History Manga / Saki

''Saki'' is an ongoing 2006 manga written and illustrated by Ritz Kobayashi under Creator/SquareEnix's ''Young Gangan'' compilation, based around the game of {{TabletopGame/mahjong}}, with two anime adaptations by Creator/{{GONZO}} and Creator/StudioGokumi (the latter as ''Saki: Zenkoku-hen'' ["The Nationals"]). The anime has been licensed by Crunchyroll and can be viewed for free on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/saki their site]] (unless you're in Japan).

Besides the main manga, ''Saki'' also has four spinoff comics -- ''[[Manga/{{Saki Achiga-hen}} Achiga-hen -episode of Side A-]]'' ("Achiga's Story" / 2011-2013, illustrated by Aguri Igarashi, mangaka of ''Manga/BambooBlade''), which focuses on Nodoka's childhood friends from Achiga Girls' Academy in Nara Prefecture who are gunning for the Nationals for the first time in ten years, hoping to play with Nodoka again; ''Biyori'' (since 2011, illustrated by Saya Kiyoshi) and its follow-up ''Biyori -- Otona no Maki'' ("Adults' Story"), a pair of 4-koma gag strips focused on the hijinks of the various major teams; and ''[[Manga/SakiShinohayuDawnOfAge Shinohayu -the dawn of age-]]'', which focuses on the generation that produced some of the pros of the current timeline -- IdolSinger Hayari Mizuhara, color commentator Risa Noyori, Team Achiga adviser (and alumna) Harue Akado, and multiple-time world champion Sukoya Kokaji, as well as Hayari's old teammates Shino Shiratsuki and Kanna Ishitobi.

See also ''{{Manga/Fatalizer}}'', another manga by Ritz.

** Hayari Mizuhara suggests Usuzan is a strong newcomer to the tournament, but its players have lost so many points that the main question, in-universe and among fans, is whether they'll even make it through the Lieutenant match, much less whether they have any hope of recovery.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Nary a harsh feeling from the lambasted. Represented best by Team Tsuruga's Yumi, who even provided data of potential Nationals opponents for Team Kiyosumi, which she spent months collecting.

* EnemyEatsYourLunch: Jun eats Yuuki's taco at the start of their match. Luckily Mihoko was there with her takoyaki as a backup.

* ImprobablyFemaleCast: Justified, as the male and female tournaments are separated, and Kyoutaro, the only consistently-appearing male character, [[EpicFail fails miserably in the boys' individuals]]. Given that the main character is a girl, it makes sense they'd focus on the girls' tournament and its all-female CastHerd. Even [[WordOfGod a blog post by Kobayashi]] states that the current boys' champion is on the level of Izumi, Vanguard of Team Senriyama, who in her match actually ''lost'' several points -- implying that the boys' tournament is not as interesting as the girls' version.

* MoodWhiplash: Near the end of Season 1 Episode 20, there's some relatively lighthearted shots of the teams getting ready to enter the individuals, with the first ending theme playing. Then the scene cuts to Team Shiraitodai, fresh off brutally beating the opposition, with Teru publicly denying any relationship to Saki to national media. Then the scene shifts back to the pool, with Kiyosumi playing around and Saki hoping to see Teru again.

** Ryuumonbuchi was ''the'' team to beat in Nagano, composed of handpicked players that qualified for the Nationals on their first try, including a monster-level player who badly defeated Kazekoshi last year. Apart from Koromo, however, its members don't really put much of a show when they ''actually'' play, particularly Touka, whose bullheaded insistence at aping Nodoka's style actually does her more harm than good.

** Senriyama was said to have some of the best point-gatherers in Japan. While both Sera and Hiroko performed decently, everyone else unwittingly sabotaged their chances to eke a win -- Toki forewent point-farming just to give Teru the proverbial middle finger, and Izumi's misplaced pride in her abilities blinded her to the fact that she's ''easy pickings'' for the third-years she was pitted against. And their ''supposedly'' best player, Ryuuka, showed none of her capabilities in the manga, becoming overly reliant on Toki's loaned foresight to even get a score. [[spoiler:No wonder the poor girl was last seen a disconsolate, tearful mess after they end up dead last.]]

As she eventually confides to Nodoka, her dislike of mahjong stems (and her ±0 style) from years of having to bear with a family who were sore losers and arrogant winners. And with Nodoka's encouragement, Saki vows to join the 71st Inter-High National Mahjong Championship, hoping to one day see again her estranged older sister Teru.

Besides the main manga, ''Saki'' also has four spinoff comics -- ''[[Manga/{{Saki Achiga-hen}} Achiga-hen -episode of Side A-]]'' ("Achiga's Story" / 2011-2013, illustrated by Aguri Igarashi [''Manga/BambooBlade'']), which focuses on Nodoka's childhood friends from Achiga Girls' Academy in Nara Prefecture who are gunning for the Nationals for the first time in ten years, hoping to play with Nodoka again; ''Biyori'' (since 2011, illustrated by Saya Kiyoshi) and its follow-up ''Biyori -- Otona no Maki'' ("Adults' Story"), a pair of 4-koma gag strips focused on the hijinks of the various major teams; and ''[[Manga/SakiShinohayuDawnOfAge Shinohayu -the dawn of age-]]'', which focuses on the generation that produced some of the pros of the current timeline -- IdolSinger Hayari Mizuhara, color commentator Risa Noyori, Team Achiga adviser (and alumna) Harue Akado, and multiple-time world champion Sukoya Kokaji, as well as Hayari's old teammates Shino Shiratsuki and Kanna Ishitobi.

** ''Zenkoku-hen'' Episode 13 adds a scene where Yuuki and Nodoka encounter Team Shindouji's Kirame, their senior during their days at Takatobara Junior High, to whom Yuuki delivers her tacos. [[spoiler:The scene then cuts to another scene shown at the ending of ''Achiga-hen'' (both the manga and the anime) where she is seen handing the same tacos to the rest of her teammates, still mourning over their semifinals exit.]]

* TheWorfEffect: Happens with startling regularity. Ritz will often hype up a team or a player for ''years'', only for the said team or player to crash and burn during their own turn on the table. The following are some of the more obvious examples:
** Kazekoshi has a membership of at least 78 girls and a reputation as ''the'' go-to school for mahjong players, and was the six-time Nagano champion until Koromo entered the scene. Come the finals for the current season, every single member of their team besides Kana gets owned. Part of the problem is that Team Kazekoshi plays strictly orthodox mahjong and are flustered when they meet unconventional players (in contrast, during Rounds 2 and 4, where they were pitted against orthodox players, they fared better).

** Shiraitodai was hyped up to be the "final boss" of the Nationals, and ''the'' team to beat for Kiyosumi; like Ryuumonbuchi, however, their actual performance has been anything ''but'' stellar. Save [[TheAce Teru]], who ran away with a 200,000-point lead in the Vanguards' match (and was narrowly kept from going on a rampage by the joint efforts of Kuro, Kirame and Toki, [[spoiler:who was knocked unconscious due to fatigue afterwards]]), everyone else not only managed to ''squander'' that lead, as they had their usual strategies and abilities countered time and again. What's worse, due to [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Awai's arrogance]], Shiraitodai came within a hairsbreadth of actually ''getting knocked out of the Nationals''. So much for defending champions.
** Senriyama was said to have some of the best point-gatherers in Japan. While both Sera and Hiroko performed very well, everyone else unwittingly sabotaged their chances to eke a win -- Toki foregoing point-farming just to give Teru the proverbial middle finger, and Izumi's misplaced pride in her abilities blinded her to the fact that she's ''easy pickings'' for the third-years she was pitted against. And their ''supposedly'' best player, Ryuuka, showed none of her capabilities in the manga, becoming overly reliant on Toki's loaned foresight to even get a score. [[spoiler:No wonder the poor girl is left breaking down crying after they end up dead last.]]

** Team Kiyosumi's Yuuki fell victim to this four times now -- against Jun and Mihoko, against Nanpo, against Komaki (the latter of which when she was ''a hand away'' from victory), and now against [[spoiler:Satoha and Suzu]]. This is largely the result of most teams putting their aces up as Vanguards (to the point at which the otherwise skilled Team Shindouji focuses on survival), and Yuuki overspecializes in point-farming at the East Wind. [[DavidAndGoliath From a story perspective, this ensures that Team Kiyosumi will always have to scrape back to victory come the later rounds.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Mahjong is fun, isn't it?]]

Saki Miyanaga is a freshman at Kiyosumi High School in Nagano Prefecture. On the morning of her first day at the school, while reading a book on the riverbank, she notices a very beautiful girl pass by, and they briefly make eye contact. During lunch that day, Saki sees her middle-school friend Kyoutarou Suga playing mahjong on his phone, and admits that she has played the game before despite her misgivings. Nevertheless, Kyoutarou drags her with him to the Mahjong Club, which is short on members. There Saki meets again the same girl she met at the riverbank earlier, Nodoka Haramura, last year's Inter-Middle High National Mahjong Champion. They play a few rounds and Nodoka wins.

Besides the main manga, ''Saki'' also has four spinoff comics -- ''[[Manga/{{Saki Achiga-hen}} Achiga-hen -episode of Side A-]]'' ("Achiga's Story" / 2011-2013, illustrated by Aguri Igarashi [''Manga/BambooBlade'']), which focuses on Nodoka's childhood friends from Achiga Girls' Academy in Nara Prefecture who are gunning for the Nationals for the first time in ten years, hoping to play with Nodoka again; ''Biyori'' (since 2011, illustrated by Saya Kiyoshi) and its follow-up ''Biyori -- Otona no Maki'' ("Adults' Story"), a pair of 4-koma anthologies focused on the hijinks of the various major teams; and ''[[Manga/SakiShinohayuDawnOfAge Shinohayu -the dawn of age-]]'', which focuses on the generation that produced some of the pros of the current timeline -- IdolSinger Hayari Mizuhara, color commentator and multiple-time champion Sukoya Kokaji, Team Achiga alumna and current adviser Harue Akado, and Risa Noyori.

* AdaptationExpansion: All over the place, a necessity for the anime adaptation given how ''short'' each chapter of the manga usually is (12-14 pages on a good week by Ritz). Some notable examples are featured below:
** In ''Zenkoku-hen'', the scene where the girls run into Saki from ''Achiga-hen'' is redone here, except viewed through Saki's point of view. This ''doesn't'' happen in the manga, where Saki was simply lost in the competition halls looking for the rest room.
** Speaking of ''Zenkoku-hen'', ''everything'' related to Eisui outside their games in quarterlies is this. In this case however, Ritz gave Gokumi her blessing to expand on their characterizations, as she wasn't able to properly do so in the manga, where one of the main complaints was how Eisui, both as a team and as individual players, lacked personality.
** Aislinn's skill. In the manga, it's only mentioned that she's always guaranteed a win via tenpai, and nothing else. In the anime? It's expanded to a full-pledged super power, where she can envision an "ideal hand", of ''any point value'', to the point where she can ''also'' see the expected hands of her opponents when her ideal hand is completed. Her sergeant match against Mako, Yuuko and Tomoe is expanded, and it's also shown that [[spoiler:quick hands can easily thwart Aislinn's attempts to get her ideal hands]].
** The conversation between Kei Arakawa and the girls of Team Achiga during episode 06 of ''Zenkoku-hen''... never happened in either the main manga or the ''Achiga-hen'' spinoff. The visit to the hospital to train against the Individuals-only participants is a CallBack to the same event in ''Achiga-hen'' however, and it also mentions that the Achiga team isn't watching how Nodoka's team is doing to stay focuses on their own efforts and avoid getting demoralized if she loses.
* {{Adorkable}}: Saki, oh so very much.

** The anime for the main series as well, with ''Zenkoku-hen'' having more in common with the adaptation of the spinoff ''Achiga-hen''. This due to the span of time between adaptations (six-odd years) as well as a change of studios (GONZO to Studio Gokumi).
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The president of the mahjong club is usually also one of the most skilled members. There are exceptions, though, such as Tsuruga, in which [[BadassNormal Yumi]] is mistaken for president when it is actually Satomi.
* AvengersAssemble: The way [[spoiler: Ryuumonbuchi's team]] was formed.
* BadassAdorable: Saki easily qualifies as this given her shy and quiet nature as well as her [[TheWoobie Woobie]] status. Koromo also certainly qualifies, and to a lesser extent, Nodoka could possibly qualify as well.
* BadassBookworm: Saki, again.
* BadassCape: Yuuki, as of the National tournament.
* BadassNormal: In a series chock-full of superpowered players, there are also those who get by through sheer skill alone.
** The first season has Yumi Kajiki from Tsuruga. ''Zenkoku-hen'' features the entirety of Team Himematsu, notably its ace Hiroe Atago and its captain Kyoko Suehara.
** ''Achiga-hen'' has Hiroko Funakubo from Senriyama. Hiroko, by the way, is [[ItRunsInTheFamily Hiroe's cousin]].

* BatmanGambit and ForbiddenChekhovsGun: All over the place.
* BeachEpisode: Episode 20, where the Kiyosumi and Ryuumonbuchi teams meet up at an indoor pool. The ending sequence for the second half of the series also shows all the teams at the beach.

* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler: Saki's discovery that Teru publicly disowned her. She's not completely surprised, but begins to doubt whether communicating with Teru through mahjong will change anything.]]
** Subverted in the case of Mihoko and Hisa. Mihoko is initially deeply disappointed when it seems as though Hisa has forgotten her, but when Mihoko opens her right eye again, she remembers.

* BuxomIsBetter: The first thing that Saki notices about Nodoka is that she's "beautiful," which refers to her extremely well-endowed, {{Gainaxing}}, [[VaporWear braless]] chest. Most of Nodoka's other friends, her opponents and even the press make note of her chest, although interestingly enough, this does not seem to apply to the much more endowed Kasumi of Eisui.
* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Teru and Saki. While it was made clear fairly on that they were not on good terms, as Teru's refusal to speak with Saki resulted in Saki wanting to challenge her to mahjong as another form of communication, Saki doesn't realize until after the prefecturals that Teru has essentially disowned Saki, telling everyone who asks that she has no sister. Saki loses hope, at least for the moment, in the possibility of anything changing between her and Teru]].
* CastFullOfGay: Oh yes.

* CynicismCatalyst: Though her ''actual'' fate is unclear as of this point (and whether she's actually ''dead'' or simply disabled), whatever happened to the other girl in the Miyanaga family picture [[http://www.batoto.net/read/_/132343/saki_ch102_by_u-scanlations/14]] had a profound effect on both Miyanaga sisters, and likely also played a factor in how their family broke apart.
* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler: Ryuumonbuchi]].
* DavidVersusGoliath: Kiyosumi is a perpetual underdog team.
** Somewhat subverted if you compared Kiyousumi to Tsuruga, which really is a newcomer in mahjong tournament, complete with their resident total beginner Kaori. Kiyosumi in the other hand has an intermiddle champion, Hisa who have experience in Intermiddle and ever defeated Kazekoshi's captain and Saki who is a national class monster. Now if you look at the match-up, it was obvious that Kiyosumi is the only school who have a chance to beat Koromo.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Nary a harsh feeling from the lambasted. Represented best by Yumi, who provided battle data of the national monsters for the Kiyosumi. She collected the data herself, and continued even after losing.
* DidYouJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Koromo returning Etopen to Nodoka, as Koromo [[spoiler:tries to ask Nodoka to be her friend.]]

* FanserviceWithASmile: Mako's family's mahjong MaidCafe; a nice reason to see Saki and Nodoka dress up. And play more mahjong.
** In the manga, it's actually a maid mahjong parlor. They changed it for the anime.

* {{Filler}}: Shorter than some Shounen series, but still present in the first season. The pool episode and the Individual matches were never portrayed in the manga, though the latter's results have been acknowledged as canonical by Ritz -- see Mihoko going on to the Nationals to represent Kazekoshi solo, Team Eisui talking about Yuuki's monstrous point gain during the first day of the Nagano Individuals, and Nanpo being considered by Fujita as a possible participant of her plans.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Saki faces the Koromo, she begins her comeback with an utterly trash hand that kicks off a winning streak, and completes it with a counted yakuman direct hit. [[spoiler:This is exactly how Teru's special ability, the [[ShoutOut Absolute]] [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Teru]] Field, works.]]
** In individual tournament Saki once again foreshadowing her sister, she got three players ganged up on her and while it works temporarily she still come out on the top.
** Saki's inability to swim. A minor detail during the early parts of the manga and anime, but with the revelation as of Chapter 102, likely an important plot point in whatever happened to the third girl in the Miyanaga family picture...

** Kaori manages to win a game against tournament level players because her inexperience rendered her completely unpredictable to her MetaGame-steeped opponents. ConfusionFu pointed out the FridgeLogic that, since mahjong is used to gamble, it should've been easy for experienced players to win off a rookie. However, Mahjong is SeriousBusiness to these girls. Gambling isn't their goal, it's seeking {{Worthy Opponent}}s and defeating them. For this reason it never would have occurred them that they would even ''play'' such a newbie, so nobody thought of trying to hustle her, either.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Kyoutarou and Yuuki horsing around in episode five.

* GagBoobs: How do you know when you've made your character too ridiculously top-heavy? When some doujin (even the H ones) draw them smaller.

* GameBreaker: InUniverse... the show basically revolves around duelling game breakers.

** In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in ''Zenkoku-hen'': the fact that, for some reason, Mihoko's school uniform, and ''only'' Mihoko's (take note Kana and Miharu are with her as her entourage, yet their clothes aren't there), is mixed in with the rest of Kiyosumi's dresses in their closet. [[LesYay Hmmm...]]
* GoKartingWithBowser: Sort of. By the time Kiyosumi and Ryuumonbuchi encounter one another at a Swimming Complex, [[spoiler: [[DefeatMeansFriendship Ryuumonbuchi has pretty much been resolved]]]].
* GrayRainOfDepression: This shows up from time to time in the series, such as the sequence looking ahead at the end of the anime that vaguely implies that [[spoiler:a rift might be forming between Saki and Nodoka]].
* HeroesGoneFishing: ''Saki Biyori'' features the characters doing many different things, such as shopping, doing cleaning, taking a trip, and practically anything but mahjong.
* HotSpringsEpisode: The training camp before the regional tournament, and the final episode.
* HufflepuffHouse: The regional tournament features two plucky underdog teams who come from nowhere to make it into the final round. One of them is Our Heroes. Sorry, girls of Tsuruga Academy, but until you get your own show, you have no chance of winning.
* ImprobablyFemaleCast: Justified, as the male and female tournaments are separated, and Kyoutaro, the only male character, fails miserably in the male individuals. Given that this anime's main character is a girl, it makes sense they'd focus on the girl's tournament and its all-female CastHerd.
** According to a recent blog post by Kobayashi, the male champion is on the level of Izumi[[note]]Who made it onto the prestigious Senriyama team as a first year, but in her semifinals round, ended up coming in last after Yuu, Yoshiko and Sumire, losing 30,400 points in the process[[/note]], which implies that the male tournament is completely devoid of mahjong monsters. Seems this trope is back in full force.
* INeedToGoIronMyDog: Saki needed to return a book to the library to get away from the mahjong club in the first episode.
** Nodoka initially is reluctant to go to the rest room to take a nap, but decides to take Saki there after Yuuki's loss in the first round, so that Yuuki can cry without doing so in front of her year-mates.
* InsistentTerminology: Hisa is Student ''Congress'' President, and tends to prefer to be referred to as a ClubPresident.

* LampshadeHanging: At the beginning of the Nationals arc in the manga, Saki admits that she had accidentally worn Mako's skirt (Which is longer than hers) to the Opening Ceremony, apparently to make up for the mangaka's error of drawing Saki with a long skirt in the previous chapter. Since then, Saki has more or less seen an increase in her skirt length (Some might say it actually looks better.)

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There's many characters among the various schools who play mahjong, who often have at least the hints of a personality, even if they don't have a detailed backstory, and even those from schools that get eliminated without much fanfare often have a somewhat unique design. Justified as mahjong match requires four teams of five people each- 20 in all.

* LuminescentBlush: All over the place. Particularly used with the series' (numerous) LesYay moments.

* [[RugbyIsSlaughter Mahjong Is Slaughter]]: In Shiraitodai's first appearance, after Awai finishes her match, her opponents are seen dazed, heads hung, and completely lifeless.
* MaleGaze: The anime has a special emphasis on the character's sweaty thighs
* TheMerch: Exists in RealLife, and gets some lampshading in-universe. In ''Saki Biyori'', Teru buys some chocolates with mahjong-themed package. When Awai reads its packaging blurb, it's read "Approved by the renowned Miyanaga Teru". (It's not known whether it's official approval, or bootlegged.)
** 'I did?' Considering this is her response, it's probably bootlegged.
* MoodWhiplash: Near the end of Episode 20, there's some relatively lighthearted shots of the teams getting ready to enter the individual tournament, with the first ending theme playing. Then the scene cuts to Shiraitodai, where they have effortlessly defeated their competition and Teru [[spoiler:denies having a sister, suggesting that the rift between them is deeper than viewers and Saki previously thought]]. Then the scene shifts back to the pool, with Kiyosumi playing around and Saki hoping to see Teru again.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Let's face it, mahjong isn't really all that exciting as a spectator sport. The show uses all kinds of music, camera angles, and special effects to try to make it more spectacular.
** Not to mention everyone boosts their mahjong game with, among other things, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking power avatars, invisibility, demonic possession, and TACOS]].

** Interestingly enough, some characters have abilities outside of mahjong that they can use while playing. Momo's invisibility to most people enables her to discard risky tiles without people calling them, and prevent people from knowing how close she is to completing her hand. Hajime once used a sleight of hand she learned from her father, a magician, to cheat at mahjong, and deeply regrets doing so.
** In ''Saki Biyori'', Kaori actually puts her BeginnersLuck to practical use, and with the help of her schoolmates, she wins a lottery and gets a "Juice-kun" mahjong table for her club.
* MustMakeAmends: Two players from a school Kiyosumi defeated in the first round of the Prefecturals try to steal Etopen as a prank in revenge, but end up being discovered and leaving Etopen behind while escaping. [[HeelRealization After some time to reflect]], they feel guilty about this, but their attempts to help return Etopen only end up making things worse.

* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Already somewhat present during the first series, but in full force during the Nationals phase of the manga and in ''Zenkoku-hen''. Put simply, "Monster"-class players can feel the activation or use of occult skills by other mahjong monsters. See how ''only'' Saki, Awai, and Koromo react when Jindai is finally possessed by a goddess spirit.
* NoblewomansLaugh: Touka.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Hatsumi, Yuuki and Koromo are probably the biggest examples in this series, partly as a result of not always acting their age, as does the diminutive Kurumi of Miyamori. None of them look to be no older than 10 years old, when in fact they are about 16 or 17.
* OldSchoolBuilding: The location of the mahjong club (in the attic).

* OvertookTheManga: The last match of the regionals ended in the manga some time after the last episode of the first season of the anime.
* PantyShot: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]; Female underwear doesn't even ''exist'' in this setting.

* PerspectiveFlip: Saki's chance encounter with Achiga while wandering the halls of the comptetition center in ''Zenkoku-hen'', a CallBack to the same event shown in ''Achiga-hen''. Whereas in the latter we were treated to Achiga seeing Saki as ''absolutely terrifying'', in ''Zenkoku-hen'' we see that Saki herself was not only just lost, but only felt that Achiga was mildly threatening, particularly Shizu.

* PlotHole: In the anime, sometime during the team tournament, someone mentions that winning off an ankan for a kokushi isn't allowed, but then in Saki's turn in the team tournament she gets worried about the same thing happening. [[spoiler:Needless to say, the person in question was making a kokushi, but wasn't one tile away to win from it yet, so she couldn't have won anyway if Saki had declared her ankan, but still, what?]]
* {{Pluralses}}: Momoko is subtitled like this, though it's really more of a VerbalTic.

* RequiredSpinoffCrossover: The main series finally intersects with its spinoff ''Achiga-hen'', in Chapter 103, showing some of the events of its Chapter 12 and 13, except from Nodoka and Yuuki's point of view. The first half of episode 13 of Zenkoku-hen does the same.

* {{Retcon}}: ''Zenkoku-hen'' replaces the Training Camp from the end of the first season with one that hews closer to the Training Camp as shown in the manga. Indeed the Training Camp shown in the flashback from ''Zenkoki-hen'' is almost a frame-to-frame faithful adaptation of the equivalent chapters. [[BrokenBase Not everyone is happy with this fact though]], as retconning the first season's Training Camp also invalidates an important event between Saki and Nodoka. The latter group now just treats the first season Training Camp as BroadStrokes, with the ''Zenkoku-hen''[=/=]Manga Training Camp as more accurate, but preserves the scene between Saki and Nodoka.
** Interestingly enough, Saki and Nodoka are still calling each other by their first names, albeit with no explanation apart from the decision to switch in that scene. So far, [[spoiler:Teru's refusing to admit that Saki is her sister]] has not been addressed, although Saki is unwilling, and even possibly somewhat scared, to see her sister again outside of mahjong.

* ScaryShinyGlasses: In Episode 25, when Mako, Tomoki, and Miharu all make the collective decision to gang up on Kaori as revenge for getting beaten by her in the Prefecturals. [[spoiler: They lose. Badly.]]
* SecondHandStorytelling: So far, most of what we know about the Miyanaga family is what Saki tells other characters. It's still unclear whether Saki is an UnreliableExpositor, though, although there are some indications that Saki initially doesn't fully understand how much Teru has distanced herself from her.
* SerialEscalation: The supernatural abilities introduced in the series get more ridiculous as the series goes on. It says a lot when Yuuki's East Wind advantage, which was considered a big deal when the franchise started out, now ranks on the lower end of brokeness. Since that time abilities like invisibility, ''reading an opposing player's soul after a turn'', ''channeling shinto dieties'', and ''seeing into the future'' have been introduced, but there's no sign that these are the absolute limit of possible superpowers in existence in this setting.
* SeriousBusiness: Mahjong, obviously. However, the importance of having fun when playing is stressed as well.
** However, in Saki's case the game was taken so seriously that her entire family literally tore itself apart [[spoiler:although it's implied that there were other factors at work]].
* SequelHook: The scenes during the first season's ending credits showcase new characters from other schools competing in the nationals (specifically Rinkai, Shiraitodai, and Eisui), and hint at the inevitable showdown with Teru.
** The ending montage of episode 13 of Zenkoku-hen, which shows events not even covered by the manga yet (as of this edit): Eisui and Miyamori's beach trip, and everything beyond Hisa's match in the semis, including hints of the abilities of the final members of Usuzan and Rinkai. And in a CallBack to the sequel hook of the first season, it uses the ''very same insert song'' '''Glossy:MMM''' (aka Glossy Future).
* SinisterSilhouettes: Subverted, [[CoolBigSis Teru]] appears clearly in the first opening and during Saki's {{flashback}}, although in many of those cases, [[HiddenEyes her eyes are not shown]]. Played straight for most other top-tier players.

** ShowerOfAngst: Nodoka takes one after her loss to and argument with Saki. Saki takes one after she's unable to bring herself to go to see her sister's semi-finals match.
* ShownTheirWork: Every last game portrayed in the show so far has been a perfectly valid game. No extra tiles, no impossible hands, every last game conforms to the standard rules. The hands and wins may be ''WILDLY'' improbable, but are possible.
* ShoutOut: In the anime, many to Akagi (much of the 'camera work' and motions during a game are straight Akagi, and the ConspicuousCG happens to look identical).
** Ryūmonbuchi's butler might be a shoutout to a [[BlackButler certain demon butler]].

* TheStinger: At the end of Zenkoku-hen, Teru is seen standing on a roof, turning to the camera, and whispering "Saki..." as it cuts to the title card.

* TokenMiniMoe: There are teams that feature characters that look way younger than their ''actual'' ages -- see Kiyosumi's own Yuuki, Ryuumonbuchi's Koromo, Eisui's Hatsumi, Miyamori's Kurumi...
* TournamentArc: Prefectural tournament in season one. The second season, ''Zenkoku-hen'', covers the quarterfinals phase of the bracket Kiyosumi is part of.

* TrueCompanions: Ryuumonbuchi.
** Miyamori is also a fairly close-knit team, with Sae, Shiro and Kurumi being friends prior to the arrival of Toshi and Toyone, and Shiro also knowing Aislinn before then.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Some of the players on Eisui All-Girl's School's team didn't think much of Kiyosumi because the regional tournament they won didn't feature that many schools, but still give them some respect because they managed to beat Koromo and the rest of Ryuumonbuchi. [[spoiler:Then Hisa won Kiyosumi's first match by dropping one of the other schools below 0 points. In the third match. Before Nodoka and Saki even got to play.]]
** This happen too in finals of regional, as Kana didn't even give Saki a second glance as she is focusing on Koromo. It's not wrong per-se as Koromo is the one she has unresolved revenge against, and then Saki outrun her many times that she lost her chance for comeback victory. And her comeback from 0 points is facilitated by Saki.

* VaporWear:
** Shots of Nodoka's [[WetSariScene wet uniform scene]] from the first episode made the fans theorize that Nodoka and maybe the other girls did not wear any lingerie.

* VisualPun: The third ending sequence has an octopus (''tako'')[[note]]a pun that became a minor plot point in a match, when Yuuki realized the lunchbox Mihoko gave her had octopus in it[[/note]] holding a taco.

** From the first season:
*** Kazekoshi Girls' School has a mahjong club membership of at least 78 people and a reputation as THE school to go to for girls who play mahjong. They were the reigning champions for years until the Koromo started attending high school. Once they reach the final rounds of the regional tournament and get ready for some revenge, every single member of their team besides the captain gets completely dominated. Part of the problem is that Kazekoshi plays very standard and conventional mahjong and are flustered when they meet players with unconventional playing styles. Note that in the two rounds where Kazekoshi faced conventional players (round 2 and round 4), they played reasonably well.
*** Ryuumonbuchi: ''The'' team to beat in Nagano, being a top-tier team made up of hand-picked players that qualified for the Nationals on their first try, and what's more, had a monster-level player as part of its line-up. Apart from Koromo however, its members don't really put much of a good show when they're ''actually'' fought against on-screen, particularly Touka, whose bull-headed insistence at playing in Nodoka's style actually does her more harm than good.
** From ''Achiga-hen'':
*** Shiraitodai: Hyped up to be the "final boss" of the Nationals, and THE team that Kiyosumi has to defeat, like Ryuumonbuchi their actual performance on the tables have been anything ''except'' stellar. With the exception of Saki's sister Teru, who runs away with close to a 200,000-point lead in the ''vanguard match'' and never looks back, every member of Shiraitodai that came after not only managed to ''lose'' that point lead, as they had their usual strategies and special abilities countered again and again. What's worse, due to Awai's arrogance, the team came within a hair's breadth of getting knocked out of the running completely. So much for the National champions.
*** Senriyama: The opposite number to Himematsu of the main series, Senriyama was said to have some of the best point-gatherers in the country. While both Sera and Hiroko performed up to expectations, the other members of the team unwittingly sabotaged its chances to eke a win -- Toki foregoing shepherding their points just to give Teru a proverbial middle finger, and Izumi's misplaced pride in her abilities blinding her to the fact that she's ''easy'' pickings for the third years she was put up against. And their ''supposedly'' best player, Ryuuka, showed none of her capabilities in the manga, becoming a hundred-percent reliant on Toki's loaned futuresight to even get a score.
** From ''Zenkoku-hen'':
*** Eisui: Seemingly par for course for a team with a monster-level player in it, Eisui's performance on the table was nothing special, with said monster herself (Komaki) not even performing at a hundred percent due to how, in underestimating their opponents, they made it so that the gods possessing her started with the weakest, leaving the strongest supposedly for the finals. It turns out this was a '''big mistake''', as the points deficit this caused forced her teammates to scramble for the rest of the match to make up for it, with mixed results: Hatsumi, one of the team's best scorers, was sealed completely during her turn, and Kasumi, who's normally a defensive player, was forced to go on the offensive via the One Suit gathering power, but in the process this left her vulnerable to Saki's table manipulation due to how it made everyone's hands easier to predict.
** Yuuki has fallen victim to this [[spoiler:four times now - In her first match against Jun and Mihoko, her match against Nanpo, her match against Jindai (The latter of which when she was A HAND AWAY from victory), and now against Satoha and Suzu... Poor, poor Yuuki.]] From an in-universe perspective, this is largely the result of teams often putting their aces in the vanguard position (to the point at which the otherwise skilled Shindouji team focuses on surviving that round rather than winning), and Yuuki, who's good but not the best in Kiyosumi, faces those who are often the best in their teams. From a story perspective, this ensures that the protagonists begin with a disadvantage, which they have to overcome in the latter rounds.
** Subverted in case of 'Cold Touka' as at first Saki heard there's people who could deal with Cold Touka in the Nationals. The way Touka describes nationals-level competition in the last episode of the anime implies that Ryuumonbuchi wasn't able to get far, and even those who defeated them were no match for the champions. It turns out Megan Davin who won that match avoided direct confrontation with Touka and dropped a weaker school to zero, prematurely ending the round and avoiding having to go against [[DiscOneFinalBoss Koromo]].

** The ending montage of episode 13 of Zenkoku-hen, which shows events not even covered by the manga yet (as of this edit): Eisui and Miyamori's beach trip, and everything beyond Hisa's match in the semis, including hints of the abilities of the final members of Usuzan and Rinkai. And in a CallBack to the sequel hook of the first season, it uses the ''very same insert song'' '''Glossy:MMM'''.

* TokenMiniMoe: Yuuki and Koromo both easily qualify as this. ''Especially'' Koromo...
* TournamentArc: Prefectural tournament in season one. Presumably, the Nationals will be covered in season two.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: It seems that the more powerful a mahjong player, the quirkier she is. Miyanaga Teru is one of the few players who comes off as 'normal'.
** [[spoiler: Saki Biyori reveals Teru is not that normal, she is a goofball and usually go along with Awai's antics.]]

** From Zenkoku-hen:
*** Eisui: Seemingly par for course for a team with a monster-level player in it, Eisui's performance on the table was nothing special, with said monster herself (Komaki) not even performing at a hundred percent due to how, in underestimating their opponents, they made it so that the gods possessing her started with the weakest, leaving the strongest supposedly for the finals. It turns out this was a '''big mistake''', as the points deficit this caused forced her teammates to scramble for the rest of the match to make up for it, with mixed results. Hatsumi was sealed completely during her turn, and Kasumi was forced to go on the offensive via the One Suit gathering power, but in the process this left her vulnerable to Saki's table manipulation due to how it made everyone's hands easier to predict.

** The main series obviously has Yumi Kajiki from Tsuruga, and Hiroe Atago from Himematsu.

* BattleAura:
** At their first encounter Saki senses Fujita before she even enter the ''building''.
** Saki can sense Koromo's KillingIntent over huge distances.
** Saki herself can give someone chills just by walking past them.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The things most of the characters pull off are just ridiculous, not to mention impossible in some cases.
** Considering that one character causes a localized power-outage by ''concentrating really hard'', and the titular character caused an earthquake, the show probably crosses the line from CharlesAtlasSuperpower to legitimate supernatural abilities.

*** Senriyama: The opposite number to Himematsu of the main series, Senriyama was said to have some of the best point-gatherers in the country. While both Sera and Hiroko performed up to expectations, the other members of the team unwittingly sabotaged its chances to eke a win -- Toki foregoing shepherding their points just to give Teru a proverbial middle finger, and Izumi's misplaced pride in her abilities blinding her to the fact that she's ''easy'' pickings for the third years she was put up against. And their ''supposedly'' best player, Ryuuka, showed none of her supposed capabilities in the manga, becoming a hundred-percent reliant on Toki's loaned futuresight to even get a score.

** Kazekoshi Girls' School has a mahjong club membership of at least 78 people and a reputation as THE school to go to for girls who play mahjong. They were the reigning champions for years until the Koromo started attending high school. Once they reach the final rounds of the regional tournament and get ready for some revenge, every single member of their team besides the captain gets completely dominated. Part of the problem is that Kazekoshi plays very standard and conventional mahjong and are flustered when they meet players with unconventional playing styles. Note that in the two rounds where Kazekoshi faced conventional players (round 2 and round 4), they played reasonably well.

** The ending montage of episode 13 of Zenkoku-hen, which shows events not even covered by the manga yet (as of this edit): Eisui and Miyamori's beach trip, and everything beyond Hisa's match in the semis, including hints of the abilities of the final members of Usuzan and Rinkai. And in a CallBack to the sequel hook of the first season, it uses the ''very same insert song''.

** The ending montage of episode 13 of Zenkoku-hen, which shows events not even covered by the manga yet (as of this edit): Eisui and Miyamori's beach trip, and everything beyond Hisa's match in the semis, including hints of the abilities of the final members of Usuzan and Rinkai And in a CallBack to the sequel hook of the first season, it uses the ''very same insert song''.

* RequiredSpinoffCrossover: The main series finally intersects with its spinoff ''Achiga-hen'', in Chapter 103, showing some of the events of its Chapter 12 and 13, except from Nodoka and Yuuki's point of view.
** There's a brief scene in the Zenkoku-hen anime in which Yoshiko gets a text message from Hayari the night after the first game of the semi-finals that's entirely written in pictograms, and follows it to meet her at a club. She heads there with Hayari at the start of ''Manga/SakiShinohayuDawnOfAge''.

''Saki'' is a manga based around the game of {{TabletopGame/mahjong}}, with an anime adaptation by {{GONZO}}. The anime has been licensed by Crunchyroll and can be viewed for free on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/saki their site]] (unless you're in Japan).

[[CharacterTitle Miyanaga Saki]] is in her first year of highschool. One day, while reading a book on the riverbank, she notices a very beautiful girl the same age as her pass by and they briefly make eye contact. During lunch that day, Saki sees her friend Kyoutarou playing mahjong on his phone, and admits that she has played the game before but that she does not like it. Nevertheless, Kyoutarou drags her with him to the mahjong club, which is short on members. At the mahjong club, she formally meets the beautiful girl and finds out that her name is Haramura Nodoka and that she was the middle school mahjong champion last year. They play a few rounds and Nodoka wins.

Takei Hisa, the student council president and the president of the mahjong club, wakes up from her nap just in time to see the last round of mahjong. She notices that Saki wasn't playing to win in her last round and was just keeping her score even. She also notices that in all of the previous rounds Saki had also scored +/-0. For that to happen, Hisa notes, Saki must be extremely lucky, extremely skilled, or both.

The next day Hisa bribes Saki by offering to lend her a series of books if she'll play with the mahjong club again. This time though, Hisa gives her a handicap that makes her start with significantly fewer points than everyone else - to get +/-0 starting from there, Saki is thus forced to play to win. Saki ends up winning and rediscovers her love for the game through how much fun she had while properly competing with everyone at the table. She reveals that the reason she disliked mahjong was that she was forced to go for +/-0 when she played with her family; if she won, the rest of her family would be upset, and if she lost, she would lose her New Year's money. So Saki ends up joining the club to get to the SeriousBusiness of playing mahjong, promising to Nodoka that they'll compete in the national tournament together.

There is also a spinoff manga and anime series called ''Manga/{{Saki Achiga-hen}}'', which focuses on Nodoka's childhood friends in Achiga Girls' Academy who are trying to get into the national high school tournament so they can get a chance to play mahjong with Nodoka again.

In addition to the spinoff, two 4-koma series, ''Saki - Biyori'' and its follow-up ''Otona no Maki'' have been serialized. The 4-koma mostly focuses on the (often comedic and silly) experiences of the girls from the schools that Kiyosumi (and later, Achiga) have played against, such as Ryuumonbuchi, Kazekoshi, and Tsuruga, though there are also chapters devoted to both Kiyosumi and Achiga. There are also focuses on other groups of characters, such as the Atago family[[note]]The Atago sisters play for Himematsu, while their mother is Senriyama's coach and their cousin is a member of Senriyama's team[[/note]].

Coinciding with the announcement of schedule for ''Manga/{{Saki Achiga-hen}}'s'' extra episodes, a new season for the main series, entitled ''Saki: Zenkoku-hen'' (National Tournament), has been greenlit. The sequel is currently being aired as part of the Winter 2014 anime season, this time animated by Creator/StudioGokumi.

Yet another spinoff was confirmed for the series. Officially titled [[Manga/SakiShinohayuDawnOfAge ''Side story of -Saki- Shinohayu: The dawn of age'']], it will focus on one of the generations that produced some of the pros of the setting, specifically [[IdolSinger Mizuhara Hayari]], [[TheAce Kokaji Sukoya]], [[BrokenAce Akado Harue]], and [[{{Tsundere}} Noyori Risa]].

* AllStarCast: Many of the seiyuu in this series are known for very famous roles.

* AscendedFanon: Yoshiko Kainou and Hayari Mizuhara being a couple. Started as a bit of a CrackShip, as fans started pairing the two together after their first appearances in the main series, despite ''no'' evidence that they're even acquainted. In their latter their appearances however, both in the main manga and its prequel ''Shinohayu'', they're always together.

* HeyItsThatVoice & NamesToKnowInAnime: See [[Characters/{{Saki}} the character sheet]] for details.
** Additionally, occasional narration is provided by Creator/JojiNakata. He also occasionally voices Nodoka's father, Kei Haramura.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: Head to the trope itself for details.

* ScheduleSlip: Ritz isn't exactly the most consistent manga-ka around. The series at one point jumped from being bi-monthly to getting a (very VERY short chapter) a month to stopping altogether for close to a year, then going back to monthly and bi-monthly. As of 2014, due to health complications, Ritz is back to releasing the manga monthly, with substantial breaks in-between.

* AscendedFanon: Yoshiko Kainou and Hayari Mizuhara being a couple. Started as a bit of a ShipsPassingInTheNight, as fans started shipping the two after their first appearances in the main series, despite ''no'' evidence that they're even acquainted. In their latter their appearances however, both in the main manga and its prequel ''Shinohayu'', they're always together.

In addition to the spinoff, two 4-koma series, ''Saki - Biyori'' and its follow-up ''Otona no Maki'' have been serialized. The 4-koma mostly focuses on the (often comedic and silly) experiences of the girls from the schools that Kiyosumi (and later, Achiga) have played against, such as Ryuumonbuchi, Kazekoshi, and Tsuruga, though there are also chapters devoted to both Kiyosumi and Achiga.

** Aislinn's skill. In the manga, it's only mentioned that she's always guaranteed a win via tenpai, and nothing else. In the anime? It's expanded to a full-pledged super power, where she can envision an "ideal hand", of ''any point value'', to the point where she can ''also'' see the expected hands of her opponents when her ideal hand is completed.
** The conversation between Kei Arakawa and the girls of Team Achiga during episode 06 of ''Zenkoku-hen''... never happened in either the main manga or the ''Achiga-hen'' spinoff. The visit to the hospital to train against the Individuals-only participants is a CallBack to the same event in ''Achiga-hen'' however.

* BirdRun

* FuroScene

* InsistentTerminology: Hisa is Student ''Congress'' President.

* ShownTheirWork: Every last game portrayed in the show so far has been a perfectly valid game. No extra tiles, no impossible hands, every last game conforms to the standard rules (plus any special rules invented for some insane moves, such as the prefectural rule of kan dealer pays for a rinshan kaiho). The hands and wins may be ''WILDLY'' improbable, but are possible.

* SerialEscalation: The supernatural abilities introduced in the series get more ridiculous as the series goes on. It says a lot when Yuuki's East Wind advantage, which was considered a big deal when the franchise started out, now ranks on the lower end of brokeness. Since that time abilities like invisibility, ''reading an opposing player's soul after a turn'', ''channeling shinto dieties'', and ''seing into the future'' have been introduced, but there's no sign that these are the limit of possible superpowers in existence in this setting.

* SerialEscalation: How much can we make a statistician somewhere cry? [[spoiler:It's actually a plot point, because the rules for this year's tournament specifically favor players with outrageous luck.]]
** [[spoiler: Considering the current champion, [[KnightOfCerebrus Miyanaga Teru's]] play style, and other monster level player's, fewer game is actually a form of mercy. As in that two hanchan they could reduce their opponent to whimpering wrecks. Imagine if it's dragged on longer.]]

[[CharacterTitle Miyanaga Saki]] is in her first year of highschool. One day, while sitting down by the river reading a book, she notices a very beautiful girl the same age as her pass by and they briefly make eye contact. After lunch, her friend Kyoutarou drags her along to play with the mahjong club despite Saki insisting that she hates the game. At the mahjong club, she formally meets the beautiful girl and finds out that her name is Haramura Nodoka and that she was the middle school mahjong champion last year. They play a few rounds and Nodoka wins.

[[CharacterTitle Saki]] is in her first year of highschool. One day, while sitting down by the river reading a book, she notices a very beautiful girl the same age as her pass by and they briefly make eye contact. After lunch, her friend Kyoutarou drags her along to play with the mahjong club despite Saki insisting that she hates the game. At the mahjong club, she formally meets the beautiful girl and finds out that her name is Nodoka and that she was the middle school mahjong champion last year. They play a few rounds and Nodoka wins.

Hisa, the student council president and the president of the mahjong club, wakes up from her nap just in time to see the last round of mahjong. She notices that Saki wasn't playing to win in her last round and was just keeping her score even. She also notices that in all of the previous rounds Saki had also scored +/-0. For that to happen, Hisa notes, Saki must be extremely lucky, extremely skilled, or both.

The next day Hisa bribes Saki by offering to lend her a series of books if she'll play with the mahjong club again. This time though, Hisa gives her a handicap that makes her start with significantly fewer points than everyone else - to get +/-0 starting from there, Saki is thus forced to play to win. Saki ends up winning and rediscovers her love for the game through how much fun she had while properly competing with everyone at the table. She reveals that the reason she disliked mahjong was that she was forced to go for +/-0 when she played with her family; if she won, the rest of her family would be upset, and if she lost, she would lose her New Year's money. So Saki ends up joining the club to get to the SeriousBusiness of playing mahjong, with the aim of competing in the national tournament.

''Saki'' is a manga based around the game of {{TabletopGame/Mahjong}}, with an anime adaptation by {{GONZO}}. The anime has been licensed by Crunchyroll and can be viewed for free on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/saki their site]] (unless you're in Japan).

[[CharacterTitle Saki]] is in her first year of highschool. One day, while sitting down by the river, she notices a very beautiful girl the same age as her pass by, a girl she's fated to meet later. After lunch, her friend Kyoutarou drags her along to play with the Mahjong club despite Saki insisting that she hates the game. At the Mahjong club, she formally meets the beautiful girl and finds out her name is Nodoka and she was the middle school Mahjong champion last year. They play a few rounds and Nodoka wins.

Hisa, the student council president wakes up from her nap just in time to see the last round of Mahjong. She notices that Saki wasn't playing to win in her last round and was just playing for a draw. She also notices that in all of the rounds Saki had scored a +/-0 score every time and to get that, a Mahjong player would need unreal luck.

The next day Hisa bribes Saki by offering to lend her a series of books if she'll play some rounds with the Mahjong club. They test out her skills for another game, then, in the very next game, they also get her to play to win (by telling her to see a handicap). Saki ends up winning and even though at first she mistakenly assumed the handicap was going to count and that she lost, she discovers her love for the game. She reveals she never really enjoyed playing Mahjong with her family, as they were often sore losers and winners (the reason she always played to a +/-0 score). So Saki ends up joining the club to get to the SeriousBusiness of playing Mahjong hoping to soon win a major tournament.

There is also a spinoff manga and anime series called ''Manga/{{Saki Achiga-hen}}'', which focuses on Nodoka's childhood friends in Achiga high school who are trying to get into the national high school tournament so they can get a chance to play mahjong with Nodoka again.

In addition to the spinoff two 4koma series, ''Saki - Biyori'' and its follow-up ''Otona no Maki'' have been serialized. The 4koma mostly focuses on the (often comedic and silly) experiences of the girls from the schools that Kiyosumi (and later, Achiga) have played against, such as Ryuumonbuchi, Kazekoshi, and Tsuruga, though there are also chapters devoted to both Kiyosumi and Achiga.

* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Teru and Saki. While it was made clear fairly on that they were not on good terms, as Teru's refusal to speak with Saki resulted in Saki wanting to challenge her to Mahjong as another form of communication, Saki doesn't realize until after the prefecturals that Teru has essentially disowned Saki, telling everyone who asks that she has no sister. Saki loses hope, at least for the moment, in the possibility of anything changing between her and Teru]].

** Kaori manages to win a game against tournament level players because her inexperience rendered her completely unpredictable to her MetaGame-steeped opponents. ConfusionFu pointed out the FridgeLogic that, since Mahjong is used to gamble, it should've been easy for experienced players to win off a rookie. However, Mahjong is SeriousBusiness to these girls. Gambling isn't their goal, it's seeking {{Worthy Opponent}}s and defeating them. For this reason it never would have occurred them that they would even ''play'' such a newbie, so nobody thought of trying to hustle her, either.

* MundaneMadeAwesome: Let's face it, Mahjong isn't really all that exciting as a spectator sport. The show uses all kinds of music, camera angles, and special effects to try to make it more spectacular.
* MundaneUtility: Many of the characters have what can only be called superhuman abilities, some of which could be easily applied to far more important tasks.[[note]]Examples include channeling spirits and ''seeing into the future.''[[/note]] They use them to play Mahjong.
** Interestingly enough, some characters have abilities outside of mahjong that they can use while playing. Momo's invisibility to most people enables her to discard risky tiles without people calling them, and prevent people from knowing how close she is to completing her hand. Hajime once used a sleight of hand she learned from her father, a magician, to cheat at Mahjong, and deeply regrets doing so.

* OldSchoolBuilding: The location of the Mahjong club (in the attic).

** On the other hand, he derides Mahjong as a game purely based on luck, scoffs at Nodoka mentioning that she was able to make friends through it ("just what use would any friends you make be in a hick town like this be?"), and halfheartedly decides to "consider" letting her stay if she wins the nationals. He might be giving her a chance, but it could be [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation interpreted]] that he does so because he doesn't think she can manage the improbable task of winning the nationals.

* UnrelatedEffects: The Mahjong games are ''full'' of them.

** Kazekoshi Girls' School has a Mahjong club membership of at least 78 people and a reputation as THE school to go to for girls who play Mahjong. They were the reigning champions for years until the Koromo started attending high school. Once they reach the final rounds of the regional tournament and get ready for some revenge, every single member of their team besides the captain gets completely dominated. Part of the problem is that Kazekoshi plays very standard and conventional mahjong and are flustered when they meet players with unconventional playing styles. Note that in the two rounds where Kazekoshi faced conventional players (round 2 and round 4), they played reasonably well.

** ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' meets Mahjong.