(L) Saki manga

[Myssa Rei]

Wait, WHAT. Not only is Shino going against Harue, but also Himematsu's real coach?

[The Green One]

Not just going against them but winning or currently winning apparently.

[Marina2]

Shinohayu 23

I just noticed that Harue is 4th years - She's not in the same grade as Shino (6th year) . This means the match between Harue , Sukoya , Hayari and Risa will happen when Shino is on her final year in highschool.

As for this chapter, it is a fun match.

Spoiler for Shinohayu ch23:

- Shino couldn't do anything for most of the match but she managed come back at the end. I like how Shino extended the match in order to get the first place to please her mom. I really like her behavior in the match.

- Young Harue has considerable observing skill. She noticed Kokoro behavior, she noticed that Shino usually win in the last few round and usually with bird tile -- too bad she noticed it too late.

- Kokoro tried to do her usual tactic but Harue stopped her. She passed to final round purely because Shino extended the match and sent Harue to the 3rd place.

Next round is the final match between : Shino, Kokoro, Wakanne and Zenno.

[Flower]

Really looking forward to the final match ... it will be nice to see both Zenno and Wakanne in some kind of player style mode. ^^

[Requiem-x]

This chapter, Harue learns bird is the word and we learn Shino doesn't play second fiddle No wonder Kanna trusts she can make it.

Next match, though... that's gonna be a tough one. Definetly looking forward to Zennou and chibi Uta. And maybe Kokoro going "Oh god, I'm not ready for this!"

[The Green One]

Take notes main series, Shino shows how its done to get to the finals of a tournament quickly instead of spending 2-3 years real world time!

[King-Slayer]

Shino just screwed over Harue and I love it. Zenno and Uta will be pretty tough to deal with though. I also imagine that Kokoro and Shino will become good friends.

[Requiem-x]

Originally Posted by The Green One

Take notes main series, Shino shows how its done to get to the finals of a tournament quickly instead of spending 2-3 years real world time!

To be fair, it's only one match for each part of the tournament this time.

Originally Posted by King-Slayer

Shino just screwed over Harue and I love it. Zenno and Uta will be pretty tough to deal with though. I also imagine that Kokoro and Shino will become good friends.

Shino seems to be really good at leaving an impression on people, so you might be right. This whole series started with the top players in Japan remembering her, for god's sake.

[Proto]

Originally Posted by The Green One

Take notes main series, Shino shows how its done to get to the finals of a tournament quickly instead of spending 2-3 years real world time!

To be fair the series is a wash from a Mahjong point of view. Shinohayu barely goes into any depth regarding the matches save for a few hands here and there. The interesting part about a Mahjong anime series is that it effectively becomes a 4FFA battle, something you rarely see in anime in any shape or form and that Saki main series (and to an extent Achiga in its semi final match) manages to capture pretty well well.

We do get other things in return though, like more focus on the main characters.

[Bladezer]

Originally Posted by The Green One

Take notes main series, Shino shows how its done to get to the finals of a tournament quickly instead of spending 2-3 years real world time!

Dude this is the single's not the team match, so of course it will go quicker, plus we aren't dealing with powers, and how they each work and interlock with each other in all the matches.

[Marina2]

Actually, it is mainly because Shinohayu didn't waste time giving flashback to everyone on the table.

[Proto]

What you call waste I call investing time into making the opponents interesting characters by giving them a back story. If you don't do that you indeed do get faster moving chapters. But you know which of her opponents we actually care anything about? Hayari, Kanna, Kyouka, Yue. The ones with a backstory or with screen time.

[The Green One]

*chuckles* Relax guys, I was making a joke. It's not meant to be serious.

[Marina2]

Originally Posted by Proto

What you call waste I call investing time into making the opponents interesting characters by giving them a back story. If you don't do that you indeed do get faster moving chapters. But you know which of her opponents we actually care anything about? Hayari, Kanna, Kyouka, Yue. The ones with a backstory or with screen time

What I want to say is Shinohayu know when it should focus on giving us the character background information and when it should focus on the mahjong game.

In Shinohayu, during the mahjong match, the story will focus only on the game from the begining to the end. There is no or only little flashback/backstory of x character during the game.

We learnt about opponents who Shino played with through how they play , how their act/react during the match, the conversation and the inner thought during in the match. These infomation are enough to make as like them without the need to give each of them the back story.

We only get long and detailed back story / background of characters when there is no match going on (As we seen in Shino, Hayari, Kanna, and Yue character story arc).

In main manga, which each chapter are shorter and has uncertain release schedure, sometime one back story can cover entire chapter with only lttile or no progression on the match and we need to wait for 2 weeks or 1 month or 2 months for the next chapter. If Ritz want to give info on opponents during the match, Ritz should do it in the way that it won't delay the progressing of the match too much.

Yes, knowing about opponents is good. I won't mind if Ritz spent some chapters on the back story for the new opponents before the match start , but when the match start, the following chapters should focus mostly on the mahjong until the match is end. That's way each match will go faster.

Recent chapters is better regarding this issue.

............................

Originally Posted by The Green One

*chuckles* Relax guys, I was making a joke. It's not meant to be serious.

It's ok. You actually brought up an interesting topic.

[Proto]

I guess it comes down to personal preference. I really dont mind the slow pace or the longer release schedule. I guess it comes with the age.

[AP24]

At the rate it's going, the semi-finals won't end in the main series before this year is over. However, once the story reaches the final matches the progress might be a little faster. Shinohayu series will probably end before the main series semi-final matches are over. I don't think there will be any more spin-off series during the time the main series is at the finals.

The anime needs 2-cours to cover the rest of the team tournament and another cour to cover the individual matches. I estimate the anime won't reach the team tournament final until 2019 the earliest. It's cruel for them to make us wait until then so there will probably be a Saki anime next year or in 2017. It could be the Shinohayu spin-off or the main series covering Kiyosumi's semifinal match.

[The Green One]

Fun fact, Saki's 2nd round match in Nationals had ended and the first chapter after the match was also in August. Of 2012. Here we are three years later and we haven't finished the semi finals yet.

[Chitanda Eru]

everybody be quietttttttttttttttt

Spoiler for chap 146:

OMG! I LOVE YOU SAWAYA ^_____^

P/S: Half of first hanchan hasn't ended. There's lots of thing can happen. Plzz do something Saki . And... Can Nelly protect her lead )?

[Requiem-x]

Oh dear god!!!

Spoiler for Wait, what?:

Why is Sawaya summoning an elder god?

Oh well, whatever the reason, its working, because Usuzan is in 2nd right now.

And Saki is getting wrecked

[Flower]

@ Requiem-x

Yes ... yes, she is.

Yeesh.

I wonder if the circumstances will allow for another level of ascendency/unlocking? Sometimes it takes serious situations to bring that sorta stuff out of her....