Welcome to Shoujo, the anime podcast where I,
Sarah, introduce my good friend Joe to Shoujo
anime and thus introducing Joe to Shoujo. And
show Joe. No, I should use hence instead of whatever.
Henceforth. The brain. I'm feeling frazzled today.
But yes, I don't. I well, I just finished watching
the episodes. Basically, I don't know if you
saw on my Discord, Joe, but I had a car accident
on. Oh, my God. I did not hear about this. Saturday.
Luckily, I'm fine. I feel like nicks from my
window glass busting in, but okay. And now Moxie
the cat's here to help me keep be focused even
more. Oh, that's so annoying. I was just I was
going through this like back road and this lady
who had stopped at her stop sign, but I guess
just didn't look to see if anyone was coming,
like drove in, you know, pulled forward as I
was going and hit me on my driver's side door.
Windows shatter. Freaking door doesn't open.
Yeah, I'm seeing the picture. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
So as always, I never like, oh, my God, that
was scary. I'm like, oh, my God, my car. Look
what you did to my car. Why are us it's like
why do I even have a car this car is cursed or
something I a lady like like it two years ago
park into my car Like an idiot. What's why are
there dumbasses everywhere? Yeah, she like my
mom was getting out of the passenger front door
and This lady parked into the door as it was
opening. She like hit my car door as it was opening
Push it out. It couldn't close. Freaking could
have hit my mom. And it was like a empty ass
parking lot. And like, how can you be parked?
How can you be parking so fast that like it like
makes the whole car shake? I'm like bad. I'm
a garage holder. So you bet. I remember her name
and now I'm going to remember this lady's name.
When drivers of Austin are out to get my. Wonderful
car. And I won't forget it. So now I got to deal
with all that annoying crap of like, well, and
don't worry, I got her on video admitting it
was her fault. So I'm stupid ass. Our shirts
try be like, oh, it's your fault somehow, even
though it's clearly not. So I'm like prepared.
That's good. Yep. So just good. So annoying.
Well, at least you took care of it. Handled it
like a pro. Well, no, I cried. OK, well, you
know, you did get hit by a car. And then because
I had gone to meet my mom's sister for lunch,
so I told them and they came and met. And then
the lady asked my mom if I was a new driver.
Oh, God, because I was crying like I was 19 or
something. I'll just take it as a compliment
that I look young. Yeah, you look young. Oh,
God. Yeah. So and I finally settled and I'm like
just I'm so tired and just like I'm like settling
on a very basic name for this dog. I just couldn't
exert the brain power to think of a better name.
So her name is Pepper. I'm so basic. That's cute
though. Pepper. I know. It's not like Spot or
something, you know. No, no. Yep. So I got that
settled. My my new supervisor gone now had a
lovely week. She's great. Super excited. Had
had work interview yesterday, so I'm just work
wise. Things are going great. That's good. Life
wise, man. How about you, Joe? Hopefully you
have a more positive. Last weekend, I went to
a wedding or I guess this last weekend, I went
to a wedding in Louisville. Kentucky, so I had
to drive down there and I was like the DD at
all of the events because I had a car. Nice.
You know, it was fine. It's fine. It mostly just
means I had to stay up really late and then I
had to ferry a bunch of drunk people home. Oh,
no. That was fine. No, no, no. They didn't get
that drunk. Good. Nobody was getting like sloppy.
So it was it was actually. Yeah, it was good.
But it was a fun wedding. But clearly, like I
needed to catch up on some sleep. and I didn't
sleep any more than usual. So I'm like dead today,
even though I got eight hours of sleep because
I got really bad sleep this weekend. Oh, man.
Yeah. Like the night before, because like Saturday
night, I got in at like three thirty basically,
and then I had to wake up at like nine something.
So I ended up. How long was the drive there?
And then, yeah, so the drive to Louisville from
Columbus is like three, four hours. God dang,
man, everything. driving just in there. That's
crazy. Yeah. So it was like half the states in
the country in the time it takes to drive. That's
true. Yeah. That's so nice. Going to Houston
or something from. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't that
bad. But yeah, that was good. Went to a wedding.
I don't think anything about Louisville is particularly
interesting, to be honest. But OK, I went there.
So, yeah, my eyes hurt. Oh, no. But in other
news, I did watch something in between now and
then. Oh, yeah. Another Disney movie of a horrifying
background. We didn't do it this week because
some of my friends were out. Instead, I watched
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz, the movie,
the movie sequel to Gundam Wing, the worst Gundam
so far, I thought, or like one of the worst ones.
I mean, the movie is an endless waltz is very
fun. It was good. They like spend a lot of time
with your characters just being fun and like
bantering back and forth. They kind of retconned
some of the stuff that happens in the original
show that makes it better. They just redesigned
the Gundams with no explanation. They just look
cooler now. They're supposed to be the same.
Yeah, they're supposed to be the same models
or like the same robots, but they just look totally
different. It's great. So had a fun time. Much
much better than original Gundam wing was still
is a little you know not Going for it in the
way that I like Gundam to do, but it was a good
time. It's a good movie You know it had a fun
had fun with it good. I'm glad you watched something
fun That's right now. It's on to turn a Okay,
I will say my mom just binge like all of the
current love Island season, so Okay, look If
you just get started, you get hooked. So, yay,
I've converted another. Yeah. So many. Okay.
Yep. Okay, sorry. That's the only Love Island
thing I'll say. I mean, I just talked about Gundam.
You can talk about Love Island. It's okay. No,
it's my whole personality right now is complaining
about how hot it is and talking about Love Island.
You know, when I was at this wedding, I was feeling
like a real boring person because all of the
people there, like, because my friend that got
married went to, like, they did, like, AmeriCorps
and, like, all this other stuff. So, you know,
a lot of their friends are, like, met in, you
know, we all, we all met in Indonesia or whatever.
OK, cool. So, by comparison, I feel incredibly
boring because I'm, like, I don't, all the things
I'm interested in, I can't just talk to these
random people about. They're going to be like,
what are you talking about? I feel like the most
boring guy who's ever existed at this wedding.
I mean, it was nice. Like, I don't think anybody
thought that it was just me being like, wow,
I have nothing interesting to say. Well, you
think if you said to any of those people who
don't know you, oh, I have a podcast, they're
going to be like, oh, God, here we go with another
like white dude with a podcast. Oh, yes. I have
to caveat that every single time. Like any time
someone learns, I guess I'm like, oh, yeah, ha
ha ha. God. Yeah. But, you know, it's cool. Yeah.
Mm hmm. Yeah. Better than all those other white
dude podcasts. Yeah. I don't just like get mad
at stuff. We have a format. Mm hmm. We have a
format and we're very niche about what we're
doing and what we're watching. Incredibly. Yes.
So that makes it feel better. It makes it feel
like we're not just doing this to do this. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I have. We're almost
on a too high a period. There'll be a third season
that we have to come back to. You might have
read the episode title and thought, why did we
watch four episodes? And the answer is because
one of them is a recap episode. Did you watch
it in its entirety? I watched it. I watched it.
by skipping ahead 10 seconds very often. Okay.
Yeah. Okay. I did that a little bit, but I was
like, oh man, I'm like, cause I just watched
the episode like an hour ago. So I was like,
I gotta get through these. So yeah, no, there's
not really much, much to miss out on. So I'll
take one filler episode, a season of Shojo. It
doesn't feel like this has enough space to have
this filler episode. No, that's so true. I don't
know why they do that. Yeah, I maybe they're
mandated to I don't know have like a recap for
like all the people that Maybe it's just cuz
everything happens so slow. That's like remember
this happen like within the season you're watching
I know it feels like it's a eternity but Yeah,
it's a little odd to have it that way. I don't
know. I Don't know to think about that. Well,
I guess this will just be another outlier in
our Our catalog here. Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, do
you have anything else that should we get into
it? I've decided who I'm going to marry and run
factory. Oh, OK. Yeah. No, this is important
business. So who are you? Who are the candidates?
Like, what are we? Is it like one obvious one
or is there like several? Well, I've seen holes.
OK. Well, there's definitely like the benefit,
right? Because it's like. You have to like spend
time with them to increase like your relationship
rank. And so obviously you're going to be higher
rank with the people introduced into the game
earlier. And like, I still haven't gotten the
last candidate into my villages yet. And I'm
like 55 hours in. So, but I think this might
be the first one where you can marry any gender.
Very ranted about the fact that you can play
as a guy or girl and whichever one you don't
play as is in the story and people call them
by that name and so that means that whatever
character I am and alternate if I play as a dude
the character I'm currently playing as would
be addressed by her name by character so they
have all the voice actors saying the name, the
default name. So why wouldn't it be that if you
leave the default name when you play that character,
the other characters that they already have saying
the name would address you, you know, instead
of having the like dialogue and the silence when
it's like your name, you know, you didn't put
a custom name in. Oh, that makes me so mad. All
right. I'm on the Rune Factory wiki. Who am I
looking up? Hi. The Oni God, because I because
he's like, right. It's like, oh, he wears a mask.
So you're like. When do I get to see what he
looks like without the mask? He's hot without
the mask on pretty eyelashes. Yeah, this guy
looks like which are you just I was going to
say, well, yes, he's the god of the underworld.
Yeah, he's the Oni. We got big bats, you know.
Oh, yeah. OK. Because there's like God can it
because it's like. feudal Japan style. And there's
like four villages, one for each season. And
then there's also like a god for the heavens
and the what did I just call it? Was it not hell?
What did I just say? Underworld. Underworld.
Yes. And so he's the one for that. But and then
there's like mundane. normal human characters.
And then troublingly, a character that was a
child in the last Runefactor game is now a candidate
in this game, which technically it's but it's
also like the community now is like first introduced
to her as a child. And now she's like, oh, and
it's like, oh, who is it? I have a list of all
bachelorettes. Hina with the hat. Oh, with the
hat ears. Yeah. Yeah. She was like a And then
she's talking about my hero from when I was a
kid, which is like the character you play as
and she's got a tail. That's yeah. There's like
I don't understand. Super understand. I don't
know. There's like animal hybrid people and the
people and then I don't know. People with pointy
ears and people with normal ears. So I don't
know. We don't super go into like establishing.
Who's this chick with a huge hat? Huge hat. Who's
this chick with an enormous hat? Who? What's
the name? I don't know. I'm just looking at wallpaper.
Rune Factory 5 HD wallpaper. Well, that's Rune
Factory 5. This is Rune Factory Guardians of
Ozima. Oh, my God. God. Ozima. OK, I know. Why
is it like Rune Factory four or five and then
this? Why can't you guys have already heard me
complain about? Why can't you be here? Oh, you
like the big? That's a downgrade. Yeah. Oh, you're
thinking there's like a witch lady in the last
game. You're her has enormous. That's good. I
think you should have a bigger hat. I think you're
a big fan. That character is good. Crazy. He
has a hat, but it's like a tiny hat. It's like
a it's like a porter's cap. She's going to have
something. Uh huh. So were you looking at the
right person? Yeah, I know. I was because I was
looking at Kai Roman. I'm looking at the romance
guy, but it didn't say which game it was. Now
I see that it does. OK, OK. I don't get to see
his face, though. I know, but you have pretty
eyelashes. No, there doesn't seem to be a Kai
face reveal. Dang. Oh, dang. That's good about
not spoiling it for people. I don't see it. And
then there's one that's like a automata, like
he's like a robot guy. OK. All right. I got to
see this guy. His name is Choi Ling, which I
like his name a lot. The UI. Oh, man, he's got
a weird. The DLC character. Yes. Him and Helika
are like the DLC candidates, which I'm assuming
they're in the game anyways, because like you
can have you build relationships with non romantic
partners. But, you know, that's. I don't know
what the benefit, because you can have them as
combat companions. I guess that's the benefit.
Why would you ever talk to somebody if you weren't
going to try to date them? Because there's no
like little cutscenes with them. Like there's
no like friendship cutscenes, really. I know
it's mostly just like combat stats and like you
can cook special dishes once you reach a certain
rank with people and stuff. Yeah, I've already
said this, but I think we're in fact, I don't
know why. Because I've only played Rune Factory
4, 5, and now this one. But Rune Factory 4 was
like incredible. Rune Factory 4. I don't know
if you like it. I'm going to look at this. I'm
like, I like it. And then in that one, I married
Dylas. And then we have a he's like a he's like
a horse guy. So he's got like a horse guy. Yeah.
OK, somebody has like someone's got like a top
hat. Top hat. Oh, the girl. She's like a ghost
girl. Kind of. Yeah. Some girl has like a hat
that's like it's got like two little it's like
a witch hat, but there's two little sides of
it. So it looks like kind of like a like it's
got like an antenna. You got to say the names.
I don't know. I'm just looking at pictures. So
I just all I can see is pictures. You should
get Rune Factory 4 special on the Switch if it's
ever on sale or if it's on Steam. This is a Steam
summer sale right now. Have you gotten anything?
No, I've been extremely behind on all video games
ever. Yeah, I know it's like Claire Expedition
is like a little bit off I'm like, it's not off
enough to like incentivize me to buy it now before
I like have time to play it If it was like a
huge discount or like Greenfall 2 that one's
still an early access buzz. Yeah, I have like
no I like just I feel like I somehow I have no
time to do anything I don't really know why that
is or how that is but that's just how it is.
It's because people have friends This is good.
You got to cut it out, hang it out with people.
I guess. Just take all your time. Yeah, maybe.
Yeah. Oh, Joe. Mm hmm. Oh wait, did I already
say this? I sang karaoke on a stage. No, I don't
think so. Did I already say this? OK. Yeah, I.
for the first time ever last week. And I realized
that I may think I know a song, but I truly don't
unless I can hear the voice singing along to
it on stage. I forgot that was a thing or like
the music isn't playing loud enough. So I like
forget when I feel like that's not as bad. I
wouldn't feel bad about that. But this is like
it's like this dive bar. So it's like everyone's
like a regular and they're all freaking incredible
and singing like Broadway songs. You just need
to become a regular. So I forgot there was rapping
in in the end by Linkin Park. OK. Uh huh. You
didn't remember that part? Well, I don't know.
My Shinoda it's slow at least, but like I just.
Yep. Yep, and then I sang How Far We've Come
by Mashbox. No, no, I don't think so. I'm just
like pat on the back for even getting up there
and doing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nobody cares.
Everybody's very chill at karaoke. You get the
idea when you go. But, like, specifically the
group I went with were all very good. All of
them did, like, theater or, like, one of them
used to be a music teacher, so they're all really
good. That's why they want to go to karaoke.
I was just like, I'll give it a go. You know,
you should take a game cafe or something and
just like destroy them at something. I'm not
even good at video games, though, Joe. That's
true. All right, no, I might be sure I'm not
even going to arm wrestling. I don't even know
how to arm wrestle properly as I learned with
Jenny. It's like proper etiquette. You need to
hone a secret talent so you can you can upstage
everybody like in secret, you know. That's good.
You can really get a car to. And then just do
it. Hey, you want to check this out? You beat
me on your first try. I'm surprised our game
didn't get down to a 50 -50 because it seems
to happen so often. OK, yeah. Good, good. Yep.
Should be. All right. Yeah, we should. We're
like, look, there's a payoff payoff to the whole
synchronization. So here's the thing. Here's
the thing. We watched four episodes because one
of them is a recap and like. These episodes are
good. Like, these are good episodes of television.
I enjoyed watching these. Not that much happens,
I feel like. I wrote down a lot of things that,
like, I wrote down a lot of words here because
there's a lot of, like, little asides and things
like that, but not that much happens. So we'll
see how long this takes. But yeah, let's get
into it. So Chihayafuru episode 16 is called
Wait for the Emperor's Return. This is a recap
episode, slash, there are some gags in it that
we'll cover, but mostly it's just recapping the
first... 15 episodes of the season. Kind of a
relevant title, waiting for the show to return.
Yeah, some of these do have titles that seem
relevant, but it's hard to tell. Don't count
on it. Let's see, some of the, one of the, the
first gag makes it like a pretty funny joke about
how Kana only has three eyelashes, which I thought
was funny. I thought you would probably enjoy
that. Because you always complain about how underdrawn
she is. And Sumira gives her fake eyelashes,
which is very funny. Married to the rescue. A
couple other things. We learned that Nishida's
sister likes retro because she says he looks
like Johnny Depp, which is a funny thing, but
it's also unfortunate name poll to consider now
that we know who that guy is. So that's unfortunate.
Even anime ages poorly in references. That's
not their fault. There's no way they could have
known that. No, no. But yeah, that was just I
was like, ah, let's see. We got another bit where
Nishida tells the crew that the only confirmed
couple in the show is his sister in retro, which
is extremely funny. And everyone's like, oh,
come on. It's got to be side characters have
girlfriends, too. But they don't. Chihaya says
she wants to date someone who's good at card,
which Tai Chi and Tsukuba listen to intently.
So I guess that Tsukuba is like going for I don't
know. I didn't really get that because that's
going nowhere. And then Kana says she wants to
date somebody who knows how to put on a kimono
and Satomu Nishida both like that because they
both like her. I don't know. We've kind of like
not done anything with that, but that's you can't
do that to us, Arthur. If you're not going to
give us anything. Yeah. Them liking them or whatever.
So those are the pairings. Anyway, that's basically
the end of the episode. Easy peasy. Now the shortest
recap ever. No thoughts other than the fact that,
like, just coming out and being like, yeah, Nishida's
sister and Retro are the only couple in this
show. And I'm like, yeah, that's pretty sad.
They're acknowledging it. Yeah. Chihayafuru episode
17 is called Gust of Wind. We open on everybody
being wowed by our guest reader. Play starts
and Fujisaki is pretty good. Also Rionne who's
playing Chihaya. is playing somewhat differently
than the normal opponents as the OP plays. We
come back to Shinobu, thinking that Arata really
hyped up this match, but it's looking to be really
boring. Chihaya's team is losing across the board.
We learn that it's because their coach makes
them work out a lot and do stretches and things
like that. Rion keeps taking all two syllable
cards on the first syllable, kind of like how
the master does, because she has learned the
reader's proclivities or whatever. Chihaya's
a... dummy who can't identify her own play strategy
in front of her. She gets like senses thing.
Eventually. Come on. Sorry. As do I. Well, the
game keeps playing. The reader's the reader's
reading is so good. She is able to visualize
a forest. Her voice is so multicolored. But can
reading cause colors? And she has like, oh, yeah,
I can sometimes. predict what you're going to
say based on the intonation of how you're saying
things and take cards early. I should do that.
Shinobu thinks about this, too, and thinks that
this reader gives away too much when she reads,
which is why people like the guy who's the current
master can do so well with her. And she hates
it because Shinobu clearly is not that good at
doing this. Or as good at doing this. We learned
that Rion is in Class B. The reader thinks about
how about her granddaughter and how she was kind
of a prodigy, but she tends to lose focus halfway
through matches because if the reader isn't as
good as her grandmother, she gets distracted.
This means that she'll probably never be queen.
So this is probably her only chance at being
a champion, which is kind of basically because
she gets. Yeah, she gets the step in like at
whatever time works for her and not because she
earned it herself. So, yeah, whatever. Yeah,
this is like having basically home field advantage.
Super I am surprised because I didn't get as
much backstory as her on her as we do with some
characters. Yeah, I mean, I guess we kind of
do like glimpses. It's not like it drags on forever
in a flashback. That's true. Yeah, we're not.
It's not as flashback heavy. People kind of just
talk about her. Mm hmm. Things are going bad.
Jihai looks over at Kana and thinks about poetry.
She tries to visualize the cards as the poems
and manages to take a card one syllable early.
Jihai tries to scoop a card her opponent is covering
and it looks like her hand gets crushed, but
it turns out that maybe her hand didn't get crushed
and she's okay. But we'll check back in on that.
Taichi, meanwhile, faults. Also, it turns out
she probably did hurt her finger, but like not
in a way that we can easily recognize because
like it hurts, but it's not jammed. It's weird.
She's like, I don't really know what's going
on. She thinks back to when Kana said that it's
good that their A's didn't get hurt. And she's
like, well, so much for that. Yeah, she knows
who almost falls asleep and then sneezes on a
guy. This causes one of the. Organizers. She's
like, I. Why does why is anime so into like.
Just playing mucus is disgusting, I hate it so
much. Shinobu is such a nuisance in this season.
Only thing she has going for her is Karda. I'm
surprised they're not trying to get rid of her
too, if that's the reason they're trying to get
rid of the emperor, is that he's like a buffoon.
Like, everybody hates the master because he's
like... Annoying and doesn't do anything and
then shinobu is like just a recluse that doesn't
know how to interact with people It is also like
very off -putting Yes But anyway by sneezing
this causes one of the organizers to like notice
that she's here and she tells her that She's
the queen so she should sit up front and then
she gets dragged up in the front near the coaches
Which pisses her off because she's like I was
gonna leave but now I can't leave because I'm
in front of everybody So this sucks, which is
very funny She vaguely recognizes Chihaya, but
then Chihaya loses a card and she's like, whatever,
nothing interesting going on here. Yeah. Ryo
notices that Chihaya is slower and thinks that
she might have actually hurt her earlier. Chihaya
is able to start taking cards pretty easily,
and she remembers back to one time when Dr. Hirata
said that getting hurt can sometimes affect the
person who hurt the other person more than the
person who got hurt. Mind games. I think Dr.
Hirata might be the character I am most similar
to. Just like talking. Yeah. But you know, he's
just like, take advantage of their, you know,
like, don't get caught up by like feelings or
anything like, you know, I don't know. I just
feel like everyone. Well, he's like not emotional.
He's like thinking around others, emotions or
I don't know. I mean, I don't I just am like,
I like that he's so. Nonchalant about the you
know, like ah Look, I feel bad for hurting you
good. Don't don't miss this opportunity Never
mind. Yeah, I don't know. I like dr. Harada.
I guess that's just what I'll say Yeah, it's
good. It's too bad. He isn't in this season more.
But yeah, no Turns out the Rion gets in her own
head a lot. She highest hands over the only one
syllable card in the game Which is a big gamble
and surprises everybody including Shinobu. It
can't be true They say more one. Maybe it's only
one syllable card she had, because I'm like,
they talk about more one syllable cards later.
Well, no, but I guess it's because it's like
as cards get taken out, then the other cars become
one. So it's the only one that's the beginning
of the game. Yeah, yeah. Never mind. Don't listen
to me. I suck today. Anyway, terrible comments.
I don't need you don't need to remember all the
details. I have the summary. Uh, Chihaya takes,
uh, then Chihaya takes that one syllable card
super fast and Shinobu is like, ah, wait, it
is, it is her. It's that one shaker takes one
syllable card super fast. Chihaya, that's her
name. So she gets recognized by Shinobu. How
fun. Chihaya has taken four in a row and the
rest of the team gets motivated to do better.
Nishida thinks that they need to start contributing.
All the guys stand up and take a break and then
they hype themselves up as we cut to credits.
Just did they like practice this routine of like
smacking themselves in the faces all at the same
time? Yeah, they all do the same motion. It's
pretty goofy. Mm hmm. Yep. Yep. Yep. So do we
think about we learn what Rion's deal is? It's
like what if she does the Jihaya thing. She's
the first year. Yes. Fujisaki. Or she. And maybe
she's a second year. I don't know. He. Yeah.
I mean, right. So far, it's just the biggest.
Right. Jay has to have some kind of obstacle.
And she was certainly at first, but. Now that
she's injured, she's like, he just needs to learn
to be able to just turn it on from the beginning,
not like get injured. And then that's like your
I had to work despite that. Mm hmm. OK, I'm sure
I think of like, I don't know that hand pressing
down on fingers like. would be hard enough. I
feel like it'd be more like the angling of your
wrist under it. Like, your wrists would be more
likely to get hurt than the finger. It's probably
just like you're moving so fast that, like, having
the tip of your finger get stopped and you just,
like, jam the rest of it in there. My arms are
too, like, pop. If I try to play Carter like
that, I'd be like, pop, pop. Oh, yeah, I'd just
be smacking the ground and hurting my hands all
the time. Like, there's no way I'd be able to
do this. Oh, boy. But yeah, I guess talk to me
matter. So I don't know. They're softer. But
like, I mean, you're still smacking the surface.
And they're like more like thick cards, too.
Yeah. Anyway, I don't really have any other thoughts
about episode 13 or 17. Moving on. Episode 18
is called My Fear is that you will forget. We
open back up on the match, Chihaya's mystery
finger energy. What did I just say? Mysterious
finger injury has motivated everyone into getting
into the zone. They're all like, oh, Chihaya's
hurt, so we gotta pick it up. Kana reads us this
current score line. Chihaya is down by six, Nishida
is down by three, Taichi is down by four, and
Satoumu and Tsukuba are both down by seven. So
it's looking real bad. Taichi thinks that his
opponent isn't as good as Arata, but he's still
pretty good. He realizes that he's been getting
too many flashbacks this game as he thinks about
Arata too much and decides that he's going to
forget that and play for real now. And then he
takes a card. This is very funny to me to be
like, I've been thinking too much about Arata.
I got to stop having flashbacks. The flashbacks
between this guy and Arata is making me be like,
Arata really is cute. It's like I'm just really
the only three characters to get effort put into
them. I'm just imagining all last episode Tai
Chi is just constantly having flashbacks that
you just can't see. You haven't even played against
Errata since you were children. It's been so
long. You don't know how good he is. Errata casts
the biggest shadow ever on this show, despite
barely being in it. Yeah. Oh, man. All right.
Well. Tsutomu doubts that he can actually do
anything to win his match, but he thinks he's
gonna try to surpass his expectations. Nishida
is strategizing on which of his opponent's cards
he should take. Tsukuba tries to focus on cards
with his name in it and just make sure that he
takes those. He gets a flashback where the team
says those cards are good and then he takes one
of them from his opponent. So yay Tsukuba scored
a point. It seems like Chihaya's team is gonna
start making a comeback. Also Chihaya has just
won seven in a row and has narrowed her deficit
to three. Rion notes that she high is getting
faster somehow, which we know is because she
does better the later the match goes. That just
makes me think of the like bleach where it's
like, no, he's not moving faster. I've just gotten
slower or whatever with the season one like Renji.
Yakiya. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's some that's
some good stuff. Some good one on one content.
The blonde guy sees that Rion is starting to
lose her lead and gets all huffy about it. He
starts to think about how he chose to do Carta
because he didn't want to sweat, and he really
values beauty. And you know who also plays beautifully?
Rion, because he's in love with her. Satomo loses
to this guy, making the score 0 -1, and he realizes
that the other guy doesn't blow his bangs when
he's frustrated, it's when he's getting serious.
So I guess he miscalculated, but also he wasn't
going to win this game anyway. Nope. But he does
go out first. Rion starts to get into the swing
of things and the reader tells us that she should
be able to read her voice more like the master
does. Chihaya remembers Kana's explanation for
several cards right before both her and Rion
take one. Shinobu was shocked because both of
them took it a syllable early. So that's interesting.
Perhaps a challenger is among them. Chihaya gets
the card and feels her injury. Then she sees
Shinobu and thinks that Arata must have sent
her. I don't really remember why she thinks this.
I don't know. She's like, it must be him. I know
it's him. I don't have any reason, but I know,
I know he must have done this. Yes. Only give
credit to him. Everything's about him. He does
nothing. He's pulling the strings in the background.
He's making the show happen. As she's walking
back, she pats all the guys on the shoulder.
Back in the side room. Which I'm like, all of
them, like, are like, I don't know. She's like,
oh, she hired him. I was like, oh, like, go to
touch, I don't know, like. Except for Nishiya,
they all like hold their shoulder where she touched
them. Yeah, I mean, I guess it meant something
real big to Taichi and Tsukuba who are both in
love with her. I'm sure Satomu just feels bad
for losing. I feel like, well, no, I guess you
don't want to mess someone's hair up. I feel
like that would be more endearing. You just get
a little hair rustle. Yeah, a little too intimate.
Taichi's perfect hair. Back in the side room,
Arata goes to pee. He hears them playing in the
final and waits around outside. In the third
place game, all five games are neck and neck
apparently, and they're all trying to keep their
heads in the game by encouraging each other,
and Shinobu hates it. She hates that they're
all encouraging each other. She's like, this
sucks. We get a flashback of child Shinobu, and
we learn that she was kept apart from players
her own age because she would go easy on them,
and their coach wanted her to be at her best,
so she only ever played people that were older
than her. And we get like a little scene where
she's like playing another girl and their game
is like apparently was close But then she plays
against an adult and the other girl sees that
she was like holding back the whole time I love
how they draw a tiny shinobu. She's just like
a little Yeah, blobby kid blobby kid. Yeah, so
good. She looks like she woke up Mm -hmm So that's
really sad Yeah. She has game had another card
they almost took at the same time. So one of
the coaches volunteers to like referee their
match. So he just like watches them play so he
can call it both Shinobu and the Fujisaki coach
are full focus on the game right now. Well, the
guy that's right, because each final game has
their own little ref watching, which is nice.
I'm like. Now I could believe that he has thoughts
of the match because he can actually see the
cards on like everyone in the audience. But I
think that's morale, isn't it? Arada's like guy.
I think so. Oh, maybe. I couldn't tell. Rionne
thinks that she's never lost a match that her
grandmother was when her grandmother was the
reader. Back outside, Arata reveals that he sent
Shinobu to watch the match because the only way
they'll get more peers at their level is if they
actively try to boost the people around them.
Shinobu sees everybody in the room trying their
hardest and her heart starts to pound in a weird
ish kind of scene. OK, I don't like the way they
show just done where like it's like her image
is like, you know, like, yeah, and not like a
weird color. Aura coming from her back or whatever
that was Special attack or something Yeah, anyway,
she's starting to feel the spirit of camaraderie
or whatever Hold strong, Shinobu! This is the
thing! Don't get suckered into the sappy stuff.
No, we need Shinobu to like these people so she
can go hang out with them when they go to Karda
camp next season. So she can be on the show more.
Yeah, she needs to go hang out with them and
then she can like play against Satomu, but she's
like holding back because she's like, oh yeah,
that's right. I shouldn't just crush everybody.
And then they like high five at the end or something.
I don't know if I want that, but something like
that, you know. We see that Taichi is still down
by five cards and there's only nine cards left.
He's reset after early mistakes, but the remaining
cards are all on his side of the board, so he
can't get a lead easily. His opponent is confident
and doesn't fault and doesn't seem to be tired
at all. He's able to take his opponent's card
out from under him by being faster. Then Taichi
takes a card because Taichi is like, I got to
get my head in the game. Let's fucking go. So
he goes. and he starts to do better. So it's
like it seems like Tai Chi might be able to start
recovering. But then Tsukuba loses his match
to his weird weeb opponent. But at least his
opponent is at least nice about it. Anyway, this
puts them down to two wins for Fujisaki, and
they only need one more. Yeah, I was going to
say when the guys like. Oh, you were good enough
to make me go into second gear. I was like, I
don't know. This makes me think of one of the
shows Joe watches. That's like a one piece reference.
Oh, I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. When he does like
the weird. No, I haven't watched that much, but
where he does like the weird thing. Yeah. And
no, it's like, what was the Ghost in the Shell
second something? Standalone complex second gig.
Yeah, that's like that kind of keep saying words
absurd. Yeah, that's great Yeah, so things are
looking bad, but then Tai Chi tells me she didn't
she hi if they're gonna get three wins as we
cut to credits I like the Shinobu content in
this episode, because I like Shinobu. I think
it's nice to have a little tragedy that she never
got to hang out with anybody, and that's also
why she's standoffish and doesn't know how to
get along. That's good. Yeah, I do want to see
her be, like, blush a little when, like, her
and Shehiya talk about, like, the daddy bear,
Snow Maru stuff. Like, I do want to see her just,
like... have a friend and connect on something
other than Carla. Well, and this is good because
it's like the only way she knew how to hang out
with Arata was to ask him to play a game. And
he's like, no. And that's it. She got nothing
else in the tank. She's like, well, I guess I'm
going home. And work with Chihaya. She'd play
with you. Yeah. But yeah, I need Shinobu to have
friends by the end of this. This is what the
show is really about to me. Yeah. Shinobu's journey.
Yeah, Shinobu's journey. But she's like. The
last boss, so they can't have her soften before
that, unless that's like the strategy that's
for Chihaya to win. Is that like, I don't know.
I don't want her to win by that, though. I want
Shinobu just to make friends. I don't want her
to get worse in Carta because of it, because
I don't think that's like I don't think the show
would think that. Far late. Yeah. But yes, that
part was good. Yep, yep. They're down. I think
I'm kind of agreeing with you that the show is
better when we don't watch Chihaya's games. Yeah.
Because it's gonna be more interesting. Especially
true next episode. Thank God this one doesn't
dwell on it. Yeah. So. Yes. Oh, man. You want
to get into the last one? I think we should start
doing it. Yep, yep. Gonna say. These are so straightforward.
Nah, I was just gonna say we're gonna need to,
for season three for sure, do four episodes,
I think. Okay. It's not, it still takes me a
long time to write it. Sorry. I'm gonna stop.
Sorry! Okay, okay, I'm playing markers Sarah
stop talking about not three cat stuff right
now Stop talking about how nothing happens these
episodes. I wrote down 2 ,000 words that's way
less than like I wrote down for the Rose of Versailles
for every three episodes, but You know, it's
still still got to do that. Yeah, but that's
right. You're the one didn't never mind We'll
decide we'll decide we'll do four next time because
we need to do at least one more four and then
a three But we should do the last episode episode
19 is called. I do not know Where this love will
take me. We open on Satomu thinking that it's
surprising that Taichi would declare that they're
going to get three wins when he mostly never
talks up his game and always tries to let his
actions speak for itself. But now he is. Maybe
he's growing. And by growing, I mean, I need
Taichi to start talking shit. I need some shit
talking Taichi. Throw some insults around, my
man. The trash talk game in this show is terrible.
I saw like... trash muttering, like mutter under
your breath something. I know. Only Sudo does
that. Yes. Yeah, that is a tactic we're not seeing.
Yeah. Very much. Taichi takes another break and
tries to come up with an optimal memorization
strategy to beat his opponent. He tries to forget
Dr. Hirata's advice and aims for the card in
the bottom right again, because he's like, I'm
just going to hit that one. I'm just going to
hit the bottom right and like mess with this
guy. He gets lucky and it turns out the card
at the bottom right is the one that gets read
and he takes it. Satomu realizes that it's a
multi -syllable card he sent over earlier and
remembers that he told Taichi that his opponent
always prioritizes covering cards which gives
like a slight opening because there's a bit of
a delay when you cover a card to like go to take.
Taichi takes a long time to decide which card
he's gonna send over and his opponent seems to
realize that he's being iced out. The next card
is read and his opponent hits his card in the
lower right hand corner which Taichi... has taken
twice in a row, while Tai Chi hits the correct
card, leading to a double fault, which brings
his lead down to one. So he hits the wrong card
and his opponent takes the right card, which
is the worst thing you can do. So get wrecked,
NaNoRada. Yeah, whatever your name is. Perfect.
Yeah, the guy who just, like, I imagine squeezing
boobs the whole match. I'm very glad to watch
this man get destroyed. Taichi thinks that they've
all played five matches today over the course
of nine hours. God, what a long day. Yeah, that's
so much. And memorizing the field must be kind
of hard at this point. Taichi's game is close
and we learned that Chihaya is just one card
away from winning. We learned that Rion and Chihaya's
match is getting so wild. They're both just kind
of doing whatever now at this point. Like, we're
kind of done with strategy here because everyone's
just trying to go as fast as possible. Chihaya
is on her last legs, but she takes the card and
wins anyway, winning the match and bringing the
score up to 2 -1. Rion loses and Chihaya immediately
falls asleep, like face down. So now it's down
to just Mashita and Tai Chi. No awareness for
the stakes of the other two matches on your team.
On the floor. My good lord. Ugh, yep. We check
in Chihaya winning. Yeah, what a nice change
of pace on the board We check in on the sheet
and it turns out he's just really experienced
has gotten into the groove. So he's keeping it
together Tai Chi's opponent takes a card. So
he only needs to win one more While Tai Chi needs
to win three cards He thinks about this about
how this is their best chance to win as a team.
So it's now or never both games Go down to luck
of the draw. It's one to one Somehow, woohoo!
It happened again! Not our first rodeo. Not our
first rodeo. Both Taichi and Nishida have been
coordinating this entire time to ensure that
they both have the same card at the end, so they
can win the 1v1. So we have learned from our
match against Retro's team a couple episodes
ago, and I like this. Pretty good, pretty good
setup. That's a good, good - I don't know. Storytelling,
yay. Pay off. Pay off. Yeah, for the time we
spent learning all that strategy. There's so
much time we learned about this. And I was complaining.
I'm like, this never happened, so who cares?
But here we go. Yeah. Yep, yep. The Fujisaki
coach realizes this and is like, uh -oh, we're
in trouble. Kana thinks about the two remaining
poems. The poem on Taichi's side is about a love
lost, and Taichi hopes that Chihaya would wake
up and watch him, which is extremely funny. Don't.
Stop. On him, Kana. Stop it! This whole sequence
is so funny. The Fujisaki coach thinks that their
captain has good luck, so they'll probably be
fine. But their captain is realizing that their
opponents just synchronized all their cards and
is like, oh, I've been underestimating these
guys. Retro sees this too, and is like, impressed
that they learned to do this in such a short
period of time. How can he focus on their match
when he's in a match? I think his is over. He
couldn't possibly see their card. Because like,
unless his went down to a 1v1, too. Oh, that's
true. You know that it's the last card. Well,
we don't find out who won third place, I guess.
Oh, we don't. Who cares? I'm guessing it's the
ladies. No, it's probably the dudes. I don't
know. Because we love retro. We love retro so
much. He looks like Johnny Depp. They should
have a 50 -50 chance, but no one has ever seen
Tai Chi win a 50 -50 chance before, which is
so funny. And everybody, including Tai Chi, does
not think he is going to win this one. But he
also doubts that he's gonna be able to steal
from his opponent. A dead card is read and it
becomes obvious that both Tai Chi and Nishida
are trying to take from their opponent instead
of defending their own card. Their opponents
find this very weird, but it keeps happening
after one more dead card is read. I don't know
how bad his luck is. Never bet on Tai Chi's card
being red. Very funny. So they're all in on defending.
And it doesn't seem like it's going to be possible
to steal from these guys. Samira can't handle
the pressure and is like, I just have to trust
in Tai Chi. I love Tai Chi. Tai Chi thinks that
he's unlucky forever as he goes through the remaining
dead cards in his head. He prays to God to let
him have this one instance of luck as Chihaya
wakes up and the reader reads the card on Taichi's
side. Both Taichi and Nishida take the card and
win, and Sumire starts cheering, but Kana quiets
her while the reader finishes the second verse
of the poem. Then Chihaya tackles Taichi and
Nishida and the rest of the gang join in and
there's for a group hug. Mizuzawa wins the team
tournament. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! They did
it! Oh, okay. No, I feel like I was going to
say something. OK, I don't understand. So does
the reader just like stop reading when people
slap and then resume? I think she just keeps
reading it, but like it happens so instantly
because they probably took it on the first syllable.
But like you have to say a whole line of poetry.
Yeah, I guess they just. give us the dialogue
between characters without that playing behind
it. Yeah, I'm Sumire though. I'm like, I don't
care about this poem. I'm happy my boys won,
you know? Finally, Nishida coming through. Finally.
He doesn't blow it. God. Yeah, man, man, man.
After the match, the Fujisaki coach says it's
her fault for building such a technical team,
which I don't really understand. The blonde guy
is shocked to see that Rion is crying, but the
coach tells her that no one on their team could
have beaten Shihaya, so she shouldn't feel so
bad. but also she can't just rely on her grandmother's
reading to win. After the match, Chihaya remembers
that Arata says he doesn't care about team games
and is sad, but then she walks out into the opening
or like the main room and sees Arata waiting
for them. She asks if he was watching. Her team
is now the best in Japan. She became the best
without becoming queen. So don't say you don't
care about team games, Arata. And then she starts
crying and Arata just kind of agrees as we cut
to credits. He just like grunts in agreement.
A multiple time. She's like, yeah. Yeah. Oh,
my God. Look, we get our we're going to get some
I'm sure to be cut short time with a ride out.
In the same room together. Six episodes from
the end. Yeah. Well, yeah. Freaking Shiaya. Oh,
I like the part where it's like. Pretend all
I am is ears and my one finger and then like
all our other fingers fade away. It's like she's
flipping us off. Yeah. Uh huh. Yeah, so there
we go. Our ladies are injured. Our ladies are
injured. Our dainty lady hands. Tai Chi finally
gets a dub. Nishida finally gets a dub. Tai Chi
should just get Renkei. They should just give
it to him. Oh, God, he's got to do it whole another
thing tomorrow where the chances of luck is going
to work out. I doubt it. We need to have an episode
where they all hang out this evening or something.
I know we're not going to. I know we're just
going to go immediately individual play because
this is a never ending sports anime, but I need
them to hang. I need. like an entire 10 minute
scene where Arata is in the room with them and
talking to them. Never. It's not going to happen.
I know, because it's like he's going to be like.
The show is good. Makes you think that it's more
than just a sports anime, but not really. It's
just teasing us with the prospect of more and
then doesn't deliver. It's going to be he's going
to be like, I'll see you tomorrow and then leave.
That's what we're going to get like one minute
of it being like, congratulations. I'll see you
tomorrow out. And then Shinobu is going to walk
by and be like. Like, yeah, see you tomorrow,
Chihaya out. That's it, that's all we're gonna
get. And then she's gonna be like, oh, I can't
play because of my stupid finger. And that's
why we have to have a season three. We can't
have back -to -back victories. Games really are
better when it's not Chihaya we're watching.
All of the best games. Yeah, so you think with
her being injured means we don't have to watch
her play, but I now remember a huge part of season
three as the whole goddamn... injury and overcoming
it. I'm like, oh, God, not looking forward to
that. That's like a whole thing. OK, great. Awesome.
All right. Look forward to season three. Oh,
no. OK. But we're not done with season two yet.
So at least we get to watch our other characters
shine in Chihaya's absence. Oh, my God. Yeah,
we we. Oh, boy, man. But yeah, so far, the best
the best match is this this this season. Think
is Tomo's match where he takes from his that's
still the coolest thing that's happened where
he takes from his opponent in the 50 -50 Yeah,
that's cool 50 -50s man. This team is riddled
with them The stakes must be high So that was
cool and then What else cool happened? Oh the
part where Tai Chi gets retro to fault. That
was good, too Yeah, that was good 50 -50s. That's
the only thing that ever happens. You're right
I mean, I guess it's easier than explaining.
I don't know, but they love explaining all the,
like, specific match situations. It'd be nice
to have us get to the point where one of our
characters, like, plays against someone and they
know that they're going to beat them, but they
can also appreciate that this person will then
become a better player. Like, they get the turn
to be like, ah, yes, this person is a threat
in the making. But that's what happened with
Tai Chi with the boob guy being like, I underestimated
him. Whatever his name is. Yeah. Pails in comparison,
errata. Double. That's what happens when you
date a freshman in your senior and then you also
fantasize about your coach. You lose. That's
yeah. It's team of losers. You guys are just
born to be losers. I'm sorry. Well, I still don't
think the thing is, I still have no idea. I have
no idea what's going on with Nishida. He just
wins. Why does he win this match? Why did he
lose last match? What happened? Because he's
a guy and both their girls are hurt. Man up for
them or whatever. He is that guy. You saw that
guy in one man. What happened? What happened
to him? And well. I don't know. At least it came
down to the original three members of the card
club to bring home the wins. Yeah. All right.
Well, we got six episodes left, which means we're
going to watch three and three and then we're
done with season two. Yeah. Yes. So two more
weeks. If you guys are. Still hanging on. If
anyone's left. I mean, these were good episodes.
The thing is, like, these were the most like
the hype sports anime I've gotten so far, where
it's like, yeah, you want to see this guy win.
Like, I'm not really even noticing how long these
episodes are. Yeah, I. Yes. And I know it's like,
oh, Sarah said this is one of her favorites and
she's like shit on it constantly. I'm still not
quite seen, especially when you're like, I'm
tired of watching Shia. I just don't care. It's
my. Let's say it's my favorite bingeable anime
and then Hard Capture Sakura is just my favorite
anime. And then now I'm afraid to cover that.
And then you go, technically, for the one good
thing, no, thank God, is it not that good? My
favorite is? I'm not saying, I haven't, hold
on, I haven't said any, I haven't said St. Jehiafru
is bad, okay? I had a good time here. I just
don't think it uses its time effectively, and
it kind of isn't selling me what I thought it
was gonna sell me, which is like, I want this,
like, I want the romance between the boys, you
know what I mean? Like, I want them to be fighting
for affection, but Aurora just isn't in the show.
He just isn't in the show still. He still isn't.
We're almost at season three and he's barely
here. Well, maybe one day he'll be a character.
Maybe. Maybe one day he'll be a character. I
mean, we got to like... Opening! I didn't skip
the opening on one of these and I was like, yeah,
it really implies that there would be more love
triangle tension than there is. It's just like...
A given, she hires an errata and then he's like,
he doesn't have to spend time with her now because
she's going to be hanging around forever. And
then Tai Chi, it's just like, should just give
up. I just don't know how you come away from
this, not just feeling bad for Tai Chi the whole
time, because like he's doing his best, man.
He's doing everything he's trying to do his best.
He's unlucky. He never gets like what he wants.
He never like. He's always coming out at the
short end of the stick. It's like he might usurp.
Ayane is my favorite side character of the shows
we've covered. I'm not sure yet. Yeah, maybe.
He's such a cool guy. I love Tai Chi so much.
Yes. Oh, we'll see. Who is that? Should we have
like Tai Chi and trying to think of someone from
Angelic Layer who'd be like a Tai Chi, but I
don't think they really have one. No one's cool
enough for that. Freak. Well, the guy who thinks
he's cool. Freaking whoosh hair. Yeah, the guy
was kind of a love interest, but not really.
Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh, dear.
Oh, Rankini. No, I'm talking about someone from
the Rose of Versailles. Freaking Ghirardelle.
Ghirardelle. Oh, Ghirardelle. Ghirardelle. They
can all hang out. No, Alain should hang out with
them. Alain and Taichi. Nah, Alain's too bro
-y. No, I feel like no guy. Yeah, he's going
to be like, look at this sissy man. Looks like
a girl. I don't think you would say that movie
alone would say that. Nope. Nope. Anyway, that's
it. That's all I got to say. Anyways. Yes. But
yes. So we'd love to hear more from you guys
via YouTube comments, Instagram comments or DMs.
Leave a comment on Spotify or most ideal would
be a written review on. the app store, which,
you know, I don't know, the world values Apple's
stuff. And so leave it. I don't even use Apple,
but I like signed into my old Apple to leave
us a review myself when we first started. So
even if you just have an Apple ID thing floating
around somewhere, or is that to like. Whatever.
Nope. Don't talk. Stop me from talking. Um, what
did we learn this episode? Um, tissues don't.
Don't just sneeze on a guy and then. Disgusting.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's pretty good.
Yeah. Yeah. Bring your own tissues. Alright.
Please do. Yep. And yeah, we'll catch you guys
next week. And I like. Look forward to hearing
our bonus episode. No rush. Excited to hear it
whenever. Yeah, it'll be coming out soon. Cool.
All right. Bye.