Hisa has a lot of work to do to get Kiyosumi out of the cellar and into contention. What her opponents do not know is that Hisa is a formidable player with a style all her own.
What They Say
Hand 11 – Prank
Hisa obviously starts the next match at a disadvantage. However, her style is claiming victory by confusing her opponents. She wants to overwhelm them and jump into first place. Ryuumonbuchi falls into last place and Kunihiro begins to feel…
The Review!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Instead of getting too bogged down in play, the start of Hisa’s turn in the spotlight is mostly used to continue filling out her character and backstory. We see that Hisa’s play style is logical and conventional, with one exception: when she feels it’s an important hand, she does not choose a high percentage tile wait but instead shapes her hand for a “hell wait.” That’s when you basically have only one or two tiles available left in play in order to achieve mahjong. The chances that your one or another tile will show up are very, very low, so you’ve backed yourself into a corner. But on these occasions, Hisa seems to come out on top.
When you see an aura…
In the past, this brought out a rebuke from Nodoka, naturally, whose play is based purely on logic and high winning percentages. We see that in a flashback where Hisa counters that there are all kinds of players out there (with brief glimpses of monsters known and a couple yet to be seen [they will appear all in good time, in the Nationals sequel series]—Bonus points for not showing Saki Miyanaga at this point, since neither of them have met her yet). It’s much of a piece confirming that Hisa is a trickster while Nodoka is prim and proper and gets impatient with people who do not act the same way. If we have one flashback, we might as well have another, so time is spent recalling Mako’s talk with Hisa the night before, where we learn that Hisa’s “hell wait” for a complete 5-girl team started with Mako coming along. The unkind might ascribe this second flashback to budget-saving reuse of animation (it takes nothing to run already created footage through a slight sepia-tinted filter)…and they might be right.
Trips down Memory Lane over, we return to the game where Hisa’s style serves her well, since she seems to come out well ahead for those hell waits. Within a few hands, Hisa has in fact vaulted Kiyosumi from last place to first, erasing the large lead that Kazekoshi had established in the first two rounds.
The episode isn’t entirely given over to Hisa’s play. We also see more of the Missing Penguin Show, as Nodoka wakes up from her nap and realizes that Etopen is gone. Leaving Saki sleeping in the Nap Room, Nodoka heads out to search for her missing mascot/good luck charm. The penguin is safely with Koromo from Ryuumonbuchi, but not so safe, as the two girls who stole the stuffed animal before come back and try to get the penguin again (though this time, to return it to Nodoka). A tussle ensues and the penguin gets damaged. Leaving Koromo in tears.
We also get a little bit of background on the moe object Hajime Kunihiro from Ryuumonbuchi. Apparently, those handcuffs are not some strange S&M fetish, but are functional, because Hajime’s father is a magician, and the daughter has inherited her father’s manual dexterity (she’s quick with her hands). Sleight of hand is great for magic tricks, but generally looked down upon when participating in tournaments and one incident in the past has apparently branded Hajime forever. However, Touka Ryuumonbuchi scouted her not because of her cheating but in spite of it. She saw that Hajime’s ability was actually quite real despite the one lapse from ethical play and decided that she wanted her on the Ryuumonbuchi team. Remembering why she was chosen, Hajime ups her game, fairly, and begins to draw Ryuumonbuchi back into the tournament.
As I said last time, it’s often the center of a story where an author has to do the most work in order to keep the movement flowing. For Saki, this is accomplished by interspersing personal remembrances with the flow of play in an organic way. Let’s face it, sitting here watching a mahjong match that in reality probably would take a couple hours at least would be pretty damn dull. You have to find a way to bring in some human drama and character development or humor (and, of course, you can do both). If you don’t…why would anyone read/watch?
Some of the comic relief is just downright silly (the Etopen Odyssey). Some of the human drama seems a bit overdone (Mihoko’s overly emotional reaction to recalling Hisa’s original identity and her dangerous (for other players) play style). But within the frame of cute girls doing nothing particularly earth-shattering, it does work together. If anything, the opening segment of the episode, with the flashbacks, dragged a bit more than the rest of the episode. I think we all have a fairly firm grasp of Hisa’s personality by this point, the extended flashback with Nodoka was not really needed (except that from a certain perspective, you want Nodoka on screen as much as possible).
The round is only half over though.
In Summary:
Hisa Takei is a true risk taker, deliberately choosing to wait for the low-odds, but high-point scoring hands in order to rebuild Kiyosumi’s chance at winning. This advance comes at the expense of Kazekoshi, whose lead built up by their captain and defended by their second player is lost during the first half of the central round. We are in the very heart of the battle now. For those who are familiar with sports entertainment, animated or live action, you will all be familiar with the usual ebb and flow of play, which we have seen for the past few episodes. A decent job is done to interrupt the intensity of the mahjong with some action behind the scenes. For those who enjoy sports dramas, these past few installments, and the next few to come, should prove to be entertaining. Of course, if you’re just watching for the girls, then none of this matters.
Grade: B+
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 12GB RAM, Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite.
