List of Saki characters

The following is a list of characters that appear in the manga and anime series, Saki, which revolves around a girl named Saki Miyanaga who joins a mahjong club, as well as its spin-off manga, Saki: Achiga-hen - Episode of Side A.

Kiyosumi High School

Saki Miyanaga (宮永 咲, Miyanaga Saki^?)

Voiced by: Kana Ueda

Saki Miyanaga is a first-year student and is the titular character of the story. She initially joins the mahjong club so she can reach the Nationals to see her sister, Teru Miyanaga, a top-ranked professional mahjong player.^[1] She is notorious for her ability to score zero points every round, as she didn't want to win against her family.^[2] However, after joining the mahjong club, she uses this skill for the sake of winning. Her skill primarily comes from her ability to read her opponents (to the point where she can frequently sense the "killing intent" of powerful players like Koromo) and along with their tiles present on the table to see the flow of the game.^[3] However, she has a hard time reading the board itself and thus could not play online mahjong at first. A mahjong move she favors most is rinshan kaihō(also known as tsumo after kong) and her play is enhanced when barefoot. At the mahjong tournament, she is made the captain of the team, basically as the Team anchor (the final 5th player) to help determine the overall outcome of Team Kiyosumi's performance by ranking the highest score to conclude the tournament results.^[4] She hopes to progress to the finals to reunite with her older sister. At first she is distant towards Nodoka but over time becomes extremely close to her (to the point where they frequently hold hands and draw strength from each other). She is also a very shy bookworm and cannot swim; she also appears to have a very poor sense of direction, and tends to get lost during excursions, particularly in tournaments. Saki's Presence takes the form of white provincial flowers appearing behind her in the background with several petals swirling around whenever she performs a Rinshan kaihō; a lateral meaning for its translation: "a flower blooms on a ridge". Saki herself also shows changes while her Presence is active, usually in the form of one of her eyes flashing with yellow or red light in a lightning formation or forming flame-like array and her playing hand engulfed in yellow flames or static.

Nodoka Haramura (原村 和, Haramura Nodoka^?)

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu

Nodoka Haramura is a first-year student who attends the same school as Saki and is a member of the mahjong club. She was the previous year's National Middle School Individual Champion.^[5] Nodoka always carries her penguin doll, affectionately named Etopen, to give her a sense of calmness when playing mahjong. Nodoka first saw Saki sitting by the river and reading a book; the two of them formally met later in the Kiyosumi Mahjong club after Kyōtarō brought Saki to their club. Her skill, in comparison to Saki's, comes from practicing via online mahjong.^[3] She has an ability where she views mahjong tables digitally on a mental level; this ability ignores other player's presences in the game, giving her an edge against players with an ability to manipulate presence. At the mahjong tournament, she is the vice-captain of the team.^[4] Her nickname is "Nodocchi" (のどっち^?) (which is same as her screen name in online mahjong) after her play style, quickly and efficiently racking up points as fast as possible.^[6] At first she berates Saki for not even trying but afterward when she does try her hardest, she warms up to her and they become close. She is left-handed. Nodoka has considerably large breasts, something noted by many of the other characters especially Yuki and Saki who are both flat-chested. Nodoka's Presence, as seen in episode 2, takes the form of angelic wings.

Yuuki Kataoka (片岡 優希, Kataoka Yūki^?)

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya

Yūki is Nodoka Haramura's friend from middle school who is also a member of the mahjong club. She is highly skilled during east hands, though cannot stay focused and makes more mistakes as the game progresses,^[7] so she is made the first to play at the mahjong tournament. She is often seen eating tacos, which increases her skill when playing mahjong.^[8] Additionally, food with names similar to tacos, like takoyaki can increase her skill partially as well.^[9] Despite being a first-year, her appearance is very young and child-like. Her birthday is September 16

Hisa Takei (竹井 久, Takei Hisa^?)

Voiced by: Shizuka Itō

Hisa is the head of the mahjong club and the President of the school's Student Congress. Although she does not possess any special ability, her mahjong skills makes up for it. It should be noted that she once gave the future captain of the Kazakoshi Mahjong Club, Mihoko Fukuji a tough match; a remarkable feat, since it pushed Mihoko to the point of opening up her right eye. Her main tactic is to hold out until she is waiting for tiles with bad odds, where she feels she has the best chance of winning, because of this, Nodoka feels that she's not playing to her full extent and therefore disapproves of this tactic. She is also skillful at intimidating her opponents into her trap, as well as collaborating with other players to help take down a more potent opponent in a match. She is formerly known as Hisa Ueno and once played with Mihoko. Along with Mako, she helps establish the Kiyosumi mahjong club.

Mako Someya (染谷 まこ, Someya Mako^?)

Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi

Mako is Hisa's friend, and is also a member of the mahjong club. She grew up near a family owned mahjong parlor, and when she takes her glasses off when playing, she can remember past games she's witnessed to help her win, but has problems with beginner players like Kaori who are hard to read. She's very close friends with Hisa and helped her establish the Kiyosumi mahjong club.

Kyoutarou Suga (須賀 京太郎, Suga Kyōtarō^?)

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama

Kyōtarō is Saki's male friend who joined the mahjong club before her. He has a crush on Nodoka and Mihoko. Kyōtarō often acts as an errand-boy for the rest of the club. In the manga he has a pet capybara. In terms of skill, he is the weakest in the Kiyosumi mahjong club. As the amateur of the group, he is often addressed when other characters are explaining certain rules of the game.

Prefectural Tournament

Ryūmonbuchi High School

Koromo Amae (天江 衣, Amae Koromo^?)

Voiced by: Kaori Fukuhara

Koromo is a second year student and is the ace of the Ryūmonbuchi team. She looks like a little girl who wears a bunny hairband and dislikes people who treat her like a child. Koromo's ability as a player is often emphasized, so much that she is considered one of the three strongest mahjong players, and she is also the key player that brings an end to Kazekoshi's winning streak. Her mahjong playing style gives pressure to her opponents while her ability can prevent them from tenpai. This, together with the mahjong move she favors most, haitei raoyue, is a combination of despair yet slow defeat to her opponents. Despite her acting tough, she actually feels lonely and is constantly looking for friends to play mahjong with her. However, due to her playing style, she is feared by many people, including her own teammates. Saki teaches her the fun of playing mahjong, and befriends her. Her play is enhanced under a full moon. Her birthday is September 6.

Touka Ryuumonbuchi (龍門渕 透華, Ryūmonbuchi Tōka^?)

Voiced by: Minori Chihara

Tōka is a second year student and Ryūmonbuchi's principal's daughter. Her grandfather owns the school. She likes to draw attention to herself and at the same time hates others who draw attention to themselves, particularly Nodoka. Tōka's family is quite rich, which she reflects by drinking tea as a noblewoman. She is Koromo's cousin. She is the president of the Ryūmonbuchi High School mahjong club. Aside from her mahjong skills, she is apparently well versed at ping-pong despite looking down on it as a commoner's game. She sometimes unconsciously enters a 'cold' state where her mahjong skills greatly increase as she can control the flow, but she personally doesn't like this style of play as she prefers to play similar to Nodoka. Her birthday is September 10

Hajime Kunihiro (国広 一, Kunihiro Hajime^?)

Voiced by: Ai Shimizu

Hajime is a second year student and self-proclaimed maid to Tōka. She always appears with her hands chained (severely limiting her overall reach) and has an easy-going personality, though she gets jealous when Tōka acts friendly towards other people. Her hands are chained because of a problem with compulsive sleight-of-hand. It is later shown that she was brought into the mahjong club by Tōka, who sought her after investigating her mahjong abilities before she used sleight-of-hand. She initially wore a moon tattoo on her cheek, but after playing against Koromo she took it off and now wears a star instead. Her birthday is September 21

Tomoki Sawamura (沢村 智紀, Sawamura Tomoki^?)

Voiced by: Ayuru Ōhashi

Tomoki is a second year student with a silent personality. She talks only about what she deems necessary and always carries her subnotebook.

Jun Inoue (井上 純, Inoue Jun^?)

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida

Jun is a second year student with a tomboyish personality. She is quite popular among girls, while other team members often tease her male-like traits. She is a skilled player, is able read the flow of the game, and counter other player's hands efficiently by disabling the tiles they collect. Her birthday is September 14

Hagiyoshi (ハギヨシ, Hagiyoshi^?)

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono

Hagiyoshi is Touka's butler, who is generally sent as an escort for Koromo when she is required for matches. He is particularly skilled at sewing. He is also skilled at playing mahjong as shown in the last episode wherein he played online mahjong with Kyōtarō.

Kazekoshi Girls School

A school noted to have a membership of over 50 students

Mihoko Fukuji (福路 美穂子, Fukuji Mihoko^?)

Voiced by: Yui Horie

Mihoko is a high school third year student and captain of the Kazekoshi team. Though always called captain by her teammates, Mihoko plays vanguard/first-up and not the captain position. She has heterochromia and has her right eye closed most of the time. Being gentle towards everyone including her mahjong opponents, she is a perfect figure in her school and takes care of the house chores in the Kazekoshi mahjong club, thinking in doing so allows other members to practice with ease, which has the reverse effect of other members worrying about her instead. Her mahjong playing ability comes when she opened her right eye, allowing her to calculate how the game progresses and predict opponent's hands with excellent accuracy, as well as a strong presence which disrupts the concentration of her opponents. Despite her abilities, she is useless with technology. The opponent that makes her most worried is Hisa Takei, the president of the Kiyosumi mahjong club. Hisa is Mihoko's old rival, back when she was known as Hisa Ueno. While Hisa had forgotten about her, they finally reminisce at the individuals tournament. While she fails to get progress to the nationals in the team tournament, she tops the individuals tournament and qualifies for the nationals. Her Presence manifests when she opens her right eye, triggering a blue crystal like background

Kana Ikeda (池田 華菜, Ikeda Kana^?)

Voiced by: Rika Morinaga

Kana is a second year student with cat-like appearances. She adores Mihoko and promised her a win in the prefectural tournament. Even though Kana is not the strongest player on their team, Mihoko entrusts the captain position to her so she can have another match-up against Koromo and avenge their loss the previous year.

Miharu Yoshitome (吉留 未春, Yoshitome Miharu^?)

Voiced by: Chiro Kanzaki

Seika Bundou (文堂 星夏, Bundō Seika^?)

Voiced by: Ai Matayoshi

Sumiyo Fukabori (深堀 純代, Fukabori Sumiyo^?)

Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga

Takako Kubo (久保 貴子, Kubo Takako^?)

Voiced by: Miho Yamada

Takako is the coach of the Kazekoshi team. She has a rather harsh personality, and even physically abuses her team when they do not perform to her high expectations.

Tsuruga Academy

An academy well-funded, the Mahjong club mainly makes use of online mahjong as a training instrument via portable laptops

Yumi Kajiki (加治木 ゆみ, Kajiki Yumi^?)

Voiced by: Yu Kobayashi

Yumi is one of the key players of the mahjong team. Despite her great leadership skills, she is not actually the president of the club. Her playing style is like a strategist, analyzing her opponent's playing style and ability, then prepare countermeasures to strike them efficiently. She has a particularly strong friendship with Momoko.

Momoko Touyoko (東横 桃子, Tōyoko Momoko^?)

Voiced by: Momoko Saito

Momoko is Yumi's friend, and a high school first year student. Known as "Stealth Momo", she has a lacking presence (she is normally depicted as either completely invisible, fading away from plain sight, or parts of herself slightly dissipating into a steam-like formation), and is often ignored by her friends despite her efforts to gain attention; as such, she soon gave up on building relationships with other people. After a match through LAN mahjong, Yumi acknowledges Momoko's skills and finds her; the two become friends afterwards. She is rather affectionate towards Yumi, and becomes quite jealous if she shows interest in other people. While a fairly decent player, her mahjong playing ability primarily comes when she augments her negative presence into an advantageous stealth state, causing her opponents to miss her moves, though this is negated by players who ignore presence such as Nodoka (and later on by Saki, using the same principle that Nodoka subconsciously employed). She has an accent which often adds the ending "su" and "s" any to her sentences.

Kaori Senoo (妹尾 佳織, Senoo Kaori^?)

Voiced by: Ryoko Shintani

Kaori is a shy, high school second year student who gets nervous easily. She enters the prefectural tournament to fill in the prerequisite of five players. She is a beginner in mahjong and her moves often confuse her opponents. However, her great luck allows her to win sometimes, and the fact she cannot be read easily by opponents is another powerful factor. As such, she is forbidden from training so that she can retain this beginner's luck.

Satomi Kanbara (蒲原 智美, Kanbara Satomi^?)

Voiced by: Natsuko Kuwatani

Satomi is the president of the mahjong club of Tsuruga Academy. She is rather laid back and has a distinguished laugh. Besides that, she is not at all competitive when it comes to mahjong.

Mutsuki Tsuyama (津山 睦月, Tsuyama Mutsuki^?)

Voiced by: Shin Nanasawa

After Satomi Kanbara and Yumi Kajiki graduate from Tsuruga Academy, she becomes president of the mahjong club. She is usually seen not wearing the top portion of Tsuruga academy's standard uniform.

National Tournament

Shiraitodai High School

West Tokyo Prefecture

Teru Miyanaga (宮永 照, Miyanaga Teru^?)

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara

Teru is Saki's older sister and head of the Shiraitodai Mahjong Team, who went to live with her mother when their parents separated (not yet divorced). She had since became a powerful mahjong player, rumored to display fearsome powers as Fujita stated she was one of the three monsters to show themselves in last years nationals (Koromo and Jindai being the others)...Teru and Shiraitodai has won the past two national tournaments and aims for another this year. She used to play with Saki and the rest of the family when they were younger. While Saki dreams of progressing to the nationals and finally reuniting with her, Teru denies her existence. It is still unknown as to why she is mad at Saki. 3rd year. She plays 1st/Vanguard.

Sumire Hirose (弘世 菫, Hirose Sumire^?)

Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga

Sumire is a friend of Teru and the only person known to Teru who seems to have had prior knowledge of Saki's existence. She is often noted to treat Teru 'coldly' when referring to Saki. 3rd year.

Takami Shibuya (渋谷 尭深, Shibuya Takami^?)

Takami is a member of Shiraitodai Mahjong Team who wears glasses. 2nd year.

Seiko Matano (亦野 誠子, Matano Seiko^?)

Seiko is a member of Shiraitodai Mahjong Team who wears a tomboyish look. 2nd year.

Awai Oohoshi (大星 淡, Ōhoshi Awai^?)

Awai is a blond-haired girl who is part of the Shiraitodai Mahjong Team, showed to be a powerful opponent. She is a first year and plays 5th(last)/Captain.

Rinkai All-Girls School

East Tokyo Prefecture

Nelly Virsaladze (ネリー・ヴィルサラーゼ, Nerī Virusarāze^?)

Nelly is Rinkai Girls School's 1st year, Georgian.

Megan Davin (メガン・ダヴァン, Megan Davan^?)

Megan is 3rd year, American.

Choe Myeonghwa (雀 明華, Chē Myonfa^?)

Myeonghwa is 2nd year, French-Korean. European mahjong league's top ranked player, referred as "Venter".

Satoha Tsujigaito (辻垣内 智葉, Tsujigaito Satoha^?)

Satoha is 3rd year, Rinkai's only japanese mahjong player. under league's rule, must she Rinkai's vanguard player.

Hao Huiyu (郝 慧宇, Hao Hoeiyū^?)

Huiyu is 1st year, from Hong Kong. Inchon mahjong league's post silver medalist.

Eisui All-Girls School

Kagoshima Prefecture

Komaki Jindai (神代 小蒔, Jindai Komaki^?)

Komaki is 2nd year Also referred to as "Princess" by her fellow mahjong members. Plays 1st up/vanguard.

Hatsumi Usuzumi (薄墨 初美, Usuzumi Hatsumi^?)

Hatsumi is 3rd year, she plays as vice-captain.

Kasumi Iwato (石戸 霞, Iwato Kasumi^?)

3rd year.

Tomoe Karijuku (狩宿 巴, Karijuku Tomoe^?)

3rd year.

Haru Takimi (滝見 春, Takimi Haru^?)

1st year. plays as lieutenant.

Himematsu High

South Osaka Prefecture

Hiroe Atago (愛宕 洋榎, Atago Hiroe^?)

Hiroe is 3rd year. Head of the Himematsu High's mahjong team and plays 3rd/lieutenant.

Suzu Ueshige (上重 漫, Ueshige Suzu^?)

Suzu is 2nd year. Plays 1st/vanguard.

Kyouko Suehara (末原 恭子, Suehara Kyōko^?)

Kyouko is 3rd year and plays 5th(last)/Captain.

Kinue Atago (愛宕 絹恵, Atago Kinue^?)

2nd year. Hiroe's younger sister and plays 4th/Vice Captain

Yuuko Mase (真瀬 由子, Mase Yūko^?)

Yuuko is 3rd year. Plays 2nd/sergent.

Ikuno Akasaka (赤坂 生野, Akasaka Ikuno^?)

Himematsu High team's acting director. She very cheerful and her eyes are often closed.

Miyamori Girl's High

Iwate Prefecture

Shiromi Kosegawa (小瀬川 白望, Kosegawa Shiromi^?)

Shiromi is 3rd year. Plays 1st/vanguard.

Sae Ususawa (臼沢塞, Ususawa Sae^?)

3rd year.

Aislinn Wishart (エイスリン・ウィッシュアート, Eisurin Wisshuāto^?)

Aislinn is 3rd year. Plays as sergent. she from New Zealand.

Kurumi Kakura (鹿倉 胡桃, Kakura Kurumi^?)

3rd year. Plays lieutenant.

Toyone Anetai (姉帯 豊音, Anetai Toyone^?)

3rd year.

Toshi Kumakura (?, Kumakura Toshi^?)

Miyamori's consultant.

Achiga Girls Academy

Shizuno Takakamo

Shizuno is a freshman at Achiga Girls Academy and the main protagonist in the spin-off manga, Saki: Achiga-hen - Episode of Side A. She was originally part of Achiga's Mahjong club alongside Nodoka and her friends during middle school, but they soon drifted apart after the club disbanded. Two years later, when she sees Nodoka on television, Achiga decides she wants to enter the Inter-Middle championships in order to see her and reforms Achiga's mahjong club.

Ako Atarashi

Shizuno's friend who was with her in the original mahjong club, though drifted apart once she changed schools. After hearing Shizuno's vow to reform the Achiga mahjong club, she decides to make Achiga her high school choice so she can join her.

Kuro Matsumi

A junior and one of the top players in the Achiga mahjong club, who is known for attracting all of the red dora tiles in the game before anyone else can.

Yuu Matsumi

Kuro's older sister who is a senior at Achiga Girls Academy. She is very sensitive to cold, often overdressing herself and even resorting to using kotatsus in the summer.

Arata Sagimori

A junior at Achiga Girls Academy. She is a huge admirer of Harue and wears a tie that was given to her.

Harue Akado

A former Achiga Girls Academy student who was one of the top players until she was defeated in a tournament final by a girl named Sukoya Kokaji. To rehabilitate herself, she formed a mahjong club for children at Achiga up until she was scouted by a company. Years later, as her company's mahjong team is disbanded, Harue found herself drawn back to Ageha and, upon discovering that it was being started up again, decided to become its coach.

Others

Yasuko Fujita (藤田 靖子, Fujita Yasuko^?)

Voiced by: Masumi Asano

Fujita is a professional mahjong player who is first introduced when Hisa invites her to play against Saki and Nodoka at Mako's grandfather's mahjong parlor. She is a strong player, but has a good sense of opponents with great power, such as Koromo and Saki. She acts as a commentator for mahjong tournaments, often seen eating a bowl of katsudon, where she provides some unique insight into how the players play. While she respects how Koromo plays the game, having lost to her once, she cannot help but tease her small stature. She has mistaken Yumi Kajiki as Tsuruga's mahjong club's president on multiple occasions.

Kazue Nanpo (南浦 数絵, Nanpo Kazue^?)

Voiced by: Yuko Sanpei

Kazue is a student from Hirataki High School who enters the individual tournament. Similar to Yūki, her play is most powerful during the south wind rounds. Her name is a pun on kaze (wind) and wind seems to blow behind her whenever she awakens and her surname is a reference for her strength during the south wind round.

Youko Kadomatsu (門松 葉子, Kadomatsu Yōko^?)

Voiced by: Shiori Mikami

Yōko is a second-year high school student, and the vanguard of the Imamiya Girls' High School mahjong team. She loses to Yūki in the first round of the local mahjong tournament. Later on, she takes Nodoka's stuffed penguin as a prank. She soon regrets the prank, apologizing to Nodoka along with Mai.

Mai Tanaka (田中 舞, Tanaka Mai^?)

Voiced by: Yuka Saitō

Mai is a third-year high school student, and the vice-captain of the Imamiya Girls' High School mahjong team. She loses to Nodoka in the first round of the local mahjong tournament. Along with Yōko, she takes away Nodoka's stuffed penguin. The two soon regret the prank and both apologize to Nodoka.

Maho Yumeno (夢乃 マホ, Yumeno Maho^?)

A second year junior-high student at Nodoka's old school, one of her underclassman. Her ability is to mimic other mahjong player's playing styles, such as Saki's rinshan kaihō. However, she can only mimic a specific ability once a day, and she otherwise makes a lot of amateur mistakes. She is invited to Kiyosumi's training camp both to invoke fear into Saki and help Mako deal with beginners.

Hiroko Murohashi (室橋 裕子, Murohashi Hiroko^?)

A third year junior-high student at the same school as Maho.

Sukoya Kokaji (小鍛治 健夜, Kokaji Sukoya^?)

A nervous girl who commentates the national tournament alongside Kouko. She had previously won the mahjong nationals ten years prior to the story.

Kouko Fukuyo (福与 恒子, Fukuyo Kōko^?)

An energetic girl who commentates alongside Sukoyo. She is rather energetic and tends to embarrass Sukoyo over the air a lot.

See also

• Saki (manga)
• List of Saki episodes

References

1. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Round 2". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
2. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Chapter 1". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Round 6". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Kobayashi, Ritz (2007). "Round 8". Saki, Volume 2. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2019-6. 
5. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Round 1". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
6. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2007). "Round 10". Saki, Volume 2. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2019-6. 
7. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2006). "Chapter 2". Saki, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-1782-0. 
8. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2007). "Round 14". Saki, Volume 2. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2019-6. 
9. ^ Kobayashi, Ritz (2007). "Round 13". Saki, Volume 2. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-2019-6.