chester48 - 2014-05-28 14:29:19

Introduction: Because this is a “Random Button Project”, I did not watch the prequels and such. The good side here is it’s a spin-off so all is well, anyways now to the review.

Story: It is about a group of girls, Shizuno, Ako, and Nodoka (and also Kuro), who have the passion of playing Mahjong. They were all together until the Achiga Girls’ Mahjong club disbanded and Nodoka and Ako transferred to different schools. One day Shizuno saw Nodoka topped the National middle school individual division a year after, and then she decides to revive the Mahjong club and enter the finals hoping to meet Nodoka again.

Character: Since this the spin-off featuring Nodoka’s past friends reaching for her (even though I have not watched the original anime) I can only give a fu- I mean, review about how they handle the character development a.k.a. Yuri bond and their backstory.

The problem (or the uniqueness) handling the character development is that they seem to be concentrating on every other interesting opponents/side-characters in the Nationals because their backstories where shown. Also the pacing was not good, considering it went rushed focusing on the Nationals match.

Animation: The animation when the Mahjong match is intense! While the Art is good enough, the 3D used is great that. Although the overly intense actions with flashing superpowers made me laugh sometimes because... I find it absurd to watch Mahjong with magic powers and stuff but if that was the case, it might be boring so I’ll just let it slip by.

Sound Quality: The music is good, but the BGM played when the battle begins is better! Other than that, the OPs are not much appealing but the EDs are ok in my case.

Entertainment: I might have a little experience in playing Mahjong but this anime has entertained me with their matches, but in terms of their training and character development, it was a bit so-so but they manage to pull it out in the nationals match.

To be honest, it had an uninteresting start due to being, well… unentertaining and generic at first because I was expecting a practice match and all but it was until the Nationals match that made me hooked. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable the watch.

Overall: This anime is enjoyable but it's not the hidden gem I seek.
(Maybe if I watch the original, I might be)
Also, this anime doesn’t feel complete as its own without the anime special (literally).

kuhn.henriette - 2014-03-13 01:43:25

Story: The Achiga Girls' Academy in Nara once defeated regional mahjong powerhouse Bansei High School. It advanced into the national team semifinals but lost to the eventual champion, and the mahjong club was later disbanded. Six years later, elementary school student Shizuno Takakamo befriends transfer student Nodoka Haramura. The two eventually enter Achiga Girls', but Nodoka transfers out of the school in the second year. When Shizuno sees Nodoka on television the following year as the national middle school individual mahjong champion, she decides to revive Achiga's mahjong club (Source: this site here)

Pros: I like the premise of the story, finding out about one of the main characters in the original Saki show [Nodoka's] backstory as to how she loved mahjong seems like a promising... thing. I also like the designs on the characters much like in the original, and not to mention the protagonist in the original is now the antagonist in this one, that to me is hilariously ironic... or is it tragic? I duuno.

Cons: The. pacing. is. awful. I cannot believe they would screw something like this up. The first episode shows Nodoka's life, showing that she'd be the main lead in this. Then she leaves and her annoying friend is the lead instead. Whoopee. And so some episodes show them deciding to go to get the mahjong tournament back and compete for the nationals.

Now in the original it shows how long it would take to get to something so grand like the nationals and it takes them about 15 episodes of slow paced action (and also time to develop the characters) before they eventually get to the nationals in the sequel. How long for them to get there in this one? 2 episodes. Yeah, there is no pacing, we never see the characters interact and breathe like in the original and we just see them in small clips of them getting ready to the pre tourney, doing it (which lasts for three minutes by the way... WHAT???), and then relax. That is it. Then nationals. Wasn't the sequel supposed to clarify and show them doing the nationals? What is the point for this then? Sigh... I don't want to be spoiled so I won't go into anymore detail in the future episodes since I have not seen them at all.

The characters aren't worth talking about since we almost never see them interact or actually DO anything at all and the music is generic and lame compared to the original :<

Overall: Wasted, wasted, wasted. This spin off is a disgrace to the original and it gives it a bad name. I would not recommend it, just watch the original and its sequel instead(or the manga, maybe it gets a better pace than the anime, who knows).

Thanks for looking at my sixth review~