10 Second Anime - Saki - The Nationals - Episode 8

Saki - The Nationals - Episode 8

Two players try to stop a third from winning in her usual style, while Nodoka plays her own digital style obliviously. Or does she?

This is a mahjong heavy episode, concentrating on one strong player's strengths, and the efforts of two of the other girls to stop her. They're relying on who sits where, what's been discarded, breaking up their own waits, and using their own mahjong monster power, even if it's tiring. Meanwhile, Nodoka obliviously plays her online digital style, discarding whatever helps her, not caring what the other players are worried about. The other two also have to account for her, which makes things more exhausting.

However, we have a flashback to Hisa warning Nodoka about what some players do with the "honor" tiles, the unsuited tiles without numbers on them. In online play, it's all about the numbers, but in mahjong monster tournament play, luck, power, magic, or mysticism seems to follow those tiles around. And Nodoka should know, after playing with Saki and her ability to draw 4-of-a-kinds whenever she needs them. Nodoka dismisses being able to draw certain tiles as less than coincidental.

I sense something ominous about how she phrased that, and how she keeps angling to win so as to keep a certain player in the North seat. Has Nodoka added strategy to her skills, where she doesn't believe in these mahjong monster powers, but accepts that others believe them, and will use that to her advantage? Is she going to keep winning hands by forcing the other players to concentrate on trying to stop the one mahjong monster? Oh ho, that would be pretty sneaky, Nodocchi!