Intro

Well, this week the finals for M League will take place. I feel like the final games between these 4 teams will make for some amazing drama and some great Riichi mahjong. I am supporting Team Raiden, a team that has probably one of the most amazing underdog stories in the league right now. One additional thing I'm looking forward to with the finals is what kind of hot commentary will be coming from one Hiyoshi Tatsuya.

For me, someone who can only understand Japanese at the ~college dropout  level~ (which is maybe the understanding of a 5 year old)? this man is the reason I even try to watch the M league. While I am sure every commentator they put on the show is full of amazing information and great analysis, a perfect addition to any team, Hiyoshi is the ultimate mahjong color commentator in my opinion. His job is not specifically to convey the most scientific information, but to convey the feeling of excitement honestly. And who better to deliver than Hiyoshi? Here's a random video of Hiyoshi's commentary.

I'm sure some of my FGC friends can appreciate what's happening here. Even if you don't even know -how to play mahjong- you KNOW that something cool happened, because of the nature of Hiyoshi's commentary. With a passive acclimation of the Japanese language that comes from being an anime fan you can even also appreciate the flowery way he conveys the drama of the matches. But this weekend, the second in a series of articles from Kinma seemed to create something of a controversy online when two mahjong Pros, Kobayashi Go of the UNEXT Pirates and Suzuki Taro of the Akasaka Drivens  seemed to voice the desire for Hiyoshi to dial it back, saying as far as I can decipher they feel like Hiyoshi's commentary sometimes focuses too much on Occult topics, and that it can mislead a general audience.

before I go further discussing my opinion, i have to add some caveats:

• I do not know the interpersonal relationships of anyone I discuss in this article, so there is no way I could logically make any sort of generalization of anyone's character I imagine as professionals all of these people get along just fine, and it is just the anonymous waves of fans that are noisy and rude and bring the negative energy to the discussion.

• There is a whole vibrant cultural history of the topics I discuss that I simply cannot know being some dude that cannot even fully read and write the language, and the context of that history colors the nature of discussion on those topics. My opinions can only be formed from the knowledge I have, and I hope that you enlighten me on what I don't know.

The Ideological Struggle of Digital vs Occult

Man, really riichi has put names on a phenomenon that you can see widely through game design as a whole. These are great terms to describe how people perceive games and they feel like they should sort of be more widely used and adopted. In the broad game theory context, the Occult point of view is that any decision made in a game that works out is the Correct Choice, while the Digital point of view strives to use data analytics to define an OBJECTIVE Correct Choice, and decisions made in games should try to reflect that methodology as closely as possible.

In specific riichi mahjong application, occult thinking probably started as mostly spiritual things to increase your luck, but evolved to tendencies like calling to change the draw order so the right sort of tiles flow into your hand. Just talking about FLOW in general as a real thing players can influence or be influenced by is really the starting point of occult thinking. In digital thinking, flow is already understood to be the random distribution of the tiles. There is no influencing or being influenced, it is just the nature of chance and you simply pick the most efficient move for the gamestate you analyze. 

But perhaps these pros feel like even now, the mahjong world is too occult? Should we actively discourage any sort of thought or commentary that focuses on the occult? 

Occult Kayfabe is Hiyoshi's Commentary Type

I feel like thinking about it like this makes its importance apparent. Pairing this type of commentary with a correct method of producing excitement and interest in the live mahjong broadcast. He knows the information from his experience as a Pro in a digital environment, so he conveys that information in a way that uses Occult elements.

Perhaps this is what they call "Fake Digital" with disdain, but it serves to draw many in with the excitement it creates. It's like pro wrestling kayfabe, where fans can believe in the magic of the Occult before they "come of age" and learn the Digital process behind the scenes. Anyone who is driven enough to improve at the game, no matter how they developed their interest, will improve with the digital mindset. Instead of thinking of them as opposing points of view, maybe it is better to think of them as a simple hierarchy, where both exist to draw people closer to professional play. In the information age, there can be co-existence! While i'm sure nobody would appreciate a 100% kayfabe mahjong commentator, allowing for some freedom of application for words like "wind" and "flow" help build the story of the hand for people who need a simpler context to enjoy mahjong. Kayfabe is something that can be enjoyed internationally.
I imagine every Western M League watcher has an opinion, shared or not, about Hiyoshi's commentary style, but I feel like those who think its a detriment on the game are thinking too rigidly. 

Mahjong doesn't have to just be a cold game of data, it can be a hot game of chasing your instincts and appreciating lady luck's whims. It can be both at the same time! That's the beauty of it in my opinion~

What do y'all think?