Readers’ Pick: Saki Achiga-hen – Episode of Side-A – Episode 1
Posted: April 14, 2012 Filed under: Animu, Readers' Pick of the Season, Saki Achiga-hen - Episode of Side-A | Tags: Readers' Pick of the Season, Saki Achiga-hen - Episode of Side-A 10 Comments »
In a sudden surge of votes that totally wasn’t a conspiracy, Saki barely pushed past Eureka Seven AO and Sengoku Collection to win the poll for this season.
So now I have to write about it for each episode.
What the hell am I supposed to write? I barely know anything about the Saki series, let alone mahjong. I don’t know if any of these characters were in the main show, or what the timeline is, or any of that. So instead you guys are getting pure, unfiltered thoughts from a guy with absolutely no background for any of this being thrown into it.
Insightful thoughts such as:
HOLY SHIT, WHY ARE MADOKA’S SHIZU’S PANTS SO SHORT IT LOOKS LIKE SHE’S NEVER WEARING ANY? 
DAT CG GAMBLING MAHJONG ROOM. 
LESBIANS. 
LESBIANS: PAEDOPHILIA EDITION. 
HOW CAN SHE STILL PLAY MAHJONG? THOSE THINGS PROBABLY WEIGH MORE THAN HER. TALK ABOUT BACK PROBLEMS.
And honestly, those were probably some of my more sophisticated thoughts throughout the episode. Since I knew nothing about anything going into this episode, I just had to turn my brain off as I mostly watched underage girls play mahjong, occasionally in CG.
I guess I could say I liked the spunky lead, Victorique Shizu. It’s actually been a while since I’ve seen a “FRIENDSHIP IS POWER” lead, and Iris Shizu seems to be one of those types. Did people win mahjong in the main series through the power of friendship?
I mean I can’t even begin to talk about character relations, motivations or anything fancy like that, because it feels like any of that is just a front so they could make a show about mahjong. It’s the same idea as Yu-Gi-Oh!, or Phi Brain, or whatever. Sacrificing pretty much any depth so everything could be focused on the games themselves. It’s not a bad strategy, because it clearly has been shown to work, but these types of shows aren’t going to get anywhere near the popularity of stuff like Death Note or Baccano.
So I guess this won’t exactly be a painful Reader’s Pick to get through, but it’s never going to become a favourite or…
OH MY SHIT IS THAT A MONOCLE?
ANIME OF THE CENTURY.
>HOLY SHIT, WHY ARE MADOKA’S SHIZU’S PANTS SO SHORT IT LOOKS LIKE SHE’S NEVER WEARING ANY?
She’s not, welcome to the world of Saki. You will never get a panty shot, because they dont exist in this show.
>DAT CG GAMBLING MAHJONG ROOM.
DAT CG MAHJONG HANDS.
>LESBIANS.
In abundance.
>HOW CAN SHE STILL PLAY MAHJONG? THOSE THINGS PROBABLY WEIGH MORE THAN HER. TALK ABOUT BACK PROBLEMS.
Nodoka’s trademark feature in the series.
>Did people win mahjong in the main series through the power of friendship?
No, just plain unfilthered and broken hax mahjong DBZ powerlevels.
Well, all I can say now is….enjoy it, I know I will!
Let me add to this…
>I just had to turn my brain off as I mostly watched underage girls play mahjong
You are doing it RIGHT already, good job.
>but these types of shows aren’t going to get anywhere near the popularity of stuff like Death Note or Baccano.
Yet I’ve had just as much fun watching this as when I watched those.
I don’t know. These matches better be really damn entertaining if they hope to beat my DEEP favourite shows.
If you had told me there were monocles in Saki I wouldn’t have put this episode off for as long as I did.
Reading your reactions to this spin-off made me laugh since so many of them were things I took for granted from the parent story. Nodoka’s boobs are famous among her enemies, and it cracked me up seeing her have them even as an elementary student.
As for friendship and yuri love, both are huge motivators for these games in Saki. I take great pleasure in seeing your reaction to how they set up the games if it’ll be anything like the original. Think over-the-top and suspend your disbelief :p
Are we talking Yu-Gi-Oh! over the top or Legend of Koizumi over the top?
Even though you had some suspicion regarding the results, I’m glad to see another person viewing this series. This was primarily an episode to establish our new characters and where they fell in the overall universe of Saki. Fun and crazy mahjong antics await in future episodes. (Slightly exaggerated example: http://youtu.be/Ut77kfOXUQ4)
I watched the first series without knowing anything about mahjong and that’s fine. The only point you need to keep in mind is that some of the hands that will happen are severely rare in real life. Vastly entertaining, but completely unrealistic.
I am eager to see your reactions to future episodes.
So then Yu-Gi-Oh! levels of over the top? Too bad, seeing girls pull of Legend of Koizumi levels of over the top would have been badass.
I see the hating on Eureka Seven AO continues. Not only does no one pick it up for simulcast but Riyoga won’t blog about it! Bastards.
Blame Game8910. He totally sabotaged the polls. Though of course there’s a chance the coin flip would have had me blogging Sengoku Collection.