Noobert

I should start off by saying that this isn't what I expected it to be, it was a lot more. I gave it a 6.8 but that was for a number of reasons. Animes like Saki have been around for ages, mahjong was just another way to spice it up. For example Beyblades, Yu-gi-oh, Battle B-Daman, to name a few, which doesn't help for originality points. However the fact that it was mahjong and was the first mahjong based anime I have watch left it feeling quiet different and was enjoying to watch.. and also made me want to learn mahjong (which I did). I would recommend having at least a basic understanding of mahjong before watching, unlike me and having to guess what the hell was happening every time they started playing.

A brief synopsis is that a girl named Saki is kinda pressured into a least seeing the mahjong club, since she is a fairly good player. Upon seeing her talent at getting scores of + or - 0 each game (which is harder then actually winning) the mahjong club seek to enlist her so they can prepare for an upcoming tournament. After some deliberation and some initial resentment from Saki, she eventually joins and helps them in competing for the Mahjong nationals, all while slowly building up a relationship with the originally resentful Nodoka (pink hair).

The plot was quite predictable but was picked up by the slight romance aspect, even if it was shojou~ai. Although don't be turned off by this, there is no actual pairing and so little shojou~ai i wouldn't even classify it as one. The powers and such that were put in place to spice it up seem a bit farfetched but somehow flowed with story and didn't seem too out of place, although one person in particulars power was a little bit OP but that would be going into spoiler territory.

Now I have to add animation sound and the rest because apparently if I don't I'm being bais towards story. Not that I watch anime for the sound or animation but I suppose it does help probably ALOT, So I shall add it in. Animation and effects were well done and everything seems crisp, there were a few cheap scenes were minimal animation and chibi's were used but that added to the appeal of the anime. I especially liked the over the top aura and magic effects, which ofc all mahjong players must learn before entering tournaments. Music played a big role in this anime with all of the background music heightening the feelings received from certain scenes, although this is imminent in most anime Saki managed to pull of most moment with an upbeat and face paced electronic/technoy beat. However most of the background music was just average and didn't really stand out, however the openings and endings is what really gave it that extra + to its score.

Not much to say on saki but if your a game based anime enthusiast, like mahjong or wouldn't mind a piece of shojou~ai then Saki is a nice anime to watch. I was contemplating re-watching after I learnt mahjong (because it was good enough to re-watch again), however recent news of a season 2 for Saki has left me waiting instead. (Hopefully more romance and shojou~ai in the next season hey ;P)

I might have been a bit hard on Saki, it has been a while since I watched it so the after feeling of epicness that I may or may not have gotten from it might not be there so I might give it a 7.1 or so but I can only guide and any views on Saki is just my personal opinion.