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

[larethian]

Originally Posted by night_sentinel

I just finished analyzing South 3 hand. And oh boy it was complicated. Saki would have an easier job getting a yakuman than what she did. Ugh. My head still hurts. Btw, thanks Kinematics, without your table my head will probably hurt a lot more.


Still, the kicker was...

... wait for it.

...
...
...

SAKI WANTS TOYONE TO WIN AS PLAN A.


Yeah. Saki set it up and everything. If Toyone went for a straight she would probably be winning that hand instead of Kyouko. That seven of bamboo. Sigh.

Edit: Here is your really really long explanation with lots of images.

Please tell me if there is anything I've missed.

+1. Thanks for your informative analysis.

[raincrow]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

And there's something I just finished.

I've been calling Toyone "The Moetaker" for awhile now, since she reminds me of early-to-mid 90s pro wrestler The Undertaker. So I decided to do a Toyone AMV of sorts to the classic Undertaker theme music. I think it came out pretty well!

I hope my fellow Toyone fans enjoy this AMV.

Click on the picture below to open up a tab/window for the AMV to play in.

That was great I liked how they made her seem a bit more umm...darkish in the anime? Not sure if that's the right word.

Kurumi can be her Paul Bearer

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by panzerfan

Hmm... if you are going to go down that road, then it's time to look at befriending.

Images

a certain queen of the night sky

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Great picture! I wonder which Kiyosumi member would be which Wolkenritter based on this. Tacos as Vita might be a good match.

Originally Posted by mhazaru

That was great I liked how they made her seem a bit more umm...darkish in the anime? Not sure if that's the right word.

Kurumi can be her Paul Bearer

Thanks! Yeah, I liked how they made Toyone seem impressively menacing in this dark supernatural/gothic sort of way. Nice, but still menacing at the table.

Kurumi as her Paul Bearer is a very funny mental image.

[kitten320]

Gutted that Himematsu is the one who passed, they did not impress me in any way apart from maybe Hiroe.

Duno why Saki is so scared of their captain. She barely did anything, if not for Hiroe's points she would have lost =/

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by kitten320

Gutted that Himematsu is the one who passed, they did not impress me in any way apart from maybe Hiroe.

Duno why Saki is so scared of their captain. She barely did anything, if not for Hiroe's points she would have lost =/

You're right that at a purely statistical performance level, it's very bizarre that Saki would be scared of Kyouko.

However, I think that the Saki narrative puts a heavy emphasis on the importance of how the four competitors match-up against each other.

Some competitors may be amongst the very best, better than most of the other girls competing, but still have specific girls that represent a match-up hell for them. Aislinn vs. Mako and Hatsumi vs. Sae are two good examples of this. Against three random opponents, Aislinn may well be the stronger mahjong player than Mako; Hatsumi may likewise be the stronger mahjong player than Sae in such circumstances. But overall strength in a vacuum is only half the story, if that - The rest is the specific match-up.

To put it simply, there's a definite rock/paper/scissors thing in Saki. Some girls are "rocks" against most of their "scissors" opponents, but somebody is a "paper" opponent that can totally shut them down. This "paper" opponent may not be that great in general, but against a "rock", she's a real threat.

And I think that Saki is afraid that Kyouko is such a "paper" opponent for her.


Even given her tendency to overestimate her opponents, I think that Saki is reasonably comfortable playing power vs. power against other girls. In other words, if it's a simple all-out battle of mahjong superpowers, Saki is confident she can win that more often than not. So what Saki fears is not powerful girls like Toyone and Kasumi, but rather more cerebral players that can pick apart her tactics and try to find a way to counter them. And Saki fears that Kyouko can do that, and Kyouko did come closer to that than Toyone or Kasumi did.

In a simple straight-up comparison, Toyone is obviously more impressive than Kyouko is. But Toyone is a match-up that Saki doesn't fear - In fact, it's a match-up that could even be useful to her.

[Xeiros]

Well it's less about complex "strategies" are more about attitude. I use the word almost as a joke really. It mostly only comes into play when abilities are activated. Many of them have a very simple and direct weaknesses an observing player will take notice of. If my hand no Yaku I need to call Richii in order to get one because that's easiest/quickest, but Anetai keeps winning whenever I declare Richii therefore I shouldn't do that. Genius level tactics! To make it more believable, Ritz has her make this mistake three times before making the connection.

If Kyouko didn't declare richii with those three pursuit hands would the next tile she drew (the one she'd normally automatically be forced to discard had she declared richii) still have been Anetai's winning tile regardless? No matter. We'll never see her play again.

Saki is worried about Kyouko not because she's some mahjong puppet master or has some heretofore unrelieved special power, but because she's resilient. She got her ass kicked something fierce in that match point wise, but never gave up. Though to be fair without the 27kish point lead going in she'd have lost horribly and even then only managed to make it by the skin of her teeth. Good thing it's a team game.

We know Kiyosumi is guaranteed to make the finals, but I just don't see Himematsu making it past the Semis. Still I look forward to the Semi captain match because it will be the first time Saki has played the same opponent twice in the nationals. It will be interesting to see how they deal with one another.

[raincrow]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

In a simple straight-up comparison, Toyone is obviously more impressive than Kyouko is. But Toyone is a match-up that Saki doesn't fear - In fact, it's a match-up that could even be useful to her.

I guess there's just more to work with and specifically counter, something that Saki has down to an art.

For Kyouko...I think I can understand her trying the richii three times. First time might seem like a normal ron, second time a lucky streak, third time, something's going on. Something similiar happened between Sumire and Yuu in their game as well, although I think Sumire figured things out a bit faster. Anyway, it might have also been better for Kyouko to realize what was going on sooner than later in the match, even if it did cost her some major points.

Was also thinking, maybe the real danger about playing someone who can figure out some part of your game is having to play them a second time. They might get whooped in the first game, but they've gotten a good look at how the opponents operate first hand. That might be what Saki was alluding to when she felt that she might not be able to beat Kyouko in the next game. I mean, I think any player would be wary of playing someone like Yumi or Hiroko twice. I don't think Kyouko is exactly at their same level, but same principle still, and she did realize a big key about the biggest player out there.

[Archaeon]

Why is Saki afraid of Kyoko? And I like Kyoko new look.

Didn't expect Saki to play plus minis zero again. After breaking the monocle,I thought she was going for a big win but the fact she didn't is it because she want to get plus minus zero? And she forget to take off her sock.

Eisui is surprisingly calm despite losing their matches. So,Jindai haven't reveal her true strength cause they underestimate their opponents and send in weaker God.

[kona~chan]

even tho i already read the manga but man this show really never fail to surprise me, just wth with that last scene, i want more

[King-Slayer]

Great episode. Seeing the mysterious girl in Saki's dreams was the thing I was anticipating most of all and it was done well. Also all the previews and extra scenes were pretty good. The only thing I didn't like was that they changed the opening sequence to fit what they did in Achiga, which absolutely disgusts me.

[Emballage]

I'd really love to hear anime-only viewers' take on this episodes, especially on

Spoiler for Episode 13:

Saki's flashbacks.

Originally Posted by King-Slayer

The only thing I didn't like was that they changed the opening sequence to fit what they did in Achiga, which absolutely disgusts me.

Which parts exactly? I don't remember them being that very much different, though then again it's been quite some time since I read/watched the corresponding Achiga chapter/episode.

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by Emballage

Which parts exactly? I don't remember them being that very much different, though then again it's been quite some time since I read/watched the corresponding Achiga chapter/episode.

At the main beginning with Nodoka going into the break room. It had that small ass room with the girls in there watching TV. May sound petty but I just thought it awful and should've went with the manga.

[Marina2]

You should give anime the applause for that. It shows that they care about a little detail.

[teja208]

Before start praising the last episode, there are few things about the ending scenes.

So Tomoe from Eisui wears normal glasses even when swimming.

Megan's noticeably absent in the ending teaser. Tell me, how should I feel about this?

[The Green One]

One of the last lines in the episode....

"The Semifinals is about to begin!"

Liar! It'll be years before this continues!

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by Marina2

You should give anime the applause for that. It shows that they care about a little detail.

I can't....I just can't.

[The Green One]

Originally Posted by King-Slayer

At the main beginning with Nodoka going into the break room. It had that small ass room with the girls in there watching TV. May sound petty but I just thought it awful and should've went with the manga.

Yes....it is petty but being able to admit that is good.

[Subayai]

That ending! It's like the PV for the next season already. It makes me so excited to see the semis animated someday.

Also that brief scene at the Blitz Storm. I wonder what will be animated first: Shinohayu or the semifinals.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this season. Saki is always so much fun.

Originally Posted by King-Slayer

At the main beginning with Nodoka going into the break room. It had that small ass room with the girls in there watching TV. May sound petty but I just thought it awful and should've went with the manga.

I noticed that too and it irked me a little bit. Hisa and Mihoko should have been sitting next to each other!

[raincrow]

Originally Posted by teja208

Megan's noticeably absent in the ending teaser. Tell me, how should I feel about this?

Yeah, noticed that too. I don't think they showed Kinue either, don't remember. They only showed Nodoka at the end too with Saki.

Originally Posted by Subayai

Also that brief scene at the Blitz Storm. I wonder what will be animated first: Shinohayu or the semifinals.

I hope Shinohayu If they did make an anime for it, I would also say yeah, it would probably come before the semifinals, given the pace Shinohayu is going vs. the main manga.

[tsunade666]

Nice episode finally with details about Saki's past. I wonder if the girl ended up dying and Saki got blamed for it or rather she probably blame herself or her sister? the event is sketchy at most but its significant that it gave idea on why the family broke.

Nice going for the pv of the semi's

its looks like Kyouko is the one who will give saki more trouble than the other two. though nelly and the idol in the making (i forget her name) looks scary... okay nelly is scary while the other sparkles.