classic-literature-lover:
I will try to make this short and quick: Chihaya WILL end up with Taichi, NOT Arata. The title of the anime “CHIHAYAFURU” screams it out. That is my theory, and I believe I have some pretty strong evidence to back it up, at least on a literary point of view.
So why should you care for my opinion? I feel like i have to maintain a sort of credibility to you, my dear readers, so here goes: I am a college student majoring in literature, and I analyze symbols and pay attention to details when i read a story. When it comes to anime pairings, I try to be as objective as possible, and see the story from a literary perspective. Basically, I believe that story-wise, Chihaya x Taichi is a much more practicable match than Chihaya x Arata.
Let’s go back to what I’ve mentioned before—the title—CHIHAYAFURU and why I think it’s the most crucial clue to my theory. You see, the title of an artistic piece, be it a novel, a short-story, a painting, a musical composition, or in this case, a manga, speaks a lot about what the story is about and the theme it is trying to convey.
In this case, the title CHIHAYAFURU conveys different meanings if we look at it through the eyes of each of the three main characters: Chihaya, Arata and Taichi.
Chihaya—the connotative meaning of CHIHAYAFURU
Words can have multiple meanings. Connotative meaning is the expressiveness of the word, or the associations that comes into mind when we use it. For example, the connotative meaning of the word “home” is love, security, and belongingness.
CHIHAYAFURU tells us about Chihaya’s love and passion for karuta. It’s basically the bulk of the story: a girl’s journey in competitive karuta and finding herself along the way. CHIHAYAFURU is “her” card, the card she first took from Arata. It is to her, the only red card in a field of karuta cards. Wherever it may be placed, she is bound to take it, because she is connected to it, as a soul is connected to its body. In a sense, we can say that Chihaya and CHIHAYAFURU are inseperable.
From Chihaya, we learn that passion, despite its drawbacks, will always give the person a sense of fulfilment. Our passions are us. Our individual passions speak a lot about us, about who we are and what we desire in life. We are taught that even passion requires hard work and we must not stop until we achieve our dreams. Thus, the connotative meaning of CHIHAYAFURU is perseverance and dedication.
Arata—the denotative meaning of CHIHAYAFURU
Denotative meaning is the literal meaning of a word. In our previous example of “home” its denotative meaning would be, “a place of residence”.
The title of the series, CHIHAYAFURU are the first syllables of a Karuta card that Arata once told Chihaya was her “namesake” card, a word that means “with deep feeling.” Both would always see that particular card as special, and representative of their friendship. Incidentally, it becomes Chihaya’s strongest card because her hand is always drawn to it. Kana later explains its true meaning as “a red colored love/passion that never fades.”
From Arata, we learn the literal meaning of CHIHAYAFURU. After all, Chihaya’s motivation in karuta was largely due to Arata whom she looked up to as a role model and example. Memories of Arata and the times they spent playing karuta, led to Chihaya’s “love/passion that never fades”—the literal meaning of CHIHAYAFURU.
Taichi—the love in CHIHAYAFURU
So how does Taichi fit into the picture?
If from Chihaya we learn the connotative meaning (perseverance and dedication) and from Arata the denotative meaning (love and passion that never fades) what do we learn from Taichi?
My friends, we learn from Taichi both things! He has both perseverance and dedication AND unfading love!
Taichi’s love for Chihaya is unrequited. It is from him that we learn about love and how it is to love. It’s when “things don’t turn out the way you want them to and you’re not having fun, and yet you still want to be with him/her.”
Taichi’s love for Chihaya is not mere infatuation, but it is REAL. True love differs from infatuation, for the latter does not see the flaws in a person, while the former sees the flaws but loves the person anyway. This differs from Chihaya’s feelings for Arata. Her adoration for karuta eventually led to her adoration of him, whom she looks up to as her role model, a “God of karuta.”
Taichi, on the otherhand, knows Chihaya’s feelings for Arata, he is aware of her eccentricities and yet he loves her whole-heartedly and is the person by her side as she goes to fulfill her dream.
Taichi has seen ALL the sides of Chihaya, and yet he is still, “hopelessly in love with her.”
So how do we relate the two meanings to Taichi?
During the meijin qualifier match, Taichi lamented over the fact that he was unable to take the CHIHAYAFURU card. In his mind, we saw that he immediately associated Chihaya with the CHIHAYAFURU card saying that “wherever it is, I ought to take it.” Losing the card was like losing Chihaya.
From Taichi, we learn a lot about love. Love is like aiming for the CHIHAYAFURU card. To get it, you must have perseverance and dedication. To keep it, you must have passion that never fades. That is what Taichi is trying to be all throughout the story.
So basically, we can see the two meanings of CHIHAYAFURU in Taichi. Of all the characters in the story, he is the most human and the one most of us can very well relate to. We feel his burden and pain as much as we feel ours. But just as Chihaya will someday be queen because of her perseverance and dedication, just as Arata will continue becoming Chihaya’s role model for his unfading love and passion, so will Taichi continue loving Chihaya for both reasons. And it will only take some time until Chihaya notices it, and might perhaps, return it.
That is my simple logic. Taichi only needs to be himself, and not try to be anyone else. Also, I think that until Taichi overcomes his insecurities, Chihaya will never see him more than a friend. Fortunately, in the later part of the manga, Taichi has become much stronger because he had gradually accepted his weaknesses, and we can see that CHihaya had started to see how unique he is.
Story-wise, Chihaya x Taichi makes much more sense than Chihaya x Arata for the following reasons: 1.) the former has gone through a lot of development, trial and testing, and is 2.) more suited to the meaning being implied by the title, and is 3.) more consistent with the theme of the story, than the latter.
So that’s my theory. Chihaya will end up with Taichi, or the writer might choose not to settle with anyone at all, but a Chihaya x Arata ending will be highly improbable. Arata’s confession makes no difference. A common love for karuta, is a poor basis for love.
If the story doesn’t end this way, either the writer is completely cruel and twisted, or I’ve made a mistake in analyzing the symbolisms present in the story. Perhaps when I’m through with my literary criticism course, I’ll make another analysis of this very splendid story.
I agree with this. This is the main reason I ship Taichi/Chihaya: it makes sense for both the story and the characters.
When I started to read the manga, I had no doubt that The Couple was going to be Arata and Chihaya (and I loved it). I liked Taichi for being that great-yet-so-obviously-flawed male character but I was prepared to follow him in his journey of unrequited love. Until I started to see all these little details.
I, for once, wasn’t crushed when Arata confessed his feelings (surprised, yes, it happened a lot sooner than I expected) because I knew how Chihaya was going to react. And everything Chihaya thinks and says about Arata reaffirms my opinion that her feelings towards him are platonic. Beautiful and intense, but platonic.
So, for me, there’s no ship battle in Chihayafuru. Either Suetsugu chooses the pairing that goes along with the message of her story or she doesn’t.
theartofmadeline
stormborns
jimmyeatworldofficial
