Saki (manga)

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Saki
Saki volume 1 cover.jpg
The cover of the first Japanese manga volume featuring Saki Miyanaga
咲-Saki-
Genre Sport
Manga
Author Ritz Kobayashi
Publisher Square Enix
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Young Gangan
Original run June 2006 – ongoing
Volumes 6
TV anime
Director Manabu Ono
Studio Gonzo, Picture Magic
Network TV Tokyo
Original run April 6, 2009 – September 28, 2009
Episodes 25 (List of episodes)
Anime and Manga Portal

Saki (咲-Saki-?) is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ritz Kobayashi. The story revolves around a first-year high school girl named Saki Miyanaga who is brought into the competitive world of mahjong by another first-year, Nodoka Haramura. The manga has been serialized in Square Enix's Young Gangan since June 2006 and has been collected into six bound volumes in Japan. A 25-episode anime adaptation by Gonzo aired between April and September 2009 on TV Tokyo.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Saki Miyanaga, a high school first-year student, hates mahjong because her family would always force her to play it and punish her regardless of the outcome of the game. Due to this, she learned how to keep her score at zero, neither winning nor losing. However, her friend Kyōtarō from middle school convinces her to join the school's mahjong club upon entering into high school. After the club discovers her ability, they recruit her and convince her to win instead of breaking even. She easily does so with her skill, leading the team to enter a mahjong tournament so that its members may reach the national competitions.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Saki characters
Saki Miyanaga (宮永 咲 Miyanaga Saki?)
Voiced by: Kana Ueda
Saki Miyanaga is a first-year student and is the titular character of the story. She initially joins the mahjong club so she can reach the Nationals to see her sister, a top-ranked professional mahjong player.[1] She is notorious for her ability to score zero points every round.[2] Her skill primarily comes from her ability to read her opponents and their tiles to see the flow of the game.[3] A mahjong move she favors most is rinshan kaihō and her play is enhanced when barefoot. At the mahjong tournament, she is made the captain of the team.[4] She hopes to progress to the finals to reunite with her older sister. At first she is distant towards Nodoka but over time becomes extremely close to her.
Nodoka Haramura (原村 和 Haramura Nodoka?)
Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu
Nodoka Haramura is a first-year student who attends the same school as Saki and is a member of the mahjong club. She was the previous year's National Middle School Individual Champion.[5] Nodoka always carries her penguin doll, affectionately named Etopen, to give her a sense of calmness when playing mahjong. Her skill, in comparison to Saki's, comes from practicing via online mahjong.[3] She has an ability where she views mahjong tables digitally; this ability ignores other player's presences in the game, giving her an edge against players with an ability to manipulate presence. At the mahjong tournament, she is the vice-captain of the team.[4] Her nickname is "Nodocchi" (のどっち?) (which is same as her screen name in online mahjong) after her play style, quickly and efficiently racking up points as fast as possible.[6] At first she berates Saki for not even trying but afterwards when she does try her hardest, she warms up to her and they become close. She is left-handed.
Yūki Kataoka (片岡 優希 Kataoka Yūki?)
Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya
Yūki is Nodoka Haramura's friend from middle school who is also a member of the mahjong club. She is highly skilled during east hands, though cannot stay focused and makes more mistakes as the game progresses,[7] so she is made the first to play at the mahjong tournament. She is often seen eating tacos, which increases her skill when playing mahjong.[8] Additionally, food with names similar to tacos, like takoyaki can increase her skill partially as well.[9]
Hisa Takei (竹井 久 Takei Hisa?)
Voiced by: Shizuka Itō
Hisa is the head of the mahjong club and the President of the school's Student Congress. Although she does not possess any special ability, her mahjong skills makes up for it. Her main tactic is to hold out until she is waiting for tiles with bad odds, where she feels she has the best chance of winning; Nodoka disapproves of this. She is also skillful at intimidating her opponents into her trap. She is formerly known as Hisa Ueno and once played with Mihoko.
Mako Someya (染谷 まこ Someya Mako?)
Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi
Mako is Hisa's friend, and is also a member of the mahjong club. She grew up near a family owned mahjong parlor, and when she takes her glasses off when playing, she can remember past games she's witnessed to help her win, but has problems with beginner players like Kaori who are hard to read.

[edit] Media

[edit] Manga

Written and drawn by Ritz Kobayashi, the Saki manga series is serialized in Square Enix's biweekly seinen manga magazine, Young Gangan.[10] Serialization began in June 2006 and is still ongoing, with a new chapter in every issue. Square Enix is also collecting the chapters in bound volumes. The first volume was released on December 25, 2006, and as of July 25, 2009, six volumes have been released.[11]

[edit] Anime

See also: List of Saki episodes

An anime adaptation of Saki was announced in the 24th issue of Young Gangan.[12] The series is adapted by Gonzo, directed by Manabu Ono, and written by Tatsuhiko Urahata.[13] From episode fifteen onwards, animation production is done by Picture Magic. On January 31, 2009, a 105-second promotional video began streaming on the anime's official website.[14] The series began airing on April 6, 2009 on TV Tokyo and its affiliate stations.[15] It is also streamed with English subtitles on Crunchyroll.

The series has five pieces of theme music; two opening themes and three ending themes.[16] The first opening theme is "Glossy:MMM" by Miyuki Hashimoto used between episodes 2 and 14; this was also used as the ending theme in episodes 1 and 25. The second opening theme is Bloooomin'" by Little Non used between episodes 15 and 25. The first ending theme is "Netsuretsu Kangei Wonderland" (熱烈歓迎わんだーらんど?) by Kana Ueda, Ami Koshimizu, Rie Kugimiya, Ryōko Shiraishi, and Shizuka Itō used in episodes 2-6, 8-9, and 11-14. The second ending theme is "Zankoku na Negai no Naka de" (残酷な願いの中で?) by Ueda and Koshimizu used in episodes 7, 10, 16, 18 and 22. The third ending theme is "Shikakui Uchū de Matteru yo" (四角い宇宙で待ってるよ?) by Ueda, Koshimizu, Kugimiya, Shiraishi and Itō used in episodes 15, 17, 19-21, 23-24.

[edit] Video games

A mahjong video game was unveiled at the 2009 Tokyo International Anime Fair.[17] Gonzo will collaborate with Sega in developing an arcade mahjong video game based on the series, and will be based on the MJ4 Ver.C network mahjong game.[18] The game will include a Saki Single Mode, where the player can play with Saki characters instead of matching-up with opponents online. Another mahjong video game will be developed by Alchemist for the PlayStation Portable.[19]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Round 2". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
  2. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Chapter 1". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
  3. ^ a b Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Round 6". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
  4. ^ a b Kobayashi, Ritz (2007). "Round 8". Saki, Volume 2. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2019-6. 
  5. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Round 1". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
  6. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2007). "Round 10". Saki, Volume 2. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2019-6. 
  7. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Chapter 2". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
  8. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2007). "Round 14". Saki, Volume 2. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2019-6. 
  9. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2007). "Round 13". Saki, Volume 2. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2019-6. 
  10. ^ "Saki manga official website" (in Japanese). Square Enix. http://www.square-enix.co.jp/magazine/yg/introduction/saki/. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  11. ^ "Goods section at Saki's anime official website" (in Japanese). Gonzo. http://www.saki-anime.com/goods.html. Retrieved 2009-05-02. 
  12. ^ "Saki Mahjong Manga to Get TV Anime from Gonzo in 2009 (Update 2)". Anime News Network. 2008-12-04. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-12-04/saki-mahjong-manga-to-reportedly-get-tv-anime-in-2009. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  13. ^ "Staff and cast at Saki's anime official website" (in Japanese). Gonzo. http://www.saki-anime.com/staff.html. Retrieved 2009-05-02. 
  14. ^ "Saki High School Mahjong Anime's Promo Video Streamed". Anime News Network. 2009-01-31. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-01-31/saki-high-school-mahjong-anime-promo-video-streamed. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  15. ^ "TV Anime Saki Broadcast Information Unveiled! And Also New Character Information!!" (in Japanese). Dengeki Online. 2009-03-06. http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/143/143975/. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  16. ^ "CD goods section at Saki's anime official website" (in Japanese). Gonzo. http://www.saki-anime.com/goods_cd.html. Retrieved 2009-05-02. 
  17. ^ "TAF 2009: Bishojo Mahjong Anime Saki is to come out as a Mahjong Game". Gigazine. 2009-03-18. http://en.gigazine.net/index.php?/news/comments/20090318_saki/. Retrieved 2009-03-19. 
  18. ^ "MJ4 Ver.C's Exhibit at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2009" (in Japanese). Sega. 2009-03-19. http://www.sega-mj.com/mj4/news/news_20090319_3.html. Retrieved 2009-03-19. 
  19. ^ "人気アニメ『咲-Saki-』がPSPのゲームに! 夏コミ・アルケ祭2009 ぷちで発表 [Popular Anime Saki Gets a PSP Game! Summer Comiket / Arukesai 2009 Small Announcement]" (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. 2009-08-17. http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/186/186733/. Retrieved 2009-08-17. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saki_(manga)"