To sum up, this episode is all about Arata vs Shinobu, with Chihaya initially hesitated to watch it. Thanks to Fujisaki’s coach, she ends up watching. And what she sees there might become important lesson for Chihaya.
Both Arata and Shinobu has amazing speed and technique. It’s a battle of mind and experience. And Shinobu made a mistake in deciding to aim for her cards selectively. Arata has the upper hand. Shinobu realized her mistake during the game, and does some impressive moves to catch up. For her extraordinary effort, Shinobu has my sympathy. Being the Queen, she got unrealistic pressure from people, and I know first hand that it’s not easy to remain sane under people’s pressured expectations. Arata, on the other hand, plays very calm and confident, just as his grandfather taught him.
That being said, Arata wins. After the match, we learn that Shinobu has a fever, which probably caused by previous day’s rain (during the group tournament). So, now we know Shinobu has at least 2 issues: her wrong decision to choose cards selectively and her fever. However, we still don’t know whether without these two issues she can beat Arata or not.
