Indeed. Kasumi's ability is particularly broken, even if she's just "borrowing" it from Komaki. All tiles of one suit? Really?
Incidentally funny how a magazine scan canonizes what many readers and watchers have realized long ago: [1]
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Take note, the girls are taking their clothes off. And Shizu has nothing to take off aside from her jacket...
edited 30th Jun '12 7:11:41 PM by MyssaRei
Ah, that was why I had the feeling I forgot something. It might technically be from the individuals, but I agree with you on the outcome of this match. Everything but Shiraitodai first with Achiga second and very few points before whoever ends up third seems just too unlikely at the moment.
Saki might have a chance to defeat Teru, if she can play +-0 against her. Mihoko would probably have a very hard time, but still fare better than most. Everybody else ... yeah, no way.
Honestly, I'd count any game with Teru without anyone running out of points as defeating her.
Kasumi really seems just as absolute as Kuro. Too bad we won't get to see what happens when they clash. Would the red dora of Kasumi's suit end up in the dead wall every time ?
Yuu on the other hand just has biased draws, she doesn't deny her opponents any tiles like Kuro or Kasumi do.
I think we're glimpsing the possibilities of Cold Touka in how Saki's now "awakening" in the match with Eisui, where she manipulates the table in such a way that both Toyone and Kasumi's abilities are invalidated.
Too bad Touka herself denies that she has such a state (and no one knows what brings it about in the first place)...
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Pretty accurate for what was known at the time, though everyone seemed to agree that Saki as a character was terribly broken (she has like a 50% chance of getting pairs for example). Also some characters, like Jun, are reduced to "normal", since their abilities (flow control in her case) can't be portrayed well. There's also some degree of overlap — for example, Mako's memory ability functions practically the same as Mihoko's "see all".
edited 30th Jun '12 10:40:26 PM by MyssaRei
And as expected, Kuro does something out-of-character, and puts an end to Teru's parenchan streak before it, you know, kills them (which it will eventually — if Teru wins seven or more straight hands, she gets a yakuman automatically). Granted both Toki and Kirame set it up (and we see just WHY Toki's pushing herself despite it making more sense for her to just play defensively and let Teru knock someone out — she wants to knock Teru down a peg).
The only way this could have been better is for Kuro to have realized this was a big team effort... which didn't happen. Oh well, at least she didn't go "Yay me!"
Toki collapsing was also expected, but surprise! Even Teru reacted (indeed, she was the first to notice that all is not well with Toki) to this. I guess under that uncaring facade, there's still a person, despite being an utterly ruthless mahjong monster.
So we have... a non-ending for the TV run. Kind of makes sense, given that this is just the Vanguard match, and there are four other players to go. Hopefully the producers make good on their promise to put the focus back on Achiga for the three extra episodes, and show, even a bit, just what the rest of Shiraitodai is capable of. I expect terrible terrible damage.
Oh, and the Atago matriarch making a surprise appearance... as the adviser for Senriyama's mahjong club. Wouldn't this mean that she's technically not only teaching for a different school than her kids go to, but ALSO overseeing their possible rivals for the finals. Maybe that explains why she's nowhere to be seen on Senriyama's side, and is letting Funa Q handle things...
P.S. Again, need help updating character and main-page entries after this.
edited 1st Jul '12 2:19:27 PM by MyssaRei
That was interesting.
Too bad Kuro seems totally oblivious to all the subtleties occurring on the table. At least the others get them.
And Toki is fucking scary. Since she seems to look further and further ahead ... oh, and she saw herself collapsing, so it isn't even limited to mahjong.
Teru's "good game" seems oddly significant, somehow. Can't put my finger on it.
Teru should be the first to notice Toki collapsing, since they are sitting opposite each other.
Have there been any definite announcements about when/how the remaining episodes will be aired ?
I'll look into updating those pages, but since I'm fairly new here, I doubt I'll be able to help much ...
My god. All that 'surpassing expectations' crap was so incredibly patronizing towards Kuro that it's hilarious.
Okay, Achiga got to meet Nodoka again. Can they please lose now and let Senriyama advance to the finals? I don't care about Achiga and, frankly, after having these one-dimensional 'characters' shoved down my throat for the last cour, I don't want to care about them.
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That is a valid point though. Unless the others in Senriyama have some hidden depths to showcase in the coming matches I don't know what they would do with them in the finals.
Speaking of the finals... Oh poor Tacos and Kuro coming in for a second round of punishment.
edited 1st Jul '12 7:47:24 PM by daltar
It would be interesting to see whether or not those dora tiles come back to Kuro after she discarded them, because everything points to her being unable to get them for DAYS after a discard. With how the matches are paced, it looks like there's going to be another break for Achiga (meaning they get to watch Kiyosumi's match against Rinkai) before the finals. If the doras don't come back by then, I foresee a slaughter of untold proportions, as we already saw what Teru could do WITHOUT any dora/bonus tiles. With Kuro's magnet deactivated, well, I hate to be her (and Yuuki) again in the finals.
Need to go check the chapters (and episode 6 thereabouts), but I could have sworn that it's time, and not matches. Be back in about five.
Edit: Ah there it is [1]
. Indeed, it's several games, which unfortunately won't be happening as, unless Achiga does another set of guerrilla play sessions, the next game will be the Finals itself.
P.S. Glad they brought back one aspect of Kuro's character that people have forgotten over the past few episodes (because she was being useless at the table): that she was waiting for her friends to come back to that abandoned club room for years. That's a VERY vain hope in any other circumstance, since everyone literally went their own way after the Children's mahjong club disbanded. Glad that they were able to tie that aspect — the fact that she was afraid of moving on — to her decision to go against habit and discard her dora.
edited 1st Jul '12 9:22:34 PM by MyssaRei

There's a distinct problem with your last suggestion, as the end of the first season's epilogue FIRMLY foreshadows Kiyosumi going against Shiraitodai, and everything in the narrative of Side B points to a building showdown against Teru's school. Also, I think it's fairly obvious that it's not possible to defeat Teru, just make sure one survives her turn at the table, and hope that one's teammates makes up for the difference somehow.
Yeah, people seem to be forgetting that this is the first match out of five. While it's the climax for the anime, the fact of the matter is Teru is just the FIRST of five possibly big problems for the three other teams on the table. As it's going to be a fight for survival from that point on, especially if the hype around Awai is true.
edited 30th Jun '12 6:11:36 PM by MyssaRei