Saki is the story around Miyanaga Saki; hints at her family life, her friendship with Haramura Nodoka, learning that Mahjong is fun, exploits of the Mahjong Club on their way to the nationals…

Firstly, there is a lot, I mean a lot! of shoujo ai references. Note, there aren’t any actually kisses or dry humping… or anything else like that for that matter. However, there is plenty of blushing, hand holding, staring into eyes, and more blushing.

Animation - Mixed quality sprinkled with CG

Okay, the animation of Saki wasn’t that bad. Certainly it had its moments where it was great, and a fair few where it wasn’t so great. The character models for the most part looked good. There are plenty of stereotypical characters here, so if that annoys you, you’ve been warned.

Aside from the peculiarities of the characters, the rest of the animation is fine, not great, but fine. The backgrounds have mediocre detail, enough that it isn’t destracting either way, good or bad. The character animations are fluid and for the most part crisp. There are a few awkward transitions from CG to the regular animation that are most noticable while they are playing mahjong. It is a shame in a way. This anime had quite a few things going for it, it is a shame that the animation was merely average.

Sound - Nice music and some nice acting

Well, probably the first thing that you’ll notice is that Kugumiya Rie has a character. Yes, she does sound like her typical typecast tsundere’s so there isn’t much difference between Yuuki and Louise, Taiga or Shana. But don’t let that put you off, if you don’t happen to be a fan of her. The rest of the cast does a fair job portraying their respective characters. The emotional scenes are emotional, the dramatic ones are dramatic and the comedic are comedic. While the acting isn’t really anything spectacular, it isn’t bad. It is mediocre, much like the rest of the anime.

The OP/ED are ok. I watched them a few times, but most of the time it was spent being skipped. The background music was there and helped the feelings done by the actors come across a little better.

Story - The story of…

The story of a mostly all girls mahjong clubs rise to the nationals. There are plenty of ups and downs along the way. Annoying mahou shoujo elements that are annoying at first, however I grew to like them. They added a nice flair to what could have been some otherwise boring mahjong scenes.

Ok, before I get ahead of myself, let’s start at the beginning.

Miyanaga Saki comes from a family that played mahjong when she was young. She grew to dislike it because her family would get angry at her because she won all the time. She developed a strong disliking towards mahjong and developed a playing style that she always came out in the middle, neither winning nor losing. For unknown reasons her family has split. Her mother and older sister, Teru, have gone to Tokyo. Leaving her living with her father, who you don’t see except for one episode in one brief scene.

One day she is sitting under a tree reading a book when an attractive girl with huge breasts walks by. She flushes red before a school friend runs up talking to her. He talks her into coming to the mahjong club after school. There she meets the big breasted girl from before and plays some mahjong. After a few rounds she decides it is best she gets going and leaves. The club president looks at the scores and see’s that she has only scored +/- 0 during all the games they played. Apparently that is nearly impossible and highly impressive, causing are big busted female to chase after Saki. A few things happen and they decide that they’ll go to the nationals together!

Many many hints of yuri and shoujo ai later, they are at the tournament, will the obligatory onsen/training camp help them?

Ok, I suppose that was a fair summary without giving too much away. I’ve read some comments that say the story started no where and ended up no where. Which to an extent is true. It is more about the daily lives (very minor extent) of the mahjong club and their journey to the national mahjong tournament. All the while meeting scary tough opponents and making friends along the way. For those that have no idea mahjong was this popular will be surprised. For those that have no idea there is a style of mahjong other than the solitary games that come with Windows OS’ will be even more surprised. Whether there was a story or not really comes down to the eyes of the viewer. I thought there was a nice story and it certainly got me interested in Yakuman mahjong.

Character Development - Always the meat of the story

Ok, there isn’t too much character development. Other than a few characters. You learn why Saki doesn’t like mahjong, but you don’t learn why her family has parted ways, nor why she didn’t go with her mother and sister. Nor do you really learn why she wants to meet with Teru at the national tournaments. I suppose that is all saved for the second season whenever that comes our way. You do learn about a few characters from different teams. Which is nice but you are left wondering why some minor characters get development when the core cast doesn’t really get any. While I did grow to like the cast, I can’t give full, or even high marks for development.

Value - Not much

Sadly, there isn’t much value in watching Saki, other than some eye candy with the few fanservice scenes and watching some mahjong battles. Granted there were a few battles that had me on the edge of my seat and couldn’t wait to the next episode. Unfortunately Saki suffers from a slow start to a slow developing middle to an exciting ending, which in a way leaves you disappointed as there isn’t really any closure to this season and you’ll have to wait to the next one.

Enjoyment - I liked it and I will definately get the second season

Ok, I know it sounds like I am being a bit harsh on Saki, but this is the section where I don’t get to be objective and let my feelings loose.

I enjoyed Saki. I did. I loved the shoujo ai/yuri hints, I fell in love with a few of the characters. While Nodoka’s breasts are… special (or freaky) and can be quite distracting. I still enjoyed the show. There are two onsen episodes in the span of 25 and those were fairly enjoyable. Even though I’ll have to wait for the DVD goodness… as I am not fond of convenient rays of sunlight or fog/steam. Putting that to the side, Saki was a fun ride for me. I enjoyed the battles, even the dramatic mahou shoujo elements portrayed during said scenes. It definately spiked my interested in mahjong and even the manga.