of the team
is gaining momentum. Taichi sees that Chihaya
is losing decently at this point and thinks that
maybe, uh, tasking her to win? against probably
the second best person here was maybe not the
best move of all time. He's like, oh, maybe I
shouldn't have laid on the pressure. We get a
bit where Magumu's headband falls off and everybody
speculates as to why she made headbands for the
whole team. But then we learn it was just so
she wouldn't look stupid wearing one alone. This
was kind of funny, I guess. No, it was supposed
to be so that it's like, look, we're all together.
Yeah, it's supposed to be like, oh, we're like
doing this thing as a team. But at the end, she's
just like, I would look dumb if it was just me.
Which is so true. Well, you. Well, you know how
like earlier the their advisor had like made
the little things for their kimono sleeves. It
would have made sense if they had embroidered
into those things the way that, you know, because
she's like, here, I prepared these for you. And
we were like, what did you do? They're just now
she's not dedicated enough, you know. No. Yeah.
And that kind of gets pointed out. Yeah. this
round of episodes. Chihaya unexpectedly takes
a card faster than Magumu and that rattles her
a little bit. She begins to doubt if her team
can really pull through. Chihaya sends Magumu
a one syllable card. Then she takes a card from
Magumu that she was guarding, which was impressive.
This really gets to Magumu and we learn that
she doesn't actually care about becoming queen
even though she is going to say the opposite
of this in about three minutes. We get a flashback
of everybody on the team helping Chihaya get
better at taking multi -syllable cards. Meanwhile
Magumu has no peers to help her get better and
she starts to get bitter about it. In the next
round, everyone on Chihaya's team takes except
for Chihaya. Magumu however is so focused on
her match that she can't rally her own team.
There are no slouches, though, and every game
remains competitive. Chihaya's game is very back
and forth, and Chihaya thinks that Magumu is
like her if she had just gone all out on speed
and not done any of the other stuff. Chihaya
starts playing more strategically and is able
to take three consecutive cards. One of Magumu's
teammates. What? I was going to say, what a bummer
that everyone except Chihaya got that one card.
They're like, ah, come on. She's so unreliable
that everyone else is just thinking about her
match while they're playing theirs. One of Magumu's
teammates tries to step up and provide some spoken
support to the rest of her team. This scares
Nishida because how could a girl be so loud and
scary? Magumu and Chihaya both hit a card again,
but this time they both try and contest it. Chihaya
backs down because she's non -confrontational
and Magumu starts to get hype as we cut to credits.
Is that the shortest recap we've ever had for
an episode? This one's really short. I felt despair
knowing that this one match is going to go three
episodes. Yeah. Oh, Nishida, stop it. Nishida
sucks these episodes, dude. He's terrible. Oh,
my God, man. What was happening? Yeah. So we're
going to learn more about Magumu's team and Magumu,
a character. Oh, we thought we were... We got
the out last time. We were like, OK, cool. We
kind of learned. Yes. Damn it. Oh, it's mostly
just about one. And she's the cool one. The one
that Nishida thinks is like manly. Yeah. I'm
like, I like her. She seems cool. See, she's
like lower effort to draw, but still like distinct
and has actual real eyes, unlike Nishida or Satomu.
Can we get a little more effort, please, from
our author? No, only some characters get full
definition. Like, retro. Retro's your lazy character.
You can't be doing this to main characters, man.
I don't think she's a main character. It's fine.
No, I mean, Nishida and Satomi. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, we don't know what to do with Nishida this
season, which has never been clearer in these
episodes. Do you want to go to the next one?
Yeah, let's do it. All right. Episode 14 is called
People Would Ask If I Was Pining For Someone.
We get a recap of last episode as the OP plays.
We return on Shinobu shuffling through the card
at cards, reciting the poems to herself, because
these are all her friends. Arata is still writing
his essay, but the other guy is like, wow, this
is so amazing, Arata, you're so good at writing,
you should be an author. But he's like, whatever,
man. Finally, the last Fukumi guy and the coach
show up because they were stuck in traffic this
whole time and the guy is like, oh my god, Shinobu
is here. That's crazy. Why are you skinny now?
But then their coach scolds him for saying that
to her, even though it was very funny. They're
just talking about her right in front of her.
Well, he was saying it to her. She's like, whoa,
you got super skinny. What happened? The coach
changes the subject to tell Shinobu that her
school lost to Mizuzawa and Arata is like, Mizuzawa
is still in? And the coach is like, yeah, they're
in the semifinals. Shinobu talks shit about Team
Karta and says it's relaxing to watch, and then
she challenges Arata to a match to quote, kill
some time, but Arata refuses, saying that it's
a day for team matches, so he's not gonna play
individual matches. Well, everything Shinobu
says is like a backhanded compliment. She's so
sarcastic. Yes. You're trying to be too cool,
girl. It's it's it's showing a little. I feel
like I don't even know if she's trying to be
cool. It just genuinely seems like she doesn't
want to be here. Well you tried too hard to not
care. Yes. If you didn't care, you wouldn't say
anything. Yeah, because I feel like you're trying
to make up for something. And she's so alone
because she's so unpleasant to be around. I feel
like she's fine outside of Carda. We need some
time with her outside of Carda. But I don't think
there is. I don't think there's a Shinobu outside
of Cardo is the thing. Like, I don't think there
is a Shinobu hanging out and chilling. Birdman
rally. She could have gone to Birdman rally.
It's true. You probably just watch this by yourself.
Anyway, back to semifinals. The retro team has
lost, so all attention is on Mizuzawa's match.
Mizuzawa is basically an unknown at this point,
so everyone is shocked that they're still in
it. Nishida is afraid of his opponent, who is
like the second in command of her team. Nishida
screws up and loses, and he's like, damn, I lost
again. And Magumu is all mad that her teammate
won before she did. We're being competitive.
Yeah, she's definitely got like an ego. Yeah.
With her hierarchy in the little team. Seven
cards remain, and Chihaya takes one of Magumu's
best cards from her. Suddenly, Kana wins her
game, so it's 1 -1. There are six cards left.
Taichi is winning by two cards, but notes that
there are still 18 dead cards in the deck. His
opponent falls. That is so many. Yeah. His opponent
falls, so he is probably going to win. Magumu
and Chihaya's game is tied 3 -3. The next card
is the Chihaya -Furu card, and both Satomu and
Taichi takes it. This wins to Taichi his match,
so now it's 2 -1. in the score. Chihaya, however,
didn't take and lost her best card and the rest
of Mizuzawa is shocked. Shocked! How could she
lost her best card? Her name's in it. We learned
that the final score of Retro's team game was
one to four, meaning they got crushed. Chihaya
thinks that both her and Megumu should work hard
so Shinobu isn't alone in her own tier anymore.
Elsewhere, Shinobu's like, hmm, did someone just
say something to me? I don't know. Chihaya loses
her match, leaving only Satomu's game left, because
it's now 2 -2. Chihaya is about to pass out,
but Taichi and Kana grab her shoulders to keep
her up. Satomu's game is down to the last card,
again somehow. Two of the four dead cards are
red in a row, so Satomu takes a brief break.
Sumire remembers how Satomu said that games can
be scary. Two more dead cards are red, so the
next card will have to be one of theirs. Satomu
thinks card is scary, but he also thinks himself
that he'll always have, but then he stops thinking,
as he takes the card from his opponent's side
of the field, winning the game and the match,
it's incredible. Okay, everybody is shocked at
the upset. At the end of the match, Megumu asks
the photo club boys for the data so that she
can review it later instead of deleting it like
she normally does. And I realize this whole thing
has been a setup for this moment for her to be
like, I just don't, I don't want to just forget
all my matches. I want to actually review them
for once. After the match, Satomu's like, all
right, good game, everyone. Anyway, here are
my notes about our next opponents. But the rest
of the team is like, wait, hold on, Satomu, how
the hell did you take that last card? And he's
like, oh, yeah, I just guessed. Most of the time,
the cards starting with that syllable have gotten
drawn first when it's down to the end, so I just
went with that. And Taichi's like, that's still
just a 50 -50 chance, but then Nishida thinks
about how pros have all sorts of superstitions
when playing, so I guess Satomu does too now.
Satomu finishes his thought from before saying
that he will always have his data to help him.
There we go. Chihaya tries to think about how
she could have won her match while tightening
her fist. Suddenly Tai Chi grabs her hand and
stops her fingers from digging into her hand.
And she's like, wow, I didn't know I needed to
relax. Thanks, Tai Chi. Won't read into that
much. Well, she doesn't actually think that,
though, but hopefully she goddamn noticed that
he noticed when she did it. I don't think she
did. I doubt it. I don't think so. The Mizuzawa
coach gets an update that the concert band has
lost their regional prelims. Tsukuba asked the
coach to order. them all to replace Kana with
him, and she's like, what the hell's wrong with
you? And Kana is like, come on, Tsukuba, do I
look tired? I can play one more match. But then
she stops and is like, that's not true. I'm beat.
Please sub in for me as we cut to credits. Depending
how long we take to recap, this might be the
shortest episode ever. I mean, this episode rule,
this is just like, Satomu is the best this season.
He's hard carrying them through everything. He
wins this match and it's awesome. It's like the
first cool thing that happens this season, I
feel like. Yeah, well rightly seen in the past
where like the luck of the draw is like there's
not much you can do about it, but he went for
it. And again, someone higher ranked than him,
too. So anyone he goes against is going to be
underestimating him solely based off his rank.
Yeah, be or classy. Yeah, but just like the the
the sequence So he matches did he watch where
even became luck of the draw to build it? Right
all the time, and I just don't understand it
dude He should start his own low card. I like
blog or something like yeah I guess if it's just
like you watch I guess you know I guess if you're
like watching a whole room of people playing
at least one person will get down to the end
Because it's basically like you're just as good
as the other person, right? So if you mostly
just take your own, and you don't really take
the other person. Yeah, all of these matches
were pretty close, right? It wasn't like a huge.
They're all so close all the time. Except for
Nishida, who got crushed immediately because
he sucks. I know, he keeps being the first one
to lose. Yeah, dude, you're gonna get written
off the show if you keep this up. Yeah, it's
so funny that like... Nishida was the one worrying
about Satomu a couple episodes ago, where he's
like, oh, he's falling behind, and then this
episode he just simply falls behind, and Satomu
flushes at the end. That's right. Mm -hmm. Wild.
Yep, yep, yep. Anyway, that was awesome. See,
another round where basically we only watched
Shihaya. What is her takeaway from hers? Pinch!
Because it's like, she says the thing where it's
like, oh. That they're evenly matched? Well,
but she says the thing where it's like, oh. Magumu
is like me if I had just went all in on speed,
but then she loses. So it's like, maybe you should
have gone all in on speed. But it's not like
speed is the only thing Magumu has, right? Like
the guys who watch her. camera pervs give their
own commentary about how she's gotten faster.
So that's something she's been working on, which
means she wasn't relying on speed up to this
point. I kind of took it as like she has like
a Maguma would be me if I hadn't made if I hadn't
learned all these new things in the previous
year, which is like pretty cocky to say when
she's the one who went off in the qualifiers
when you didn't. Yeah. But you feel I feel like
she would win off of that comment, but then she
loses. So I'm like, OK, well. Yeah. I mean, I
do like the notion of like, let's let's keep
getting better so that Shinobu has some competition
rivals. My God. Yeah. Is the is the high school
one gender separated the individuals? Yeah. I
don't think so, because right. Kana and Satomi
went against each other. Right. A little thing.
Right. OK. So no, I don't think so. Right. Cool.
Because I was going to be like, you know, she
asked Arada to play, but if it's separate, he's
never going to play her. Yeah, I think it's only
separated when it comes to the title of emperor
and queen. Mm hmm. Yeah, because she's all alone
and has no friends and is also not that fun to
be around because she's just catty all the time.
It's like a little pet. They're not going to
hang out. We're not. We're only like five. No,
we're 10 episodes from the end. They're not going
to go hang out. It's all going to be Fujisaki,
isn't it? Oh my god. We haven't even got it.
We should jump to the next episode and finish
that before we speculate. Episode 15 is called
No Matter Where I Stand. We open on where we
ended. Chihaya examines Kana's hand and we see
that her middle finger is swollen because she
jammed her finger last game. She's like, well,
at least it was me and not like Chihaya, our
ace or something. And Chihaya is like, what?
But Kana is like, this is the reason we have
subs for this exact purpose. Just sub me out.
It's fine. Tsukuba feels bad because he just
thought that she'd be tired because she's a girl.
But actually, she got hurt and he didn't notice
because he sucks. Kana gets some first aid as
the OP plays. We return. That's the best. What?
I was going to say name one redeeming thing about
Tsukuba. Fucking nothing. It's terrible. He spends
times with his younger siblings. I'm going to
have things to say about the gender dynamics
of the show at the end of this episode. Remind
me to talk about that. Oh, my God. Boy, oh, boy,
there's a new entry into worse gamma. We just
recommend we introduce the worst guys you've
ever met. Anyway. Yeah. We return on Retro's
team, who's hiding from Sudo. The coach that
knew Arata finds them and asks them if they know
who Arata is, and Retro's like, I know that guy,
he's my rival back in 6th grade when I played
him, and he was annoying. And the coach is like,
oh, okay, cool. Well, I wanted to tell you guys
that he was here to cheer you on, but because
of certain circumstances, he couldn't be here
in person. You should go visit him, he's on the
other floor, right over there. And Retro's like,
um, what? And then he looks over at Mizuzawa
and he's like, Well, this has got this doesn't
have anything to do with me and then pseudo shows
up and half jeers slash has motivates them I
don't really know what was going on here. He
like shows up He's like you guys suck but also
I'm wearing the team shirt and I'm like, well,
they play but they're playing I didn't realize
at the moment at the moment. So I'm like, why
is this happening? The next opponent is Fujisaki.
They got to figure out their lineup because they
have like a lot of members. They have like a
lot of members in Fujisaki. They have so many.
It's like too many. Their coach is like a stern
hot lady. She cuts one of the guys that was starting
and subs in a pink haired chick instead who was
named is Yamashiro Rion. Rion, one of the Fujisaki
guys is like, oh, she's super scary. She's only
a second year and all the third years love her.
And also she's totally stealing my haircut because
he's the guy who said that thing earlier. Like
little Bob thing. Yeah, the blonde guy. She comes
to tell him that she watched Mizuzawa's match
last game and could tell them how they play.
But he snaps at her saying not to give advice
to third years. The other guys are like, man,
you should chill out. But he's like, dude, she
never shows any emotion and it's freaky. And
Rion flatly states that if they they'll win if
she plays. Besides, it was the coach's call to
change the lineup. You tell him. In the break
room. This guy's so whiny. In the break room,
the Fujisaki coach thinks about how her roster
is top heavy with only good third years and few
good first years. Ritros comes in or comes in
and talks to her about. Subbing that one guy
in because he's he won his last match really
handedly The snubbed guy is taking it hard or
the subbed out guy has taken it hard and the
rest of the team is like I don't know man Maybe
you could try to appeal to the coach But he doesn't
think that she'd consider it because she's very
calculating. We spend a lot of time on this We
spend so much time on this. I'm like what is
happening? Retro is still wondering if he should
tell Chihaya and Taichi about Arata. Kana looks
at the moon and thinks about poems about the
moon I love Kana. Yes. Oh my gosh. She has a
good time this episode. Satombu tells the team
that he can 100 % guess the lineup. They're all
great players, which means they don't really
care about their lineup all that much. And typically
just put people based on like what they want,
which means they're mostly in the same spot.
Also, they're probably going to sub someone out
for that one girl because the weird guy from
like five episodes ago told him that the girls
are scarier than the guys. So we should expect
that. Taichi looks over at the Fuji - Which is
a - That's a bad statement if only a one girl
was worth. Yeah, it's just what we're gonna find
out this dude is obsessed with this girl Yes,
oh wait. What? Okay, picking up the puppy you
good. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'm fine. It's fine.
Okay, yeah damn dog Tai Chi looks over at the
Fujisaki captain and is like that guy kind of
looks like a rata man I sure have forgotten that
he's supposed to be here everyone piles in for
the final Kana is sad that she's not playing
now because they have a guest reader Yamashiro
Kyoko, grade 7. She's one of the best in the
biz and Kana's like, dang, I'm so mad I can't
play with her reading. This sucks. Chihaya hypes
up the team saying that it's much harder to be
the best team in the world than the best individual
player. The lineup is red. Rion is against Chihaya.
We also learn that she's the reader's granddaughter.
Rigged. What? Yeah, rigged. Conflict of interest,
she's gonna read different. Nishida is up against
a guy who's mad that his buddy was swapped out.
Taichi is against their captain, which he requested
specifically because he wants to beat up fake
Arata. Tsukuba is matched against a guy who also
has fox -like eyes, and Satomu is against the
blonde guy who was made to re -own earlier. He's
like, hey, you're that guy who asked me those
questions earlier. Wow, I can't believe you made
it to the finals. Wild. But you know, you guys
are going to lose, right? And Satomu counters
by saying he should stop blowing his bangs when
he's losing, which is extremely funny because
Satomu was funny. I like him. That's right. He
knows this guy's weaknesses. He's like, I've
been watching you and you're super lame. Apparently,
Retro's team is going to play for third place,
but Retro isn't there. He's gone to see Arata.
Arata is like, hey, that's Retro. And he and
Retro asks Arata why he isn't going to cheer
on Chihaya and Tai Chi. They're in the final.
And then he leaves, and Shinobu's like, come
on, it's just a high school match, like, whatever,
who cares, right, Arata? Then Arata rushes to
the door, but then stops because if he goes,
he'll be disqualified. His fake teammate is like,
I mean, you could probably go, Arata, like, there's
a lot of people, they probably won't notice,
but Arata says that he's not going to tempt fate.
Yeah, doesn't want to be cursed tomorrow during
the individual matches. True. Shinobu changes
in front of everyone, but she's wearing, like,
some no -Maru -themed long underclothes, like
it's 1950s or something. So instead of being
scandalous, it's just extremely goofy. She sarcastically
says that she's gonna go Because she's worried
about tomorrow like ooh, I'm getting so scared.
I got to go home But Murata asks her to watch
the match because it might motivate everybody
else to play better But she knows who's like,
I don't think that's true man. The decks are
dealt and there's only one single There's only
a single one syllable card in play. Everybody
is like, well that sucks, but Rion seems pretty
happy about it The clock starts to memorize the
cards, because it's the first part of the game,
I always forget, where you get to memorize the
cards for like 20 minutes. And the Fujisaki third
years all stand up and leave. PSP kid is like,
they always do this, don't get faked out. But
Satomo already know they always do this, so everybody's
cool about it. In the hallway, Fujisaki is stretching
while the blonde guy talks shit about Rion. He's
like, all you other third years are just in love
with her. when they defend her and two of the
guys are like, dude, we have girlfriends, except
it turns out that the girlfriends are a first
year, which is gross, kind of. Yeah. Yeah. And
an anime character, which is extremely funny.
Yeah. Then the team captain is like, I'm not
into Rion because she's flat as hell. I'd be,
I mean, be some big boobs in my life and everybody
hates it. F cups. Yeah. Oh my God. Anyway. They
they turn it back on the blonde guy and are like,
are you the one who's in love with her? You talk
about her all the time, dude. Just then, Shinobu
passes by and thinks about how stupid team games
are. Yeah, listening to these guys, I can see
why she draw that conclusion. Oh, yeah. No, it
totally makes sense. Team Fujisaki comes back
into the room and Taichi thinks about how his
opponents. is similar to errata and he's like
if i can beat him it's kind of like me beating
errata which like i don't know man i don't think
it's that similar uh there their team captain
is like oh hey you're tai chi i remember you
you played against one of our guys in the individual
finals last year that's weird man you're still
class b and this pisses tai chi off and then
we get an intermodel talk about how his opponent
uh fantasizes about feeling up his coach he's
like oh man i yeah Aw, Kanna! I was like, I couldn't
play Kanna. I feel like I gotta play against
this guy. I guess I'll just imagine feeling up
my coach instead. Her injury was a blessing in
disguise. How have I liked pseudo war? What's
with this author? Maybe this author hates men
or something. I don't know. I don't understand
what's happening here. Blonde guy is just...
is just thinking about how he's totally not in
love with Rion as the other guys think about
some other random stuff. Kana is like, it doesn't
seem like the other team is taking this seriously
at all. The reader starts reading and everyone
is like, holy shit, she's so good at reading.
And then we pan over to Shinobu, who showed up
after all. The game starts as we come to credits.
We can only hope Shinobu. Well, right, because
Shinobu has to remember who Chihaya is because
when she beat her, but she lost one card. to
Chihaya, she had like rushed out and looked at
the the sheet to see who her opponent had been.
I doubt she remembers which school she was from.
Yeah. I'm assuming she'll be like, this is this
is she's only grown this much since we last played
or blah, blah, blah, something like that, because
obviously Chihaya is going to struggle every
single match. She'll never just have it easy.
Like, look how good I am. I just crush these
people. Yeah. I'm going to be, because yeah,
this is really, she's going to be like, oh, this
is the team that Arada wanted to be to cheer
for. What's up with these people? And he's like,
hey, it's that one chick. Yeah, yeah, something,
something along those lines. Oh, man. So predictions.
I predict that this is going to take three more
episodes. I predict that we're going to spend
three more episodes on this match. and it's gonna
be exhausting and we're not I think it's we're
just gonna we're gonna finish the individuals
and that's gonna be the end of season two yeah
that seems about right awful can't expect anything
more from well at least season two isn't well
then season two isn't a whole year like the first
season so less being progressed in season two
than season one we're three -fifths of the way
through season two and chihaya and errata haven't
been in the same room yeah How is this happening?
And yet somehow, Tai Chi is still losing to him
in terms of boyfriend points. What is going on?
He has just got to let it go. He's just got to
give it up. He's so toast. Or maybe he can't
give it up until he reaches rank A, where he
can at least be like, OK, so it's not the fact
that I bet a card that she doesn't like. He's
so cooked. It's over. He's dead. Poor Tai Chi.
He's so dead. Our best character. My favorite.
Awful. And that's my prediction. My prediction
that this is going to take a really long time.
I think they're going to lose because all of
their lineup team is class A, right? Like all
of their starters. Yes. Which means that like
I love Satomu. We know this. He's the best character
by far this season. He's carrying the team. I
don't think he can pull it out. It's a class
A. Yeah. No way. Well, the guy he's against is
kind of a spaz, so who knows. That's true. And
he's played a lot of matches, but I don't know.
That's going to be tough. Tsukuba is 1000 % losing.
So it's going to have to be a Taichi, Chihaya,
and Nishida win. But Nishida sucks now and isn't
going to win. No, unless he's good. Unless...
I just hope we get matches. Other than she hires.
Oh, no, dude the amount of time they spent setting
up Rion. It's gonna be all that match It's gonna
be that match and we're gonna get cutaways to
Tai Chi being like I'm gonna beat Arada I'm finally
gonna do it through like this guy. No, that's
not right. Am I guys nothing like it's just some
guy who sucks Let's talk about that. Hey, what's
going on with all of the characters in this show?
Why is like every guy? It's like every like creep
Guy is just like a sexist asshole who thinks
like all the girls are weak, even if they're
clearly better than you. And also, they're all
horny for them. Well, I mean, from what I've
seen just in dating in Japan, it's like the men
are very forward. So, I mean, maybe this is like
not that far off from reality. Like they're just...
Oh, but they're like, creepy about it, too. Like
we have the camera guys. I know. Well, right.
Because this is like a thing where it's like,
oh, this is the humor of anime. We and I hate
that. Like, it's not funny. I didn't mention
this. It's not. Yeah, I didn't mention this,
but Quiz Bowl guy keeps showing up. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And talking about Chiaya. Uh
huh. In a way that's totally boring. It's bad.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, we don't have any, like, lingering
characters that Chiaya has played that are female.
It's just like the crowd. It's either someone
on the team, which would be Anna and Sumire,
but Sumire is not thinking about the game. Like,
no, I don't know, like the only female opponent
of notes that we've seen have been. That older
lady kept saying lucky me. Oh my god. Yeah, choke
her out and then the small prodigy child, right?
They're not coming back. I mean, she didn't play
her, but what's her face? The one who played
in the Queen and lost. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got
a lot about her. Yeah, but like none of them
are super like pseudo for some reason. It's just
going to be around forever. I like him more because
at least he's not like a like a gross pervert,
but. Yeah, he's just good. I mean, he's giving
interesting like common Perry on you know, cuz
he's someone who played against she hired like
a year ago exactly almost so he is able to like
see the difference Between then and now in her.
Yeah, I guess cuz he lost her he's invested in
her progress. I just It's weird how like it doesn't
make it seem like if you play Carter, you're
gonna meet a bunch of fun people It sounds like
you're going to meet a bunch of generally unpleasant
guys and then some other girls who are just like
whatever that are just like normal girls. You
know what I mean? Like this is not this is not
I mean, this is probably the true like going
to like tournament experience of just like you
meet a bunch of people who suck. There's like
10 cool people. But I guess it's like a very
unpopular sport or like hobby. So maybe it's
just like people who have not. had the opportunity
to develop social skills. So they're like kind
of weird. Are the only people playing this game?
I guess so. I know. Yeah. Something about poetry
makes the crazy guys come out of the walls. And
it's bad. Yeah. Yeah. We're talking about Connors.
So often this shit this season. I feel like we
never. I guess that's her whole purpose of existing
is that big boots for people. She's supposed
to be the real poetry girl. What happened? She
gets one poem on it. But I just and that guy
is saying f cups. F cups are enormous. Those
are so not common. That's so like you got to
order online. Like you can't find your bra in
the store. Yeah. Big. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't
think you're encountering that too much in Japan,
my guy. I don't think so. Maybe that's why you're
so into it when he's a hot teacher. She has f
cups. Yeah. Well, I. It also sounds generally
unpleasant. I know how good, I don't know. He's
some kind of baited or. A Fujisaki has the worst
vibes of like any team we've met thus far. It
seems like the least fun team to be on. Yeah.
Like ever. Yeah. I mean, I like trying to think
of what would motivate like the school doesn't
like win any money from having a win. I'm trying
to think of like why you would put so many resources
into having such a big team. or why it would
be so poor. Where is Fujisaki located? Maybe
there's just nothing to do where they're from.
I don't know. They're not from Tokyo. We know
that. This seems like a miserable club. It's
like their coach isn't fun. She's like all business.
And then like, you know, all of the 30 year guys
are like whatever bro -y bro types or they're
the blonde guy who gets mad. And then like Rihon
is like just, well, she's super flat because
she like is delivering everything. Emotionalists.
What are they? What did you call her? The iron
mask? Yeah. The vibes are bad. Apparently she's
related to this famous reader. There's like a
bunch of first years holding signs and stuff
like that. Like this club would I would not go
to this club a second year. I'd be like this.
I mean, I can see the allure for girls because
it's like, look at this cool older lady who's
run in the show. Like that would be kind of cool
to be around because you probably don't see that
very much. I guess so. And I guess, like... And
then I guess some guys are just into, like, women
being mean to them, maybe. I guess, I mean...
But you shouldn't be feeling that way towards
your freaking teacher! Some of the guys aren't
that bad. I guess, like, the 30 -year guy who's
just mad his buddy got cut. He seems fairly normal,
I guess. They're a twin, Joe! It's his brother.
It's like... It's his brother? Minata and Kanata
or something. Yeah, they're twins. Maybe they're
cool. Maybe people like them. And that's why
he's like, why me? There's two of us. Why was
I the one? Yeah. Um, so that's fine. Maybe he's
cool. Maybe they're fun. The other guy, the guy
Satomi was playing just seems like a weird guy.
He wasn't like, you know, he's the guy who made
an anime chick. Oh yeah, the other guy was dating
a first year. Yeah, it's not good. Maybe the
guy who got cut is the fun one. We don't learn
anything about him. I'm sure they have some weird
twin thing or some. Yeah, vibes are bad. I'm
sorry. These vibes are, these vibes are terrible.
I need them to win so I don't have to think about
Fujisaki ever again, but it's gonna be like five
episodes, I swear. Well, I'm sure they'll reappear
in the individual rounds. I just can't wait for
Shinobu to just be really mean watching these
episodes. I want Shinobu to just be a huge chunk
before the next time. Oh, yes, we will get to
see more Shinobu. It's great. I love Shinobu
being mean. I mean, yeah. I guess I'll mostly
be interested to see a Shinobu because, right,
all we've seen heard from her part of related
is like belittling other people or saying that
they're her friends. But it'd be interesting
to hear her thoughts on like specific moves and
stuff happening within a game and within a match.
Yeah. Like, oh, that girl's so slow or like,
yeah, idiot came and remember the cards or, yeah.
No, it's good. I want some POV Shinobu. Yeah.
Well, I guess that's it. I don't have anything
else to say. I feel like nothing happened these
episodes. I got to the end and I was like, nothing
happened. Again, we're running out of runway
with Shinai Furu. I don't know. Yeah, I should
maybe need to start cramming in another episode
into these. But what if something does happen
and then I'm like, ah. Let me, let me see. Let
me look at the names of these. How many, do we
have an even number yet? Yeah. I mean, whatever
extra time we have, we can use for recording
our bonus ep. At least. Because I... I see, I
see Rion in a thumbnail, so I know it goes for
at least a couple more episodes. Oh gosh. Oh,
I bet we'll get a whole life backflash on her
probably. Oh God, we're gonna learn everything
about her. Yeah. Like... Season 3 is only 25
episodes. Does it go all the way through the
manga? The entire series? Yeah. Oh, no, I don't
think so. I can't, I don't know. I can't officially
legally buy the English translated manga. It
had 50 volumes. 50 volumes. Which is a total...
Damn, that's a lot! Which was a total of... 50?
246, no, 247 chapters. In each... One episode.
Is like what? Three chapters? Yeah. 247 divided
by three is 82. Don't know. Well, I mean, they
could have just condensed some of those. I mean,
you could probably cut a couple out, right? So
it seems like yes. Because it's 75 episodes of
the show. Nah. Oh, maybe. I don't know. I haven't
read the manga. I don't want to read a crappy
fan translated one. Oh my God, you're so, so
elitist. What? I want to own. If it's a good
manga, I want to own it. That's why I haven't
read Kimi ni Tadoke, because I would like to
purchase it to read. Okay. It's like I don't
read Skippy online. I only read it as it comes
out. You don't even want to just read it just
to know what happens. Like I understand like
you could buy it later, but like you don't even
want to. I don't know why I'm like that. That's,
uh, interesting. I feel like I need to get all
my money out of my purchase. Oh, they had some
side manga. What is this? It's a middle school.
We can read about Chi -hai's middle school life.
Bah, boo! Unless it's Tai Chi, like, overcoming.
God, no! I want Tai Chi after the show, not Tai
Chi before, where he's still miserably hung up
on Chi -hai. There is a spinoff sequel! What
is this? What? Chihaya Furu plus Kimigatame.
These look like all different characters. Oh,
is this like a crossover of some other manga
artists? According to Reddit two years ago, set
in the Mizuzawa Karta Club after Chihaya graduate
following first year boy Ritsu Nagara. Oh, is
she the advisor? Ritsu's a cute name. Does that
mean we gotta start all over? No, we're not.
There's no way. I can't read that. I'm sorry.
Well, there's no... Okay. All right. Okay. well
wrap this episode up so i can put this puppy
away and we kind of record our bonus please uh
like and subscribe uh hit that smash that like
button uh send us a or put a recording put a
recording give us a review on your podcast platform
of choice send us emails at chojopod at gmail
.com tell your friends to listen to the show
yes please is that everything yep yep yep what
did we learn um don't don't physically grasp
at air imagining boobs, like just do it in your
head at least, my god. If the guys in your club
tell you that they're not obsessed with a girl
because one of them is dating a first year. A
senior wants to date you as a freshman, yeah.
And the other one is married to an anime girl,
and the last one thinks about groping their coach.
You should just join another club. You should
just leave. Yeah, I am worried about you. You
didn't tell your coach that you're quitting because
you don't like your teammates and just don't
just don't explain it. I don't like them. They're
gross. Oh, yeah. And she'll probably be like,
Oh, I will say I like the coach for the for my
good news team. He was all like, Oh, the beauty
of youth. And I liked him. I like their coach.
Yeah. What was the school name is something something
girls school? I can't remember. What is the what
was what was the the the the skip beat? Remember
the the bad guys like person manager? Oh, his
manager. What's what? Is this like a dark type
of like what if there was a bit of a huge boobs?
Cuz she's just yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.
Well, I like she's like ice queen Yeah, I don't
know a different kind of person interesting card
at least it's nice Weird they can't help it.
It's a curse, you know being well endowed Yeah,
it's just better to work. Yeah, right Oh my god,
cuz I bought me undies because they were having
a Jurassic Park line. Oh my god And then what
my bra was too small It's so cute. I'm just I
don't know. May I'll just frame it. The cute
drastic. You got to be like Shinobu. And when
you change all of your underwear is themed and
also it's very long. So it's not scandalous.
I know. Well, I did get like a set. So I've got
at least one like solid set up. Oh, my God. The
dogs are going crazy. OK. Black Cricket's trying
to play with her. OK, but yeah, OK. Thank you
for listening to this episode and look forward
to a bonus episode soon. And, yep, see y 'all
later. Bye. Alligator. In a while, crocodile.
Welcome back to... Damn it, Joe! Sorry. Keep
it in. I'll keep it in, maybe. No, puppy, leave
me alone. Leave me alone!