Anime Review: SAIYUKI
Nov. 12th, 2023 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennariaLet's kick it old school! Please note, I am talking about the first series, *not* any of the sequel series or the prequel series.
GENSOMADEN SAIYUKI - 2000-2001 (Japan), 2003-2009 (US), supposedly available streaming on Prime
Amount watched: Full series
Official description: (From Wikipedia) When chaos still reigned over the world, it was a country where humans and demons finally live in peace and harmony. However, somewhere in the west, someone is trying to resurrect an ancient evil demon and all the demons rediscover their warlike instincts by savagely attacking Men. This is where an unorthodox monk and gun enthusiast named Genjo Sanzo intervenes who, accompanied by three half-man, half-demon beings with powerful powers, is responsible for stemming the evil surge, they set off on a fabulous journey to solve this problem.
Weeb rating: 5/10 - you don't have to already know the story of the Journey To The West before watching the show, but I feel like it would help. That and not-so-minor things (Buddhism! Sutras! Youkai!) are kind of omnipresent, and while you can skim over them, it does mean you'll miss a whole series of assumptions that are baked into the world-building.
Ass rating: 3/10 - based on memory more than re-watching, alas, but I recall casual nudity (e.g. the depiction of Kanzeon Botatsu is as half-man, half-woman - we don't see the 'proof' of the half-man, but we definitely see the cleavage on display), and plenty of talk about sex even if we don't see it on screen (Goyjo alone takes this up a couple points).
Shit rating: 3/10. The first series wobbles a bit, but it's also got a clear and certain point to it - it has an ending that works in its resolution.
Violence rating: 7/10. I mean, on the one hand, any youkai that die tend to go up in a puff of ash. On the other hand, I remember a lot of blood, and a lot of fighting.
Crack rating: 7/10 - hey, you know what's a great idea? Take a classic of Chinese literature (which, admittedly, is not light on the crack in its own right), and swap out the main characters for a bunch of hot dudes with angsty backstories! It avoids a higher grade by the skin of its teeth.
Actual opinion: I am absolutely not objective about this series - like, 'cosplayed Sanzo as part of a Saiyuki group cosplay, lo these many years ago' not objective. But that doesn't mean I love it the way I love, say, SPIRITED AWAY.
Here is the thing about SAIYUKI: it may or may not be crack, but it's definitely an id series. Not just in a 'populated by beautiful characters' sort of way, although that's true; nor in a 'covers up Internal Pain with jokes/a smile/a grumpy face,' which is true for three out of four of the main characters. It's in the angsty backstories so over-the-top and horrible that the character imprisoned under a mountain for hundreds of years has the least manpain, combined with the characters being all Very Dangerous - I have absolutely read this fanfic before, you know what I mean?
The thing I love about SAIYUKI is that it both appeals to that id factor, and also gives me some kind of resolution. By the end of the original series, none of the Big Questions are resolved - they aren't nearly to the West. But at least some of the hanging emotional questions are resolved, and we're allowed a little moment to remember that in most adaptations of the original Chinese novel, Son Goku is the real hero.
I'm not talking about the sequels or the prequels for two reasons. First and most obvious, I've only seen/read a little bit of them, and I have not gone back to refresh my memory - one of these might be forgiven, but not both. Secondly, my hazy memory is that they up the angst factor and lower the resolution factor, which does not tempt me to seek them out, I admit. Thirdly, I extra deeply and sincerely do not care about what's going on back at the Palace of the Big Bad (which becomes more and more prominent as the various series go on), and never did. Granted, the bad guys are working with a severe handicap - this is a series where I have my favorites (Sanzo and Goku), and I have my 'they're okay' (sorry, Hakkai and Goyjo), and everyone else is Not What I'm Here For.
One final twist: the sequels and prequels are available streaming. But this original series? Not so much. Supposedly it's on Prime, but when I went looking, it came up with an 'unavailable' tag. I'm trying to decide if my fond sense of nostalgia is enough to try the latest series or not, and coming up Future Hazy, Try Later. Report back if y'all do try them. Who knows, maybe they figured out an ending.
GENSOMADEN SAIYUKI - 2000-2001 (Japan), 2003-2009 (US), supposedly available streaming on Prime
Amount watched: Full series
Official description: (From Wikipedia) When chaos still reigned over the world, it was a country where humans and demons finally live in peace and harmony. However, somewhere in the west, someone is trying to resurrect an ancient evil demon and all the demons rediscover their warlike instincts by savagely attacking Men. This is where an unorthodox monk and gun enthusiast named Genjo Sanzo intervenes who, accompanied by three half-man, half-demon beings with powerful powers, is responsible for stemming the evil surge, they set off on a fabulous journey to solve this problem.
Weeb rating: 5/10 - you don't have to already know the story of the Journey To The West before watching the show, but I feel like it would help. That and not-so-minor things (Buddhism! Sutras! Youkai!) are kind of omnipresent, and while you can skim over them, it does mean you'll miss a whole series of assumptions that are baked into the world-building.
Ass rating: 3/10 - based on memory more than re-watching, alas, but I recall casual nudity (e.g. the depiction of Kanzeon Botatsu is as half-man, half-woman - we don't see the 'proof' of the half-man, but we definitely see the cleavage on display), and plenty of talk about sex even if we don't see it on screen (Goyjo alone takes this up a couple points).
Shit rating: 3/10. The first series wobbles a bit, but it's also got a clear and certain point to it - it has an ending that works in its resolution.
Violence rating: 7/10. I mean, on the one hand, any youkai that die tend to go up in a puff of ash. On the other hand, I remember a lot of blood, and a lot of fighting.
Crack rating: 7/10 - hey, you know what's a great idea? Take a classic of Chinese literature (which, admittedly, is not light on the crack in its own right), and swap out the main characters for a bunch of hot dudes with angsty backstories! It avoids a higher grade by the skin of its teeth.
Actual opinion: I am absolutely not objective about this series - like, 'cosplayed Sanzo as part of a Saiyuki group cosplay, lo these many years ago' not objective. But that doesn't mean I love it the way I love, say, SPIRITED AWAY.
Here is the thing about SAIYUKI: it may or may not be crack, but it's definitely an id series. Not just in a 'populated by beautiful characters' sort of way, although that's true; nor in a 'covers up Internal Pain with jokes/a smile/a grumpy face,' which is true for three out of four of the main characters. It's in the angsty backstories so over-the-top and horrible that the character imprisoned under a mountain for hundreds of years has the least manpain, combined with the characters being all Very Dangerous - I have absolutely read this fanfic before, you know what I mean?
The thing I love about SAIYUKI is that it both appeals to that id factor, and also gives me some kind of resolution. By the end of the original series, none of the Big Questions are resolved - they aren't nearly to the West. But at least some of the hanging emotional questions are resolved, and we're allowed a little moment to remember that in most adaptations of the original Chinese novel, Son Goku is the real hero.
I'm not talking about the sequels or the prequels for two reasons. First and most obvious, I've only seen/read a little bit of them, and I have not gone back to refresh my memory - one of these might be forgiven, but not both. Secondly, my hazy memory is that they up the angst factor and lower the resolution factor, which does not tempt me to seek them out, I admit. Thirdly, I extra deeply and sincerely do not care about what's going on back at the Palace of the Big Bad (which becomes more and more prominent as the various series go on), and never did. Granted, the bad guys are working with a severe handicap - this is a series where I have my favorites (Sanzo and Goku), and I have my 'they're okay' (sorry, Hakkai and Goyjo), and everyone else is Not What I'm Here For.
One final twist: the sequels and prequels are available streaming. But this original series? Not so much. Supposedly it's on Prime, but when I went looking, it came up with an 'unavailable' tag. I'm trying to decide if my fond sense of nostalgia is enough to try the latest series or not, and coming up Future Hazy, Try Later. Report back if y'all do try them. Who knows, maybe they figured out an ending.