Chihayafuru Season 2: Episode 21 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2026-02-05 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
Comments
I loved this episode so much! One of my favorites, especially for this season! Chihaya deserved all of our cheers! She was on FIRE for this match! And the fact that she’s doing this with an injured hand and adapting was so intriguing to watch! At least Yuube was a good opponent for her - she really lucked out on that! Arata coming to Misuzawa would be CHAOS, but I doubt it would happen. Still, it would be super intriguing as a concept! You know Sumire and Kana would be side-eyeing each other so much! I’m glad Nishinda is getting some screentime as well in all this - but man, him vs. Arata was intriguing! And YES, what a cliffhanger to end on – I’m so excited for Shinobu vs. Chihaya as well! Thank you for the comment!
Romaniablack
2026-02-17 03:50:55 +0000 UTCThis episode was AMAZING. Seeing Chihaya just... adapt so fast, and actually pull off playing with her left hand was incredible. I was cheering for her the whole time. I appreciated that she understands that overthinking it won't help her; she had to play and do her best, and that was that. And it wasn't until the moment she saw the cards, after simply going with the game and analyzing her oponent as she always does, that she realized what she needed to do. It was so cool. I am, however, still impressed that she was as fast with her left hand as she was, because I would have thought she would struggle more with a hand that she has used very little to play this game and has no muscle memory drilled in. But, alas, it doesn't bother me enough to take away from the excitement of the moment. Yuube's demise was being too nice. Chihaya remarks over how impressed she was with Yuube's manners, and she seems to be as polite as Chihaya; so, of course, when Chihaya moves all her cards from place she just has to let her do it. I think Chihaya, who can't dispute cards, would have done the same if someone had done it, merely from the fact that she is too nice in the way she plays. I relate to this a lot, because I'm not sure that I would say anything if someone I was playing against did something like that, something that isn't exactly against the rules, and they are merely told it's not "polite". Yeah... if Arata came to Misuzawa, both Taichi and Nishida would freak out, but I think Hanano would be DELIGHTED that someone else is after Chihaya, or at least taking Chihaya's attention, and maybe Taichi will be free now that there's some competition lol. The chaos would be kinda funny to see, to be honest. Nishida keeps saying that he has been playing Karuta since he was a kid. This was an advantage for him before, all the experience of being one of the players that has being playing the longest; but, well, that card doesn't really apply to Arata because he has been playing just as long. They both have a ton of experience under their belts, and have developed keen game senses over all that time. Here, Nishida needed to flaunt his raw skills, and he hasn't sharpened those as much as Arata has, as he is well aware. And now, we head into another Chihaya vs Shinobu match... and I couldn't be more excited.
Alexandra Q
2026-02-12 05:54:00 +0000 UTCI have never thought it’s Chihaya’s plot armor as the main character - she got lucky in some of her matches, but our girl puts in the work! And I talked in the discussion about other aspects that played into her doing well left-handed. Ahhh, that makes more sense with her wanting to play alongside Megumu to be Queen! Thank you for the translation note, there! That also makes sense for the word Taichi uses to mean rival as well! That is so true where Taichi thinks Arata and Chihaya are in a romance when that is NOT the case! I had totally forgot about Chihaya and the cards being moved in Tsutomu’s match! Nice call and callback to season 1; I agree, our girl was too focused! I definitely think that the adaptation makes the situation more frustrating than how it might be portrayed in the manga! But thank you for the comment! I’m excited for the episode to come! 😀
Romaniablack
2026-02-10 21:53:43 +0000 UTCRIGHT?! Arata literally just wants to play Karuta and be nostalgic about his team with Taichi and Chihaya, haha!! But everyone is wanting to take him down! At least Chihaya is on his wavelength! XD This poor aloof bean! Agree, though, Taichi’s mom is a bit toxic in how helicopter-esque she is!
Romaniablack
2026-02-10 21:47:40 +0000 UTCThis was a great episode while Chihaya did get lucky she put in the work to figure out the mechanisms of how to use her left hand I know some people were upset around Chihaya just switching hands and winning but if you have a grasp of the game and good reflexes you can make these adjustments so I don't agree with Chihaya getting by on main character plot armor. I love Yuu she is a bit of a tomboy but she's very passionate and honest overall. I dont think her saying she wanted to be Queen alongside Megumu is the right translation she wants to play against Megumu to become Queen. I forgot to bring it up last week that the word Taichi uses for enemy in Japanese teki can also be translated to mean rival so it can be both Taichi sees him as a love rival and a karuta rival. I like the distinction of Arata being the oblivious romantic and Taichi the obvious romantic thats so perfect. I think Taichi could also be an oblivious romantic because he frames every interaction between Arata and Chihaya as romantic when that's not the case all the time. Chihaya as well is definitely an oblivious romantic because some of her actions this episode tells me that she at least sees Arata as a friend and at most has a crush on him and I would say the same for Arata towards Chihaya. The moving all the cards being rude came up in Tsutomu match in season 1 but I guess for Chihaya since she was so focused watching them it didnt register. I love the idea of Chihaya mirroring her own movements because she has been mirroring Shinobu and Suou movements this entire time. Arata says it later on that the Queen and Masters Tournament is in fall so this is just the high school individuals tournament. I mentioned a couple episodes back that I was questioning Chihaya thinking of only child Arata and yes it's fair to say that she hasn't had alot of proper interactions with current Arata till now. I guess my perspective was that if you saw someone especially a friend at their lowest like they saw Arata in season 1 it would be hard to still just think of who they used to be vs who they are now but her not really connecting to Arata till now in this tournament still makes sense. So last week I mentioned that the recap was in the manga but it was a panel nothing as long. All the moments of Arata or Chihaya not responding are also in the manga but I guess because you're reading it doesn't feel as awkward as in the anime Arata tells Chihaya you're amazing then Chihaya thinks to how Arata said she had a knack for karuta then they get interrupted. Chihaya cries in episode 19 then in the manga the next scene is the award ceremony for the teams. So while I get Chihaya and Arata are being interrupted or maybe feel a little caught up in the moment I get what you mean by it feeling unrealistic that they are this unable to speak. I'm looking forward to next episode to see how Shinobu vs Chihaya goes should be exciting
sanime
2026-02-05 20:55:33 +0000 UTCHow many people in this show 😂 are preying on Arata's downfall? He's just an innocent baby like why Taichi Nishida his parents Shinobu who else gonna join the line? Chihaya is not on this list because she just wants to have fun in a karuta match with him. Everyone else has some childhood grudge that my boy has no clue about except his parents who just cant bring themselves to tell our boy that there are some things he didn't consider. I love how relatable these parents are in how slightly toxic they are for our main three with the exception of Taichi who I could do without his helicopter mom.
sanime
2026-02-05 19:18:37 +0000 UTC
