A Quick and Dirty Guide to Saiyuki
Wait! You mean there are people who haven't heard of Saiyuki?! WHAT NO. THIS CANNOT BE. I MUST PIMP THE SAIYUKI.
Saiyuki is an action/adventure/fantasy series with lots of crack and subtext. Mmm...crack and subtext...my two favorite things! It's like a fractured fairy tale version of Journey to the West, but with sci-fi elements and slashable guys. You should read/watch this series because Kazuya Minekura's art is hot like whoa, and because we like seeing a bunch of evil henchmen killed without remorse. It's not like they have families or anything. Pfft! Henchmen don't count as real people.
It's not necessary to know about the original Journey to the West, but it'll make Saiyuki less confusing. This story is the Chinese classical novel.
Some people compare the plot to The Wizard of Oz. The priest Xuanzang (Sanzo in Japanese) and his three disciples travel from China to India and back, in order to bring back sacred Buddhist scriptures. They have adventures and stuff. In later retellings, one of his disciples, the monkey Sun Wukong (Son Goku), becomes super popular and pretty much takes over. Yes, that's right. Son Goku, as in the main character of Dragonball and DBZ, which was also inspired by Journey to the West.
Here we have my OT4 our four main characters, traveling in their Jeep, which is actually a shape-shifting dragon. They're going to India to stop some Bad Shit from going down. Along the way, they slaughter demons and just generally pwn everything in sight. They're in a car, so why this trip has taken them more than 10 years...nobody knows. Seriously, the manga's been coming out since 1997, and the anime started in 2000, and they still haven't gotten there! (It was on hiatus for a while, but still...)
Anyway, on to the characters!
This is Daddy Sanzo:
He's blond and has droopy eyes. Sanzo is an angry, foul-mouthed, chain smoking Buddhist priest with a gun. As he is arguably the most important character in the series, he gets to lounge in the passenger seat while his "buddies" drive or drive each other nuts in the back. He regularly threatens to kill them. Well, he doesn't threaten Hakkai very much, because if Hakkai died, then there would be no one to drive.
This is Mommy Hakkai:
The Jeep is his pet dragon. Hakkai is the group's healer/cook/driver etc. He does everything because the others are all useless bums, and he's just a nice guy like that. Don't let him fool you, though. This man is a killer. Oh dear Buddha is he a killer. Do yourself a favor and never get on Hakkai's shit list. He will slaughter everyone you've ever loved, and then some.
This is Crazy Uncle Gojyo:
I was tempted to choose a hilarious pic where...oh, what the hell. Fashion disaster! Anyway, despite being quite similar to Sanzo, in the foul-mouthed, chain smoking way, it is EPIC how much he and Sanzo annoy each other. Gojyo thinks he's a "ladies' man". He's really a total man-slut. If it has breasts, Gojyo will hit on it. He gambles and drinks a lot, too. Yeah, he's pretty much the worst role model ever.
This is Baby Goku:
Goku is a cute hyperactive monkey kid with a stomach for brains. Sanzo rescued him a few years back and then couldn't get rid of him. Goku likes food, Sanzo, food, and Sanzo. Oh, and food. He and Gojyo get into obnoxiously loud fights over who gets the last dumpling, which pisses Sanzo off, so Sanzo starts beating them up and Hakkai has to intervene before they actually kill each other. Wonderful group dynamics <3
Then there's the bad guys...
...like Homura...
...and Kougaiji.
x_x
Oh, Kou~ His hotness kills. (And he's such a sweet guy inside...)
Everyone has angsty backstories. All of them. They're all angstmuffins, and some are the reincarnations of gods. (Yeah, these guys knew each other in a past life, too. More hilarity!)
Oh, and the goddess that watches over them? This sexy woman?
She has a penis.
...
(If that didn't make you want to see this series, then nothing will.)
Read it.
Watch it.
Though I haven't finished reading it, I'd recommend the manga over the anime because I adore Minekura's artwork. It's GORGEOUS, though you didn't need me to tell you. Pics above are proof. There's also more nekkidness in the manga, which was censored in the anime version. It's an older, low budget series, so the earlier episodes don't have very good animation, which might bother some people. The second and third series, Saiyuki Reload and Saiyuki Reload Gunlock, are more polished. (It's okay to watch Reload before the original series, and it'll still make sense, for the most part.)
Saiyuki has gotten mixed reviews. The plot is simple, and sort of meanders. Some people hate it because it can be super-corny. (I love corn.) Some people hate it because it's mostly filler. (Hell, I love filler, too. Hello, Gintama? Kyou Kara Maou? Filler filler filler.) They just have to get to India, right? Why all the stops? Oh, right. Backstories and character development. While the characters don't necessarily grow as much as you would expect, they definitely develop. It's the audience's perceptions of them that changes over time based on what we learn about them.
It's a very character driven series, and yeah, I think it's worth sticking around for the characters. (And the beautiful crack + subtext combo.)
Saiyuki is an action/adventure/fantasy series with lots of crack and subtext. Mmm...crack and subtext...my two favorite things! It's like a fractured fairy tale version of Journey to the West, but with sci-fi elements and slashable guys. You should read/watch this series because Kazuya Minekura's art is hot like whoa, and because we like seeing a bunch of evil henchmen killed without remorse. It's not like they have families or anything. Pfft! Henchmen don't count as real people.
It's not necessary to know about the original Journey to the West, but it'll make Saiyuki less confusing. This story is the Chinese classical novel.
Some people compare the plot to The Wizard of Oz. The priest Xuanzang (Sanzo in Japanese) and his three disciples travel from China to India and back, in order to bring back sacred Buddhist scriptures. They have adventures and stuff. In later retellings, one of his disciples, the monkey Sun Wukong (Son Goku), becomes super popular and pretty much takes over. Yes, that's right. Son Goku, as in the main character of Dragonball and DBZ, which was also inspired by Journey to the West.
Here we have my OT4 our four main characters, traveling in their Jeep, which is actually a shape-shifting dragon. They're going to India to stop some Bad Shit from going down. Along the way, they slaughter demons and just generally pwn everything in sight. They're in a car, so why this trip has taken them more than 10 years...nobody knows. Seriously, the manga's been coming out since 1997, and the anime started in 2000, and they still haven't gotten there! (It was on hiatus for a while, but still...)
Anyway, on to the characters!
This is Daddy Sanzo:
He's blond and has droopy eyes. Sanzo is an angry, foul-mouthed, chain smoking Buddhist priest with a gun. As he is arguably the most important character in the series, he gets to lounge in the passenger seat while his "buddies" drive or drive each other nuts in the back. He regularly threatens to kill them. Well, he doesn't threaten Hakkai very much, because if Hakkai died, then there would be no one to drive.
This is Mommy Hakkai:
The Jeep is his pet dragon. Hakkai is the group's healer/cook/driver etc. He does everything because the others are all useless bums, and he's just a nice guy like that. Don't let him fool you, though. This man is a killer. Oh dear Buddha is he a killer. Do yourself a favor and never get on Hakkai's shit list. He will slaughter everyone you've ever loved, and then some.
This is Crazy Uncle Gojyo:
I was tempted to choose a hilarious pic where...oh, what the hell. Fashion disaster! Anyway, despite being quite similar to Sanzo, in the foul-mouthed, chain smoking way, it is EPIC how much he and Sanzo annoy each other. Gojyo thinks he's a "ladies' man". He's really a total man-slut. If it has breasts, Gojyo will hit on it. He gambles and drinks a lot, too. Yeah, he's pretty much the worst role model ever.
This is Baby Goku:
Goku is a cute hyperactive monkey kid with a stomach for brains. Sanzo rescued him a few years back and then couldn't get rid of him. Goku likes food, Sanzo, food, and Sanzo. Oh, and food. He and Gojyo get into obnoxiously loud fights over who gets the last dumpling, which pisses Sanzo off, so Sanzo starts beating them up and Hakkai has to intervene before they actually kill each other. Wonderful group dynamics <3
Then there's the bad guys...
...like Homura...
...and Kougaiji.
x_x
Oh, Kou~ His hotness kills. (And he's such a sweet guy inside...)
Everyone has angsty backstories. All of them. They're all angstmuffins, and some are the reincarnations of gods. (Yeah, these guys knew each other in a past life, too. More hilarity!)
Oh, and the goddess that watches over them? This sexy woman?
She has a penis.
...
(If that didn't make you want to see this series, then nothing will.)
Read it.
Watch it.
Though I haven't finished reading it, I'd recommend the manga over the anime because I adore Minekura's artwork. It's GORGEOUS, though you didn't need me to tell you. Pics above are proof. There's also more nekkidness in the manga, which was censored in the anime version. It's an older, low budget series, so the earlier episodes don't have very good animation, which might bother some people. The second and third series, Saiyuki Reload and Saiyuki Reload Gunlock, are more polished. (It's okay to watch Reload before the original series, and it'll still make sense, for the most part.)
Saiyuki has gotten mixed reviews. The plot is simple, and sort of meanders. Some people hate it because it can be super-corny. (I love corn.) Some people hate it because it's mostly filler. (Hell, I love filler, too. Hello, Gintama? Kyou Kara Maou? Filler filler filler.) They just have to get to India, right? Why all the stops? Oh, right. Backstories and character development. While the characters don't necessarily grow as much as you would expect, they definitely develop. It's the audience's perceptions of them that changes over time based on what we learn about them.
It's a very character driven series, and yeah, I think it's worth sticking around for the characters. (And the beautiful crack + subtext combo.)