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Summary
Stealth Momo continues to frustrate Touka, who is so obsessed with standing out that she gets owned by the girl who doesn’t stand out at all. Of course, the whole time, Nodoka doesn’t seem bothered by the puppet moe apparition that seems to be haunting their table, cuz she’s gone completely Mr. Anderson on everyone and just views the table as an online mahjong game. Touka, in the meantime, starts to scramble, and still can’t buy a win with all that Ryuumonbuchi money. You’re useless Touka! Go cry to Hagiyoshi! Even Kazekoshi’s sumo onna squeezes in a good hand.

Current standings: 1. Kiyosumi, 2. Tsuruga, 3. Ryuumonbuchi, 4. Kazekoshi. In all seriousness, Kiyosumi has by far the strongest team with a 3-powerhouse lineup of Hisa, Nodoka, and Saki, whereas all the other schools only have one or two powerhouse players. Hisa is good enough to go up against Touka, and I seriously doubt Tsuruga’s captain is any better than Nodoka. This just isn’t fair. Kazekoshi has no chance because of their 5-girl roster, only two of them are legitimately cute, one looks like a shouta, and the other two are ugly. No chance.

Nodoka gets some dap from Saki as she walks out, Touka gets pissed off, Momo and Tsurugacaptain share an intimate moment, and sumo chick… well, nobody cares about her. And with that, the taishou round is finally here!

The anticipation builds and everyone is pretty tense to see MVP Koromo walk in… until she finally does and she’s this little pink usagi loli that scampers to the table. Meanwhile, all the spectators are just thinking that Koromo is going to clean up the table, but some astute minds – katsudon-san and Kazekoshi’s captain to name a few – realize that it’s actually a two-horse race between Koromo and some unknown girl with crazy records named Saki.

Saki kicks things off by calling kong immediately, then busts out her trademark rinshian tsumo and starts racking up points. Kazekoshi’s Kana is like “oh shit” and Tsuruga captain is like “goddamn not this shit again” and Saki is like “heh I’m so baller”. It’s just luck, right? Naw, she does it again. I would say the chances of that happening are something like getting a straight on the flop… two times in a row, or for those who don’t know poker, the chance that the Warriors are going to land a legit free agent this summer or the chance that Ricky Rubio is going to play in Minnesota next year. Ah, NBA, where drama happens.

Anyways, people are pretty freaked out by this freakish luck, but Tsuruga’s captain isn’t having any of it – when Saki tries to call her third kong, she does some bankai shit and cuts up Saki’s sailor fuku as I look on intriguingly. Go on….
 
Preview

Up next on Saki: Somebody should just take these girls to Vegas and milk their luck
 
Thoughts
Finally it’s Saki vs Koromo! Considering how long Hisa and Nodoka’s rounds took, we’re in for a long, long ride. And I’m perfectly cool with that, cuz Saki is a pretty fierce player and it’s fun watching her thighs get sweaty. I do wonder how much time they are going to spend going into Tsuruga captain and Nekomimi’s stories, cuz no matter how many lucky hands they can get, we all know they are just fodder for the two mistresses of luck.

Speaking of luck, that is what Saki has, right? Assuming everything plays out according to chance, Saki will probably continue her ridiculous lucky draws for the next few years of her life, until she loses her joshikousei charm (probably around age 18), then she will just lose every single game she ever plays from then on. And by then, she’ll be too old to marry any rich guy to fund her mahjong addiction, so she’ll probably just have to be recast as the single sensei who finds herself alone on Christmas and New Years. Saki season 2 – Vicious Cycle.

Saki will likely get her ass handed to her hardcore in the upcoming days, as Koromo hasn’t even made a damn move yet and Saki is already struggling against Tsurugacaptain. Maybe she’ll start learning new moves on the fly like Ryouma Echizen and start busting out her muga no kyouchi or whatever.

And if the preview is any indication, we are in for some epic tile slams!

37 Comments

  1. New op is good, I didn’t care for the new ed song as much as the old one. The new ed animation is cute though. I was a bit surprised we didn’t see anything from Koromo is the first hand. Here’s to an awesome episode next week. Also, I really want to know what is up with Saki’s sister.

    Camarilla
  2. yo it’s gonna be like captain tsubasa where they assemble the top players in the country… saki, koromo, nodoka, one-eyed kazekoshi, and uhh tsuruga’s captain and they team up to take down saki’s oneesan

    gonna be epic

    jaalin
    1. >yo it’s gonna be like captain tsubasa where they assemble the top players in the country… saki, koromo, nodoka, one-eyed kazekoshi, and uhh tsuruga’s captain and they team up to take down saki’s oneesan

      >gonna be epic

      Reading the manga recently…..this prediction is looking EERILY accurate.

      privateer
  3. rather than saying saki has luck
    i would say she is be able to read the tiles on when she will be able to kang at the perfect time to score linshan kaihou tsumo.
    the hint is at that time when they were traning saki did mention she isn’t be able to see anything when playing onlinel.

    jeffng9
  4. i actually really appreciate this anime, no matter how much i don’t get half the things they’re talking about when they’re doing the mahjong-thing…the epic-ness is just too awesome. i hope saki can hang in there once koromo breaks lose

    b3tamax
  5. >> Speaking of luck, that is what Saki has, right?

    Sort of, I guess. It’s more than that. She has to be in tenpai for one and know how to make the right choices and read when to call the kongs. It’s not like she calls them right away all the time (although she did so here).

    Also, considering what powers Koromo has, she’s not the only lucky one around.

    >> Saki will likely get her ass handed to her hardcore in the upcoming days, as Koromo hasn’t even made a damn move yet and Saki is already struggling against Tsuruga captain.

    The Tsuruga captain is very good. She’s a fantastic strategist and she keeps her calm. Unlike Kana, she’s the true demon hunter at the table and to make it worse (for Kana), she’s got a much better read on the situation, the players, and their respective strengths.

    As for Saki, despite her luck, even just skill wise, she’s up there with the top players at the prefectural tournament. It’ll be hard to win points off of her.

    kage
  6. Saki will lose her luck as soon as she loses her virginity… kind of like how the chick who gets laid in a horror movie is always the first to die. Her yuri-ness should keep her career going strong as she forever shuns men in favor of large breasted girls who use stuffed penguins as a bra.

    jaysus
  7. Hmm, I don’t think so.
    Don’t know if they will whore the outcome till eps 25, since the makers keep inventing side stories…
    However, a very important clue was given 2 eps ago.
    Saki is someone who loves to play TOGETHER (sad story: mom & sis ran off, sis won’t talk to her, nowx tries through mahjong)
    Koromo also wants to have fun toghether but its muri (impossible)Koromo says so th hagyoshi. (Sad story: parents are dead, is feared by all when playing Mahjong so how can it be fun? parents will still be dead so needs lots of friends wjho aren’t afraid of her play)
    Prediction: Saki will show Koromo its fun to play, koromo looses killer edge,becomes friends. Saki & yuri friends go to finals for a showdown with even more terrible foes

    Mike4DOA
  8. @Mike4DOA
    hm… i can agree with your point koromo will learn the fun of playing the game but will not lose her killer edge. i personally think koromo , saki and nodoka will become friends too. it will be an interesting final ~ manga is progressing nicely as well~

    jeffng9
  9. “a series about girls playing mahjong.
    Oh I see you haven’t seen a single episode.

    It’s more like “a series about girls”. One of the many in my “so stupid I definitely have to watch it till the very end” folder.

    Zenzen
  10. what the hell man !! they spent 1 entire episode of the ghost girl and in the end the ghost girl gets owned -.- wtf ?

    Not really, as mentioned, in terms of pure points gathering Momoko won.

    Proto
  11. @Jaalin

    https://randomc.net/image/Saki/Saki%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2020.jpg

    I’m pretty sure they missed ‘conference’ room by er, lots of letters. ‘confront’ is close enough and somewhat appropriate, although totally inexplicable in English.

    A lot of non-sports tourneys and games (card and board games) are held in conference rooms or convention halls rented for the day by the tournament, although the room they’re playing in looks much more like am studio set than a conference room. The entire place they’re playing in seems to be a well equipped convention hall of some sort.

    Delwack
  12. It’s shown during the episode where Saki and Nodoki play Fujita that Saki can actually tell what tile is at the end of the dead wall so it isn’t about luck, but rather that she seems to have freaky voodoo psychic powers and shapes her hand around the dead wall draw tile.

    Hiruma
  13. No doubt Saki will get slammed like some barmaid, then BAM-BAM-BAM-What? What? Saki is the main character afterall and this story is about a one wonder out of nowhere miracle high school mahjongg team that wins the nationals… but still you need the drama, and that drama much like prince of tennis is keeping our interest.

    Woggmogg
  14. i wonder if they will show saki’s mom in a later episode, also i wonder if saki is going to take down the little blonde girl with the red rabbit ears down a peg or two.

    COOP

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