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

[thundrakkon]

Originally Posted by Scarletknive

Speaking of which, only those who has special abilities are able to sense the other opponent's pressure right?(Newtypes are everywhere, if you get what i mean.)

So you are saying that Achiga has two players with special abilities? I thought there were many players that could sense Saki's Monster Aura, as long as they were strong enough.

I do agree with Triple R, concerning going all the way to the Nationals already. If they give away any details of what happens in the Nationals with Team Kiyosumi, it will feel like a huge spoiler for any upcoming season 2 of Saki. Ultimately, I expect to see Achiga versus Kiyosumi, but seeing it even once will spoil it for Saki season 2, whenever that will be.

However, certain manga readers have suggested that there are surprises in store for the direction of this series, so I'll have to wait and see where that leads.

[relentlessflame]

I want to remind everyone that you may not discuss the manga in this thread, even behind spoiler tags. Please go to the manga thread instead. I removed/edited a bunch of posts above.

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

And that brings up my caveat... are we now supposed to cheer against Saki and Nodoka? Saki was presented as an absolutely menacing villain here (the irony of that being pretty mind-blowing ). Seriously, if you never watched the original Saki before watching this spin-off, you'd think that Saki was the Darth Vader of this show, lol.

This is what I'll expect -- and want to see -- regarding Kiyosumi and Achiga. The two teams meet each other in some way shape or form.

** They either meet while out in the concourse areas (boring).

OR

** They meet each other on the mahjong table. (holy @#!#$)

If they do the latter, I shall expect Kiyosumi to beat the Achiga team. Though, if they make a game out of it, that'll be cool too. Regardless, if they have Kiyosumi losing in the tournament brackets during this arc... that would outright kill the main story. So, as long as they don't do that, that'll be just fine.

As for the Season 2 spoiler issue...

They could relegate the match involving Kiyosumi and Achiga as a lower bracket match (Round 1 perhaps), where this series sends off Kiyosumi into the higher brackets, with tougher opponents. After all, the aim of this side series -- for this Achiga team to meet Nodoka again. Win or lose for the Achiga team, they accomplish that. Of course, already, the goal for the team coach Harue is already fullfilled: getting into Nationals.

On this note: we already know the Kiyosumi order via season 1 (eps 25):

Bucchou, Mako, Tacos, Nodocchi, and Saki.

And I forgot the Achiga order... though, we may see Miss Dora Magnet vs Bucchou.

As for the pacing: they can dedicate the rest of this series (assuming 12 episodes)... so that makes 9 episodes towards this seemingly inevitable match.

[Grand Phoenix]

So I finished up Episode 3 a few minutes ago, and I just want to say...I feel like I've been teased. Like, someone seriously through a thick sheet of wool over my eyes.

What the hell, I was expecting a couple minutes of Teru and Team Shiraitodai, not three frigging seconds of Teru's back AT THE VERY END OF THE EPISODE. I could care less about Senriyama and Achiga and whoever else is competing, I want INTERACTION, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT for a school that's been in the dark since the first season. That there...that was just cruel D:

But, um, the overall episode was good. Things are progressing steadily along. Wondering just how far the anime will go when they surpass the current manga chapters. Oh, and it was nice to see Ryuumonbuchi and Koromo and Saki again. You fellas haven't changed a bit.

Just didn't like being played like that at the end. It really, really hurt.

[Scarletknive]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I want to remind everyone that you may not discuss the manga in this thread, even behind spoiler tags. Please go to the manga thread instead. I removed/edited a bunch of posts above.

Speaking of which, shouldn't this thread goes to Saki Thread?(Meaning a subforum, since they are somehow, related.)

[Midonin]

There's no subforum for it to go to, nor will there be. Doesn't mean meaningful discussion can't be had in the thread as it is now.

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by Scarletknive

Speaking of which, shouldn't this thread goes to Saki Thread?(Meaning a subforum, since they are somehow, related.)

The entirety of season 1 is on one thread. We'll survive here with this one too.

[Flower]

Ok - the rendering of the Achiga girls encountering Saki at the nationals was very well done, I thought. It is one of my fave moments in the manga, and I feel they nailed it nicely.

Other than that ... hrm ... quick pace through the matches - just like in the manga. It really is being quite faithful in that sense.

I am really enjoying the series thus far. Kudos!

[Master_Yoma]

And anther fast episode with so much mahjong play missing and why did they make Saki look evil

[Myssa Rei]

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

And anther fast episode with so much mahjong play missing and why did they make Saki look evil

It's a common misperception for people who don't know her apparently. As previous posters mentioned, Saki was apparently lost and look for the bathroom in this one.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

And anther fast episode with so much mahjong play missing and why did they make Saki look evil

I kinda think she was focused and intimidating.

As to why she had such a focused expression on her face, well - go to the manga thread would be my advice.

(Although she admittedly does have an uncanny habit of getting lost while looking for the bathroom it never gave rise to the "I am gonna call down fire from heaven on you if you get in my way!" facial expression she is sporting at the end of the ep.)

[teja208]

Originally Posted by chaos_animagic

So... we're going to have a "Dark Saki Cult" now? LOL
(Dark Saki looks sooo sexy... *Imagines the things she do to Nodoka*)

And don't forget her ultimate evil goal "searching for the nearest girl's toilet".



Hisa should consider this as their team secret strategy: toilet is off limit for Saki the day before the match.

[Midonin]

Originally Posted by teja208

Hisa should consider this as their team secret strategy: toilet is off limit for Saki the day before the match.

There's an audience for that. I'm not saying that audience is me, but on the Internet, you never know.

[orangejuicetang]

I was thought that was her 'I need to win this match in order to meet my sister' srs face, possibly right before her match.

Would explain why her 'monster aura' was going full power

[Kyuu]

Well. I must say. This series may be contributing to more mahjong play.

By which. Join!
http://forums.animesuki.com/group.php?groupid=764

And:

[2012/04/25/般南喰赤]

A:xkime(+3.0)
B:KyuuAA(+67.0)
C:Ahiru(-42.0)
D:NoName(-28.0)

http://tenhou.net/0/?log=2012042516g...-f8c136bf&tw=1

OK. That double ron nearly had me in tears... but plenty of despair. To be honest, I don't even know what possessed me to drop that 2. If I were to look back at that hand, I'm sure there were some far more obvious tiles to choose from.

Thankfully, I got on a major roll near the end - capitalizing on the high honba count. Whew, thank goodness for that.

===

And seeing how that game -- I pulled it out very heavily in the South Round... and that reminds me of Nanpo. Oh, what a wasted character she was. Her South Round powers could have been really something.

[night_sentinel]

Ah finally watched episode 3, its actually better than I expected considering the source material I was looking for a very rushed episode with only the cameos to look forward to. Thankfully my prediction didn't came true.

Spoiler for comments on the episode 3:

I'm putting my comments here, because of reference to the original Saki anime which I'll refer often. So if for some reason you haven't watched the original there will be spoiler here, though I recommend watching it first since Achiga would be more enjoyable if you watched the original anime in my opinion.

So now that's out of the way, Achiga begins its prefecture tournament and right out of the gate their first match is Bansei the champion of the prefecture. Bansei is introduced like a boss with all the fanfare. They also have a lot of club members in the sidelines cheering for them ...

Truthfully, Bansei reminded me of Kazekoshi in this shot. But, anyway the first match promptly begins. Bansei's first player is going to show how royalty plays, unfortunately its an epic fake out with Kuro using her dora powers to get a win. All I can say is epic fail . The supposedly epic Bansei vs. Achiga ended in less than 2 minutes of screen time... lol.

That's it for the prefectural tournament what saki did for a full 2 cours achiga managed to do in 3 episodes.

Time skip with Shizu giving us a newspaper reporting who won on Nagano showing us a picture of Nodoka ... Kiyosumi of course won. Still, with this newspaper and the one that is shown in the original Saki ep. 20, I'm beginning to think Kiyosumi winning is big news. They took a full spread in a national newspaper since its both available in Nara and Tokyo which should not surprise me actually with Nodoka being a media darling and the ridiculous implausible comeback win that happened plus the matches there was very exciting especially the captain match which is a statistical anomaly.

And now, Achiga's strategy is to fight the second placer in the prefecture. And of course their first target is Nagano's Ryumonbuchi. I really like Akado's monologue here even if its belittling Kiyosumi a bit. Its very logical - no one would really expect Ryumonbuchi to lose.

And of course our beloved Ryumonbuchi is here. They're very intimidating and Koromo being Koromo is the best. "You must have a long trip" - with a black aura and lightning shooting from her eyes. Koromo don't ever change.

Koromo vs. Shizuno - expected result curb stomp
And Koromo isn't even using half her power with it being day and the moon not being out. Of course when they explained this to the Achiga team, they're understandably confused. Poor Achiga, they really are out of their depth aren't they.

Time skip again On their way to Tokyo they met Senriyama - Toki is actually very cute in a I'll go break with the slightest touch way. And Ryuuka is also introduced as Toki's rescuer. Overall, an okay introduction of Senriyama though they need to fix Cela's voice its grating to put it mildly....

And last but not the least they meet Saki who's entrance is very badass. I think I've replayed that end a couple of times... I really like the blurring effect as Saki approached and the slow pace as she walked pass Achiga plus the lightning shooting from the eye. The flashback at the end showing that Koromo who they can't defeat was beaten by someone ... . The close up of Demonic Saki was the finisher - The whole sequence just screams final boss x 1000.

And its even more funny considering that this is Saki and she must be lost again or looking for the bathroom .

[Midonin]

Character songs were just confirmed today. The first series had some pretty nice ones, but since this series has a smaller cast, each member of Team Achiga is getting an individual album.

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by Scarletknive

Spoiler for episode 3:

Oh, how I enjoy re-watching this episode with a grin larger than before.

And if anyone has a despair of mahjong like that ... and come back to play some more... that means: You're enjoying the hell out of the game itself.

Also. Speaking of mahjong powers... I'm curious about Miss I'm Always Freakin' Cold.

[Marina2]

Some more 4koma

Spoiler for 4koma, not direct translated:

Non-translated





I'm not sure if posting the source URL is safe or not....so I guess not.

[ahelo]

Saki isn't Saki without the absurd mahjong battles. I don't like how they're skipping all that opportunity to show off Achiga-hen's mahou shoujo powers in mahjong. I haven't read the manga but assuming they're sticking pretty closely to it, then this spin off sorta sucks.

Maybe they won't skip the mahjong now that they're in the national tournament. Seriously though, an anime about a certain sport can't be good if you don't show the sport itself. You can't just keep building and building up!