TJ asks why "people" (I am cited specifically, but not linked) like Saki. I posted my answer in his comments, but I thought I'd copy it over here.

Actually, the yuri and fan service in Saki are relatively mild compared to some shows. Why did I like it?

The Saki character appealed to me; that’s really the core of it. She appealed to me as a person. She’s not a wimp; she doesn’t let herself get pushed around. When, at the end of ep 2, she joined the MahJong club, it was because she had decided she really wanted to. She wasn’t railroaded, and attempts to railroad her would have failed because she’s strong willed.

I am so desperately tired of main characters who get pushed around, especially girls, and it was such a pleasure to run into a main character who wasn’t a ball of insecurity with no drive and no will power. Saki’s carrying around some pain (because her mother and, presumably, a sibling ran away from her and her father) but she’s not angsty (so far as I can see).

And while she’s aware of the fact that Nodoka’s boobs are a lot bigger than Saki’s own, she doesn’t seem insecure about that, either. In fact, she doesn’t seem insecure at all. And I like that. I like strong characters.

When they’re both strong and capable that makes it even better.

As long as there isn’t any kind of love triangle or other romantic angst introduced into the show, I’ll be happy. What I want to see is a sports drama, and so far that looks like what it’s going to be.

Who knows? I may come to hate it eventually, especially if it gets all angsty. But so far I like what I see.

As to it being Gonzo? I couldn’t care less about that. I don’t have any kind of Gonzo fetish, either positive or negative. Gonzo has given me some good times, and they’ve also produced a lot of crap. But each new show is a new chance, and just because other Gonzo shows have been garbage doesn’t mean this one inevitably must be. I’ll take it as it comes and see if I like it — and so far, I do like it.

TJ also says:

I may not be a Mahjong expert, but at least I know enough to tell that what Saki is doing is not skill, but the equivalent of drawing a Royal Flush blind-folded based on pure luck alone with no regard for the laws of probability.

Sure, I know that what I'm seeing Saki do is impossible. But that doesn't matter. Sports stories always involve a degree of super-human ability, mental or physical or spiritual; it's part of the fantasy element of the story.

Why would I want to watch a show about someone who was stiflingly normal? I want my heros to be heroic. I expect them to be better than I could ever be. That's not a flaw in Saki, it's a virtue.

UPDATE: Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a remake of Princess Nine. If that happens, I'll make a pilgrimage to Gonzo HQ so I can throw rotten eggs at the door.

UPDATE: I just added another comment to TJ's thread:

TJ, have you ever played poker? (I assume so.) 5-card draw? Three quarters of the hands are a pair or worse. That’s just how the probabilities come out. But if I’m watching a drama about 5-card draw, I don’t want to see hand after hand with the pot won by a pair. Dull. I want to see the hands where both players have something really good; that’s when the game gets the most exciting.

But in 5-card draw you may only get that once per night. Dull. So violate the laws of probability in your poker drama, and give everyone much better hands routinely than really should be possible. Sure, it’s unrealistic, but it’s a lot more fun.

And so it is in this series. Sure, the kinds of tiles they’re all drawing are way over to the right on the normal curve. But so what? Watching a game with real, normal, probable draws would be like watching paint dry. Dull!!!!!

Saki isn’t a documentary, it’s a fantasy story. Or at least I hope it is, because all good sports dramas are fundamentally fantasy. And I want my fantasy stories to be fantastic. Otherwise they’re not worth watching.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 02:50 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 753 words, total size 4 kb.