According to the narration of this anime, in the 21st century, the number of people playing mahjong is in the hundreds of millions. I don't know much about mahjong. Mahjong originated in China, so there are many kanji characters in the names of the techniques, which makes it difficult. In fact, after watching the anime, the only thing I have learnt is Rein-jo Kaikan. Whether you can remember the rules or not, this animation should make even an ignorant person like me interested in the game.
The image of mahjong may be easily associated with gambling. In fact, betting on mahjong has been practised since ancient times. For this reason, many people shy away from the game itself. In recent years, however, the image of gambling has been dispelled. Before I started watching this animation, I once saw a special feature on morning television about the popularity of mahjong among children. In it, a girl of primary schools age was asked why she had started playing mahjong. She replied, 'Because I read a manga called Saki.' She replied, 'Because I read a manga called Saki. I am sure that one day she didn't know anything about mahjong like I do now. Experts point out that children's addiction to mahjong is strongly influenced by anime and manga. In fact, the cartoons are groundbreaking. Mahjong has only recently become popular among young people, but 15 years before that, an anime was produced in which high school girls played mahjong. There are no scenes in the film that show any connection between mahjong and gambling.
Another groundbreaking aspect is the way it is presented. Mahjong is a game where you sit at a table and move the tiles. In the film, a play-by-play man (Minoru Shiraishi) enthusiastically demonstrates the game, but the players do not move much, so it would be extremely boring to watch from the screen. Saki tries to overcome this boredom by sometimes visualising the player's heart. What does this mean? Sparks fly in the heat of battle. When a very strong opponent appears, its aura is visualised in some way, such as a gust of wind. Also, when the opponent is so strong that victory is not in sight, cold water flows into the scene. There are no actual sparks or gusts of wind in the game. It is just an image in the player's mind. This is a common direction in animations about other sports, but such a direction is not used in a competition where the players almost exclusively sit down. The direction is easy to understand and interesting even for people who do not know mahjong. Although there is no explanation of the basic movements of mahjong in the film, it is thanks to this kind of device that we can still watch the film without getting bored. It would probably be more interesting for people who know mahjong.
I was able to watch it without getting bored partly because the characters were interesting. Characters are an important element in shaping an anime, so, well, most anime put a lot of effort into characterisation. During the matches, each character's backstory is told as a recollection. This helped me to enjoy the competitions where I didn't know the rules. I can say that the characters in Saki were full of charm in that they were worthy of backstory appreciation.
The main character is Miyanaga Saki (Ueda Kana), as the title suggests, with Haramura Nodoka (Komizu Ami) as a good friend (heroine). Nodoka's breasts can be seen as a satire against the big-breasted characters in anime, which have become increasingly unrealistic in recent years. No, it's a joke. Other characters include Hisashi Takei (Shizuka Ito), the head of the department who has seen through Saki's ability, Mako Someya (Ryoko Shiraishi), who is an old friend of Hisashi, Kyotaro Suga (Jun Fukuyama), the only male student (and the main source of jokes), and Kataoka Yuki (Yuki's voice is played by Rie Kugimiya, but she is not a tsundere character), who loves tacos. A delightful line-up of men. Saki was skilled, but did not like mahjong due to the influence of family mahjong. One day, Nodoka tells her, 'I regret that I lost to you who doesn't even like mahjong'. Initially, their friendship was strained. However, they promised to win and go to the nationals together and not to cut corners, and a romantic atmosphere has prevailed ever since.
And a few words about the rival schools. The anime mainly focuses on the four final schools of the prefectural tournament. One of them is Kiyosumi High School, where Saki and her team are enrolled, and where they face some interesting members.
1) Kiyosumi High School, where Saki and her team are enrolled. Originally an unknown school, it was able to participate in the prefectural tournament after new members (Saki, Nodoka and Yuki) joined the school.
2) Kazakoshi Girls' High School. The club has 80 members. It is led by Fukuchi Mihoko (Horie Yui), the head and ace of the club. One interesting character is Ikeda Kana (Morinaga Rika), who sometimes grows cat ears. Until the year before last, they had participated in the nationals for six consecutive years, but last year they lost their place to Ryumonbuchi High School.
3) Tsuruga Gakuen High School Until last year, this school was unknown. It is not clear how well the concept of shady schools has spread outside Japan. The shadowy Momoko Toyoko (Momoko Saito) appears here. I thought of her as a mob character until she was featured. She has the ability to erase her presence and make others unaware of her. 'Such occultism is impossible. She adores Yumi Kajiki (Yuu Kobayashi), who is the general.
4) RYUMONBUCHI HIGH SCHOOL The mahjong club was formed by RYUMONBUCHI Tohka (Chihara Minori), the granddaughter of the board chairman, for Amae Ei (Fukuhara Kaori), who lost her parents in an accident. They advanced to the nationals last year. I can't talk too much about it because it would be a spoiler, but there are many moving episodes, probably due to Koromo's background.
Episode 19 was particularly great. It was well directed like a coming-of-age anime, and excelled in great emotion and excitement. The story of Saki continues. After this, the Achiga Arc and the National Arc are coming up. It will surely become more interesting in the future.
Finally, although I enjoyed the anime, I did not give it a perfect score of four stars. This is not because I do not know the rules of mahjong. This anime prioritised yuri development so much that the story progression was sometimes slow. That is the reason. I could go on at length about the benefits of this anime, but in the end I think the main appeal of Saki, like many sports anime, is the passion the characters have for their club activities. While I enjoyed the yuri development, I would have liked to have seen the girls' attempts to aim high for a little longer.
