Welcome to Shoujo, where today we are finishing off Season 2 of Chihayafuru. And I'm your host Sarah, joined by Joe, the man who puts Joe in Shoujo. What's up, Joe? Not much. You're pumped to be done with Tihaya Furu for a little bit. You know, I mean, it's getting like it was getting all right at the end. Like, you know, these episodes. Yeah, these are good episodes. I get how like this is like a fun show to watch. It's not the best to talk about, I feel like, necessarily.
But I didn't have a bad time at the end. Yeah. Episodes quite enjoyable. But before we jump. into those and all our rankings and how it stands against our other series so far. We will catch up. Would you like to inform us of your life at the moment, Joe? Yeah. So I took, I started taking, so I'm going to go to, I'm going to go to Japan. later this year, and I'm like, oh, I used to I got a minor in Japanese nine years ago. I should like take a little course and see
if I can refresh some of that stuff. And so, you know, I'm like, I don't know what course I'm supposed to take because like they just have this there's like a because there's like an organization here that does that. But they just have all these different courses and they're like you can just like refer to the online thing to see what you can do But it's basically just like the index
of a textbook. That's just like self introductions recognizing things Saying your likes and dislikes and I'm like I have no idea where I fall on this because I don't know what the actual Exercises are so I'm like, whatever I'll go like one class above the like entry level thing, right? So that's what I go to I go to my first session yesterday and let me tell you that's like a little bit
too low for what I'm able to do. So like, they, you know, they're like, oh, we're not going to learn how to like, write hiragana in this class. And I'm like, oh, okay, which is like the like, like normal alphabet, they're going to learn how to write katakana, which is like the borrowed words alphabet. And for reference, I know several kanji, so it's just like, okay, this is very low considering where I should be. So I'm about to figure out what to do for that. Joe is advanced.
And for anyone wondering how could Joe go to Japan without Sarah, don't worry. I was invited. I'm just too poor to go. But one day I will return to the homeland of anime. This will be Joe's first time going. And I'm very excited for you. Yeah. So that's that's what I did on Monday. I didn't watch any other like anime or anything, but I did finish season two of The Sopranos. Mm hmm. So that's exciting. And this is your first time watching. Right. Yep. That's my first
time watching The Sopranos. Pretty good. Yeah. I get why people like The Sopranos. It's fun. Yeah. I've been watching a lot of when it was popular. They have a lot of the actors on Sesame Street. Like they have like special guests on stuff like that. Extremely funny to watch. That is funny. That's good. Yeah. Oh boy. That's what I've been up to. How about you? Let's see. Love Island season seven of USA has concluded. The least romantic Love Island season I've ever watched.
Oh no. That's the whole thing. Drama Island. Like a total drama island. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I never watched that show, but I do remember it. So, yeah, interesting. Although it was funny because we had a couple basically break up in
the finale and it was very funny. Nice. Because he just very blatantly hated her and was just forcing her to end it so that she couldn't then go and like, been a story that like, He dumped her and it was so blah blah blah yada yada yada, but somehow they came in third place in that fourth place So a real couple lost to the couple that broke up. That's pretty sad They must be
yeah, that's that's how this season. It's just a very much sums up the season ending But they announced that Love Island Games will be back for season two. It's almost been two years now. So which is like a very mediocre spin -off, but hey, it's something. I'll take it. And then I got to watch the UK season that's been going the same time that I didn't watch simultaneously this year. And then Big Brother just started.
So lots of more reality for me. to talk about to you all who don't give a rat's ass about it. So look forward to that. I'm seeing Leia at the end of the tunnel, the puppy tunnel, because Pepper is, we're getting there. I'm no longer thinking she has diabetes, like pie training is working. I'm seeing she'll be a good dog once she gets over the puppy phase, which, you know, it's just terrible overall. Yeah. Let's see. Bachelorette trip coming up soon. I'm not ready
for it. I still got to get my pink night outfit and still got to get lingerie for the bride. The bride being my sister. Cool. So that'll be that. Let's see. Yeah. I don't know. Some bummer stuff. We've lost a family. dog and that was very upsetting. So I had to like skip my live stream for work last week and stuff, but nothing else, I think, really going on with my life. That's good. Maybe that's good. Is that good?
Yeah, it's fine. I move in like a month, so I took down all my posters and even that took a little bit of time. But I always pack way too soon before moving. And then I'm only moving to a different building within my same complex, so it's really going to be like a low -key move. But yeah, so that's all I can think of that's coming up. Yeah, so, but we've got a lot to talk about with this being a finale episode, so let's get to it. Okay. All right. We'll get to the
last three episodes of Chai for season two. Episode 23 is called To See the Beautiful Cherry Blossoms. We open on Tai Chi winning his match against Retro by 18 cards. So get wrecked, Retro. Just just get out of here, dude. You're not a star of the show. Just a comedy character. Brutalizing them. Elsewhere, Arata is crushing the boob guy in Class A, so we're not totally done with that character, unfortunately, and may not be for a while, but at least he gets destroyed here.
Unsurprisingly, Shinobu has also cleaned up. The Fujisaki coach has her students recording the match as he steps out of the room. And she goes to talk to Arata's coach. She's like, hey, he's a real good player. And the coach is like, yeah, he's just like that. Anyway, do you see any other notable players at this tournament? And then she thinks about Chihaya. And then she turns around to see Chihaya asleep in the hallway, just like right behind them. She could get pickpocketed,
like, why? Yeah, just falling asleep in corridors, you know, normal stuff. A freak could take photos of you asleep. Oh, my God. She wakes up and she's like, and the Fujisaki coach is like, Oh, I'll have my student apologize for injuring you. But she is like, no, if I just swung better, I would have gotten hurt, which we turn out is not true. But that's what she says here. The door opens and Arata and Shinobu appear victorious. And they are moving on to the final. Ultimate showdown.
Ultimate showdown. Shinobu is like, wow, it's just you and me, Arata. Ooh, I'm so scared. But he's like, not intimidated or biased at all. He's just like, ha ha ha. Chihaya is like, dude, I got to watch this game. This is the best. This is going to be all the whole season has been leading up to this because this whole season has been this one tournament. But then Nishida and Kana show up, and they're like, why aren't
you checking your phone, Chihaya? Kana got out in the semifinals, but both Satomu and Taichi are in their final match, so we got, we're stacked to the final. Someone else's too, but that doesn't matter. Someone else's too, but don't worry about it. Who cares? But they're both playing on the first floor while Class A Final is on the second floor, so you can only go and see one of them. Nishida's like, oh wait, it's friggin' Arata and Shinobu in the final, and then he's like,
man, I'm gonna go watch that one. Actually, I don't care about my teammates, I'm Nishida. Taichi doesn't beat us, he's like, totally on a roll anyway, so we should go and watch this one. Terrible. He's the whole one who is like Satoumu. You're not even like a part of the team anymore, man. They don't know what to do with them. Yeah. But then we remember that Taichi told Jihai to focus on practicing for the Queen match. So he's like, oh, he'd want you to go see this game. Elsewhere,
Sudo chastises his team for losing. Retro escapes punishment by sulking because he got beaten by Taichi so badly. Because he got beat he's got he got like just destroyed crushed He got like he only got like five cards from Tai Chi who he thought was his rival. Yeah, nah Tai Chi's like you're not gonna be in season three bud.
You're out of here Sadly, I feel like of course he will see him He had to like hang on to this menagerie of terrible boys, but we'll we'll talk about that more In the BNC final Sumire brings water to Tai Chi's Atomu and is like wow The others sure are taking their time. I wonder if they're gonna show up. Maybe Chihaya fell asleep. Ha ha ha. Maybe she's gonna go watch Arata instead. Isn't that right, Tai Chi? And Tai Chi's like, yeah, that's probably what she's doing. I don't
think she's coming. The Class A final will be Arata and Shinobu, and there's no way she's gonna miss that. He's like... Dead set on, like, yeah, she's not gonna be here. Tai Chi's opponent is Rion, and her team is mad at her for losing the team tournament. She nervously tells her team that she's gonna try to win, and that wins them all back, because, hey, look, she's, like, into it. Yay. So much for the iron mass. So much. I have a hard time believing one match is gonna
change. Yeah, it mostly just seems like you just didn't talk to her. It's just her gimmick for an episode. You know? Yeah, that too. Yep. Well, he just basically alienated her by picking on her. Yeah. This guy sucks. Rion's like, I gotta win this for the team. So we have some second years that can carry on the like, Fuji Saki team next year because our entire team was stacked with third years. The match starts and the cards are dealt. But Rion is surprised to see that
Taichi looks incredibly bored. He's just like sulking. He's just like, why do I have to be in class B? Why am I not in class A? This sucks. Why do I have to play this? Man, whatever. This sucks. Well, I think he's just trying not to care. Oh, it's great. He doesn't care about the fact that she has there. He can't be bothered by it. That's this is the ultimate truth of this episode. Mm hmm. But I guess he's good. He's good if he just isn't bothered. He's good if
he just doesn't want to be there. He's like. Mostly his issue is him being in his own head, questioning if he can overcome natural abilities. So if he just doesn't think about it, then he does better. And then, yeah, so he just needs to freaking chill out more often. But also, Ryon barely lost to Shihaya. So I would think he would think this was a good test of skill. Well, if
his heart was in it more. I guess so. I mean, well, I guess he doesn't know that she only lost or like she only got close because her grandmother was reading or whatever. Yeah, I guess they don't just I guess they don't know don't talk like we don't know they've never talked to each other Let alone about how their matches were even though this is a tournament that had Individual matches the following day where you kind of play against people that your teammates played again. Yeah
I don't know. Anyway, Tai Chi hears Kana in terms of see that both her and she hi are here He's
like what the hell why'd she come here? They're all supposed to be cheering like they're all supposed to be in the top floor this will be watching the class a they're all here to cheer him but he's like i don't get you chiaya i don't get why you're here fine whatever i'm just gonna win this game as quickly as possible so you can go and watch the end of the class a final how about that at the class a final the room is packed everyone wonders how this is gonna go will errata
be good enough to beat the queen what is he gonna be contender for the master title who knows they set up their board uh but just before starting shinobu tells errata that the best players are the ones that did it all alone This match is going to prove that they don't need friends. And Arata's like, mm, OK. What? Yeah, he's just chilling. He's just the most chill guy. Real intense. Yeah, he's the most just chill guy that came out for a good time, you know, even though
he's such a pouty boy. Not that long ago. I know he was so angsty and now he's just like, ah, whatever. Play starts and they both take cards so fast that the audience has a hard time knowing who is who's winning the cards. when they do it. But Shinobu wins the first two cards. Arata isn't deterred, though, and he takes a card before the first syllable was fully spoken somehow.
How do you do that? I don't know, because the just, you know, normally we're explained when Chihaya does it because she has incredible hearing, but that's not something we've ever been told that Arata possesses. So how? So how? I don't know, but he's doing it, I guess. Shinobu apologizes to the cards, saying that she's not going to be able to get all of them. Meanwhile, in the Class B final, Taichi and Ryoune are sucking it up by faulting constantly. Everyone is like,
what is happening? This is the worst game I've ever seen. Ty, she's like, shit, man, I just need to win this dumb match so GIA can go upstairs. I just need to get through this. And Kana is like, well, at least Rion is screwing up because the reader is doing a terrible job. And then she realizes that the reader is nervous because he's having his final exam to be promoted to. So like everyone just having a bad time. Which is like this. I feel like do that in a lower
stakes. round, not the finals to have some guy possibly messing up this match. It's terrible. It's going so bad for everybody. I mean, Tai Chi is just doing bad because Jihai is here. But like, it's very funny to be like, this is the worst game I've ever seen. Rion tries to get it together and starts to be able to play better by moving super quick. Tai Chi starts falling behind and then he starts to spiral thinking about how he can't beat people with natural talent.
He's like, I can't win quick like this. He stands up and thinks that he just needs to think of Rion like Chihaya not like The master which is he's been obsessing about the master match this whole time because he's like am I ever gonna be good enough to beat that guy So he's like, I'm just gonna focus on beating Chihaya He's never beaten Chihaya, but he does have a standard strategy against her where he splits all of his cards So she can't just jump to the right one.
So this is like the anti -speed Strat the move get it He starts under yeah, he starts undercutting her momentum and negates her speed advantage He'll probably lose the single syllable cards on speed because that's just going straight to it But he should be able to split the rest and beat her through like good memorization. That's basically his plan. He starts to chip away from her and thinks that he'll have to use the strategy
to beat Chihaya. He wins by nine cards. Rion just doesn't have the stamina to play five games in a row, so she just couldn't pick it back up. Yeah, because, yeah, I guess that's true, because today is the first day that she's doing that, because she's normally just kept on reserve. But yeah, nine cards is a lot. It's a lot. Really recovered. Taichi goes to report his win and then rushes to drag Chihaya upstairs to the Class
A match. But like while he's dragging her, she just goes totally limp and starts crying and he's like, what are you doing? Like what's happening? But it turns out she's just so happy. He finally made it to Class A. She congratulates him while crying on the floor as we cut to credits. He did it. He made it to Class A and he does not give a shit at all. Well, he's put so much pressure on himself and then... Because he feels like she's missing out on something by supporting
him, which is very sad. Yeah. But that's what she's trained, conditioned him to feel like... She's trained him like a dog. To feel underappreciated. He expects nothing. Yeah. This would be me. This is the most real to be like, oh, you're congratulating for me in class A. Oh, yeah, cool. I'm the last one in the team to make it. But all right. Yeah, I guess I did a good job. Thanks. Like, I don't care. Well, he's trying to rush her to see if they can watch the last bit of the class A thing.
Yeah. But yeah, we're so happy for Tai Chi. We're so happy for Tai Chi. This is Tai Chi's biggest. Uh -huh. Finally. Oh, finally. Yep. This is his biggest win in these episodes, because let me tell you, he's going to be taking some Ls soon. But that's just back to normal. But that's just back to normal. So let's celebrate when we can. That's true. This is the big Tai Chi win. He makes it to Class A by kind of dominating Rion still. I mean, nine cards is nothing. Yeah. That's
not a close game. Freaking crusher. Any other thoughts about episode nine? No, let's keep rolling. Any of Satomu's game? I'll just tell you that. No. Ah, upsetting. Episode 24 is called When I Must Hide. We open back up and Taichi tells Chihaya to stop crying. We got to go catch the game upstairs. And then he drags her up and blots her tears with his shirt. God, I'm just glad we don't have more stupid, snotty whatever. Why does this is a Jose? Why are they doing that?
So upsetting. Yeah, Chihaya is like, hey, if you're class A now we can be rivals and she gets all like competitive with him and he's like knock it off. Kana, Sumire, and Retro for some reason all peek their heads out from the room and tells them that they can go catch the class A game. They'll stay behind and cheer on Satomu. Retro doesn't say this. He's just there. I don't know why he's there. Chihaya is like, no, I'm the team captain. I should stay here with the team.
But then Taichi grabs her hand and is like, we're going to see you later. Sumire sees Taichi grabbing Chihaya's hand and is like, damn it, this isn't how this is supposed to go. I'm supposed to win something this season too. But Kana tries to cheer everybody up by referencing a poem. Yeah, I like that. Sumire is like, I don't get what's up with OA senpai. She's just always using poems as like a band -aid for, I don't know. It was just really nice that she... Sumire is observant.
Yeah, and notices things which I guess is why she's good. She deals with the human part of the show in a Interesting way. Yeah, not just alo. Yeah, that's not enough Sumire Yeah, unfortunately,
this might be the most we get out of her. I don't think we get anything else now Suddenly someone starts yelling it's Tsukuba who's been who's only one card away from winning the class D finals Nobody but the coach even noticed he was there which is extremely funny Uh, Chihaya and Taichi rush up to the second floor, but Chihaya doesn't want to go after all. She says she's going to go back and starts turning away as her finger starts to throb. Taichi's like, what's your deal?
But Chihaya doesn't know what to say. She's being a big scaredy cat. Yeah. Big baby. She can't handle it. Oh. Outside. This is why nothing happens in this show. Yeah. God. Oh, man. Outside, the coach that's like out there tells them that the room is full anyway, so they have a hard time getting in. But then the Fujisaki coach asks the other coach if they can make some room for them because she's brought boob guy with her and she's like, well, we want to go. And then
she encourages Chihaya to watch the match. So the four of them are about to go in. They wait to go in. But as the door opens, Chihaya is engulfed in a sea of water. She's like, wait a minute. There's no water here. This is just a normal match, but it feels like something is happening. What could be happening, Sarah? Arada gulp down that Arada card. Oh, man. It's just like last season finale. Yeah, it sure is. Anyway, Arada is winning five to eleven with a six card lead.
So damn, something happened. Wild. Nishida kind of recaps the match saying that they were neck and neck at the beginning, but then Arata started moving before the first syllable was read consistently, and Shinobu just couldn't counter that. Also, Arata plays really aggressively. Yeah, the referee guy or whatever is like, yeah, he definitely takes after his grandpa, like dirty Arata. fight and dirty kind of moves. I guess I didn't quite like he sends her stuff. Is that what it is?
Or? Yeah, I guess just the way he plays is like very much like doing it with the intention of, I don't know, like pinpointing. But that's like how you should play or at least at this level with this kind of opponent. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe just because he seems like such a cheery guy. I don't quite get it. Yeah, yeah. We hear some of Shinobu's thoughts thinking about what she can do or what mistakes she's made, and she decides that only targeting some of the cards
were her mistake. So she's like, all right, fucking I'm going for all of them now. She takes two more cards, hitting them hard to like knock multiple of them. But it turns out she's kind of guessing. So she's like kind of gambling now. Well, she's not using the same precision she was before. Right. However, the audience knows that the strategy does not counter Arada's strengths in any way. He just straight up faster and can accelerate
like crazy. That's his thing. He accelerates real fast, which I don't really understand is different than being. just fast, but I guess it is. Oh, I guess there's not enough distance. I don't know. Acceleration is everything. I mean, yeah, because like just being quick is the same as accelerating fast, right? Well, no, I guess it's like if you you could wait longer before reacting if you have faster acceleration. I don't. Dude, they're just trying to think of cool new
terms to use is like. differentiating players. Yeah, it does feel like we're doing some Mario Kart stats where it's like, oh, this person has fast acceleration, but this person has a faster top speed, which is like, OK, but I don't really understand what that means. Yeah. Arata knocks the card so hard it's about to hit Chihaya directly in the face, but then Tai Chi blocks it. Arata sees this and apologizes to them. Despite his crazy acceleration, he's always so relaxed in
a game. Chihaya thinks once again about, uh, Takana's explanation for the Chihaya Furu card as a, like, perfectly spinning top, and she's like, wow, you know what that really describes? It really describes Arata. Very powerful, but perfectly in balance. Arata. Hmm. Yeah, impassionate. Impassionate. Right, that's basically it. Oh, Poppy, don't... She can jump out of her crate sometimes. Hold on. Carry on. Across the room, Arata's parents are dismayed. They're like, oh,
Shinobu can't even beat him. What are we going to do? It's pretty funny. Murau thinks about how Arata has put in a lot of work over time to get better. He wasn't born a great player, after all, and we get an Arata flashback where his grandpa teaches him how to enjoy the game through practice. Anyway, he got better at Carta and also he got taller after he took his break. So now he's big and tall. So they're like, oh, maybe he just grew into himself, which is OK.
That's cool. Everyone is like maybe this guy can beat Master Show The score is now 9 to 4 and Shinobu is getting annoyed at the audience She pulls out a snow Maru towel out of her snow Maru bag and starts dabbing the sweat off of her face She tries to get it together remembering that she can beat some pretty good players today
So she should be able to do this. Shinobu takes a card from Murata by slipping under his hand like barely getting in there Then they both hit the next card so hard it scatters all of the cards in the area. It was at the same time, but it was on Shinobu's side. So technically she wins it. Chihaya saw that Shinobu actually got the card first anyway. So like she doubly got it, I guess. Chihaya starts swiping the air and Tai Chi has to grab her arm to stop swiping the
air in the middle of someone else's match. Come on. Come on, Chihaya. The practice swings are
so lame. It was very selfish of you. Not be paying attention and just oh good lord Shinobu defiantly glares at errata thinking that she has a closer connection to the cards while errata just smiles and it pisses shinobu off Also, she's like just totally exhausted at this point even still she takes the next several cards But in the end it isn't enough and errata wins by two cards They bow and shinobu gives the biggest fake smile.
I've ever seen as errata is declared the winner He immediately puts his hand on shinobu's forehead and informs her that she has a fever probably from walking around in the rain yesterday Anyway, it sure is amazing He did so well considering that shinobu thinks to herself that she always wanted to play against an opponent puts up a fight So she's like, uh, yeah, of course I did that well because I'm the queen as we cut to
credits. Yeah, so basically it's implying Our errata would not have one if she had been in top condition. Yeah, so it's not like shinobu Truly lost. It's just the conditions. But we got what we wanted for the sake of a plot of Rada winning so he can go to Tokyo for college. He can be in the show now. Yay. Finally. Join the cast. Surely the show is not going to be in college for quite some time. Yeah. Second years. Yeah. They need to come up with some excuse
for him to be there more. He's like, oh, I'm like, I'm going to a lot of. college visits, prep school or something. Yeah. Yeah. They're going to have to do something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anything else about this match? Oh, yeah. Good. Good. Remember when you thought that the Nobu might be related to Arata? Yeah. When we first saw her, or you thought she was a ghost person? I thought she was a ghost. And then I'm like,
she's just like a girl version of Arata. I'm still kind of right about that is the thing. Yeah. She's like what Arata would have been if she didn't have friends. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's let's get to our last episode. All right. We'll finish up episode 25. The final episode of Chihaya Fury season two is called I Can Look Up and See the Snowy Cap of Mount Fuji. All right, his parents are like, well, shit, what are we going to do
now? His dad's like, I don't know. Maybe we can make him win like two tournaments or something. But then his mom tells him that his grandpa took out an education life insurance policy. And the dad's like, I'm sorry. Oh, what? That sounds fake. He's like, well. A cost aside, don't we want him like not moving too far away? And the mom says that she's not looking forward to being alone with just her husband, but there isn't much they can do about it. And in exchange, I
do not understand. Terrible parents, terrible marriage. Why is this in here? I can see why you hung out with his grandpa so much. Like, why is she dropping the casual? Well, I fucking hate you. He doesn't like his dad. His grandpa didn't like his dad. Even his mom doesn't like his dad. God damn. This was the weirdest. I had to like pause the video and be like, did she? What? What is happening? I don't know. Resigned marriage. Yikes. Yep. No wonder he wants to go
to Tokyo. Get the hell out of there. Tai Chi thinks that Arata is gonna come to Tokyo now. Arata walks up to him and gives him a high five and Tai Chi is like, what are you doing? And Arata is like, oh, we're supposed to like high five as winners, right? Because you won your match, didn't you? Congrats, man. We're supposed to high five. Tai Chi's like, oh. Look at him trying to be a human. Yeah, look at that. We're friends, right? This is what friends do. This
is human interaction. Nice. So nice. Suddenly, a hand grabs the back of Arata's shirt and drags him down. It's Chihaya, and she congratulates him from the floor for winning, but also asks how he can be so relaxed when he plays, because she's like, I get super tense when I play. How do you do it, Arata? It's so Chihaya -furu of you to be impassioned. He's about to explain, but then they get an announcement that the winners need to gather for the closing ceremony, so we
don't get to hear his explanation. I think he actually was gonna explain it or he was just gonna be like, eh, I don't know, I'll just do my thing. I was just like, oh man, I just, you know. Or you have to learn yourself, Chiaya. Why are you such a chill guy, Arata? We need Arata over the chill guy meme. Chill guy meme. Yo, you don't know that one? I'm not a very good meme -er, meme consumer. The chill guy? My new character? A chill guy? I'm gonna show you a
picture of him. And we're going to edit a picture of a rod of space over him. That's what we're going to do. But anyway. Yeah. Oh, I've never seen this in my life. You've never seen him. No, what is that from? He's just a chill guy, you know? OK, OK. Memes are so funny. Yeah, you know what? You're right. What's happening? Chihaya thinks she's worked hard, but something about this isn't right. She's like, shouldn't I be a contender this season? What do we do if I don't
if we don't get renewed? I'm never going to be the champion. I lost the season again and we lost last year. Losers for another year. No, they did win the team stuff. That's true. That's true. But then someone calls to her and we see that both Satomi and Tsukuba throw out peace signs because they've won their they've won their tournaments as well. So who? The winners are
announced! Arata wins Class A, Taichi wins Class B, Satomi wins Class C, and Tsukuba wins Class D. Turns out Mizuzawa has cleaned up, winning everything except for the Class A match. Gosh darn it, Chihaya and Nishida. You ruined it! Chihaya's like, ah shit, we could have won everything if I didn't blow it. They all get ready to leave, but before leaving, the Fujisaki coach offers to email Chihaya the Class A match recording.
She wonders if anybody else notices that the only two people at the tournament that didn't lose a single match were Arata and Taichi, which I guess is true. Yeah. Oh, I really like whatever her name is. We got to remember it. But I love that she's like a substitute mentor to Chihaya now. Yeah. Unfortunately, this means we're going to have to deal with boob guy more than the rest
of the Fujisaki team that I do not like. that's true that's true they can get out as long as he doesn't hang around like freaking um uh pseudo yeah god they can form like the terrible boy club uh let's see it truly is astounding how many of them there are in this stove for women oh yeah anyway we cut to the hospital where a doctor tells chiaya that they didn't find anything wrong with her finger she'll have to visit a bigger hospital we got to a bigger hospital where
they tell her that she needs an mri She gets an MRI and it turns out she has enderone metosis. And she tells the CARTA team about this and it turns out that it's a rare disease where some bones get softer over time or something. But it's only like the middle joint in her finger bone that has it. But she's going to need an operation. And she's like, I'm going to be admitted to the hospital and have to undergo anesthesia and stuff. It's scary, but it's the only way
that she'll be able to play CARTA better. A lot more intense than your little finger. Thing, huh? I didn't need anesthesia. Yeah, they just numbed my finger. I got finger surgery to the audience where they like removed a thing from. Yeah, we talked about it. Not that everyone ever listened to all of our episodes, but yeah, they didn't replace my bone or whatever. I didn't need to drink the like the bone strengthening
juice. Like put it in like a sheet or something Anyway, she gets dropped off at the hospital and left with her sister's laptop to watch the class a final match on repeat Which she does freaking sweet? Yeah, you win supported Tai Chi so you could win but you also get to watch and not disrupt the entire match with your swinging Just swinging the whole time. The nurse keeps feeling like you need to stop swinging your hand.
You're getting surgery on it. Elsewhere, at Arata's bookstore job, he sees Chitose, Chihaya's sister, on a swimsuit magazine and is like, huh, that's weird. I knew her. Then he gets a call from Chihaya. She hesitates to tell him why she called, though. At a flower shop, the rest of the Karuta team argues over which flowers to get Chihaya. Taichi is being pensive the whole time, thinking that Chihaya might be feeling down about getting finger surgery. She's not, though, and she asks Arata
how to get better at Carta. That's all she can think about, she tells him. He tells her that he always thinks back to his room after any game he plays. He always thinks about the one time he played her as kids. Well, he's saying when he plays, he imagines that he's playing in that room, like the most favorite place he's ever played hard, which is so sweet. I was like, oh.
Yeah, bam huge colors big moment show Joe ass effect down He's been thinking about her the whole time every time he plays Carter That's all it takes for him to put in so much He's in this moment. I knew he was toast I know The thought of her makes him strong. It's just like makes him strong. Huge moment of being like there's like all these effects happening. It like looks great. And it's like, oh my God, Arata thinks about me all the time. And guess who turns the
corner as this happens? It's the Carta team. That's right, Tai Chi just in time to see Chihaya glowing on the phone. Chihaya thinks to herself that she doesn't understand these feelings that she's having. What could they be? Sarah, look at this feeling's me. Do you mean she doesn't know she's freaking sad? But for the rest of her life, she'll always love Carter. And then she adds that she'll always love Arana. Do we
think this? OK, but like, does she recognize that the romantic way or just that she loves him is like. I can't do this again. I can't, I can't be doing this again. I can't do it. After Kiwi's it okay. I can't do this. She says love. Okay. I don't remember what literal word she says, but it was translated as love. So God, it could be not. It could not be that. Am I going to be like in pain in season three? Well, I don't recall being super sad. Well, it definitely didn't
feel like the conclusion. So it never, I don't think it was the fight. finish the show, but I don't think it's romantically satisfying if I vaguely remember correctly. Anyway, the operation was a success was a success, but she can't practice her swings until it's fully healed. Her sister and mother visit her and her sister is very dismissive, but gets her like this really big daddy bear plush. So there's that. That's that's fun. That's really nice. That's cute. I thought that was
very sweet. Uh, Chihay has to write down 20 poems for her homework. She thinks about how Kana told her to read a bunch of poetry before being able to write her own, but she's like, I'm not doing that. Uh, she only got through five poems before she had to get the surgery, so she's running out of steam. She thinks about Carta, and then about Arata. He always thinks about playing her in his room, huh? I guess my whole life has been
about Carta too, in a way. Always wanting to get better, just so I can receive a little bit of passion. Kana and Taichi come and visit Chihaya in street clothes, and Taichi is wearing a cross necklace, and I'm like, what's going on, my boy? Have we heard of a band named Creed? Is he Christian? What is this? I don't know. It's just I feel like it's part of like gothic accessories. Not that Taichi's a god, but I don't know. He's listening to Creed. We got another Creed listener on the
team. I know him and... Oh, God. They do have some similarities. Those suffering through dense girlies. But I'm not certain that Tai Chi is going to overcome it. Oh, no, Tai Chi is going on the creative cruise. For sure. By himself. They meet up with Chihaya and read some of her poems. One of them is just straight up a story about her hanging out with Shinobu. Like, not
even a poem. Okay. But the next - But then Kana reads a much better poem about Karda, and then she reads another one about longing, and she's like, oh, no. Because she's put it together. They're exciting. Kana and Taichi walk home. Taichi's like, well, she seemed to be recovering okay. Seems like things are gonna go back to normal, huh? But then Kana stops and just starts smacking him on the shoulder. She's like, you
gotta try harder, man. And he's like, what? And she tells him that she should have gone to see her alone. You shouldn't have brought me along. Chihaya isn't going to be clueless forever. And Taichi tells her that he already knows this. Then do something or give up. Probably give up. Give up. Honestly. You need to give up, man. So cute that Hana's like rooting for him. I know. Somebody in your corner. It certainly isn't Chihaya. Yeah. At the hospital, Chihaya watches the video
of Arata on repeat. This is voting very poorly for Taichi. Elsewhere, the Fujisaki boob guy hits on his teacher and she shoots him down. Then she gets a call from Chihaya thanking her for the video. She asks her what she thought of the match and she tells Chihaya that Arata is just a pretty solid player all around. Nothing too crazy going on there. And then she goes into a long description of how Shinobu plays. Then
she... Yeah, I don't know. It's like... The one who actually knows what they're talking about advising. Yeah, finally. Finally somebody who knows what's up. Then she invites the Mizuzawa team to do a summer training camp with them and she is like, oh yeah, hell yeah, we'll do that for sure. We cut to Taichi and Chihaya going to the summer camp. The rest of the team couldn't make it because their society had summer camp the same day. And also, Kana is making sure that
Taichi can go with Chihaya alone. Look at her, best swing woman ever. She's very cool. We learned that Chihaya should be resting her finger, but is still going to this camp anyway. She's like, I can't stay away from Karda for long because Karda makes me think about things. I wonder what I have this longing in me. What could it be? They arrive as we cut to a credits montage of scenes from this season. And then we get a post -credit scene. I did not watch past the credits,
so I'm glad you pointed this out. We get a post -credit scene where Arata informs his, like, bookstore owner guy that he's moving to Tokyo, and the guy's like, no, my best guy! And then we cut to black. It's pretty good. Was he a good worker? I guess. I guess he's hard -working. Dude, he's just a chill Kai who Loki doesn't give a fuck. Yeah. That's his whole deal. Well, he's had a lot of change from season one. Yeah. Okay. That's the meme. That's the whole meme.
Okay. Thank you. Anyway. We did it. We made it to the end. We did it. It truly was. Just that tournament. The whole season. Yeah, that's pretty wild. It's pretty wild. Well, I can predict that the next season will be about... Oh, God. It's probably going to be the qualifiers for a master and queen. I'm guessing. Yeah. It's got to be right. Something like that. OK, we've got our spreadsheet pulled out with our previous. Yeah, we got to move kind of fast. Sorry, guys. I have
people coming over soon. So that's right. We got like 30 minutes. So we can take our time. We don't have to. We don't have to rush. I can also make them wait like they're not that important to me. No. No, this is my bad. We were supposed to record last night, but Sarah is occasionally, selectively, narcoleptic and just sleeps too much. That's okay. Did you have any other big closing thoughts about season two? I'm happy Tai Chi won. I love that he is kind of supporting
him. Arada is going to be more of the show. Freaking Nishida has plummeted and rank amongst behind the characters. Yeah, what the heck, man? I don't know what to do with him this season. He's still better than Tsukuba, so. Tsukuba is freaking putting the work, man. He's class B now. No, he's class C now. No, he was class C before. They were both class C. Because he was in the class C. Oh, right, right, right. OK. Well, right.
Then he'll be in matches more, I guess. I guess he did have the best matches this this season again. Well, I have someone in every ranks. I know Tia. Chi -hai is going to be like, now we super gonna win every division. Yeah, I wish there were more. So Sumire is going to get a lot of pressure. Sumire, there needs to be more Sumire. Yes. Biggest takeaway. Yeah, she's really
good. I wish I understood. I wish they had more to play with in terms of how people play, because like having Arata also just go quicker on the syllable. That's just what everybody does. That's just how you win this game, I guess. Yes. Yeah. but how's how's tai chi gonna do that he can't do that i don't like this training camp gonna be wild i need next season you know what i need to happen next season i think i think i need tai chi to beat errata and become the master
and then Arata gets with Chi -Hai. There's no way. Okay, that's... No, I think Tai Chi rather the other way. I mean, I think he'd rather the other way, but the way things are trending, there really doesn't make any sense as to why that would happen. Yeah, I don't know. He used to listen to Creed on screen. I hope we get to see... Oh my... What? Okay. Moving on. We can talk more at the certain points as we go through these rankings. OK. OK, our first ranking. I don't
think much has changed for me, honestly. The only thing that probably changed is like the side characters. I guess we can consider some couples, but in that gag episode, they confirm that there were no couples in the show except for Retro and Nishida's sister. Yeah, I guess I agree. Well, let's go over them. We can still go over them. Yeah. All right. So overall show. Do you have any updates? Your ranking, Joe? I don't think so. OK, so I'm going to read mine
from the bottom. I think mine's the same. Overall show number five, Chihayafuru, both seasons one and two at this point. Season two was not enough to bump it up. I'm sorry. The tournament, as good as as much as I love Satomu, half of the season was over the course of two days. Number four is Kimi Niitadoke, number three is Skip Beat, number two is Angelic Layer, and number
one is the Rose of Versailles. And mine, from bottom to top, is Angelic Lair, Get Beat, Yayafuru, Middle of the Pack, Himi Nitsudoke, and then Rose of Versailles. OK, so it didn't improve for you either. But if we include the movie, does that deduct points from Rose of Versailles? No, I don't think we can compare a movie to a TV show. It just feels like not a thing you can really do. No, all right. I guess we could we just put it at the bottom, right? Nah, it's fine.
Protagonist, has Chihaya ever covered for you a little bit? Well, if I was thinking movie Oscar, then yes. Oh my god, okay. We're not thinking about movie Oscar. No, I'm gonna keep it. I'm gonna, yeah, I'm gonna keep it. I think I'm also gonna keep it, but I'm sorry, Chihaya, you're still ranked last for me. Damn, I forgot Chihaya last for you. So it's, it's. Worse than Misaki is crazy. Listen. You're worse than nothing,
Chihaya. Next season, she's going to actually have some, like, real character stuff going on, I feel like. This season, it's like, oh, she decided to watch Tai Chi and Satomi play instead of Arata. But I don't. That's not. Yeah, I guess that was a step up. That's a step up, but it's not it's not enough of a step up. I'm sorry. So mine's still Chihaya, then Misaki, then Marie Antoinette, then Sawako, then Oscar, then Kyoko.
Yep. Uh, as you all know, I absolutely hate Marie Antoinette, so she's at the bottom of my list. And then Misaki, so she's worse than nothing for me. And then Chihaya. And then Oscar, Sawako, and Kyoko. Kyoko, the best protagonist ever. Probably will not be overthrown. Honestly, she's just so great. We love a revenge girly. Revengeful spirit girl. What should we do about the couples
here? Should we add Chi Hai and Tai Chi? And Chi Hai and Tai Chi, and then we see which ones we rank as in, like, which one we're rooting for more. Yeah, yeah, we should we should rank those two. I mean, man. Or Tai Chi. Tai Chi just needs to give up. Tai Chi needs to give up. I'm saying that it should just be Arata and Shihaya. They like, he thinks about, we got the reveal that he thinks about her every time. Tai Chi and Shadow. Every time they play, he plays Karda,
which is the only thing he enjoys doing. He's thinking about her. It's over at that point. Like, Tai Chi can't win because he has a life outside of this, kind of. So I think Tai Chi just gonna have to take this L, man. OK, so then we're adding. OK, so we're adding. Chihaya and Arada as our contender amongst their overalls. I'm just ranking all of those two. Which one's higher? It's hard for me to gauge because like
they didn't do anything, right? Like I want the best for Taichi and Chihaya is not the best for him. Yeah, that's bad. I don't want him to be with her either. So I guess, yeah, we'll just we'll throw. We'll ignore couples. Chihaya. Oh, do you want to add in Arada? I could just add them and then at least right now how they are. OK, yeah. All right. Well, not very high on mine. Person and Marie. I put mine above Kent. OK. All right. So I put mine above Bernard and Rosie.
Damn. We barely see them together. They're like the they're like the neutral value. Yeah. I like. Yeah. Cool. All right. So I have at the bottom, person and Marie, of course. Second from the bottom is Gia and Arata. Listen. You guys got to do things together. You can't just think about each other. We've also see the conclusion of everyone else's except there. So, understandable. I'm sure this will go up. And then we have Ayane and Kent. And then we have Bernard and Rosalie,
which is the break even one. And then we have Kazehaya and Sawako, Oscar and Andre and Shizu and Ryu at the top. OK, I'm going to change mine some more too. You don't have to use this list, do whatever you want. Yeah, switch Oscar and Kazehaya. OK. I've softened. That's our season three coverage, I guess, of Kimi Nishidoki. Yeah. Okay. My worst one first in Rui. Of course. And then Ayane and Ken. Oh, sorry. What? Yeah, Bados. Freaking Bernard and Rosalie, because we barely
get to see them as a couple. Hi, Gerada, just because they have such an impact on each other's lives. And that was very sweet, what he said. Um, and then Oscar and Andre, they're good. Um, and then Kazahai and Sawako, just because out of any couple that we've ever... Oh, we don't even have Kyoko and Ren. I guess we didn't include them. Why? Because she's a minor? It's not like we didn't include them as a couple. They didn't do anything. It's hard because they didn't become
a couple in the show. Yeah. Okay. Uh, we should probably put them on there then if we're putting... If we're putting Chi Hai and Arata though. Yeah. OK, well, we work this for next show. OK, OK. And then Chizu and Ryu at my top as well. Cool. So, yeah. All right. For the real one. This is the real one. We didn't even do it last time. We like I tried to listen to our ending of. And we just didn't we just straight up didn't do it. So we get to have a brand new fresh off the
dome. Don't even think about it. Side characters. Oh, God. I think we should do I think. Well, then I'm going to go in order. I have to go from top to bottom. What you got? OK, best side character is. I think you got to pick one from each show. Tai Chi. I pick Tai Chi as my top. You should pick one from each show. Number two is going to be Ayane. Mm hmm. And then let's do Dear Lord. Oh, Christ. Freaking Psy from Angelic Lair. Oh my god. Let's go. Love Psy. She's so freaking
cool. She is cool. Let's see. Oh god. I'll do Moko from Skip Beat and then from Rosa Versa... No, JK. Rosalie from Rosa Versailles and then Moko. Okay. Yep. That's it. Is that all this? Yeah, that's all this. Yep. Yep. Yep. OK, I got to do mine. Hmm. Oh, wait. Oh, OK. You have to you have to put I was going to say, I guess you had to put Kroomy and then you must put Jen Joan, whatever. Oh, yeah. I'm thinking my bad. I'm thinking the best sidekick yours for you. Yeah,
let's go. Who's who's number one? Mm hmm. I think John might be another one. Oh, dang. Our villain girl. Uh, real good. I just, I just always think about her. We're in that black dress on the beach, trying to bribe Oscar and just being incredible. So good. Um, then we got Hitoko from Angelic Lair. Oh, that's right. Yep. Then, then I think, then I think we got Taichi, you know, as much as I love Satomu, Taichi just is like, Satomu was like great to watch, like a, like a fun POV
character. Uh, but Taichi is what the show is about. to me. He's not even a side character. I don't even actually include him in this category. He just is the show to me. Sumire, also a pretty top contender, but doesn't make the cut, unfortunately, to Taichi. And she agrees. She would agree that she doesn't she doesn't compete with Taichi. And then I got to pick. Well, that's because she has deemed herself main character and this is side characters. Yeah. And then I'm picking
Karumi and then I'm picking Moko. Dang. Karroumi, look how low you are. But she's like Karroumi is great. But compared to Jean, it's like they both do the same thing, but one of them is way better at it. OK, that's yeah. So that's true. OK, well, that's good. Good rankings there. I like opening songs. I don't even remember the I like season two GI if we were opening more than one. Right. Maybe. Yes, you did. That doesn't change my ranking, though. My ranking is no,
I don't think that's true. I think you like the first one. Oh, maybe I did. I didn't like the visuals of season two. Yeah. Doesn't change my ranking. Yeah. Which is still my ranking is at the bottom, Skip Beat, then Kimi Ni Tadoke, then Angelic Layer, then Shihei Furu, then Rosa Versailles. And mine, I've got Angelic Layer at the bottom and then Skip Beat, then Shihei Furu, Kimi Ni Tadoke, and Rosa Versailles at the top. Yeah. Mostly mine's more based off the song itself.
Yeah. That's fair. Our last category was moms. She highest mom gets a boost. I don't think we have an upset. We didn't even see him. Did we see her? Yeah, she had the whole episode where she goes and buys the Hakama with her and she's like, I'm sorry I was like ignoring you kind of. So then she recovers. I think it's enough to recover over. Oscar's mom? Why is Oscar's mom so high on your list? Because Oscar's mom is like the baseline. It's like a mom that is
somewhat positive, right? I don't know. She let her daughter be turned racist. Yeah, rules. It's like the whole impetus of the entire show, and it's awesome. You should always do that. Anyway, my ranking is now at the bottom at number five. Kyoko's mom, who sucks. And then we have Misaki's mom, Shoko, who's also not good. And then we have Oscar's mom, who's like slightly positive. She's she's fun. And then we have Chihaya's mom, who made a big recovery for me this this season.
What if your mom actually cared about you and the stuff you did? Yeah, she kind of sucked in the beginning of the first. That's pretty bad. And then we have Sawako's mom at the top, who's a good mom. Yeah. Shoka's at the bottom. Yeah. Similarly to Marie Antoinette. I just hated her the whole time I saw her. Kyoko's mom, because I know a bit more about her than you do. Oscar's mom, Chihaya's, and then Sawako's. Here we go. All right, that's our rankings. Next time we'll
have a new show. So it'll actually change the ranking a little bit. That's right. As opposed to updating a show. A sign of affection. We'll see. I feel like we need maybe like, do we have a category for like theme or takeaway or something? Because I feel like this next one, that's going to be its biggest strength is what it's covering. Doesn't that go into show though? Like the overall show? I guess. Oh, that's true. Never mind, JK. I'm just like, I don't remember it. That's a
character. Well, okay. Yeah. So A Sign of Affection is what we're covering next. So you guys will have to listen. That will be probably four episodes, four to six episodes of coverage for us, depending what pace we want to take. And if you want to suggest other shows for us to cover and, or if there's any other categories you want to hear our thoughts on from these shows, you can email
us at showjoepot .com. pod at gmail .com yeah and another way you can let us know what you're thinking about the show is uh you can you can uh like no you can rate well you can like our youtube videos and stuff you can like and subscribe you can smash that subscribe button on youtube Yeah. But you can give us five stars in your podcast platform of choice. This is very helpful to us. You can also leave a comment in Apple podcast that really helps the algorithm acknowledge
that we exist. That's always nice. What if we did where it's like by leaving review, you enter for a giveaway of a dojo shirt or something? We should do something like that. Maybe once we hit like a. Maybe for like our 100th episode or something. Oh, OK. But it's a real like this late 70s now. Maybe we do one every week. So we're actually like really getting up there. But also more people need to make comments. So if we want to include those. Yeah. Yep. I think
about it. Only shop it some more. You know, the third piece of merch ever. That's right. That's right. Yep. Yep. All right. Yeah. Well. You know, if we were more important people, it would be like, and where can our viewers find you, Joe? That's true. Blah, blah, blah. You can't find me anywhere. Don't look for me. What else do you do? You can find me. I stream on Twitch as Sandwich Artista. And you can also watch along as I do a weekly live stream at work on the Walkabout
Mini Golf Twitch channel. Uh, yeah, so plug for walk by main golf the game. I'm the community manager for Great game. That's good. We should start saying that you'll like our next DLC Joe You'll like it. I guarantee. Oh my god. Oh Yep. Well, we did it. We got another show. Well another season of a show. I guess it's not the end of the show No down. How do you feel? How you feeling about the podcast overall? How are we feeling? Are you feeling like you have a new perspective
on Shoujo stuff as the resident Shoujo? Yeah, I mean, definitely. I mean, right. The Shoujo I've consumed mostly was when I was as a teenager and definitely wasn't thinking as much about what I was watching as I am now. And yeah, I don't know. I've been more active on the Shoujo subreddit and there is a lot of Shoujo that just like Never made it to anime. So maybe one day we'll when we're humongo success We'll do manga too because there's some really great ones But
just didn't get the the time. Thank you. That's our episode today Before I try and end the episode did we learn anything? What did we learn from Chi Hai Fu Season 2 the whole thing? Season 2 She's just not that into you. Taishi, my man. Even God can't help you with this one. Admirable to like try and pursue something that you really feel strongly about. But you must also look after your own well -being. And sometimes you just got to drop something or even just wait until
she's like not a child. And a teenage body. Wait for her to grow up, baby. That's what he was doing. Well, he needs to wait quite a bit longer, I think. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I think you should just be a chill guy. That's the secret of landing the hot chick is just be a chill guy who's good at Carta. Just don't take it too seriously. You know, I don't know anything else. Yeah. What else could happen this season? We have a guy not trying at all and a guy trying his best.
It's the first one is the one succeeding. He's not having to do anything. So, um, let's see. Try to think if there's any other final thoughts. Right. Next time. I guess our next show, A Sign of Affection. I have only watched the first episode, but I did read 10 volumes of the manga and Joel hasn't watched it all and it's new. So it's different. It's probably... lean a more towards Jose just since it's college -age characters, but excited to cover that. Yeah, want something new to add
to our catalog. Yeah, and it's on Crunchyroll. So be sure you guys listen. Yes, it's on Crunchyroll. There's Omnibus for the manga being sold, so it's doing quite well there, too. Very cute manga covers. So look forward to that. And we'll catch you guys later. See ya next time. Bye bye.