[TV series] Gensomaden Saiyuki

[hidden_golden_eyes]

Type: TV series
Episodes: 50
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy (some)
Year Released: 2000

"Based from one of the Greatest Classical Chinese Novel Journey to the West"

Plot synopsis: Long ago in the land of Togenkyo, humans and demons lived together peacefully. Until some demons try to revive Gyuumao (the king of all demons who was killed by the fighting god Nataku 500 years ago), this caused a weird, unidentified signal to scatter all over Togenkyo (that makes demons kill innocent humans). Four gods were summoned to go down to Earth to stop Gyuumao's resurrection and all the demons behind the operation. They took form of a Buddhist monk, a half-demon, and two demons, together they travel to the west.

Story (8/10): the storyline was made carefully specially when it comes to introducing new characters, although some episodes seemed 'lost'. It was like yesterday's episode shown the four moving on to another city while today's episode is showing the four of them 500 years ago, It's somehow confusing.

Characters (8/10): The characters weren't so original like the legendary Sanzo and his companion Goku. But I rated it 8/10 because they kept each and every character unique and have strong personality. They even provided their past and future. Also you can relate with them easily.

Animation (9/10): It's awesome! try to notice the in-betweens of the characters and you'll see. As the show goes on all characters remain like the model, it's not that easy to maintain the character's body form (i've been through animation and it's really hard!).

Audio (8/10): the japanese dub is very good, it goes with the character's physical appearance and has the right expression. To tell you the truth i didn't like the english dub, Goku and Gojyo's voice didn't fit on them, it's like they're lip singing their scripts. The music is great! the two opening songs and two ending songs have a connection with the anime's story. (The second ending song 'Alone' will surely makes you cry if you bare in mind the true meaning of the song)

Overall (7/10): very incomplete. they didn't even reach Gyuumao's territory. There's a sequel 'Saiyuki: Reload' and 'Saiyuki Reload Gunlock'.

[Gjallarhorn]

plot- 10/10- overall very good, although the large majority was based of the the old legend. It picks up quickly and although there are a few filler-ish episodes it is almost all based on the main plot line. The plot also changes greatly between the first ans second seasons, moving from kogaiji to homura.

story- 10/10- great and fast moving. its interesting how all of the characters have a past-life inwhich they are very similar to the way they are in the main story. i loved the flashbacks about all of the characters in heaven(that could make a good spin-off).

characters- 9/10- the characters were great for the anime, but they were changed from the original characters. each character had a distict personality that made them different from one another, yet they all fit together very well.

animation- 10/10- although much of it was done using computers, it was very well done. the characters movements were consistent and there was no distortions during the moving frames. it was interensting that whenever a character refered to something that had happened, their face moved to the side of the screen and a black-and-white flashback took over t he rest of the screen.

Audio- 9/10- the japanese dub was near perfect, as were the english, although the voice of Goku did not fit him. Hakkai's was very fitting, as was Sanzo's, but Gojyo's could have been better.

Overall- 10/10- very well put together with a great ending leading on to Saiyuki: Reloaded and Saiyuki:Gunlock.....the movie was seperate from most of the plot, and it was not that good.