Chihayafuru 2 Episode 8: Which Shines over Mount Mikasa

Arata

Oi. Chihayafuru was flawless until now. And it tarnishes its perfection with an absurd faux pas. I guess it’s plausible that one may be intimidated by another of a larger stature in karuta but moments later Lizard-kun invokes race into the equation by implying that he has never seen a black guy.

Nani??

Unless one is a part of those uncontacted hidden tribes in the Amazon (which Hokkaido does not remotely resemble in any sense), prejudice derived from the skin color of another is simply unforgivable. The identification of color, even at its most benign, is problematic. I can recall my high school teacher once remarking that it is racist to say, “Look at that black kid with the new Adidas.” It’s a completely innocent and natural statement but it underscores the discriminatory culture society has absorbed. The only instance where it makes sense would involve law enforcement unless readers can think of others.

As long as we continue to place labels or assign categories to others and ourselves, mankind will inherently remain divided. It reminds me of an interview with Hyde where he talks about wishing for world peace and why it doesn’t come true. After September 11th, a college professor stated in class that Muslims should be killed. (He made a poor half hearted apology at the next lecture.) And my best friend at the time accused me of being a terrorist for listening to predominantly Japanese music.

We are very fortunately to live in the information age. We have access literally at our fingertips. Everyone can and should educate themselves of other cultures. Failing that, one should not be alarmed upon first encounter with those of another background. Katsucon might have unfolded differently this year had both sides been more accepting.

This incident surrounding Lizard-kun is puzzling and funny because the episode proceeds to depict the story of one group learning about and having fun with another’s culture.

Chiba

Before we get to the sexiest man in anime history, Tsukue-kun demonstrates the heart of a true gentleman. I almost wanted to jump and yell “He’s so cool!”. Taichi deserves some of the credit as well. He’s really growing in the role of President and effectively the Captain because… Chihaya. It does confirm a point raised by Starburst that Taichi needs to focus more on himself. His noble acts for the team comes at his own expense. Finally, the viewers can safely conclude that Sumire may have picked up karuta for Taichi but her love has expanded beyond into the game.

There’s two things I eagerly look forward to next week. For one, a new character was introduced and she is absolutely endearing in a Chihaya kind of way. For the other, Arata! Only a sexy beast with a deep voice like his can casually state that he lied and still cause one to go weak in the knees. Anyways, as I was saying, excited to gain a glimpse into the history between Arata and Shinobu.

This is a non sequitur but Justin over at OrgASG made a hilarious and witty tweet regarding a particular scene for this week.

Chihaya

Author: The Paper

The Paper <3s music.

6 thoughts on “Chihayafuru 2 Episode 8: Which Shines over Mount Mikasa

  1. Hmm, was wondering why I was getting hits from Anime Diet this morning 😀 I see it was for a noble cause!

    excited to gain a glimpse into the history between Arata and Shinobu

    Watch as this gets glossed over until the last minute next episode. Because that’s just what this series does to Arata: they gloss things over until the last minute (or just one or two minutes in general, since his screentime is lacking) in each episode!!!

    1. I am still getting a kick out of that tweet.

      Well, I am hoping the show’s penchant for flashbacks will outweigh its love for glossing over anything Arata related in the last seconds of each episode ~_~

  2. Yes, the last scene is always a cliff hanger! Shinobu grabbing Arata’s shoulder, hooooooooo!!!!! Can’t wait to see the next episode!
    You know, Japan is very isolated, they just don’t have any opportunity to talk to foreigners even though Japan is well advanced in economy. Only few businessmen do. We rarely see foreigners, when I was a kid, I saw foreigners only at church, it’s not like big cities in America. But I believe people in the Midwest or South probably never seen Asians and would get the same reaction. “Hey look, there is an Asian person!” Hard to imagine that if you live in a big city.

    1. That’s still problematic. The act of pointing out that there’s an Asian connotes an exotic phenomenon. There are a few billions Asians! We live in a global world (funny eh?). The current paradigm exists because some only consider a certain geographic area which is rather last century or ten. It’s as if they’re part of some obscure tribe far away from civilization. Hope that clarifies my point better.

Comments are closed.