Saki Episode of Side A

After watching the first 12 episodes of Saki Side A, my opinion is that this is like watching a Fanfiction, that wants a different ending. What I mean is from the start the goal is for the girls of Achiga to see and win Nodoka back, and has little to do with Saki at all. This is just like a Fanfiction, that a person writes, visualizing themselves as the Hero who comes in and wins it all in the end, that is the impression I have of this show so far.

Just look at how Saki's team is being portrayed, When we see Hisa, Kiyosumi's Team Captain, and Mako watching the other matches, all three of the first years are not in the room with her. When we first see Saki, instead of the meek girl, she is a strong monster, and her only desire is not to win at the Nationals, but to get her sister back. She no longer seems to hang out with Nodoka and Yuuki at all. The whole impression is one of a team that thinks they are so great as to not need to pay any attention to what is going on with the others teams or if they do show that interest, it's not as a team.
Hisa is not the strong leader she's was in the Saki show but instead is letting them all wander around on their own.

I'm not writing about what most of the other reviews have already covered, so you'll need to read those reviews before you seek out Saki Side A. I totally believe if you've not watched the Saki show, you should watch that show before watching this one.
The only good thing I have to say about Saki Side A, is simply that we get a show that offers a different view of Saki's world.

I've been eager to write this review for days since the semi finals in the national tournament started; however, I thought i'd wait to cast my final opinion until the end of the series. Alas, my opinion has not changed.

I was quite puzzled at first to hear of a spin off series, or rather a "side story," to the Saki Manga/Anime. A proper Saki season 2 is fervently desired after all, but to due the speed of the manga release, I knew that would still need time. Perhaps it would feature one of the already developed schools in the previous series. Yet, to my dismay, a brand new incarnation of a mahjong team is introduced, Achiga Girls, who 3 of the 5 members are childhood friends of Haramura Nodoka yearning to reunite with her at the national tournament.

The main weakness of the show starts right in its very foundation, the characters. I don't even remember all their names; with little reason to. There is minor or no development for most of them. I'm not talking about support characters, I will touch on that later, I'm specifically talking about the main cast of the series, the so called "heroins." As I glance at the poster to my right while writing this review, I almost feel sorry for them.

Minus the Matsumi sisters, specifically Kuro Matsumi, the heroins receive very little love. And perhaps the only reason Kuro received some fleshing out is because she faces up against Teru, Saki's sister from the main series, who's wrath is ominous. The two sisters arguably are the heart of the team, the only characters I grew to care about, but no where the level of any characters from the parent series.

None of the girls also have any "special" or "unnatural" mahjong abilities beside the Mastumi sisters. Even then, it's never feared or glorified to the level of Haramura Nodokas brilliance, Sakis rinshans, Hisa's bad waits, or anything of the parent series. Which adds, in my opinion, a sense of normality to the characters, which can be taken in a two different lights depending on your perspective.

For one, it adds a certain vulnerability to them. Knowing that unlike the parent series, most of the main characters, 3 of them particularly, depend on steady "normal" play. This hurts them in some aspect, too. For me, it added a sense of a benign feeling that I call "The Little Engine That Could." You want them too succeed. However, the national tournament is full of monsters. How can this team survive?

And it's here in the national tournament where everything begins to fall apart. Senriyama, one of the four schools in the semi finals, became a pain in my side. A character name Toki is introduced and, in my honest opinion, because a "Mary Sue" of the series. This girls mahjong ability is by far the most far fetched in both series, the ability to see one turn ahead, later two, then three. That is, if she doesn't kill herself in the process, which I half heartily was hoping she'd fall out of her chair. Seriously. The girl is profoundly annoying.

For some reason that I can't fathom, this one supporting character receives more character development than any of the main characters that it sickened me. Why was Toki being sensationalized so avidly, while the main character sat idle during the match and cried until the very last hand, where she finally received a glimmer of development, fleshing her out some along with the sister due to a flash back.

I contemplated several scenarios whether or not this series was a catalyst or "vessel" for other purposes, since the Achiga girls were left feeling like supporting characters. For example, Saki's sister triumphant reveal, or perhaps the reason for Senriyama and Tokis ludicrous development was that they would be the ones advancing to the final round. But that can't be, can it? They aren't the main characters after all, supposedly anyway.

Unlike the powerhouse parent series that boasted 25 episodes, this series stumbles through 12, with the remaining three to be animated sometime in the future. With the few cameo appearances of the characters from the parent series, though beautifully reanimated in a gorgeous art style-- on technicality this series is 5 stars--it just wasn't enough.

If a fan of the saki series asked me if Episode of Side A was worth giving a try, I'd tell them yes, but not to set the bar high. The popularity and high ratings of Episode of Side A feels, in my opinion, blindly justified, while riding on the succes of the first series. Looking up at 62 5 stars baffles me. This series wasn't great, it wasn't good, but it wasn't utterly bad either. It was just simply disappointing.

I loved the first Saki series. I watched the episodes as they came out; I waited each week for the next episode; and in the end, I found the original 25 episodes to be a satisfying series with well-developed and well-rounded characters, which is what drove the story. Sadly, Saki Episode of Side A skipped character development entirely, and as it is, we get a frustrating and hard to watch series.

If I were just judging on technical merits, this would be a 4 or 5 star show. The animation is crisp, the voice acting is well done, the dialogue is developed, albeit cheesy as it tends to be in sports shows, the music fits the mood, and the craziness of Mahjong in anime form where even if you know how to play the game, it still doesn't make sense are all here. Technically, there should be nothing wrong with this show, but the show lacks a lot of the enjoyment of the original.

Start with the fact that these are not the characters from the original. Of course, it's a spin-off. Fine. I get that. But the original show took 25 episodes to develop many of the characters on the four main teams, including back-story, and here, even the main team is never fleshed out very well. The main five girls are mostly interchangeable, minor quirks aside, none of them ever really become real. This is largely because none of them are ever given any time to develop into real characters. In fact, most of the end of the last four episodes is focused on a girl from a team that is not part of the main cast, in Toki and her ability to see one, then two and finally three moves ahead. The focus on Toki gets annoying as you watch her deteriorate because she is a sickly moe girl and her flashbacks show her in the hospital, a trope that needs to just end. The interchangeable girl from the main team whom she is playing against, and whose name I cannot remember, but she is one of the sisters, just sits there losing and crying about it. The show is trying to ride on cute, where as the original had cute, but it also had fully developed characters.

Where is the strength that we saw in the girls in the first series? Where is the heart? Where is the character development so I can remember these characters names?

It's not here. Instead we get flashback after flashback in a futile attempt to cover more ground than they can in 12 episodes, which ultimately shortchanges the Mahjong awesomeness.

Now, in defense of this show, most of the characters from the original show are here, making cameo spots. That is refreshing because most of the fans loved Saki because of those characters. Additionally, we get some insight into Saki and her hesitation to confront her older sister, who denied her existence at the end of the first series in an interview.

If the pacing and the character development were not so woeful here, or if the studio had given them two seasons instead of one to play this story out, then this show would be solid. As it is, this is a fans only show, and for a dedicated Saki fan like me, watching the last three episodes was torture, and that is probably really coloring my review. There is a ton going on here, but the show utterly fails to develop it and what was my most anticipated show of the season turned out to be the biggest disappointment I have had in what was an otherwise marvelous anime season.

I hope that we get a Saki Season 2 proper, seeing as how there are a lot of hints towards that in this show. Watch this if you are curious, just don't expect perfection.

If you want something light, something fun, yet with a relaxing plot, this is definitely the series for you. The characters each have their own unique personality and sweetness, you will fall in love with them instantly. It is one of those that have unforgettable friendship that makes you tear in your eyes, laugh with them and have sympathy for them when they are in trouble. If you loved Saki, you will definitely love this one.

For all that have watch Saki before seeing this will be mad that it dont have much focus on the mahjong games, it focuses more on the characters. You will also feel that the story is rushed and that it could be much more episodes. That is true for the first 7 episodes, but i don't know how it will be in the later episodes. But despite this, i will say that it is a good show. I recommend it too all that have watch Saki and too those that haven't. But if you are going too watch this i would also recommed to watch Saki first because it is the main story.

Saki A.deals with loads of filler that gives sympathy to the opposing force and large amount of long period of special moves that delay as much as possible.

Everyone has a reason to win, therefore; for some reason the story comes to an halt in order to introduce those unimportant background character. With so much time invested in other background character, the story is should only be 6 or so episode.

After they reach the semi-finals things are taking a real downturn. Flashbacks, flashbacks, flashbacks. Players who can not see only one turn ahead, but two! One player that is impossible to beat, no special reasons given, just that she always does it. Two full episodes on one single game, I'm on the third episode of that game now. This is getting to the point where you fast forward to skip the flashbacks and the superstition to get the five minutes of interesting stuff per episode. Why am I so negative? Because this series started out so great, and they manage to ..... it up co pletely.