The whole "we want Master Suo overthrown because he isn't the perfect role model" bit really annoyed me. Sounds like they would have preferred a more 'conventional' individual than someone more eccentric. Kind of makes me respect Suo even more for sticking it to his haters and being the undisputed Master.
You really did fail to factor how important the Queen status is for the Karuta federation. Even if they'd like to treat her as a snotty brat, there's no way they can.
Has Ryl pointed out, they're both the most important representation of the whole federation. So they do have and influence.
And yes, when you're an important player you do get some favors some time, even in football. Not on necessarily on the field, but any decision taken elswhere is carefully weighted.
Same goes for tennis and any sport with either a strong federation and/or lots of sponsors/money.
Regarding Chihaya, well she's a natural and her strong point isn't strategy and memorization at all. She's more like a cockroach, having extremely fast automated reflexes going from her ears to the tip of her fingers as pointed out in that ep.
So yes, changing the card positions every turn was a nice strategy.
And every match she does, she starts slowly because of such strategies and poor memorization skills. And yes, it is her awfull weakness.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
Rage? If you say so Quick-Draw McGraw. I was pretty methodical with my teardown of your capcity for attention to details, which you proved again no less.Originally Posted by MFauli
The reason they had to have a conference in the first place is that it has never happened before. That's why they discussed whether or not it should be treated like baseball (very harsh penalties for using ringers) or something a bit less harsh. That was all before they got into the politics of it.
While it does probably happen all the time behind closed doors, it doesn't change the fact that it is not SUPPOSED to happen and that its kind of unethical.
I can understand MFauli's source of frustration at the very least on this. While having influence over the sport should grant you a lot of luxuries, being able to bend the rules should definitely not be one of them.
The situation is unprecedented. I would say the two best players have a fair amount of influence in setting the new policy.
Was declaring that she would forfeit the right way to go? No. But she does have a voice in the matter. She's also the favorite to win the individual tournament, if she doesn't think it is providing undue favors, but actually a better challenge for her, who are they to argue?
Then this decision is also about setting a standard for the severity of punishments, should a similar incident happen again. I am not saying that the punishment ShOULD be harsh because it depends on the offense. However, the fact that Arata is the offender, in an ideal world, should not be factoring into the decision. Of course, that won't happen, but it doesn't make it right.
Also, Shinobu trying to influence a regulatory decision making process through blackmail, regardless of her status and intentions is really not in good form.
The officials were ready to concede solely from the two team members declaring everything was their fault, and they just wanted to opportunity to play without having to forfeit.
It's Karuta, not shogi or Go. It's not really all that stuffy and formal to begin with.
But NONE of these are valid points to counter the "crime" Arata committed. If the queen forfeiting for such measy reasons or Arata not playing is so imporant, then that speaks more about the state of Karuta than it does about anything else. How can you call Karuta a proper sports discipline, when you, the commitee, the officials, bow down to two individuals?
And I call bs on the "itīs unprecedented". Apparently, they knew well enough that substituting for a player in that way was against the rules. Therefore, they should know how to instate punishment. If they donīt know, then see the above. :>
Ryll, to summarize: I think EVERYBODY here reacted the wrong way about the issue of Arata substituting another teamīs player. Actually, the two most at fault are:
1.) The man who recognized Arata. Had he just let it slipped, it wouldnīt have become a thing
2.) Arata himself. That was just too dumb to agree to that idea, anyway. It was devoid of intelligence, thinking, and honor.
But, really, everyoneīs at fault. They made Karuta look cheap and silly. (which it maybe is, after all, I had never heard about Karuta prior to watching this anime, lol)
That's all well and good. But its still wrong for the officials to throw in all that talk of Arata being their golden boy into the decision. And while I don't mind the teammates pleading for leniency on Arata, Shinobu's threat is quite a bit worse. I would be inclined to give Shinobu some sort of punishment too.
3:18. Watch it. "What do we do? There's never been an incident with substituting before."
It's unprecedented.
And again, it was against the rules. Thatīs what was established. And when you watch the rest of the episode, they all seemed to understand well enough that banning Arata from the tournament is the appropriate punishment, and it was THEN that one after another buckled down to something along the lines of "... but itīs Arata!". The discussion between these officials wasnīt "what do we do?", it was, from the very start, "SHOULD we do it, since itīs Arata weīre talking about". And thatīs just plain wrong.
Also, you cannot defend Shinobuīs behavior. Blackmailing makes you wrong, Queen or not.
No, you're really not getting it. Just because something is written as being against the rules, doesn't mean the officials know what punishment should be levied in order to enforce it once it occurs. Don't pretend they're the same thing.
It's not really blackmailing either, I'm not sure why the two of you are hung up on that. Shinobu said she doesn't have any interest in playing if Arata isn't there to play against. That's not blackmail. She doesn't have to participate. Suo doesn't, and he's the Master. She's just withdrawing, having lost her reason to participate.
She requested they allow him to play (rather politely no less), and "encouraged" Arata to beg forgiveness. She made no demands.
So this is how that conversation between Shinobu and the official started
Shinobu: If Arata is not allowed to play, I forfeit
Official: What are you saying? The Queen can't drop out of the tournament ...
That sounds like a threat at the very least, no matter how you slice it. Sure, she is somewhat respectful about it later on but her intent is clear.
Also, wasn't Shinbou registered for the individual tournament before she even knew that Arata was participating. So its not like her participation was originally conditional on Arata being there. Even if it is her choice and she is well within her means to opt out, she would still be reneging on a commitment which would do some damage to the image of the sport. It doesn't matter if she is well within her means for making the threat, it is still blackmail.
I am not really even sure if this is a point worth debating...
You have an amazingly skewed definition of blackmail.
Of course its not 'blackmail' in the strictly legal sense, but then the punishment for that would be much harsher :|, if that is what you are pertaining to...
Otherwise, I am not really sure the point you are trying to make. There was a demand (let Arata play) and there was a threat (I will forfeit). Also, she knows that her special position affords her the ability to do some damage if she forfeits, which is why she brought it up. If it was just about 'requesting' that Arata play, why would she bring up her forfeiting as a consequence at the VERY BEGINNING?
LOL, of course, itīs blackmailing. Youīve got to be trolling.
There's no problem to begin with, apart from supporters of nazi rules weighing their opinion against advocates of practical considerations. Since the issue is unprecedented, they can do whatever the hell they want to do and issue a statement that henceforth similar situations will be dealt with this way or that way. But since there didn't exist a clear procedure previously, and thus for the guilty person there was no way of realising the severity, only a reprimand will happen now.
I have a feeling this anime (manga) is making karuta look quite a bit more popular and extravagant than such an obsolete game can really be. So, they can't afford to create too much nasty internal conflicts out of the blue. Just by looking at this show it's evident getting anywhere in karuta requires lots of effort and practice not useful for anything much in RL, so with such a setting, they shouldn't try to make it look too strict and inflamed an environment to make sure people don't get scared or disgusted.
On the contrary, I believe these two are the people LEAST at fault, along with Shinobu.
Arata weighted the risks and went with the team challenge anyway. His society's mentor recognised him and did the right thing about reporting it. Shinobu wanted Arata to play, so told the committee that if Arata isn't going to play, there's no point in her playing either.
It's up the to the committee to decide what to do in this event, and any "fault", if at all, lies with their decision making process. While I would argue that being able to influence the decision by being important is kind of unfair, the fact that it's unprecedented (and no penalty is actually written) means any decision is "fair" as long as the same punishment is applied hence forth. Even on of the committee said "If his point is to compete in the individual tournament, we should ban him". That shows they have no strict idea on what punishment is acceptable.
Besides, the committee was never about ethics in the first place. It was all about the image of Karuta. Should they let him play in order to defeat the bad Karuta role model, or should they punish him harshly to show that Karuta is an elegant Japanese tradition that will not be defiled?
Either decision is flawed and unethical when the reason came down solely to public image benefit.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I concur that the committee is quite silly and doesn't seem to actually care about ethics.
I wonder though, what kind of lenient punishment could they actually lay down on Arata? If this is indeed an unprecedented situation, then not giving any punishment whatsoever would be a really bad precedence to set (why have a rule if you don't intend on enforcing it). On the other hand, if they do punish him, what could it possibly be other than kicking him out of the tournament? That is pretty much the only thing he is participating in. They can't really suspend him for a few games, and they can't fine him (it's not like the players are getting paid to do this), so what option do they really have?
Having both the offending school (and Arata I suppose) banned from the next team event? Keeping individual and team realms separate is to my liking. It means you have to be punished for going against the rules, but you can still play individually so it won't put out your passion for playing karuta.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
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