(CR) Saki

[tjalorak]

Originally Posted by ThoHell

WTH is wrong with Saki now? She's always like in some sort of depressed or unemotionally unstable state. Makes me want to slap her....

She just has no incentive to win the individual prefectural tournament. Since she's already heading to Tokyo as winners of the team tournament, there's no need for her to win the individual tournament.

Second, she knows only three people can go so if she takes a spot, that's a spot another of her teammates can't compete for. As soon as she heard that, you could literally see her withdrawing emotionally.

At the heart of things, Saki likes playing strong people but she likes playing for fun. She likes to avoid attention. Unless there are strong motives (i.e. going to Tokyo, not letting down her team), she just tries not to stand out. We marvel at the skill to go +/- 0 repeatedly but until Hisa pointed it out, no one on the Kiyosumi team even noticed. I bet most people just pay attention to the extremes - the winners and losers - so Saki avoids attention that way.

Also, if Saki had done +/- 0 here, she wouldn't have made it to the finals. I think the lowest score was around +50.

[night_sentinel]

Wow... I'm beginning to wonder if you guys count the seconds to when the episode will air?

Spoiler for ep 21:

Hmm... the start of the individual tournament arc is well done...

Yuki surely have taken her lessons to heart. I've read from one post that she is carrying 60 TACOS!!! Talk about crazy prepared and it paid well, Yuki-chan is now #1. Yey!!! Yuki-chan!!! Though it also helps that the rules this time is biased toward her.
Still, there is that newly introduced character that might ruin Yuki's momentum. From what I gather she played her crazy move in the south hand? So either that person has something similar to Koromo 's not getting to tenpai or has point manipulation..
Btw, what type of taco do you guys think that Yuki prefer? The soft ones or the hard ones? I myself prefer the soft ones, it makes the taco easier to bite and make it more delicious.... :

Next highlight would be Touka's match with the Kaori... that was really funny, Touka was so shocked that kaori is building a 13 orphans that she dropped the tile which allowed Kaori to ron. Still, I hope Touka managed to stay in the final selection even with that major blunder...

Finally, the match between the two captains are amazing. Hisa is trying to bluff her opponents while Mihoko is trying to counter Hisa. And at last, Hisa finally manage to remember Mihoko. It seems anime characters really needed to be blasted on the head to get something out of their thick heads... or in this case metaphorically blasted with a ron

Overall, the episode is ok. I'm just wondering what happened to Yumi and Momoko. Did they get powerful opponents? Since, I'm expecting them to be at the top 5....

Originally Posted by tjalorak

She just has no incentive to win the individual prefectural tournament. Since she's already heading to Tokyo as winners of the team tournament, there's no need for her to win the individual tournament.

Second, she knows only three people can go so if she takes a spot, that's a spot another of her teammates can't compete for. As soon as she heard that, you could literally see her withdrawing emotionally.

At the heart of things, Saki likes playing strong people but she likes playing for fun. She likes to avoid attention. Unless there are strong motives (i.e. going to Tokyo, not letting down her team), she just tries not to stand out. We marvel at the skill to go +/- 0 repeatedly but until Hisa pointed it out, no one on the Kiyosumi team even noticed. I bet most people just pay attention to the extremes - the winners and losers - so Saki avoids attention that way.

Also, if Saki had done +/- 0 here, she wouldn't have made it to the finals. I think the lowest score was around +50.
Quote

I agree with all he said above, but, really I'm beginning to wonder if I should mother Saki to death for being a subtle woobie and having a really nice and generous personality or shout "decimate the competition already, I want more mahjong hax."
Still, I suppose it is a plot point, since it allows all the other 3 schools a chance to have representative in the nationals. And said above, she really doesn't have a single motivation for the individual tournament and will get nothing of value to her if she wins it as compared to losing in it.

Winning the tournament:
Pro: One more chance to talk to Onee-chan if gambit 1 fails.
Cons: Take a spot that could be given to her teamates.
Get a lot of attention.
Earn some jealousy and resentment.
Disturb team dynamics.
Lots more.

Losing the tournament:
Pro: Can freely support Haramura-san without worry or any other teammates.
Won't need to compete against friends esp. Nodoka. (the faster she is knocked out, the surer the chance Nodoka and her won't have a match)
Allow all the crazy stuff she pulled to be considered a fluke and hence no attention, and no sneaky reporters.
Cons: err... nothing?

[al103]

Originally Posted by night_sentinel

Spoiler for 21:

Next highlight would be Touka's match with the Kaori... that was really funny, Touka was so shocked that kaori is building a 13 orphans that she dropped the tile which allowed Kaori to ron.

Spoiler for 21:

She didn't. She should have discarded drawn tile if it wasn't winning one. Shock is from understanding WHAT she did drawn.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by al103

Spoiler for 21:

She didn't. She should have discarded drawn tile if it wasn't winning one. Shock is from understanding WHAT she did drawn.

To clarify this: After you call riichi, you are forced to discard the tile you draw, i.e. you are no longer allowed to change the tiles in your hand and must wait to draw a winner or ron a winner.

So Touka had to discard that tile anyway.

[aulzon]

Spoiler for Rankings at the end:

1. Kataoka Yuuki
2. Fukiji Mihoko
3. Kajiki Yumi
4. Kunihiro Hajime
5. Haramura Nodoka

6. Tomoki Sawamura
7. Hisa Takei
8. Jun Inoue
9. Momoko Toyoko?
10. Kana?

Can anyone verify the top 20? It be interesting to know.

[Proto]

You can find SP's ranking in post 2172

[aulzon]

Originally Posted by Proto

You can find SP's ranking in post 2172

Ah thanks

[miroku2192]

Since this anime is almost done, it's time i asked this question (i'm holding off until there's only 1 episode left to speedrun it if it's any good).

Is this series any good? I liked hikaru no go and shion no ou...but an anime about mah jong? I don't know ANYTHING about mah jong, and i can't possibly imagine how this anime would be fun or as "dramatic/epic" as hikaru no go...

So am i right or wrong. Is it worth spending my time to watch this series?

[cynicalicious]

It might be easier to enjoy if you *don't* know anything about mahjong.

The more you know, the more hax you realize it is. It truly makes a statistician weep.

This is purely a fantasy show about hax mahjong. If you can't get over that, then don't bother. The characters are well-done for the most part, though, so it makes it more entertaining. Honestly, the episodes not totally about mahjong are sometimes better than the ones about it.

But if you watch it, you're going to have to learn how the game works, because otherwise you won't know what the hell is going on. That's the double-edged sword.

[einhorn303]

Originally Posted by aulzon

Ah thanks

And here's a cleaned up (no nicknames) version of that if you'd like:

1. Yuuki Kataoka
2. Mihoko Fukuji
3. Yumi Kajiki
4. Hajime Kunihiro
5. Nodoka Haramura
6. Tomoki Sawamura
7. Hisa Takei
8. Jun Inoue
9. Momoko Touyoko
10. Kana Ikeda
11. Miharu Yoshitome
12. ???
13. ???
14. ???
15. ???
16. Sumiyo Fukabori
17. ???
18. ???
19. ???
20. Satomi Kanbara
21. ???
22. Seika Bundou
23. ???
24. Saki Miyanagi
25. ???
26. Tanaka Mai?
27. ???
28. ???
29. ???
30. ???

Originally Posted by miroku2192

So am i right or wrong. Is it worth spending my time to watch this series?

1. Watch first two episodes.
2. Decide if you liked them.
3. ?????
4. PROFIT

One could say it gets better when the prefectural qualifiers start, but I'd say the first episodes are an accurate sampler of the show.

[Proto]

The more you know, the more hax you realize it is. It truly makes a statistician weep.

Not really, or rather, not necessarily. I know about mahjong and I can still enjoy Saki despite, and moreover, because of the hax. Knowing mahjong can actually enhance your viewing experience. Look at me! Personally I've enjoyed every single episode of it, Mahjong or not, and I consider it to be one of the best 'guilty pleasure' type series I've ever seen.

[einhorn303]

Originally Posted by Proto

Knowing mahjong can actually enhance your viewing experience.

I would strongly agree with this.

Also, the only character with real "Hax" are Saki and Koromo (and assumedly Teru), the ones with powers based on blatant luck. Rinshan kaihou (Tsumo after a kong) and haitei raoyue (Bottom of the sea) are luck-based yaku that are impossible to get reliably. But that's why they're called monsters. All the *other* characters have pretty reasonable powers.

Mihoko has the interesting visual metaphor of her Chaos Eye, but basically, her power is just that she's really good at reading discards. Hisa is just good at psychology and knows how to through off people's calculations by taking unexpected waits. Nodoka is really good at calculating probability. Momoko is just really good at not drawing attention to herself, something that's easy to do with psychology and knowledge of visual cues. Yuuki's "taco power" is basically just being able to focus well after a pre-competition ritual, something quite valid in sports, and losing that focus quickly due to being hyperactive. And having a ridiculously fast metabolism that requires an extreme supply of calories. Ok, Jun's "flow" is a bit hard to explain, but besides the "monster" characters it's all rather reasonable stuff.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by cynicalicious

But if you watch it, you're going to have to learn how the game works, because otherwise you won't know what the hell is going on. That's the double-edged sword.

I started this show with no mahjong knowledge at all, and thanks to the show i've picked up quite a bit. So keeping that in mind, anyone can watch this show if they don't know mahjong. It's easy to tell when someone is winning, or when the game's not going their way by the music and dialogue, so knowledge on the game isn't actually needed to enjoy this show.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by ThoHell

WTH is wrong with Saki now? She's always like in some sort of depressed or unemotionally unstable state. Makes me want to slap her....

Assuming the scores for the first day (probably the case, or Yuuki's lead won't allow her to be eliminated with just one bad game or two...) don't carry over to the second one, it's probably better to take it easy on the first day. Saki did well enough to pass - that's enough.

Of course, that's probably not the real reason she didn't try very hard.

[cynicalicious]

I realized that my post came off a little harsh. I enjoy the series, but I keep in mind it's fantasy mahjong. I just enjoy the characters.

Hisa is my favorite, because she doesn't really have a special ability, other than an agile mind and a knack for messing with people's heads. I'll admit to *sometimes* picking bad waits, too, because whenever I go for what looks like an obvious wait, 2-3 other people/CPUs are also camping those tiles, or just sitting on them. (Always seems to happen that way. Grr.)

The main reason I got into the game was because a while back, my Japanese teacher suggested that I pick up mahjong or Go, and I can't stand Go.

[miroku2192]

@ all the people who have replied back to me:

Thank you for all the advice/thoughts. I really appreciate it, thanks! I think i'll take a look into this series after maybe 1 or 2 more episodes are released.

[orangejuicetang]

I get such an urge to yell out Ice/Crystal World! every time Mihoko opens her right eye.

[FateAnomaly]

I feel somewhat sad that Touka probably wouldn't make it to the finals.

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by ThoHell

WTH is wrong with Saki now? She's always like in some sort of depressed or unemotionally unstable state. Makes me want to slap her....

I think it's pretty clear Saki is a little unstable, what with her spacing out, getting lost, savant ability at mahjong, weird way of not wanting to make other people unhappy. She could possibly be considered to be high functioning autistic/asperger's/some other fotm mental disorder.

Good episode.

Spoiler:

^_____^ @ Hisa/Mihoko interactions and their match.

Mihoko was about to gather her resolve with that ron and move on, but then Hisa seems to have stolen her heart again. <3

[tjalorak]

Originally Posted by Spectrum

I think it's pretty clear Saki is a little unstable, what with her spacing out, getting lost, savant ability at mahjong, weird way of not wanting to make other people unhappy. She could possibly be considered to be high functioning autistic/asperger's/some other fotm mental disorder.

Good episode.

Spoiler:

^_____^ @ Hisa/Mihoko interactions and their match.

Mihoko was about to gather her resolve with that ron and move on, but then Hisa seems to have stolen her heart again. <3

I found that both hilarious and cute. Mihoko SHOULD get her heart stolen by Hisa because Hisa is darn tooting awesome.