Thanks to Penchan for the cleans and to Tambur for the typesetting! We've finished volume 1 with this, but I think we have to keep going until at least the arc after this one. The agreement was only for 1 volume but I love this series so much, I don't wanna stop :v
Chapter Link
"This guy's even considering the probability of hitting the Ura-Dora!"
The way that Hikage plays is pretty similar to how the top-level players on Tenhou and elsewhere play. It's a style called "Digital"; playing according to the numbers regardless of hand value. It's a skill that takes a lot of refinement; knowing at a glance what the most efficient tile to play is certainly takes some practice.
Kai's playstyle might be more akin to the opposing style of "Occult"; playing with instinct and going for big hands when you feel you can get them. Hikage scoffs at the ridiculous things he does, but even he can't deny that it did give him results.
So after seeing the way Kai plays, Hikage feels that beating him will be a breeze. I can only imagine how much money he'll be betting. This clash of two different worlds of mahjong will be taking place in volume 2!!!
Also included is a bonus chapter where we see that Kai is very protective of his stash of money in the coin-operated locker. Penchan thinks this shows how evil Kai is, but I think it just shows that he doesn't want anyone knowing where he keeps his probably HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEN, so he scares off the little girl with a death glare. Still a cute chapter.
Also included is an essay from Andou Mitsuru, the consultant for Mukoubuchi who was an active mahjong player during the 80's, who played apartment mahjong of his own! Hopefully it'll clear up some of the questions people might have about high-stakes gambling; I felt it was necessary to translate the whole thing. :)
oh man please don't ever stop! I love this manga so far.
ReplyDeleteGlad you love it too!! It's certainly gotten more views than I was expecting it to!
DeleteThank you! And yeah, don't stop!
ReplyDeleteWell the PURE EVIL thing was tongue in cheek, of course... Though he literally makes little kids cry, which would look pretty funny in Kai's demon in human form resume.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, let's aim for 40+1 volumes.
:D It's up to 43 now! At the rate we're going, it'll only take us..... infinite time to catch up.
DeleteIf you started translating chapters weekly, it would take over 7 years to get to volume 43. If FKMTkrazy is still around in 2023 then I bet that every Fukumoto manga would be fully translated by then, so it's totally possible!
DeleteExcept it's biweekly, so 14 years, and in 14 years if mukoubuchi doesn't end it'll be at ~80 volumes :v
DeleteGuys, I'm looking for a seinen manga that can teach me the basics of mahjong. I want to learn first before I read Akagi and anything by this scanlation group.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest learning through actual play, as I did before watching Akagi for the first time.
DeleteI don't remember what resources I used back then, but this video series is pretty good. You don't need to watch part 4 until later and if you don't want to watch part 3 (yaku) I'd suggest referring to this site or the Japanese Mahjong Yaku Wikipedia page
Once you understand the basic idea of the game and memorize some basic yaku, you can play against a computer on Gamedesign, or just go on Tenhou (see the wiki at arcturus.su) if you'd rather play against humans. Games are also regularly held by fkmtkrazy staff and friends, drop by IRC #fkmtkrazy.
In any case you're out of luck for learning step by step mahjong through manga because even if such series exist, they haven't been translated.
There isn't really one, mahjong is so popular in japan that it's kind of expected that everyone knows how to play, so no manga explains it. I'd suggest reading a tutorial like this: http://arcturus.su/~alvin/mj/sywtpmj-1.4.doc
DeleteCongratulations and thank you for the first volume of this! Really loving it so far. Can't offer anything but a donation for the next volume if it'll help!
ReplyDeleteThat would help, thank you! I love this manga and I really wanna keep going!
Deletethis series is too good to be true, I just love every single line, the drawing, the dialogue and you guys even put more effort and work with it that makes this series a masterpiece, I am just proud to know you guys, thank you so much again for your hard work!
ReplyDelete