Tsukasa’s #3 fan

An addition to this post read it first!

These are not actually my thoughts but aimeeeface on twitter! She tweeted these and tbh she made some great points that I hadn’t even considered so I got her permission to share what she wrote here!

love this analysis so much. actually have been analyzing + re-analyzing this one scene to a friend for days bc yes, it's wrong and problematic but i also think it accomplishes - visually- what he's trying to convey to her. that at this point he no longer has the energy to convey. aside from the fact that the alternative - an honest conversation - requires a vulnerability taichi does not have the mental or emotional capacity to handle at this point so soon after the last time he was vulnerable with her, i think the other details you pointed out (the way she grabs him, her forceful words regarding him not quitting specifically for her, her tears) play a huge role in how he chooses to react to her. what i focus on is the specific details of the kiss itself, how he fast and desperately he goes for it, how it looks like he pauses the second their one lip touches, how fast he backs away - like he gets driven to this point where he absolutely crosses a line, somewhat recognizes that this is Wrong, turns away and delivers that line to her. taichi losing it, the way that entire interaction is v unlike the taichi she knows, and his words affect her and she realizes he's actually hurting that much. i also like that chyfr doesn't romanticize that scene, it's not the big criminal act taichi haters turn it into but it's also absolutely wrong and you're supposed to be horrified he does it and somewhat relieved it doesn't go far. i hadn't considered it as build up from the taichi cup (where i you're right, she not only gives off mixed signals but also carelessly offers his kiss without his consent, in a way like maybe he gets the impression she doesnt think it matters to him who he kisses) but that makes a lot of sense. at the same time, much like the rejection, he expects her response before she even gives it, he definitely wasn't trying to kiss her long enough to get a reaction out of her but it represents the split second he, essentially, loses his mind. i think taichi is a flawed character and he makes mistakes, but turning this problematic moment into some violent crime isn't the way to go, and i feel people don't discuss him with nuance or allow him to make mistakes more than other characters, so i appreciate your analysis. some people do stupid things at peak emotion, and it's not a justification but i think it does drive the story from here bc that whole scene, not just his words but how uncomposed he is in that moment, is when she starts to see him as a fallible human.

I really like this addition b/c again it’s completely fine to be uncomfortable with the kiss - I think that was the point. However, the kiss was a mistake made in a moment of desperation and should Taichi never be allowed to ever come back from this? TBH we are all imperfect human beings and we will all make mistakes.

AND TAICHI FEELS BAD ABOUT HOW HE LEFT THINGS WITH CHIHAYA!! He really does. The guilt is apparent when you look at this:

Like not only did he leave things badly BUT THEN HE EVEN HAD THE AUDACITY TO FEEL GOOD THAT CHIHAYA WAS HURTING TOO!! Like be honest when someone hurts you do you not feel a bit of satisfaction when you can hurt them back? It’s such a believable and human flaw but Taichi truly thinks the worst of himself because of it. “There’s no coming back”.

Him quitting the club hurt him too you know… He missed out on the last year being able to play WITH HIS FRIENDS AS WELL! :( But people only think that Taichi was being manipulative because she rejected him? Bro he was on the edge of quitting before that if you hadn’t noticed. If Chihaya had accepted him honestly it would have ended up disastrous for both of them. It was not Chihaya’s job to fix Taichi (even though she wanted to help him by making him smile). This was a journey he had to go on himself. Him tethering himself to Karuta for Chihaya’s sake WAS VERY BAD. The rejection while heartbreaking was necessary b/c he needed to stop doing things for Chihaya’s pleasure only and do things for himself too. I will also be honest I hadn’t even considered the fact that Chihaya had offered up Taichi’s kiss without his consent. Even I am fallible to the double standards of sexism. Because let’s be honest if Taichi had offered up Chihaya’s kiss as a prize without her consent most people would have been up in arms about it. But because she only sees him as a “friend” it’s somehow ok? Ehhhhh. Or maybe it just slipped under people’s radars like it did mine.

I’ve finally read the last chapter of the manga, and it was just, it was beautiful.

Incoherent ramblings abound. I felt a bit sad when I read someone post sorry to chihayafuru fans because they were put through an ichiruki situation, because i have always thought there was no such thing as a fated love in Chihayafuru. (Also this is ironic, because while I slightly preferred ichiruki, no way would I say that ichihime was farfetched, in the same way that there is absolutely no way taichihaya was farfetched considering the development, and again ironic because both chihaya and taichi have the sun and moon motif so they actually healed my heartbroken ichiruki heart, but I digress -)

Anyway, I need to process my words. When I say there was no such thing as fated love, I mean that as much as I loved taichihaya, if Chihaya and Arata ended up together, I wouldn’t say that there was no basis. There was such a thing as fated friendship between our trio, but unlike other shoujo manga I’ve read, I wouldn’t consider either Taichi or Arata as Chihaya’s soul mate (I consider the three of them soul mates). Other people have shed insights about how Chihayafuru is a story of transience and youth, and I think the finale maintained that theme until the end (like Arata’s joke for example about wanting to be with Chihaya at 28, as he said the future isn’t set in stone). 

What I loved about the ending is how it was a culmination of everything they were passionate about and fighting against. For Arata and Chihaya who were passionate about Karuta, and for Arata fighting against or for what his Grandfather means in the Karuta he plays now, for Chihaya growing up to be more sensitive to the world outside of Karuta (her wonderful conversation with Retro comes to mind, as well as her gaining a new dream in becoming a teacher). In the same way that this story was all about passion, and for Arata and Chihaya for that passion to be directed towards Karuta, I find that there’s nothing wrong with Taichi’s passion to have been directed at another person - specifically - Chihaya, even as he was fighting against himself.

I loved the finale, because it showed how much the people around Arata and Chihaya, specifically the people who had nothing to do with Karuta, like Arata’s childhood friend and Chihaya’s older sister impacted them and meant so much to them winning. 

As a taichihaya shipper, I really loved the finale because it shows that it’s not just Taichi’s nearness that caused Chihaya to love him back, but at the same time it was him going far away that really puts things into perspective for her. It was just so Chihaya to confess even when she thought that Taichi had already lost his feelings for her. In others words, even if Taichi no longer loved her romantically, his confession impacted her that much that she had to answer it with a poem of her own. 

I love taichihaya not because I was sure it would be canon, but because I just really preferred it, and these are just some of the reasons. 

1. the parallels with harada sensei and his wife, as well as kana-chan and komano

I love parallels, ok? The parallel with harada sensei and his wife actually works two ways, harada sensei paralleling Taichi with the latter also becoming a doctor in the future, and both Chihaya and harada sensei’s wife saying all they wanted was to see their important person smile. It also works the other way around in that both harada sensei’s wife and taichi steadfastly supported their loved one’s drive to become the meijin and queen respectively. 

kana-chan, our beloved taichihaya ship captain. I still remember how she compared chihaya and taichi’s match with her match with komano, and how they were each pair’s best matches precisely because of how well they knew the person they were facing. the irony and not of how it was these two who finally managed to push chihaya and taichi to get together. 

2. the heartaches of love

I love how they each exemplified the highs and lows of love. How Chihaya showed how love could be greedy, in Hanano’s words, and how their experience was reflective of Taichi’s comment about love in the beginning of the series, about how love was painful but you still wanted to be with the other person.

How it showed from the very beginning that even if Chihaya wasn’t fully conscious of it, she had always been jealous of the girls around Taichi, first with his girlfriend, and even in the last chapter when Taichi mentioned Hanano. 

I always mentioned this, even after the angsty confession and break-up (?). Chihaya relies on Taichi like no other. To be honest, they were practically co-dependent. Which is another reason why I loved why everything played out the way it did. Chihaya’s crush on Arata always seemed easy in that it didn’t seem as if she wanted it reciprocated (a happy crush mixed with admiration), meanwhile Taichi needed to confess to have Chihaya reevaluate what he meant to her and how she was supposed to relate to him. 

And yet I’m so happy they made up first, Taichi was finally at peace with himself, and even chose to go somewhere for himself, even if it meant being physically apart from Chihaya.

It shows that Chihaya’s confession was not out of fear that she had to reciprocate to keep Taichi by her side like she wanted because Taichi had reassured her that their friendship along with Arata would remain strong even if she didn’t reciprocate. In other words, their friendship would remain the same, but it was now Chihaya who realized she wanted more.

3. spending your whole youth on it

Taichi’s conversation with Harada-sensei about wasted youth was both about Karuta and Chihaya, and yet despite his fears, he still kept working hard, still kept trying to reach out for the Chiha card. 

The confession and Taichi’s behavior throughout the entire series always screamed to me about how self-sabotaging he really was. He is the one to bring Arata up during his confession. He never acts in a way to get Chihaya to like him because he was already sure that Chihaya loved Arata. 

And despite all that, despite all his fears, in the same way he was sure that he no longer had any luck in the draw, in the same way he was sure that he had no chance with Chihaya, he still loved her anyway, still supported her the best that he could. Wasted effort but one that he no longer considered wasted even if Chihaya never loved him back because he was finally at peace with himself. But of course, he was overjoyed when she said she loved him, because as he said, he would always be helplessly in love with her. 

I’ve always thought that in the same way throughout the story Taichi thought Chihaya didn’t notice him, it was also about Taichi never noticing how much Chihaya noticed him (the towel scene is really symbolic of this). It’s quite ironic how Taichi considers Chihaya dense, when he’s also a bit dense when it comes to Chihaya. 

4. how taichihaya might as well be self-fulfillment for ariwara no narihira and the empress

listen, listen, brilliant people who are more well-versed in poetry have pointed out the parallels between narihira, the empress, the emperor and taichi, chihaya, and arata. It was pretty on the nose with how narihira was even drawn to look a bit like taichi, and now chihaya and arata are the queen and meijin respectively. 

with how shinobu pointed out that the chiha and tachi cards were always paired together, nothing will now stop me from imagining chihaya and taichi as the empress and narihira who were reincarnated and can now be together.

The first hint we get that Chihaya herself sees Tachi and Chiha as paired cards is here

When she lays out her placement, she looks for her card and automatically looks for Tachi because it's her paired card, but not only. Chihaya feels like Tachi = Taichi is the other half of her pair

She refers to this moment with the word "futari" that literally means "a couple", "pair" in Japanese. The fact that she started the club with Taichi together, made her feel like he was a part of it all. Her happiest moments are in the Mizusawa clubroom.

When Taichi leaves it's like a part of her is amputated. Her teacher tells her to study

Chihaya finally truly "feels" in her skin and bones the emotions described in the Kaze poem....she feels like she broke Taichi and is falling apart herself. She directly connected to the poem and the emotions of the Poet for the first time. Beforehand she probably understood some poems but it never hit her deep in the heart as the moment Taichi left.

This is when we see her starting to miss Chiha but Taichi seems to always come around at moments she is at loss, like in the third year nationals, him helping out the karuta club at the karaoke and Chihaya with her mother.

By the time of the qualifiers we get the subtle hint that she looks for Tachi/Taichi after looking for Chiha (don't you look for the card of the person you love most? Like Taichi always looks for Chiha). At the challenger we are more and more confronted with Chihaya's feelings overflowing for Taichi. Her heart probably chose but her brain still needed to process and put a word on those feelings

When the finals begin, Chihaya looks for Taichi again...what is interesting is that in this moment we could actually chant poem 16

Chihaya needs him there, she wants him to come. That is what she wanted to ask him most at the New Year's shrine. "Please come Taichi"

Taichi on his side is struggling with his own painful feelings. Again here we could almost chant the Chiha poem, the hidden feelings of Narihara being represented by Taichi. Taichi has no idea how much Chihaya longs for him and still thinks she's meant to be with Arata. He is his worst enemy.

In chapter 234 Taichi finally comes to the venue. We sort of get the first teaser about "paired cards"....(although there already was a mention of Tachi and Chiha being a pair when Nishida spoke with Chihaya about having crutches to remember poems) and Chihaya's flustered thoughts that lead to the realisation that Taichi had always been with her, even if he wasn't there physically, he was her biggest support mentally. It's the thought of Taichi that gives her strength.

By the time we get here, it's clear. Tachi was the one paired up with Chiha. Not only in the Hyakunin Isshu but Chihaya's own pov confirms what she always felt from the moment she started the club with Taichi: he was the one always by her side, literally and metaphorically, 16 & 17 together since over 1000 years and more.

Sorry for the late reply, but here is a long post about my thoughts about Jisu's character arc, including spoilers from episode 147 (these are just my ramblings, my word is not gospel :D)

Does Jisu like Miae romantically?

Now, this is a hard question to answer. And I will try my best to break down what we know about him so far.

Sounds really deep doesn’t it? It simply means good, bad and somewhat fitting into both categories. And actually it is even simpler I just need a rant. I spent too much time in the English Cheese in the trap comment sections and it really bugs me that especially starting with the Goodbye chapter Inho is seen as better than ever, practically a perfect little angel and Jung as worse than ever, the devil in person (if Inho’s the angel). So I decided to look at the good and bad qualities of both boys. I guess most if not all of their qualities fit in the grey category but I’ll try to consider what I think the most accepted opinions are among readers. Feel free to argue, to add to my lists or just simply comment, I love talking about CitT. Oh and I’ll edit, expand this post as my opinion changes and I think of new things to add to the lists. It’s not really continuous, and since it’s long I doubt people will read it, the sole purpose is to get this out of my system (and maybe start a nice discussion). I’ll also pepper it with some of my drawings I uploaded earlier to make it more fun. I try to be objective but it’s easy to guess my preferences, right? Let’s get started!

Inho’s biggest problem in my opinion is his selfishness and that he simply doesn’t understand that everything he does, including speaking (it’s closely connected to his rudeness) has its consequences. (insulting people in high school, putting down Inha’s art) It’s understandable that he is selfish as he had to look out for himself  the better part of his life and I see it as a survival method (same with his sister Inha) but it can ruin his relationships with other people (all kinds of relationships). As a result, he doesn’t really value human relationships, especially friendship or at least he says so on more occasions (for example after the dinner at Seol’s, right before the fistfight of the boys). His treatment of his old co-worker and somewhat friend also demonstrates that. Leeching off people is also part of his selfishness, not caring if the other doesn’t have more money than him. But that’s something he showed in the first half of the story. His short temper and tendency to violence gets him in trouble especially because he rarely stops to think before he acts. He gets better with  controlling his temper and does give up his pride to play piano again, although due to a push from outside. He refuses to look at things from other peoples point of view, what he sees and believes is the truth and changing his mind is really hard if not impossible (example: his belief that Jung broke his hand) He improved a lot, he’s better now at controlling his temper and sometimes sees the wrongs he did and tries to correct them (Inha). But himself, his pride is most important, always, even if he hurts others.

(Picture is webtoon Inhos opinion about his drama self. No question who wins if there is a fight. Text is by English Webtoon CitT commenter Celery)

Now Jung’s biggest problem is his manipulative behaviour, and it’s greatly disliked and frowned upon so it landed in the black zone. It’s very useful at times but it can also bring great harm. (stalking, homeless lady, unnamed kid nicknamed Chopin) Like Inho he also improved, his punishments are not as severe as earlier (Sangchul S4) But just like Inho looking out for himself, Jung uses manipulation mainly to protect himself and those he cares about. Since it’s effective I don’t think he will stop, ever, it’s a core part of him that can’t be completely changed, like Inho also stayed selfish and aggressive and rude, although better than at the beginning.

Being calculative is connected to Jung being manipulative it’s a trait that helps him with his plans and life. Likely also helps with work and helping Seol.

Another trait readers dislike is his mask of smile, he just wants to be left alone and probably has the least trouble this way. And why should he care for all the people around him, there are just too many and they don’t care either. But being rude to them doesn’t bring anything, either, so there you have it. It’s the opposite when he turns cold - that’s basically him being angry. He closes himself off so one can only guess what’s the problem. I consider that a bigger problem since it also affects his loved ones. It’s okay to cool off but if he stays a sad little clam, who can guess what caused trouble and how to correct things? I think Seol is slowly getting him to be more expressive but that also results in him being more vulnerable (S4 Ch66) and that his “bottle“ can’t hold that much - he keeps things to himself, bottling everything up but he can’t bear that as well as earlier. (S4 Ch 66 and 71) Bottling things up isn’t good, either, as he himself tells Seol, trying to  get her to share her problems with him so he could help.

He’s quick to judge people and it’s hard to change his opinion (but not impossible) Yep, the number one example is Seol’s case.

Both boys have victim mentality, thinking what is theirs is taken or them receiving undeserved damage.

Done with the blacklists, moving to the grey questionable traits (actually most traits can be both harmful and helpful)

To tell people right away what he thinks is very typical for Inho (like when he told Seol she’s way out of Jungs league, bragging that he won the fistfight) so he appears genuine and honest to readers - but his truth is often distorted, just like Jung’s and while people see it with Jung, they often overlook it with Inho,  believing his truth to be the ultimae truth. It has two sides and the real truth lies somewhere in between. Honesty is a great trait but it can cause just as much confusion and a biased view on the story. (And that drama didn’t help with that) Loud. Why did I put that there? Because some people aren’t bothered one bit by him starting to yell out of the blue while others can’t stand those kind of people. Inho is also not the smartest out there and he is aware of that. it’s not that bad but not good either. But it’s an important reason in my opinion for him not being a good match for Seol romantically even if they were in love. She is so much more intelligent and capable, I have no idea what those two would talk about if Seol doesn’t develop an interest in classic music and piano. I don’t think that would end well. Right now I don’t think he could be someone for Seol to lean on, he would get a lot from the relationship but - forgive me - he would be an additional burden for Seol. When he has built up his new life (S4 Ch76), I’m sure he’ll be a supportive, good partner to a suitable girl.

Now let’s look through Jung’s grey list. He is secretive and mistrusting, those two traits walk hand in hand, also his sensitivity. It’s good if you don’t burden others with every little thing and keep things safe but going extreme causes not only harm for others but for himself, too. I think one important cause of the misunderstanding between him and Seol was him being mistrusting and sensitive (actually Seol as well) It got worse with Seol again and again unintentionally making him appear to be weird in public. (staring at him as she observed him, snickering incident, when she talked to others right before dropping the papers that Jung kicked) That freaked him out more than anything since he doesn’t want to be the weird one his father stampled him to be ever since he was little. Sensitivity helped them to determine what kind of people they encounter but it also makes both of them judgemental.

Now let’s get to the good part. Inho is good at heart and if he cares, he really cares and tries his best to help. My favourite example is the pepper spray but he also tried to stop Younggon with his fists, although that didn’t discourage Younggon one bit but it still shows Inho cares. He is really passionate about playing the piano and is also talented.  I put him being impulsive in the list trying to capture the good half of his brutal honesty and thinking before acting. In  situations where quick acting is vital it’s very useful. Maybe I should have left it as honesty as I initially did but he caused too much harm with that (starting with Inha’s art and the unwanted nickname Dogfur) He’s a good boy but has lots of baggage.

Jung doesn’t have less baggage, just different, but that doesn’t make either him or Inho bad people. They are like most people out there with their own troubles and good qualities.

(That’s just an unfinished sketch because I wanted to draw them happy together.)

Now back to Jungs good points. He’s intelligent, he cares for Seol and tries his very best to please her (once it got through to him that she’s a good girl, not like he initially thought). I guess he could be more open, but if you leave him alone he’ll leave you alone, too.  But he does care and he is obedient and listens to what others tell him and tries to act on that. He’s still trying to be like his father wants him, he listens to Seols wishes and even if he doesn’t show it, he even considers what people he dislikes tell him. Inho is a good example, when he told Jung that Inha is potential danger to Seol or when during their fistfight he told Jung that he’s bad for Seol, in the chapter where Jung actually ran to Seol for comfort it was shown that he did think about what Inho said and it made him uncomfortable. In S4 Ch76 we hear that Seol didn’t make it into Jung’s father’s company - I take it as Jung listening to Seols request to not use his influence to get her in there. (She must have had a bad day, otherwise she would have been accepted for sure, she is such a good worker) How odd now that I have the chance I can’t think of anything more to write so that’s it and here is one last picture, simply because it’s one of my favourite moments.