(CR) Saki Zenkoku-hen (National Tournament Arc)

[The Green One]

The semifinals will probably be covered in spread out extra episodes like achiga did.

[teja208]

Originally Posted by Om Nerabdator

well, get used to it, with the ultra slow pace the manga is going expect alot of drawn out battles and new scenes, im guessing all the flashbacks to other minor characters will last a long time

Additional flashbacks? I'm ok with that. Ritz said she always want to give every team more proper background if not because lack of time. If anything, I'm more worried they'll cram and rush things like in Achiga.

[Master_Yoma]

Yaaa its back and with Saki getting lost again and magic towels to

[liro]

Images

Tanoshii Zenkoku-hen e01 JIF

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

They actually used the exact same frames from her appearance in Achiga-hen, by the way.

Hmm, I recall she had a name. Might have to double-check when I get home.

Mayuko Tajihi from Shouan girls academy, West Tokyo. Poor girl.

[teja208]

*sigh* I really don't like how Main and Side story keep spoiling each other in the anime. Manga is better at covering them up, but anime producers seem to just want to throw them out to keep experienced viewers' tongue-in-check: hay fans, have you watch/read Achiga-hen yet?

[relentlessflame]

I think at this point is quite safe to assume that anyone watching this anime season has or should have already seen both the first season and Achiga-hen. Even if it's a "side-story", there will be very few Saki anime fans who for some reason completely avoided it. So I do think they are going to play the chronology a bit differently for that reason, and it doesn't count as "spoilers" even if it may have in the manga world.

That aside, I would like to ask as always that all manga comparisons be kept completely behind properly-labelled spoiler tags, because I don't want to see it or read it, even if you think it isn't important or is just a "hint".

[Myssa Rei]

Especially when Zenkoku-hen and Achiga's timelines actually OVERLAP at places -- see Saki's encounter with Achiga this episode, which happened in Achiga as well. So it's kind of unavoidable.

[The Green One]

They don't just overlap at places, they're happening completely simultaneously. It's just a matter of who's POV we're looking through at the time.

[Qilin]

If there's one thing that will get me back to posting here regularly, it's another season of Saki. Cheers!

I just want to say that no matter how much the show wants to portray Shizuno as a monster player, it just isn't working with me. She'll always be that mountain monkey we all love (or, more likely, hate).

[King-Slayer]

Originally Posted by Qilin

If there's one thing that will get me back to posting here regularly, it's another season of Saki. Cheers!

I just want to say that no matter how much the show wants to portray Shizuno as a monster player, it just isn't working with me. She'll always be that mountain monkey we all love (or, more likely, hate).

Well it just doesn't make sense at the point they did it. When Saki crossed their path they were not anywhere near as decent as they were during the semi-finals. The team they shown got beat down by 90,000 pts! They then got trashed by Kiyosumi's friends. Not even Ryuumonbuchi got that "demon" aura when Saki walked by them in the first anime and they were and probably still are loads better than Achiga.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I so want to like this show. I like yuri. I like the characters. I love many of the voices. I came to this season with my hopes refreshed, after dropping all previous seasons part-way through. But I couldn't even get through one episode. So ponderously slow. Too many frames have no real significance, either of story or of emotion. At least that's how it seemed to me.

[Qilin]

Originally Posted by King-Slayer

Well it just doesn't make sense at the point they did it. When Saki crossed their path they were not anywhere near as decent as they were during the semi-finals. The team they shown got beat down by 90,000 pts! They then got trashed by Kiyosumi's friends. Not even Ryuumonbuchi got that "demon" aura when Saki walked by them in the first anime and they were and probably still are loads better than Achiga.

It probably makes more sense if you view it as Saki sensing their hidden mahjong potential regardless of their performance so far. I get what the show is trying to do, but it's just that I can't see it because lol Shizuno.

[Triple_R]

I like Saki a lot. The original Saki is one of my all-time favorite anime. So I was very much looking forward to Saki Zenkoku-hen. And there was a lot in this first episode to like (nice character designs, good interactions between Saki and Nodoka and Tacos, good handling of Saki's skirt-change, etc...).

But Saki is starting to make me think that you really can get too much of a good thing. Can you have too many characters, even if almost all of them are good and well-developed? I'm starting to think so.

The focus in this first episode is just divided way too many ways, leaving the episode feeling a bit discombobulated. And even if all of these characters are wrote well, with strong detailed backstories, it just starts to seem a bit too much. At least to me.

I think Ritz's approach is great when you have 4 teams of 5 (and a hanger-on or two for each team) spread out over 2 cours. Fleshing out virtually every member of those 4 teams is difficult, but feasible. It is possible to do this while Saki's team manages to still feel like "main protagonists" giving the narrative a good sense of cohesion and forward momentum.

But this is just Episode 1, and I've already lost track of the different teams and characters involved. It is utterly overwhelming. And with only a cour to work with, it probably won't improve.

I still like Saki, but it really is running into the same problem that Nanoha did - Sheer number of characters, all presented as though you should care about all of them.

[Kanon]

Saki is not wearing short skirts anymore. DROPPED!

Nah, I'm just kidding, but I am seriously displeased by this. Saki isn't Saki if I can't get a glimpse of her butt every episode. What next, they're going to make her wear panties?

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I like Saki a lot. The original Saki is one of my all-time favorite anime. So I was very much looking forward to Saki Zenkoku-hen. And there was a lot in this first episode to like (nice character designs, good interactions between Saki and Nodoka and Tacos, good handling of Saki's skirt-change, etc...).

But Saki is starting to make me think that you really can get too much of a good thing. Can you have too many characters, even if almost all of them are good and well-developed? I'm starting to think so.

The focus in this first episode is just divided way too many ways, leaving the episode feeling a bit discombobulated. And even if all of these characters are wrote well, with strong detailed backstories, it just starts to seem a bit too much. At least to me.

I think Ritz's approach is great when you have 4 teams of 5 (and a hanger-on or two for each team) spread out over 2 cours. Fleshing out virtually every member of those 4 teams is difficult, but feasible. It is possible to do this while Saki's team manages to still feel like "main protagonists" giving the narrative a good sense of cohesion and forward momentum.

But this is just Episode 1, and I've already lost track of the different teams and characters involved. It is utterly overwhelming. And with only a cour to work with, it probably won't improve.

I still like Saki, but it really is running into the same problem that Nanoha did - Sheer number of characters, all presented as though you should care about all of them.

This is the reason the manga lost me.

Spoiler for Feelings on the manga, no actual spoilers:

The number of characters is absolutely overwhelming (~170 named characters in the wiki, some of them are from Achiga though). After a while I was totally lost, I didn't know the name of half the characters playing in the tournament and eventually I stopped caring about them altogether. The fact I didn't find a single character that was as endearing as the ones from the preliminaries didn't help either. This is why I like side of A better, Senriyama was a pretty damn good team compared to the other ones competing in the nationals. I even rooted for them over Achiga...

I'm only watching this season for the mahjong, the seiyuus, and the fanservice. The only match I care about is the final against Shiraitodai and Achiga, but we won't reach it this season.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Saki is not wearing short skirts anymore. DROPPED!

Nah, I'm just kidding, but I am seriously displeased by this. Saki isn't Saki if I can't get a glimpse of her butt every episode.

I also prefer Saki in a short-skirt. My reasons are similar to yours, but a bit different. I think that Saki's legs are her best feature when it comes to physical attractiveness, so covering them up seems a bit
counter-intuitive to me. Plus, the short-skirt look makes me think "spunky surprising newcomer" whereas long-skirt makes me think "seasoned veteran".

But oh well, at least the animators had fun while they could. It was clear they decided to get cheeky with Saki two or three times in this episode.

This is the reason the manga lost me.

Spoiler for Feelings on the manga, no actual spoilers:

The number of characters is absolutely overwhelming (~170 named characters in the wiki, some of them are from Achiga though). After a while I was totally lost, I didn't know the name of half the characters playing in the tournament and eventually I stopped caring about them altogether. The fact I didn't find a single character that was as endearing as the ones from the preliminaries didn't help either. This is why I like side of A better, Senriyama was a pretty damn good team compared to the other ones competing in the nationals. I even rooted for them over Achiga...

Toki/Ryuuka is a pretty tough combo to top. Toki, in particular, is a very good character, particularly because of her very neat Mahjong hax ability. Its thankfully less extremely specialized than those of many of the other competitors, lol.

In fairness to Ritz, I am impressed at how she's managed to design so many characters that each don't seem too outlandish in their appearance, yet they all manage to stand out at least a little bit. Still, at some point, sheer numbers really does get overwhelming.

Of the new girls, I think the one I like the best is this really tall girl that we meet along with the first team showcased in this episode. Her attire reminds me vividly of The Undertaker of pro wrestling fame. But her voice and mannerisms are incredibly moe at the same time! So I think I'll call her Moetaker.

The only match I care about is the final against Shiraitodai and Achiga, but we won't reach it this season.

The show might make me care about a couple of the new girls, but yeah, the final is definitely what I'm most interested in. Teasing the audience so much with anticipation for Achiga vs. Kiyosumi, and Teru vs. Saki, might not have been the best call if the narrative also wants us to care a lot about the obstacles that have to be overcome to reach these matches.

[Myssa Rei]

Wait you guys are overwhelmed now? We haven't even seen most of the Individual-only participants yet.

[ZodiacBeast]

I do think that one of Saki's weaknesses is having and focusing on waaay too many characters AND 99.9% of them have to have some sort of supernatural ability or luck.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

Wait you guys are overwhelmed now? We haven't even seen most of the Individual-only participants yet.

I was actually thinking the same thing!

Esp since (I am guessing here) it may be the Individuals where Teru and Saki go head to head....

[Proto]

waaay too many characters

pffft

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=1786

Casuals.

[Myssa Rei]

I think I can pretty much name most of the participants in the Nationals barring Usuzan's members (and only because they've been barely introduced in the manga), on top of the adult pros.

I think the Legend of Galactic Heroes, Touhou, and Kantai Collection are EXCELLENT media for getting used to Cast Herds. Compared to those, Saki's cast list is child's play.