saiyuki rant of doom

[little_blue_me]

BUAH! So I finished Saiyuki Reload's ninth volume last night and...
//Actually, it’s been few nights already since that… I’m just slow at writing my thoughts down.//
(...Haha... And please excuse me and my fangirl rant and analysis. I'm just too into Saiyuki. Can't really be helped. <3)

But here we go:

Comments

[winged_sandals]

Yay, Saiyuki fangirling/discussion! I must join!

Ukoku, Ukoku... I think he's a completely awesome character (my favorite villain hands down I have to say, although that might just be because I'm so obsessed with Saiyuki, ha), but at the same time he's so hard for me to read. I guess that's part of what makes him such a creeper, though. XD Now that you mention it, I'm kind of interested in knowing more about Kenyuu's past also, but I agree that his character would be far less interesting if he somehow turned out to be a "good guy".

I liked your idea about Ukoku being "rotted away". In my mind, I almost see him as a big kid or something. It seems like he's eternally restless, so he goes about destroying things for no better reason than to have a goal for the moment. Once he excelled at his studies, excelled at his science, and "earned" the sanzo title, he just didn't have anything else to do with himself. Then along comes the revival project, and hey, now he has the opportunity to screw up all of Shangri-La so why not? He doesn't really have a purpose, so he just goes from one "game" to the next. (And when he's not in complete control, he throws a tantrum and breaks chess boards XD; )

Then there's also his bet with Koumyou to serve as motivation. I'm not really sure what to think about the bet, other than it's certainly a driving force in what Ukoku does. For some reason, ever since the Burial arc, I always assumed that Ukoku somehow played a role in Koumyou's death. Like he orchestrated it or something. He definitely had respect for Koumyou, but I think Ukoku's need to be at the top would overpower that respect, hence killing him to win the bet. (Kind of like when Kenyuu killed his master in Burial. Koumyou thought he saw him crying afterward, so I always thought "wow, there's a guy who's in over his head". Because of that, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch for Ukoku to kill just about anybody to get what he wants, even if he actually cares about them in a way.) Even by killing Koumyou, though, Ukoku still didn't win the bet because Koumyou was able to pass on his title to Sanzo right before his death. Hence Sanzo has become Ukoku's new opponent.

I was thinking something along those lines, but I don't know, haha. I think I'm just rambling now, actually... But still. Ukoku's so cool! I really hope the ikkou doesn't defeat him just yet. That would be no fun at all~

I think it's interesting that you kept bringing up Kami-sami. There seem to be some parallels between him and Hazel. I wonder how many children Ukoku went around corrupting in his spare time XD;;

And omg, that part when he started to erase Sanzo's existence. That made me so sad! Thinking about where the others would be without Sanzo... No ikkou at all... That's brutal! But like you said, it was so fitting and squee-worthy that Goku was the one to pull Sanzo out. While Sanzo was the one to bring everybody together and act as Goku's "sun", it really showed in that part that the ikkou have taken care of him just as much <3

Now that you mention it, I also wonder if Minekura plans to bring more of Gaiden into Saiyuki Reload. I guess we'll just have to see... (Maybe if she does, it'll give English publishers more incentive to pick up Gaiden, haha... One can dream...)

In short, you make a lot of good points and things! And volume nine was awesome! This comment is probably going to be really long, I'm sorry XD

[little_blue_me]

Haha! Please do! :D

Ukoku seems to be pretty popular. Well, a lot of readers probably want him death as soon as possible, but I'm sure no one can deny his awesomness, a great, great villain indeed.
And I couldn't really figure him out either, but I think this volume cleared his character a little bit to me.

He doesn't really have a purpose, so he just goes from one "game" to the next.

Yes! Precisely! And maybe it's just me, but I think Ukoku resambles a lot of Kubota and how he was intoduced to us in the first Wild Adapter volume. I definitely see a lot of similarities between them, particularly in Ukoku's burial.

I never thought that Ukoku would have been the one to orchestrate Koumyou's death myself, although I have read people's opinions of it before. I thought that while the order to optain the sutras Koumyou had definitely came from the Houtou castle, Koumyou's death itself wasn't planned. Because if Ukoku really meant to kill Koumyou, then the only thing he did was senting few "no-name youkais" as he says, and he knows opponents like those would never have been enough to kill Koumyou, thus draving the conclusion of "Koumyou sacrifised himself for you (Kouryuu)". But of course we could also argue that Ukoku knew something like that would happen then, so I'm definitely not denying your opinion either. :)
Ah. I never really understood what that scene meant; Ukoku's possible crying, because it just doesn't fit into the image I have of him, no matter how I try. :/

I wonder how many children Ukoku went around corrupting in his spare time

Haha! I though about that, too! XD There are two at least, but it wouldn't suprise me if few others would pop up! XD
And while I see a whole lot of similarities between Saiyuki's (eight and)ninth and Reload's ninth volume (Gojyo's leaving ~ sanzo's same and their reasons for this are really similiar; separation; gathering together again; "teamwork"; others importance; muichimotsu -theme; kami-sama ~ Hazel and Ukoku...) it all could be in my head, though, and there really isn't any, at least intentional, meaning. X) But it's a lot of fun thinking about these things! <3

Oh, yes! Right you are! And I love how the whole ikkou thing, although the others had absorbed it long ago, finally hacked its way into sanzo's mind! <3

I definitely hope that she will stitch Saiyuki and Gaiden together! I think, based on the very earlier volumes, that she meant to, but now I'm not so sure. The lack of Kanzeon and Nataku kind of strengthens my fears, and there probably isn't any real necessity to really do so, the plot wise and all, but it definitely would make the story even more interesting and amazing and I really, really hope that we will get to see it happen. But yes, as you said, we can just wait and see...
Urg, and I definitely wonder why Gaiden hasn't been picked up yet, it's just plain crazy.

Thanks! And don't worry! Long comments are much loved! <3

[little_blue_me]

Woah. And talk about screwing up with the tags.

[duck113]

I figured Ukoku's possible crying was do to his having achieved his goal & now being without one. With sanzo being the highest he could go, he had reached a dead end - that game was now over, he no longer had any goal, nothing left to strive for
(until he made a new game).

[little_blue_me]

Oh! That does make sense. Thanks! I have been wondering about it since I read the scene and never really could figure it out. *I guess my imagination works only when it wants*