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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
 Dreamer
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[series:2008#2279] |
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Okay, so how interesting can a series about Mahjong players be? Actually, very interesting! The story was pretty darn good........ Art, Animation & Character Designs Artwork and Animation was about on par with many other titles. With that said, it was pretty good. Character designs were good and most were unique. Lots of your architype characters but it wouldn't be an anime without 'em right? Saki was my fav, cute, innocent and a wicked player. Music The OPs were mostly modern pop mixes with the typical female vocals. They weren't bad but not of my tastes either. The ED was slightly more interesting, especially the one that starts playing 3/4s of the way through the episodes. As for the rest of the soundtrack, not bad. Some of the music gets dramatic during the mahjong "battle" scenes. Series and Episode Story Being that I've never played Mahjong and probably couldn't even attempt to play for the life of me, the series was far better than I would have imagined. At first, I was totally lost with all the "technical" mahjong jargon, but soon after, I simply let most of those fly over my head so I can focus on the story itself. Even though the plot was nothing amazing (they're shooting for the national tournament), it's the way the episodes are played out that makes it good. In fact, I was so glued to the series that I had a marathon and stayed up all night over the weekend (from 8pm to 4am) and got through a good number of the episodes. There are a ton of characters to keep track of. The series did surprisingly well to give a bit of background for each character (98% of them at least). Most played lesser roles but still were interesting and simply adds more depth to the series as a whole. Speaking of characters, I sensed a bit of Yuri between Saki and Nodoka.... okay, fine, it was blatanly obvious near the end. Overall, this turned out better than I imagined and really enjoyable. If you can simply ignore all the Mahjong terminologies, then you'll end up enjoying the whole series. Last updated Saturday, November 28 2009. Created Saturday, November 28 2009. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 chibi
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[series:2008#2380] | ||||||
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A rather typical sports series, with enthusiastic kids battling to be the best and making the most of themselves in the process. That's not a bad thing, it's a proven formula that has always worked for me, but the game of Mahjong turns out to be about as unexciting and inscrutable as Contract Bridge, despite the animated special effects added here. (There's a funny incident in Basquash! where the rabid fans of Big Foot Basketball finally get to see a game live instead of on TV, and they notice how boring it is once all the fireworks, lightning bolts, and sound effects of the video version are omitted.) I'll probably watch it anyway, but I don't see the characters so far being strong enough to carry the show on their own, and even Shogi (Shion no Ou) was more interesting than this game.
Last updated Wednesday, April 22 2009. Created Wednesday, April 22 2009. | ||||||||
| Watch |
 Stretch
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[series:2008#628] | ||||||
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(All episodes watched): Episode one of Saki Mahjong didn't seem as serious and dramatic as I had expected, which was a plus for me. The premise of the girl who is awesomely good at a game/sport yet somehow doesn't enjoy it reminded me of Bamboo Blade. The big question I had about this show was how much I could enjoy it when I know very little about mahjong. The complex terminology bewildered me and I didn't know what was going on while a game was underway. If only they had been playing poker. There were not very many jokes, though there was a bit of wet-shirt-in-the-rain fanservice. But isn't this more a matter of inexplicable luck as of skill? Luck has got to be a major factor in a game, or else those who haven't got much experience will conclude that they cannot win and will refuse to play. Actually, uncovering a girl with fantastic good luck, and seeking an explanation for it, might well be more fun than yet another prodigy coming to light. At around a fourth of the way through the series things were going fairly well. An important tournament had gotten underway, and although I still hadn't learned much about the rules of the game I could vaguely sense what was going on and feel a dose of excitement anyway. The characters were fairly amusing. Seeing as Saki Mahjong has turned out to be a 25 episode show, you might wonder how long any show dealing with a boardgame could remain interesting. One reason this one manages to do so is is that it has taken a fanciful approach to the question of just what can be accomplished by a player's sheer will to win. It's like the characters can use their minds to bend the game and luck itself to suit their own wills. Some of them seem to be psychics playing mind games with each other; this almost gets creepy in a bizarre way ("perhaps it's time to open the door to the inner sanctum"). I don't know how to play Mahjong, but I'm certain that there's no way in hell that anybody could be doing as well using mere luck and conventional skill. The Regional mahjong tournament dragged on forever. In the end it was hard to get excited by Saki's spectacular victory when you don't understand the rules of the game or how her amazing come-from-behind win was even possible. It took something like eight episodes to get through this tournament, which means there won't be enough left to cover the National one as thoroughly. It made me wonder what would be done with the remainder of the show, and worry that this might be another series based on an incomplete manga which wouldn't even try to tell a complete story. We hurry through an individual tournament, then an impromptu practice meet. It was kind of nice how everybody from the four local teams that had duelled throughout the series got together again at the end--the members of other teams could have been portrayed as spiteful, bitchy girls who deserved to lose, but instead there are no hard feelings. Then basically we run out of time just as the long awaited National tournament is about to begin. The fact that we are given a brief look at a whole new set of opponents suggested that a second season might be in the works. Would that be good news or bad? The characters didn't really develop enough for me to care all that much whether they triumph or not. I would say that the quality level of this show justifies 25 episodes but not more. Saki Mahjong was amusing but not really gripping. My favorite line: "No, Haramura Nodoka is more like this" Last updated Monday, October 26 2009. Created Saturday, April 11 2009. | ||||||||
| Watch |
 Jan-Chan
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[series:2008#967] | ||||||
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Can we say ….. Akagi-ultralite?? Where as Akagi is a mahjong anime tale with a dark brooding main character and twisted story line, this series is far more innocent and obviously oriented towards the younger crowd. With a cute saccharine main character who presents herself as a genius player, but someone with no competitive edge or desire to win, it falls upon the other members of the high school mahjong club to pull her out of her shell and help them aspire for the high school mahjong nationals. (Did someone think Kōshien for mahjong?) While the animation is fair and the characters are very cute, this is still a story about the complicated tile game called ↗mahjong. It might appeal to some people, but I fear that it will loose everyone else in the simplicity of its storyline and complexity of the mahjong game. If you want to learn about mahjong, but with an engaging story - stick with Akagi. Last updated Monday, July 12 2010. Created Monday, April 06 2009. | ||||||||
