Taichi Mashima (真島 太一 Mashima Taichi) is an all-around student, as he is gifted in both studies and sports. He is one of Chihaya Ayase's childhood friends. His mother is very strict with him, telling him he should stick to activities he can win at. He is part of the Shiranami Karuta Society and is the former president of the Mizusawa Karuta Club.
Appearance
Taichi's appearance
Taichi has messy light brown hair and hazel eyes. He wears his school uniform which consists of a simple white button up shirt, a plaid tie, a brown jacket with the school crest, a black belt, grey dress pants and brown school shoes. When Taichi was younger, his hair was shorter and neater. He is considered handsome and is also popular with girls.
When he is serious playing karuta , just like Arata with his 'water' aura and assumable Chihaya with her 'fire' aura, Taichi got the 'wind' aura when he's calmly and yet seriously playing karuta.
Personality
Taichi is smart, hard-working and athletic. During his younger years, he was cocky at times but he was also a bit of a coward. His mother has only allowed him to enter in competitions that he can win at. If he loses, he will be scolded by her, but despite this fact he is easy-going and fairly modest.
However, Taichi is somewhat easily disheartened: he considers giving up karuta early on in the series after becoming convinced that he could spend his entire life on the game without ever becoming better than Arata. His confidence builds, however, with his continued participation in the world of karuta, and it is shown that it is his own perception of his skill in karuta that is holding him back.
Taichi's maturity and loyalty are valuable assets to his friends, and he is adept - after a few initial stumbles - at saying to his teammates exactly what they need to hear in moments of stress. He is the "voice of reason" in whatever group he is in, and a wise and kind leader who is not averse to doling out some tough love (particularly with respect to Chihaya).
His memory is also remarkable: he can recite the Hyakunin Isshu without visual aid, and randomize verses without doubling up. He even showed he can match cards without having to see them once he's memorized their positions.
Despite being all said and done, everything he had gained was purely because of his skill, not because of his luck - more like he is not lucky in anything. Throughout the series, there are a few times where it is stated about Taichi's bad luck. Also because of this, he has had a hard time winning in luck-of-the-draw.
Relationships
Family
Reiko Mashima is Taichi's mom. Ever since elementary school, she has been very strict and stern, telling Taichi, "You can only join competitions you know you'll win." Currently, Mrs. Mashima is against Taichi playing karuta, saying it's a waste of time and effort. If Taichi does not stay the top student, she will prohibit him from playing karuta.
Friends
Chihaya Ayase
Chihaya is Taichi's childhood friend. He has feelings for Chihaya, telling himself he is in love with her. They started the Mizusawa karuta club together.
In the past, it was shown that Taichi had feelings for Chihaya during grade school by often teasing her and getting jealous whenever she was with Arata. He has nurtured those feelings until recently, when he finally confessed his love to Chihaya. Unfortunately, she rejected him, which leads to him leaving the Karuta club.
Arata Wataya
Taichi and Arata were childhood friends. At first, he didn't like Arata because he memorized the poems in his first try, also he challenged Arata again in a karuta competion and took his glasses to stop him from winning against him. But Chihaya took Arata's place and defeated Taichi. After he admitted that he took his glasses, they went to look for Chihaya. Soon after he began getting interested in karuta and his dream was to become a meijin. They also teamed up with Chihaya in another karuta competition, but lost. Since Arata was sick, he lent his hat to him.
Others
Kasumi
Taichi had a girlfriend in the beginning of the series. He had met her during Middle School while he had been struggling to keep his passion for Karuta after several set-backs. Her name is Kasumi (香澄), as revealed in the Light Novel 4. She called him 'Ta-kun'. Yet, he has feelings for Chihaya despite this relationship. In Episode 17/Chapter 29 he breaks up with her over the phone in a short, dry, exchange. He told Chihaya in episode 1 that he was only dating her because she liked him but as we found out in the Light Novel 3 the other reason for them dating was, that she was filling the gap in his heart that Karuta left once he had quit playing.
Rieko Oe
Taichi met Rieko at a match where the Oe Traditional Clothing Shop was providing the Mizusawa team with hakamas. She seems to think that Taichi is 'very cute' and always rushes around him to fix his hakama.
Hisashi Suo
He's the current reigning Meijin and also Taichi's cram school teacher. While everyone in the Karuta world seems to have a scorn toward Suo for his Karuta style calling it 'nasty' and 'sick', Taichi doesn't. On the contrary, he seems to like it by saying that he 'can't help but finding that style fascinating'. They had a rocky start because Taichi claimed that Chihaya was his girlfriend and asked Suo to stop his advances on her, much to Suo's dismay, who used to say he's not obliged to do anything that Taichi says because he hates him. Taichi always came prepared with sweets to bribe him with, though, and confessed his lie about Chihaya and cleared the air between them. Suo showed, on more than one occasion, that he's interested in Taichi's Karuta, interestingly enough calling him a 'nasty player'. Later on when he found out Taichi quit Karuta, he told him that he admires him, for even though he doesn't like Karuta he still tried his absolute best in it, and admitted to not liking Karuta either. Suo and Taichi are last seen practicing Karuta together.
History
Taichi used to go to the same grade school as Chihaya and was the smartest in their class. He used to tease Chihaya which led her to attack him. They were good friends, but when Arata arrived, he was annoyed that he wasn't the only one that had memorized all of the Hyakunin Isshu. He tried to get Chihaya's attention and threatened to not be her friend anymore if she stands by Arata's side. Because of this, everyone ignored her - per Taichi's orders - the next day for associating with Arata.
Taichi returning Arata's stolen glasses.
He later challenged Arata to the karuta competition they were having at their school. On the day of the competition, his mother was there holding a camera to film him during the match as she believed he would win as usual and tried to encourage him to win. Taichi won all his matches and made it to the final against Arata. In order to win, and not get scolded, he cheats by giving Arata a shaken soda to spray him, in order to make him wash his face and take off his glasses. He steals Arata's glasses while he is washing his face and Arata only catches his small figure. Chihaya and Arata start searching for them, but they don't find the glasses for Arata's match. During the match, Taichi is beating Arata as he switches the cards, but is then interrupted by Chihaya saying that she'll replace Arata in the match. He is eventually defeated by Chihaya and all three of them win an award. Even so, he still gets yelled by his mother and his mother tells him never to participate in a competition that he cannot win at.
After the competition, Chihaya goes out looking for Arata's glasses. While she is away, he admits to Arata that he was the one that stole the glasses and hands them to Arata. They later go out to look and call out to Chihaya to tell her that they found them. Chihaya hears them from the branches of a tree and jumps down on top of them, laughing.
Since then, Taichi, Chihaya, and Arata became good friends and referred to each other by their first names, signifying they are very close friends. They even joined a Competitive Karuta Society with their teacher being Harada-sensei and participated in a group competition. The three of them then went their seperate ways in middle school with Taichi going to a middle school with a one-and-a-half hour commute that most students found difficult to be accepted into.
Synopsis
Karuta Style
Taichi's initial style of karuta is all brain, with little body. He makes great use of his mind in karuta matches, reasoning out probabilities and strategies completely in his head, and takes great pride in the fact that he makes few, if any, faults. He considers practicing his swing in front of others "embarrassing", which disadvantages him in the more physical aspect of karuta.
Taichi practicing swinging
However, spurred on by his desire to compete on par with Arata and Chihaya, he vastly improves in the later part of the manga. He has been called a "monster" once he has self-confidence (by Sakurazawa-sensei, coach of Fujisaki High), and it has been noted by Hiro that Taichi becomes stronger when Chihaya is not around (Chapter 94).
Notably, when he managed to get to final of his very first Class-A official tournament beating Sudou in the top 8 and Murao in the top 4. He lost to Chihaya in final match but all that witness the match admit that both Chihaya and Taichi are both had proven to be great karuta players. *note that chihaya took a break in top 4 because her opponent forfeit the match, while taichi need to beat Murao for the final spot* . Harada-sensei who watched the match carefully said Taichi is more suited to play defensive style karuta instead of offensive style karuta which Chihaya and Harada-sensei specialized in. Also noted how good is Taichi when he played against Chihaya with an arrangement which is different from his normal one.
In chapter 150, Taichi (who had quit the school karuta club) was seen to be playing a lot of matches against Meijin Suou. Also, there's a rumor about how Taichi can hear Suou's quiet and gentle voice loud and clear, showing that he has better and sharper hearing now.
Techniques & Talents
Perfect Memorization
- As the name implies, it's the perfect memorization of all the cards' positions, the cards that have been read, and those that haven't been read yet. Other karuta players may have this skill, but their memory is still not as perfect as Taichi's, considering Taichi's memorization is 100% while the others' only up to 80-90%. However, due to this skill, Taichi tends to make silly mistakes since he can still remember the arrangement of his previous matches.
-Another application to this skill of his is that he can use any other card arrangement and still fight normally. Other players can't memorize as well as Taichi so they tend to use a fixed card arrangement and let their body remember where the cards in that arrangement are. They would commit lots of faults if they used other arrangements, unlike Taichi.
Cross-Sweeping Move Neutralizer
-So far, Taichi has only used this move once against Arata. Obviously, this move was created purposely to negate Arata's fast sweeping technique. This move uses covering and sweeping, in which Taichi would first cover the card that would be read; therefore 'kill' the opponent's speed and momentum, making him hesitate for a while; then sweep the correct card.
Katana Slash Backswing
-This is actually Sudo's specialty in which the player would go for the opponent's field. Depending on which card that would be read, the player can either go ahead and attack the card or go back to touch the correct card on player side. This is different from normal kinds of backswings because the player need to be slightly away from the side of his hand. As in Taichi case, it would be his right side. By doing so, the player can attack the opponent field and if the correct card is in his side of the field, he can make his hand into a knife-like shape and use a backswing to defend the card. By distancing himself from the his defending side, he can touch the card comfortably and by making his hand into a more streamlined stance, reduce the air resistance and make the backswing faster.
Counter Data Analysis
-Using the data he or Tsutomu collected from his opponent, he would then analyze and think of a way to counter his opponent's play. Taichi used this against Chihaya in the Yoshino Society Class A match where he used a different card arrangement from what he usually used. It proved to be working well although he lost to Chihaya in that match with just a 2 cards difference with an exhausted condition. In that match, many can see that a lot of mind tricks involved. He also made and used the sweeping move canceler against Arata, who is known for his fast sweeping ability.
Peculiar Defense
-A copy from Emuro's specialty. This technique is used to defense a card even if the swing is delayed or slower. Taichi used this technique against Murao in Yoshino Society Tournament's semi-final. This move is used to sweep cards out of the field. The difference between sweeping move and this move is sweeping move used whole hand to sweep a bunch of cards out, but this move only used 1 finger to sweep the correct card and send it out. The difference would be sweeping bunch of cards will consume more time but sweep just 1 particular card with just 1 finger will reduce the time taken to sweep the card.
Enhanced Hearing
-This refers to the recent chapter of 150 where Taichi managed to hear Suo's quiet voice which is hardly heard by other people with normal hearing sense.
Official Matches Records
|
Opponents |
Tournament |
Results |
Cards Differences |
Important Event | |
|
Unknown |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
- | |
|
Unknown |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
- | |
|
Unknown |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
Right after this match, Komano throws a tantrum and left. Taichi showed his leadership here. | |
|
Unknown |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
- | |
|
(Hokuo Academy) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win (3-2) |
+8 Cards |
After the match, Hyoro told how he take pride over the trophy. | |
|
Unknown (Takechi High) |
High School Team National Championship |
Win |
Unknown |
Chihaya fainted. Taichi caught her and leave her to Arata’s care. | |
|
Unknown |
High School Team National Championship (Round 2) |
Lose |
Unknown |
- | |
|
- |
High School Individual National Championship (Round 2) |
Win by default |
- |
| |
|
Unknown (Fujisaki High) |
High School Individual National Championship |
Lose |
-3 Cards |
- | |
|
(Hokuo Academy) |
Saitama Karuta Tournament (Class B : Round 1) |
Win |
+3 Cards |
- | |
|
Saitama Karuta Tournament (Class B : Final) |
Lose |
+1 Card |
|||
|
- |
Yoshino Karuta Tournament |
Lose at Round 3 |
- |
Harada-sensei asked if Taichi want to be Class A. Taichi refused by saying “Teacher, I’m not much focused on making Class A as I’m focused to become someone who doesn’t run away.”
| |
|
Unknown (Shuryukan) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win
|
Unknown |
- | |
|
Unknown (Tomihara West High) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win (3-2) |
Unknown |
- | |
|
(Homei High) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
+4 Cards |
During the match, the aircond is malfunction and Taichi is having a hard time. He asked for a towel and Chihaya was one of girls that gave the towel to him. | |
|
(Hokuo Academy) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win but the team lose (2-3) |
+2 Card (Opponent Fault) |
Even though Mizusawa lost, Mizusawa still become one of the representative for Tokyo region. | |
|
(Chiba International School Of Information Sciences) |
High School Team National Championship |
Win (4-1) |
Unknown |
- | |
|
(Yamaguchi Mioka High) |
High School Team National Championship |
Win (3-2) |
Unknown |
- | |
|
Unknown (Shoyo High School) |
High School Team National Championship (Quarter-Final) |
Win |
Unknown |
- | |
|
Nanase (First Akashi Girls’) |
High School Team National Championship (Semi-Final) |
Win (3-2) |
+5 Cards |
Kanade injured her finger. Chihaya frustrated over her lost and almost injured her own hand before Taichi stop her. | |
|
(Fujisaki High) |
High School Team National Championship (Final) |
Win (3-2) |
+1 Card Luck-of-the-Draw |
Taichi made a vow that he’s fine if his card never be call in other luck-of-the-draw as long his card in this match will be call. And Chihaya injured her finger. | |
|
(Hokuo Academy) |
High School Individual National Championship
|
Win |
+18 Cards |
The start of Taichi Awakening in Karuta. | |
|
(Fujisaki High) |
High School Individual National Championship (Class-B : Final) |
Win |
+9 Cards |
Hyoro noticed about Taichi link with Chihaya. Chihaya willingly to watch Taichi play rather than Shinobu vs Arata. | |
|
Shiroyama (Hokuo Academy) |
Yoshino Karuta Tournament |
Win |
+4 Cards |
Taichi realized how good it felt to have reliable senpais. | |
|
Sudo Akito (Hokuo Academy) |
Yoshino Karuta Tournament (Best 8) |
Win |
+1 Card Luck-of-the-Draw but Taichi won by taking opponent’s card |
- | |
|
(Narumo Karuta Society) |
Yoshino Karuta Tournament (Semi-Final) |
Win |
+5 Cards |
Chihaya moved to the final by default because her opponent forfeit. Harada-sensei realized that the path for Taichi to grow stronger is defensive-karuta. | |
|
Yoshino Karuta Tournament (Final) |
Lose |
-2 Cards |
Taichi didn’t get a break before the final and injured(scratched) his hand a bit when collided with Chihaya’s hand. Arata had an uneasy feeling. | ||
|
Goutoukuji Saneatsu |
Meijin East Qualifier Tournament (Round 1) |
Win |
+11 Cards |
After the match, Taichi meet up with Hyoro and asked him to stop losing to someone like Goutou again cause Taichi acknowledged Hyoro as a good karuta player. | |
|
Unknown |
Meijin East Qualifier Tournament (Round 2) |
Win |
+7 Cards |
- | |
|
Meijin East Qualifier Tournament (Round 3) |
Lose |
-1 Card Luck-of-the-Draw |
Taichi lost the ‘Chiha’ card which took a toll on his self-confidence. After the match, Taichi watched firsthand about how to use the ‘joker’ detecting talent from Harada-sensei | ||
|
Unknown |
Takamatsunomiya Cup Tournament (Round 1) |
Win |
+10 Cards |
- | |
|
Unknown |
Takamatsunomiya Cup Tournament (Round 2) |
Win |
+7 Cards |
- | |
|
Unknown |
Takamatsunomiya Cup Tournament (Best 8) |
Win |
+4 Cards |
- | |
|
Takamatsunomiya Cup Tournament (Best 4) |
Lose (4th place) |
Unknown |
Taichi sent the ‘Chiha’ card hoping to take it away from Arata’s field. But unfortunately, the card was never called. Also, Taichi quoted “Since I’m an offensive player, I would part with the I want to get the most, and I would go into the fight with the resolve to take them back no matter what.” Meijin Suo who was watching closely how Taichi played, called Taichi as a nasty player. | ||
|
Eastern Meijin Qualifier |
Win |
+12 Cards |
- | ||
|
Eastern Meijin Qualifier |
Win |
+7 Cards |
- | ||
|
Eastern Meijin Qualifier |
Win |
Unknown |
- | ||
|
Akito Sudo |
Eastern Meijin Qualifier Tournament |
Win |
+2 Cards |
He forced Sudo to commit 2 faults at the end of the game. | |
|
Eastern Meijin Qualifier Tournament |
Win |
+4 Cards |
- |
Trivia
- Taichi is good at all subjects.
- When Taichi was 13, he was jealous of Arata because Chihaya was bonding with him.
- Taichi made flash cards to help him memorize the 100 poems.
- Taichi has recited the 100 poems in random order during a practice karuta match as the reader for it.
- Rika once asked him if he was a narcissist.
- Taichi somewhat dreams of becoming a doctor one day, but isn't sure yet.
- Taichi is more focused on being someone who doesn't run away rather than being in class A.
- Taichi once thought that karuta is scary while watching Chihaya play against Yumi Yamamoto, an ex-queen.
- Taichi put Arata in charge of taking care of Chihaya after she fainted in episode 13.
- Hideo Harada calls him "eyelashes" (まつげくん matsuge-kun) because of his long eyelashes, though the English subtitles always seem to mistake this for "eyebrows".
- Many girls in the anime think Taichi is cute, even Kanade's mother.
- Taichi's favorite poem from the Hyakkunin Isshu is Poem #16: "Note that though we may be apart, if I am to hear that you pine for me as the Inaba mountain pines, I shall return to you. "
- In chapter 119, he lied about Chihaya being his girlfriend to Suo (the Meijin), but told him the truth in chapter 122.
- In the light novel 1, it is stated that Taichi quit karuta after winning a class C tournament and advancing to class B, and beat Chihaya in a luck of the draw in the previous match, thus somewhat messed of some of his statements in the manga and the anime that he'd never once won against Chihaya properly in a match before.
- He won second place in his first official class A tournament, and note that he's had class A skill approximately one year before actually being class A (by placing second in two class B tournaments).
- His age is officially 18 years as of Chapter 193.
Quotes
- (To himself, about love) "You aren't happy even if you're with them. It makes me nervous. Nothing happened like I thought it would. It isn't fun. But I still want to be with them."
- (To Sumire)"It doesn't seem right to let a girl choose me. I would rather choose the girl I devote myself to."
- (To himself) "If Arata were here... If Chihaya were to practice with Arata instead of me, would she become a better player?"
- (To Tsutomu) "I don't have any talent for karuta either. It's tough, but I still play! I keep losing, but I still play! Because when I win, I feel happy!"
- (To Tsutomu) "Instead of a karuta genius, I would rather have our new member be someone who puts in effort on the tatami."
- (To Nishida) "Chihaya never gave up on karuta. Why don't you see for yourself how strong someone can be when they put in the effort? Or are you scared of losing?"
- (To Chihaya) "As long as you have a smile on your face, karuta will always be fun. That's the truth, Captain!"
- (to himself) "Chihaya...we'll have plenty of chances to try to become Master and Queen, but we only get to play as a team during our three years in high school."
- (To Suo) "Do not break with words someone you could not break with your play!"
- (To Sumire) "I myself have been wondering since I was a kid why was I given this name... My mother does seem like someone who would choose something unconventional and posh for a name, and yet..."
- (To himself) "I wonder if I managed to get stronger?"
- (To Chihaya) "I've always, always wanted to become a person who is not a coward."
- (To Chihaya) "Are you under the impression that I'm made of stone?"
- (To himself) "Those encouraging words and those days we spent together turned into a curse, and I can't leave it like that. I can't keep living like that."
- (To Harada-sensei) “Teacher, I’m not much focused on making Class A as I’m focused to become someone who doesn’t run away.”
- (To himself) "Now that I've separated myself from the team and am alone and on my own, for the first time in my life I'm actually having fun playing Karuta."