NKDS

Lousy quality picture, but the moe more than makes up for it.

I was napping when dodgethis_sg called me on my handphone and told me that Saki was going to be animated. In my semi-delirious state, I immediately began fantasizing about how hot an animated Nodoka-chan would be, but that image had no voice so I asked for the seiyuu cast. The news got even better when dodgethis_sg rattled off the names in quick succession, good enough for me to get off my bed and type up this post as a way of celebration.

First, a bit of background information on the manga. Saki is about a girl called Saki Miyanaga, the unwitting mahjong genius who stumbles into her school’s mahjong club and is eventually fired up to enter the national tournaments. Of course she meets strong opponents along the way, but hey, what’s a good competition-based manga without dramatic matches?

At one point of time I could not figure out if I was reading this for the Nodoka and Saki moe or for the mahjong action, then I realized I knew absolutely nothing about mahjong. I’m trying to learn through Saki though. Let’s hope I don’t lose my New Year money next year.

So, the cast of the anime, along with a brief introduction of the characters:

Kana Ueda: Saki Miyanaga – (Brown-haired girl in front, holding a tile) - The heroine of the story, a mahjong genius who specialized in breaking even her score so that she would neither win nor lose in pointage. Traditional game players will know how hard it is to maintain a consistent result across multiple games, but this girl is strong enough to replicate the feat across 3 consecutive games of mahjong. In the first chapter, no less.

Ami Koshimizu: Nodaka Haramura – (Pink-haired girl holding a penguin) – My personal favourite, she was the best player in the school mahjong club before Saki came along. A girl with a well-developed body and an even bigger desire for victory, she initially disliked Saki but came to see her as a training partner whom she eventually gets along with. She has a penguin plushie that she hugs in important mahjong games and in her sleep. Apparently the penguin helps to cut down the number of mistakes she makes in her games, greatly improving her play. I wonder what’s the significance of that.

Rie Kugimiya: Yuki Kataoka – The loli of the group, yet famed for her fast and aggressive tactics. She has to play that way, since she has a short concentration span which will cause her performance to drop as a game drags on. Cheerful and always happy, she gets high on taco, and has been known to use taco as a performance booster during mahjong games. She has claimed Nodoka as her wife, but Nodoka herself does not seem too enthusiastic with that claim.

Ryoko Shiraishi: Mako Someya –  (The one wearing glasses) – Honestly, not much to say about her. She is the sempai of the mahjong club, is evidently competent in the game since she demolished her opponents in an inter-school match, but does not make much appearances, at least up to where I read the manga.

Shizuka Itou: Hisa Takei - (The girl right at the back) – She is the president of the Mahjong Club, and president of the school council at the same time. No slouch in her own club, she has been known to win by using cheap hands. Think of it as winning by common and uncommon cards, in Magic: The Gathering terms. Hisa is also the tactician of the group, dictating everything from orders of battle to training regimes.

Jun Fukuyama: Kyotaro Suga - (Not in picture) - ZEROOOOOOOOO! Wait, wrong anime… anyway, this is the culprit responsible for bringing Saki into the mahjong club.  Not much to say about him at this point of time, and who needs Lelo…I mean, a guy in an anime dominated by moe girls anyway. Such is the fate of a side character, I guess.

I will smash my moniter if they try something funny between Nodoka and Kyotaro though, considering who their seiyuus’ voiced in some very recent series.

To end off the article, here’s a nice page from the manga scanlations. Mako-sempai is responsible for this; come to think of it, this might well be her main claim to fame…

Meido-moe mahjong for the win.  

I hope this small extract has inspired you to at least check out the manga. I will be heading down to my local bookstore to buy whatever has been released by the Taiwanese manga translation companies so far. It’s worth it.

Credits to ANN for first reporting the news.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.