Saki - Episode 16

If you thought that Koromo was far too quiet in the opening few hands of her round of the prefectural qualifier, then you can rest assured that this latest instalment of Saki gives us plenty of evidence of her actual capabilities and talents.


After a couple of initial victories for Saki, and a third attempt narrowly thwarted, it seemed that everything was going Kiyosumi's way, but that thwarted attempt seems to change the dynamic of the match entirely; Koromo then comes to life to win hand after hand while her opponents can't even get a few decent tiles together, with only a solitary win by Saki gifted to her in a desperate attempt to stop Koromo breaking the pattern at all. What's more, by the half-way stage of the game it seems that Koromo's powers are only increasing, making her an even greater threat as Ryuumonbuchi start looking set to streak away as the unchallenged winners of their qualifier. Of course, this being Saki I'm sure there are a few more surprises in store before this game is up...

After the tension and excitement of recent episodes, I can't help but find myself dragged down a little by the overbearing nature of a player's "special powers" - While I don't have an issue with Koromo as an extremely talented Mahjong player herself, the concept that the entire "flow" of the tiles is broken simply because of her presence actually detracts from rather than adds to any tension as it drains away some of the situation's natural competitive element. That's not to say that this was a bad episode, as it was still pretty enjoyable to watch; come the end of it though I simply didn't find myself perched on the edge of my seat as I have been for other recent episodes.