Saki (series)

Saki 「咲-Saki」 is a franchise featured in three separate animated series based on an ongoing manga series. The franchise centers itself around the title character, Saki, who herself is a member of the Kiyosumi High School Mahjong Club. The franchise is produced in a currently ongoing manga series, three animated seasons, and two video games. The fictional universe of the Saki series features a number of characters, most of which are associated with their high schools. Together, they compete in the 71st Inter High School Mahjong Championships ^[1].

Story and setting

The story and setting of Saki can be described as the "Sakiverse", or Saki universe. Here, the story is set around the year 2050. In this fictional universe, the game of mahjong is treated as a sport, where even competition at the high school level receives a large amount of media coverage.

Interhigh tournament

The Interhigh Tournament involves countless numbers of high school teams across Japan. A total of 52 high schools entered into the National Tournament, where they each had to compete for their respective spots via their regional tournaments. Each regional tournament took place within each of Japan's prefectures. Though, five had to be split due to either size or population density. Given the size and scope of this fictional universe, only a number of teams are featured in the story itself. That leaves a majority of the schools in the "unknown" category.

The tournament structure groups schools into four per section of the tournament bracket. Depending on the round, either the top two teams or the winner moves on in the bracket.

Characters

Special abilities

Various characters feature special abilities surrounding different aspects of the game. For example, the title character Saki wields the ability to win via rinshan kaihou at abnormally high rates. These different powers with the different character personalities are then matched together in the mahjong games throughout the tournament.