(L) Saki manga

[The Green One]

If it wasn't for the fact that we saw shots of Yukki vs Teru in the finals we could very well be seriously wondering if Kiyosumi was going to go down or not but they basically have plot armor until the finals at least. Still were we ever going to see Usuzan become the threat they were supposed to be? They've been absolutely laughable so far. Their player this round has done nothing for goodness sakes, think she only won one hand! Saki will undoubtedly pull out something in the end but it's being implied she's going to take a beating from Kyoko at least initially.

[Chitanda Eru]

Well I think that Kiyosumi must be the champion cause Saki is Hisa's bad wait :">

[Subayai]

Yukiko will recover some points in the 2nd half. At the end of the last chapter, Hiroe warns her sister to watch out for Usuzan's blow. Despite the warning, my guess is that Kinue will take a hit from Yukiko. Even if Usuzan's points remain low, Saki can still perform Rinshan Kaihou by calling the kan tile from someone else discards. In this case, the whole penalty is paid by the player who discarded that tile. She already did that in quarterfinals against Kyouko.

Anyway, from the last chapter what Satoha says was interesting. She basically explains that a strong will brings good luck. When a player has a strong will or conviction, the tiles will respond accordingly and she will get luckier draws at important times when it matters most.

Toki and Nodoka are examples of this. Apparently, Toki's power is not only to see a few turns into the future, she can also get frequent good starting hands and lucky tsumo draws and such. Probably because of the accident, her determination got stronger and as a result her good luck increased. Similarly, Nodoka, at crucial times she will pull exactly the tile she needs and it will look like she was very lucky.

I wonder if this applies to other players as well.

[Chitanda Eru]

I expect Usuzan will take points from Darvin and Rinkai will down to the 2nd, it will be more interesting if this case really happens. And again, Kyouko will face 3 monster with the 1st place when the captain's match begin.

[Subayai]

Ritz just updated her blog. First, she apologizes because the upcoming manga chapter has some pages that aren't fully inked. Not good but at least we have a chapter. She then answers questions. Among the many things she says, I like this:

- Tsubakino Miyuki (Kentani's vanguard) ranks quite high in her list of favorite characters.

- Kentani registered in the tournament as a Mahjong Club but in fact they are a Tea Ceremony Club whose members happen to play Mahjong. The club has existed for 12 years.

- Kentani has participant(s) in the individual tournament. They returned home after losing the team tournament but will be back when the individuals start.

Ritz doesn't say which Kentani member(s) will play in the individuals but Morigaki Yuuka is Kentani's highest scorer and the player who obtained the most points in the vice-captain match (+23200 points). I would like to see her again in the individual tournament if we ever get to that. Then, I guess Miyuki is also candidate, since Ritz seems to like her, but she didn't do very well in her match.

[omimon]

With all that is said and done Saki is just gonna steamroll everyone when it's her turn isn't she?

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by omimon

With all that is said and done Saki is just gonna steamroll everyone when it's her turn isn't she?

most probably.

[The Green One]

Or it might surprise us and Saki scrambles and scrapes just barely managing to get 2nd so that they move on.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by The Green One

Or it might surprise us and Saki scrambles and scrapes just barely managing to get 2nd so that they move on.

This was my impression - she gets scared out of her wits (perhaps by the Georgian girl and/or a confrontation with Teru before the match?) and then faces down her demons in the final match ... that kinda thing.

Just a guess though.

[Subayai]

Rinkai 1st, Kiyosumi 2nd. That's my guess.

Saki will do great as usual but I'd be surprised if she is able to overtake Rinkai, given the current point difference. It's possible Nelly will lose some points but not so many that Rinkai could fall from 1st place I think. Besides, it would be better if Nelly remains undefeated until the final.

[The Green One]

Even if Saki fails to dominate against the other finalist during this round, there's always the rematch next round, so it's not like she has to win. Also there's the chance to develop if she suffers a setback.

[Flower]

I am actually expecting Saki to "awaken to her dark side" in the last round, destroying everyone and scaring the bejeezus out of them, including herself. I fully expect Teru to say something like "There is no way you can defeat her (Saki). If she is serious even I could not defeat her. More than that, she is the only other player who has dominated and terrified me. When my little sister is truly serious there was nothing even I could do against her."

I have a theory that that dark side of Saki and her inhuman godlike ability may be one of the things that drove the wedge between her and Teru in the first place, and that it may take super high level opponents to draw it out of her. Her last round opponents (Nelly, Shizu and Awai) may do just that - kind of like a cumulative effect doing the same thing as Teru's single presence could do, and may get much more than they bargained for!

My guess is that the Individuals may be the field in which Saki becomes finally at peace with who she is in its entirety. I also fully expect most everyone to be scared to death when seeing Saki go into full demon mode, and perhaps even be afraid to be around her after that. Perhaps only Nodoka (or even Koromo?) will be able to initially accept her after she first shows herself for what she is actually capable of doing.

Just theories though.

The story is about Saki, of course, and the main thrust of the story is about her psychological healing as an individual and as a family unit. The perceived main obstacle is Teru, but I think Saki may actually be fleeing part of herself and that that is the brass tacks issue.

[Peanutbutter]

Originally Posted by Flower

I am actually expecting Saki to "awaken to her dark side" in the last round, destroying everyone and scaring the bejeezus out of them, including herself. I fully expect Teru to say something like "There is no way you can defeat her (Saki). If she is serious even I could not defeat her. More than that, she is the only other player who has dominated and terrified me. When my little sister is truly serious there was nothing even I could do against her."

I have a theory that that dark side of Saki and her inhuman godlike ability may be one of the things that drove the wedge between her and Teru in the first place, and that it may take super high level opponents to draw it out of her. Her last round opponents (Nelly, Shizu and Awai) may do just that - kind of like a cumulative effect doing the same thing as Teru's single presence could do, and may get much more than they bargained for!

My guess is that the Individuals may be the field in which Saki becomes finally at peace with who she is in its entirety. I also fully expect most everyone to be scared to death when seeing Saki go into full demon mode, and perhaps even be afraid to be around her after that. Perhaps only Nodoka (or even Koromo?) will be able to initially accept her after she first shows herself for what she is actually capable of doing.

That will be a very good development, except for one thing:

Spoiler:

The third girl in a wheelchair.

Obviously, Ritz has something in mind and the third girl is the focus of the main question in the entire series: The wedge between Saki and Teru.

I dun know if I have the time available to live through the answer to what everyone wants to know at the start of the story.

[Chitanda Eru]

Originally Posted by omimon

With all that is said and done Saki is just gonna steamroll everyone when it's her turn isn't she?

Hmm, I hope so. However, there's a contradition between what she said and her expression, Saki nearly cried after the quarter-final and honestly, I feel little disappointedly about that. And in the end of ep 13 of anime, we saw she cried again @__@. I expect that image won't be relevant to her match in the semi or even final

Originally Posted by Subayai

Rinkai 1st, Kiyosumi 2nd. That's my guess.

Saki will do great as usual but I'd be surprised if she is able to overtake Rinkai, given the current point difference. It's possible Nelly will lose some points but not so many that Rinkai could fall from 1st place I think. Besides, it would be better if Nelly remains undefeated until the final.

Seem that Saki will face the same problem as in the battle with Koromo, so I think she can deal with it.

Originally Posted by Peanutbutter

That will be a very good development, except for one thing:

Spoiler:

The third girl in a wheelchair.

Obviously, Ritz has something in mind and the third girl is the focus of the main question in the entire series: The wedge between Saki and Teru.

I dun know if I have the time available to live through the answer to what everyone wants to know at the start of the story.

I have the same opinion, she has the same hair style with Saki and Teru. So there's must be a relationship by blood between them. And I wonder she was dead or not. If she's still alive, can she play mahjong? May be we can see another super power monster

[Nihilanth]

I also suspect that the girl shown in Chapters 102 and 104 is the likely cause of the rift between Saki and Teru, and perhaps why their parents separated. Perhaps that's an indication that the Miyanaga family had more problems besides mahjong.

I don't mean to sound impatient or ungrateful, but it does seem to be taking unusually long for the latest chapters to be translated. Chapter 136 has been out for about three weeks, Chapter 137 has been out for a little more than two weeks, and Chapter 33 of Saki Biyori has been out for a month(unless I'm mistaken, Chapter 34 will be out soon), and we have yet to see a scanlated version of either. Similarly, if the Saki wiki is correct, Shinohayu's scanlation is several chapters behind, which makes me wonder if the translation of that series will continue.

I understand that the scanlators are doing us a great service, but is it really too much to ask them for a bit more timeliness and consistency? It may not be their job, but because many readers rely on them to be able to read Saki, they should acknowledge that and do their work reliably.

[The Green One]

Yes it actually is too much to ask. It's rather rude too. They don't get paid for their "work", it's not a simple job, they take time out of their free time to do it for us. Basically they don't owe us jack. They can do it at whatever pace they comfortably want and we should be grateful they even do it at all. Expecting them to conform to our demands, however politely we try to word them, is absolutely unreasonable. They're well within their rights to say "You don't like how quickly we translate this? Fantastic, have fun finding a replacement." Better a gradual translation than nothing at all.

[BakaRanger]

Nihilanth, would it be too much to ask you to learn Japanese and translate it for yourself? That seems far more reasonable then what you just posted. If you aren't paying someone, no one has a right to rely on them for something no mater how much you want it. Trying to phrase something nicely doesn't change the fact that what your wrote was that us leechers are somehow entitled to faster translations because we rely on the translators doing something that we can't be bothered to learn to do for ourselves.

[Nihilanth]

I don't see this as a question of conforming to the demands of the fans. I simply see it as a question of their being able to continue to translate the series; to be honest, the way things have been going lately does leave me somewhat concerned.

As far as I'm concerned, when you set out to do something, you should remain committed to it as long as you're able to do so. It's honestly disappointing when projects like scanlation slow down or stop because of lack of interest or other factors on the part of those undertaking them, not just because of what is lost, but the idea of people giving up on something like that.

Feel free to interpret this as "rude" if you're so insistent on seeing it this way, but this is simply how I feel, and I see nothing wrong with expressing this.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by Nihilanth

I don't see this as a question of conforming to the demands of the fans. I simply see it as a question of their being able to continue to translate the series; to be honest, the way things have been going lately does leave me somewhat concerned.

As far as I'm concerned, when you set out to do something, you should remain committed to it as long as you're able to do so. It's honestly disappointing when projects like scanlation slow down or stop because of lack of interest or other factors on the part of those undertaking them, not just because of what is lost, but the idea of people giving up on something like that.

Feel free to interpret this as "rude" if you're so insistent on seeing it this way, but this is simply how I feel, and I see nothing wrong with expressing this.

You are certainly welcome to think or feel that way, but we ask that such subjects not be discussed (or "expressed" as you put it) in the forums here. See: http://forums.animesuki.com/faq.php?...#faq_rules_2_3 where it says:

You are not permitted to ask when episodes will be released. Shows are released once the fansub group is finished with them. All your whining will do is irritate the group's staff and make them leave the scene. That will mean even slower releases or none at all. Please have some patience.

The same applies to manga chapters, etc.

So please cease and desist.

[King-Slayer]

Someone named Akio translated Shinohayu ch14. Mostly the way I remember it. Though I am liking Yue more and more.