This episode handles the end of the the 3rd round. Hisa ends it all with a nice tsumo, putting Hiroe in her place as she seems to have the funny idea she’s a better player than Hisa (Who in the fuck actually looks down on Hisa? Do you look down on God too?) Not even players better than Hisa (Saki) look down on Hisa. In any event, Hisa ends the match pretty much right back to where it started; at roughly 100,000. Given that Hisa, Nadoka, and Saki all take up the rear battles, I’m not too worried.
Next up is Nadoka. Squaring up against her is Himematsu’s Kinue Atago, Miyamori’s Sae Usuzawa, and Eisui’s Hatsumi Usuzumi. Hatsumi seems to be the star of this show (Eisui seems to have a lot of powerful players on their hands) as many await her entrance to the arena. With her very tribal-esque mask, she actually simply teleports to the arena, and yes, I’m very serious. Hey whatever though! Maybe she ought to call on one of those shrine maiden gods to lift up her shirt a bit more because she is perpetually falling out of it, and it’s not like she has much to show off. Her shoulders look as though they would crack if I pushed down on them with one finger. She seems cute and harmless enough…at least on the outside. On the tables is a different story.
Nadoka shows off her touted mahjong prowess as the best non-supernatural player by playing logical hardball and moving like a machine, which is noted by other players. Nadoka successfully grills the other players in a way that makes all of them, save Hatsumi, very uncomfortable. However, towards the end of the match, it seems a god is descending on Hatsumi as she “powers up”…Here we go!
I don’t doubt that Nadoka can hold her own as she’s the 2nd or 3rd best player in Kiyosumi’s rotation. The question is how she will respond to this new change in playstyle. My money’s on it catching her offguard for a hand or two before she catches on. She always does, doesn’t she? Ok, most of the time, anyway….
