Saki Episode 7 – Attention


 The match continues….

Quite a pity that we can’t see Hisa’s full hand, but assuming she doesn’t have a terminal tile there (1 or 9). She will get a tanyao, menzen tsumo, riichi and a dora so it will be a 4 han minimum.

Unfortunately, it is not to be. Eisui and Miyamori conspired again. Eisui called so that her hand formation will be faster and to lower the value of her hand. Whch in turn makes it easier for Miyamori to read Eisui and deal on her cheapened hand.

Chiitoitsu. Probably one of those hands that is hard to guess what is safe to discard.

Some exposition. Kurumi’s specialty is damaten or not declaring riichi. This makes it hard to see if she is in tenpai or not. Which is kinda important for this game, since Eisui seemed to be trying to end the round with a cheap hand when somebody was about to win.

Anyway, as Hisa noted, Kurumi is not as annoying as playing Momo. At least, you can still see her discards. ^^

Hiroe is in good shape here. I didn’t see her hand, but she probably called the riichi to trap Eisui there.

Its also kinda funny how Kurumi isn’t taking any of Hiroe’s boasting. ^^

And now last hand.

You may be wondering why Hisa’s kan here is surprising.

…. Not that calling kan is standard play. Anyway, this is because Hisa is the south player and this is also the south round. She won’t be getting any yaku  for calling a kan on the east tiles.

Of course, when the kan-dora was opened those east tiles became dora so … automatic 4 dora!

Hisa’s discard pool.

Notice the absence of character tiles and the continuous discard of 7 and 8 of circles. Thus, Kurumi wonders if she is making a character honitsu. A hand that is composed of characters and wind tiles. Take note that the additional open meld that was shown is the 1-2-3 of characters.

Then, Hisa discarded the red 5 of characters.

This signify to Kurumi that Hisa isn’t making an ittsuu. Since if she have that, she won’t have discarded the red 5 pin. Even if she have a normal 5 pin her hand, the right thing to do is to replace that with the red 5 pin that she drew since it is worth 1 han by itself.

Kurumi then goes to all the possible yaku that Hisa can make.

  • Sanshoku – this yaku is out. Since we can see a meld of Hisa 1-2-3 of characters. And this yaku needs meld from the other two suit which is no longer possible. All the one of circles have been accounted for.
  • Honitsu – most likely one. This is made by one suit + wind tiles.
  • Chanta – made of honors and have terminals in each meld.

Notice that red 5 of circles cannot be used for Honitsu or Chanta and should logically be safe.

But, Kurumi have already observed that Hisa is well… ^^

So she discarded the safe 5 of characters.

Its an ittsuu after all. If Kurumi have the discarded the five of circles, she’s going to be ronned. ^^

And with this ends the Lieutenant match.

Himematsu : 127,500 

Kiyosumi:  97,700

Miyamori: 90,000 

Eisui : 84,800 

Hiroe managed to upgrade Himematsu’s status from last place to first so she is really something to watch for. Worthy of an ace.

Hisa, though she managed to lose first place, she still have a very good showing. Considering that after she recovered from her BSOD, she managed to claw herself up from the hole she dug in last place to second.

Haru and Kurumi while not eyecatching as those two didn’t make any egregious mistake. They played solidly.

All in all solid match.

Now time to go to the Vice-Captain!

Of course, first up is Nodoka.

The media is gobbling her appearance as usual. Though the dialogue of the reporters is a bit weird. In the anime, the reporters are delighted as ever on seeing Nodoka. One even complaining that they missed their chance when Kiyosumi got a school to zero before she got the chance to play. The other merely noting teams with idol players or followings never do well.

The manga scene is a bit harsher compared to this.

In the translation I read it says, “Reserve camera time for, she’s at a big loss after all. This time we’ve got to film it. Teams with idol like fanfare tend to lose. It would be like Hiroshima’s Karouto High Sasano.” 

Very very different impression of the same scene there.

… I wonder if there is a manga mis-translation again or is it the anime who is wrong? Hmmm…

Anyway in contrast to the media, the other players are paying attention to Eisui Hatsumi. Though, as pro-Kainou have noted. Hatsumi is also a beautiful player. That DFC. ^^

Did Hatsumi teleport?

The anime isn’t any help since the reporters noted that she isn’t coming out from Eisui’s room.

Nodoka’s reaction is hilarious.

Even more, with Hisa’s imitation.

lol

Kinue kick!

Poor poor penguin…. ^^

Anyway, game is of with Nodoka entering Nodocchi mode early.

I really like how they made Hatsumi’s power look awesome.

The fog slowly going into stadium really conveyed that something supernatural going on. It didn’t hurt that the BGM made of drumbeats and flutes is probably my current favorite for Zenkoku-hen.

Anyway, most of the match is setting things up.

Next episode, Sae vs. Hatsumi.

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6 Responses to Saki Episode 7 – Attention

  1. FdRstar says:

    Kurumi's hand is Chiitoitsu (7 pairs) not Chinitsu (one suit only). It's quite different.^^
    I don't have more to say, there isn't much analysis so well… Thank for your work anyway.

    • To be honest, there isn't much to analyze on this episode. I'll try to put more mahjong analysis next time.

      Anyway thanks for pointing that out. I'll edit it right away. ^^

  2. sf says:

    Random note: Did anyone find out that the point difference before the vice-captain match between Himematsu and Eisui is 42700, but Kasumi said it to be 24700?

    That imitation by Hisa. The most hilarious moment in the anime so far.

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