2013-01-30, 18:58 | Link #2201 | |
Romanticist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Age: 33
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Pretty cool episode. I'm not particularly impressed to be honest, but it did the trick capturing my attention. For one thing, we actually have a decent explanation of Seiko's mahjong power now. My concern here is how bad Shiraitodai is looking right now, especially after all the hype. But eh, it's for the sake of drama, I guess. Their secret weapon hasn't been released yet, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
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2013-01-30, 20:14 | Link #2202 | |
Senior Member
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I'll tell you what I find pretty funny though. It's this image I now have in my mind of Teru and friends pouring over Mairu and Himeko's play records, somehow noticing this highly intricate pattern of "When Mairu does A, B, or C in one match, Himeko tends to do F, G, or H in the next match", and then them just casually and confidently chalking it up to a mahjong superpower instead of, you know, random chance. You know, it honestly makes me sympathize more with Nodoka. This sort of thing would probably drive me nuts too if I was her. "You people talk about mahjong like you were some crazed conspiracy theorists! Everything is some carefully calibrated magical superpower to you, isn't it? Does chance even exist in your world?!" And the sad thing for Nodoka is that the conspiracy theorists are almost always right! For somebody who gets by on pure skill, practice, effort, and good mahjong fundamentals, it must be pretty infuriating at times.
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2013-01-30, 21:00 | Link #2203 |
Moderate Haruhiist
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If you haven't noticed, Sumire casually mentions that Teru used her mirror ability to figure out how the Shindouji combination worked, and NO ONE calls her out on how ridiculous this is (forming strategies from hints taken from mahjong superpowers). If Nodoka was there, she'd freak out, as it would show that she's an outlier, and the existence of said lesbian hax is actually an ACCEPTED part of mainstream competitive mahjong.
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2013-01-30, 21:07 | Link #2204 | |
The slacking one
Join Date: Apr 2012
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I don't feel bad for Nodoka, though, because I don't like her. Besides, you don't see Yumi, Hiroe or Hisa whining about any powers. |
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2013-01-30, 21:11 | Link #2205 | |||
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In fairness to Teru's teammates, though, I'd probably be pretty keen on accepting almost anything that Teru said about mahjong. Her saying something about mahjong is like a 17 year old Wayne Gretzky saying something about hockey, or a 17 year old Michael Jordan saying something about basketball. No matter how crazy it may sound, when it comes from a person that good in the sport, you have to take it seriously. Quote:
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Nodoka is traditionally a more singles-oriented player. For her, the idea of these superpowers are naturally upsetting because it would put her at an arguably unfair disadvantage.
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2013-01-30, 21:33 | Link #2206 | |
The slacking one
Join Date: Apr 2012
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It's not that the powers annoy her, she doesn't recognize their existance, and there's no reason behind that as far as I know. And she's ALWAYS been like that. |
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2013-01-30, 21:50 | Link #2208 | ||||
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Teru was cool as a cucumber, just like Nodoka tends to be. Honestly, I like the calm professionalism of characters like Teru and Nodoka. I wouldn't want every Saki character to be like that, of course, but it can be nice for a change and a welcomed contrast. In any event, most of the reason I like Nodoka has little to do with her mahjong-playing. Nodoka and Saki have a lot of great moments together, imo. Quote:
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2013-01-30, 22:02 | Link #2209 |
Tsukiyomi -Moon Phase-
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wow episode 14 is pretty interesting. Arata is on the roll going to win it for Harue. Next episode is going to be epic. Shizuno wants to go to the finals to meet Nadoka, Koromo said that Shizuno is trouble and she'll is going to be fired up after meeting Nadoka. Hemeko has so many keys so she'll at least be some competition and she's also an ace. The other two schools look pretty powerful as well. can't wait to see what happens.
The background music was amazing too. Love all the music in saki
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2013-01-30, 22:07 | Link #2210 | |
Moderate Haruhiist
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Also, Requiem is right in a way -- when Kokaji, who was at one point the WORLD NUMBER TWO, acknowledges mahjong superpowers, then one seriously wonders about Nodoka's willful disbelief about them.
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2013-01-30, 22:27 | Link #2211 | ||||
The slacking one
Join Date: Apr 2012
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P.S: I'd love seeing Nodoka trying to deny all that went down in the match against Teru, where three hax powers had to combine, and two of them used differently from the usual just to stop her. Also, we better stop here. I may not like Nodoka, but I dislike going into angry rants about her much less, especially when there's wireless lesbian sex to enjoy. |
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2013-01-30, 22:50 | Link #2212 | |
likes cute things
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Searching for more imoutos
Age: 43
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Since Mairu is the one getting locked up, does that mean Himeko wears the pants despite looking more gentle and girly? |
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2013-01-30, 23:42 | Link #2213 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Earth
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I was wondering where you guys went...
Silly me, this thread was still alive after all. I thought it was nuked when I couldn't find it in the Current Series section. Anyway, I really liked the new episode. Even if I find the manga version personally better in retaining the intensity of the match, watching Himeko moan and gasp every time Marui makes a bind is so WORTH IT. Quote:
For example. I have always looked at Kiyosumi Mahjong Club as the quintessential Hisa hell wait. The best one she has made in the series. Kiyosumi winning the nationals is a tall order. It doesn't even have a mahjong club when Hisa joined. Contrast this to Kazekoshi which is a better wait. But, just like her waits if Hisa has chosen the better option, we know that she will not win. It was only by choosing Kiyosumi (the hell wait) that she has a chance of winning at all.
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2013-01-31, 01:11 | Link #2214 | ||
=^^=
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: 42° 10' N (Latitude) 87° 33' W (Longitude)
Age: 45
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Instead... The entire Saki story features personified aspects of mahjong, and then they are pitted against each other. The classic example was Saki's Rinshan vs Koromoe's Haitei. So, anyone demanding the randomness element in the Saki-verse is actual being unreasonable. After all, this IS fiction. Nevertheless, we can all agree - everything that happens in the Saki-verse pertaining to the mahjong, functions within the rules of the game. It's just that - if you wish to achieve the same things in the game -- you might as well dream about it.
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2013-01-31, 04:34 | Link #2215 | |
Critical fanboy
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere with anime and anime discussion is fine
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@Requiem-x - I sometime wonder whether Teru's Ea will be powerful enough to short circuit Robocchi. Who knows, it might actually happen in the individual. @RRR - Not a manga spoiler, but you know I was under the impression that every single player in the national (even ones without superpowers) seems to be expecting Rinshan Kaihou from Saki every time she kans. Oh and one more thing if that's ok for you, I was hoping to hear about which characters in this episode's fourth match impressed you the most RRR. |
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2013-01-31, 07:23 | Link #2216 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Earth
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You know watching the matches in Achiga-hen is giving me an increased appreciation for the old cast. Every team in the Nagano finals can really do well in the nationals. Its quite nice considering in other anime there is a sorting algorithm of strength involved - the boss of last season is usually weaker than the regular opponents next time. I'm glad that this hasn't happened to Saki.
This is specially evident in Koromo. She's still pretty much a monster player and it would be quite rare to see someone who will match her even the current tournament. She's also a very nice meter stick for the power of other players. Beside that, I've just realized that Koromo's strongest was only shown to a wide audience during this year's prefecture tournament. And yet in the previous nationals , even when she is not playing at full power she was still seen as a monster class player. That is quite amazing because there is a great amount of evidence that Koromo's no tenpai hell is only active at the night of the full moon. And in my opinion, the no tenpai hell is Koromo's strongest power. Here is proof: Link Sorry for the out link. But it is very image heavy.
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Last edited by night_sentinel; 2013-01-31 at 07:41. |
2013-01-31, 09:11 | Link #2217 | |
Senior Member
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That being said, if I had to pick just one girl from the match that really impressed me... I should preface this by saying that my familiarity with mahjong is actually a bit slim. For examples, I don't exactly understand how this Mairu/Himeko link-up works, except for the basic "Mairu strictly limits her avenues of victory -> If she wins anyway, Himeko then gets a magical "key to victory!" that makes her likelihood of winning much greater for the same hand in Himeko's next match; OTOH, if Mairu loses, that makes Himeko more likely to lose the same hand in Himeko's next match." Am I basically right there? If so, then the girl who impressed me the most was Mairu. From what I can gather, she takes these reckless long shots to benefit Himeko later on... and then she delivers on them! That's brash, man. That's like a pro baseball player pointing at the outfield just before he hits a homerun! Or a hockey player pointing at the net just before he scores a goal.
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2013-01-31, 09:38 | Link #2218 |
Romanticist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Age: 33
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Close, but there's still the fact that the hand that Himeko will get will be worth about twice as much as the one that Mairu wins (that's the simplest explanation I can give without going into han values). So it's even stronger than you understand, perhaps even ridiculously so.
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mahjong, nopan, seinen, sport, yuri |
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