Saki

I have to admit I went into my viewing of Saki with next to zero knowledge about the game of Mahjong, its terminology, or its rules. Besides a short wiki article and just the visual similarities to some domino games I have played before, most of it still is quite vague and mysterious. I was drawn to Saki by the cute character designs, a hint of yuri romance, and my own curiosity over the game of Mahjong.

Despite my curiosity, the idea of a 25 episode anime revolving around a table game doesn’t sound all that exciting. Most likely that is going to ... be the reaction of quite a few people who just give Saki a casual glance. However they would be wrong. Saki manages to take something that doesn’t have any real action or makes for an interesting spectator sport and injects energy and excitement into it. While it’s decidedly over the top and completely implausible, it nonetheless works brilliantly.

The basic premise of the story revolves around Saki Miyanaga, a high school freshman who finds herself participating in the schools Mahjong club even though she hates the game. Though she is a very skillful player, bad memories of playing with her family has left a bad taste for the game with her. However she finds playing with people other than her family to be fun and her love of the game begins to be rekindled. Soon Saki and her new friends set their sights on making the national Mahjong tournament, and it’s this goal which dominates the plot.

As I mentioned, Saki does an excellent job of creating drama and action from something that isn’t in reality exciting. Characters are animated making special "finishing moves" when completing important hands and also some have special powers to intimidate or confuse their opponents. So don’t be expecting a lot of realism, both in terms of game play or the players themselves. Besides the game action, there is a fair amount of character building and touches of yuri themed romance. Saki overall is quite fun to watch and entertaining.

However it’s not all positive. While the actual plot revolving the Mahjong tournament is exciting and compelling the story does manage to derail itself quite a few times. The most glaring being the open ending. While it seems extremely likely that a second season is probable, I really wonder if it was even necessary. There were too many filler and service episodes and way too much story time devoted to developing unimportant and often nauseatingly annoying characters. I would have much more preferred the story spend its time developing the relationship between Saki and Nodoka. While the yuri aspects of the story are quite obviously present they are also unsatisfying. Beyond the wistful stares and blushing glances there is nothing of substance.

My opinions of the characters are decidedly mixed. Saki and Nodoka, as well as their friends in the Mahjong club are very enjoyable and interesting characters. Particularly in the case of Yuuki who steals the show a bit, adding comedic moments and also just being a funny character. Saki and Nodoka have a lot of chemistry together and make for a cute pair, though an unfulfilling couple. We get some background on both of them but really considering how important they are to the story it really is quite small. All of these subplots are left unresolved by the ending, so it will take a new season for them to be satisfactorily completed.

What really drags Saki's story and characters down is an enormous amount of dead weight in the supporting cast. There is absolutely no need to have this many "named" characters. The middle portions of the series give way to much screen time to developing the rival schools and players characters. This is not to say it shouldn’t have been done at all, but there was no need to have this done with basically everyone! It doesn’t help that I was completely uninterested in the majority of them and downright hated a few others. Annoying cat girl Kana? Please go eat a bowl of cat food laced with arsenic. Disappearing girl Momoko? Please get run over by a speeding city bus. There are a few memorable supporting characters but most are just various standard stereotypes we see in every other anime made.

The voice cast turns in a solid performance. Saki's enormous cast is brought out well by a bit of a dream team of seiyuu performers. However despite their talent the very fact that there are so many of them means that there just wasn’t enough screen time for many of them to make much of an impact. Additionally I found the music to be pretty plain and uninspired with a few exceptions. Some of the songs were catchy and they were cute many of them sounded like the singer was off-key. Others like the second OP theme I just didn’t like.

Artistically, Saki is very good. The character designs are typical of what you would expect in a Gonzo production. Saki reminds me of another series protagonist from this studio, Miyafugi from Strike Witches who is almost identical in both looks and personality. Also typical of Gonzo, they enjoy mixing in a lot of CGI effects with mixed results. The Mahjong automated tables looked pretty good but the "Nodocci" vs. Touka battle animation looked silly and out of place when compared to the rest of the series artwork. The visuals did a good job though into bringing in excitement and action into the games.

While I would classify my viewing experience of Saki to be very enjoyable, the overload of unnecessary characters and the lack of a proper ending or any substance in yuri relationships bring its score down. Hopefully a sequel will be coming soon that will address all of the plot issues and relationships that were left unresolved. I would say my own lack of knowledge of the game also hampered my enjoyment, though I did watch a sub version with notes that explained most of the terminology, it was still pretty confusing. It’s still overall, a fun and light hearted comedy that I recommend.

There once was a woman named Saki
Who used to think Mahjong was yucky
But her friends got the chills
When she showed off her skills
She was so unbelievably lucky

Then the Mahjong club was reinstated
In a manner that made it seem fated
And Saki fell in love
With a woman part of
... The same club and she wished that they dated

So with that comes the start of our story
As they all began playing for glory
When the hour was nigh
They held their heads up high
And they joined the prefectural tourney

Then the girls started showing their powers
And they played like in god mode for hours
There was also in store
Yuri service galore
They were clearly no innocent flowers

But even with a blushing red face
They still played at ridiculous pace
While maintaining their grace
With the skills of an ace
They accepted no less than first place

When the story was finally done
And the champion eventually won
I leaned back in my chair
And asked the open air:
'Who knew Mahjong could be so much fun?'


Yup, that's basically Saki for you ^^

If you thought moe shows couldn't be intense and action-packed, you were wrong. Saki is basically an anime about moe girls playing mahjong... with super powers. The girls all have their own (incredibly far-fetched) abilities which affect the flow of the game, their luck or even their own physical capabilities directly. However the bottom line is that the exaggerated theme of the show makes it SO much fun to watch. The mahjong games (or moejong as I like to call it here) in this show leaves most sports/game anime in the dust as far as intensity and addictiveness goes. Of course if you've never played mahjong before then it might be a bit difficult to properly understand what's going on a lot of the time, but I know countless people who have loved the show to death even despite that fact.

There isn't really much of a story beyond the fact that everyone's playing in various mahjong tournaments for their own reasons, but the sole focal point of Saki lies in the gameplay itself, and that's where it absolutely shines. This is one of my all-time favorite moe shows and definitely the most addictive one. You can easily marathon the entire anime in one sitting if you have the time to spare. It's very hard to stop watching it once you've started.

Oh, and as the cherry on top the entire show is also softcore Yuri... just to give it that little extra nosebleed-inducing flavor. Can never say no to that~

What do you get when you take mahjong, you shoot massive amounts ridiculous special effects, you add a huge cast of high school girls, you give them POWERLEVELS, and then you make them 90% lesbian? Does it sound ridiculous yet? Regardless of how you feel about what I just described, Saki somehow managed to take all the above points, mush them up together, and regurgitate one of the most fun and entertaining show I've seen in a while.

Story:
+ Simple and straight through story
+ Easy to swallow and get into
+ The mahjong games are SO MUCH FUN to watch and the show has PLENTY of them

- ... It tries to create drama that just doesn't fit in sometimes
- It can get really corny when it comes to character development
- Game time gets interrupted right in the middle in favour of "development" time from time to time.

Art
+ Cute character designs
+ Bright and very nice colour palette
+ Special effects used on mahjong games are very cool to watch and greatly increase enjoyment

- Animation quality can get poor at times (but not very often)

Sound
+ An all star cast of seiyuus makes the show very fun to listen to
+ The background songs used for the mahjong games are upbeat and GREATLY increases the enjoyment of the matches

- I wasn't a fan of the OP and ED songs but they are not bad

Characters
+ Large cast of characters and all with different personalities. You are bound to find someone you will like.
+ Every character is likeable and they are all unique in skills (mahjong POWERLEVELS)
+ When a series is able to match up 2 or more characters in a game and make you go "OH SHI- THIS MATCH IS GOING TO BE EPIC" every time you know the show has succeeded in creating their characters

- If you are not into yuri moments, you might feel ackward watching this because girl on girl moments happen.....A LOT!
- Although the show succeeds in giving most of their characters reasons to move forward and continue playing. Sometimes some of those reasons can get a little corny (but its not a big issue)

Enjoyment:
THIS SHOW WAS SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH, every time a game was going on the show suddently became so entertaining that the episode would end and you wouldnt feel like u had just watched 24 minutes of Saki. Even though the show could have some improvements I cannot complain about the work GONZO and Picture Magic has produced here.

Overall: Saki is not a masterpiece, it does not have amazing production values, nor does it have a compelling story....however what it manages to produce is a level of entertainment that just leaves you wanting to have more. The ability of taking a generally quiet game like mahjong and turn it completely over the top and extreme and yet still keep it from becoming chaotic is 1 of the reasons why Saki is a show that everyone should give a try at one point, it will surely entertain you.

Luckily I play a little mahjong, so I can keep up with some of the jargon, but the more complex variant scoring rules went beyond me.

Saki, based on the manga by Ritz Kobayashi and adapted into anime by Gonzo looks Like it may just be something fun about mahjong!

Still, I was impressed. The art makes the show look like it might be a fluff piece, with very little actual mahjong. If anything, there was more mahjong than moe in this show. Sure, there is plenty of zettai ryouiki, blushing and other elements that make you wonder if the show was actually meant to be a ... moe moe romantic comedy, but the show itself and the characters have interesting personalities. I really liked that they didn’t try and teach you the very basics, perhaps that will come later in the series.

The art is solid, and as I said above, if there wasn’t so much time actually spent showing tiles moving around the board, you might think this was going to be a harem show. The backgrounds are colorful, with moderate detail. There are a lot of pastoral scenes, which, I suppose, imply that this show is set somewhere in the country. The character animation is very full, and there is some morphing into super deformed mode for comic relief. If anything, I was actually kind of impressed in how they handled the actual mahjong games themselves. They used very agressive cuts and dramatic poses to keep the action during the games moving. They cut out a lot of the middlegame posturing and jumped to the lichi, ron and tsumo for each hand. It really sped up the game, and focused on the scoring. Overall I found the pacing to be terrific, and very well balanced between action, plot development and character development.

Iam sure that a lot of people are approaching this title with some skepticism…but if you are into mahjong…or even just curious about mahjong, I think this show will be worth a few episodes of attention at least.

Saki is exactly what you'd expect from a tournament-style "sports" game, minus exceedingly high testosterone levels, and plus lots and lots of moe. Now, Saki is about mahjong, which really... isn't a sport, but it's treated like one, and it's, as they say, serious business— every character lives and breathes mahjong.

The premise is not what you would call exceptional in any case. You have your protagonist who possesses remarkable talent, and through training and perservance, will become the best of the best. Who learns lessons through trials and tribulations, deepening and strenghtening bonds with teammates as time goes along. Your standard ... stuff.

So why should you watch Saki?

I think there are various demographics who would like Saki. Let's list them out first.

1. Sports/tournament-style anime fans
2. Moe moe kyun~ ♥
3. Yuri fans

It's pretty obvious why sports/tournament-style anime fans will like this series, 'cause that's exactly what it is. If you like seeing your protagonist face off with increasingly harder opponents, learning new things and gaining others' respect slowly and surely, then this is definitely for you. I think Saki reminds me a lot of Hikaru no Go and Prince of Tennis (but, as I've mentioned, a lot lower with the testosterone level).

As for moe, 99% of the cast consists of cute high school girls. I'm serious. Let's see, the only guys who get more than two lines are the commentator (for the prefectural qualifiers), someone's grandpa, and the one guy that's the protagonist's childhood friend (who is largely absent in most episodes). And if I told you that there was one guy surrounded by five girls, you'd think "harem!" right away, right? Wrong. It's remarkable how little presence the guy has in this series. Half the time you forget he actually exists. But there are a couple of gratuitous fantasy scenes from him (i.e. well-endowed girls in bikinis), so you might like it if you like harem series, but you have to remember that the guy barely exists.

Now, for yuri. It's unbelievable how... yuriffic Saki is. At first I thought it was my imagination, but it's laden with so much subtext that it'll send you reeling. The girls keep blushing at each other (half the time the blushes don't even make much sense) and it's about as unsubtle as subtext can get. (If you don't like yuri, I suppose it's still possible to see it as "just" friendship, but you gotta wonder sometimes...)

I think the character designs are pretty cute (it's moe, after all), and a lot of the mahjong parts are CG, which looks really sleek. (And who knew about automatic mahjong tables? I sure didn't.) Gonzo's animation quality is inconsistent though, so sometimes the characters look a little blobby, but overall I think it's fairly good.

The cast for Saki is HUGE. Nevertheless, the seiyuu cast is very solid, with quite a few big names. The OP and ED are okay, but nothing exceptional. And character development is next to none, which is pretty much what you'd expect for a "sports"/tournament-style series. It's not trying to be deep or anything; it's just entertainment.

People who dislike lots of confusing terminology (and who are not familiar with Japanese names for mahjong terms) probably should stay away. They keep talking about terms and giving 5-second explanations that will leave you even more confused than before. But if you can take it all in stride, I think Saki's a good guilty-pleasure that you can blaze through mindlessly.

Want serious Mahjong? Try Akagi instead. Saki plays it fun and easy, preferring thunderous entertainment over logic, plausibility, and critical thinking. This FUNtastic underground gem needs more love. MAL already has plenty of lengthy reviews for Saki, so I'll keep this one to the point:

Pleasant Surprise #1:
For such a seemingly low-budget title, it's voiced by an all-star cast of seiyuu.

Pleasant Surprise #2:
Rather than play out as gagworthy as I expected, the hints of yuri actually spiced things up. Nothing is ever explicitly stated, everything is implied, and the light yuri factor whimsically floats in that fun stage before relationships get ... all dramatic and serious.

Pleasant Surprise #3:
The sheer number of characters with depth. Even some opponents come fleshed out with backstories, allowing us to understand, care for, and maybe even side with the opposition for a match or two.

Pleasant Surprise #4:
I entered Saki not knowing jack about Mahjong. I left Saki not knowing jack about Mahjong (except how one must exclaim a string of unrelated but awesome-sounding words as if spewing obscenities when revealing a good hand). Yet it still somehow managed to hold my interest so dearly!

Pleasant Surprise #5:
Again, for such a seemingly low-budget title, the visuals are bright, lively, and all-around surprisingly well done.

Pleasant Surprise #6:
The insane addiction. I don't really get addicted to anime very easily, but from the time I started to the time I finished, I simply could not get this show out of my mind. Mmmhh, one more episode...

Pleasant Surprise #7:
Yuuki. I usually hate watching characters that follow this silly and hyperactive archetype, but she actually synced well with the characters here. The only character I had a problem with was the only male in the main group, Kyoutarou, for being so uselessly flat and static. Everyone else: swell.

You know you love an anime when you get to the last episode dejected from having to leave that world, rather than feeling relieved from it.

You are probably thinking it sounds really boring, but in all honesty it's one of the best anime I have ever watched in my opinion. It takes mahjong to the level of superpowers, but not in the pathetic, stupid way some animes do. You don't have to know a single thing about mahjong. You get to know the characters, come to love them, and feel like you are at the table playing with them. You get excited when they get stronger, are amazed by the opponents strenghth, and feel everything the protaganist does. Don't forget to add in a yuri comedy, a club, and a ... bunch of girl fun. You end up with a anime that keeps your attention and you wanting more. I loved it so much that I learned how to play mahjong because of Saki. If you love any kind of anime where the protaganist has some kind of power and amazes people with it, or any yuri anime, you will love saki!

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. ... Don't really know if i should appreciate that or not.

Sound : 10/10

OPs too good. EDs are even better. Yeah, it's perfect.

Character : 10/10

It's pretty much OP MC. However, all the characters doesn't really feel left out so it makes the mahjong matches more unpredictable. It's still OP MC though. Saki's pretty much Goku.

Enjoyment : 10/10

Really enjoyed this. Too bad season 2 and the side story was left as a cliffhanger. Why? Why? Even the manga's left as a cliffhanger. Uh, regardless its still fun.

Overall : 10/10

Very fun. Very good. 10/10. Recommended to all. This CGDCT is good. Yeah, you're probably hesitating because of this "MAHJONG" thing but trust me. It doesn't matter. Eventually you'll understand and then you'll have fun watching Saki.

Now, I should make one thing clear. I dont have a clue how to play Mahjong. I know nothing of the rules, and even after watching the anime, i still dont. When i first started this anime, I had no idea what i was getting into. Boy, was i impressed. As far as the story goes, the anime uses a typical storyline, a group of high school students, aiming for the Nationals at some sort of sport or game. The characters are great. We have the main character, Miyanaga Saki, who grew up hating Mahjong. As the story progresses, she grows to love mahjong more ... and more. Same old, same old. She has this ability to score a +/- 0 every game in Mahjong, which apparently, is even harder than winning. Her skill is crazy, to the point where people call her a national class monster. Haramura Nodoka, another main character, is the winner of last years National Individual tournament. These two students, along with their team, fight to enter the Nationals. As far as the story and character goes, nothing really stands out. What's amazing is the way the manga was adapted into an anime. Every single Mahjong match is epic. What makes this show so awesome is the competitive atmosphere it gives off. To top it off, the animations are out of this world. They're just crazy. Although you wont see any real crazy animations until later on in the anime. The competitiveness and the animations bring the anime to a new level. The sound is not bad. The first opening is pretty good and the second is ok. The sound during the matches sound epic, but nothing else really stands out.
Saki is an anime i never expected i would enjoy 10/10, especially considering the fact i know nothing about Mahjong. The second season of saki is airing July 2014, 1 year from now, even now, im waiting for that time, when i can start watching saki again.

Well, where should I start? Imo, this is one of the most enjoyable anime I've watched. Let me first say that you DO NOT need to know about mahjong to watch this. The anime actually does a good job in making it fun to watch even if you don't know how exactly the game works. If it were the manga you were reading that might be a different idea, but the anime is pretty simple. Other than the mahjong element, it is a very moe anime :) You get to know a lot of characters and of course you'll have your favorites. (mine was Takei ... Hisa :3) I just felt that this anime caught my attention very easily because of the way the animators make it so intense. You just get really caught up in the moment. The only thing I didn't like was the yuri. But its not like its really a main point, so it didn't bother me that much. With that said, I think you will very much enjoy this anime.

First off, don't bother watching this show if you know nothing about mahjong. You won't understand a thing. Yes, you could try to learn from the explanations the subbers provide, but honestly, it's going to be hard, and you probably won't enjoy it.

If you're familiar with a mahjong but don't know the Japanese variant, I'd recommend skimming over the basics of the scoring system on Wikipedia. Specifically, you should learn how riichi and dora work, and how payouts are handled. Knowing some of the rare yaku and yakuman hands can also help since they'll crop up a lot in the series.

Character-wise, there isn't really ... anything special in Saki. There are quite a few characters (roughly five for each of the four main schools, plus several unaffiliated characters), most of whom are girls. The majority of these girls each have a special mahjong trait such as doing well in the east round, or winning with bad waits. Relationships between the girls can usually be boiled down to friends or rivals. There are quite a few scenes that hint at possible yuri relationships, but this never goes beyond massive blushing. Overall, the personalities of these characters are generally pretty flat.

The story is also not particularly unique. It can basically be summed up as "we want to win the national mahjong tournament". Saki's reason for wanting to win is a little more fleshed out than that, but it too is nothing I haven't seen before. Well, since Saki could be considered a sports anime, I guess this is pretty much par for the course.

To me, where Saki really shines is in the mahjong. Of particular note are the strategies employed by the players. If we accept that some players have ungodly luck (which is true in Saki), all sorts of interesting situations crop up. For instance, if your opponent can consistently make kan and currently has an open pon, why not try to win by chankan? The supernatural play used in Saki opens up a lot of possibilities like this, and most of them are pretty cleverly done. The effects used in the mahjong scenes are fairly well done, and do a lot to make the games more exciting and dramatic.

In short, Saki is a show with mahjong and a light smattering of yuri, but not much else. I'm a pretty big fan of mahjong, and the games were pretty well thought out, so I liked it. On the other hand, if you're not too interested in mahjong, I'd recommend that you pass on this series.

Tacos... And yuri pairings.
Mahjong is a side dish.

Once upon a taco bell, in the world of Saki, existed Yuuki. She loved Tacos. They were so good. In fact, they were soo good that they gave her the ability to play Mahjong. But the taco gods were not that generous. Indeed, they put a terrible curse on her. She would only be able to play decent mahjong during the east wind. During the other periods she would just play like a toddler. In addition to the curse, she was also forbidden to have lesbian relationships with the others. CAN YUUKI ESCAPE HER FATE? FIND OUT NEXT ... TIME ON SAKI.

I hear lots of people saying that many characters' development are unnecessary, that the mahjong matches are boring, or unrealistic... Let me rant for a bit and I'll get to the actual review.
In reality, the diversity of all the characters makes it all more realistic. I used to play in chess tournaments, and ended up knowing and befriending most of the people playing against me in the tournaments. It's very hard to know nothing about them except their name and their face, so I believe the addition of the opponents' backgrounds is very realistic and necessary.
Second of all, most of those reviews come from people ... who have never played mahjong, but I have played many times and can assure you that some powers are possible given enough skill. You can calculate what tiles or how many tiles are let from the discards and chis, and my sister is a rinshan kaihou player herself (although she can't always win that way... She wins like that 1/5 of the time). There's lots of calculation of probability going on that is perfectly doable. There is only one power I find impossible and it is the "disappearing girl" which is more witchcraft than mahjong XD.

Ok for the actual review:
Saki mixes ecchi, yuri, story and action perfectly. I can feel comfortable watching it at school, which is a good sign about ecchi (compared to to love-ru...) and the yuri story is one of the best I have seen. The ratio is just right.
The story is well balanced with the main storyline taking most of the space, and some background story from time to time. People also complain about filler episodes; for real??? I think anime without fillers are way too dense... They become anime like Death Note (all action and development, unable to stop).
The characters are also well developped: Yuuki is funny, Saki has that amazing background story, Nodoka is calm, reserved, shy, Club Leader is energetic... No two character are the same, and all of them are fun to learn about.

Music? I didn't take note of the music. Not because it's bad; because it highlights well the moments, but not outstandingly well, it's just average on every aspect.

The art is also average, neither good nor bad.

Overall: it's very enjoyable. Although I didn't learn any new mahjong technique, (It could be too hard to explain anyway) I did learn a lot about friendship, boobs and yuri XD
TACOOO

I have to admit I watch Saki with exactly zero knowledge about Mahjong.
saki is a anime series that tells the story of the game mahjong.
rather, japanese mahjong.

when we think about mahjong, then we would normally think that it is a boring game and only played by a particular age group.
(for anyone who loves mahjong, I'm sorry.
but need I remind you, this is the view of ordinary people, not the view of you as a mahjong lovers)

however, saki make the audience see things differently, because it makes the game of mahjong that the added element of action and miracles.
thus resulting in different things when watching it.
...
The mahjong games are SO MUCH FUN to watch!
the scenes when they play the game of mahjong, seemed like a amazing "battle" scenes.
I even felt a sensation that is usually given by the anime series genre of action in this anime series.

besides mahjong game filled with strategy and action effects,
saki also added a yuri romance genre into the story, which make some male fans interested to watch it.

the songs provided in this anime series was a thing that adds to the attraction for this anime series.
BGM played when the game of mahjong is played make the game becomes more dramatic and certainly adds a great pleasure for the audience.

Overall, I really enjoyed this anime series.
especially when the main character doing an amazing game and make a miracles.
that successfully makes me amazed as the audience.

"Tsumo, Rinshankaihou"; you expect to see this virtually at all mahjong matches in "Saki".

Personally as a Japanese mahjong player, it is at the extremes of "unrealisticness"; having Rinshan-Agari almost at will [refer to Saki -Portable- PSP Game in wikipedia]. But when it comes down to simply enjoyment, I'd say a pretty good anime.

Story: 8

Simple but coherent and well-structured (may be because I read the original manga in Japanese) it has a story and a goal that Kiyosumi Kou-kou aims at, and seemingly intense mahjong uplifts the atmosphere with players giving away some ulti-rare yakus. Sub-stories about relationship between the girls fits in quite well with ... the story as a whole. Points are lost from showing too much about second season in the last episode, which hasn't come out in 2012 as well! [At least OVA is coming out and looking forward to that]

Art: 8

Modern graphics and Anime Designs seem flawless at least to my point of view. Bits of points dropped at bad background and some colour flaws. Not much to say here.

Sound: 7

Voice acting seems to fit well with the Characters [Kana Ueda, voice actor of Saki Miyanaga, is actual mahjong player] and sync themselves well with the character's emotion but some points dropped from BGM which sometimes didn't fit in my view.

Character: 6

Couldn't give a high score since I personally did not like any character in the Anime, except Hisa Takei. This is one of the parts you guys will have to judge on [I am not "moe moe otaku", so speak for yourself]

Enjoyment: 10

As a mahjong player, it was well, indirect satisfaction from the anime. Just looking at Saki's Rinshankaihou and Koromo Amae's Haiteilaoyue [believe this is the correct Romaji] and some Chan-Kan, rarest yakus of all Mahjong except Yakuman-Agari, so enjoyment wise, I was satisfied enough

Overall: 8

To most of you who do not know what Mahjong is, this would be an Anime with some service-scenes and soft mahjong game with enjoyable plot. To few of who knows Japanese Mahjong, pure enjoyment and satisfaction, but some places you might feel discouraged to play more mahjong after seeing all those Rinshan-Agari

The premise reminds me of another anime about a gifted individual who initially hated or disliked the gift that allowed them to do insane things. Saki is kinda like that. Though it may seem like a contrived coincidence, I actually do play Mahjong, using Cantonese rules though, with family for pocket money. If not for that link, I probably would not have picked up what my friend described as "Yu-gi-Oh with Mahjong".

Getting down to business, Saki's story is actually quite formulaic. Not that I dock points for that. Its all about the Mahjong tournaments. The preparation, the climax and ... the conclusion is logical. It makes sense since its an anime about Mahjong and what better way to see it being played than in a tournament. For me it was a foregone conclusion, but that is exactly why they made the journey tense, eventful and generally thrilling from how the game is taken so seriously. Sadly however, outside the game there really isn't that much there for me. There's comedy/fanservice here and there but nothing really spectacular or as moving as when playing Mahjong itself. The attempts at drama are laughable and most of it can be easily skipped without doing much harm to the main plot or character motivation. Then there's the ending. It is screaming for a sequel and I cry foul play. They could have tied it up right there and then with the end of the tournaments instead of hanging on for some cooldown filler just to reach that 24 episode mark.

Most of the 25 episodes you will be treated to are of high standard. That said, coming in to the final stretch, there are bad art shifts. So much that I can't believe were deliberate choices to have such jarringly low quality. Otherwise though, there are good are shifts and probably would not stop the likes of Koromo from being even cuter than this other blond haired, weird eyed little lady with incredible power I know. On a side note, Nodoka could be a real rich landlady with those huge tracts of arable land. The animation is smooth and the 3D art doesn't stand out like a sore thumb. Well okay, maybe I still think those tiles are made of some weird otherworldly material and looks so very unnatural, but that really is just a triviality. Though if you pay enough attention to the scenes you may catch glimpses of reused animations, something I didn't really catch during the first run through. On the second run, they started appearing but at that point I didn't care any more because it certainly didn't do anything except indicate that production is a bit cheap; mostly harmless.

Now the sound, that is something of a treat. The background music is exactly the reason all the action on screen is so great. Nothing less would get you pumped when that miraculous draw from the dead wall happens. Heck, most of the tunes would spice up any of the scenes regardless. Even the music for the openings and endings are catchy and cheery pop tunes, going on about Mahjong I reckon. As for the sound effects, I can't say they're anything special, though I am a bit partial to the clicks of the tiles. Then we come to the voice talents. Its a great pool of names you may already know or have heard of which you should be able to judge for yourself.

In an anime so steeped in Mahjong, you need characters to actually play it. And play they do, with relish I might add. Their character really comes out when they play and sometimes this is pretty literal. Alter-egos, superpowers and godly/demonic luck aside, the characters are not much more than that. Each of the players are given some sort of motivation from flashbacks when they are in a tight spot and give it their all but mostly, that's it. There is a lot of staring, blushing and hugging. Yes they're a lovable bunch and yes, the anime does like heavy-handed subtext. Maybe the staring and hugging has something to do with telepathy but I doubt it was going to open up anything special. Very few of the characters that speak do not get characterisation though, which is a pretty good thing, considering the varied cast (from phase-shifting butler to average salary man father to aloof big sister) is upwards of twenty, maybe thirty of them running around on screen.

I was generally amused and entertained though. The Mahjong is over the top, with enough comedy and fanservice to not have my mind dulled by certain other parts. Even the small details like the fact that Hagiyoshi plays a mean game of Mahjong online. I'll see if after watching this, I can improve my own game a bit :p

Saki originally attracted me through its moe schoolgirl designs, as I've not the slightest idea how to play Mahjong (and I have to admit I have only slightly more of an idea now than I did before watching it). The mahjong scenes, interestingly enough, turned out to be some of the most riveting variations on 'battle' scenes I've seen in awhile. If lightning blasts and magical girls really popped put when people slapped down the tiles, I'm sure this game would be much more popular in the US.

In its two cours Saki develops a huge cast of girls, both Saki's teammates and their ... rival schools. I kept waiting for Saki and Nodoka to make their obvious yuri love official, but other than some suggestive scenes of sleeping together there's never even a kiss. There's a LOT of implied yuri in this series, but again, nothing beyond excessive blushing at one another and sparkles. Well, and Saki ogling her girlfriend's huge boobs, but so does everyone else in the series. There are virtually no male characters to speak of, and those that exist are mostly ignored since every one of the girls is a raging lesbian. Mahjong makes little girls gay, I guess?

The massive cast is as much a weakness as it is a strength, as you almost can't help but pity all these girls who have motivations for winning but are going to get steamrolled anyway by the monster that is Saki. Seriously, as OP as Ichigo is in most of Bleach, Saki is in her own show. There are some tense moments where the show almost convinces you she could lose, but a glance at the episode count and/or title will remind you of who the mistress is.

My scores:
Story 6/10 (largely revolves around two tournaments, a brief training arc, and yuri)
Art 9/10 (who knew mahjong could be so badass?)
Sound 8/10 (nice and dramatic soundtrack, stellar cast)
Character 7/10 (some are a bit shallow but you could fall in love with almost any of them)
Enjoyment 8/10 (I followed this when it originally came out, and it kept me riveted from episode to episode)
Overall 7/10

I went into this show about a year ago, with not many expectations. And since Zenkoku-Hen is coming up in the following month I thought it was time for a short review.

This is probably one of the most charming anime series I have EVER came across. The characters are fantastic, the OST is good and helps to build a very unprecedented amount of both suspense and action during the Mahjong games (A game myself, that I didn't know any of the rules of till I went into it). The animation looks pretty nice overall, with the characters, setting and the Mahjong games being well presented. ... Glossy MMM is a superb opening track for the 1st season. While the plot lacks some level of depth, it's very simple to follow and doesn't stop it from being up there with some of my favourite shows of all time.

This anime is for the mahjong fans, by a mahjong fan....

I am going to state upfront this anime is for mahjong fans and players. As basic understanding of mahjong rules and play is required to understand most of the plays in the game.

Saki is an anime named after its main character, Miyanaga "Saki", a normal high school girl in a rural area of the Nagano Prefecture in Japan. Saki is a girl who detests playing mahjong, because she gets scolded at home whenever she either wins or loses, and has hence developed a style of always playing just to break even. Not winning or losing ... a single point or dollar, regardless of opponent skill and number of games. For anyone who understands basic mahjong, they would realise to make this happen in reality, the player has to be extremely skilled in:

1) reading her 3 opponents concealed hands/tiles
2) be able to read and control the flow of the game
3) have excellent arithmetric skills to calculate the point differential and the exact tiles, play needed to break even
4) be able to predict which tiles are being drawn next
5) and to have inhuman luck to execute the plays and draw the required tiles

in summary, Saki is a mahjong genius!

However, through a set of coincidences and making friends with her school's mahjong club members, she rediscovered the joy of winning in mahjong and decides to join them in aiming for the japanese national high school mahjong championship

The story of "Saki" is very sports-shonen style. Main character has undiscovered talent in the particular sport/game, finds common minded friends in his school, and they aim to be national champions together. Even though the formula is so tried and used, it works based on the fact that any boy or girl who has joined a school club for competitions can relate to the struggle and difficulty in winning a school competition, as the odds are like usually 1/1000 and you only have limited tries based on how many years you are in studying in the school. All these kids, or in my case, once-a-kid, can fantasize about how lucky they would be to have some gifted talent in their genre, and can dream of the joy of winning.

However a anime about a table game isn't particularly exciting, given the lack of action sequences. And how this anime pulls this off is through its amazing cast of characters. Saki has so many characters that its almost on the level of "one-piece", that the viewer would easily lose count of how many characters have appeared through the middle of the anime series.
The amazing thing about the characters is that each and every character appears unique, in terms of looks and personality. Every character has a unique look to them, whether its their hair, shape of their eyes, body shape. And each character has a special personality attached to them as well. Whether they are playful, careless, strict or just outright funny, its amazing and so awfully realistic that each and every single character has this uniqueness to them.

Another trick up its sleeve is in the special moves, and their respective animations, used by each key character. Key characters like the adorable, rabbit-like Amae Koromo has her "deep sea scooping moon" finishing move. Miyanaga Saki has her "Rinshan blossoming flowers" finisher. And the sexy, cute-moe Hanamura Nodoka has her digitial "Nodochii" mode transformation. These animations provide tension and excitement to the otherwise dull, intellectual plays in a table game like mahjong.

Add to the fact that the show keeps introducing stronger, unique opponents to challenge Saki and her clubmates for the national championship at every tournament round, and you have a anime series that is good enough to hook you in and keep you watching eagerly for every next episode.

Of course this show isn't completely without weakness, but in my opinion the weakness is due the simple fact that mahjong by itself isn't an exciting spectator sport in the first place, especially so if the viewer doesn't understand the general rules of mahjong.

In summary I feel Saki is a great anime to follow and entertains its viewers. The highlight of the show is definitely in its huge, varied, unique cast of characters (almost all cute, teenage girls). This is a show that any anime-viewing mahjong player cannot miss. I eagerly await its second season, but fans of the anime should continue to check out the side story series "Saki: Achiga-hen: Episode of Side A" to see the story that is being developed in the other national tournament rounds, which are omitted in the "Saki" main story.

This review is the first one I've ever wrote, and I want to write one right now because I enjoyed this anime so much that I even started following it's manga. Basically this anime tells a story about a girl who at first hated mahjong, but decides to play it again because of specific reasons. I enjoyed it a lot because the main character is an absolute monster at mahjong, and can make seemingly impossible things happen. I also loved how the character's relationship improve because of mahjong. It shows how if a person has one thing in common with someone else they can build ... a strong relationship, and people don't have to be similar to be friends.