Line #154 Manga/Saki


1	[[quoteright:350:[[ChromosomeCasting https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saki_zenkoku_fin_1_4059.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:A manga about mahjong.]]
3
4	''If you were looking for the author with the pen name Saki, go [[Creator/{{Saki}} here.]]''
5
6	Saki Miyanaga is a freshman at Kiyosumi High School in Nagano Prefecture. On the morning of her first day at tenth-grade, 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.
7
8	Hisa Takei, Student Council president and club captain, wakes up from her nap just in time to see the last round, only to notice that Saki wasn't playing to win and was just keeping her score even. She also notices that in all of the previous rounds Saki had also scored ±0 -- something Hisa attributes to sheer luck, extreme skill, or both.
9
10	The next day Hisa bribes Saki into playing again by offering to lend her of books. This time though, Hisa gives her a handicap that makes her start with fewer points than everyone else -- to get ±0 from there, Saki is thus forced to play to win. Saki does so, in the process rediscovering her love for the game.
11
12	As she eventually confides to Nodoka, her dislike of mahjong (and her ±0 style) stems from years of having to bear with a family who were sore losers and arrogant winners. But 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.
13
14	''Saki'' (咲 -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). There is also a live-action adaptation consisting of four episodes and a TV special, plus a follow-up live-action film. Creator/YenPress is releasing the manga digitally in English.
15
16	Besides the main manga, ''Saki'' also has seven spinoff comics:
17	* ''[[Manga/SakiAchigaHen 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;
18	* ''Biyori'' (2011-present, 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;
19	* ''[[Manga/SakiShinohayuDawnOfAge Shinohayu -the dawn of age-]]'' (2013-present, also illustrated by Igarashi), which focuses on the generation that produced some of the pros of the current timeline -- playing idol Hayari Mizuhara, color commentator Risa Noyori, Team Achiga adviser (and alumna) Harue Akado, and multiple-time national champion Sukoya Kokaji, as well as Hayari's old teammates Shino Shiratsuki and Kanna Ishitobi;
20	* ''Toki'' (2016-present, illustrated by Mekimeki Oukoku), which follows the childhood of Toki Onjouji and Ryuuka Shimidzudani, featuring a lot of girls from Senriyama, Himematsu, and other schools from Osaka;
21	* ''Someya Mako's Mahjong Parlor Food'' (2019-present, also illustrated by Oukoku), a gourmet manga spinoff centering on Mako's family mahjong parlor-turned-maid cafe where the Kiyosumi girls sometimes practice; and
22	* ''Saki-re: KING'S TILE DRAW'' (2020-present, illustrated by Sakurako Gokurakuin), a GenderFlip retelling of the main story.
23
24	Also related to the franchise is a series of one-shot comics, done by Hideki Owada (creator of Manga/TheLegendOfKoizumi and Manga/GundamSousei), portraying some extremely fictionalized vignettes of series creator Ritz Kobayashi's life, as she tries to track down her deadbeat dad, all the while doing research for the manga she is doing. Both Saya and Aguri join in the fun by the third story.
25
26	'''Note:''' There is also a [[Characters/{{Saki}} character sheet]] for character-specific tropes.
27
28	See also ''Manga/{{Fatalizer}}'', another manga by Ritz.
29	----
30	!!This series contains examples of:
31
32	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: An analysis, based on the study of a calendar (shown only in a single frame, so it's easy to miss) and on the possible dates of a full moon during the prefecturals, concludes that the only possible year for the series to take place in is '''2050'''. It's no wonder why Nodoka's so interested in IPS reproduction...
33	* 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). Some notable examples are featured below:
34	** In ''Zenkoku-hen'', the scene where the girls run into Saki from ''Achiga-hen'' is redone here, except viewed through Saki's viewpoint. This ''doesn't'' happen in the manga, where Saki was simply lost in the competition halls looking for the restroom.
35	** Also from ''Zenkoku-hen'', ''everything'' related to Team Eisui outside their games in the National quarterfinals qualifies for this. In this case however, Ritz gave Gokumi permission to expand on their characterizations due to being able to properly do so in the manga, where one of the main complaints was how Team Eisui, both as a team and as individual players, lacked personality.
36	** 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 superpower, 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 Sergeants' match against Mako, Yuuko and Tomoe is expanded, and it's also shown that [[spoiler:quick hands can [[TheWorfEffect easily thwart her attempts]]]].
37	** The conversation between Kei and Team Achiga during ''Zenkoku-hen'' Episode 6... never happened in either the main manga or ''Achiga-hen''. 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 Team Achiga isn't watching Team Kiyosumi (whose ranks include Nodoka, an old friend to several Achiga players) to stay focused on their own efforts and avoid getting demoralized should they lose.
38	** ''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:This also serves as a ContinuityNod to the ending of ''Achiga-hen'', as the episode also shows a scene from the spinoff where Kirame hands those same tacos to the rest of her teammates mourning their semifinals exit.]]
39	* ArtEvolution: In full display when a scene from the start of the manga (Hisa talking to Mako on the balcony outside the clubroom) gets referenced more than a hundred chapters later via flashback -- the Hisa from the newer chapter looks almost nothing like the one from the earlier chapter.
40	** The anime for the main series as well, with ''Zenkoku-hen'' having more in common with the adaptation of ''Achiga-hen''. This due to the span of time between adaptations (six years) as well as a change of studios (GONZO to Studio Gokumi).
41	** Another thing that's noticeable is how certain aspects of some girls gradually grew... [[FanservicePack larger]], as series went on. While this could normally explained away by the onset of puberty, the short time frame of the Nationals (less than a full week had passed since it started) eliminates it as a probable cause. Nodoka's is especially noticeable, but then there's Awaii and Ako from ''Achiga-hen'', who went from somewhat petite the first time they appeared in the main series (Ako in particular, as she's only supposedly a little bigger than almost-flat Shizuno), to "porn-star jigglies" over the course of a few chapters.
42	* AvengersAssemble: The way Team Ryuumonbuchi was formed.
43	* BadassAdorable: Saki, Nodoka, Koromo and Toki would certainly count.
44	* BadassNormal: In a series chock-full of superpowered players, there are also those who get by through sheer skill alone.
45	** Season 1 has Team Tsuruga's Yumi, while ''Zenkoku-hen'' has the entirety of Team Himematsu, notably Hiroe and Kyouko.
46	** ''Achiga-hen'' has Team Senriyama's Hiroko, cousin to Hiroe.
47	* BarbieDollAnatomy: In both manga and anime. Most notable in chapter 182, which shows a significant chunk of Himeko's crotch.
48	* BattleAura: Any particularly skilled mahjong player will emanate variations of this during matches, but so-called "monster" class participants radiate ones that only other "monsters" can sense.
49	* BeachEpisode: Season 1 Episode 20, when Teams Kiyosumi and Ryuumonbuchi meet at an indoor pool. The ending sequence for the second half of the series also shows all the teams at the beach. Also in ''Zenkoku-hen'' Episode 12, this time featuring Teams Eisui and Miyamori [[spoiler:as some sort of consolation after they were eliminated from the National quarterfinals]].
50	* BirdRun: Yuuki, Satomi and Hatsumi often do this.
51	* BlandNameProduct: The "DFLL" computer in the commentators' booth, and the book titled "Rord of the Rings". For "Rord of the Rings" this might be an unintentional example caused by JapaneseRanguage.
52	* BrokenPedestal:
53	** Played straight with 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.
54	** Subverted in the case of Mihoko and Hisa. Mihoko is initially deeply disappointed when it seems as though Hisa has forgotten her, but when the former opens her right eye again, she remembers.
55	* BunnyEarsLawyer: It seems that the more powerful a mahjong player, the quirkier she is. Many of them wouldn't be too out of place even if transplanted to Manga/TheLegendOfKoizumi, for example.
56	* BuxomBeautyStandard: The first thing Saki notices about Nodoka is that she's "beautiful," which refers to her extremely well-endowed, [[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 Team Eisui.
57	* CainAndAbel: While it was made clear that Teru and Saki were ''never'' on good terms since their family broke apart, as Teru's refusal to speak with Saki made the latter opt to [[TalkingThroughTechnique communicate with mahjong]], Saki doesn't realize until after the Nagano finals that Teru publicly disowned her. Saki loses hope, at least for the moment, in the possibility of anything changing between her and Teru.
58	* CastHerd: The majority of the cast is made up of the various schools' mahjong teams. Hard to avoid, since a single team match needs twenty people.
59	* CherryBlossoms: Put to good use during Saki and Nodoka's first encounter.
60	* CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler:Though her ''actual'' fate is unclear as of this point, whatever happened to the other girl in the Miyanaga family picture [[https://mangadex.org/chapter/246646/14]] had a profound effect on both Miyanaga sisters, and likely also played a factor in how their family broke apart.]]
61	* DatePeepers: Not a date, but when Yumi and Momoko are having a quiet moment together after the regional finals, the other three members of their team are shown spying on them.
62	* DavidVersusGoliath: Usually Team Kiyosumi plays the perennial underdog to several teams they face, both in the Nagano and National tournaments. An inversion, however, occurs against Team Tsuruga (from the Nagano finals), also another newcomer (complete with a total beginner with an ungodly amount of luck), in contrast to Kiyosumi's well-trained lineup whose ranks include last year's national junior-high champion, a senior honed in the individuals, and a shy bookworm who's also a Nationals-class "monster".
63	* 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, and continued doing so after losing.
64	** Averted with Shiraitodai's Awai, who swore eternal revenge to Shizuno for beating her during the National Semi-final match.
65	* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Koromo returning Etopen to Nodoka, as Koromo [[spoiler:tries to ask Nodoka to be her friend]].
66	* EarlyBirdCameo: Kazue Nanpo in Season 1 Episode 6.
67	* EnemyEatsYourLunch: Jun eats Yuuki's taco at the start of their match, albeit more absent-mindedly than maliciously. Luckily Mihoko was there with her takoyaki as a backup.
68	* EnemyMine: It is not uncommon for players to ally themselves with others during a match in order to take out another player who is an obvious threat. Of course, some of these alliances are short lived because each player also want to get ahead of their competition. Some examples are:
69	** In one of the matches of the individual tournament, ''everyone'' gangs up on Saki. [[spoiler:Needless to say, it doesn't work.]]
70	** Mihoko helps Yuuki from losing too many points against Jun in the Nagano finals' vanguard match, making Yuuki think she's looking out for her. Mihoko then surprises everyone by repeatedly scoring big and running away with the lead.
71	** Kana, whose points were reduced to 0 by Koromo, gets a 16,900 point grace from Saki during the Nagano finals' captains match. It turns out Saki purposely did this so Kana doesn't go in the negative should anyone get a winning hand to give Saki enough time to pull off a comeback win
72	* ExpressiveAccessory: [[GenkiGirl Yuuki's]] cat-belt which is lip-synced to her.
73	* FamilyOfChoice: Team Ryuumonbuchi, with the caveat that Touka and Koromo are actually related. Hajime describes everyone's role in the family in a conversation following the regionals.
74	* {{Fanservice}}: All over the place.
75	* FanServicePack:
76	** Kasumi starts the series very slender. But after years of progression in the manga she becomes the bustiest character in the series, until each breast is the size of her head.
77	** Awai likewise is fairly petite in her introduction but eventually grows to one of the most massive in the cast.
78	** Nodoka already starts the series busty, but by 2023 her breasts are big enough that her shirt literally no longer fits, constantly exposing the underside of her breasts.
79	* FanserviceWithASmile: Mako's family's maid cafe (a mahjong parlor in the manga with the anime stating that it was a mahjong parlor before becoming a maid cafe) is a nice reason to see Saki and Nodoka dress up. And play more mahjong.
80	* {{Filler}}: Shorter than some Shounen series, but still present in Season 1. The pool episode and individuals matches were never portrayed in the manga, though the latter's results have been acknowledged as canon, such as Mihoko going onto the Nationals, Team Eisui talking about Yuuki's monstrous point-farming run during the first day of the Nagano Individuals, and Nanpo being considered by Fujita as a possible participant
81	* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Saki faces 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.]]
82	** In individuals, Saki, foreshadowing her (estranged) sister, got three players ganged up on her -- and she still comes out on the top.
83	** Saki's [[SuperDrowningSkills inability to swim]]. A minor detail during the early parts of the manga and anime, but [[spoiler:with the revelation as of Chapter 102, it will likely become an important clue as to whatever became of the third girl in the Miyanaga family picture...]]
84	* FreudianExcuse: The unnamed king in Yuuki's omake story, who waged war with the Power of Corn and left none for making new tacos because his parents divorced when he was young over how bad tacos tasted.
85	** 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 logic 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 pitting oneself against {{worthy opponent}}s. 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.
86	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Kyoutarou and Yuuki horsing around in Season 1 Episode 5.
87	* FuroScene: Several, such as in the training camps.
88	* GenderBentAlternateUniverse: ''Saki RE: King's Tile Draw'' is set in a universe where nearly all of the main cast goes from female to male, with some personality differences here and there. We say nearly, because [[InSpiteOfANail Kyotaro is still a boy]], making this ChromosomeCasting at its most blatant.
89	* GoingCommando: The series is notorious for it. There has never been a panty-shot in the history of the manga, because none of the girls ever wear any.
90	* GoKartingWithBowser: Sort of. By the time Teams Kiyosumi and Ryuumonbuchi encounter each another at a resort, they act chummier than before (with Koromo [[spoiler:finally finding a true friend in Saki]]).
91	* HeroesGoneFishing: ''Saki Biyori'' features the characters doing many different things, such as shopping, cleaning, tripping, and practically anything but mahjong.
92	* HotSpringsEpisode: The training camp before the regional tournament, and the final episode of Season 1.
93	* HufflepuffHouse: The story in general features teams that serve only to complete the 4-player requirement of mahjong. The Nagano tournament, for example, features two plucky underdog teams who come outta nowhere to make it into the finals. One of them is Team Kiyosumi. Sorry, Team Tsuruga, but until you get your own show, you have no chance of winning. However, some of these teams get short but decent characterization so they do not end up as simply cannon fodder for the main protagonist teams and rivals.
94	* 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'' a significant amount of points and was later told that several first years are stronger players than she is -- implying that the boys' tournament is not as interesting as the girls' version.
95	* IntertwinedFingers: Saki and Nodoka in the opening and in the occasionally-used second ending. Also used in-series, like when they are watching fireflies together.
96	* {{Joshikousei}}: But of course. This is a show about schoolgirls playing mahjong through their school clubs.
97	* LampshadeHanging: At the beginning of the Nationals, Saki admits that she accidentally wore Mako's skirt (which is longer than hers) at 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, and in-universe the rest of Kiyosumi say that Saki looks better with a long skirt.)
98	* [[GlowingEyesOfDoom Lightning-spouting Eye of Doom]]
99	** Apparently this is a trademark all National level monster player shared.
100	* LuminescentBlush: All over the place. Particularly used with the series' (numerous) lesbian moments.
101	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab0crR7cPZU Miyanaga-san! We're looking at each other and blushing again!]]
102	* TheMagicPokerEquation: Being good at mahjong in this series means drawing better tiles--or having other bizarre superpowers that let you win.
103	* MaleGaze: The anime has a special emphasis on the character's sweaty thighs.
104	* TheMerch: [[invoked]]Exists in RealLife, and gets some lampshading in-series. 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".
105	-->'''Teru:''' "...I did?"
106	* MillionToOneChance: Some of these girls are so absurdly lucky that they pass right into "favored by the Author" status.
107	* 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 telling Sumire that she does not have a sister. Then the scene shifts back to the pool, with Kiyosumi playing around and Saki hoping to see Teru again.
108	* MortonsFork: If Saki lost one of the family games of mahjong (presumably as in getting last place), she would lose her New Year's money. If she won, her family would get mad at her. As a result, she decided to have a net gain and loss of 0 points, to ensure that she would never get first or last place.
109	* 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]].
110	* 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 [[spoiler:cheat at]] mahjong.
111	** Interestingly enough, some characters have abilities outside mahjong that they can use in play. Momo's invisibility 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 stage magician, to cheat at mahjong, and deeply regrets doing so.
112	** 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" table for her club.
113	* MustMakeAmends
114	** Two players from a school Team Kiyosumi defeated in the first round of the Nagano tournament 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.
115	** Last year, Megan Davin of Team Rinkai went the way of the DirtyCoward and targeted a weak player rather than face the fury of Cold Touka. She has since deeply regretted it and desires more than anything to have a second crack at facing Touka and clear her conscience.
116	* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours: There are ''many'' styles of Mahjong presented here, from Nodoka's focus on effiency to Hisa's hell-waits and Kuro's dora-magnet. All of them train their styles in order to defeat each other in the Nationals. There is a training camp arc.
117	* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Already somewhat present during the Nagano tournament, but in full force during the Nationals. 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 Komaki is finally possessed by a goddess spirit.
118	** Himematsu's Suehara exploits this trope during her match with Saki, Nelly, and Sawaya by taking note of how Saki reacts to anything the other two players do, using this "tell" to try and get around occult-based plays.
119	* NoPeekingRequest: During Kiyosumi's first training camp Mako says Nodoka should be wearing a yukata, so Yuuki promptly jumps on Nodoka and stuffs her into one. Kyoutarou [[AccidentalPervert innocently walks into the room while this is going on]], and he gets an eyeful of a half-dressed Nodoka lying on the floor before Saki quickly jumps in front of him shouting, "Don't look!"
120	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Hayarin muses that she and Kanna are pretty much alike, in that the latter tries too hard to maintain her "cool" image.
121	* OhCrap: Chapter 98 features a massive one [[spoiler:by players playing against Saki when she "awakens"]], which causes the competition hall to be shaken by a minor earthquake, and other miscellaneous supernatural phenomena like Iwato Kasumi's H-cups to start ''floating''.
122	* 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 Kurumi. None of them look to be no older than 10 years old, when in fact they are about 16 or 17.
123	* OldSchoolBuilding: The location of Team Kiyosumi's mahjong club (in the attic). Hisa's first activity as re-founding member was to make it livable.
124	* OneWordTitle:
125	** The title is named for the protagonist's first name, making this a ProtagonistTitle.
126	** Episodes: About [=2/3s=] of the episode titles fit this.
127	%%%* PerpetuallyShinyBodies
128	* PerspectiveFlip: Saki's chance encounter with Team Achiga while wandering the halls of the competition venue in ''Zenkoku-hen'' is 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.
129	* PinkySwear: Saki and Nodoka ("No holding back?")
130	* ThePowerOfFriendship: Koromo notices that Yumi and Kana haven't lost hope yet, and a panel indicates that they're persisting for the sake of Momo and Mihoko.
131	* PrivilegedRival: Several schools are explicitly stated to be wealthy private schools with access to the latest technology. Three of the Nagano finalists, for example, are private schools. However, the school's wealth has absolutely nothing to do with the skill its players have.
132	* ProtagonistTitle: The title is the protagonist's first name.
133	* PuniPlush: Everything except for the boards.
134	* RankScalesWithAsskicking: The mahjong ClubPresident is usually also one of the most skilled members. There are exceptions, though, such as Team Tsuruga's Yumi, whose sheer skill makes people frequently mistake her for their club leader instead of the more lackadaisical Satomi.
135	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Nodoka's father thinks "Mahjong Pro" isn't the most secure career aspiration for his daughter, but lets her keep at it as long as she keeps winning. 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 [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation interpreted]] that he does so because he doesn't think she can manage the improbable task of winning the nationals.
136	** Nodoka's mother fits the trope more, as she chastises her husband for imposing a deal with their daughter (he'll let Nodoka stay in Kiyosumi and continue practicing mahjong if she wins the nationals), and encourages Nodoka to continue what she likes to do.
137	* RequiredSpinoffCrossover: The main series finally intersects with ''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.
138	** There's a brief scene in the final episode of 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''.
139	* {{Retcon}}: ''Zenkoku-hen'' replaces the training camp from the end of Season 1 of the anime with one that hews closer to that shown in the manga (where Hisa invites all the players from the other teams they played with during the Nagano finals), removing a crucial scene in which Saki and Nodoka earn a RelationshipUpgrade. 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, Teru's disowning of Saki has not been addressed, although Saki is unwilling, and even possibly somewhat scared, to see her sister again outside of mahjong.
140	* {{Retraux}}: Flashbacks are often done in sepia.
141	* ScaryShinyGlasses: In Season 1 Episode 25, when Mako, Tomoki, and Miharu all make the collective decision to gang up on Kaori as revenge for losing to her in the Nagano semifinals. [[spoiler:[[EpicFail They lose. Badly.]]]]
142	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: True to the "Yu-Gi-Oh meets Mahjong" idea, throughout each tournament, Saki meets girls with increasingly powerful abilities, who use these abilities to cheat at the game (see also SerialEscalation), and then Saki beating them using her own supernatural powers.
143	* SecondHandStorytelling: So far, most of what we know about the Miyanagas is what Saki tells her friends. It's still unclear whether Saki is an UnreliableExpositor, though there are some indications that Saki initially doesn't fully understand how much Teru has distanced herself from her.
144	* 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, now ranks on the ''lower end'' of the StoryBreakerPower spectrum. Since then abilities like invisibility, ''reading an opposing player's soul after a turn'', ''channeling gods'' 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.
145	* SeriousBusiness: Mahjong is treated as a matter of honor, though most characters still haven't lost the sense of fun playing it. {{Deconstructed\|Trope}}, however, with Saki's family, where it was taken so seriously it literally tore itself apart [[spoiler:although it's implied that there were other factors at work]].
146	* SequelHook
147	** The final ending credits of Season 1 of the anime show new characters from other schools competing in the nationals (specifically Teams Rinkai, Shiraitodai and Eisui).
148	** The finale of ''Zenkoku-hen'' also shows events not even covered by the manga yet, such as Teams Eisui and Miyamori's beach trip and everything beyond Hisa's match in the National semifinals, including hints of the abilities of the members of Teams Usuzan and Rinkai. And in a CallBack to the sequel hook of the first season, it uses the ''very same insert song'', "Glossy MMM".
149	* SignatureMove: Every character gets their own favourite yaku, with Saki's being the ''rinshan kaihou'' (tsumo from a kan).
150	* SinisterSilhouettes: Subverted, as past 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.
151	* SittingOnTheRoof: A few cases. Chapter 6 of the Big Gangan version of Saki Biyori features Saki and Nodoka eating on the roof. In Chapter 128, Awai finds Teru on the roof and gets her to admit that Saki is her sister.
152	* ShoutOut
153	** In the anime, many to Akagi (much of the "camera work" and motions during a game are straight Akagi, and the CG happens to look identical).
154	** Hagiyoshi, butler to Team Ryuumonbuchi's Touka, might be a shoutout to a [[Manga/BlackButler certain demon butler]], with whom he shares Creator/DaisukeOno's voice.
155	** The episode previews all have references to mahjong manga of varying obscurity, most of which are lost on English-speaking audiences. For those interested, [[http://riichimahjong.blogspot.com.au/2010/06/trailers-for-each-episode-of-anime-saki.html there's a list here]].
156	* 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 semifinals match.
157	* ShownTheirWork: Every single game portrayed so far has been perfectly valid. No extra tiles, no impossible hands, every last game conforms to the rules. The hands and wins may be ''wildly'' improbable, but still possible.
158	* SleepCute: Nodoka and Saki in episodes eight, ten and nineteen.
159	* SoreLoser: One of the schools Kiyosumi defeated in the first round of the prefecturals doesn't take it well, and even steals Etopen as revenge. They [[HeelRealization come to regret it, though]].
160	** Saki's family, who were both sore losers ''and'' sore winners, are a large part of why Saki dislikes Mahjong at the start of the story.
161	* 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.
162	* SuperDeformed: Used during the exposition bits and in the ending credits. However, each season has alternate ending credits for more serious episodes, in which the characters are shown normally.
163	** Koromo occasionally turns chibi during the show itself, as befitting her adorable childlike nature.
164	* TamerAndChaster: ''Saki-Re'' has zero fanservice compared to its female counterpart, playing itself instead as a straightforward mahjong manga.
165	* TemptingFate: In episode 2, Nodoka's mentions that it is impossible for Saki to get +/- 0 unless someone declares riichi... followed immediately by Yuuki declaring riichi.
166	* TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne: When sufficiently powerful players cross paths, they'll experience a jolt as if sensing their PowerLevel.
167	** During the maid café, Saki got an ominous feeling when an older woman stepped in. This woman turned out to be a pro.
168	** Four members of Ryuumonbuchi immediately realized that Saki was a strong player simply by walking past her. In fact, they mistook her for Nodoka.
169	** When Koromi ''finally'' decided to arrive at the Nagano tournament, she gave Saki chills and she wasn't even in the building!
170	* TokenMiniMoe: There are teams that feature characters that look way younger than their ''actual'' ages -- Kiyosumi's Yuuki, Ryuumonbuchi's Koromo, Eisui's Hatsumi, and Miyamori's Kurumi.
171	* TournamentArc: Season 1 shows the Nagano tourney, while ''Zenkoku-hen'', covers the National quarterfinals bracket of which Team Kiyosumi is placed (against Himematsu, Eisui and Miyamori).
172	* TrashTalk: Averted for the most part, but there were a few instances: Hisa subtly insulting Satomi's intelligence during the halftime break of their match, and all of Hiroe's matches so far.
173	* TrueCompanions
174	** Team Kiyosumi would definitely count, with the freshmen (Saki, Nodoka and Yuuki, and to a lesser extent Kyoutaro) sharing a tight bond. Mako and Hisa are also quite close, as the two were the only two actual members of the club in the previous year.
175	** Team Ryuumonbuchi was assembled by Touka not only to serve as her dream team, but also a means to break the ice on her cousin Koromo.
176	** Team 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.
177	* UnderestimatingBadassery
178	** During the Nagano finals, Kana didn't even give Saki a second glance as she is focusing on Koromo. It's not wrong per se, as she has a grudge against Koromo for badly beating Team Kazekoshi last year, and then Saki outran her many times she lost her chance for a comeback victory. And her comeback from 0 points is facilitated by Saki.
179	** Some of the players of Team Eisui didn't think much of Kiyosumi because the Nagano tournament didn't feature that many schools, but still gave them some respect because they managed to beat Koromo. [[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.]]
180	* UnusualChapterNumbers: The manga began numbering its chapters as "Chapter 1" through "Chapter 3", but Chapter 3 was also numbered as "[[EpisodeZeroTheBeginning Round 0]]", and the series continued with "Round 1" onwards.
181	* VaporWear:
182	** Shots of Nodoka's [[SexySoakedShirt wet uniform scene]] from Season 1 Episode 1 bore wild theories that Nodoka, and maybe the other girls, did not wear any underwear. This was confirmed for Nodoka in Episode 3, which gave an upskirt view as she was putting her shoes on that showed a completely uncovered butt.
183	** Hajime's casual clothing pretty much excludes the possibility of her wearing underwear.
184	** Eisui;s Hatsumi wears her shine maiden outfit very loosely, showing a bare chest with tan lines.
185	** Gets increasingly ridiculous in later chapters -- 182 shows much of Himeko's exposed crotch, while 189 gives us an upskirt shot through the reflection off the floor.
186	* VisualPun: Season 1's 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.
187	* WhamEpisode: Chapter 128. Awai asks Teru if she has a sister, and Teru, after considering denying it for a moment, says that Saki is her sister. Nishida then mentions that she has a lead on Teru's past.
188	* 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 glaring examples:
189	** Kazekoshi has a membership of at least 78 girls and a reputation as ''the'' go-to school for serious mahjong players, and was the six-time Nagano champion until Koromo entered the scene. Come the current Nagano finals, every single member of their team save Kana (and even then whatever points she earned was largely an act of charity from Saki) 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).
190	** 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 (and to a lesser degree, Hajime), 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.
191	** 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), 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 ''[[EpicFail getting knocked out of the Nationals]]''. So much for defending champions.
192	** 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 fell far behind Teru, 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. Ryuuka, in spite of her newfound ability to use some of Toki's future sight, failed to get the points she needed.
193	** Eisui, in spite of having a monster player, underperformed badly, with said monster (Komaki) not even performing at 100% due to how, in underestimating their opponents, they arranged the order of deities possessing her from weakest to strongest. This was a '''big mistake''', as the points deficit this caused forced her teammates to scramble for the rest of the quarterfinals, with mixed results: Hatsumi, one of the team's best scorers, was sealed completely during her turn (leaving her to break down in tears inside her MaskOfPower), and Kasumi, who's normally a defensive player, was forced to go on the offensive via the One Suit gathering power, in the process leaving her vulnerable to Saki's table manipulation due to how it made everyone's hands easier to predict.
194	** Team Kiyosumi's Yuuki seems to fall victim to this in most of her matches -- against Jun and Mihoko, against Nanpo, and in ''all three'' of her on-screen matches in the Nationals. 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 [[CripplingOverspecialization overspecializes in point-farming at the East Wind]]. [[DavidVersusGoliath From a story perspective, this ensures that Team Kiyosumi will always have to scrape back to victory come the later rounds.]]
195	** Hayari suggests Usuzan is a strong newcomer with high chances of winning the big game, but its first three players lost so many points it seemed questionable whether they'd even make it through the Lieutenants' match, much less recover, and show what ace players Sawaya and Maya, positioned at the very end, can do.
196	** Subverted with "Cold Touka", as at first Saki heard there are people who could deal with her in the Nationals. The way Touka describes Nationals-level competition in the last episode of Season 1 implies that Team Ryuumonbuchi never made it too far, and even those who defeated them were no match for the eventual champions. It turns out that last year, Team Rinkai's Megan, who won a match against Touka, avoided direct confrontation with her and dropped a weaker school to zero, prematurely ending the round and avoiding having to go against [[DiscOneFinalBoss Koromo]] (Megan has since deeply regretted such a cowardly action).
197	* YuriGenre: Nothing explicitly stated, but a ''lot'' implied.

Context Manga / Saki