Mahjong Stuff in Pon No Michi, Episode 2: Tsubame gaeshi...

This wasn’t necessary to specify before, but I’ll restate that I’m using Bilibili’s subs, with all of the mahjong-related flubs that they make. There are a few fansub efforts around Pon no Michi that fix incorrect translations, but I conceived of this idea while looking at the Bilibili subs and I’m going to keep going with those.

I use a little bit of mahjong notation in this piece, but I’m going to try and do that only when it's absolutely necessary. I can't explain everything about the game of riichi mahjong from the bottom in my series about an anime, so for more on the yaku and really anything else about the game, check the riichi wiki.

Simply, the notation consists of a number and a letter for each tile. 1m is for example the 1 of manzu (characters), 5p is the 5 of pinzu (circles/dots/coins/whatever), and 7s is the 7 of souzu (bamboo/sticks). Groups of the same suit go like 456p. A hand might look like 123m 444p 23467899s. I know: you won’t see that kind of notation unless there’s a picture of the hand on the page. Anyway, let’s get to it!