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

[The Green One]

Maybe now we'll finally hear an end to the complaints about the training camp.

[HandofFate]

so many character, and can't even to begin keeping track of what powers each one has....

what's with the one with the ghost following her?

[Daisu]

Get to see Maho in action, I remember her ability well from PSP game, but it seems its not just the people across from her.

Enjoyed training camp so far~

[Requiem-x]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

so many character, and can't even to begin keeping track of what powers each one has....

what's with the one with the ghost following her?

That's Yumi. She's actually a normal player. The ghost following her is Momo, she's the one with the power (in the table, people don't notice her tiles).

[Mentar]

Unsurprisingly, the anime is repeating the same mistake that the manga did: Introducing 98621496 new characters which are entirely irrelevant for the story and that nobody gives a friggen damn about. This was a Mahjongg anime once. When it was good.

The lunch lady? The Ramen guy? The loli in the background? WHO THE HELL CARES?

Sorry. Feeling my interest plummet fast.

[Daisu]

Originally Posted by Mentar

The lunch lady? The Ramen guy? The loli in the background? WHO THE HELL CARES?

Sorry. Feeling my interest plummet fast.

But they all part of the backstory of Yuuki's food, which might be a plot point! Good chunk of the episode is about Yuuki food

[tjalorak]

Did some of you just like... jump straight in without actually watching S1? Because if you did, you're going to be extremely confused. The only ones you should be really confused about are the new teams in Side B of Inter-High. Everyone else is a callback to S1.

And no, the well wishers aren't important so much as just illustrating that Kiyosumi's mahjong team has become popular - a contrast to Hisa's first year, where she was alone with everyone she tried to recruit leaving the club - and people in Nagano are supporting them. It also plays up on how mahjong is a big thing in Saki-verse, that lots of people stick around to watch the high school tournament. It's basically the Nagano equivalent scene of Arata wandering around, giving some interviews to the town citizens and receiving wishes of good luck for the nationals.

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by tjalorak

Did some of you just like... jump straight in without actually watching S1? Because if you did, you're going to be extremely confused. The only ones you should be really confused about are the new teams in Side B of Inter-High. Everyone else is a callback to S1.

i'm beginning to think so.

As for the episode itself, I thought it was much better than the first for some reason. The new OP was good but for the ending I wanted the WAI WAI versions which might come later. Still liked the ending though. Also:
- The extra content with Eisui girls was nice and filled out their characters a little more than I had anticipated
- Mihoko's uniform in Kiyosumi's closet
-Miharu was hilarious in the bath scene
- Koromo was just as cute as I expected her to be with that long yukata
- DAT BLUSH BY MIHOKO!
- and finally "Cold" Touka in action was everything I wanted it to be.

Yeah I can't wait for the next episode.

[Sol Falling]

Ohmigawa Chiaki as Megan Davin was really interesting. I think everybody got the impression from the manga that she would be the stereotypically loud, extroverted American. Omigawa's quieter take managed to really bring out instead a more foreign, ethnic feel. I liked it a lot.

[Qilin]

It just occurred to me that the bit of foxfire hanging around Tsuruga when they met Kiyosumi was Momo.

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Ohmigawa Chiaki as Megan Davin was really interesting. I think everybody got the impression from the manga that she would be the stereotypically loud, extroverted American. Omigawa's quieter take managed to really bring out instead a more foreign, ethnic feel. I liked it a lot.

I like and appreciate that as well. Ritz and the anime staff did an excellent job not making her a stereotype

Spoiler for slight manga stuff:

except for her love of ramen

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Ohmigawa Chiaki as Megan Davin was really interesting. I think everybody got the impression from the manga that she would be the stereotypically loud, extroverted American. Omigawa's quieter take managed to really bring out instead a more foreign, ethnic feel. I liked it a lot.

That wasn't really the impression I got from the manga, but I did think she would have a more "powerful" voice. I always imagined her with Yuu Koboyashi's voice but she's already voicing Yumi so that obviously wasn't going to happen. Chiaki Omigawa was definitely a surprise. It worked pretty well.

[Myssa Rei]

Originally Posted by Requiem-x

Spoiler for Hisa:

Near the beginning, there's a Kazekoshi uniform in Kyosumi's closet. Just putting that out there Make of that as you will

Please, this is so obvious. The big question here is how Hisa managed to hide Mihoko while everyone else was sleeping?

Also, what the hell Mentar, you were the LAST person I expected to react this way. This is a sequel. It's made for people who a) know of the first series and Achiga or b) followed the manga up to the most current arc. Plus, CAST HERD. Each segment in the tournament needs 3 other teams, each made up of 5 other members. Of COURSE the cast will become huge.

[Peanutbutter]

From the posts here, I can understand the mumblings about it not very viewer-friendly, for those who were not exposed to the original first season and the side-story. Characters are ad-hoc-ly introduced, scenes dun make much sense and things seem to be jumping around a lot.

But for us who have been following (I follow the manga but those who skipped the manga also applies here), it makes almost perfect sense to have it this way, since we are talking about a sequel. I believe the studio is aware of that too and choose to do it this way (Maybe enhancing the sales of the first season BD will be nice.).

For those who are lost, just focus on the Kiyosumi team (i.e. the 'main' girls in the OP and ED). The parts that characters other play will be ending soon.

Now then, comments about Ep 2:

- Finally. Cold Touka. I hope for a bit more filler to flesh out her 'true' powers, but I guess the play records will have to do. For people who know how to play mahjong, the play records basically show the other players not able to execute their powers and strength. It's nothing flashy, but it definitely demonstrates her control of the 'flow' or atmosphere of the game.

- Chiaki Omigawa as Megan. Saw a comment about her on the Ep 1 nicovideo but was wondering whether was that true or a fan wish. But looks like the role was already leaked beforehand. Surprisingly silent for a tall American but having such a high voice for Toyone really makes anything possible.

- That part about everybody supporting Kiyosumi. I can understand the reasons behind it, for those will play a huge part in the matches later on. Spoilers are offside here though it has been hinted in the two episodes so far.

- Eisui filler seem really like a filler. Nothing contributory to the story except filling them out as characters. Nice to have the entire team on top in the OP, instead of just 'her'.

- More Hikasa Yoko as Satoha. Woohoo!

- Second ED was surprisingly fast. It was also another budget-making one too. Music not on the impact of Futuristic Player though. I could listen to that all day.

That's all.

[Myssa Rei]

Also, that Kazekoshi uniform in Kiyosumi's closet. Methinks that SOMEONE is having a secret evening rendezvous here.

Remember, it's 2050 AD. IPS is a thing in Saki.

[Requiem-x]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

Please, this is so obvious. The big question here is how Hisa managed to hide Mihoko while everyone else was sleeping?

If they're sleeping, then there's no need to hide her, is there?

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Peanutbutter

But for us who have been following (I follow the manga but those who skipped the manga also applies here), it makes almost perfect sense to have it this way, since we are talking about a sequel.

Even as someone who watched the original Saki anime and all of the Achiga-hen anime, I find the plot approach here quite odd. I certainly don't see how it makes perfect sense.

Why are we going back to the training camp? Why are we spending an extended multi-episode flashback on it (judging by the Episode 3 preview)? Why are we spending time building up characters that aren't even going to be competing at the Nationals?

I like Ryuumonbuchi Touka, so I largely enjoyed her scenes in Episode 2, but what's the point of building her up now? She's essentially a mid-boss antagonist. A good and entertaining one, but still a mid-boss. And she was soundly defeated in Season 1.

I get bringing back old favorites for a little bit of fanservice for long-term fans, and I like a little bit of that myself. But what Episode 2 did here does seem a bit excessive to me. It feels a bit meandering.

One of the big strengths of Saki season 1, and even of most of Achiga-hen, was that it had this wonderful sense of forward momentum. It had a great sense of things slowly but surely building up, progressing nicely, leading to bigger and greater challenges for our main protagonists (be they Kiyosumi or Achiga).

Saki Zenkoku-hen is lacking that so far. It introduced all these new characters in Episode 1, and barely followed up on them in Episode 2. Instead, a heavy focus is now put on old familiar teams in a flashback training camp.

Now, I had no problems with them showing all the support for Team Kiyosumi. They did it for Team Achiga in Achiga-hen, after all, so it would seem odd to skip it for Kiyosumi.

But this extended training camp material just screams "OVA material" to me. As in, something that probably should have been handled in an OVA episode or two, not in the main sequel.

Oh well, at least it was a largely pleasant watch. As long as it doesn't result in future episodes and National matches feeling rushed, it's no big deal. So let's hope it's no big deal...

[Myssa Rei]

It does feel weird for a non-manga reader admittedly, but it fits in context when you follow the franchise as a whole.

Just for reference, as it IS S1 material, but most the S1 training camp? It didn't happen.

For context, when the S1 training camp episodes were airing, the manga was still at Koromo's match. The GONZO staff were mostly working with the rough outline Ritz gave them. It's why we had some weird anachronisms, like Tsuruga coming by TRAIN instead of by the Wahaha mobile.

What we're seeing as flashback material was the actual training camp as shown in the manga.

[tjalorak]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Why are we going back to the training camp? Why are we spending an extended multi-episode flashback on it (judging by the Episode 3 preview)?

Because it's important? Because it illustrates what they learned between prefecturals and nationals? This *is* your training / plot importance / preparation! Unlike Achiga's shounen bullshit of new power development in the middle of a match, actual players have to spend time to train to work on their weak spots and prepare for the nationals teams - and yes, Hisa would know where to focus on developing her team given that Kajiki in S1 gives her a data book filled with every national player's data!

Why are we spending time building up characters that aren't even going to be competing at the Nationals?

I like Ryuumonbuchi Touka, so I largely enjoyed her scenes in Episode 2, but what's the point of building her up now? She's essentially a mid-boss antagonist. A good and entertaining one, but still a mid-boss. And she was soundly defeated in Season 1.

Holy crap. She ran up against a really bad power match up (Saki herself didn't do too hot in being able to 'see' Momo in individuals except for that 'brief' revelation where she basically copied Nodoka's power, which is a hard counter to Momo) and the new Kiyosumi first years seized their chances. Any player that's not Nodoka is going to have troubles with Momo.

She is still a national tier player, seeing as how she and Ryuumonbuchi made it all the way to QFs last year. She's the President and does all their training / planning, she's a relative of Koromo, and she plays against Koromo regularly. Yeah, all that work to try and overcome Ryuumonbuchi? There was only one of them in the prefectural finals and Ryuumonbuchi *lost*. If Saki and Co. make it to QFs, they might be facing three of Ryuumonbuchi's caliber.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by tjalorak

Because it's important? Because it illustrates what they learned between prefecturals and nationals?

What they learned in this episode is that Touka has a "Cold Touka" mode that she sometimes slips into, and while in this mode she is seemingly unbeatable. That's interesting, but it's a total plot detour at this point. I mean, I'm not seeing how this is important information to have going into the Nationals when Touka isn't even competing there.

Next episode it looks like they're going to learn (further) about how great one of Nodoka's former team-mates in middle school was. Are they going to be playing Nodoka's former team-mate in the Nationals? Honest question.