History Manga / SakiShinohayuDawnOfAge

* MegaTwintails: Worn by Yue.

It is the night after the Side A Semifinals of the 71st National Inter-High Mahjong Tournament, and the girls of Achiga Girls' Academy is celebrating their advancement to the finals -- their ''alma mater'''s highest placing so far in any major tournament. Despite the celebratory mood, their adviser, Harue Akado, excuses herself for a night out with old friends... who happen to be fellow professional players of course, but this is the first time in a long while that Harue herself has seen any of them after becoming adviser, or much more than that, when she quit the game altogether after a disastrous loss at a National semifinals match ten years ago.

Yes, there's a bit of irony in how the "friends" she's spending the evening with are the very same ones she faced at the mahjong table during that fateful match -- [[IdolSinger playing idol]] Hayari Mizuhara, [[CombatCommentator color commentator]] Risa Noyori... and Sukoya Kokaji, the same girl who badly defeated Harue into an early retirement and then went on to launch a phenomenal career that saw her placed as high as 2nd on the world rankings, now also a commentator. And while they're all pros now[[note]](in Harue's case, she just recently announced her entrance into the pro scene for the reason that will be obvious soon)[[/note]], back then, they were just high school students too, all vying against each other for a chance to stand at the top. Much like what the current generation is doing, in fact.

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Kousuke tells Shino to get over mahjong, believing it only hurts her by it being a reminding of her MissingMom. He even sells (claims to, anyway) the set which they used to play mahjong together with -- and by "they", this includes Nana. On the other hand, after noticing how happy Shino seems in the tournament he apologizes to her and returns the set even after Shino loses to Hayari.

* InvisibleParents: Averted. In start contrast with both the main series and ''Achiga-hen'', the parents (or guardians, in Shino's case) of many of the characters are not only apparent, but play active parts in their children's lives. So far, we've met Hayari's mom, both of Yue's parents, and Kyouka's mom.

* MagneticHero: Shino has a knack of befriending people she's only played against once during a mahjong game. Kanna, Kyouko, and Hayari aside, she's also managed to get on the good side of several players in the Nationals, enough that they begin ''cheering for her''.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: The start of her POV chapters has Kanna reminiscing that, in hindsight, she and Hayari may have more in common than she would like to admit, both being nigh-invincible girls on their respective fields of expertise.

* SwitchingPOV: The series regularly switches focus to a specific character and their experiences -- from Shino, to Kanna, to Hayari, and to Yue so far.

* WouldHurtAChild: One man who's angry about missing the bus plans on harming Hayari when she protests how he's taking his anger out on another man, until Mafuka intercedes.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In Hayari's first POV chapter, she first meets [[IllGirl Mafuka]] in a hospital.

* IllGirl: Mafuka Kasugai, who appears to have cancer.

* AdultFear: Kousuke frantically searches for Shino after she disappears on him on a trip to a place that's at least ''twelve and a half kilometers'' away from where she left him.

( NotSoDifferentRemark: The start of her POV chapters has Kanna reminiscing that, in hindsight, she and Hayari may have more in common than she would like to admit, both being nigh-invincible girls on their respective fields of expertise.

* NotSoDifferent: Kanna and Hayari have a lot more in common than the former would like to admit, as both girls love to focus on their "cool" side.

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: Shino's mother disappears midway through the first chapter.

* CallBack:
** In the prologue, Sukoya greets Harue, and says that they recently encountered one another. This is a reference to the ending of ''Achiga-hen'', in which Harue encounters Sukoya in the playing room for the finals earlier that night, and declares her resolve to go pro one day.
** A CallForward in this case. Chapter 17 focuses on a younger Harue, and highlights her obsessive need to research the quirks of her opponents -- something that was initially glossed upon at the start of Achiga-hen.

* DecoyProtagonist: It seems that this will be Harue's story... nope! The main characters, at least so far, are Shino and Kanna, as well as their teammate Hayari.
** And ''then'' Harue herself makes her entrance into the story in Chapter 17.
* DiedStandingUp: Mafuka.

* WhamLine: Midway through the first chapter, after a happy game of mahjong with Shino, her mom and her uncle, Shino casually narrates...
-->"The next day, my mom disappeared."

-->'''Mafuka''': I'm getting moved to a hospital in Tokyo, so, you won't be able to see me for a while. Consider it a keepsake.

* WouldHurtAChild: One man who's angry about missing the bus plans on harming Hayari when she protests how he's taking his anger out on another man, until Mafuka intercedes.

* MagneticHeroine: Shino has a knack of befriending people she's only played against once during a mahjong game. Kanna, Kyouko, and Hayari aside, she's also managed to get on the good side of several players in the Nationals.

* BrickJoke: The durian juice.

** The girl that stops Hayari's initial attempt at the nationals is revealed to be a much younger Uta Mihirogi.

* CallBack: In the prologue, Sukoya greets Harue, and says that they recently encountered one another. This is a reference to the ending of ''Achiga-hen'', in which Harue encounters Sukoya in the playing room for the finals earlier that night, and declares her resolve to go pro one day.
* CallBack: Or maybe CallForward in this case. Chapter 17 focuses on a younger Harue, and highlights her obsessive need to research the quirks of her opponents -- something that was initially glossed upon at the start of Achiga-hen.

* SwitchingPOV: The pilot chapter focuses on Harue's mini-reunion with Sukoya, Hayari and Risa, then the first three chapters switch to Shino, before moving onto Kanna for four chapters, both of which lead up to their fateful finals match against Hayari and Yuuichi during the Matsue children's finals. Chapter 8 onwards is in turn dedicated to Hayari not long after her second match with Kanna.

''Saki Shinohayu -dawn of age-'' (咲 -Saki-: シノハユ -dawn of age-) is an ongoing 2013 prequel spinoff of mahjong manga ''{{Manga/Saki}}'', written by Ritz Kobayashi and illustrated by Aguri Igarashi (of ''Manga/BambooBlade'' fame, who also did the ''[[Manga/{{Saki Achiga-hen}} Achiga-hen]]'' side-story), this time focusing on the pros, or rather, their teenage years.

** At the end of the next chapter
-->Mafuka Kasugai, (1988-2037), the mahjong idol, died standing at the end of her final live concert.

-->Mafuka Kasugai, 1988-2037, died standing at the end of her final live concert.