Looking back on 2014, part 4: what hurts the most…

Another year passes, and Chihayafuru makes it onto my list once again. Unlike in previous years, however, this time, it was for all the wrong reasons…

“I’m sorry.”

** WARNING ** CHIHAYAFURU MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD **

Just like last year’s, this defining moment involves a confession: Taichi’s. But how different it was! Unlike Arata’s confession last year, I could clearly sense the manga building up to this moment, what with the preparations for Valentine’s Day, Sumire’s confession, and the expected ‘return presents’ on White Day. But whilst Taichi’s confession was pushed back just a bit further, the fantastic party that Chihaya threw for his birthday in early April only made the whole situation all the more painful for me when the moment finally came.

“I’m in love with you, Chihaya.” No way…that’s not true…it can’t be true…

As I have written in my reflections on the chapter and its aftermath, this outcome of ‘Chihaya rejecting Taichi without really thinking about what his feelings meant’ was precisely the outcome that I had expected and feared. Chihaya has long been far too absorbed in her own goals, and Taichi has never really been able to work out how to change that. However, whilst they both hold some responsibility for the disastrous fallout — namely, where neither of them is able to play karuta anymore — I maintain that Chihaya has the bigger issue to confront. And I dare say that that’s precisely what Suetsugu-sensei thinks as well.

What about Arata? How does he feel about me?

No, Chihaya. This is NOT what should be on your mind at this very moment!! Why are you not thinking about the feelings of the boy in front of you, the boy who has just confessed to you?!

Please don’t get me wrong: I love Chihaya, I really do. She’s my favourite out of the main three, and that’s precisely why I’m so harsh on her. I want her to be able to achieve her dreams of spreading the love of karuta to ever more people. But in order for her to do that, there are certain flaws that she needs to identify and address, the biggest one of which is her relative inability to see anything that is not associated with her own wants and desires. Before I finish, I’d also like to highlight a comment that another mangaka made about one of his characters, though I’ll remove his name for the moment:

~~ is basically a very pure person who doesn’t think about whether what he does is good or bad. He just does what he wants to do, which causes trouble for others. He’s very self-centered, only concerned with himself. Some people might think what he’s doing is good, like avenging his parents or trying to realize his brother’s ideals. But he is troubling others in his pursuits, so that aspect is bad. So it’s hard to say with clarity, but it’s all about whether it’s right or wrong to be so self-centered with your goals. I’d say he’s not good or bad, he’s just pure.

If you can’t work out who the mangaka and character are from the latter’s actions, here’s my original post about it. Although Chihaya obviously isn’t as extreme as this character, I still think that ‘pure’ is a particularly apt way to describe her. And I agree with that mangaka’s sentiment – it’s all about whether it’s right or wrong to be so self-centered with your goals. Now…I get the feeling that quite a few Chihayafuru fans will be rather disgruntled with the association I’ve made between these two characters: I’m ok with that, but I’d certainly be interested in finding out what you all think about it. 🙂

Will we ever see them like this again…?

In any case, since I’ve already written one too many posts on this topic, I shall leave this here. To be honest, even if Suetsugu-sensei hadn’t given us these developments this year, Chihayafuru would probably have made it only my list anyway, for reasons that I…don’t really want to talk about anymore. What’s important now is that I pick myself back up and actually get back to doing what I promised I would do: translating the missing chapters. 頑張るわ！