(CR) Saki Achiga-hen: Episode of Side-A (anime)

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by Scarletknive

You can't tell whether the play has good mentality or not when fighting against super demon class? Some will break down.

http://anime.biglobe.ne.jp/userranking/chara/34399/

Are my eyes seeing right? Who is 1st?(My eyes are blurry... played too much com and mahjong. But all I see is only applies to Achiga-hen only. No mainline Saki characters.)

Mission starting in: Est. 3 hours 30mins to next episode. Are your MS ready?

Is that character poll still ongoing? Vote count seems pretty low. Anyway, the first three places are Toki, Kuro, and Ryuuka respectively; my name recognition isn't good enough to pick out the others.

edit:
On mental endurance and Kuro's placement as the "ace"; say what you will about Kuro's fighting spirit, but I believe Kuro's position was highly important for at least Achiga's initial run through the nationals due to being by far the heaviest hitter on Achiga's team in terms of offensive power. None of the other Achiga players approach the point totals Kuro earned with her dora bombs; so I do think Kuro's placement was appropriate.

As far as mental endurance in terms of its importance in opposing Teru; the problem as I see it is that it is basically in the nature of Teru herself that determination alone should not be enough to beat her. Otherwise, she would not be known as the type of monster that she is. Certainly, it is important not to give up if any player wants to stand any chance at surviving her, but then I do not think Kuro's mental weakness is so great as to have fallen that far either. The actual factor, from my perspective, which is most important in this vs. Teru Vanguard match is actually the question of basic competence. And in that regard, even if Kuro does have certain notable weaknesses and is also clearly lacking in this area against Teru, I honestly think that to this point the damage has been minimal (Kuro has only been directly ronned by Teru once, after all) and am not certain whether any of the other Achiga members would've fared better.

[Scarletknive]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Is that character poll still ongoing? Vote count seems pretty low. Anyway, the first three places are Toki, Kuro, and Ryuuka respectively; my name recognition isn't good enough to pick out the others.

I don't know Kuro is 2nd... How is she 2nd when she is useless?(Against Teru or Toki.)

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Is that character poll still ongoing? Vote count seems pretty low. Anyway, the first three places are Toki, Kuro, and Ryuuka respectively; my name recognition isn't good enough to pick out the others.

edit:
On mental endurance and Kuro's placement as the "ace"; say what you will about Kuro's fighting spirit, but I believe Kuro's position was highly important for at least Achiga's initial run through the nationals due to being by far the heaviest hitter on Achiga's team in terms of offensive power. None of the other Achiga players approach the point totals Kuro earned with her dora bombs; so I do think Kuro's placement was appropriate.

Saki is probably her team's heaviest hitter (and if it's not her, it's Nodoka), and Saki and Nodoka go 5th and 4th respectively.

A heavy hitter is going to help wherever you put them... as long as they actually do the heavy hitting of course (more on that in a bit).

I probably wouldn't want to lead-off with my ace, unless my ace also has excellent mental toughness (even then it's a bit high-risk/high-reward, barring unusual exceptions like Teru). If your ace happens to have a disastrous match in the Vanguard position (like we've seen Kuro suffer through twice now - not just against Teru, but also against Toki the previous round), that just puts immense pressure on the rest of your team, and really puts them behind the 8-ball.


Another factor for me is that Kuro's heavy hitting is basically being wasted here. She could quite conceivably do much better against different opponents other than Teru and/or Toki.

[tsunade666]

But Kuro did good at the other battles but that itself could be a problem of planning on the placement of players and strategy. I could see Achiga doing a hit and run style with earning huge score from the beginning and protect it till the end.

Saki's style shines at the near end of the battle with her skill in controlling the out put of the score to just barely win against the opponent or to completely dominate them. Saki is indeed a heavy hitter one but I think Yuuki hits a lot bigger than Nodoka. Nodoka is good at balancing the game and has good defense and offense but Yuuki in her monster state is a better earner of points. Look at the first season individual tournament. She scores the biggest when she's on the role. Plus in the psp game she also hits hard >_>

[Marina2]

Originally Posted by Scarletknive

I don't know Kuro is 2nd... How is she 2nd when she is useless?(Against Teru or Toki.)

If people like her, they vote her. That's it. This is popular vote after all.

Being useless doesn't mean she's unlikable. There are many way to like a character. Some may feel sorry for her. Some may like her looking. Some may like her VA (Kana). Some people may like her because they enjoy watching her get destroyed by Toki or Teru.

Do you remember Yae (The bansai girl who lost to Kuro)? She's quite popular right now because people like how she talked big but lost easily. She gets a lot of parody fanarts.

[Myssa Rei]

Actually I notice that the RAWs are already out. Given my trouble with mahjong terminology, I'll just wait a few hours for the subs, but for those who ARE familiar they can grab it already.

[Proto]

It's also out on Crunchyroll if people have access/a subbscription there

edit:
@the last scene:


BOOM EXPLOSIONS. This series excels at being ridiculous like no other, but we all love it for it.

[Midonin]

It's amazing how taciturn Teru's been this whole match. She speaks more through the whirlwind on her arm than her voice, a force of nature in human form. While this week did expand on Toki's backstory even more, but my favorite part was seeing a bit of Kirame's. She appears to be her team's Shizu, an ultra-determined go-getter, but less flammable. The effects for Toki's Double Accel were really cool, and while the cliffhanger was nearly identical to last week's, the scale does feel noticeably larger. You'd almost forget Kuro was at the table, but Toki and Kirame acknowledging her skill was a small, heartwarming moment.

I wonder what it is that caused Saki to stay outside the hall, though I have my suspicions it has something to do with Teru. Maybe those three bonus episodes will all have to do with the rest of Shiraitodai, because the finale, and the last several episodes, have all been focusing on just the first player. It makes sense why, Teru's a monster.

But if that triumphant music in the preview is any indication, she's a monster they can stop. Not beat, but stop. And that's a victory in itself.

[kona~chan]

well the episode overall just awesome as always, but for me kiyosumi totally steal the show, finally the true heroine appeared eh
and that ED preview who the hell is that?

[ZGMF-X10A]

Toki is probably my favourite character in this season. Don't give up Toki. The triple at the end OMFG. Can't wait until next episode

[Eisdrache]

I have a very bad feeling after watching the preview but the music was hilarious.

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by ZGMF-X10A

Toki is probably my favourite character in this season. Don't give up Toki. The triple at the end OMFG. Can't wait until next episode

Triple!? Did she not watch DBZ - when Goku was doing Kao-ken against Vegeta?! Oh the consequences!!

[King-Slayer]

What an episode! To glorious for words. We finally get to see Hisa and Mako as well and some more of the first years. That preview has me anticpating quite a bite. We get kid Yuu and what looks to be her mother, a mysterious women, and what looks to be middle school Toki and Ryuuka

[kk2extreme]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

Triple!? Did she not watch DBZ - when Goku was doing Kao-ken against Vegeta?! Oh the consequences!!

We will hope for Gohan Kuro to pick up the rest

[Kyuu]

Spoiler:

OK, Toki. Let's see what you can do.

And the episode preview. That's the darkest soundtrack used in the entire franchise. The title of "Promise"; well, that's going to address the various promises applied to each player, particularly Kuro and/or Toki.

Will Kuro actually drop a dora?

Originally Posted by kona~chan

well the episode overall just awesome as always, but for me kiyosumi totally steal the show, finally the true heroine appeared eh
and that ED preview who the hell is that?

We finally get to see Bucchou. And, no, the show is still on Toki, with Kiyosumi on the side.

[tsunade666]

wow pretty scary bgm for a preview. It feels like a terminator or end of the world movie.

The episode was fantastic. The animation was superb! and the voice acting too was good. Subara!

Best couple is TokixRyuuka

I want to see dark Saki

[Requiem-x]

...Wow.

No, seriously, wow.

This episode. Just... this episode. My heart was pounding hard at the end. Seriously, only the top moments of fate/zero come close to this. If that means there's somethig wrong with me, I never want to be right.

Spoiler for To keep dreams alive:

First of all, both remaining manga chapters were adapted perfectly. Yes, I know Teru didn't look as terrifying as she did in some pages of the manga, but who cares?

Literally from the get go we get a new BGM, and it sounds like something you'd hear while Goku is making a genkidama or someone is about to die in saint seiya, and rightfully so, because Toki actually went beyond her limits by pulling Double Accel, and it passed toll on her inmediatly, but at least she managed to stop Teru's streak a second time.

And then it all went tumbling down. She literally blacked out for a while there! Well, at least we were treated with another awesome Senriyama flashback, just so anime viewers can see how strong the bonds of this team are. Seriously, they're the Ryuumonbuchi of side A, and in case someone forgot, two of their members are actual family! And of course, more bonding with Ryuuka, which is always nice.

Having already read the manga, I knew what was going to happen (mostly), but Toki still looked like a wreck to me, especially by the end, she really is on her last legs in every possibe sense, literally giving all of her soul and body for this.

Toki

And to top it all off, Ryuuka actually lost it after seeing her beloved destroy herself on national TV. This did NOT happen in the manga, by the way, but my god, did every fan want to see it, and it was just as heartwrenching as we all expected it to be.

TOKIIIIIIII

Another thing the manga didn't show, Sera actually looking sad about losing the nationals in that flashback. It was a detail, but a meaningful, especially because you got to see someone so irremediably genki being so sad. It really helped drive the point home.

Of course, there's someone else who deserves mention

Spoiler for To see this through the end:

SUBARA!!

At long last, Kirame's flashback! Can you all understand why some here loved her from the beginning? Just to let it clear, Kirame's ability is endure, and she's being used as nothing more than a sacrificial pawn, but she's still happy to do it if it means being useful to the team. Not only that, she's not willing to let anyone go below zero, because that's not how she want things to go, that being probably a big reason why she's been helping Toki all along, to the point they could even read each others thoughts at one point through simple teamwork.

Hanada Kirame: Bro, badass, WONDERFUL

And yes, Kuro has been useful after all, though not intentionally, but hey, a bone is a bone.

And of course, I can't stop mentioning

Spoiler for To dwell in the past, and plan for the future:

The Kiyosumi gang appearance in this episode, because hey, Nodoka and crew are actually goingto the semifinals. Ahhhh, Shizu, your lover is so close!

Another small detail that was prtty nice, was Saki refusing to enter because of knowing who's playing during that match, and Nodoka kind of getting the reason, or at least there's something big behind her refusal. It helps remember why Saki is here and just how big this is to her.

Oh, and nice touch on remembering Saki and Nodoka are now in first name basis.
And of course, there's the other part with Mihoko, Kana, Mako, and pimp extraordinaire Hisa checking out the match, with Hisa making a really good question.

How are they going to handle Teru if they get that far?

Hisa, you better crank up the swag dial to eleven. Kiyosumi will need it.

A little doubt, by the way, who was that woman who recognized Nodoka and Yuuki in the end? I don't remember.

And of course, there was the final piece to complete this amazing episode.

Spoiler for The promise at the end of it all:

The preview didn't spoil anything! YES!

We did see one very ominous image of our beloved X-rounder/Innovator/whatever the hell she is at this point, but considering how things are, I don't thinkthat's much of a spoiler.

...
TOKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

And in case someone wants there

Spoiler for "I have no regrets, this is the only path":

Spoiler for "Today you will see the conclusion to your endless dream":

By the way, any other AGE watchers here felt punched in the gut with one of Toki's lines? I sure did.

Spoiler for The worst flag of them all:

Yes, living is difficult T_T

[King-Slayer]

@ Requiem-X. The one who noticed Yuuki and Nodoka was the reporter Junko from the first season.

[Kunagisa]

ACHIGA FLASHBACK ｷﾀ━━━( ´∀`)・ω・) ﾟДﾟ)・∀・)￣ー￣)´_ゝ`)━━━!!!!, KURO POWERUP INC. Mama~~!!
TOKIIIIIIIII MAHJONG'S TOO DANGEROUS, JUST GO HOME AND MARRY RYOUKA

[tsunade666]

Originally Posted by Requiem-x

Spoiler for "Today you will see the conclusion to your endless dream":

My conclusion is Kuro has nice ass