Memories of 2013 part 1: I really should have expected that…

Time really flies, doesn’t it. For cultural reasons, I’m not meant to be celebrating anything this year, so all I’m able to do is say thank you. Thank you to everyone who has dropped by, and especially those who comment and who keep coming back. It’s been a somewhat spotty year for me in that I’ve slacked off when other things have been on my mind (the recent spate of entries was all about catching up posts that I was supposed to make), and I know that some of my ‘reviews’ have suffered because of that. But thank you all for reading anyway, and I hope 2013 has given you some good memories too!

It seems to be becoming a trend that the first post of my review is about youthful love (the only exception now being the first memory of 2010, which was about Macross), but there’s nothing I can do about it. Those who’ve been following the series should have an inkling as to what the title of this post refers to, but if not, spoilers for Chihayafuru 119 follow…

** WARNING ** SPOILERS AHEAD **

Last year, it was Chihaya; this year, it was Arata’s turn. Following his loss to Harada at the Meijin qualifier finals, Chihaya’s advice and smile remind Arata of how special she is to him, and the realisation dawns…

Chihaya, I like you.

That he followed this with “let’s play karuta together” really cracked me up. Like Kana-chan later surmised, to these two who are so obsessed with the game, I feel that such a line is pretty much the equivalent of one thing… What do you think?

Of course, Chihaya’s formal response is yet to come, and there are so many complications that may throw some spanners into the works. But for the moment, I’m happy to keep reliving this little moment and the love that Suetsugu has woven into it.