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The Locodol Specials, 2 episodes that continue the adventures of Nanako and Yukari as they become Nagarekawa's local idol group in order to promote the town's attractions and increase its popularity, are something that fans of the main series should not miss.

This review will be light and simple as these specials are just that, but what they came to do, they did very well.

If you've watched the main 12 episodes of this series, we know that the story is quite a straightforward slice of life based around a couple girls that were chosen to represent their town in order to increase its overall popularity. What ... better way than to take a few cute girls and have them spotlight the town with oozing charm?

The first episode focuses around Christmas time, while the second takes place a bit later and focuses on making a promotional video for Nagarekawa using our main girls.

I felt that the first episode of this OVA was spectacular in the warmth that it brought to the coldest season of the year. The bond between Nanako and Yukari grew even more, and it was nice to see. Fans of "yuri-bait" [raises hand] should enjoy it, even if it's very subtle. It didn't feel out of place and I thought it worked well within the context of this series.

The second episode puts a bit more highlight on Nat-chan, the extremely shy girl, and does it ever so gently as if the script itself was being careful not to make her feel too uncomfortable.

There weren't any other reviews on these specials at the time of this writing, as there really isn't much to say about this series in general. The plot is simple, wholesome and positive, kawaii girls helping their town survive financially via promotion gigs. These OVA eps simply continue that, and do it slightly even better. If you enjoyed the main series, be sure to give these a go.

This review might have some very light spoilers. Just a heads up.

This is my third review on here. I don't write reviews often, because many times others have already covered most of the important bits newcomers should know about a particular anime. I felt that I should write a short one about this series, while it's still fresh in my mind and as it's not one of the most popular shows out there.

I binged it last night, but not because I found it to be wonderful, but rather, I wanted to try to make sense of the randomness and instability of it by the end. ... Was there any sense in the end? Let's find out.

The story of Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku is hard to put into words simply, as it feels more like a mashup of multiple tropes from different series out there jumbled into one show, and not in a good way. It mainly deals with these students at this unusual school attaining superpowers to combat each other as part of their curriculum.
The main character, Eruna, is a girl whose really into girls, and she's not afraid to show it. I'll be honest, this was the main reason I even picked this one up, as yuri in anime is one of my favorite things.

In the early episodes, Eruna's fantasies are in full force and she gets very excited every time she meets a girl at the new school she has joined recommended by her cousin who attends it. She's not afraid to show her infatuation with cute girls, cool! But later down the line, the yuri, for the most part, is heavily reduced to the point of almost being forgotten in favor of "plot progression", which there isn't much of. The plot moves every which way in random zig zags and curves that make no sense, and then towards the end tries to wrap it all up immediately without any explanation of how it came to be really. Eruna's awakened power was sort of explained why she was given it, sort of. But her progression to becoming as strong as she is at the end was done quite half-assed. The entire show feels more like a parody of anime than a legit concrete story.

Now, it's fine to make a show rely on comedy to make light of the plot and give people the impression that it's not taking itself too seriously. But when the comedy falls flat on almost every scene, it makes you question the validity of the show's existence in the first place. I found myself not laughing almost at all throughout the entire series, save for a few scenes here and there, which was quite disappointing. If the plot is already as ridiculous as it is, then at least make a better effort to make me laugh. It usually doesn't take that much. Perfect example is a simple story like the one in Blend-S. Uses parody of anime & otaku culture and has a very simple premise but the jokes are fantastic throughout. I didn't have to force laughter out of myself like I tried to with Mikagura here.

There's plenty more to say about the story of this show, sadly it's mainly more ranting in my case, so I'll continue to art.

The art & animation felt very off and inconsistent.. In many scenes, more than I've probably seen in my overall tenure with anime, which was reignited early this year after a 15 year hiatus. It feels like there wasn't too much quality assurance done before this show was slapped onto TV screens. The characters are often misshapen, the faces take a turn for the worse especially in high action scenes, and sometimes certain characters lose their body proportions (Otone, in many instances, is a good example).

The animation also has its own issues, but it's not the worst I've seen. The combat sequences are probably where most of the budget went, but they do range from not good to not terrible quite often. The environment or setting is pretty flat. The colors don't have much of a gradient to them most of the time.

Sound... well the voice acting was pretty great I thought. I'll expand on that in the character section.
The soundtracks I felt were not to my liking. I normally won't skip tracks that often in series where I enjoy the music, but I found myself skipping several times here except for the few episodes where it had changed. Sound effects throughout the show were okay, not great or memorable in any way to me.

Character. This is where I felt the few bits of comedy that worked, did because of the capability of the voice actors (Japanese). Each one is quite a unique individual in their own way, and their voices and characterization was done pretty well. There are a few that were not up to par with some of the others, such as Yuto. His backstory felt meaningless and then he became a backdrop character who was never really looked at again. The cute loli Himi seemed interesting but went from a fun supporting character at first to an empty shell for the second half of the show, it's too bad because she was one of my favorites.

So did I get enjoyment out of this show? Well, I guess enough enjoyment to binge it through to the end in one sitting, if you can call that enjoyment. More like I just wanted to see what sort of resolution would come from this giant mess of a show. But yes, there was some enjoyment to be had, mainly from the moments where I told myself that the writers of this show do not want you to take it seriously in the first place, and for a few moments that would keep me content with it. Until the end, that is.

I don't think I can say wholeheartedly that this is a great show. Neither a good one. It's not the worst I've seen, but it all depends on how you approach it. If you are looking for a show that takes itself seriously and gives you a solid storytelling experience, rich character depth, incredible eye candy art, and memorable songs, look elsewhere.
On the other hand, if you are just in for some over the top shenanigans without much purpose, a very upfront yuri main character, and somewhat decent action scenes occasionally, then Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku might entertain you for at least a little while. 4/10

P.S. I realize now that this review was longer than I had hoped. Ah well.

I'm posting this review in the hopes that more people will check out this show.

This is a severely underwatched & underrated CGDCT disguised as a fantasy action due to it being derived from its parent series that I didn't happen to watch, which is more action oriented rather than slice of life like this one. But this does have a good amount of action, don't get me wrong.

Like others have said, you do not need to have watched the main series to enjoy this for its cute heartwarming epicness.

The story in this show is decent, but nothing incredible that will have you deeply guessing some ... sort of intense plot. Due to the nature of this show focusing more on a few girls' lives at an academy for Logicalists (basically girls who can transform 'mahou-shoujo style'), it is more slice of life than deeply plot focused. I found the first half of the season to be more comedy-focused with things like Lion's dad showing up, while the second half was more emotionally driven and focused more on the friendships/ relationships developments between the girls. I liked both aspects, but I believe that the second half was better in this series. 7/10 for Story.

The art is awesome. Doga Kobo as always nails it when it comes to the cute girls SoL genre. Colors are ultra vivid, the girls are beautiful and mesmerizing, and the action sequences are a cut or multiple above a typical SoL. The surroundings were not the focus here so much, most of the focus is on the characters themselves (which isn't a bad thing), not atypical of a doga kobo series from what I've seen in the past. 10/10 for art.

Sound was totally fine. The soundtracks were fitting and fun, the voice acting fit for the characters, and there wasn't much of anything to complain about. I'm personally not a big fan of furry little creatures making the same noise for the duration of an entire show, so 1 point deducted for Belle. 9/10

Characters... there were 4 that I found great, being Nina, Mahiro, Yayoi, and Lion. I won't get too deep into why I found them great, because I don't want to spoil the important bits, but I'll say that Yayoi and Mahiro especially were great because it felt like they broke the typical archetype formula a bit and were pretty unique, more so Yayoi.
Also, if you like some yuri bait in these shows, there is definitely some of that here, and in one particular episode it goes above and beyond the typical bait formula and takes it almost to the next level.. almost! 9/10 for character.

I enjoyed the heck out of this show more than I thought I would and would recommend it to any fan of the cute moe slice of life fan. The show tries to take itself a bit more seriously than the average moe show due to its parent story so you'll have a bit less facial expression 'intensities' than the typical stuff out there, and I don't remember many chibi moments (if there were any at all), but it doesn't fail to deliver in the cute department whatsoever. 10/10 for enjoyment.

It would be great to have another season for this one but I doubt it since the manga is finished as far as I know. However, it's highly worth checking out if you like this genre and you won't be disappointed if you come in with realistic expectations. You may even be surprised at how much you like it, like I did.

9/10 !

First review on MAL, apologies for the quality or lack thereof.

I heard of Saki through a friend I've met on here, and decided to check out the series.
I know absolutely nothing about the game of mahjong, but that didn't detract me from giving this series a shot.

I watched all components of the series in release order and while some were quite good, others faltered in certain areas.

Story: 7
Saki Zenkoku-hen focuses on the main cast's ascension towards the highly coveted high school national mahjong championship. The premise is solid. A high school club team's wish to succeed in a popular game. If you've watched the main ... season of Saki (which you definitely should before touching this), then you'd be well versed in the main cast's characters. While I really enjoyed the main season, however, this season took the focus away from our beloved main cast and spread the attention around to all the competing high schools on this side of the bracket pretty much evenly, leaving the Kiyosumi high school team little to no room for any sort of growth.
While I did find enjoyment in watching the intensity of some of the mahjong rounds, the series detracted from what made the first season so fun for me, and that was the in-between shenanigans the team were up to (including the loud-mouthed but adorable Yuuki the taco loving girl). Overall, I thought some of the other teams had relatively interesting characters as well but I sure would've liked more attention on the main girls than was given here. Towards the very end we get some more of that nostalgia from the first season back but it's pretty short lived.

Art: 8
The art features nice vivid colors and pretty realistic environments and backgrounds. The arenas they compete in are well lit and believable. The characters are portrayed very cute of course and everything is pretty run of the mill CGDCT/ moe style with an emphasis on certain aspects more than others. Some of the hair styles are wacky and always fun in this series, so I enjoyed seeing more of those. I will say I sort of preferred the art style of the first season when it came to the main girls, especially the eyes. Switching studios from Gonzo to Gokumi might have affected that. The emphasis on so-called supernatural powers used in the mahjong games by some of these girls is still ridiculous but nevertheless enjoyable and features pretty decent animation.

Sound: 7
The sound effects for the battle-type moments in the series were good in the previous iteration, but fell a bit short here. The soundtrack was also not as memorable to me. You do get a moment of the previous season's OP at one point used for an ED, which was the highlight of the good vibes from the series for me. As a whole, the series doesn't feature the greatest tracks ever made in an anime, but they do well enough to capture the essence of the show. The intro/outro videos are usually pretty fun though, especially the EDs, featuring chibi versions of some of the characters doing random goofy things. Voice acting in the series is very solid as well.

Characters: 6
The main characters were the shining beacon of the first season. It felt further emphasized after watching the side story of Achiga high school, where the cast was simply not compelling enough to the point it was harder to care about their success. Sadly, the main cast of Saki does not get much screen time in this season no more than any of the other supporting cast save for a few moments, giving them not much of any room for character growth. While some of the other schools' teams were alright, I didn't feel like any of them really stole the show, with the possible exception of the eccentric shrine priestess school cast.

Enjoyment: 7
With all things above considered, it is fair to say that I did find a decent amount of enjoyment from binging this season a bit more than Achiga-hen and possibly around the same amount as the middle of the first season. The focus here was definitely more on the mahjong and giving a bit of screen time to each school to flesh them out a bit, but due to the lack of focus on the main cast, detracted from the essence of what made the first season much more memorable to me. I mean, the show is named Saki after all, yet she barely gets screen time here and what I'm sure many people wanted to know is more backstory about her. You won't find much, just a smidge here.

Overall: 7
I covered most of the wrapping up of this review in the Enjoyment section, but I'll just say in closing that if you enjoyed the main Saki series for the mahjong, you'll at least get more of that here, but the soul of the series lies in the first season. The side story of Achiga school is probably worth checking out beforehand to see what you're missing out on when away from the main Saki cast, because you won't get too much of them here either. However, when all is said and done, this season gets us closer to the final goal. Now let's hope that even though 7 years have passed, maybe there's still a semblance of hope that we'll get another season, but don't hold your breath.