Saki – 20

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Summary
Saki dreams about the time her sister was nice and sisterly with a nice onee-chan facial expression, but little does she know that her sister is some crazed mahjong monster these days. I wonder what the backstory behind that is? Gonzo don’t let us down.

Meanwhile, Hisa has come up with some amazing idea – a club retreat to the pool. Supposedly it’s for training purposes, but then she flat out admits she wants to see Nodoka in a swimsuit. I do not object nor do I complain about the inherent lack of plot these types of episodes are cursed blessed with.

And as with all mizugi episodes, we get a nice head to toe (woohoo!) pan shot of the goods. Unfortunately the animators didn’t take too much care in the feet area, and Saki and Yuki look like they have cankles, and really really small feet. The toes are all messed up too. Oh well, you can’t win em all.

Over at Kazekoshi, those losers are standing around wondering how they can get their captain to stop doing laundry and practice mahjong. Speaking of which, why the hell does the mahjong team need to do laundry? Oh, right, their thighs sweat incessantly.

Back at the pool, team Kiyosumi bumps into team Ryuumonbuchi, and while their conversation isn’t unpleasant (rather, a gawking session at Nodoka’s boobs), it isn’t until Koromo starts doing her cutsey non-mahjong shit that people start to lighten up. From there we get some backstory on Ryuumonbuchi, and how they went to Tokyo the previous year and ate fried shrimp at some family restaurant that skimped on the tartar sauce. I don’t really care, but Koromo is doing a lot of cute shit, so it’s all good.

As with Tsuruga, Yumi-chin is sprawled out on the roof with her invisible yuri admirer hanging all around her. The newbie blonde girl is prohibited from practicing in order to maintain her beginners luck (go figure), and the real captain says “wahaha” a lot. Or at least I think she does, cuz I can’t hear anything else coming out of her…

 
Preview

Up next on Saki: The individual tournament begins!
 
Thoughts
Saki spends the whole ep on this caffeinated teenager high, presumably because she is going to see her daisuki na onee-chan soon. Nobody but her yuri lover Nodoka seems to notice, and those endless looks of concern she bats off indicates that Saki’s hyperness might actually be overcompensating for her nervousness. Indeed, she is going to see her onee-chan soon, and she has no idea how the reception will be – as the end of the episode shows, her doubts are rightfully placed, as Teru seems to have disowned Saki. I’m guessing it’s something to do with why they’re separated in the first place, something that Teru blames Saki for. Teru, you suck. Saki would be an awesome imouto.

The individual tournament starts next episode, which means it’s gonna be some crazy family reunion at the final table…