The Saki universe has two types of mahjong matches: individual and team matches. What we get to see in the anime is mostly the latter. But to be honest, most Saki teams are pretty crappy at doing this “team” thing. Shows like Chihayafuru make it clear that a team battle is something completely different from a set of individual battles, but the tag team matches in Saki often boil down to just that – a series of individual matches with a joint score. Which is not to say that the concept of a team is completely meaningless in the Saki universe. Let’s take a look at how major players in the series took advantage of team tactics (or failed to).
Kiyosumi
The good:
- placing Yuuki as vanguard and thus relieving her from the duty of thinking tactically about point differences (acknowledging and eliminating an individual’s weakness)
- Hisa concealing Nodoka and Saki’s ability level by having them go last in the team order, making it unnecessary for them to play seriously (or at all) before facing the strongest teams in the regionals
- Hisa helping develop the skills of all her other teammates
The bad:
- extreme differences in playing styles and approach to mahjong make it impossible for team members to give each other tactical advice, to the point that Nodoka outright refuses to listen to crucial bits of advice from her team captain
Kazekoshi:
The good:
- positioning matched to work against crucial opponents (vs Inoue Jun); learning from experience
- ace in the opening position lets the other team members play a calm, better game
- team captain offers tactical advice during match breaks
The bad:
- nobody but the captain ever does anything for the team – with around 80 members, there is nobody in the mahjong club to watch and analyze matches of rival teams in time for it to matter
- weaker members are completely unable to see the difference in ability between themselves and their opponents, failing to turn to a defensive style when necessary
Tsuruga:
The good:
- clear awareness of team members’ respective ability levels lets the first three players play a honest “survival-style” mahjong
- positioning may cause opponents to let their guards down, making them easy pickings for the best players waiting at the end
The bad:
- the fact that they have to give up three matches to begin with is pretty sad
Ryuumonbuchi:
The good:
- reliable ace in vanguard position sets the flow of the game in the team’s favor
- Koromo’s taishou position lets her play at night, at the peak of her ability
The bad:
- team members put personal issues over victory on a regular basis, Touka to show off, Koromo… for plenty of reasons
Achiga:
The good:
- Kuro in vanguard position acts like the usual ace against ordinary teams, and as damage control against monsters that outrank her (hands scored against her will be less expensive than average without dora)
- mentally tough taishou doesn’t let a chance for victory slip by for emotional reasons
- the coach is one of the most perceptive people in the Sakiverse, providing her team with crucial intel, as well as supporting them through training and other ways
The bad:
- damage control is all fine and dandy, but it is somewhat questionable if pitting Kuro against top tier opponents all the time is really the best use of her potential
Senriyama:
The good:
- as always, a vanguard ace is always a good idea, especially with Toki, who is the most powerful defensive player we have seen to date while being “only” very good on the offense, and therefore more suited to preventing the team form going into minus points rather than gaining back those points as a taishou
- team members actually adjust their playing style to the point totals in terms of offense/defense, playing cautiously when in the lead (why this is a rarity is beyond me)
- the team analyzes data of their opponents before a match (sorry Kazekoshi) and adjusts their tactics accordingly
The bad:
- the coach sets somewhat questionable goals before the team members, pressuring them into making risky decisions (insistence on first place)
Shiraitodai:
The good:
- reliable ace in vanguard position, backup ace in taishou position (perfect for any team which can afford it)
- willingness to study their opponents and pick the most “convenient” opponents to leave in-game, if possible
- team members show the initiative to study the team’s weaknesses and the playing styles of other teams in order to offer suggestions or countermeasures
The bad:
- the third and fourth player should just kill themselves… or practice playing mahjong without relying completely on their abilities
Considering the above points, the only team that acts like an actual team throughout the entire match is Senriyama. No wonder that they are ranked #2 in the country despite mostly lacking “supernatural firepower”.
But I did leave one team for last – Shindouji.
You see, a team like Senriyama has three ace-level players and their fourth can hold her own easy enough, so they can easily adjust their strategy by evenly shifting the pressure (the necessary points) between several players, not forcing anyone to bite more than they can chew. This also means that there is no need for complicated tactical decisions beforehand or precise role assignments.
Shindouji, on the other hand, only has two players who can comfortably take on monsters, so they are more like Kazekoshi in terms of combined ability level (okay, maybe slightly better). However, this is a team with an idea.
I mentioned above that putting your best players in vanguard and taishou positions is likely the best formation. That is exactly what most strong schools in Sakiverse do. The Shindouji team was made to destroy that formation.
Schools using that formation have weaker players in positions 2-3-4, and the last player (taishou) is their last resort in case something goes wrong. What happens when a school like that goes against Shindouji?
They get a fair share of points by throwing their ace at the sacrificial pawn Hanada. That said, we are talking about somebody who stopped Miyanaga Teru twice, once without the help of supernatural powers (I cannot even imagine what happened in that match). Whatever they get, it won’t last for long. Yoshiko comes next, and her sense of when to go for high point hands and when to go flushing everything down with silent trash hands is great. It might seem like her achievements during the match presented in the anime are not that great, but this is an unprecedented 15.000+ victory of a normal mahjong player over an elite ability user like Sumire. Lieutenant Ezaki might pull through or not (everything depends on the politics), but either way, club president Mairu is hot on her heels. Now comes the scary part. Mairu preying on the weaker vice captains should at best be enough to repair the damage done to Hanada. But the power difference is superimposed doubled on the taishou (captain) match, through Mairu and Himeko’s promised victories (reservation –> key). This is where Shindouji completely breaks the balance where pouring more strength into one battle should result in worse results in another. The more uneven the Mairu matchup is, the easier the next round becomes for Himeko. The taishou match, supposed to be a battle of equals, may very well turn into a slaughter in Shindouji’s favor.
It is indeed beautiful how each member contributes to the team strategy, be it Subara’s sacrificial pawn resolution or Yoshiko’s playing style adjustments against Sumire. But who set all this up remains a mystery. Shindouji’s coach has yet to make a proper appearance, while individual members were not informed about the precise reasoning behind their positioning (Subara was supposed not to know about the reasons behind her selection, Ezaki did not realize why the club president goes fourth etc.) Will we learn more about this team at a later date, or will it remain a mystery forever? Only time will tell.
I’m glad I found this blog. ^^
So many in-depth analysis of my current favorite obsession.
Anyway, I agree that the teams of Saki sometimes do not act like teams. But, in fairness to them, they are making do with the members that they have. Most of the time, they do have the wisdom of putting their team members in the appropriate positions.
Thanks for visiting ^^.
It’s true that the only teams that can have serious complaints leveled at them in terms of team composition are those with a long tradition / many members / proper staff, since a place like Tsuruga had little to no choice to begin with. But seeing those powerful mahjong schools waste the advantages their large clubs should bring them can sometimes be painful.
For Shiraitodai…
If I am not mistaken, Shiraitodai only become a powerful school when Teru comes…
Previously, they didn’t even considered as threat to anyone…
Thus the fact that most of their player dependen on their ability, might be because the school try to repeat Teru success, by housing player with powerful ability regardless of their synergy….
It proof to be successful for 2 years in a row, so why stop now?
(I think that what they thought…)
Taking advantage of abilities is common sense in the Sakiverse, but there are schools who make much better work of it than Shiraitodai. A team with a vanguard like Teru losing is quite a feat, and Shiraitodai might just be able to accomplish that.
In Shiraitodai case, I fear it is worse…
They look like to be an average school that two years ago fortunate enough to get Teru then get a powerful member one by one…
Like main school in many shounen sport manga where they are unknown underdog, then the main character come and make the school get attention from the world, and then some powerful but unpolished player join and make the school more powerful…
Now I am saying that, Shiraitodai look even more like the main character…
Also, I am afraid about Kiyosumi future without Hisa…
Though what I am about to say is, expecting Shiraitodai to have a good sinergy or tactic isn’t fair…
And thus far, only Sumire that show the intention to study their opponent…
You know, with Seiko claiming that Shiraitodai’s fifth is better than the average ace, I think all of them /believe/ themselves to be good players… but yeah, they were mostly lucky to get Teru (and later Awai).
Here are the things I noticed from every single team in the Sakiverse.
-There has to be at least one megane mascot girl.
-There has to be one girl who is more bizarre the the others.
-There has to be one or more yuri couples in each team. Thumbs way up for this fact.
-The fighting style of one girl reflects the team;s play style.
I could be wrong in some of them but I think I’m pretty close.
Well, Ritsu had to come up with A LOT of teams, so making things easier by employing some patterns doesn’t sound unreasonable.
And the world is a better place because of these patterns…at least for the yuri nation.
Unfortunately this whole idea falls apart when you take into account the fact that Himeko is not an ace. Shindouji are in fact like Shiratodai: one massive points-scoring machine and four derps.
If you add the value of the keys she generated to her own points gain, Mairu produced (assuming no dealership in taishou) over 90k points. Sound familiar? Considering she did this using a power that is arguable the most detrimental we’ve seen so far apart from maybe Kuro’s (you have to be a complete badass, to simply break even with it, let alone score 52k with it), Mairu really is something else.
I hope she does as well in the individuals. I want to see more of her.
Nope. If you call Yoshiko a derp, you probably need to reread the point totals of her match. And Mairu and Himeko are acknowledged by everyone as the double ace. Shiraitodai,who have the best idea how the combo works, comment that it is especially troublesome because both Mairu and Himeko possess very high basic mahjong skills. It’s also clear Mairu doesn’t generate keys on her own, it’s a power she developed jointly with Himeko, so counting all those points as hers doesn’t make sense. Well, combos are weird like that, where you can’t exactly say who should get what part of the credit.
I do agree that the entire semi-finals match was burdened with the pattern of a single person in every team dominating everyone else and the rest of the team having to play idiot to make up for that. Not sure why Ritz thought that to be a good idea…
When I say derp, what I meant was they’re nothing special by Nationals standards. I’m aware that the champs are going to do better in the finals (at least they better). I’m aware Yoshiko is rather good. But all that she really manages is a modest gain. When people are slinging 90k point values around, 14k is not much. Not saying she’s bad, on the contrary, but she’s not a large impact either. On side B, 14k points would be one of the highest gains. On side A, Yoshiko’s just another player filling a seat.
And Himeko is an ace in the same way as Jackson was the King of Pop. Just because people say that, doesn’t make it true. Of course she looks good on paper: she’s carrying a crap-pile of invisible bonus points in with her that only her team know about. But the thing is, she doesn’t make those points. Mairu does, and then they show up on Himeko’s scoresheet. She has no impact on this process except as carrier (and possibly forcing a bonus round to use a bonus key). Those extra points have nothing to do with her beyond that. Mairu defines everything about them, and their value is entirely generated by Mairu’s play. This is a good thing, because in statistical terms it’s an absolutely dreadful power and you need to be Mairu-tier levels of good to make any points out of it at all.
Shiratodai may say Himeko can play mahjong, but you know what? I think they got the wrong records out, because she plays like a scrub in the game we saw. Her points gained was 54k or so, of which she contributed….1500 points. She ain’t no ace. Mairu just makes everyone think she is.
Ironically the same happens to Mairu in reverse when she wins E3. Everyone’s open-mouthed in shock as she gears up for a baiman by ignoring Seiko’s discard…..but it’s not that big a risk from her point of view since, again, she’s the only one who knows about her power. It just seems like a badass move from everyone else’s point of view. She was always aiming for a tsumo, she had a 3-sided wait, and it was only the 7th turn or so.
Yeah, you probably noticed I’m kind of frustrated. Achiga disappointed me in many ways and the release of the main series is a trickle. I really wanted Himeko to perform, because I actually like her team. I’d have been delighted for her to take her team through. There again, the whole match was a trainwreck in my opinion, so maybe I shouldn’t judge her on how she plays when she’s under the affect of Shizu’s ‘forget how to mahjong’ aura.
She’s still cute.
I see where you are coming from in general. I might like Toki x Ryuuka and whatnot, but watching Ryuuka completely dependent on Toki’s power throughout her match was rather frustrating. Shizu was the only captain who got away without looking bad in that match. Kind of sad seeing how the Nagano finals gave each captain a chance to show off their best.