Its time for the second hanchan of the Vice-Captain Match. And things are getting intense!
If you guys noticed the seating is different this time. For one thing, Nodoka is the dealer when Hatsumi is in the North.
uh- oh. What then will our valiant heroine do?
Nodoka starts things with a riichi. <sweatdrop>
Still, look at her hand.
I suppose if one doesn’t factor Hatsumi’s yakuman I would say that Nodoka did the right thing. She got a two sided wait. But, its only worth 2 han 40 for 400/700 points. Quite measly. Under ordinary circumstance I’ll applaud her.
Under ordinary circumstances, that is. Doing this right now at when Hatsumi is north would just be courting disaster.
Still, Sae blocks Hatsumi again as usual.
In my humble opinion regarding the Nodoka plot armor debate. This is the only block that Sae did that benefited Nodoka. The previous ones would actually help her.
Interesting information regarding the monocle.
It was given by their coach to Sae. And its a power scouter, not a power suppressor. The suppressing power came from Sae herself. The monocle is so that Sae doesn’t use her power needlessly.
I can see how that can be. After all, without the monocles warning. Sae ordinarily would have no idea when to seal an opponent. Thus, she would have to spend the entire match sealing a particular player which would be more inefficient than just sealing them when they’re power activate or they are about to win.
Its also nice to see that Hisa warned Nodoka. Even if the warning got unheeded.
But, then again. With Sae blocking, Nodoka isn’t actually seeing yakuman in the table yet. And she really doesn’t believe in the supernatural. sigh…
In the next scene, notice how tired Sae is. Her vision is blurring ala Toki.
And in this state, she contemplates the necessity of blocking Hatsumi (something that she may no longer be able to afford). As she explained, Miyamori is currently 29,000 points under second place (Kiyosumi). But, if Hatsumi got her wind yakuman it will shrink to 21,000. And if directly hit Nodoka it will drop to 15,800.
Edit. Apparently what the anime says is wrong. If the gap will shrink to 21,000 if Hatsumi Tsumo. It should rightfully shrink to 5,000 if Nodoka got hit.
There is of course the downside that Eisui will overtake Miyamori if she unblock. But, considering that her stamina is shot to hell, it is probably the wiser move to lift her blockade.
The hand ends in a draw anyway.
This round is one of the reason why I think Nodoka won’t be getting directly hit even if she doesn’t believe in the supernatural and hence Hatsumi’s power.
Its because Hatsumi’s power is so horribly obvious. Not in the fact that she’s can only do it when she is the north player, Nodoka wouldn’t consider that because its supernatural. But, the fact that she needs to call North and East tiles. Even a digital player will consider the possibility of a wind yakuman with those two set of tiles open. And like Nodoka here they will bail.
Really, the greatest danger for Nodoka in this match is the fact that she will riichi (if her hand demands it) even if Hatsumi is in the North Seat.
… Like in the next time Hatsumi is north.
I really love the visual and bgm in this part. The bamboo flute and drums combination are quite effective.
Hatsumi’s power is visually and auditory awesome.
And finally after so many misfires, Hatsumi got her yakuman!
Are you guys expecting Nodoka to care? lol
She’s still in plus points.
Though, she seemed to be a tiny bit shaken. Emphasis on tiny.
The end of the Vice Captain Match scores are as follows:
Himematsu (Kinue) : 127,600 (+100)
Kiyosumi (Nodoka) : 99,600 (+1,900)
Eisui (Hatsumi) : 87,100 (+2,300)
Miyamori (Sae) : 85,700 (-4,300)
The Vice-Captain match point haven’t moved much. That one yakuman wiped out all the gains the others have gathered. Its also interesting that Nodoka got plus points even after paying for the dealer yakuman (-16,000).
Sae got minus. But, to my eyes, she’s the unsung hero of this match. And with the close scores, she did put her captain player in a good position to make a comeback than if she allowed Eisui to be unblocked.
Speaking of the captain match, I really need to find a way to comment on that without putting spoiler text on every paragraph. lol I’ll end it here for now.
"But, if Hatsumi got her wind yakuman it will shrink to 21,000. And if directly hit Nodoka it will drop to 15,800."
21000 is correct but 15800 seems not, you should try calculate it. (triple fail from the anime?)
And no, I don't think that 2 sets of wind is enough of a threat to try defending. I think she defend just because Hisa told her to be careful.
I really should have calculated that.
Yeah. Simple math says that if the gap between them will shrink to 21,000 if Hatsumi got a tsumo. It should actually shrink to (21,000 -16,000) 5,000 if there is a direct hit.
Editing.
you should calculate harder because if Nodoka got hit then Hatsumi will become 2nd, not Nodoka anymore 🙂
(well, next time I will give you the calculation right away. And yes, there will be another "next time" in episode 10. The producers seem to be really careless.
(the error in this episode is the manga's fault, though)
here's the calc for this episode:
Before: Kinue 127300 – Nodoka 118300 – Sae 89300 – Hatsumi 65100 (it's shown before the sentence we're disscussing about. the point shown for Nodoka is 118100 but she uses two 100-sticks to mark bonus hand 2 so it is really 118300)
After Hatsumi direct hit Nodoka: Kinue 127300 – Hatsumi 97700 – Sae 89300 – Nodoka 85700. (32000 plus 600 = 32600 points win) . Point difference between 2nd and 3rd is 8400.