Saki (anime)

Saki is an 25 episode anime adaption of the Saki manga. The series started airing on TV Tokyo on April 06, 2009. Crunchyroll streamed the series with English subtitles when it started airing and has kept it available ever since. The anime faithfully adapts the manga while adding some material, including an individual tournament arc.


 * Genres: drama, action/sport, comedy, romance
 * Themes: mahjong, school life, tournament, bishoujo, fanservice, yuri, supernatural, moe, camp (style), slice of life
 * Demographics: seinen

Plot preview
Saki Miyanaga is a high school freshman who doesn't like mahjong. When she was younger, her mahjong-obsessed family -- usually her older sister, would get upset if Saki won. However, if she lost, she would lose her New Year's gift money. Despite being emotionally scarred, she is curious enough to follow her friend to the school's mahjong club. There, she rediscovers her love of mahjong but at the same time she reawakens an inner demon. And that's not all she loves, nor does she only have one demon. Together with her Kiyosumi clubmates, she takes aim at the national mahjong tournament to pursue both her loves and her demons.

Overview/review
The plot focuses on both character development and on mahjong, with a lot of overlap in the two. Some characters are well developed, with detailed character designs and personalities. Most of the characters have good values and beliefs, but their inner selves are usually shown through their mahjong playing styles and abilities. The history of the main protagonist and main supporting character is visited, but not delved into too deeply. The history of the main antagonist is also visited. Not surpisingly, the mahjong abilities of these three characters is the most developed. The values and beliefs of some the mahjong club presidents is also visited. Large cast of characters, not too deep ... has characters from multiple school clubs, portrays announcer and reporter characters. It has magazine and newspaper articles about players and matches. Mahjong is a table game that uses tiles instead of cards. It is similar to gin rummy in that players try to form meld. Rummy can trace it's roots back to mahjong. The mahjong played is mostly mid-level? but it's serious mahjong that includes some characters with supernatural powers. Skilled players perform well but are often overwhelmed by players with supernatural powers. In the later rounds of tournaments, matches are decided by how skillfully players with supernatural powers interact with both players with supernatural powers and skilled players. Very entertaining, with over the top mahjong action and fun loving girls ... Excellent writing, fairly consistent, very consistent considering the large cast of characters and large number tiles, but manifold details of mahjong maybe irrelevant to real life. Production values were good, but are getting a bit outdated compared to newer anime that blend more digital animation ... Each main character has an associated sound theme ...

Episodes

 * Main article: Saki episodes

Music
The insert music was provided by Takeshi Watanabe.

Opening themes

 * "Glossy:MMM" by Miyuki Hashimoto (episodes 2-14)
 * "Bloooomin'" by Little Non (episodes 15-25)

Ending themes

 * "Glossy:MMM" by Miyuki Hashimoto (episodes 1, 25)
 * "Netsuretsu Kangei Wonderland" by Kana Ueda, Ami Koshimizu, Rie Kugimiya, Ryoko Shiraishi and Shizuka Itou (episodes 2-6, 8-9, 11-14)
 * "Zankoku na Negai no Naka de" by Kana Ueda and Ami Koshimizu (episodes 7, 10, 16, 18, 22)
 * "Shikakui Uchuu de Matteru yo" by Kana Ueda, Ami Koshimizu, Rie Kugimiya, Ryoko Shiraishi and Shizuka Itou (episodes 15, 17, 19-21, 23-24)

Production staff
The series was adapted by Gonzo and they produced episodes 1 through 14, while Picture Magic produced episodes 15 through 25. The screenplay was written by Tatsuhiko Urahata and directed by Manabu Ono ...

Japanese voice actresses

 * Kiyosumi High School
 * Ami Koshimizu as Nodoka Haramura
 * Jun Fukuyama as Kyoutarou Suga
 * Kana Ueda as Saki Miyanaga
 * Rie Kugimiya as Yuuki Kataoka
 * Ryoko Shiraishi as Mako Someya
 * Shizuka Itou as Hisa Takei


 * Ryuumonbuchi High School
 * Kaori Fukuhara as Koromo Amae
 * Minori Chihara as Touka Ryuumonbuchi
 * Ai Shimizu as Hajime Kunihiro
 * Ayuru Ōhashi as Tomoki Sawamura
 * Daisuke Ono as Hagiyoshi
 * Yuko Kaida as Jun Inoue


 * Kazekoshi Girls' High School
 * Ai Matayoshi as Seika Bundou
 * Chiro Kanzaki as Miharu Yoshitome
 * Mitsuki Saiga as Sumire Hirose, Sumiyo Fukabori
 * Miho Yamada as Takako Kubo
 * Rika Morinaga as Kana Ikeda
 * Yui Horie as Mihoko Fukuji


 * Tsuraga Academy
 * Momoko Saito as Momoko Touyoko
 * Natsuko Kuwatani as Satomi Kanbara
 * Ryoko Shintani as Kaori Senou
 * Shin Nanasawa as Mutsuki Tsuyama
 * Yu Kobayashi as Yumi Kajiki

Others




 * Ai Tokunaga as Maho Yumeno
 * Masumi Asano as Yasuko Fujita
 * Yuko Sanpei as Kazue Nanpo
 * Mai Toudou as Kazuko Nagamori,Hiroko Murohashi
 * Mai Nakahara as Teru Miyanaga
 * Hideki Nakanishi as Student (ep 7)
 * Hideki Tasaka as Announcer (ep 20)
 * Houchu Ohtsuka as Nanpo's Grandfather
 * Jouji Nakata as Nodoka's Father, Narrator
 * Kazuki Shimizu as Male player (ep 21)
 * Keisuke Koumoto as Famires waiter (ep 20)
 * Kokoro Tanaka as Male player (ep 21)
 * Kotomi Yamakawa as Megumi Kamigaki
 * Mami Kosuge as Announcer, Junko Nishida
 * Mana Hirata as Female student (ep 1)
 * Masato Funaki as Customer (ep 4)
 * Masaya Onosaka as Saki's Father
 * Miki Inase as Female student (ep 1), PC voice
 * Minoru Shiraishi as Announcer, Vice-president
 * Shiori Mikami as Yōko Kadomatsu
 * Shōhei Nakajima as Man (ep 6)
 * Shūhei Takubo as Guard (ep 10)
 * Takashi Nagasako as Ramen shopkeeper (ep 8)
 * Takayuki Sakazume as Customer (ep 4)
 * Takuma Terashima as Book committee member (ep 1)
 * Tomoyuki Higuchi as Teacher (ep 4)
 * Tsuyoshi Koyama as Daisuke Yamaguchi
 * Yoriko Nagata as Ayumu Sugino, Female interviewer (ep 21)
 * Yuka Saitou as Mai Tanaka
 * Yukito Souma as Student (ep 7)
 * Yūko Seiwa as Yuri Tsuchiya

English staff
The translation and English subtitles timing for Crunchyroll was done by Sam Pinansky.

Trivia

 * The "Bloooomin'" OP encorporates most of the manga volume covers up till that point in the series.