Quote:
Originally Posted by Klashikari
I really can't say I completely enjoyed Achiga-hen from start to finish.
Really, while things were a tad more tense than the first series with Teru's rampage, I felt the pacing and all -way- more awkward, due to the pattern of the series putting flashbacks during points that literally break the momentums (particularly Toki's). While the first series was a tad slow in building tension, it could make up for it with ridiculously overdone dramatic effects on the skirmishes and all, while in Achiga, you barely see things going on (the first half of the series barely had any mahjong matches, and you have just clipshot of girls having tile in their hands, instead of short sequences of what they are dealing etc). Heck, besides Teru's match, you really have way too few match perspective, along with discard pool etc.
Of coure, Saki in general wasn't really a real mahjong series (the likes of Akagi), a bit how K-on is to music, but the first series actually had a more balanced content between characters, fanservice and actual mahjong, compared to Achiga.
A last thing that I also found awkward was how little you know about the Achiga girls. Besides Kuro and her sister abilities and all, we hardly know a thing about Shizu, Ako and Arata playing style (save Shizu being just... stubborn, Ako having a quick calling sense (with very little exposure about that) and Arata being an enigma, save "weird" discards).
Hell, Kuro was dominating Achiga's screentime to the point it was shoehorned, and I can't exactly feel satisfied that she had to be "babysit" by Toki and Kirame during this match to finally shine (whereas if it wasn't for Teru domination requiring everyone cooperation, she would be just the lamb to slaughter).
Really, at this point, I admit guilty for enjoying more Teru's carnage than anything else during the series, considering how awkward the other characters felt in contrast to the first series.
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Taken as a whole, the Achiga-hen project definitely has to be said to have been held down by pacing issues. It's not that the Achiga-hen storyline in general is any more lacking in "characters", "fanservice", or "actual mahjong" than the original series, it's just that
all of these elements had to be compressed for rapid plot development in order to reach the required stage of the story. Taken alone, however, the imbalance between this and the real series is obvious when you consider that Achiga-hen took ~4 episodes to cover what the original series did in
25.
However, there are plenty of obvious reasons for why it had to be this way. For one, from the audience's perspective the fact must be accepted that Achiga cannot be called the
main characters. For two, from the author's perspective we have to consider Ritz's writing speed and the necessity of continuing her work on also developing and progressing the main story. From the anime production team's perspective, we also have to consider the necessity of this adaptation in the first place to keep awareness of this series' alive and maintain anticipation for the real second season of the series. So in the end, as fans, I think we should just accept that the
only important parts of this adaptation were just this match with Teru (which I think can be rightfully described as masterfully executed, right up there as one of the best matches of the series), and the final expectation that the fourth team which will show up in the Finals of this tournament will be Achiga.
And in any case, although Kuro has received most of the focus (amongst Achiga members) in this adaptation up to now, I think we should certainly wait for the last three episodes and the conclusion of the SemiFinals before making any judgements about the screentime of the other characters.
As for Kuro herself, while I can more or less understand that it is quite easy to be harsh on her, in the end I really have to harshly disagree with any statement to the effect that Kuro had to be "babysat" or did not contribute to the effort against Teru. Really, if you take into account the nature of Kuro's ability and the options available to her, Kuro has already done the
best that she conceivably could have done in competing against Teru. In the end, all of the contributions of Kuro, Toki, and Kirame were necessary in
specifically this order for them to have managed to stop Teru the way they did this time. Complaining about the way Kuro played during the rest of the battle is pointless, because:
1) If Kuro had discarded a Dora at any point earlier, they would've stopped coming to her and Teru could have gone on an even greater rampage
much more easily
2) If Kuro had changed her playstyle at any point earlier, Teru would not have exposed herself to a vulnerability based on her analysis of Kuro's playstyle and thus Kuro, Toki and Kirame would not have been able to end Teru's final consecutive dealership.
In the end, I don't think there's a valid reason to hate
any of the characters who took part in this battle.