Chihaya may be frustrated that Taichi stayed behind to play in the Takamatsu Memorial Cup without telling her, but she shouldn’t be surprised; Taichi’s always been like this. Rather than dwell on how much further Taichi might progress as she’s on the train home, she needs to think about how she’s going to become Shinobu’s preferred opponent in the next Queen tournament.
Chihaya registers for the co-ed Bunkyo New Year’s Tournament, which after the two biggest events in karuta truly does herald a new year, despite it being held on Jan 11th. We unfortunately spend some time with Retro-kun, about whom I could really care less; his goofy design, voice, and mannerisms belong in a different show and undercut any dramatic weight he might emit.
Back in Kyoto, Taichi is paired up with Arata, but no longer how late at night Taichi stayed up practicing in his hotel room, there’s no way Arata is going to lose to him; not after the challenge he issued to Suo (who actually shows up to watch their match). Taichi can only claim 4th Place, while Chihaya shows Sudo how much her game has matured by beating him to win the whole damn thing. It’s officially morning in Chihayamerica. Time to get to work.
RABUJOI - An Anime Blog 
As I see it, this is the beginning of season four. The last episode had a strong sense of closure. It was the end of a long journey for so many characters.
Actually, there was a lot of speculation among manga fans over when this season would end. The manga is at 223 chapters, with Seutsugu suggesting it will end around chapter 240 or so. There were some who thought everything up until now might get skipped, since it ultimately sidelines Chihaya and Taichi.
But that’s one of the great things about Seutsugu. She understands that she is writing teenagers. The teenage experience is more often about growing in a situation where you are not the one in charge.
On that note, I disagree about Hiro. He is another take on the teenage experience, one that compliments the main cast. I get the objection that his personality is grating, but these very scenes are granting him necessary nuance and growth.
As for his design, it fits with characters like Komano, who he seems to parallel. Both have healthy relationships with a romantic interest, but Hiro made it official. Both are stuck in Class B, but Komano has other things to aspire to. Both are weird guys who started out with some social issues, but Komano got to run with Taichi, Nishida, and Kanade while Hiro was stuck with Sudo. Komano got to grow as a person thanks to his friends. Hiro is entering his final year of high school needing to make that growth on his own.
Because of all of that, I like these brief glimpses we get of Hiro. And, look, we’ll get a lot more of him if we get a fourth season. I would try and consider reevaluating him now, because the scenes he has received over the course of this season have been designed to facilitate such a reassessment.
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