(CR) Saki Zenkoku-hen (National Tournament Arc)

[Peanutbutter]

Moe moe Naruka!!! Especially after knowing who her VA is gonna be, and her very cute one-liner, I really want to take her home and cuddle her.

Looks like they re-recorded Satoha's scene, which sounded softer than that same line in Achiga-hen. Also, Omigawd! That pseudo-American accent trying to speak Japanese in hurting my ears. No wonder there are people who dun like her VA. I thought her appearance in the earlier episodes was alright, but this was ear-splitting.

And from Saki's flashback, doesn't seem like that the wheelchair girl is a Miyanaga, especially when she says "you and your sister".... Guess that's what we got and will get for these few years really, the meta-story plot of this series. And it doesn't sound like Chiwa Saitou to me. No name, and no VA, intriguing.

Looking forward to Maya and Sawaya in the manga. Settle those two and the rest of the team tournament is done.

Now if that Kiyosumi going up the final arena is a troll, I'm gonna crap on Ritz as much as I can.

[Myssa Rei]

The problem with Maya is that the anime is making it look like she's Hayarin mk 2. I mean, look at the sparkles and the idol pose, not to mention the boobs!

But yeah, Sawaya. Hope that Ritz isn't BS-ing us again.

[Peanutbutter]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

The problem with Maya is that the anime is making it look like she's Hayarin mk 2. I mean, look at the sparkles and the idol pose, not to mention the boobs!

I dun mind if that's true. We won't get to really see how good the pros are, so having someone who's similar to Hayarin is pretty sufficient already.

Maybe their fourth game will be a battle of the idols.

[ValvraveTruth]

The future preview at the end with opening song really is power, showing so far till the last match. Even the manga only show up till 3rd match only, makes me want to watch more !! Why Teru calling for Saki at the last scene.... theres no hatred at all when Teru say that.

[JW1]

Originally Posted by Peanutbutter

And from Saki's flashback, doesn't seem like that the wheelchair girl is a Miyanaga, especially when she says "you and your sister"....

I think that's just a bit of a misleading translation. My understanding of Japanese is extremely limited, but as far as I can tell she says something along the lines of "you and Teru onee-san" which is much more familiar. Given that she sports the unique 'Miyanaga hair', I would say that the likelihood of her not being related to Saki and Teru is very small.

[Jaden]

"come visit with Teru onee-san" is what she says. It doesn't necessarily imply any specific relation between them.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by ValvraveTruth

Why Teru calling for Saki at the last scene.... theres no hatred at all when Teru say that.

Perhaps she misses her sister. Going by Saki's flashbacks, they certainly seemed to be close at one time.

My general and main suspicion continues to be that Saki did/said something that went horribly wrong that proved very costly to her sister (either directly or indirectly). Teru's immediate response to that was probably anger, shock, and resentment. Perhaps she did disown her sister, and her own personal sense of honor makes that hard to take back. Even so, Teru still has some good memories of her sister and a part of Teru probably wishes they could be normal sisters again.


Now, an alternate possibility, keeping with how Saki sometimes blows things out of proportion (such as overestimating some opponents)... Saki overreacted to Teru's anger/words over a particular incident, and Saki took it upon herself to cut herself off from Teru (thanking that Teru never wanted to see her anymore, or something like that). Teru is ironically the sister that feels disowned here. And Teru is hurting, badly, from being cut off from her sister for so long. A big part of her wants to reunite with her sister.

[kitten320]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Perhaps she misses her sister. Going by Saki's flashbacks, they certainly seemed to be close at one time.

My general and main suspicion continues to be that Saki did/said something that went horribly wrong that proved very costly to her sister (either directly or indirectly). Teru's immediate response to that was probably anger, shock, and resentment. Perhaps she did disown her sister, and her own personal sense of honor makes that hard to take back. Even so, Teru still has some good memories of her sister and a part of Teru probably wishes they could be normal sisters again.


Now, an alternate possibility, keeping with how Saki sometimes blows things out of proportion (such as overestimating some opponents)... Saki overreacted to Teru's anger/words over a particular incident, and Saki took it upon herself to cut herself off from Teru (thanking that Teru never wanted to see her anymore, or something like that). Teru is ironically the sister that feels disowned here. And Teru is hurting, badly, from being cut off from her sister for so long. A big part of her wants to reunite with her sister.

Second version doesn't fully work considering that publicly Teru claims not to have a sister.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by kitten320

Second version doesn't fully work considering that publicly Teru claims not to have a sister.

Would you want to talk to the media about how your sister has cut you out of her life? Does Shiraitodai really need that kind of controversy?

Especially in Japan of all places. I can just imagine how a popular figure airing her family's dirty laundry would go over there. Better to avoid the topic entirely if you can, and if that takes a lie, then maybe it's worth it in Teru's mind. I mean, if Teru admits to the mahjong media that Saki is her sister, then she will get absolutely grilled over that. I mean, we just saw the big deal the media made out of Nodoka merely knowing girls from another school - So can you imagine how the media would react to finding out that Teru has a sister that's going to be playing for another team at the Nationals?

So I think my second version works fine given Teru's public claim of not having a sister.

[Myssa Rei]

Originally Posted by kitten320

Second version doesn't fully work considering that publicly Teru claims not to have a sister.

Just for context that scene was first season only, and doesn't actually appear in the manga at all (both the pool episode, and the original S1 training camp are mostly anime-only). The manga only confirms that Teru ignored Saki the last time she visited Tokyo.

Then again Ritz has this weird relationship with canon -- if she says it counts, like the Individuals results, then it counts -- but many fans here have a personal "headacanon" anyway.

[eavein18]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Now, an alternate possibility, keeping with how Saki sometimes blows things out of proportion (such as overestimating some opponents)... Saki overreacted to Teru's anger/words over a particular incident, and Saki took it upon herself to cut herself off from Teru (thanking that Teru never wanted to see her anymore, or something like that). Teru is ironically the sister that feels disowned here. And Teru is hurting, badly, from being cut off from her sister for so long. A big part of her wants to reunite with her sister.

I disagree with this, since if you look back on... the second episode

Saki said

"I went to see them by myself once" note: this is a very very brave move (considering the family state and Saki's tendency to get lost)

"but not a single thing I said got through to my sister"

"I'm sure she is still angry at me"

[Fragment off]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Would you want to talk to the media about how your sister has cut you out of her life? Does Shiraitodai really need that kind of controversy?

Especially in Japan of all places. I can just imagine how a popular figure airing her family's dirty laundry would go over there. Better to avoid the topic entirely if you can, and if that takes a lie, then maybe it's worth it in Teru's mind. I mean, if Teru admits to the mahjong media that Saki is her sister, then she will get absolutely grilled over that. I mean, we just saw the big deal the media made out of Nodoka merely knowing girls from another school - So can you imagine how the media would react to finding out that Teru has a sister that's going to be playing for another team at the Nationals?

So I think my second version works fine given Teru's public claim of not having a sister.

You may be right about that but she also said the same thing to Sumire when they where alone together after Sumire saw the news-paper about the school which were qualified.

[XGeneral2000]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Would you want to talk to the media about how your sister has cut you out of her life? Does Shiraitodai really need that kind of controversy?

Especially in Japan of all places. I can just imagine how a popular figure airing her family's dirty laundry would go over there. Better to avoid the topic entirely if you can, and if that takes a lie, then maybe it's worth it in Teru's mind. I mean, if Teru admits to the mahjong media that Saki is her sister, then she will get absolutely grilled over that. I mean, we just saw the big deal the media made out of Nodoka merely knowing girls from another school - So can you imagine how the media would react to finding out that Teru has a sister that's going to be playing for another team at the Nationals?

So I think my second version works fine given Teru's public claim of not having a sister.

It's also possible that after Teru reacted badly to whatever happened and left Saki alone (or Saki withdrew into herself), she came to hate herself for it later (like she wasn't there for Saki when she needed her, or something), so much that she doesn't feel she deserves to be Saki's sister. So she cuts the relationship on her end as well, feeling that Saki is better off without her.

Maybe another (even more far-fetched) possibility is that whatever happened to the other Miyanaga(?) scarred Teru so badly she doesn't want to relive the pain of losing a loved one...and so cuts herself off from getting close to anyone for fear that she'll lose them, too.

Granted, given how Teru's reacted to various topics regarding her sister, it's most likely she's still just angry over whatever happened. I think if she really was just faking it, she would have shown some hint, like uncertainty or hesitation, but she really seems to have done nothing but respond with ice to any question about her family.

[kona~chan]

whatever teru and saki problem is i always used to think it was related to mahjong.
you see at begining of the series we were seen how saki hated mahjong, but thanks to nodoka she finally able to realize how fun mahjong is, if you remmember the scene in 1st season after saki match against nodoka we seen her standing with mahjong table at her house, her father commented how rare it was and wondering whatever he should just sell it because the family no longer playing it anymore which saki reply they should wait because she believed they will comeback and they will playing again someday, and the next day we seen saki joined the mahjong club and aimed to national.
saki the mahjong hater and teru the mahjong fan girl, even without the girl in wheelchair dying i already can see that their relationship is kinda bad. same like how ritz draw saki manga hoping that her father will look it somewhere i too used to think saki was like that, saki playing mahjong hoping teru will look at her.
in this series we saw many characters motivation why they playing mahjong and why they want to play in the national which makes almost every characters in this series is very likeable. mahjong is not simply a game but its something that connect people, this is the feeling that i got from this series.
i always interested with how teru reaction after saw what saki did in Qtr final, how her little sister abused the yaku she taught her so much, and how saki playing style is still pretty much still same like in old days, the manga never give this but in the anime we saw teru in rooftop calling her little sister name, that's just so sweet and kinda unfair considering how many years we need to wait for the continuation

[Archaeon]

Seeing the scene from Achiga-hen but from Kiyosumi perspective is great.Feel nostalgia. Satoha give me the Yakuza vibe.

Hopefully Shinohayu will be animated. As a anime viewer only,I'm really curious about that.

[c933103]

just watched first three season on the show...and why all 'saki' in above posts are reddened?

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by c933103

just watched first three season on the show...and why all 'saki' in above posts are reddened?

Did you happen to search the word "Saki" to find the thread(s)?

If so then it's because when you search a word it automatically highlights that word within the thread as a default option if you were searching whole posts and not thread titles .

[c933103]

Originally Posted by Konakaga

Did you happen to search the word "Saki" to find the thread(s)?

If so then it's because when you search a word it automatically highlights that word within the thread as a default option if you were searching whole posts and not thread titles .

oh that's it..thanks.

[Flower]

I just gave this series a re-watch and have to admit the the OST and bgm (not the OP or ED, mind you) for this series really is extremely good...even awesome at times! Maybe even the best bgm of any series for me this year...or at least in the top three.

Of course, I am not impartial to the franchise to begin with, but...yeah. ^^

[Sol Falling]

Cheers to that. On a whole and as far as the anime goes, I don't feel either of the sequel seasons ever quite matched up to the first one but one area in which they have indeed stepped up tremendously is the OST. Zenkoku-hen's soundtrack really blew me away a lot of the time, I'd say it's definitely one of its definitive strengths.