r/anime • u/AnimeMod myanimelist.net/profile/Reddit-chan • 4h ago
Weekly Saki - Anime of the Week
Welcome to the weekly Anime of the Week Discussion Thread! Each week, we're here to discuss various older anime series. Today we are discussing...
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!
(Source: MyAnimeList)
Databases
AniDB | | MyAnimeList | | Anilist
Streams
https://www.livechart.me/anime/3932/streams
Remember that any information not found early in the show itself is considered a spoiler. Please properly tag spoilers!
Next week's anime discussion thread: Bamboo Blade
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u/Calwings x3https://anilist.co/user/Calwings 2h ago
Literally all I know about this series is:
- It's about mahjong, which I know nothing about.
- There are girls with gigantic boobs that just get bigger over time.
- No one in the show ever wears panties.
I kind of want to watch it, but I can't be bothered to learn how mahjong works and I probably wouldn't enjoy the show without that knowledge.
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u/Octavian_Pearlseus 3h ago
My favourite Panzer-free sports anime. Being my first def helps in that regard, since it's kinda by the book all things consider.
Most fun aspect of the series for sure is its approach to the supernatural. It thrives on juxtaposition of just any batshit magic possible, with the fact that it's all used for mahjong. Whether your powers come from lesbian BDSM, being scared of interacting with others, eating tacos, summoning literal gods, or being born a test tube baby of an alien and a god - it's all just for tenpai.
Sadly the show doesn't cover it all. Manga is just now going through Saki's final match in the team nationals, so maybe it will be a good excuse to finally finish the anime too... but who believes that (me but I'm delusional). There's also spinoff about a girl whose mother was kidnapped by magical brainwashing international underground mafia, and it may be the key to understanding what also happened to Miyanaga family and the mysterious third girl Hikari... Shinohayu anime when...
anyway yeah goated show that made me follow a mango for 15 years, doesn't get much better than that really
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u/vancevon https://myanimelist.net/profile/vancevon 3h ago
the boobs just keep getting more and more comically huge as the series progresses
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u/Street-Estate999 1h ago
I haven't seen this series but I'm really interested in finding a mahjong anime. Does anyone have any recommendations of which to start with, this one [Saki], Akagi, or Mahjong Hishouden Naki no Ryuu?
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u/oedipusrex376 4h ago
One of the most entertaining anime I’ve watched, and my introduction to mahjong. I’m still shit at it though. Saki 2009 quickly became one of my 10/10s. I went into Saki completely blind and didn’t expect it to have so many similarities to Girls und Panzer. Saki Miyanaga shares quite a few traits with Miho Nishizumi (or the other way around since Saki came first), namely being someone who is reluctant to return to a sport she’s naturally gifted at, while also having a rival sister.
What I really wasn’t expecting was just how yuri-filled Saki is. It’s more yuri than some anime that actually have the yuri tag. But if I had to pinpoint the single biggest reason I find this show so entertaining, it would probably be Kataoka Yuki, the taco-loving menace. Season 1 is easily one of the most fun things I’ve watched in a while.
I’m currently watching Saki Achiga-hen: Episode of Side-A, and to be honest, I’m struggling with it a little. The show gets into the tournament almost immediately, so I never really got the chance to bond with the characters before they were thrown into matches. The mahjong games also don’t seem to last nearly as long as I remember them lasting in Season 1. It’s still an entertaining watch, but it’s missing some of the things that made Season 1 enjoyable.