Not to be outdone by Teru, Toki raises the bar twofold as she not only manages to see two turns ahead, but after Teru seems to have Toki broken down in the bonus hand, she shines through the darkness, able to see a full three turns ahead! Whether or not this will help is yet undetermined, at the very least it may help provide some insight into Teru’s abilities. Meanwhile, Hanada is pulling defense for her team, designated the “sacrifice” to Teru’s wrath, and Kuro can’t seem to get it together. Although she is being helping by hoarding dora and making it easier for Toki and Hanada to read Teru’s hand, and the dora are kept from boost Teru’s scores as well.
All while Saki sits just outside, she obviously senses disturbances in the force, either from Toki’s time bending or Teru’s spacial distortions, lightening keeps sparking around that mahjong table. Achiga’s plot is definitely winding its way back to Saki’s in order to tie up into a possible joint-conclusion. But with only 4 more episodes, it’ll most likely just put both series slightly closer to the final round of the competition. They certainly won’t be able to go as far in-depth as they have with this first round.
Now then, I have two concerns with Achiga: will Teru fall to Toki’s three-turn time shift, and will Nodoka, Shizu, and Ako reunite? Teru certainly isn’t going to lose that huge lead she’s built, but putting a third stop to her winning streaks will certainly prove a moral victory. If Kuro could manage to help out more, it’d also lift her from near-tears. I was really hoping for more detail, but at this rate, the ending is looking to become rushed.
If they’d just show Arata playing, I’d be okay with this…
Saki: Achiga-hen Episode of Side-A – BeldenOtaku’s Photobucket
Groundbreaking…just groundbreaking. Her chest that is. Seriously…how does Saki not live in fear those massive chest-bits? Maybe Nodoka saps the size away from those around her to increase her own bust level. Unfortunately (for Nodoka), there’s not much to sap from with the Achiga team, so they’ll be fine when they reunite, as the scenes with Nodoka dreaming of Ako and Shizu seem to foreshadow. That’s assuming Teru Miyanaga doesn’t utterly destroy Achiga before Kuro can learn how to hold her own against this monster.
It didn’t really seem like Kuro was playing in the second half, as most of the focus was on Toki attempting to stave off Teru’s monster winning streaks. But no avail, as even her foresight couldn’t prevent victory from simply falling into her hands. And even though the dora is coming to her hand, Kuro is left shaking in her seat as Teru continues to win on her discards. There’s certainly a lot focus being placed onto this single round, and I’m wondering if the remaining rounds will be as in-depth, or if this encounter with Teru is just being magnified through screen time.
As Toki attempts to see 2 full moves ahead, a skill that’s landed her face-first on the floor in the past, Kuro’s confidence is at an all-time low. Even if either of them could manage to pull off a daring last-minute stop-gap of Teru’s streak, she still leaves her team with a nearly 100,000 point lead over the next team. With Achiga in 3rd, the remaining girls will have to play hard to get over Teru’s monstrous lead. If it weren’t for the short scenes of Nodoka (and her gifted size), I don’t think I’d have any hope of the Achiga girls getting past this semi-final round.
The first round of the semi-finals and the “monster” mahjong players have come in full force, when we finally get a first-hand look at Teru, the legendary sister of Saki Miyanaga. But not to be taken lightly, Toki also demands attention in the semi-final first round, revealing her power to see turns ahead thanks to a near-death illness. Meanwhile, Teru’s power can only be described as all-seeing and all-knowing, as her command of the table even surpasses Toki’s ability to foresee her moves. Kuro is left in the shadow as the monsters play through the round, only able to occasionally derail one another.
I was expecting something a bit more fearsome playing from Teru, to be honest. The way it was played up, and from what we’ve seen from “lesser” monster players like Miho, Koromo, and Momoko, I was expecting Teru to be able to incite immediate insanity in her opponents. But, instead, she just seems to have a view into each player’s hand and strategies. Though, I guess I can’t complain too much, she DID see through Toki’s future sight, after all. And her streaks seem to expand in power with each passing win, and breaking it only resets it to its starting value.
Kuro is stuck in what seems to be a no-win situation, she just can’t seem to compete with such a see-through skill. Despite how well it’s functioning to bring dora to her hand, there’s no time to build up a winning hand before the monsters end the round in a show of incredible confusion on Kuro’s part. Honestly, it’s like Achiga isn’t even in this round…maybe she’ll show some new tricks, possibly picked up from their training, on her turn as dealer, which will yield bonuses should she manage to actually play a hand. Hopefully, that glimpse of Etopen is a sign of good things to come for the Achiga girls.
In preparation for the semi-finals, and the monster players in wait, the Achiga girls call on some familiar faces to help them meet the intensity of the super powered mahjong so frequent in the original series. In case you haven’t been watching Saki: Achiga-hen Episode of Side-A, it’s essentially just like the original series “Saki”, including the cast, plus a few more, minus the yuri action and some of the crazy superpowers (but that may change with the next episode). After facing head-to-head with varying degrees of, what appear to be, psychic-mahjong powers, the girls confidently head into the semi-finals, and in the first round we see Teru, Saki’s mysterious monster-player sister…
Kuro is first in Achiga’s line-up for the semi-finals, but she’s up against the legendary Teru Miyanaga. Will we see just what makes her so fierce? And how Kuro will compete is another issue, being without a super power herself, she’ll have to rely on dora coming to her hand, but I doubt that can stand up to the witchcraft these “monsters” of mahjong have in store. But just beyond the semi-finals is Nodoka and Saki, so she’ll somehow have to manage.
Perhaps the best Kuro can hope for is to merely survive Teru’s wrath and hold onto as many of her points as she can so the remaining Achiga girls can bring the heat in later rounds. But I foresee each team’s monster players coming into the rounds one at a time. Essentially each Achiga girl having to face down a monster in every round. Maybe this means Arata’s skill will finally be showcased, clinching a win using Achiga’s own “monster” (or at least “very very good”) player in the final round. That’s probably just my own hope, as it’s more likely, based on the progression of this particular series, that (if Achiga wins) they’ll pull it off with a show of non-super power-based play. Unless they’ve somehow gained super powers themselves from hanging around these players from the original series…maybe something in the original series has to do with the acquisition of mahjong power, and the closer the girls get to Nodoka and Saki, the more powerful they’ll become!
