I mostly want to start some speculation, part of it related to the adaptation, part of it to the plot itself. I'll make sure to spoiler everything that needs to be spoilered, though, so don't worry.



First of all the manga feels kinda rushed. The healthy, brisk pacing was the strongest point of Bamboo Blade but it's really overdone now. I understand the need to catch up with a manga which got literally 5 years head start but come on (digression - Iragashi Aguri is not human - who else draws 60 pages long chapters on monthly basis? Saki get 15 pages a month!). First chapter? They are already at nationals. 6th? Semifinals of national championship.Interestingly enough the build ups are rather lenghty and then... Nothing is shown. Just an omedetou panel with everyone clapping. Do you think they'll go more in depth with the adaptation? It's been confirmed as only 12 eps long so I kinda doubt it but...

It's funny. The first series had shittons of filler (I mean really, the majority of S1 was filler material) even though it was pretty hard to fit some in. Now there's tons of room for it but it doesn't look like we'll see any.



Second, yuri. I saw Saki before watching Bamboo Blade and I was surprised Bamboo Blade didn't have any yuri in it. Even more surprisingly there's not much (okay, not as much) yuri in the Saki manga. I wonder if they'll decide to yurify the adaptation again. One could argue that the whole reason Achiga decided to go to the nationals is because everyone has hots for Nodotits (well, aside from Sagimori but she has Harue but that's just yuri googles turned up to eleven. No matter how hard I'm trying I don't see the least bit of yuri tension between the members of Achiga.


As for the production values I'm gonna write more after watching the first ep (just for the record it's out already) but it's been a while since I was so sure nothing could possibly go wrong. I trust Gokumi won't fuck this up.
I have some mixed feelings about the cast, though.



Last but not least, plot. Or rather, outcomes. Will they make it to the finals? That would mean they'll have to beat Rinkai (Shiraitodai obviously gets a free pass to finals). For years now everybody thought Rinaki and Shiraitodai will top the left side of the bracket but now that they started the spin off manga it looks like Rinaki will have to dust off their fishing rods early.
Also, we only have 12 eps. Will they really manage to show all the games? It sounds nigh impossible to me. Even if the pacing will be as neck breaking as the manga they will struggle to do so (especially now that there's some in-between Momo filler). How short would the semi final game have to be? I was hoping for at least one real match in the series.
They could break it up and only show everything up to the semis in S1. If it sells well enough they could so S2 later on.







So, thoughts?

Well, the first ep didn't clear up anything. It was pretty much a frame-by-frame animation but there wasn't much you could ditch in the first chapter anyway. We'll have to wait and see how they'll handle next week's ep (Bansei wasn't shown in the 'OP' so I guess they might follow the manga closely afterall...).

The most surprsing thing about the whole thing is Kuro not having black hair. I mean come on, her name is Kuro (well okay, her name is acutally Kurkoki if memory serves but everyone calls her Kuro).

Nodoka was really cute... that aside, not much to say about the first ep.

>>9351

>>9357
DEM RACKS

>>9357

Saki scaring everyone with her mahjong power level was great.

And wow, this series really moves fast.

I kind of wish they'd get over their massive obsession with Nodoka already.
Even if it's what's driving the whole story, it's still getting kind of old.

>>9504

I wish they'd get to the mahjong
And I'm waiting patiently for MC-chan and Saki to play mahjong with two other people while playing footsies under the table with each other and making the other two girls at the table very uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

>>9510
haha, yeah that too.

>>9510

>I wish they'd get to the mahjong

If they'll keep adapting it frame by frame you really won't see any. Like, any. I think they started the whole spin off just to skip the introductions of Achiga and Shiraitodai in Saki so they could jump from semis straight into finals. Which doesn't even make that much sense, normally manga authors want to keep their series going for as long as possible.

Isn't always being cold, even in times of heat, a really bad sign of a nasty illness or something?

Everything is going downfill at a pretty fast pace. I mean come on, we finally get some 'filler' but not only is it unrelated to mahjongg, it's not even related to Achiga! A scene like that does happen in Saki if memory serves but leave that for Saki S2 for God's sake.

Eri finally made an appearance, albeit a brief one. Gotta love Eri, she's trolling Eiko all the time.

Aside from that there's still nothing. And that's the way it'll look till the end. Shame.

>>9551
I agree, the show so far is proving to me to be very bland and boring. Mainly becuase I find the main characters very uninteresting compared to those of first season, and repeatedly shoving in cameos doesn't really help that.

Jesus fucking Christ, Japanese kids are assholes.
It's as if every other anime has flashbacks like this at one point or another.

>>9790

Kids in general are assholes.

>>9769

わかんねー！！

>>9794

Why are trolls always the best characters on any given show.

  What should've been.

Between Achiga, Senriyama and Shindouji Achiga is by far the team I'd least like to see in the Finals. Oh well.

Also, I went full retard earlier. Since the current game has been going on for literally 15 months by now I lost track and forgot that they are still in quarter finals. Rinkai is on the B side of course.

I had a marathon of this show last night after putting it on hold. Holy fuck it's so awesome.

I don't even know Mahjong but this has made me decide to learn it, just for fun.

Does anyone else really hate her?

>>9804
Are you talking about the first season or the current one?

>>9805

I do, but I usually hate this character archetype in general, so I'm probably biased.

>>9808

Current. First one is currently downloading.

This anime kinda seems crap to me. I mean, sure, there's cute girls, and there's mahjong... and that's it. Does it get better?

>>9812

Cute girls and a meaningless back story is about all you get in anime these days.

Anyone else think the characters are bland and boring compared to the first season?

>>9814

On the other hand, the characters are believable and more original.

Or do you seriously expect a pampered ojou-sama with blonde hair that says 'desu wa' at the end of every sentence to actually exist, let alone as an original character personality that isn't simply acting the stereotype?

>>9815
In anime I do, and I always enjoy those character types.
If I wanted realistic characters, I'd watch reality TV, Or a more serious show, not a moe escapism anime.

Post edited on 29th May 2012, 10:17pm

>>9812

No, Achiga is absolutely awful. The manga is slightly better but just a wee bit. Achiga is the worst thing that happened to Saki in years (probably the worst thing since the indviduals filler crap which seemingly became canon after that thus messing with the plot of the manga). On top of that it'll kinda ruin the main series, too, since we will have an endlessly boring team like Achiga in the finals. I'd much prefer Senriyama.

>>9814

They really, really are. Seriously, Senriyama has been around for like what, 5 chapters? And has a much, much better characterization than Achiga.

>>9815

>Or do you seriously expect a pampered ojou-sama with blonde hair that says 'desu wa' at the end of every sentence to actually exist, let alone as an original character personality that isn't simply acting the stereotype?

Are you for real? Do you expect anime about lesbian girls using their superpowers to play mahjong to be realistic?

>>9816

>If I wanted realistic characters, I'd watch reality TV, Or a more serious show, not a moe escapism anime.

>>9814
Well first season was awesome so it was expected that this spin off would be let down. Still I consider characters are good, probably creators have run out of ideas.

I wonder if we'll get any of the umineko style fantasy meta-jong battles that happened whenever saki and nodoka played against each other.

Gotou Saori and Nonaka Ai for Kokaji and Kouko, that's just godly. Especially Nonaka Ai, maximum trolling.

Also Kirame is Arai Satomi, that's strangely fitting. Subara~ Well, shit will finally get good starting with next episode.

Also:

From Megami Magazine:

6/3: Episode 8 修行 Training (manga chapter 7)
6/10: Episode 9 最強 Strongest (manga chapter 8)
6/17: Episode 10 連荘 Renchan (manga chapter 9)
6/24: Episode 11 我慢 Endurance (different title from manga chapter 10)
7/1: Episode 12 ?

>>9870
>7/1: Episode 12 ?

Onsen episode is my guess.

>Three Additional Episodes of Saki Achiga-hen Announced

So yeah this answers all the questions regarding the adaptation I guess.

-

Biglobe's Favorite Saki High School User Rankings

1. Kiyosumi High School (Nagano), 715 votes
2. Himematsu High School (South Osaka), 573
3. Senriyama Girls' High School (North Osaka), 558
4. Ryuumonbuchi High School (Nagano), 542
5. Kazekoshi Girls' High School (Nagano), 519
6. Shiraitodai High School (West Tokyo), 416
7. Tsuruga Academy (Nagano), 413
8. Miyamori Girls' High School (Iwate), 411
9. Achiga Girls' Academy (Nara), 357
10. Eisui Girls' High School (Kagoshima), 214
11. Kentani High School (Hyogo), 180
12. Shindouji Girls' High School (Fukuoka), 160
13. Koshigaya Girls' High School (Saitama), 68
14. Rinkai Girls' High School (East Tokyo), 41

Spoiler for Achiga ch 11.

Teruuu.

Is it just my imagination, or does Kanbara sound half asleep whenever she says anything?

>>9915

She does sound lethargic but isn't it done on purpose? Wahaha.

I still don't think repeatedly shoving in characters from the first season for short guest appearances is gonna make this season and it's characters any less bland and boring, but it's nice to see captain again...

>http://www.saki-anime.com/special/interview.php

>good news and bad news

>good news: as you heard, the anime is extended into 15 episodes. That staff really wanted to finish the semi finals. Teru time will go on up to episode 12, though

>bad news: The remaining 3 episodes will be used to go over the 4 remaining semi final matches. The pacing will be a breakneck as previous non-Teru/Toki matches. Don't get your hopes up too high.

>>9920

Ah, better than nothing I guess.

Hurry up July 1st.

New episode is out.

Toki is so damn cute.

;_;

>[Leopard-Raws] Saki - Achiga-hen - Episode of Side-A - 12 END (TX 1280x720 x264 AAC).mp4
>END
>END
>END
>END

>>9920
so then, are the last 3 eps going to be web releases a la bakamonogatari or was the production studio not run by jews and managed to pay for an extra 3 weeks of airing time?

still waiting on underwater
those turtles are still stuck at ep8.

>>10373

>so then, are the last 3 eps going to be web releases a la bakamonogatari or was the production studio not run by jews and managed to pay for an extra 3 weeks of airing time?

You DO realize you can't just buy out a time slot for 3 weeks, right? Seasons are there for a reason, if someone were to suddenly just go ahead and buy out a time slot for 3 weeks some stations schedule would go down the shitter. Nobody would agree to that.

So yes, the last 3 eps will be webcasts. The first one airs on August 1 I think and my guess is they will release them on monthly basis.

why do they air anime on broadcast television at all anymore if it's cheaper to do online?

Do they really get enough exposure at 1-2am to make it worth it?
I was under the impression late night anime had such horrible ratings that they couldn't accurately track the ratings, and instead had to solely rely on dvd/bd sales to gauge a shows popularity and success (or failure).

>>10389
DVD sales are also where most of the money is. Airing a series on TV is basically a commercial for the DVDs

>>10389
The system by which anime makes profit is really backwards and ridiculous, I really doubt that the old men in charge would be smart enough to just air stuff online.

>>10390
uhh, yeah....
that's sort of like, adding onto my question, not answering it at all.
It's sort of why I asked, becuase airing the stuff on TV costs a lot more than online, and if the extra cost was worth it. yes I realize they use broadcast tv to advertise the dvds, I'm just wondering if they really get more coverage on tv compared to airing it online, which is cheaper I believe.

>>10391
but it looks it's starting to become something of a tread.
theres already tons of 3-7 minute per ep anime that has aired online, and ovas
there have also been full series such as the recent Mirai Nikki and Ebiten this season.

(I knew I should have made a thread for this...)

>>10394

>which is cheaper I believe.

I don't know any exact numbers but the differences in price are probably not all too high. The costs of buying out a late night time slot are pretty low.

>and ovas

Not OVAs technically but I'm nitpicking.

>>10399


it can cost about 50 million yen (US$560,000) for late-night timeslots on five to seven stations for two cours (six months).
an average 13 ep show with a span of three months would be about half that.
I couldn't find anything regarding the cost of airing online, but I'm sure it must be a lot less, but I think the real question is how much traffic and how many viewers does anime aired online get compared to anime aired on TV?


and yeah right, sorry about the 'OVAs', I guess I was thinking of ONAs.