 Written by Dai_Loli
Yurumates is the kind of series where you'll be in a roomful of anime fans and you'll be the only one who knows what the hell it is. I'm that one guy. Back when the first of the two Yurumates OVAs came out 3 years ago, I instantly fell in love. Few animes can get me to laugh out loud this often in the course of 40 minutes. I kept it to myself, until I shared it with all my other anime buds all of whom naturally enjoyed it.
 As a testament to its niche factor, the second OVA didn't even get subtitles for months since it practically went under everyone's radar. Fast forward a few weeks ago when Crunchyroll unveils it will be carrying the weekly anime... it gets a lukewarm response, complaints about how the season's picks are deceiving so far and the anime page gets an insulting 27 Facebook Likes.
That's when I NERD RAGED. This will not stand.
Let's give you guys a little primer on Yurumates 3Dei, see if I can spark a little interest for this under appreciated show.
 18-year-old high school graduate Yurume moves into a small apartment complex in the outskirts of Tokyo in the hopes of studying for her entrance exam to get into college. Only problem is the place has a reputation for housing students that keep failing their entrance exam, case in point: her three immediate neighbors are all rōnin, students out of high school who are in limbo between their previous studies and the next level of education, waiting for the year's entrance exams to try their luck at being accepted into college.
 In other words, their current lives are without meaning and they spend their days loitering around in a state of constant poverty and debauchery. Yurume quickly befriends them, or rather, they quickly befriend her, and the anime follows their pointless daily antics. This gathering of poor, young adults wasting away their days having fun together and partying all the time is what gives Yurumates 3Dei its special touch, that homey feeling that makes you fondly remember those days where you should have been doing something more important but just ended up downing a 12-pack of beer with 2 or 3 friends and play board games.
 The characters are very well-suited for this setting as well. Kawano Sae plays the down-to-Earth, playful yet quick-tempered girl with glasses. Matsukichi is the token badly shaved college drop-out who seems to have a talent to be the butt of every joke even though he really isn't any worse than the others. Next comes Tanaka Kumi, a seemingly calm and collected girl with a seriously twisted mind who enjoys messing around with everyone and coming up with the most insane and unexpected quips that clearly makes her stand out as my favorite character. Lastly, Yurume is the glue that ties them all together, the pure, cheerful, innocent young woman that progressively gets tainted by the infectious laid back pace set by her new friends. Now bring all of these goofballs together in the same room, give them some booze and a theme, and they'll be sure to make the next three minutes very enjoyable.
 And that's Yurumates for you. A rare little gem of perfectly timed gags buried among the forgettable mass of comedies. It doesn't even beg for your attention, yet greedily hoards it once it manages to hook you to its charms and makes you wish there would always be more. Now bust out that rōnin spirit and tune in every week for three minutes of aimless fun!
 
 Written by edsamac
It has been a long three years in waiting, and finally we're treated to a continuation of sorts to the loli-charged, eclectic sub-genre of competitive play anime which is Saki. Leave it to the Japanese to turn anything and everything into something interesting - and lest you think Mahjong and little girls were the last thing to cross your mind, consider yourself not alone. Unlike the more natural overtones one would expect from the badassery of past title like Akagi, Saki has a stronger character base that conjures up for itself a whole different level of epicness as one would expect from something as technically immersive as Mahjong. In this respect, Saki Episode Side of A - the side story dubbed "sequel" to the original season that aired three years ago - keeps in line with the same balance of technicality and character focus that the series is known for.
 Saki Episode of Side A takes place in the not-so-distant future, wherein Mahjong has become a widely played "sport" amongst people. With its national-level patronage, intercollegiate tournaments between high schools from all across Japan take place. This season focuses on the girls from Achiga all girl's school and a certain Shizuno Takakamo, who aims to head on to the national tournament in hopes to reunite with Nodoka Haramura whom she met when she was in Junior High School.
 For those who have watched the original season, Saki, the plot setting is familiar. The connection between characters plays less of a trivial role and more of a driving factor that pushes this season, in particular, into becoming more than just a side story. In fact, were it to be a side story of sorts to the history of Nodoka, an OVA would have sufficed. Given we're treated to a whole season talks primarily of the importance of this season. Backed by the fact that it is under the helm of a different animation studio (previously under Gonzo, now under studio Gokumi), it's reassuring to see elements of its original season kept in tact, and the overall consistency of both shows are being taken into account. Rather than rebooting the series, Saki Episode of Side A tries, early on, to establish continuity and consistency, allowing itself to compliment rather than supplant its predecessor in the series.
And this is good news to all Saki fans out there. Not only are we treated to more loli-mahjong action, but we're also treated to a continuation to the storyline in one fell swoop. It's two birds with one stone at this point, so there's no point in complaining about why it's not the Kiyosumi bench we'll be rooting on. In the end, we'll have our cake and eat it, so it's too early to be sour graping on that end.
 Story wise, the first episode is both revealing and highly jam-packed. This goes for the succeeding episodes, as well, for what was covered in 7 or 8 episodes in the original season of Saki was covered in just 3 - yes, THREE - episodes in Saki Episode of Side A. You can look at this in two ways: first, it means that events and character development leads are grossly underplayed. Though the girls of the Achiga all-Girl's High School Mahjong Club are eclectic enough give us an impression on each of them early on, their dynamics and overall identity as a team was sacrificed. Unlike our attachments to the Kiyosumi team from the first season, the Achiga team still feels distant to me - made clear at the fact that it seemed awfully weird to look at Kiyosumi as the "opponent" in this particular show.
The other way to look at it, however, is that the series is focusing more on their exploits in the National championship. It's true that a handful of episodes from the original series tended to dilly-dally on character development plots and fan-service cues, so seeing a more directed mindset this early on in the production of Saki Episode of Side A gives me the sense that the series is making up for lost time given the 3-year hiatus that it had gone through. Will this be at the cost of alienating us from the Achiga team this early on? It's too early to tell, and surely we'll get to know the girls more and more through their actual play during the National tournament.
 But seriously, Saki is the enemy in this season!? It almost broke my heart to see her portrayed as a villain - but I guess that's an interesting twist when we get to see the story from a different point of view. Nevertheless, the technical aspects of mahjong blends smoothly with the cuteness of its characters in an even more balanced fashion than its predecessor. Instead of blatant fan service, we get generous doses of moe coupled with character references to the previous Saki season. It's a well played mix of everything we like in anime and Mahjong. Had it not been too fast-paced in the first few episodes, it may have been just perfect - but chances are, the choice of hurried plot scenarios was in preparation for something big.
 And that something big is certainly something to look forward to. Saki Episode Side A stays true to its roots and builds itself up as more than a supplement to the original series to which it takes its namesake from. As both a supplement AND continuation, we're thrown deeper and deeper into the world of Japanese Mahjong - and hopefully, just as I have fallen in love with Japanese Mahjong, so too will you. Do you need to watch the original season to appreciate this one? I personally recommend you do. Saki Episode of Side A continues the tradition by maintaining a nostalgic sense of its roots, all the while maintaining a certain freshness to the story that adds to the addictive experience of watching.
In the end, you can't blame people for giving you the smirk for finding little girls playing mahjong interesting - but once you understand the spark that makes this series so strangely alluring, you'll be darned for thinking otherwise.
 Written by M.Harajima
Wherever you grew up, there are folktales that are passed down for generations. Part of fully knowing about a culture is knowing these stories. Folktales from Japan are Japanese children stories and it starts off with a very infamous one, Momotaro, but instead of a peach boy, it’s a puppy that grandma finds floating down the river.
 This dog, Shiro, is very loving to grandpa and grandma. He helps grandpa with his work and searches for places to dig where gold just pours out. The dog is so kind that he carries the gold and insists on carrying grandpa back home even though grandpa didn’t want to strain Shiro with too much weight on his back. The selfish neighbors happened to see the gold that Shiro brought grandpa and grandma and wanted some for themselves. Grandpa and grandma agree to lend Shiro to their neighbors but these greedy neighbors treat Shiro poorly ordering him to carry ALL the equipment and ordering Shiro to find them gold.
The neighbors only cared about finding gold, not about Shiro. When Shiro found a spot to dig but there was no gold but rather centipedes, poisonous bugs, and frogs that poured out, they were SO angry that they buried Shiro in the ground. When grandpa and grandma found out, they were so saddened and went to visit Shiro. They were continually blessed with fortunes while the greedy neighbors were handed with just the opposite.
 Folktales from Japan are filled with these types of stories where kindness, honesty, and good-heartedness always prevails teaching us the basic morals in life. It’s nice to watch these stories and learn a bit more about the Japanese culture. It comes at a good time, a year after the devastating earthquake/tsunami in Tohoku and a time to reflect on being good people that will eventually be blessed in ways you can’t image. Those who risked their lives to save people during the devastation shows the weight that these Japanese folktales have played in the character development of the people of Japan.
The good-heartedness, resilience, and optimism is present even in times of extreme despair. We can all learn from watching these children’s stories on Folktales from Japan.
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