Saki 254: Bearing Fruit

Ritz made a blog post a couple of weeks ago with a few answers to reader's questions. Nothing too important but I wrote a translation below if you are interested.

Saki ch254 (Mega) 

Saki ch254 (Mediafire)

 

Ritz's post 22.12.01 (answers to reader's questions)

- Kanbara's car was handed over to her by her mother.
- The players from the Evergreen team (other than Akado): one of them joined a pro team while the others either moved to a different corporate team or quit mahjong and became normal company employees.
- Kasumi might keep the record of largest breast size in the series until the end.
- Toki and Saki Biyori are treated as canon.
- I have files and notes with birthday-related info that hasn't been released. I'd like to put it all together someday.
- When Mairu speaks to Himeko in chapter 189, she uses polite language because in her mind she is no longer club president. (At the end of the chapter, when Mairu says "Let's play in the same team again sometime" she uses the polite form instead of the casual one.)

- Momo's sauce is good for yakitori.
- In cover 2 of volume 18, the person behind Kainou Yoshiko is Shiratsuki Shino.

Ritz's blog post January 18th, 2021

There was a new post on Ritz's site. The first since March of last year so it's been a while. It's pretty long and covers a wide range of topics. I'll write a translation summary here.

 

New Volumes

First, a reminder that new volumes for all 6 series and Ritz's book of Illustrations are going to be released on January 22nd.

 (Covers for some of the new volumes)

Commemoration exhibit for the 15th anniversary of the Saki series

Ritz made some drawings specially for the exhibit, but then worried that the legs of the 8 appearing characters were a little too long. When submitting the pictures, Ritz asked the editor about making some changes but the editor said "no, you're too slow, there's no time, this is fine".

 

(See the promo picture for the exhibit a few posts back. Back then, someone already commented the legs were too long. Ritz agrees lol...) 

 

Continues after the break...

Saki Achiga-hen 21: Revival

I was really curious about the new Achiga-hen so I did this one first. According to Ritz, roughly 70 pages of Achiga-hen have been drawn already but it was divided in two chapters, this one and the one from next month. The magazine cover and a couple of pages with character "intros" are included in the file but have not been translated. We all know these characters already and new readers should begin from chapter 1 which can be found elsewhere.

We've known this for a long time but Achiga's greatest advantage over the other schools is Harue.

Achiga ch21 (Mega)
Achiga ch21 (Mediafire)

Regarding the new Saki-re, which also started publication this month, Ritz had to say:

- The Saki manga and all previous spin-offs take place in the same world, but Saki-re takes place in a different world. A world where boys are generally strong at mahjong.

- This world was created by the author (Sakurako Gokurakuin) using Saki's "Nagano-hen" as a basis.

- Characters relationships and the flow of the games should stay mostly the same.

- Ritz worried that simply changing the character's gender would make it nothing more than a parody, but some things have been removed and others have been arranged to give it a more natural feeling.

- Ritz says we should think of it as a shounen manga with boys doing club activities.

A translation can be found on mangadex.

Kobayashi Ritz's blog post 20.02.25

Kobayashi Ritz has just updated her blog with more information about the return of Achiga-hen. Ritz seems rather optimistic about the monthly page production but perhaps the pressure of having to keep up with Aguri will push her to draw more pages than ever before.

Ritz's blog 20.02.25

As announced in this month's issue of Big Gangan, the serialization of Achiga-hen will resume.

Starting from the final match as Volume 7.

Roughly ten years ago, during meetings with the anime staff, we talked some nonsense about how it would be nice to draw the final match from the point of view of both Kiyosumi and Achiga at the same time. But since my progress with the main story is rather slow and the final was still far, it could not be implemented until now.

Since there is no need to think about new scores or new story developments, this should not take as much time. I can produce roughly 24 pages a month, even if we add the excess production intended for Aguri-sensei for a total of roughly 30 pages a month, I should be able to stay ahead or at least that's the plan.

Ritz's blog post 19.12.22

There was a new Ritz's blog update and it contains a major correction to Saki chapter 212. In page 15, Teru's tiles are pinzu, not manzu. So that means Teru doesn't have the 7m after all (not all tiles are visible though).

Before (left) and after correction (right).

Saki's two-month break is for making corrections to the next tank.

"Since this time there are fewer corrections than in previous volumes, maybe I don't need to take such a long break?" Ritz asked her editor. "Not a chance, I don't trust you." the editor replied. 😅

Ritz-sensei's blog post 19.05.08

A new post on Ritz's blog was published yesterday. After many months, finally some answers to reader's questions. Actually, Ritz only answered 3 questions but she dropped quite the bombshell. This is what she has to say:

Homosexual characters

I haven't counted but I feel like more than half the characters are homosexual. Including some married characters. And I think about 20% of those are bisexual. More than half the characters are children of woman x woman relationships (created through methods like iPS cells and the like). Also, in this world, same-sex marriage is possible.

Swimsuit models

There are very few girls of school age who perform as swimsuit magazine models. Only Shiori-san and one other character who has not been introduced yet. But there are many who perform as non-swimsuit clothed models. Even so, in their 3rd year, and once the Interhigh and the Kokuma have ended. The readers of bikini model magazines are almost generally female. The photographers and the editorial staff are also all female. But me, I want to marry Tsubakino-san.

Note: Unozawa Shiori is one of Teru's former teammates at Shiraitodai. The Kokuma is a mahjong tournament that takes place in autumn after the Interhigh. Tsubakino Miyuki is one of the Kentani players.

Sumire's socks

Hirose Sumire wears tights. Elementary school Nodoka wears knee-high socks.

Then apparently someone wrote to Ritz asking if all the above is true. Ritz replies:

If you don't believe what I said in the previous post, why would you believe me now if I say, "Yes, it is true"? What I wrote here and what I wrote 2 years ago in the post of December 27th, normally it's all meant to be the completely official scenario. I'm not saying anything extreme.

Note: The post from 2 years ago is the one where Ritz said all characters were virgins, even the mothers and grandmothers.

To summarize, it appears that in the world of Saki, a majority of the population is homosexual. Or at least, this is true for the part of the population who plays mahjong, which is very large since mahjong is a very big deal there. Children are then born mostly from lesbian relationships through artificial methods such as iPS cells (something which is not yet possible in the real world but might be someday). This explains why most women are virgins, even the mothers. Additionally, the majority of consumers of bikini model magazines are women, not men. And those who create those magazines are women too. Such is the world of Saki according to Ritz.

Ritz-sensei's blog post 18.05.07

Ritz has just updated her blog and Himeko's winning hand is this:

San'ankou (2), Menzen Tsumo (1), Riichi (1), Dora (3), Uradora (3) and Red Dora (1): 11 han. If we also assume Haitei Raoyue (1), it's 12 han like the Reservation Key said.

The high out with the 9-sou would have given her Sanshoku Doukou (2) and Ippatsu (1) but removed 1 Dora and Haitei: so 13 han, a counted yakuman.

However, there's a problem with this hand! At the beginning of chapter 189, the announcer says "even one Uradora would have been enough", which implies Himeko had zero Uradora, but in the hand above she has 3!! I rechecked the original sentence and it's clear the announcer implies Himeko didn't have any Uradora. I also checked some japanese sites and anyone who tried to guess the hand is surprised because naturally everyone was assuming zero Uradora. So that's a contradiction that will have to be corrected in the tank.

After Saki Biyori ended, Kiyoshi Saya came up with 5 ideas for a new work. One of them was a new Saki spin-off and Ritz initially wanted Saya to do that one. However, the other 4 were for original works and Ritz thought that Saya would have more freedom to create jokes and stuff with an original work. So Ritz restrained herself and pushed for an original work. She's looking forward to it.

Tajihi Mayuko in the anime.

In the latest Saki cover, some pros (Hayari and Uta) have come to visit the peninsula of Izu. For some reason, Hayari is wearing her high school uniform. Also, Ritz confirms that the girl on the cover of Saki 188 is Tajihi Mayuko (who was defeated by Awai at the West Tokyo qualifiers). She went to Kyoto to visit her family home on her mother's side.

Saki chapter 186 delayed

Just a heads up. No Saki chapter this week 😞. It's been announced on Ritz's blog. Apparently, the magazine advanced the non-appearance in print to this issue (Feb 16 issue) and told Ritz to draw more color pictures. Not sure if she means color pages in an upcoming chapter or just special illustrations for the Shinohayu/Toki/Biyori volume release next month. She does mention drawing Hajime-chan's butt, though 😅.

Speaking of Biyori, it seems the next volume will be the last one. I guess that means Saki Biyori is about to end? It's sad if it happens but I guess after all these years, it gets harder to make new funny gags. I wonder what Kiyoshi Saya will be doing next. By the way, I still have the previous chapter pending to translate. I haven't forgotten but I've been busy lately. I'll get to it soon. Work on the Achiga-hen special is also under way.

Ritz's impressions on the Achiga movie

The Achiga-hen live-action movie was released on the 20th and Ritz just made a new blog post with her impressions. It seems she liked it. Here's a translation.

*Edited the last part a bit.

Ritz-sensei's blog post 18.01.23

The Achiga-hen movie!

I'm too self-conscious to go to an advance screening, so I first watched it on January 20. In fact, I was planning to secretly go to the advanced screening on the 11th but I had a deadline coming so I didn't.

Last year, when I secretly went to book a reservation for the advanced screening I was discovered by the producer so I was like "Gyah!" but this time it was ok.

The movie was wonderful as always. I think that if the serialization of Saki was allowed to continue, it was thanks to a good anime. Now, on top of the anime, I have been blessed with a good live-action.

Is this a spoiler?

Shinohayu ch50 & Ritz's blog update

Shinohayu reaches 50 chapters! as Hayari's vice-captain match continues. Also, Ritz has updated her blog. You'll find a translation below.

Shinohayu ch50 (Mega)
Shinohayu ch50 (Mediafire)

This is a spoiler for the end of the chapter and the beginning of the next, probably.

The match's winner
The chapter doesn't really reveal the winner but it should be Sachiko. In the last panel, Hayari gets her winning tile so she should win the round. She has closed tsumo, riichi, tanyao, pinfu and sanshoku. That's haneman tsumo, 6000/3000 points (Bonkohara is dealer). Enough to stop Komosawa from obtaining a 3rd victory but not enough for Hayari to win the match herself. The final score should be: Agou 36100, Mizuhara 35900, Bonkohara 35500, Aoto 12500 but let's wait on the next chapter for confirmation.

Here's a translation of Ritz's latest blog update. I skipped a few irrelevant bits, it's already long as it is.

Saki ch178: Link, Biyori ch67 & Ritz's blog update

There's been two new updates on Ritz's blog recently. The first thing she does is to apologize for Saki's incomplete chapter (she calls it the most "rough draft" chapter ever) and also for the long break until the next chapter but she needs time to work on the tankobon corrections and all the special promotional drawings that go with it.

More on that later, but first here are the Saki and Saki Biyori chapters.

Saki ch178 (Mega)

Saki ch178 (Mediafire) 

 

Saki Biyori: Miyamori's Story 5.

Biyori ch67 (Mega)

Biyori ch67 (Mediafire)

By the way, in this chapter Saya styles herself "Donkatsu Girl". "Donkatsu" is not a real word in Japanese. It comes from the Japanese version of the video game PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS. In the original English version, there's a victory message that reads: WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!, but in the Japanese translation "chicken" was changed into "donkatsu". It seems the translator considered a dish like tonkatsu (pork cutlet) or katsudon would be more appropriate for the Japanese audience, given that these dishes are generally associated with "winning" since the word katsu also means "to win". But instead of putting the proper name for the dish, they made up the word "donkatsu" (just for fun apparently). In any case, it has recently become a popular buzzword among players of that game. This was too long to put as a TL note so I wrote it here.

Now finally let's get back to Ritz's blog updates.

Ritz-sensei's blog post 17.06.22

Ritz has made a new blog post answering a few more fan's questions. Nothing radically important but some answers can be interesting or a little funny. Here's a translation if you are curious.

Comments and clarifications have been added in italics when necessary. Chihiro's color drawing and the trio of profile pictures are reproduced from Ritz's blog only to help illustrate the text. I hope that's alright. I also added a few pictures from the manga to illustrate some of the other answers.

Questions and Answers

- Shiraitodai's Yamada
I find it curious that people ask me about Yamada but not about the other four ex-members of Shiraitodai. But she has a nasty look in her eyes with that forehead. 

Yamada is the girl with the headband who was a regular at Shiraitodai before Teru arrived.

Yamada is not amused.

- Youko's birthday is September 19. Her blood type is A.

- The character designs of Terado and Ishihara are mine. 

Two of Shino's current opponents at the Shimane tournament.
Ritz previously revealed that some character's designs in Shinohayu are not hers but Aguri's. Most notably, Kyouka. Also, Rena. All characters in Saki and Achiga-hen were designed by Ritz (except Nanpo Kazue who was created by the anime staff).

- Breasts getting bigger → Preference or done unconsciously out of habit.

Saki ch170: Sweets & Biyori 63

The Saki live-action movie opened yesterday. Ritz made a short blog post with her early impressions. In short, she liked it, even the movie original scenes and the modified scenes. She only regrets that some parts of the manga had to be left out due to time constraints but she understands. It would be hard to summarize everything here so I'll skip it. No answers to reader's questions or anything like that this time.

OK, so let's move on with the new Saki chapter. Teru's flashback continues, as expected. I must say I'm really liking this flashback so far. Enjoy:

Saki ch170 (Mega)

Saki ch170 (Mediafire) 

and a Saki Biyori chapter: Usuzan's Story 3. The last issue said there would be no chapter next time but there was one anyway (?).

Biyori ch63 (Mega)

Biyori ch63 (Mediafire) 

Ritz-sensei's Blog Post 16.12.27

Ritz recently made a very long blog post where she talks a bit about the Saki live-action and answers a ton of readers' questions. This is a summary (it has nearly all the questions though). Any text in italics is mine, usually to clarify something. Everything else is a summarized translation of what Ritz says. It's quite long so most of it will go after the break.

Ritz's blog post 16.12.27

Apologies

I've been busy lately. The volume corrections, additional pages, promo materials and the manuscript deadline all piled up. I had to give priority to the volume corrections and additional materials, so the serialized chapters suffered... I'm paying for my mistakes.

For the first time in a while, the next chapter will have the full number of pages and the screentone is there too but there's a part that could not be inked. Once again I'm sorry.

Shinohayu ch36: Kyouka 2

The continuation of the Kyouka arc. Enjoy:
Shinohayu ch36 (Mega)
Shinohayu ch36 (Mediafire)

In a new blog post, Ritz talks about the new school introduced in this chapter: Komosawa Middle. Since the planning stages of this manga, the 7 members of this team have followed a tortuous path inside Ritz's head, but she can't wait to introduce the remaining 5 characters. Go to Ritz's blog to see their color scheme if you like. Regarding Chihiro, Ritz says: "I'm afraid she came out looking a bit like Ako..."

Saki 163: Explosion

In case someone's wondering, the raws for this chapter took a week longer than usual to come out, so that's why the translation took longer as well. Also, work on Toki chapter 3 is already under way. I think it should be ready in a week or so, depending on how busy I am with other stuff.

Enjoy:

Saki ch163 (Mega)

Saki ch163 (Mediafire)

Ritz made a new blog post a few days ago. This time she answers quite a few readers' questions. This is a summary of what she says (it's a little long so I'll put it after the break):

Saki ch161: Comrades in Arms

As you probably know, the new Toki manga begins publishing next week. Assuming it has a nice story and all, Akio Translations will provide a translation for it. However, since it gets published on the same day as Shinohayu and Saki Biyori, if the raws also appear on the same day, it will have to get in line. Right now I intend to keep giving priority to Shinohayu (and of course to Saki when it applies). For the others, I'll see as I go.

Anyway on other news Ritz made a new blog post but doesn't say much, mainly talks about her usual troubles with adding ink and screentone to all pages. The chapter is nearly complete though so she didn't do so bad this time. Enjoy:

Saki ch161 (Mega)
Saki ch161 (Mediafire)

Saki Biyori Chapters 50 & 51

Saki Biyori: a double chapter! One about Kiyosumi (mainly Tacos really) and an unusual chapter where Koromo meets the Ikeda triplets! Enjoy:

Saki Biyori ch50-51 (Mega) 

Saki Biyori ch50-51 (Mediafire)

Ritz made a very short blog post:

- For a couple of extra panels with Himeko and Nodoka in the most recent Saki chapter, she didn't have time to draw clothes on them so they weren't included. She'll try to put them in the volume release.
EDIT: By the way, the Saki raws just came out, so expect the translation in a couple of days.

Saki ch159: Preparations

This is a nice chapter but unfortunately it's not much more than a draft for most of the pages. Ritz herself said this is the chapter that was "the farthest from completion". Let's hope the next one will have more ink in it.

Links:
Saki 159 (Mega)
Saki 159 (Mediafire)

On another note, someone asked me if I could provide a quick summary of Ritz's blog posts with chapter releases. Sure why not, Ritz reveals interesting things to her readers sometimes and her posts are rather infrequent anyway. There was a post just a few days ago so let's begin with that one after the break: