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Yakuman are always exciting. When a player gets to tenpai, you sit at the edge of your seat, hoping to see the rare yakuman be won. Even for people on opposing teams, you can’t help but congratulate them.
In the 3rd week of M-League 2021, there were not one, not two, but three yakuman tenpai! There were also some big South 4 comebacks, a big turn 2 riichi, another perfectly timed riichi and many more! With all that, let’s get right into it, shall we?
Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings
On October 15, 2021, the Akasaka Drivens finally had a chance to use their newest punishment for players who get 4th place.
In the first game on October 15, Murakami Jun dealt in 4 times and lost points in 7 of the 10 hands. These deal-ins caused Murakami placed 4th and scored -1,900, the first 4th place for the Akasaka Drivens. During the interview, he seemed quite disappointed and was quite fidgety. When the interview was over, he went the opposite direction that he was supposed to and started to run.
Murakami has been trying to lose weight this year, so we initially thought that he wanted to get some extra exercise in.
前日比マイナス1.2キロ！！お昼食べ過ぎたので夜はかなりガマンしました！！やっぱ夜が大事なんやな…昨日の夜とある方から誕生日プレゼントでいただいたLLサイズの黒シャツが入るようになるにはあと3キロくらい減らす必要があります…ちなみに誕生日は4月10日です(笑) pic.twitter.com/irRjuseagY
— 村上 淳 (@zunzuntantan) October 15, 2021
However, when we asked the coach of the Akasaka Drivens, Koshiyama Go, he gave us another explanation, “Last season, the EX Furinkazan management put a severe punishment for their team: If the team didn’t make it to at least 3rd, then at least one player will be removed from the team. With that threat, the EX Furinkazan won the championship plate. We decided to try our own penalty in true Akasaka fashion”
He then showed us a picture of a rhino, “This is Cy, a newly adopted rhino by the Akasaka Drivens. Every time a player gets a 4th, they have to face the rhino while doing the interview. Let’s just say that you better hope the rhino is in a good mood that day.”
We could not catch Murakami for comment.
Excitement and suspense are some of the biggest draws for watching mahjong. In the 2nd week of M-League 2021, there was certainly no shortage of heart-pumping action. This week, we saw a double riichi, a successful late riichi and a big ura win. We also had a three-way riichi battle, some big comebacks and an even bigger ura win! With all that, let’s get right into it, shall we?
Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings
The first week of M-League 2021 has just finished! After months without M-League, it’s nice to return back to cheering on our favourite teams and players. This week, we had the debut of 4 new M-Leaguers, a killing dama and an unexpected team that’s off to an unexpectedly good start. We also have some new graphics, comebacks and everything else you can expect with any M-League season. With all that, let’s get started!
At the start, the ceremony started with the entrance of all of the teams. One by one in reverse order from last season’s standings, the teams entered and posed. After all of the teams had entered, EX Furinkazan’s Nikaido Aki had the opportunity to return the championship plate to chairman Fujita Susumu who returned it to the stand. Afterwards, each team (in the same entrance order) had their team captain make a short speech. After the speech, a higher up in the league board came in and wished the teams good luck (with a short “Ganbare!” as well).
After the ceremony, all 32 players were introduced with their own short clip and then the season began!
New this year is the brand new AMOS REXX III. The AMOS REXX III automatically brings the initial 13 tiles in the proper orientation, as well as having a slot that on the side to quickly move sticks from the table to the points slot.
The overlay is generally the same, but the player pictures have been updated.
The most clear change this year the change in the riichi animation. The new animation shows the team’s logo and a riichi stick, with the stick changing to the word “Reach”.
A new addition at the end of the the game is a graph showing how the game progresses via a graph.
Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings
Many pro mahjong organizations have been swamped with new applicants after an important announcement was made at the start of the M-League 2021 season.
On October 4, opening day of M-League 2021, Nissin announced a contest in which the first player who wins a Chiihou will receive a lifetime supply of Nissin U.F.O. Yakisoba.
【地和和了副賞】
— Mリーグ/プロ麻雀リーグ (@m_league_) October 4, 2021
今シーズンからスポンサーとなった日清食品様から副賞のお知らせです。
Mリーグ2021シーズン中に、地和を成就した選手に「日清焼そばU.F.O.一生分」が贈呈されます！
Mリーグ史上初の地和出現に期待しましょう！#Mリーグ
Right after the games finished, all the professional organizations began receiving calls. To join in with the hype, Nihon Pro Mahjong (NPM) has temporarily changed their name to Noodle-Paying Mahjong.
When asked why they decided to become a mahjong pro, one person responded, “With the current housing market and general cost of living, this is probably the easiest way to have food security.”
“These are the only noods that anyone will ever send me,” said another one man from his parents’ basement.
When we asked the company why they created the contest, they sent us this response:
As you can see by our 100% legal winning hand in the Tweet below, we just love mahjong and want to support M-League. It’s totally not because the M-League target audience is the same as ours and that we wanted to market our product to them at virtually no cost.
来い来いチーホー
— 日清焼そばU.F.O.公式 (@nissin_u_f_o) October 4, 2021
濃い濃いユーホー
今シーズンよりＭリーグを全力で応援します。#Ｍリーグ #麻雀 #ABEMA pic.twitter.com/kDNIXvsz43
Doctors are reminding fans and players that too much salt, whether from the yakisoba or from your favourite team getting beat, can lead to high blood pressure.
Ah, the new M-League season is almost upon us! Let’s take a look at some of the changes that are taking place in M-League this year.
On August 2, 2021, the M-League 2021 Draft took place. Four teams had an opportunity to draft players. All four of these teams drafted players to fill their team roster to 4 players.
JPML rank: 3rd Dan
Home Prefecture: Tokyo
Pro since: 2013
Highest JPML League: C3
Current JPML League: D3
Gravure idol and one of the pros on the Konami Mahjong Fight Club arcade games, Tojo Rio was the Sega Sammy Phoenix’s choice to fill their roster after dropping Wakutsu Akira from the team at the end of the 2020 Season.
In 2021, she won two tournaments: The Yukan Fuji Cup and the 2021 Winter Ron2 Cup.
She also has a Youtube Channel that she has with fellow Sega Sammy Phoenix player Uotani Yuumi called the RioMin-Channel.
JPML rank: 4th Dan
Home Prefecture: Toyama
Pro since: 2012
Highest JPML League: B2
Current JPML League: C2
After three straight seasons of poor results and a 3-player roster, Team Raiden decided to get a fourth player and chose Honda Tomohiro for the job.
Honda has been quite successful in recent years. At the EX Furinkazan Audition, he placed 2nd, just narrowly getting beat out because of a yakuman. Prior to that, he won both the 2019 and 2020 edition of the Grand Prix MAX, the 2019 Hokuriku Pro League and 2019 Hokuriku Pro-Amateur League. At the time of writing, he is currently in 1st place in the JPMl Special Promotion League.
JPML rank: 2nd Dan
Home Prefecture: Hyogo
Pro since: 2019
Highest JPML League: D2
Current JPML League: D2
An anime voice actor (notable for voicing Momose Narumi in Wotakoi and Ueshige Suzu in Saki Zenkoku-hen), Date Arisa has had good success, winning the first edition of the Cherry Bud Cup and quickly getting to A League in the Women’s Cherry Blossom League.
RMU License: S
Winner of the EX Furinkazan Auditions, Matsugase Takaya becomes the second player from RMU to become an M-Leaguer (The first one being Ooi Takaharu (多井隆晴)). Matsugase has won the RMU Climax League a few times, as well as being RMU’s best player in 2018.
JPML rank: 7th Dan
Home Prefecture: Niigata
Pro since: 2000
Highest JPML League: A2
Current JPML League: B2
After Takizawa Kazunori left the EX Furinkazan after their championship winning season, many people speculated that he would be chosen as one of the picks for the Konami Mahjong Fight Club. Turn out, the rumours were true! In joining the Konami Mahjong FIght Club, he becomes teammates with his longtime friend and rival, Sasaki Hisato (with the two of them nicknamed TakiHisa).
JPML rank: 5th Dan
Home Prefecture: Kanagawa
Pro since: 2000
Highest JPML League: B1
Current JPML League: C2
The older sister of the Nikaido sisters Nikaido Rumi joins her younger sister Nikaido Aki on the EX Furinkazan team.
Besides being one half of the Nikaido sisters, she is also known for being the 2013 Pro Queen and the winner of the 2006 Saikyousen.
Every year, each team releases a new uniform featuring new designs and new sponsors.
The Akasaka Drivens inverted their uniform, putting the tartan pattern on the torso and the darker portion on the sleeves.
The EX Furinkazan chose to make themselves look more slimming, choosing a vertical black and red design this year, in addition to adding more sponsors.
Highlighting the cherry blossoms in their name, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights added cherry blossoms to their uniform design.
To make the dragon at the base of the Konami Mahjong Fight Club uniform more visible, they made the base of the shirt darker. They also changed the sleeves from green to red.
Besides the addition of some more sponsors, the Sega Sammy Phoenix uniform is largely unchanged.
For more contrast, the Sega Sammy Phoenix have chosen to go for a black and white uniform with brown highlights on the sleeve and collar. Unlike last season, they have chosen to remove their logo from the sleeve and opted to have a sponsor there instead.
Team Raiden has chosen to employ a second uniform featuring a new logo design (though they are still keeping the old one). This design features the same grey gradient along with four yellow stripes going along the chest.
The U-next Pirates have chosen to go for a more striped approach this year having diagonal blue and white stripes going across, similar to the old design of some other teams. They have also added some new sponsors and removed the two white stripes going down from the collar.
M-League has added a new policy to in regards to the competitive spirit. The new policy states that a player or team should try to get as many points as possible, even if the team’s ranking won’t change.
This comes after a controversial situation occurred in the M-League 2020 Final, where Murakami Jun won a cheap hand in South 4 even though it didn’t change the team’s ranking.
The first game of M-League 2021 will start on Monday, October 4 at 1900 JST! I hope to see you there!
Following the excitement that happens every season, there are always those moments that you will never forget. They can be yakuman, incredible comebacks or just really big hands. Today, let’s take a look back at some of the amazing plays that happened in the M-League 2020 Season.
Continue reading “Top 5 Plays of M-League 2020”
Sasaki Hisato, nicknamed Maou (魔王, “Demon King”), was the MVP of the M-League 2020 Season, garnering the most points during the regular season. But what did he do to claim this title? Today, we will shine a spotlight on a few highlights of his performance in the M-League 2020 Season.
Sasaki Hisato joined the Japan Professional Mahjong League in 2006, the same year as American pros Garthe and Jenn joined. Prior to joining the league, he was well known in the jansou circuit, making 10 million yen via jansou play.
In the inaugural season of M-League, Sasaki Hisato was drafted in the 1st round by the Konami Mahjong Fight Club. Sasaki was a top performer that year, finishing the season with a score of +228.3 and finishing 3rd place.
In the 2019 Season, he continued to do well, getting a score of +80.7 and placing 10th out of 29 players.
Then came the 2020 Season…
Continue reading “M-League 2020 Spotlight: Sasaki Hisato”
M-League has released the schedule for the 2021 season.
The M-League 2021 regular season will start on October 4, 2021 and end on March 11, 2022. Games will be played each week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 1900 JST, with the exception of the last week of December, when there will only be games on the Monday and Tuesday.
For your convenience, I have created a Google Calendar of the schedule (with times in JST), as well as one for each team. There is also an iCalendar (.ics) file that you can download to put the schedule on your computer’s calendar.
Any mistakes are purely my own. If there is any discrepancy between the calendar and the official M-League schedule, the official M-League schedule is correct. For those wondering, the featured image above with the nice format was released in an official M-League press release with the image being found here.
The time is upon us! The M-League Draft Meeting for the 2021 Season is coming this Monday, 2nd of August! After a non-event last year due to no teams changing any members (except for Sakura Knights picking up Hori), this year we have a LOT more going on! A total of 6 picks over 4 teams, and some drama added into the mix, it promises to be an interesting event.
The event will be broadcast by Abema at 1900 JST live on their Mahjong Channel, as well as at this permalink https://abema.tv/channels/mahjong/slots/EEaBcpoKBWn6SB.
The pick order is decided by reverse placement order from last season. So Sega Sammy has first pick, followed by Team Raiden, and so on. Any players who were dropped from teams after the 2020 Season, are eligible to be picked by other teams, but not by the team that original dropped them.
Wakutsu Akira’s contract with Sega Sammy expired at the end of the 2020 season, and they have also changed their manager for the coming season, so we might see a new direction for Sega Sammy. The new manager, Yoshino Shinichi, works as a General Producer for Sega MJ Net, so we might see a pick from a player who appears there, but Yoshino was quite tight lipped in his Kinma interview recently, so we’ll have to wait and see. However, he has mentioned that their plan is to pick a 4th player.
However, from a fan perspective, there are some names floating around as possible picks. The fan sentiment seems to be that Sega Sammy will continue with their female heavy roster, and likely pick another female pro (though Yoshino has stated that all options are on the table, even male pros). Nakata Kana (JPML, four time winner of the Cherry Blossom Cup) is one name that comes up often (and not just for Sega Sammy), though she has been passed up for selection in previous years. Nishijima Chiharu (Saikouisen, three time Women’s Saikoui) is another possible candidate, who comes from the same organisation as Kondo and Kayamori.
While Raiden has kept all three players from last season, they are one of the only remaining teams with only three players. And after failing to make the finals last year, if they fail again this year, they will be required to make a change. To get out in front of that, it seems as though they are planning on picking up a fourth player at this year’s Draft Meeting. This would “reset” the 2 season counter on needing to finish in the top 4 before forced team changes occur.
In a recent Kinma interview, Raiden Manager Takayanagi mentioned that they were considering a number of pros (though no mention on who exactly). As the average age on Raiden is on the higher end, he expressed a desire to hopefully bring some youth into the team, but things like strength, character, and personality being more important factors. He is also open to picking up players who’s contracts with other teams have expired.
From a fan perspective, there is an expectation that any new picks will come from JPML. While Takayanagi has stated that they don’t make decisions based on pro organisation, the fact that all existing Raiden members are from JPML could mean that a JPML pick would work well with the rest of the team, which is a factor that Takayanagi is looking for.
Nakata Kana’s name has come up a lot in relation to Raiden, with the author of mahjong manga 鉄鳴きの麒麟児 (Tetsunaki no Kirinji – Kirinji of the Iron Calls) being a big fan of her as a potential Raiden player.
獲ってくれ！！ pic.twitter.com/fDxBXvSlhW
— ウヒョ助／塚脇永久 (@uhyoneko) July 10, 2021
Date Arisa (JPML) is another possible name that has been floated, she’s won the Cherry Bud Cup, and is a voice actor who voices Ueshige Suzu in the Saki anime.
Konami bid farewell to Maehara and Fujisaki at the end of last season, so we will potentially see two new players in the Mahjong Fight Club uniform in 2021. Team management has mentioned that they are primarily looking at players from JPML, but contrary to popular assumption, appearance in the Mahjong Fight Club arcade games is not a prerequisite. They will be looking at lots of different factors, including how a player can play in the M-League ruleset, which is notably quite different from JPML’s competition ruleset. They are also hoping to pick someone who’s from either Hisato’s Generation (JPML intake year), or more recent, and ideally would like an even gender split. But, skills and ability to communicate effectively with Sasaki and Takamiya are more important.
From a fan perspective, there is an elephant in the room, and his name is Takizawa Kazunori. There is a heavy expectations from fans that Konami will likely pick up Takizawa if they’re able to now that he is a free agent. Sasaki and Takizawa are close friends, and Takizawa even made a guest appearance at Maehara and Fujisaki’s farewell stream. Another name thrown around is Nakada Kana (former Nogizaka46 member, and not to be confused with Nakata Kana mentioned earlier) who has been appearing in a lot of JPML promotional material lately, and also participated in the EX Audition, though did not make it to the finals. A name that has cropped up a few times in the past, but so far has not made a lot of M-League news, is US born Garthe Nelson. He’s cropped up a few times in some fantasy M-League teams built by existing M-Leaguers, and has a style that would likely fit Konami’s.
The final team to get an initial pick, is last year’s winner, and the team that has had the most talk about it in the off season, EX Furinkazan. The dual bombshells of holding an audition to pick their fourth member, and the shock departure of Takizawa from the team, has had EX Furinkazan in the forefront of M-League news in the past few months.
While they have two picks in the Draft Meeting, we know that one of them will be Matsugase Takaya who won the audition they held. If he gets picked by another team first, they will go down the ranks, and pick the next available player in rankings. However, their second pick is a lot less clear. Team management has stated that they have narrowed down a list of players, and are not overly fixed on age or gender. However, they’re not necessarily looking to pick a newer player with the intent on training them up. Even players who didn’t make the finals of the Audition are viable candidates for this second pick.
From a fan perspective, Nikaido Rumi’s (JPML) name always comes up at draft season, as a potential pick. Fans like the idea of the two sisters playing on the same team. Also there is some speculation that maybe they will lean heavily into the audition and pick up Honda Tomohiro who came in second.
With 6 picks happening across 4 teams, this year’s Draft Meeting is not to be missed! Whether Takizawa joins Konami, or Nakata Kana finally joins M-League, sparks will certainly fly! Let us know what your thoughts are, and who you think will be picked by various teams.
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