| Sae Usuzawa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal info | |
| Japanese name: | 臼沢 塞 |
| Birthday: | February 15 |
| Height: | 154 cm (5'0) |
| School: | Miyamori Girls' High School |
| Grade: | Third-year high school |
| Media | |
| Debut: | Saki (manga), round 72 |
| Voiced by: | Rina Satou |
| Mahjong | |
| Position: | Vice-Captain |
| Main skill/ability: | Power blocking gaze |
Sae Usuzawa (臼沢 塞 Uzuzawa Sae) is a third year at Miyamori Girls' High and the president of the mahjong club.
Appearance[]
Sae is relatively short girl with red hair that is styled in a bob style haircut with a bunch tied in a bun in the back. She has green eyes.
Shewears the Miyamori Girls uniform. While entering and during her matches she wears a monocle.
Personality[]
Sae deeply admires the team's consultant Toshi Kumakura. Despite being the butt of Kurumi Kakura's jokes, Sae seems to be very caring about her and the rest of her team.
Plot[]
National Tournament Arc[]
Sae is first seen along with the rest of Miyamori during Shiromi's first round match in their teams waiting room. After Shiromi Kosegawa wins a hand, she says their second match will be a lot easier thank to it and the others agree. At the start of the second match Shiromi asks her if she can go home but Sae says she can't. When Aislinn Wishart comes back in tears because of her defeat, Kurumi Kakura says that she and Toyone Anetai will take care of the rest, leaving Sae out.
After the lieutenant match, Sae makes her way to the arena and before the match greets her opponents. When the match starts she quickly notices that Nodoka Haramura has awakened. Sae however doesn't see anything strange about her other than her looking like she has a fever and continues. At the end of a few hands, Sae's monocle clouds up informing her that Hatsumi's abilities are about to awaken. However she is not shaken and says that she can bring it on. Sae then has flashback to when Toshi informs her about Hatsumi's ability. When she starts gathering her tiles, Sae uses her abilites to block Hatsumi Usuzumi. Later notices that she played into a hand on purpose so that she could again sit north.
After a few hands Hatsumi again is about to gather her winning tiles and Sae but to block her then, she immediately wins off of Hatsumi ending the first half. Walking back to her teams room for intermission, Sae feels out of breath. She says that this match is as tough as going against Toyone and that she could manage one more round before passing out. Here she dreams of when she first saw Toshi and how Miyamori's mahjong club came to form. She is then woken up by Shiromi. After some back and forth, Shiromi tells her to hang in there and Sae telling her that she'll beat'em with ease before going back to her seat. At the start she notices that Hatsumi is starting out in the north seat and she won't be able to take it easy. Hatsumi again starts to gather her tiles and again Sae is forced to block her from winning. And thanks to Nodoka winning as the dealer Hatsumi again was sitting north. During this hand Sae contemplates lifting her blockade so that even if Hatsumi wins the point margin between her and second place would be decreased. After a draw, we see Sae winning again. When Hatsumi finally sits north again, Sae decides not to block her and Hatsumi wins on a yakuman. After one last hand won by Sae the match ends. Afterward we see Sae tell Toyone that she is going to leave the rest to her.
During the captain's match, Sae notices that Toyone started using her hidden ability. She appears shortly after in a flashback. Here she is with Kurumi calling Shiromi to the mahjong club to meet the new girl. With everyone together Toshi introduces them to Toyone and gets the mahjong players to have a match with her. After she defeats the girls and says she has to leave. Sae tells her that its a shame and that they were under the impression that she would be joining the team. Toshi then reveals that she has permission for Toyone to join Miyamori. Later during Saki's powerful run, Sae's monocle twitches and she wonders what is wrong. A few seconds later it breaks. After the match, she and the rest of the team welcome back Toyone. When she notices Toyone crying, she begins to break down as well. When Kasumi Iwato and Komaki Jindai arrive to give Toyone her autograph, Sae is surprised at seeing Shiromi showing interest when they said they were going to the beach.
Final Eight Arc[]
After getting their swimsuits, Sae says she is thankful the shop Kasumi Iwato recommended carried different sizes. She then wonders about the semi-finals and checks her phone for the scores.
Playing Style/Abilities[]
According to Kasumi Iwato and Tomoe Karijuku of Eisui, whenever Sae puts her mark on someone, her opponent wouldn't be able to complete a single hand, its like her gaze blocks an opponents hand from coming together. However, she becomes visibly tired when overusing this ability to the point where she is breathing heavy and stumbling about. Sae's monocle has been shown to cloud up to warn her something big is coming from an opponent. Her monocle does have its limits however like when it breaks because of Saki Miyanaga's raw power.
Etymology[]
- The name Sae means "fortress" (塞).
- Sae's surname Usuzawa means "mortar" (臼) (usu) and "marsh" (沢) (sawa/zawa).
Trivia[]
- It is stated that Sae was the one responsible for defeating one of Makabi Highschool's strongest players.