(L) Saki manga

[Requiem-x]

Originally Posted by King-Slayer

The first group in the flashback she is with looks sorta like delinquents but its cool and ending with Mihoko calling her name was a huge plus.

She had to pick up the badassery from somewhere. And Mihoko with both eyes open is always a plus. I know hakka-ya won't let me down.

[Flower]

To be honest there was something about this ch that made me feel as if she had leveled up internally and disposition-wise as a result of her previous match. She is now even more herself and by extension even stronger. Course, she might also have that "third year Nationals magic" going for her too.

All in all very satisfying. ^^

[Requiem-x]

Originally Posted by Flower

To be honest there was something about this ch that made me feel as if she had leveled up internally and disposition-wise as a result of her previous match. She is now even more herself and by extension even stronger. Course, she might also have that "third year Nationals magic" going for her too.

All in all very satisfying. ^^

Well, it did help her realize what she's here for and that now it's the time to go all out, and that's exactly what she's doing.

And Hisa needs no third year magic, she has plenty of her own

[The Green One]

Wonder how Yuan is going to survive the second half. That was quite the brutal curbstomping.

[Myssa Rei]

Wow, so the Mihoko in Hisa's mind doesn't use honorifics OR her last name? That's quite telling. As telling has having Mihoko's uniform in Kiyosumi's closet.

[tjalorak]

Saw this elsewhere:

Now allow me to take tanoshii into the scientific field. Specifically, in the field of Neuroscience. And the subject matter at hand? Our very own beloved Verdant Queen of Seaweed, Kiyosumi's Someya Mako.

This all began when I was breezing through the Saki Tankoubon raws and came upon the 4 school camp chapters. The translations refer to Mako's ability as "Spindle Territory" and that name actually sticked for a while. But when looking at the raws, it was evident that this was actually a mistranslation. The proper translation for Mako's quirk that Hisa elaborated on is actually "Fusiform Face Area". So finding this interesting, I did a bit of reading up.

Now what is Fusiform Face Area (FFA)?

The FFA is part of the human visual system that is still largely being studied. The gist is that it is speculated to be responsible facial recognition. Now, Science's understanding of the FFA is still largely over the place and it's surrounded by quite a bit of studies and controversies. It's domain is believed by some to go beyond face recognition and enter other stimuli. In fact, some studies believe that the FFA is the one responsible for giving the world's "geniuses" the abilities that they possess.

An example would be the first female chess grandmaster of the world, Susan Polgar.

Polgar is one of the top players in the world today and has even made a name for herself against chess' big names as a teenager. When asked of how she developed her talent, all she said that she just studied chess and observed and played in alot of games as a kid.

Scientific studies on her has shown that she has such an advanced grasp and recognition of the chess table that she can easily play a game of chess over a phone (being told of how the pieces move over the phone) and still win easily.

Another showcase of her talents would be when she was flashed a picture of a game between two professionals for one second. She was asked to recreate that game state on the table and she was able to do it effortlessly in less than a minute.

Now on the other hand, this time she was flashed a picture of a game where the pieces were just randomly put in the table. She was asked to do the same for this, but a minute has passed and she just exclaimed with a laugh "I just can't do it!"

When asked of her secret to her skill, she said that rather than strictly memorizing concepts and tactics, she was relying on memories and images attributed to certain game stages. Back when she was a kid, she played many games and had vivid memories from those times. As she grew older, she played many tournaments against many big names. For each game she had, she typically associated names and memories to the various game states she had against those people. This meant that when she is met with an unfamiliar state, just like the randomly arranged pieces experiment (a state which couldn't have possibly ever occured in a game between skilled players), she ended up being at a loss.

Does this story sound familiar so far?

The thing about Polgar is that she doesn't have supercomputer level of analysis and computation as one may be led to believe. However, scientists believe that the explanation of the level of her abilities can be attributed to her FFA. Just like her explanation, scientist believe that her FFA and Chess Knowledge have ended up being intertwined with each other. She ended up using an advanced form of Memory Chunking where she picks up familiar scenarios from her memories and uses them to reconstruct a game. Granted, this perhaps puts her position as a "genius" questionable, because she would be a person who has cleverly trained her brain instead. But nonetheless, genius or not, her achievements are quite impressive.

Now we come back at our favorite sergeant. Let's do a review of her character:
-Exposed to the game at a very young age? Check.
-Observed an insane amount of games during said young age? Check.
-Used the Memory and Faces Analogy to explain her abilities? Check.
-Ended up at a loss when faced with unfamiliar situations? Check.

I honestly won't be surprised if Ritz based Mako's talents on Ms. Polgar's life story.

Just like her, Mako uses an advanced form of Memory Chunking. Using her FFA, Mahjong games have ended up interrelated with her memories of faces and experiences. Thats why Mako can seemingly access a large database of games just by accessing her memories. It's much less her having an Eidetic Memory as many people believe, but rather more on the fact that she uses Memory Chunking on an advanced level for Mahjong.

And do note that the game states possible for a game of Mahjong far exceeds the states possible for chess. So this puts whatever Mako is doing on a superhuman if not downright impossible level. So in theory, if she plays enough games against a wide type of players and gets familiar enough with them, Mako has absurd potential as a player.

OK, I have to say that Spindle Territory still sounds cooler as a name ... but this is a very neat explanation for what Mako does.

[Requiem-x]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

Wow, so the Mihoko in Hisa's mind doesn't use honorifics OR her last name? That's quite telling. As telling has having Mihoko's uniform in Kiyosumi's closet.

Um, I thought everyone would assume that was a flashback... you know, like the ones Hisa was having in the page before We're past the quarters, high level yuri is allowed.

[teja208]

Great, one whole page dedicate to Mihoko firstname based with Hisa. I really wish anime would expand on that scene leading up to it.

I'm still have no idea what Choe's ability is, any clue now that half a match is over?

[tsunade666]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

As telling has having Mihoko's uniform in Kiyosumi's closet.

There is such a thing? or its just a joke? because I can't remember such a thing happening.

[Requiem-x]

Originally Posted by teja208

Great, one whole page dedicate to Mihoko firstname based with Hisa. I really wish anime would expand on that scene leading up to it.

I'm still have no idea what Choe's ability is, any clue now that half a match is over?

I wish either anime or manga expanded on things Hisa related. And yeah, I'd love to see that scene animated too.

Gonna have to ask the mahjong experts around here for the other question.

Tsunade, how could you have possibly missed one of the best moments in Zenkoku-hen?

[tsunade666]

Originally Posted by Requiem-x

Tsunade, how could you have possibly missed one of the best moments in Zenkoku-hen?

I possibly didn't remember it but what episode is it? I'm too busy and down at work to even try to remember every detail of anime's that I watched. sigh... plus mostly. the events that I still remember are monster moments in the game, rather than sweet yuri moments. Sakura trick is giving me too much sweet induce yuri for weeks that saki felt pretty tame that I mostly remember it for the fights than the other stuff.

[raincrow]

I'm a little confused on Hisa's motivation. I thought her focus on her support group was what made her fumble during the last round, before she decided to focus on herself instead.

[Requiem-x]

Originally Posted by tsunade666

I possibly didn't remember it but what episode is it? I'm too busy and down at work to even try to remember every detail of anime's that I watched. sigh... plus mostly. the events that I still remember are monster moments in the game, rather than sweet yuri moments. Sakura trick is giving me too much sweet induce yuri for weeks that saki felt pretty tame that I mostly remember it for the fights than the other stuff.

I get you, between work and classes I only have the time and will to watch three shows this season. The quarters are incredibly tame in terms of yuri overall, of course the more graphic form of love is going to overshadow them, thank god the semis are stepping it up a notch. Anyway, the moment happens at the first part of episode 2.

Originally Posted by mhazaru

I'm a little confused on Hisa's motivation. I thought her focus on her support group was what made her fumble during the last round, before she decided to focus on herself instead.

Not precisely, it's just that now she's aware that she can fight carrying everyone's wishes while still having fun and doing things her way with no regrets. If you think that's risky... well, did you forget who we're talking about here?

[The Green One]

Hisa was able to stop being so high strung about nationals like she was in the quarter finals and was able to relax and enjoy the game.

[atua]

Originally Posted by teja208

I'm still have no idea what Choe's ability is, any clue now that half a match is over?

Choe attracts the cardinal wind tiles that correspond with her seat. When Choe was dealer, she picked up tiles that matched her seat (East) AND the round (South) for her aborted sanbaiman hand. That was the only hand where Choe got melds in both the seat and the round wind tiles, so she might only be able to activate that second ability when she's the dealer.

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by The Green One

Wonder how Yuan is going to survive the second half. That was quite the brutal curbstomping.

wondering the same thing. Its going to take a great amount of luck for her not to go bust.

[Myssa Rei]

Usuzan got cursed because they got hyped by Hayarin. Being hyped in Saki leads to bad things happening -- see Ryuumonbuchi, Shiraitodai...

[Mahjong Dolphin]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

Usuzan got cursed because they got hyped by Hayarin. Being hyped in Saki leads to bad things happening -- see Ryuumonbuchi, Shiraitodai...

LOL! Wow you're right, but than again I hope Saki never loses . I can't wait till she beats her sister.

Was wondering about Nodoka's upcoming match. Chikako mention she always dealt into Sawaya's hand when she called Richii. Makes me wonder if Nodoka will have to finally accept that some people have powers (or maybe the drama already occur during the training). Hopefully she goes on the offense or start to win with cheap hands, or something else... the digital part we've seen so far is a bit limiting (just good at defense and efficacy when in Tenpai)...

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by Mahjong Dolphin

. Makes me wonder if Nodoka will have to finally accept that some people have powers

that part will probably never happen. If it does happen in the game, she'll end up like Hisa did at the start of the quarters or something similar.

[kazzuya13]

I hope after the national team competition the manga still continues unto the individual.