Reviews Manga / Saki Achiga Hen

Improving on the Original

Saki Achiga-hen, while being a spinoff of the original Saki, is well written enough to stand on its own merits, and does many things better than the series on which it is based.

The spinoff is about some of Nodoka's old friends, who once played mahjong with her in a mahjong club. Ultimately, she moved away and lost touch with her friends, but after seeing her play mahjong on TV, they're inspired to form a team and lead their school to victory in the nationals.

Despite winning in the prefecturals against the local powerhouse, they find themselves on the opposite side of Nodoka's school (Side A, as one version of the title implies), but on the same side as the champions, so they face an uphill battle in reaching their old friend in the tournament.

The pacing is significantly better than the original, and the story moves along somewhat more quickly. The series lasts 20 chapters, and Achiga-hen feels as though each one is longer and has more meaningful events in it than in the original.

The characters are well fleshed out and have more personality than some of the main series opponents. The main characters also have a somewhat better team dynamic than the main series' main cast, possibly because more of them have been friends for longer, and two of them are sisters. All of the main characters undergo a good amount of Character Development over the course of the series, which is nice to see.

All in all, it's an enjoyable experience that nicely addresses some of the original series' flaws.