The ninth episode of the drama series "Chihayafuru: Meguri" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10 PM), starring actress Ami Touma, aired on September 3rd. Towards the end of the episode, just before Meguru (Touma) and the rest of the Umezono Karuta Club take part in their final match to secure a ticket to the national tournament, Kanade (Mone Kamishiraishi), the club's former advisor, appears, sparking a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 9, Meguru and the Umezono Karuta Club, who lost to Mizusawa in the first round of the Tokyo preliminaries, win the repechage tournament and advance to the final preliminaries to decide the second representative. Meanwhile, Mizusawa, the champion who missed out on the championship, also wins the repechage tournament and advances to the final preliminaries. With the big match three weeks away, the Umezono Karuta Club is making a final push.
After an old injury to his right hand recurs during the preliminaries, Fuki (Jun Saito) trains under Taichi (Nomura Shuhei), an alumnus of Mizusawa, in order to play karuta with his left hand. Taichi, who is watching Megu's karuta as she practices, says, "Aizawa's karuta is unique and interesting." Megu looks at the cards that have been read and the ones that are remaining and decides which one is most likely to be read next. Taichi gives Megu a secret piece of advice: "Why don't you try changing the way you think about karuta a little?"
On the day before the fateful final qualifying round, Kanade returns to the Umezono Karuta Club, carrying her hakama. The Umezono members are delighted, and Kanade says, "I'm sorry I can't come and cheer you on tomorrow. But I'm glad I got to see you all, even just for a moment," to which Kusata (Soma Santoki) responds, "It gave us energy too." And so it is, the day of the final qualifying round arrives. Meguru and the Umezono team compete against Kitao, Mizusawa, and Adore in a match for the last ticket to the national tournament... and so it unfolds.
In this episode, Umezono loses to Adore in the first match and is on the brink of defeat. With no other option but to win, Umezono substitutes Sota for Fuki in the match against Kitao. Despite fighting well, Sota and Chieri (played by Arashi Rina) lose, but Yakumo (played by Sakamoto Aito), Meguru, and Haruma (played by Takamura Yoshito) win, resulting in a major upset victory over Kitao.
The final match against Mizusawa arrived. The fateful lineup was Chieri vs. Shinohara (Ishikawa Raizo), Kusata vs. Niwano (Takahashi Yutaro), Meguru vs. Nagi (Hara Nanoka), Kaze vs. Kenshin (Nanoka Hara Daisuke), and Yakumo vs. Oto (Seto Kotoka). As Meguru and the others faced off against Mizusawa and lined up their cards, the referee announced, "The caller is Oe Kanade, an A-class certified caller." While the Umezono members and Komano (Morinaga Yuki) and Nishida (Yamoto Yuma) in the audience were shocked, Kanade, dressed in a hakama, appeared in the caller's seat.
On social media, there was an outpouring of excitement over Kanade's appearance as a reader. Comments included, "Kana-chan, the teacher is here!", "Oe Kanade?!", "Kana-chan makes me cry here," "Kana-chan reading the cards at an important moment for her students," "This is crazy," "The stage is so set," "I cried," "What an amazing development," "Goosebumps!" and "Isn't it just too exciting that Kanade-chan is reading the cards here!?"
※The "taka" in Takahashi Yutaro's name is pronounced "hashigo-daka"
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