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Golden Sakura

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Golden Sakura
Stylized illustration of a young man cross-dressing in a pink skirt and sheer top as sakura petals fall around him
Volume 1 cover, depicting Takuya as his female alter ego Sakura
ゴールデン桜
GenreSports (mahjong), drama[1]
Manga
Written bySayaka Okada [ja]
Illustrated byKazuo Maekawa [ja]
Published byTakeshobo
ImprintKindai Mahjong Comics
MagazineKindai Mahjong
DemographicSeinen
Original runDecember 29, 2018 – September 1, 2020
Volumes3 (List of volumes)

Golden Sakura (Japanese: ゴールデン桜, Hepburn: Gōruden Sakura) is a sports manga series about mahjong, written by the professional mahjong player Sayaka Okada [ja] and drawn by Kazuo Maekawa [ja]. It was serialized by Takeshobo in the magazine Kindai Mahjong from December 29, 2018, to September 1, 2020, and collected in three tankōbon volumes in 2019–2020.

The story follows Takuya Saotome, who gets tricked into taking on debt, and in desperation resorts to a plan involving cross-dressing to earn money as a female professional mahjong player under the name Sakura Shindou. Okada got the opportunity to write the manga through her work as a columnist for Kindai Mahjong, and drew on her own experiences for the story. The manga was popular with readers, and was praised for its professional mahjong setting.

Premise

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Golden Sakura is a sports manga about mahjong. It follows Takuya Saotome, a skilled but low-earning and nearly unknown mahjong player, whose girlfriend tricks him into taking on five million yen in debt. He does not know how he will be able to repay the money, but Nabe, a friend running a gay bar, suggests a plan to earn money by becoming a female professional mahjong player. Desperate, Takuya agrees to it and retakes the professional mahjong player examination while cross-dressing as his new female persona Sakura Shindou, and has to continue playing both as himself and as Sakura.[1][2]

Production and release

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2020 picture of Sayaka Okada
The manga was written by professional mahjong player Sayaka Okada.

Golden Sakura was written by professional mahjong player Sayaka Okada [ja], and drawn by Ace Attorney manga artist Kazuo Maekawa [ja].[3][4][5] It was published by Takeshobo in their monthly mahjong-themed manga magazine Kindai Mahjong; the manga originated in how Okada was writing a column for Kindai Mahjong, and was asked by her editor if she would like to write an original manga for the magazine. She initially considered writing a story with fantasy elements about the world of female professional mahjong players, but after the professional mahjong landscape in Japan changed with the creation of the national M League [ja] competition, she re-planned the story to be about a male character disguising himself as a woman. She drew on her own experiences as a player for the scenarios, and did not find herself with a shortage of plot ideas, but at times found it challenging to make the plot move as quickly as her editor wanted.[2]

Takeshobo serialized the manga from December 29, 2018,[4][6] to September 1, 2020;[7] the publisher has also collected the series in three tankōbon volumes released from September 30, 2019, to October 1, 2020,[1][8] under their Kindai Mahjong Comics imprint.[9] The first volume features a design where an illustration similar to the main cover is printed under the dust jacket, with Takuya appearing as himself rather than as Sakura; for the e-book version, this was added as a separate page at the end of the volume.[10]

In a 2020 interview, Okada said that she hoped that the manga could see an anime adaptation, for which she wanted Megumi Ogata to be cast as Takuya, and Sora Tokui as another character.[2]

Volumes

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No. Release date ISBN
1 September 30, 2019[11]978-4801967564
  • Chapter 1–7
2 April 1, 2020[12]978-4801968646
  • Chapter 8–14
3 October 1, 2020[8]978-4801971080
  • Chapter 15–21

Reception

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The series drew attention for being written by Okada,[13] and ranked among Manga Navi's list of popular male-to-female cross-dressing manga as of December 2021;[14] according to Okada, it was primarily popular with mahjong enthusiasts, however,[2] and none of the print volumes debuted on the weekly Oricon top 30 charts for comic book sales in Japan.[15][16][17] Mahjong Watch found it interesting to see Okada and Maekawa co-operate on a manga,[3] and thought that Okada managed to faithfully depict the realities of the professional mahjong world due to her personal experience, despite the story's unrealistic premise;[5] MJ Dragon, too, recommended the manga for its setting.[10] Mystery author Yukito Ayatsuji found the series interesting, and recommended it,[10] as did mahjong writer and M League chairman Susumu Fujita.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "借金まみれの雀士が性別偽り、女流プロとして大成を目指す「ゴールデン桜」1巻". Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2019-09-30. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  2. ^ a b c d e Kondo, Kanako (2020-03-03). "【春のブックフェス2020 特別企画】「モデル×プロ雀士」という異色の二刀流アーティスト"岡田紗佳"、自ら原作を手掛けているマンガ『ゴールデン桜』に描いている未来とは！？" (in Japanese). Sony. Archived from the original on 2022-01-03. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  3. ^ a b "モデル兼プロ雀士、岡田紗佳が近代麻雀で漫画原作者デビュー！". Mahjong Watch (in Japanese). MW. 2018-12-14. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  4. ^ a b Pineda, Rafael Antonio (2018-12-22). "Kindai Mahjong Manga Magazine Changes to Monthly Publication". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  5. ^ a b "強く、美しく。 飛躍を続けるサクラナイツ岡田紗佳の魅力に迫る". Mahjong Watch (in Japanese). MW. 2021-06-30. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  6. ^ "近代麻雀が月刊化、「バンビ～ノ！」のせきやてつじ新連載など3本が開始". Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. 2018-12-29. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  7. ^ Okada, Sayaka (2020-09-01). "岡田紗佳🌸おかぴー on Twitter" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2022-01-01 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ a b "【10月1日付】本日発売の単行本リスト". Natalie. Natasha, Inc. 2020-10-01. Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  9. ^ "ゴールデン桜 1". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  10. ^ a b c "近代麻雀コミックス『ゴールデン桜』１巻が発売！ 岡田紗佳（原作）、前川かずお（作画）". MJ Dragon (in Japanese). 2019-10-14. Archived from the original on 2019-12-23. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  11. ^ "【9月30日付】本日発売の単行本リスト". Natalie. Natasha, Inc. 2019-09-30. Archived from the original on 2022-01-01. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  12. ^ "【4月1日付】本日発売の単行本リスト". Natalie. Natasha, Inc. 2020-04-01. Archived from the original on 2020-04-06. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  13. ^ "KADOKAWAサクラナイツ | 個性的な選手がそろい踏み！マエストロ、役満ボディー、小さな天才と、マムシ！？". Mahjong Watch (in Japanese). MW. 2021-06-30. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  14. ^ "可愛いは正義な【女装漫画】で愉しむ男女の感性のギャップ感30点". Manga Navi (in Japanese). SuiNekoKan. 2021-12-02. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  15. ^ "オリコン週間 コミックランキング 2019年09月30日～2019年10月06日" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2019-10-14. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  16. ^ "オリコン週間 コミックランキング 2020年03月30日～2020年04月05日" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2020-04-13. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original on 2020-04-11. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  17. ^ "オリコン週間 コミックランキング 2020年09月28日～2020年10月04日" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2020-10-12. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original on 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
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