Saki Zenkoku-hen
Show of the season. No debate.
As someone who has no idea what is going to be in the season, any particular reason why?
First, I'll warn that I'm a fan of the manga/show and as such, my opinion is fanboyismed.
Also, I was partially kidding, but it may truly end up being the SotS to some.
The authorKobayashi Ritz was for a long time completely unknown to anyone even as the mangaka of the prominent manga Saki. In fact, for the longest time, people thought that the author was a man disguising himself under the guise of a woman's name. The editors and magazine she is published in only deal with her through the Internet and it is commonly assumed that she is a hardcore hikkikomori. Nevertheless, her work as always been superb to the point where the magazine has always given her their full support even considering the weird situation they are in.
A lot of the myth was revealed back when she had to go for surgery though.
The serieSaki is a manga about girls playing mahjong (the real one, not that crap we call mahjong here)
Anime series' order:
- Saki (first season)
- Saki (second season)
- Saki: Achiga-hen (a side story intertwined into the main story)
- Saki: Zenkoku-hen
Here's a pretty accurate synopsis:
Saki Miyanaga, a high school first-year student, does not like mahjong because her family would always force her to play it and punish her regardless of the outcome of the game. Due to this, she learned how to keep her score at zero, neither winning nor losing, a skill said to be more difficult than actually consistently winning. However, her friend from middle school, completely unaware of such circumstances, convinces her to visit the school's small mahjong club upon entering into high school. After the club discovers her ability, they recruit her permanently and convince her to win instead of breaking even. She easily does so with her skill and discovers a new love for mahjong, along with a friendship with her fellow club member, Nodoka Haramura. This leads the team to enter the prefecture's high school mahjong tournament with the goal of reaching the national high school competition.
The show itself alters between a school life comedy to actionish shonen-esque looking tournaments and some underlying yuri romance.
One of the strongest point of the manga/anime are the characters. Even with a rather large cast, every character is given at the very least enough attention to become defined.
How playing mahjong looks like in Saki:
ConclusionSaki is the Hikaru no Go of mahjong (except that it's actually fun to read/watch)