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

[Kyuu]

OK. How the hell is Achiga going to get past Shiraitodai? (sp?)

In order to retain the plot line of Achiga meeting Kiyosumi in the nationals... they'd both have to fight their way through?!

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This Achiga team. So innocent they are... XD

[night_sentinel]

@Marina
Well you know how Nodoka is, she managed to deny the presence of haxor powers even when she is consistently surrounded by them. Goodness knows if I saw someone consistently doing rinshan kaihou I'll either believe that they have some sort of supernatural influence or rigged the game somehow

I think this is the same sort of situation wherein Nodoka believes it is unlikely that her old classmates are there and even if she was interested in Achiga, the moment she did not recognize the representative she must have concluded that they are not her friends. Besides, last thing Nodoka knew they're separated and going to different schools right?

Qilin
Lol ... Ako sure has changed from her episode 1 incarnation huh... I'm looking forward to their meeting... I wonder if Nodoka can recognize Ako from her idiot baka beginning.

Kyuu
Yes, both Kiyosumi and Achiga must reach the finals so that Achiga can reach their goal. Frankly, I'm not worried about Kiyosumi's side I think they'll make it to the finals. I'm more worried about Achiga's side since they're giving me the impression of a lamb in a lion's den that is slowly realizing how fubar their situation is.

Spoiler for Tournament bracket by ultimatemegax:

Regarding Teru's team, notice the double lines in the tournament bracket going up meaning two teams from side A will face two teams from side B. Thus, Achiga needs to be second. They don't need to beat Shiraitodai which is quite lucky for them because with the way Shiraitodai is hyped I'm expecting it to be filled by monsters and then there is Teru that is being hyped as greater than those monsters. Good luck beating that team.

[Kyuu]

Indeed. The specialized play of Kiyosumi should make them rather solid on their side. Yet, at this point, I have no clue on the capabilities on their opponents at all.

As for Achiga. I don't see them realistically making it to the Final, due to the complete lack of a National Class "Monster". With that said, they will run through this tournament as a "Cinderella Team".

NOTE: A "Cinderella Team" is a low ranking team who unexpectedly plow their way through a tournament bracket.

With that said: I just cannot imagine them getting past Teru and company.

Regarding Teru's team, notice the double lines in the tournament bracket going up meaning two teams from side A will face two teams from side B. Thus, Achiga needs to be second.

Oh, right right. I got used to the Prefectural brackets, where the winner gets to move on, and everyone else goes home. Funny thing is: My mahjong group just got done hosting a mahjong tournament @ Anime Central this past weekend. 16-person tournament, where top 2 moves on in each round up to the finals.

And OK. Now that y'posted the brackets. Things are clearer now.

:3

My goodness. I like brackets.

>

[teja208]

Something tells me the commentor on the left is a monster and the one on the right is just normal player.

Kuro dora power is a nice change of pace and hopefully we'll be getting more mahjong actions from now on, and I'm looking forward to see Toki's power next episode. It looks like she is scaning Kuro right before the ED, something to do with mind reading?

[thundrakkon]

A little glimpse of super powered mahjong, but I'm looking forward to next week, when it looks like they'll meet a real monster.

The pace is still brisk and fast, but considering that the next match is the semi-final before the finals, and that there are still 8(?) episodes to go, I'm really hoping they'll slow down the pace.

Also, they are showing more on Saki's side of things than I would have preferred, but so far, it's not too bad. It will be interesting if they show the girls awaken their powers, but then again, that would mean we would be spoiled in season 2 of Saki of any "surprise" powers from team Achiga.

This is a tricky road that they are trying to travel, with doing the side story of future events before the actual main story gets there. It would have worked better if that had season 2 of Saki first.

[KyriaL]

Achiga will somehow be one of the finalists along with Shiraitodai and Kiyosumi, Since basically they are the main characters of the show. It would be a little disappointing if they did not manage to get through or at least put up a massive fight in the Semis.

The Quarters itself will probably at least take up a full episode, if not two. Another two for the Semis and possibly three for the Finals. Unless they decide to end this show right before the finals to allow the Main Saki cast to catch up in terms of the manga, which is also unlikely.

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by KyriaL

Achiga will somehow be one of the finalists along with Shiraitodai and Kiyosumi, Since basically they are the main characters of the show. It would be a little disappointing if they did not manage to get through or at least put up a massive fight in the Semis.

The Quarters itself will probably at least take up a full episode, if not two. Another two for the Semis and possibly three for the Finals. Unless they decide to end this show right before the finals to allow the Main Saki cast to catch up in terms of the manga, which is also unlikely.

There is zero chance of the finals being covered in this sidestory. Neither the Achiga manga nor the main Saki series are anywhere close to being that far along.

The main narrative of Kiyosumi's journey through the nationals is being reserved for an obviously inevitable Saki S2. Although Achiga-hen (to this point) has been fast, you should keep some perspective before saying such things like "the Finals will be covered in three episodes", considering that the first season's prefectural finals took freakin' ten.

[KyriaL]

Sigh... Perhaps you are right, just was not thinking straight after a long day of classes. But no one save the people working for the show will really know, since there isn't announcement of any sort (That I know of) regarding future Saki seasons. Although i sincerely hope they do.

[Peanutbutter]

Originally Posted by teja208

Something tells me the commentor on the left is a monster and the one on the right is just normal player.

Kuro dora power is a nice change of pace and hopefully we'll be getting more mahjong actions from now on, and I'm looking forward to see Toki's power next episode. It looks like she is scaning Kuro right before the ED, something to do with mind reading?

The one with the traditional garb is a pro after all. Nice to hear "Tsuruya" there once again.

As for Toki, the game will be...alright.

I realise I kept looping the 2nd ED. It really gets my blood rushing, itchy for some mahjong games.

[Scarletknive]

So i got a feeling it will be a pure match between...
Lowee(Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2.) and 2nd branch division(Symphogear).

And somehow, Saki's voice doesn't sound like Ueda Kana...(Or is it my ears are failing? Haivng heavy headache now.)

[Eisdrache]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

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

Well without having any knowledge of the manga, seeing that she's the sister of the dragon lord and won a round last episode on a dragon discard we have a fairly good idea in which direction her power should be

That said I'm fairly worried about her round if she gets dominated early on by one of her opponents as she seems to be shaken fairly easily.

[Qilin]

Oh, wow. They final show us some real mahjong in this episode.

It was nice to get a closer look at the powers of Achiga's Dragon Lord. I kinda felt sorry for her opponents though. I can only imagine the terror of being hit a 7-dora every other turn or so. Not a pretty sight, I'm sure. Well, they're up against Senriyama next, so I guess their luck is about to run out. Next week, we'll finally get to see Toki in action. Still not Shiraitodai though, but I'm sure it'll still be rather impressive.

On another note, I do hope they don't overdo the cameos. The scenes are nice for any fan of the original series, but otherwise, they add nothing substantial to the story at hand.

Oh, and not showing any Hisa is an outrage.

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by Qilin

On another note, I do hope they don't overdo the cameos. The scenes are nice for any fan of the original series, but otherwise, they add nothing substantial to the story at hand.

Oh, and not showing any Hisa is an outrage.

Yes. Choosing Tacos over Hisa? That is wrong. Although... I'm sure Hisa and Mako are busy with team management stuff (like strategies).

But seeing Kana there at that time? The individual competitions aren't even close to being up yet. Players in the individual competition, but not in team tournament shouldn't really be there just yet (or else pay the extra days in hotel costs) -- UNLESS -- Kana and Captain are staying with the Kiyosumi team...

That means... OMFG... that's why Hisa didn't get screentime this episode.

Originally Posted by Eisdrache

Well without having any knowledge of the manga, seeing that she's the sister of the dragon lord and won a round last episode on a dragon discard we have a fairly good idea in which direction her power should be

If Dragon Lord = Dora Magnet -- then -- sister = Dora Mine (as in minefield), meaning: Don't drop the freakin' dora!

And Dragon Lord. I may tend to disagree with the usage of that as a nickname, because it's mixing up with the Dragons (Chun, Haku, Hatsu). A real dragon lord is one who commands those... with many dansaigens.

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by Qilin

*cough* Ako *cough*

You can throw Yuu into that mix as well. Harue could have put Yuu or Arata up to the draw and Nodoka wouldn't have a clue who they were, and they wouldn't really know about Nodoka. But Arata was the perfect choice.

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

Yes. Choosing Tacos over Hisa? That is wrong. Although... I'm sure Hisa and Mako are busy with team management stuff (like strategies).

Yuuki has always been more popular than Hisa in Japan. (Like you, I personally differ greatly). She was featured more in the BD-Box packaging as well as the tile set. Not to mention Yuuki had more merchandise released than everyone minus Saki, Nodoka, and Koromo. It's easy to see why they would focus on her rather than Hisa, though I would love to have seen more of her too.

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by ultimatemegax

Yuuki has always been more popular than Hisa in Japan. (Like you, I personally differ greatly). She was featured more in the BD-Box packaging as well as the tile set. Not to mention Yuuki had more merchandise released than everyone minus Saki, Nodoka, and Koromo. It's easy to see why they would focus on her rather than Hisa, though I would love to have seen more of her too.

It's the Rie Kugimiya effect. As a character personality - Tacos is an outright conceited bitch, who doesn't know squat. Yet, give her the right feeling (East round with tacos), she'll actually knock the teeth out of some players.

With that said - I don't have the right to talk about another "player" that way - because I don't know all that squat either.

Originally Posted by Eisdrache

That said I'm fairly worried about her round if she gets dominated early on by one of her opponents as she seems to be shaken fairly easily.

Hmmm. For the ACEN Tournament this past weekend. We had one guy score a 1-yaku (plus 7 dora) hand in the semi-final. But in the final, he got hit and rocked early with two consecutive direct mangans. A couple of times, I was tellin' the guy to just "relax man"; some of his body language signaled: "nervous". In the end, he failed to recover.

Oh man.

Now. If there's really one good thing the entire Saki franchise does... personifying the different personalities and emotions surrounding this game of mahjong.

[teja208]

Originally Posted by Eisdrache

Well without having any knowledge of the manga, seeing that she's the sister of the dragon lord and won a round last episode on a dragon discard we have a fairly good idea in which direction her power should be

That said I'm fairly worried about her round if she gets dominated early on by one of her opponents as she seems to be shaken fairly easily.

She was shaken because she likes warm places, and can't stand normal room temperature, not because she's afread or anything like that.

Originally Posted by Kyuu

Yes. Choosing Tacos over Hisa? That is wrong. Although... I'm sure Hisa and Mako are busy with team management stuff (like strategies).

But seeing Kana there at that time? The individual competitions aren't even close to being up yet. Players in the individual competition, but not in team tournament shouldn't really be there just yet (or else pay the extra days in hotel costs) -- UNLESS -- Kana and Captain are staying with the Kiyosumi team...

That means... OMFG... that's why Hisa didn't get screentime this episode.

Never though of that. Guess I forgot to sharpen my googles again. Ok, done.

Talk about yuri, this week we have:

TokixRyuuka
Ryuuka --> Kuro
Toki is getting jelly. When she face Kuro, her eyes are on fire.

[Marina2]

Question about Mahjong in ep.4. Why did yellow hair girl decided to go all out after she saw Kuro disgarded the tile she drew up? Did it indicate something?

I thought it showed that Kuro was in tempai ,but wasn't that a danger sign?


For Toki x Ryuuka fan, be sure to read manga. They are even more beautiful in manga version ^^
http://imgur.com/wUhXl

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by teja208

Something tells me the commentor on the left is a monster and the one on the right is just normal player.

Mihorogi? Oh. She's bat s**t crazy! And that's obvious based on how she talks.

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On that note: Who here watches Real Japanese Mahjong Professional play?

[Proto]

Originally Posted by Marina2

Question about Mahjong in ep.4. Why did yellow hair girl decided to go all out after she saw Kuro disgarded the tile she drew up? Did it indicate something?

I thought it showed that Kuro was in tempai ,but wasn't that a danger sign?


For Toki x Ryuuka fan, be sure to read manga. They are even more beautiful in manga version ^^
http://imgur.com/wUhXl

That's because the 7 is suji for the 4 of bamboos that was discarded the last go around. (suji are the extremes of a 4 tile sequence, in this case in the 4-5-6-7 sequence the 4 and 7 are the suji. The thing is that suji tend to be relatively safe discards, since many times when you can win on one extreme you can win on the other. (this is called a ryanmen wait, and statistically they are one of the most common tenpai waits.) Conversely, if the 4 of bamboos was a safe discard there's a good chance that the 7 of bamboos is too. In this case it didn't apply because, despite Kuro actually having a 4-5-6-7 sequence, she could only win on the 7 so that she got a sanshoku.

More on Mahjong defense here:
http://www.osamuko.com/2009/02/18/um...aori-and-suji/