After Yuuki's (eye-rollingly bizarre) taco power last time around, Mako's "special power" seems to be far more reasonable - If she takes off her glasses, she can compare the current state of play in a game to previous hands that shes seen from her many years as a child living with her grandfather in a Mahjong parlour. Unfortunately, that power really doesn't do much at all for her on this occasion, as her comparisons are thrown completely out of whack by the prescence of an almost complete beginner at the table, with her illogical moves giving Mako nothing from her past to compare to. Thus, things really aren't looking up for Kiyosumi as club captain Hisa takes to the table, in an appearance that worries some from the competing schools - It seems that Hisa has more of a reputation behind her than we may have thought. Meanwhile, Sali and Nodoka spend most of this episode sleeping in the rest room, although this could signal the end for Nodoka's penguin lucky charm...
Once again, the focus on actual Mahjong playing for a reasonable chunk of this episode (or at least, it felt like a decent chunk) made for a more entertaining viewing experience, while we were also spared too much in the way of crazy "super powers" or the like to leave this episode's feet firmly planted on the ground - A state of affairs which I can only be grateful for, as I quickly learned last episode that my suspension of disbelief for this particular series doesn't seem to extent to tacos as power-ups or Sharingan-esque Mahjong abilities. Episode elevn looks like it'll be keeping things relatively normal too, so here's to another oddly compelling round of Mahjong action there.
I'm excited for the president's round too esp. since she'll have to deal with Ms. "I can cheat even while there are live cameras on me."
ReplyDeleteOTH, Mihoko's "ability" is probably one of the most normal ones which is why I was surprised you were having so much trouble with it. She's basically just reading discards and the other players' behaviors to figure out what their hands are. In fact, Jun figures it out even earlier that Yuuki probably has an all characters hand ... Mihoko only confirms it.
Yuuki wise, I don't really consider it a power. Some people have to have their lucky rabbit feet, to have a set routine before a match, to listen to a certain CD, or whatever. Yuuki's emotional motivator just happens to be tacos. It's probable that in the past, she just liked tacos and eating them made her feel more relaxed or happy and hence, she played better. Extend that out and if you're a superstitious person like Yuuki, you probably start to associate tacos with better play.
It does, in fact, help if you have something to believe in. Because when yuuki ate the taco it did not raise her power of playing but more, in the sense, raised her self-confidence. Which, as you should know from your own experience, is a very important part in doing anything better.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that the power, or ability I should say, to remember things from the past is much more reasonable of course it was of nno use in the episode. I wish it had been some use. I would have liked to see her ability in action. Hopefully I will see this in later episodes...