Saiyuki: Reload Discs 5-7
First off..... WANT MORE URA-SAI!!!
Second.... morningstar4 is a bad(good!) influence. I just spent some of my hard earned income tax return on more manga... two Black Sun, Silver Moons, One After School Nightmare and One Saiyuki: Reload. How is she a bad influence? I would've waited until AFTER WORK to get it. Instead I bought them on a break. No longer delay than leaving work now! Wheee!
Ok.. Onto the finish of my Saiyuki:Reload commentary (not really reviews are they, I am just saying what I liked or disliked)
I got disc 5 on Thursday and I had a joy of a night with it. For one thing, I loved this storyline in the Saiyuki mangas, so I was looking forward to how they were building it, wondering if they imitated my imagination. They did. I know...I have a limited imagination, but the colors and the actions and the artwork was just amazing.
It is frustrating, however, to not see Hakkai at work -- again!-- despite this, Goku's reaction was fantastic!! Puts me in mind of a Royal Rumble amongst all four at full power... who would win? hmmm... mebbe after the mangas, animes and whatevers run out and I am at loose ends, I might just take up the Royal Rumble challenge! Anyone want to volunteer to play against me?
There were no real surprises in these eps and the only thing totally hilarious was the Ura-sai where Goku creeps up on Hakkai while he is sleeping and removes the limiters. "Scary!"
Favorite Character? Hakkai (finally he makes it!)
Disc 6 and 7 arrived on Saturday while I was roleplaying. Since the night ended early because we were jamming on the campaign for once.... even if the DM cornered us between a rock and a deadplace... (Only way is forward into the Temple of Hades, or backwards into an army of fairly tough warriors.... but the temple is a death trap too.... that ends with us either getting killed by the priests, by the army that WAS waiting outside... or going down an unknown tunnel... that leads to rocky expanse beside a river with a purple sky.... yeah.) Well, by the time I got home, I wasn't exactly tired yet, so I popped in the disc... vowing to watch only one. I won!
By the time the third episode on the disc ended I was ready to turn it off for the night,... only to find out there were only three eps on there. Meh, its okay. They were Good.
Excellent characterisations of what only three of the four would be like... although... I can't imagine anyone being snippy like that if Hakkai disappeared... that is sad.
Anyway, I was rolling with laughter at the scenes that were somehow different from the manga, yet exactly alike...I am sure once I study it I will get the differences... or something.
Watching them beat on the fake Gojyo was oddly satisfying too. It was way more funny when they beat on the real one.
Watching how easily they were defeated... .that made it much more scary than the manga did. Well, I assume they upped the scariness of it because of the previous series showing how STRONG they were. They can ignore the previous if they want to with the different animators and producers, but they can't deny it I suppose.
Although the way that Gojyo said "Gimme a break!" just seemed out of place.
Favorite Character of Disc 6 ~ Toss up between Sanzo and Gojyo
Best Ura-Sai ~ Knitting Vol. 2 (I think that was on it...?)
Disc 7 was awesome. Everything I could hope for in a season finale... but one problem.. I did NOT like how they spelled out camparing Mahjong with their battles. It was much nicer understated and implied in the manga. However, even that was done well, so I can't complain too much. The artists really work closely to the Minekura art and I was happy with that.
The final battle scenes were a little drawn out... some of it was a little more unrealistic than normal. After being defeated that way the first time, they shouldn't've been able to stand up to the same attack the way they did, but whatever... its epic right? I do like how the manga handled it better, but if the Anime did it, it would've ended sooner. Oh well.
When I was reading the manga, I didn't quite get the question God posed to Hakkai even though I understood what happened... the anime had the benefit of clarifying it for me... and that sacrifice was beautiful for what it was.
Favorite Character at the end: Doctor Ni.
WHAT?! I hate that Character!!! Oh, Right. Well, I guess he was the MVP all the same... how DOES he keep stealing the show! and only those who watched or read understands the statement. So Nyah!
Over all opinion of Saiyuki: Reload the Anime?
Eh, it was fine. I wasn't overly impressed by anything other than the closeness of the artwork, the storylines somehow had a habit of falling flat... something like they said one thing too much or something.... I don't know how to explain that. It doesn't beat out Saiyuki the anime or the manga for pure awesomeness, but definitely something I will watch over and over again.
Major disappointment? Bad Extras. Ok, I can appreciate the open and closing sequences... but the commercial collections were just boring.
Second.... morningstar4 is a bad(good!) influence. I just spent some of my hard earned income tax return on more manga... two Black Sun, Silver Moons, One After School Nightmare and One Saiyuki: Reload. How is she a bad influence? I would've waited until AFTER WORK to get it. Instead I bought them on a break. No longer delay than leaving work now! Wheee!
Ok.. Onto the finish of my Saiyuki:Reload commentary (not really reviews are they, I am just saying what I liked or disliked)
I got disc 5 on Thursday and I had a joy of a night with it. For one thing, I loved this storyline in the Saiyuki mangas, so I was looking forward to how they were building it, wondering if they imitated my imagination. They did. I know...I have a limited imagination, but the colors and the actions and the artwork was just amazing.
It is frustrating, however, to not see Hakkai at work -- again!-- despite this, Goku's reaction was fantastic!! Puts me in mind of a Royal Rumble amongst all four at full power... who would win? hmmm... mebbe after the mangas, animes and whatevers run out and I am at loose ends, I might just take up the Royal Rumble challenge! Anyone want to volunteer to play against me?
There were no real surprises in these eps and the only thing totally hilarious was the Ura-sai where Goku creeps up on Hakkai while he is sleeping and removes the limiters. "Scary!"
Favorite Character? Hakkai (finally he makes it!)
Disc 6 and 7 arrived on Saturday while I was roleplaying. Since the night ended early because we were jamming on the campaign for once.... even if the DM cornered us between a rock and a deadplace... (Only way is forward into the Temple of Hades, or backwards into an army of fairly tough warriors.... but the temple is a death trap too.... that ends with us either getting killed by the priests, by the army that WAS waiting outside... or going down an unknown tunnel... that leads to rocky expanse beside a river with a purple sky.... yeah.) Well, by the time I got home, I wasn't exactly tired yet, so I popped in the disc... vowing to watch only one. I won!
By the time the third episode on the disc ended I was ready to turn it off for the night,... only to find out there were only three eps on there. Meh, its okay. They were Good.
Excellent characterisations of what only three of the four would be like... although... I can't imagine anyone being snippy like that if Hakkai disappeared... that is sad.
Anyway, I was rolling with laughter at the scenes that were somehow different from the manga, yet exactly alike...I am sure once I study it I will get the differences... or something.
Watching them beat on the fake Gojyo was oddly satisfying too. It was way more funny when they beat on the real one.
Watching how easily they were defeated... .that made it much more scary than the manga did. Well, I assume they upped the scariness of it because of the previous series showing how STRONG they were. They can ignore the previous if they want to with the different animators and producers, but they can't deny it I suppose.
Although the way that Gojyo said "Gimme a break!" just seemed out of place.
Favorite Character of Disc 6 ~ Toss up between Sanzo and Gojyo
Best Ura-Sai ~ Knitting Vol. 2 (I think that was on it...?)
Disc 7 was awesome. Everything I could hope for in a season finale... but one problem.. I did NOT like how they spelled out camparing Mahjong with their battles. It was much nicer understated and implied in the manga. However, even that was done well, so I can't complain too much. The artists really work closely to the Minekura art and I was happy with that.
The final battle scenes were a little drawn out... some of it was a little more unrealistic than normal. After being defeated that way the first time, they shouldn't've been able to stand up to the same attack the way they did, but whatever... its epic right? I do like how the manga handled it better, but if the Anime did it, it would've ended sooner. Oh well.
When I was reading the manga, I didn't quite get the question God posed to Hakkai even though I understood what happened... the anime had the benefit of clarifying it for me... and that sacrifice was beautiful for what it was.
Favorite Character at the end: Doctor Ni.
WHAT?! I hate that Character!!! Oh, Right. Well, I guess he was the MVP all the same... how DOES he keep stealing the show! and only those who watched or read understands the statement. So Nyah!
Over all opinion of Saiyuki: Reload the Anime?
Eh, it was fine. I wasn't overly impressed by anything other than the closeness of the artwork, the storylines somehow had a habit of falling flat... something like they said one thing too much or something.... I don't know how to explain that. It doesn't beat out Saiyuki the anime or the manga for pure awesomeness, but definitely something I will watch over and over again.
Major disappointment? Bad Extras. Ok, I can appreciate the open and closing sequences... but the commercial collections were just boring.