咲 -Saki-

SAKI

MANGA

STATUS
RELEASING
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
Invalid Date
CHAPTERS
Not Available

DESCRIPTION

Saki's never been a big fan of mahjong. A lifetime of being forced to play with family at holidays (and losing her money as a consequence...) has left a foul taste for the game in her mouth. When she's convinced, though, to play a game with her classmates, she discovers that not only has fending off her family left her with an uncanny ability for the game but, more surprisingly, that it can even be fun!

Is this revelation enough to cleanse Saki's distaste for the game? Can her classmates convince her to join their club, or is there just too much baggage to make it worth her while?

(Source: Yen Press)

CAST

Saki Miyanaga
Hisa Takei
Nodoka Haramura
Yuuki Kataoka
Mako Someya
Toki Onjouji
Koromo Amae
Shizuno Takakamo
Teru Miyanaga
Kuro Matsumi
Ako Atarashi
Momoko Touyoko
Hajime Kunihiro
Mihoko Fukuji
Toyone Anetai
Satomi Kanbara
Hiroe Atago
Touka Ryuumonbuchi
Ryuuka Shimizudani
Kirame Hanada
Yuu Matsumi
Kana Ikeda
Sumire Hirose
Arata Sagimori
Hatsumi Usuzumi

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO SAKI

ANIME Slice of LifeSaki

MANGA ComedySaki Biyori

MANGA Slice of LifeToki

Cover Art for Saki: Achiga-hen - episode of side-A

MANGA Slice of LifeSaki: Achiga-hen - episode of side-A

Cover Art for Someya Mako no Jansou Meshi

MANGA Slice of LifeSomeya Mako no Jansou Meshi

Cover Art for Shinohayu: the dawn of age

MANGA Slice of LifeShinohayu: the dawn of age

MANGA ComedyRitz

MANGA ComedySaki Biyori (BG Ban)

MANGA ComedySaki to Final Fantasy XIV

MANGA ComedySaki Biyori (YG Ban)

MANGA Slice of LifeSaki re: King's Tile Draw

ANIME Slice of LifeSaki: Zenkoku-hen

SPECIAL ComedySaki Picture Drama

REVIEWS

Hexblood
45/100
A girl that hate mahjong due to her family ends up in her school's Mahjong Club
Miyanaga Saki hates mahjong. This is due to her family playing the game every year with their New Years money as stakes on the game. She does not want to upset her family but also does not want to lose her money. So she perfects the talent of scoring +/-0. You are considered the winner if you have the highest positive score, but only considered a loser if you end with a score in the negative. She ends up getting dragged into her schools Mahjong Club.

One thing I will come out and say is that this manga does not explain the game of Reiichi Mahjong. While it is written under the impression that the reader understands the rules and hands it is still possible to enjoy this manga. I did for a while but more on that in the coming sections. So if you are wanting to learn the game look to other sources. You will not find it here.

Lets start with the art. When it is good, it is good. When it is bad, it gets pretty damn bad.

On the good side the characters are nice and diverse. Mostly favoring a moe style. There really is not much to be seen in environments and effort is not wasted on them either so that is good. The tiles are very well drawn. Some automatic process must have been used because they always look like real tiles. No unevenness like you would expect to find if they were all hand drawn.

On the bad side it gets pretty rough. After a point it is painfully obvious that the mangaka was not making their deadlines. Rough line work, non-existent shading, lack of screen tone. All of it all at once and in various degrees. These issues even persist after the average page count drops noticeably. This sometimes leaves you confused on who a character is because their hair and eyes suddenly are not filled in (more on this later). This sometimes even flips back and forth over the course of a single chapter.

The story starts out great and is mostly about cute girls playing mahjong competitively. That is until you get to the National Tournament. At this point the story devolves into a super-power battle. It might as well be Yu-Gi-OH things get so far out of hand. Players summoning magic smoke or deities to influence their tile draws or hinder their opponent's. Players that can see one turn into the future. Things like that. It starts to be so heavy handed it no longer feels like a game where skill and strategy matter.

The other big problem once you get to this point in the story is that the cast of characters gets freakin' huge. Then the author decides to give back stories and elaborate explanations to half of them. Even for teams that are eliminated in the first couple rounds of the tournament. This often leaves you struggling to remember who they are and what they can do until they are focused on again. Mostly because by this point you have been introduced to dozens of characters and so many of them have been fleshed out, then discarded, then brought back for a cameo later on.

A lesser issue is the pacing. Once again this is fine in the beginning but falls apart in the National Tournament. One round lasting 10 chapters, the next one 5, the one after that 25, then 15. The placement of some of the backstory chapters is quite awkward as well. Often popping up in the middle of a heated match and completely derailing the momentum that has been building.

Next let's talk about the ecchi elements. I love ecchi, but the way it is handled here is just disgusting. Again, things are fine until they get to the National Tournament.

Many of the loli characters are shown in outfits designed to show off a lot of skin and they put a lot of focus on this as well. One of which was wearing an outfit that should cover her pretty well but she wears it so loose it should be falling off her body. However it magically stays in place, just barely keeping sensitive areas covered.

Next we have the titty monsters. Not only do they defy gravity but they are wrapped in clothes that seem to be designed specifically for them and custom fitted to each individual persons breasts. We are talking going as far as wrapping up under the generous oppai and coming all the way back to the sternum in between them. There is no way they could be wearing any kind of support under it yet they magically stay up.

Last of this category is the upskirt shots. As the tournament continues we get these more and more. Guess what though? NONE OF THEM ARE WEARING PANTSU!!! I mean none of them. It is like there is a national standard that high school girls are not allowed to wear them.

You may be thinking this sounds great!!! However it is not. Every team has one or two and it just so over used and attention drawn to it it gets really old really fast. It is like playing some of the Final Fantasy titles with a Summoner. Yeah the animations look great but after you have seen them a few times it gets old. If they had given them all more realistic clothing and toned down the size on some of them it would be OK.

My final note is the Yuri tag. If you are coming here for this look elsewhere. The most you get is some affectionate friends and maybe one or two possible ships at best. These get sidelined almost as soon as you can make the slightest connection.

Overall this one is a mixed bag of good and bad. Things are great up through the Regional Qualifier matches. After that things quickly slide down hill in a variety of ways. All of the things I have complained about come in spades so do not take them lightly. I cannot in good conscience recommend this title.
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