Takako Kubo is a professional mahjong player and a supporting character in the "Saki" manga. As the mahjong club coach at Kazekoshi Girls' High School in Nagano Prefecture, she has a stern personality and sometimes inflicts physical punishment on members of her team when they do not perform according to her expectations. She has a working relationship with colleague Yasuko Fujita and manages her own team of professional players.    ~!At the Nagano prefectural individual tournament, she takes an interest in Kazue Nanpo for her skill in the south wind match segments.!~

Miyanaga Saki is a first year high school girl whose family would get angry if she won the family mahjong games. But losing would also have its consequences. Because of this she develops a new way of playing that allows her to stay on the thin line between winning and losing, the plus/minus zero score, an almost impossible score. In a game that relies mainly on luck, the plus/minus zero score is harder than winning, but Saki can achieve this every time. Having always hated the game, her friend from middle school, Suga Kyotoro, forces her to play in the schools mahjong club. Her developed skill and superhuman luck has made her a worthy mahjong opponent, even to the middle school's national mahjong champion. (Source: Anime News Network, edited)

Saki's never been a big fan of mahjong. A lifetime of being forced to play with family at holidays (and losing her money as a consequence...) has left a foul taste for the game in her mouth. When she's convinced, though, to play a game with her classmates, she discovers that not only has fending off her family left her with an uncanny ability for the game but, more surprisingly, that it can even be fun!
 
Is this revelation enough to cleanse Saki's distaste for the game? Can her classmates convince her to join their club, or is there just too much baggage to make it worth her while?
 
(Source: Yen Press)

After their success in the regional tournament, the Kiyosumi High School mahjong team faces off against a whole new level of competition at the National Tournament in Tokyo. (Source: Anime News Network)

Side stories of the "Saki" manga in 4-koma format. 

Note: Chapter count includes 7 omake chapters, 1 from each Volume.