Saki

Due to childhood circumstances, first-year high school student Saki Miyanaga hates anything related to mahjong. When she does play the game, she keeps a low profile to avoid standing out. One day, her friend Kyoutarou Suga drags her along to the school's mahjong club. There, she meets Nodoka Haramura, the champion of the previous year's national middle school mahjong championship, and Yuuki Kataoka, a fellow club member.

As the club play a few rounds, Saki attempts to hide her talent. However, the club president, Hisa Takei, notices Saki's unusual playstyle. Realizing her potential, she puts Saki's real ability to the test—proving her to be more talented than expected. This revelation damages Nodoka's pride, and their relationship gets off to a rocky start.

Saki ends up joining the club, and after clearing up the misunderstandings between her and Nodoka, friendship blooms between them. As Saki slowly warms up to mahjong once again, she and the rest of her club only have one goal—to win nationals!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

Episode Videos

Edit

Related Anime

Adaptation:	Saki
Side story:	Saki Picture Drama, Saki Achiga-hen: Episode of Side-A, Saki Biyori Animation
Sequel:	Saki: Zenkoku-hen

Kuwatani, Natsuko
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Shibata, Tomonori

Producer

Sakurai, Yuuka

Producer

Aoki, Takao

Producer

Kumagai, Takuto

Producer

Edit

Opening Theme

	1: "Glossy:MMM" by Miyuki Hashimoto (eps 2-14)
	2: "bloooomin" by Little Non (eps 15-25)

Edit

Ending Theme

	1: "Glossy:MMM" by Miyuki Hashimoto (eps 1,25)
	2: "Netsuretsu Kangei Wonderland (熱烈歓迎わんだーらんど)" by Kana Ueda, Ami Koshimizu, Rie Kugimiya, Ryoko Shiraishi, and Shizuka Itou (eps 2-6, 8-9, 11-14)
	3: "Zankoku na Negai no Naka de (残酷な願いの中で)" by Kana Ueda and Ami Koshimizu (eps 7, 10, 16, 18, 22)
	4: "Shikakui Uchuu de Matteru yo (四角い宇宙で待ってるよ)" by Kana Ueda, Ami Koshimizu, Rie Kugimiya, Ryoko Shiraishi, and Shizuka Itou (eps 15, 17, 19-21, 23-24)

Reviews

Aug 8, 2020

Agent_Redacted

Recommended

Probably one of, if not the most intense 38 episodes I've ever seen in my life. An anime about this thing called "mahjong" where all the girls blush too many times it's already considered as a soft yuri at this point.

Story : 10/10

Despite the fact that I don't know shit about mahjong ( had to watch a few videos and guides because the anime explanation wasn't enough ). Watching Saki felt like eating mapo tofu for 15 hours straight. It's so hot damnnnnn. I think I'm still burning.

Art : 10/10

Eh its ok. The breasts of a certain someone is too large though. ...

Open

Gift

Apr 3, 2021

JoeGar96

Mixed Feelings

I really like gambling anime and among those were some really great mahjong anime like Legendary Gambler Tetsuya and Akagi, which I watched and thoroughly enjoyed without knowing the rules to Mahjong. I decided to learn richi mahjong as a result and now that I have become reasonably cocmpetant I wanted a new anime to watch and see if I appreciate it more now that I know the game.

I really didn’t know anything about Saki other than it being a Mahjong anime I knew nothing about it. Its actually not really a gambling anime, whilst mahjong is a gambling game, its not played for money ... just friendly points, and it comes off more as a sports manga with highschool girls trying to get to nationals with their respective clubs.

The plot synopsis isn’t really much more than that, its about a girl named Saki, who doesn’t like mahjong much, she gets pulled into by her friend Kyou into joining the Mahjong club, after discovering she enjoys playing Mahjong to win her and her club aim to compete in the nationals, which unlike regular mahjong is played a team where you take in turns swapping between members after one has played both an east and a south.

Saki isn’t as enjoyable to me as a regular gambling anime what I like is the high stakes thrill the psychological warfare and tension, Saki has this a bit, but it doesn’t have this much. A few characters namely like the president focus on reading people and gauging their weaknesses in order to out play them which I really love, but mainly this anime is about absurd powers, rather than outplaying each other for the most part.

Think Kuroko’s no basket, and how you like have emperors eye, invisibility, copycat, but I would say this anime seems even less grounded than that one. Abilities to see the future, being possessed by Gods, and just straight up drawing the tile you want are all abilities you can see in this anime.
And that’s my problem its fun in how absurd it is and it can be pretty cool, but to me it’s a bit too ridiculous, that and I dislike the main character’s ability.

Saki the main characters, isn't bad per se, but she is quite bland and passivein terms of personality. What's more she comes across as the superman of mahjong despite not playing since she was a kid. She has absurd luck and game sense and the ability to draw any tile she needs when she gets kan. Whenever she is loosing its because of her own mentality, whether she doesn’t want to win, lacks confidence, or is scared by the other characters, its more her own mental blocks which stops her. Her ability is so op when she is in the right frame of mind nobody can really stop her.

The other main character is probably Nodoka who gets sexualised a lot through this anime as the big breasted champion of middle school, she plays a more logical style of mahjong based on probability, which is nice, however she mostly zones out when playing so I don’t get see her thought process as much as I liked.
The coolest club member to me would probably be the club president, she is the cool schemer always watching over her group, and her style of mahjong is about exploiting her opponent’s weaknesses, she was always the most fun to watch whenever it was her turn to play
The rest of the club members are there but I don’t think there is much to say they’re kind of flat to me, I think the worst culprit of this is probably Kyou, he is like the one male character in this show who sucks at Mahjong to the extent they state he isn’t even worth training. Alls he does is run errands and think of sexual fantasies of the other characters, It would be better if they did something with him, as it stands he seem kind of pointless.

Going outside the main club members I have to say there opponents get a decent amount of back story and development, that there were some cool characters who I ended up liking. But equally this show could bore me with the flashbacks within in the match with the characters I wasn’t interested in so its equal sums here.
So what do I think of Saki? I think it is an enjoyably absurd show, which the knowledge of Mahjong doesn’t help too much as the absurd powers makes it feel pretty detached to me. Its fun but it isn’t great, known of the characters are well developed and the games do feel like they’re a competition of crazy powers rather than skill. But despite that there is a tension and enjoyment to the games in this anime, its just nothing compared to the other mahjong I have seen namely Akagi or Tetsuya.

Overall I would give Saki and its sequel a 6.5/10 it could be fun, but was lacking in many ways.

A warning if you do want to watch this that it doesn’t finish its final arc, and if you want to swap to the manga to finish it, it is going painfully slow and looks like it will take years to finish.

If you want a better mahjong anime which is more tense and focused on skill I would recommend Akagi. Or if you want another absurd sports show there is always the aforementioned Kuroko which has its own crazy powers and is about a highschool team going to nationals as well.

Open

Gift

Jul 9, 2015

pikachu2510

Not Recommended

I started watching this anime because i wanted to watch another mahjong anime as the only one i've watched before was "Touhai Densetsu Akagi: Yami ni Maiorita Tensai". I have to say I'm disappointed in this anime.
This review is solely based on the first season of Saki as i never watched the sequel nor do i plan on watching them.

Plot - 4
I think this is a very average kind of plot and not really unique in any sense, i was hoping that since Saki always gets a score of ±0, it would make the plot more interesting but overall its kind of average. The fact ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Hidden gems for yuri lovers

by jaded-eagle

50 Entries · 533 Restacks

Anime with a Main Cast of Only 5 Females

by iftsistrnn

44 Entries · 43 Restacks

Anime featuring the Dinner, Bath, Or... trope

by JmePenseBonne

44 Entries · 16 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

View All

More news

Recent News

TV Anime Saki: National Championship Announced

According to the Tweet of seiyu Fukuhara Kaori, a new season of Saki was announced. The new series titled "Saki: Zenkoku-hen" (National Championship) will be the seq...read more

Oct 28, 2012 4:45 AM by dtshyk | Discuss (99 comments)

Japan's Weekly DVD Ranking for Feb 1 - 7

Here is the weekly DVD sales ranking for February 1st - 7th. *1, 5,652 **5,652 Saki vol.8 *2, 3,963 **3,963 GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class vol.4 Limited Edition *3,...read more

Feb 9, 2010 6:45 PM by dtshyk | Discuss (19 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Does anyone know this character from Saki ? lunalee1294 - Apr 9	2 replies	by lunalee1294 »» Apr 10, 1:01 AM
Poll: Saki Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) starrysky - Sep 27, 2009	125 replies	by KenZync »» Jan 8, 7:56 AM
Poll: Saki Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Plate - Apr 19, 2009	72 replies	by Losthevy »» Dec 3, 2023 9:53 PM
Poll: Saki Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Plate - Apr 5, 2009	155 replies	by GakutoDeathGlare »» Feb 11, 2023 12:02 AM
Is this interesting enough for me??? Sylpheed - Jun 30, 2009	4 replies	by removed-user »» Jan 16, 2023 9:15 PM

Recent Featured Articles

Top 16 Hottest Anime Butlers of All Time

Sometimes butlers are depicted as graying old men named Jeeves. Other times, they're the kind of butler we can only dream about. These anime butlers will make you wish you had your very own impeccably-dressed servant.

by Littoface

113,107 views

Collection Hot

Moe: Love it or Hate it

Anyone old enough in the anime industry knows about this ongoing clash about moe. Will you join the side of the loving fans, or do the edgy haters fit you better? Take your time guys. I can do this all day.

by llezur17

94,111 views

Anime Terms Cute Girls Kawaii Moe Editorial

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Miyanaga, Saki

Takei, Hisa

Haramura, Nodoka

Kataoka, Yuuki

Someya, Mako

Amae, Koromo

Fukuji, Mihoko

Miyanaga, Teru

Touyoko, Momoko

Kanbara, Satomi

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Saki

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-