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Jan 5, 9:22 AM
#1

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Nov 2011
129011
Not going to lie, I think this is enjoyable for its goofy moments and character chemistry between the main girls. Some are energetic while others are a bit clumsy, like Nashiko. Pai and her seems to get along. Izumi also seems like someone fun to be around with.

I think the show is settling for a cherry and easy tone for the duration of the season. Nothing serious yet but very relaxing and overall just fun to enjoy. The OP song is catchy too.
Jan 5, 9:23 AM
#2

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Jul 2017
14641
Though Pon no Michi is not the first anime to cover the very specific topic of Japanese mahjong (that would be the classic Saki series), I thought that it's quite interesting to learn about it.

Both Kana Nakada feat. the character VA OP and halca's ED are quite peppy, though decent in their own right.

In Onomichi City of the Hiroshima Prefecture, a girl by the name of Nashiko Jippensha got kicked out of her house from her mother for causng an idol ruckus, though with her friend of Pai Kawahigashi, the former managed to find a game parlor thanks to her father. Though Nashiko needs to unpack the loads of boxes needed to get the place going. But a "phoenix" sparrow mahjong spirit being summoned to teach Nashiko all about Mahjong, she needs all the help she can get.

With the help of Izumi Tokutomi and the electronic mahjong table to teach about the basic rules of Mahjong, the game can finally be underway between the 3 girls and the sparrow, now nicknamed Chonbo. That said, Nashiko is a complete beginner, Pai is an amateur, while Izumi is the only pro on the table. Even some of the Akagi/Kaiji references are made here (i.e. the Zawa Zawa murmur, including the facial reactions to the T. But in the midst of playing, the girls almost forgot to clear out the boxes, and spring cleans after spending the day playing a game. That said, Nashiko's hand was pretty good for Beginner's Luck, and the game parlor is finally cleaned up.

The game parlor is closed up, and one particular girl takes upon the interest of Nashiko's new place, which Riche Hayashi definitely feels like she's overexaggerating on her reactions, she's a weird one for now. We'll see where her character goes.

Crunchyroll/HIDIVE doesn't license this. Look to Bilibili (their subs are usually shit, but this show NEEDS to be accurate to the T, which it does) they have you covered if this show piques your interest.

That said, this original show is quite niche for those who just want to learn how to play mahjong...Japanese mahjong, that is (because there's just too many different variations of it)...or you could just watch it for the CGDCT, any way matters.
KANLen09Jan 6, 3:17 AM
Jan 5, 9:31 AM
#3
🍅 Tomato 🍅

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Feb 2020
98697
Just like with Saki, I watched that show because it was cute. Here's kinda the same thing. I don't know a single thing about Mahjong tbh. Watching an anime about the game doesn't really make you to learn the rules.

Anyway, not a bad start. So far, I like the characters. Chonpo is adorable. ^^

SerafosJan 5, 1:45 PM
Jan 5, 10:29 AM
#4

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Apr 2010
9737
Well looks fun so far even if the main was all over the place still with Mahjong i am getting Saki vibes but this clearly isn't Saki.
It was a fun episode tho so i wonder what more we can expect from this.
Jan 5, 10:49 AM
#5

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Apr 2022
773
I have no interest in mahjong so I don't know why I picked it up, but it's pretty cute so far so I might as well just keep watching for now
Jan 5, 10:52 AM
#6

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Apr 2017
698
guys OLM made a hentai once, this is so weird to discover lmao
Jan 5, 11:02 AM
#7

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Mar 2021
1849
Really enjoyed this first episode this show looks so chill and comfy Chonpo is just adorable and i can't wait to see more of him
Jan 5, 11:27 AM
#8

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Oct 2017
27052
As someone who loves Haruba Negi's character designs I'm already digging this anime. The fmc aka Nashiko reminds me of Yotsuba a lot, that orange hair girl though. Yotsuba? Cute CGDCT stuff and I've been interested in mahjong for a long time so this should be a good watch. The little bird thing is cute btw. There were some kaiji references too.
MegamiRemJan 12, 6:54 AM
Jan 5, 11:31 AM
#9

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Mar 2018
318
one more anime for one of my favorite classic board games. here's hoping that it is atleast alittle more realistic than akagi or saki. seems like it's gonna be more of an edutainment show, which I welcome. gotta say though, the music was kind of distracting at times.
Jan 5, 11:40 AM

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Feb 2019
3153
Reply to KANLen09
Though Pon no Michi is not the first anime to cover the very specific topic of Japanese mahjong (that would be the classic Saki series), I thought that it's quite interesting to learn about it.

Both Kana Nakada feat. the character VA OP and halca's ED are quite peppy, though decent in their own right.

In Onomichi City of the Hiroshima Prefecture, a girl by the name of Nashiko Jippensha got kicked out of her house from her mother for causng an idol ruckus, though with her friend of Pai Kawahigashi, the former managed to find a game parlor thanks to her father. Though Nashiko needs to unpack the loads of boxes needed to get the place going. But a "phoenix" sparrow mahjong spirit being summoned to teach Nashiko all about Mahjong, she needs all the help she can get.

With the help of Izumi Tokutomi and the electronic mahjong table to teach about the basic rules of Mahjong, the game can finally be underway between the 3 girls and the sparrow, now nicknamed Chonbo. That said, Nashiko is a complete beginner, Pai is an amateur, while Izumi is the only pro on the table. Even some of the Akagi/Kaiji references are made here (i.e. the Zawa Zawa murmur, including the facial reactions to the T. But in the midst of playing, the girls almost forgot to clear out the boxes, and spring cleans after spending the day playing a game. That said, Nashiko's hand was pretty good for Beginner's Luck, and the game parlor is finally cleaned up.

The game parlor is closed up, and one particular girl takes upon the interest of Nashiko's new place, which Riche Hayashi definitely feels like she's overexaggerating on her reactions, she's a weird one for now. We'll see where her character goes.

Crunchyroll/HIDIVE doesn't license this. Look to Bilibili (their subs are usually shit, but this show NEEDS to be accurate to the T, which it does) they have you covered if this show piques your interest.

That said, this original show is quite niche for those who just want to learn how to play mahjong...Japanese mahjong, that is (because there's just too many different variations of it)...or you could just watch it for the CGDCT, any way matters.
KANLen09 said:
If Crunchyroll doesn't license this, look to Bilibili, they have you covered if this show piques your interest.


Bilibili says it is blocked by copyright holder...maybe I need to try my Tor Browser

edit: nope won't work with Tor browser either...YARR?
Jan 5, 11:41 AM

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Jan 2021
3285
How I'm supposed to concentrate on the mahjong with all those big breasts? All the mahjong information I'll get will be combined with pics of the breasts on screen. Also, cool Kaiji references.
Jan 5, 11:54 AM

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Nov 2013
3158
i remember trying a mahjong game on my phone before but was way too hard to learn so i gave up haha

i also remember other anime with many girls in the same place that i didn't enjoy much and dropped (like takunomi about girls drinking or that fishing after school anime), but this one is fun so far

having the talking bird is also a funny twist, just like this season's sasaki to pi-chan

the girls all seem like a blast, i mean, look at the last one, she was crazy about playing mahjong for free huh haha
oh and all the girls have stacked chests huh, wtf lol
winddevil1Jan 5, 11:59 AM
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Jan 5, 12:08 PM

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Mar 2018
318
winddevil1 said:
i remember trying a mahjong game on my phone before but was way too hard to learn so i gave up haha

i also remember other anime with many girls in the same place that i didn't enjoy much and dropped (like takunomi about girls drinking or that fishing after school anime), but this one is fun so far

having the talking bird is also a funny twist, just like this season's sasaki to pi-chan

the girls all seem like a blast, i mean, look at the last one, she was crazy about playing mahjong for free huh haha
oh and all the girls have stacked chests huh, wtf lol

The basic gameplay loop of mahjong is pretty simple. I'm gonna guess you were having trouble with the yaku/winning combinations, which I admit are very overwhelming for beginners.

If you want to learn mahjong, I'd suggest getting a few friends together and playing the first round without any yaku. Then in the second round you only play with the most basic yaku. I suggest riichi, tanyao and yakuhai and maybe chiitoitsu (usually translated to ready, all simples value group and seven pairs respectevily)
Then, once you are comfortable with that you gradually increase the number of allowable yaku game by game, until you are familiar with all of the winning hands.
there's also nothing wrong with playing with a cheat sheet that has all the yaku written down.

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Jan 5, 12:14 PM
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Aug 2020
3312
i was going to drope it but at the end, it was not that bad

with some funny scenes

i learned a new game

so i will be there next week...
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Jan 5, 12:27 PM
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May 2023
144
Thought it was pretty interesting. Didn't expect to start learning about Mahjong, but I'm glad I did😭
Jan 5, 12:32 PM

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Dec 2013
2637
One day I'll learn to play Mahjong but today is not that day.
Jan 5, 1:00 PM
*hug noises*

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May 2013
31697
Well it's not Saki but still seems pretty enjoyable
Jan 5, 1:02 PM

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Jun 2023
541
I was just there in Yakuza 6
Jan 5, 1:30 PM

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Feb 2014
2017
Meh... instant drop imo and I had zero expectations for it.
Jan 5, 1:39 PM
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Jan 2023
1
felt a little weak but I think the end of the episode makes up for it. looking forward to watch next
Jan 5, 1:40 PM

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Jul 2021
613
how is this olm? it looks like geek toys material. And can you even watch if you don't know majong?
Jan 5, 1:49 PM

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Aug 2013
679
It was pretty good, but they kinda went over the top with the facial expressions (number of times). If they were to tone down on that I would at least rated it a 7.

Was nice to see an explanation of the gameplay and rules. I've watched other mahjong anime (at least two) which don't even bother with that.

For now i'll just continue watching.
.
Jan 5, 2:14 PM

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Nov 2011
3804
Anyone else think the music in this anime was too loud and unnecessary? It just didn't really do anything for me.


The show was disappointing. I expected more. Granted they did teach how to play Mahjong but like the bare minimum.

This isnt cute girls doing cute things.

This is Stacked Girls doing Stacked Things.
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Jan 5, 2:24 PM

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May 2014
153
Is this not streaming anywhere?
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Jan 5, 2:30 PM

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Mar 2018
125
Reply to IhnalakoKaina
how is this olm? it looks like geek toys material. And can you even watch if you don't know majong?
@IhnalakoKaina buildings don't make animation
Jan 5, 2:31 PM
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May 2023
464
Can anyone tell me where I can watch this?
Jan 5, 2:36 PM

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Jul 2020
1648
the girls look kinda cute. guess I'll stick around for a while.
for fucks sake, when will MAL get its tags straight? how is this not a sol in mal's opinion?
Jan 5, 2:37 PM
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Nov 2022
1084
bruh.

I don't know anything about mahjong, I barely knew it was an Asian game because the old Windows 7 included a game about that xd.

Actually I'm only going to give it a chance because the character design catches my attention, plus the comedy seems like it will be a bit "cursed".

I'll just see how this plays out.
Jan 5, 2:43 PM
Deadhead

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Dec 2018
3955
I don’t know jack about mahjong but seeing that there was an anime about it coming out I figured I’d check it out and maybe I’d learn something, and I’ll say I didn’t learn that much but I got the basic gist, and the fact they use a fancy table lol. But the biggest thing I got from this was cute girls being goofy and that’s fun by itself lol, I really do love their designs and they all seem to be fun characters so far, I saw someone say the Quintessential Quintuplets mangaka designed them and if that’s true that makes so much sense, I knew they looked kinda familiar lol, so even if there’s no more QQ anime I can enjoy characters that kinda look the same (although I still gotta watch that OVA).

And I absolutely wasn’t expecting the bird character Chonpo but he is pretty cute and funny lol, so I guess this won’t be purely based in reality, makes me wonder if we’ll see more mahjong spirits or whatever he called himself lol. I also really liked the hangout spot, it kinda reminds me of the shop from “After School Dice Club”, seems to be a wholesome place to chill, just get a good sound system for some Grateful Dead and it’s perfect lol. And one thing I’d say I thought was a bit much was the overuse of the art style change joke, it happened a bit too many times imo, hopefully that’s not super prominent going forward. And lastly that was a very good OP and ED, love a good song sung by the VAs and I haven’t heard a halca song in a hot minute, love to hear her doing the ED for this show.

I’ll definitely be sticking with this whether I learn mahjong or not, it’ll be fun nonetheless.
Jan 5, 2:45 PM

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Jun 2012
60
It was pretty nice, cheerful and upbeat.

Almost all of those references were to Kaji, weren't they? I feel like it might be; the style that appeared at parts definitely looked like the Kaji AMV's I saw at the anime conventions' AMV contests.
Jan 5, 2:46 PM

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Feb 2015
264
Man that bird's entrance was hilarious to me. No idea what was happening in the second half but still found it funny.

OP is really great and I like the ED as well. No idea how to play Mahjong but I think this is going to be a fun show.
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Jan 5, 3:25 PM

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Jul 2021
613
Nefregar said:
@IhnalakoKaina buildings don't make animation

what do you mean??
Jan 5, 3:42 PM
Manga DB Admin
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Jun 2010
421
Wow, the actual mahjong scenes were so packed with references it was kind of overwhelming. Not just Akagi, but Legend of Koizumi, Tetsuya, Naki no Ryuu, Mukoubuchi, and even a couple of Katayama Masayuki series; I had to look up a lot of them, and wouldn't be surprised if I missed some. Was definitely a surprise given that it also seems to be aiming for a more casual audience with the basic explanations. I feel like future episodes won't be so reference-heavy, but I guess we'll see.
Jan 5, 4:10 PM
ギャンブルビイ

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Sep 2018
620
Well, that just referenced about every single Japanese mahjong media in existence ever. Looks like this'll lean hard into surreal comedy, which I definitely didn't expect. We'll see whether that's a pro or a con soon enough.

I didn't pick up on any other character pun names so far, but I'm willing to bet that a player called "Riche Hayashi" has got a tendency to call a lot of early riichi... (hayai = early/fast)
Jan 5, 4:16 PM
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May 2017
1766
Very good beginning episode!

Rewatched the episode: still very good! Nashiko, Pai, Izumi and Riche are as busty as the Nakano quintuplets... Mahjong is the game.
leonardobarbaJan 7, 4:29 AM
Mene, mene, tekel, parsin
Jan 5, 4:32 PM
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Apr 2022
3
where? streaming? help!
Jan 5, 4:35 PM
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Apr 2022
1189
tho they are all huge and distracting, the somewhat linear shape and the lack of detail made them a bit lackluster, but the ep overall was comfy and informative, like making goofy faces with friends and giving some info on how to play chess, fine start
Jan 5, 5:42 PM
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Nov 2021
492
Episode just seemed ok to me. The only thing I liked was how hot the girls are. The content didnt capture my attention and I was occasionally checking to see how many more minutes till the episode was done.
Jan 5, 6:18 PM
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Jul 2022
297
I liked this episode.
Jan 5, 6:24 PM

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Mar 2019
95
This isn't licensed in the US as far as I can tell. That's a shame because it's has some cute art, decent animation, and a fun old-school feeling OST.
It's a mahjong anime, but if you don't know the rules that's OK neither does the MC so you can learn along with her. And so far it's not super heavy on knowing too much about the game.
And the Akagi / Kaiji references...
GrumbleDangoJan 5, 6:29 PM
Jan 5, 7:17 PM

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Sep 2016
4552
so many uncultured plebs filtered by mahjong
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Jan 5, 7:17 PM

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Sep 2018
5220
First impressions, it's going to be a more laidback and wholesome version of Saki. Nice character designs. Wish they would tone it down with the parody stuff IMO, seen too many Kaiji references in anime lol...
Jan 5, 9:16 PM

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Nov 2018
233
I feel like the character artist was like "I don't know what breasts look like, but I know they need to be enormous"
Jan 5, 10:02 PM

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Mar 2012
33
I quite enjoyed the opening episode, I will say that I don't really know mahjong (other than my feeble attempts in the Like A Dragon series), the characters seem okay so far. I'll definitely be back for next week's episode, it was a fun watch overall.
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Jan 5, 11:17 PM
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Dec 2023
16
Kirito_online said:
guys OLM made a hentai once, this is so weird to discover lmao

that's why the chicks in this show are so hot
Jan 5, 11:17 PM

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Oct 2019
70
Already love their designs a lot. Still not sure if I'll watch the whole thing so far.

Also Pai kinda looks like how I'd imagine a blond shiori novella to look like for some reason.
Jan 6, 12:06 AM

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Aug 2022
324
Pon no Michi, I'm glad this anime shows more fun and comedy.

And also, there are supernatural and games? I'll be curious and I hope these five girls can at least entertain with their comedy. I'll take this maybe
Jan 6, 3:21 AM

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Jul 2017
14641
@J0HN_L0CKE @CARZOOt @elvistabasco try Bilibili, that's the only place you can watch this show.

@HOOfan_1 I DM you.
Jan 6, 4:10 AM
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Jan 2015
232
Okay, so far obvious Akagi and Saki references. :)
Jan 6, 4:10 AM
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Jan 2015
232
Reply to MiaAyende
I feel like the character artist was like "I don't know what breasts look like, but I know they need to be enormous"
@MiaAyende Saki reference kek
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