Played by the Tiles - Koromo ~Imperatrix Luna~

Attempting to field Koromo Amae's special ability in Saki Portable. Be aware, the video and description may contain minor spoilers for the anime.

Prepare to be disappointed, fans, because Koromo is not the soul-devouring patron demon of game breaking that she was in the anime. She comes with three distinct abilities that, while they can be powerful, don't really seem to work as reliably as you might like. I'd surmise that she was made that way to preserve game balance, if Saki herself didn't already approach Erde Kaiser levels of brokenness.

Koromo's first ability activates whenever she draws from the wall while in tenpai. It causes all of her opponents to have an increased chance of drawing unhelpful tiles. This only becomes especially noticeable when you're playing against her, though (in which case it also becomes a handy free tenpai detector). As Koromo, you'll still see your opponents achieve tenpai and even tsumo with alarming frequency.

Koromo's second ability gives her an increased chance of completing her hand if she draws the last tile from the wall while in tenpai, earning her own signature yaku haitei raoyue (海底撈月 - scooping the moon up from the bottom of the sea). At least, that's its description on paper. In reality, replicating her infamous haitei is extremely difficult since, unlike the case for Saki, the wall does not seem to automatically take Koromo's ability into any particular consideration. Not to mention, it's not always possible to even put Koromo in a position to draw the last tile in the first place. But even if you successfully set her up to do so while in wait for a tile still in the wall, there's no guarantee that her opponents or even she won't draw her waits earlier. She's infinitely more likely to win from her own draw or a discard before a haitei.

Finally, she has the ability to detect whenever her opponents are in tenpai, but even this ability doesn't work all the time. When it does work, if an opponent has achieved tenpai, her hand will turn red upon Koromo's next draw. I haven't been able to figure out a definitive pattern for what makes this or any of her abilities work for sure.

As an interesting aside, there's another reading for the kanji in Koromo's signature yaku: "kaitei rougetsu." In this case it becomes a figure of speech signifying a pointless waste of effort towards an impossible endeavor, like you might as well be trying to scoop the moon's reflection out of the sea. Whether or not you're playing as Koromo, actually achieving this yaku can certainly feel like you've managed to do just that!

"It's not the flesh and blood of a little girl you're fighting when you play Koromo. It's the inescapable grasp of fate."

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• saki
• portable
• playstation
• PSP
• gameplay
• japan
• import
• japanese
• riichi
• reach
• mahjong
• video
• game
• bishoujo
• anime
• amae
• koromo
• haitei
• raoyue
• houtei
• raoyui
• kazoe
• yakuman

[122kc122]

What does VA (or CV) stand for?

[HanaYoriUta]

@122kc122

CV means Character Voice, or seiyuu. VA is for the more common English term, Voice Actress.

[perrottafamily1]

I love this anime, but it makes you wonder if they have all these DBZ-esque special abilities, why use it up on mahjong? XD

[annepurple24]

What about Kana? Does she have any special ability?

[ahdoink12]

i love kodomo(koromo)

[faithakiyama]

That's an epic kazoe yakuman!

[perrottafamily1]

Will you do one for Toka (Or Touka, however you wanna spell it)? She is my love, and she has a cool playing style.

[KyuuA4]

Needs moar Haitei's