hontou ni
10Apr/095

Saki expectation management session one

Even if the considerable buzz around Saki didn't get me started on this series, the Shizu-sama Doctrine would have. Nonetheless some of the issues raised certainly sound prescient and might be useful in managing my expectations.

On the issue of GONZO, Aroduc grudgingly gives credit. Like Kurogane, I'm still 'having reservations' but not WRT animation QUALITY (glad to read that the first episode is faithful to the anime BTW). I was worried about GONZO possibly flubbing the ending but re-reading Stripey's Heaven or Hell post, he identified their weakness as character development. Perhaps it's more of a problem with male than female cast members?

Kuro and Washi both make comparisons with Akagi. I haven't seen that one; the finger-chopping premise bothered me somewhat but, in the end, it was down to the lack of pretty girls. And yuri. I wonder if they'll manage to work any Akagi references into Saki though.

And, of course, comparisons to Hikaru no Go have been made by Seinime and jaalin but omisyth explains quite succinctly why the comparison is not tenable: Hikaru started out at zero, Saki does not; the audience could learn Go alongside Hikaru.

But I'm guessing that either it's assumed that Saki's audience already knows mahjong or that it doesn't really matter. Kabitzin belongs to the latter camp. Washi's clearly in the former and seems to be getting better mileage; I play the game but have no knowledge of the Japanese scoring system.

I'm curious to see how this will develop (for manga spoilers in comments, please use the spoiler tags). If Saki's role in the series to keep her score at zero (and possibly benefit Nodoka in competitions), then the problem would be getting her to join and to keep playing. But that might get angsty and boring quite quickly. It'll probably be more my cup of tea if the gang tries to open up Saki to the possibility of using her skills and talent to try to win. Lelangir is not optimistic on this front. Character development? THIS. IS. GONZO!!!

But actually, expectations managed, I'd be completely happy with this series if we get a regular dose of Saki x Nodoka yuri rabu rabu fanservice in each episode. :3

Related posts:

  1. Saki 14-16
  2. Saki 11-13
  3. Saki Review

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  1. Nazarielle
    April 11th, 2009 - 07:40

    Hmm.. well, I’d kinda agree with Kabitzin. You don’t really need to have that much knowledge of mahjong to enjoy the show. Of course, I’m biased because I wanted to love it from the start, but I’ll see what the next episode is like. I went into the first episode knowing nothing about mahjong, but now I actually have a basic idea of the flow of the game, I just don’t know much about scoring. But I think that’s really all you need, they do a good job of actually explaining the scoring as they’re going along.

    Like you, I’m sorta wondering where this will go as well. I’m not sure if Saki keeping her score at 0 would help or hurt her teammates or those she plays against. Either way though, I’m still going to love it, just because I want to :D

    Totally random off topic note, since you seem to be a rather big fan of Itou Shizuka, have you seen the Hatsukoi Limited ‘episode 00′? From what I watched, it looked like just a get together of some of the cast (mainly featuring Itou Shizuka and another girl who I didn’t recognize). You might want to check it out if that’s your thing. Although, I doubt anyone will sub it :<

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  3. Washi
    April 11th, 2009 - 10:33

    Nice summary of opinions :)

    If you already play Mahjong, I’d really reccommend just breifly reading about the Japanese version, Reach Mahjong. It really is the best version of rules.

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  4. Zyl
    April 12th, 2009 - 10:22

    @ Nazarielle

    Thanks for the heads up on Hatsukoi. But my Jp is not really good enough for BAD ASS RAW WATCHING so I’ll have to hold off for now.

    @ Zeroblade

    Thanks! :D

    @ Washi

    I’ve been reading Delfosse’s webpage – any recommendations?

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  5. Stripey
    April 12th, 2009 - 22:16

    Ah GONZO. The studio I love to hate though I have somewhat recalibrated my assessment of their works since Seto no Hanayome. Nowadays I preferred to go down to the director/series composer resolution for a better forecast of the series.

    Saki is put together by the person also did Ichigo 100% and some other those series which you have seen and thus would be a better judge of his/her ability. Of course, you know my experience with Ichigo 100%. :)

    The choice of director is somewhat more comforting since he was the episode director of eps 3 and 15 of Mai HiME which I enjoyed very much. Hopefully he brings that same flair to Saki.

    ( REPLY )

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