Chihayafuru 2 - 13
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I swear if this keeps up, Chihayafuru will make me go insane.
The back-and-forth game continues, and that can only mean more tension. We're not moving any faster, and because of this the match continues to keep me on the edge of my seat. You can only imagine my frustration, when I found out we had another episode before the conclusion; my weekly "next episode where?!" reaction.
Chihayafuru is now continuing down the path of a sports anime and it makes no apology for it. Rather than doing that, it shows off that it can do it like the best. It doesn't matter that the sport is karuta, it can still get me, you and everyone excited about the next point more than a handful of regular sports anime. Arguably the driving force behind all this is Megumu's sudden surge in motivation. With her putting more effort in, the match has reached its climax.
We continue to get the drama from the minor characters, which in this case is Megumu's team mates. This has become something of an essential for Chihayafuru, and is a clever way of giving us the full story without slowing down the pace any more than how it is now. Typically, a background story for each character is a requirement in sports series, and Chihayafuru doesn't want to be an exception to this rule. For me, it's extras like this that are making the second season resemble a sports series and all things considered, they're done fantastically well.
With this season more than halfway over, one can't help but think about the remaining episodes. We've been going at a much slower pace than the first season, and that leaves a lot of questions as to what we can expect from the remaining 12 episodes. Presumably next episode will conclude the match, but then we're left with 11 or so episode in which to conclude the series. Just what does Chihayafuru have in store for us, and more importantly, will it get there in time?
No reason to worry for now, and I hope that it remains this way.