Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK, the continuing anime incarnation of Kazuya Minekura's "Saiyuki RELOAD" manga, is now airing weekly in Japan. But TV Tokyo and its affiliate stations aren't the only place episodes can be seen, what with pirates making them available for download worldwide on the Internet scant hours after broadcast. With episodes so accessible so soon, there doesn't seem much point in writing about them in detail...but what the hell! So, here's some random yammering after--and sometimes even during--each week's broadcast! (Grateful thanks go to Lux for maintaining her tremendous Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK screencap gallery, Still Not There Yet--please don't abuse it, folks!)
Usual opening titles. First GUNLOCK volume coming out on DVD and VHS August 25, with the first two episodes...c'mon, guys, tell us how many episodes will be in volumes 2-7! As with the releases for all the past series (Requiem too...and the two-part OVA too, come to that), each volume will have new cover art by Minekura, so that's something to look forward to!
From last episode's closing moments, Hazel propositions Sanzo: Won't Sanzo leave his youkai companions and team up with Hazel? Together, the two could certainly get rid of all the youkai. Sanzo agrees that they could--but he has absolutely no intention of going with Hazel, and no intention of getting killed by anyone, either.
Sanzo having left him in the courtyard, Hazel is joined by Gato, and observes that his bodyguard must have heard the conversation.
Morning brings a breakfast squabble between Gojyo and Goku; the monkey is irate because Gojyo must have taken his two missing buns, but Gojyo argues they're gone because Goku already ate them himself. Hakkai tries to smooth things by offering Goku his own share--which works until Gojyo chides Hakkai for taking the easy way out, giving Goku food whenever he complains because it's easier than telling the monkey to pipe down.
That ignites a new round of noise, and sullen Sanzo has had enough. He leaves the dining area, as worried Hakkai watches and Goku and Gojyo fall silent. With the fight having fizzled out, Gojyo offers Goku the disputed food....but Goku doesn't want it anymore.
Back in his room, Hazel asks unlikely guest Lirin if she'd like to play a fun game with him and Sanzo today: helping him snatch Sanzo's kyoumon! Lirin's eager to help and is quickly out the door, but as Hazel moves to follow, Gato has reservations--is Hazel really going to do this? This isn't the first time Gato has voiced concern, but Hazel wants it to be the last, snapping that he won't forgive any meddling.
The Sanzo-ikkou hits the road, able to travel by jeep on this stretch. Hazel is nowhere around, Goku observes, and Gojyo jokingly urges Hakkai to floor it. Goku wonders if Lirin will be all right, but Gojyo is confident that she's sleeping after having stuffed herself--which reminds Goku that he's hungry again...
Elsewhere, strolling the countryside with Gato in their wake, Hazel and Lirin are playing guessing games ("Droopy eyes." "Droopy eyes...? Sanzo!") when they're suddenly found by a pair of youkai guards who'd been searching for Lirin and are stunned to see who she's with. When Hazel offers to show Lirin the power of his pretty pendant that she'd liked so well, Lirin starts to clue in that something isn't right. The guards try to urge her away from Hazel and Gato, warning what they'd done to Kougaiji, Dokugakuji and Yaone, and Hazel quickly realizes the family connection between Lirin and Kougaiji. He pooh-poohs Lirin's anger that he had kept his intentions from her--what's to hide? He's hated youkai from the start!--and after Lirin bolts to the guards' side (with a near-miss punch aimed at Hazel enroute), Hazel orders Gato forward.
The guards are no match for Gato's guns--and as promised, Hazel shows Lirin his pendant in action, harvesting their souls (wow, who knew two youkai would have 37 souls each?). Horrified, Lirin comes running, trying to make him stop...but Gato drops her in her tracks with a powerful whack across the back of the neck. The game, Hazel observes coolly, is beginning.
Soon after, Hazel approaches an old man, who assumes Hazel has lost his way. Gato suddenly looms, and an agonized scream later, the old man lies in a heap on the ground. They haven't lost their way at all, Hazel points out; what they've done is deviate from the path.
As the Sanzo-ikkou drives along, Hakkai is startled to spot a body, hanging high from a rope tied to its wrists in a tree ahead. It's Lirin! From behind the tree, Hazel and Gato step into view--and Hazel chuckles.
Commercial break. Oig, the Naruto movie song is sooo screechy... PlayStation 2 FullMetal Alchemist "Dream Carnival" game. New commercial for the PS2 Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK game--"Ore wa ore dake no mikata dakara," Sanzo tells Hazel ("Because I side only with myself"); betcha that scoops a major moment from the upcoming manga and anime...!
The Sanzo-ikkou piles out of the jeep below Lirin. Goku's calls don't wake her. Hakkai asks what happens, but Hazel's attention is solely on Sanzo. He explains that although Sanzo trusts youkai, Lirin has done the unthinkable...and they turn to see her handiwork: the old man and pair of youkai guards lying dead. Lirin has even killed her own kind, Hazel points out; could she be a fugitive? Of course, no one can know for sure, but from the evidence here...
Gojyo and Hakkai are shocked to near-silence--but Goku isn't buying it, and lets Hazel know, loudly. Hazel simply smiles that he'll need more convincing, and asks, "Who else could have done such a horrible thing?" Goku thinks for a moment, then hurries forward with an idea...but is halted by the barrel of Gato's gun staring him in the eye. Hazel drily inquires what he's doing; Goku explains that Lirin's not dead yet, so they can wake her up and ask her if it's true or not.
"And let her recover her strength...?" Hazel asks, with an air of suspicion. His tone turns mocking as he adds, eyeing the monkey bristling at gunpoint, "There's no telling what a youkai will do."
Hazel then prompts Gato--a momentarily unheeding Gato--to put the other pistol to use. Keeping the first gun trained on Goku, Gato at last swings the second to take dead aim on Lirin. Hazel announces her execution...if that's all right with Sanzo, of course.
Why is Hazel asking him, Sanzo growls. If Lirin had really gone on a rampage and killed that person, then it would be all right to shoot her--so why has Hazel held off just to ask him?
Hazel explains that's because he wanted to have Sanzo make the decision. Sanzo has experience with both humans and youkai in his travels, so Hazel looks to Sanzo for guidance in this matter. Youkai exist to be the enemy of mankind (hey, there's that shot from the preview for episode 17 that never turned up in that episode...!). He and Sanzo had discussed youkai the night before. If any of Sanzo's comrades ever attacked a human, Sanzo would deal with them--that's what Sanzo had said, hadn't he? It would be absurd that the just and fair Sanzo would keep company with human-killing youkai. After all, youkai killed a person dear to him! So, what will Sanzo decide about this youkai who has killed a human?
Gato cocks his Lirin-pointed pistol in anticipation.
With Hazel pressing him for his answer and Goku shouting in protest, Sanzo delivers his verdict: a single shot from his own gun that knocks the hat from Hazel's head enroute to slicing through the rope suspending Lirin. Goku rushes to catch her. "Is your way of doing things to make children look like pilloried criminals?" Sanzo nearly sneers to Hazel.
With Goku carrying Lirin, the Sanzo-ikkou turns to leave--but Hazel halts them by commenting that youkai are important to Sanzo after all; he's even bringing along this human-killing youkai. For someone who doesn't like youkai, Sanzo certainly has a lot of them with him. Why does he lie about it? Even though he says he hates youkai, look at all his youkai friends...
What friends? Sanzo shoots back that he doesn't have friends, just parasites.
Goku can't keep from blurting out a reply. He's sorry that they're just parasites. No, they aren't humans; they're just youkai accompanying him. And yes, Goku is just a youkai...but is that really all there is to it?
Sanzo has no answer, and Hazel laughs softly. Goku is stung by Sanzo's silence, but adds that he believes in Lirin, and that if Sanzo didn't trust youkai, he would have let Hazel kill her. "Do as you please," Sanzo snorts--and Goku takes him up on it, turning and tromping off with Lirin!
Gojyo tries to get Sanzo to stop the monkey, but Sanzo points out that he doesn't recall having invited any of them to come along in the first place. Gojyo blows up, and is soon headed the way Goku went.
Why is Sanzo saying things like this? Hakkai tries to get Sanzo to explain--but if Hakkai has a complaint about it, grits Sanzo, he'd better go join the other two. Hakkai tries again, but Sanzo cuts him off with a short "Shut up!"--and Hakkai regretfully takes his leave.
Sanzo turns and walks on, passing Hazel and Gato without a glance. With a smile, Hazel muses on the falling-out they've witnessed, and then he and Gato pick up the pace behind Sanzo.
The setting sun finds the shellshocked Sanzo-ikkou-minus-Sanzo driving onward in the jeep, Lirin sacked out in the back with a devastated Goku, as Sanzo walks doggedly on, Gato and smirking Hazel in his wake.
Again with the Naruto movie commercial...the good news is we don't see theme song "Home Sweet Home" singer Yuki, who was featured on a music show the other night with her big greasy pink lips...*shudder*
Next time: Gato reveals some details of his and Hazel's past. It's "Yomigaerishi Otoko ~desperado~" ("Reanimated Man ~desperado~").
Usual opening titles. Geneon is again a co-sponsor--think they've been doing all the odd-numbered episodes since #15 (or was it since #13? Gonna have to go back and check...).
From last week: Doku's down. Yaone goes after Gato, but Hazel lands a grand slam of a kick on her. Gato stands before Kougaiji's Engokuki, with Hazel putting the pendant into heavy service. When the smoke clears, Gato is pretty roasted but still alive. Hazel and Gato take their leave of the Sanzo-ikkou.
At a restaurant, Goku's shovelling a meal down as quick as he can. Gojyo is irritated that Goku isn't taking the time to enjoy the taste. For what must be the third episode in a row, Hakkai feeds a tidbit to Hakuryuu, who's perched on his shoulder. Suddenly, two new customers stroll in: Hazel and Gato.
When his request to join them at the table goes unanswered, Hazel takes silence as assent and Gato gets him a chair. As Hazel takes a seat, though, Goku, Hakkai and Gojyo pointedly get up and move to the next table. Hazel doesn't mind; that means he can help himself to a seat right across from Sanzo.
Elsewhere in the restaurant, a little boy falls down. Towering Gato kneels to help him up, but the terrified kid runs crying to his mother nearby.
Watching, Hazel notes with a laugh that the most important person to a child is their mother. He quietly adds that he never knew his own parents; he had been a foundling.
That prompts a memory from fellow foundling Sanzo's own boyhood, with him standing at roadside in a town and quietly chanting, holding a bowl for people to put coins in. It's raining, and Kouryuu watches a father and son pass, the boy enjoying a ride on his daddy's shoulders. Then the sun breaks through the rainclouds--and Koumyou arrives, calling to him.
He's brought abruptly back to the present as a plate smashes--attacking youkai are swarming in, Sanzo in their sights!
Goku, Hakkai and Gojyo leap to Sanzo's defense, and Sanzo and his gun join them in thinning the ranks of attackers. Then Hazel sends Gato in, and Gato's blazing pair of pistols take out most of what's left. A remaining youkai takes aim on the boy and his mother--but one shot from Gato and the danger is over. Gato reholsters his guns with a fancy spin, but the Sanzo-ikkou are not impressed.
There are still youkai present, Hazel smirks, and the implied threat brings angry responses from Goku and Gojyo. Even Hakkai flatly warns that if attacked, they'll take down Hazel and Gato. "Do you think you can?" goads Hazel. Goku invites him to bring it on. But Sanzo puts a quick stop to the confrontation, and gets his comrades out the door and back on their journey.
The four travel onward on foot along a forest path--with Hazel and Gato following them from a visible distance. Hakkai wonders how far they intend to come along. Sanzo prefers to ignore them.
Suddenly, Lirin bounces down in front of the Sanzo-ikkou! There's something she wanted to ask...but she's cut off by Goku, trying worriedly to get her to leave. Before he can explain why, Hazel has arrived! Checking out his strange attire, Lirin asks if he's a new member of the Sanzo-ikkou--and Hazel rewards her cleverness at figuring it out by giving her a huge melon-pan apparently produced from his hat. (So that's what it's for...!) Sanzo watches with concern, and the rest are baffled--even Gato.
Holed up for the night in an inn, Hazel and Gato are sharing their room...with Lirin! As they play cards together, conversation has turned to Sanzo's kyoumon. Hazel asks Lirin if she's after it. Lirin explains she's doing it for her brother, and Hazel praises her.
Lirin wins the hand, but then has to hurry away for some business with the toilet. While she's away, Gato asks Hazel what he intends to do with the youkai girl. Hazel wants the power of the kyoumon, and getting it from Sanzo will take persistence, so she may be useful. Lirin returns, and asks Hazel about that pretty pendant she couldn't help noticing before. He shows her the precious thing.
Meanwhile, Hakkai, Hakuryuu, Gojyo and Goku are crammed into one room for the night, having to share while Sanzo gets a room of his own. Goku is frustrated, and Gojyo suggests they go get ice candy. The three are soon passing impatient time all crammed onto the same couch in the lobby, Goku slurping ice candy while Hakuryuu eats Hakkai's.
They ponder what Hazel could want with Lirin. Gojyo's suggestion that Hazel is into Lolicon gives them a brief laugh, considering how dangerous that would be for Hazel! A possibility suddenly strikes Goku: "You don't suppose...he hasn't noticed she's a youkai...?!" (Gojyo almost falls off the sofa.)
New commercial for the "Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK" game for PlayStation 2 that came out today...and right at the end of it, there's Hazel...!
Lirin is sacked out on the bed, snoring deeply--and promptly rolls off, still snoozing. Gato walks over, lifts her back into bed, covers her with a blanket--and off she rolls again.
With a room to himself, sleeping Sanzo dreams of Koumyou calling to him, and then sitting by Koumyou's remains, splashed with blood, and then the temple burning and a wave of youkai rising...He wakes up with a start, and goes outside for a smoke. The bench he's sitting on isn't far from the window of the room where Goku, Hakkai and Gojyo are spending a restless night.
A nightgowned Hazel walks out to join him, as Sanzo's comrades listen moodily. Sanzo starts to walk away, but Hazel (who'd have guessed he was hiding such a shapely hourglass figure under his usual clothes? ;^) ) stops him in his tracks with the simple statement, "My master was killed by monsters."
Hazel speaks of his master, who saw a monster at the door of the church, lurking in the shadows. He tried to encourage it to come forward, as young Hazel watched. Then the churchbell tolled, Hazel was running and yelling, "Master!", there is an explosion and fire, and his master is on the ground. Hazel cries over him. Soon after, looking up into the flames, he swears he'll never forgive the killer.
Hazel explains to Sanzo that his master was killed by a monster. He couldn't resurrect humans then; that power came later, from his hatred of the monsters. Now he uses that power to make a place for only humans, and to get revenge for his beloved master's death. He thinks Sanzo is the same--after all, wasn't a person dear to Sanzo killed by youkai?
Sanzo whirls on him--who told Hazel that? With a gentle laugh, Hazel says he can understand Sanzo; Sanzo hates youkai, and understandably so. And Sanzo wants to save humans, doesn't he? Inside, the three listen, and Goku clutches a corner of the bedsheet. Sanzo walks away, and in the lull, Hakkai closes the window--with Hazel smiling at the window's sound, knowing the conversation has been overheard.
At Houtou Castle, Nii is getting way too much enjoyment from a game of chess with Wanroushi (his plugged-in old youkai guy assistant). Dokugakuji and Yaone are in hospital-type beds and hooked up to life support-type things, and a bandaged Kougaiji watches over them grimly.
As Gato observes from snoring Lirin's room, Hazel has one more thing to ask Sanzo (Sanzo came back? Guess so!): Wasn't he alone from the time he was young? Hazel knows it must be so when Sanzo doesn't answer, and presses his point of how alike the two of them are. Won't Sanzo leave his youkai companions and team up with Hazel? Together, the two could certainly get rid of all the youkai.
Sanzo agrees that they could--but he has absolutely no intention of going with Hazel, and no intention of getting killed by anyone, either. He walks away, leaving Hazel seething in his wake.
Next: Lirin winds up in the thick of Hazel's plans. Will Sanzo have to choose between humans and youkai? It's "Kiretsu ~misunderstanding~" ("Fissure ~misunderstanding~").
Engokuki. En-go-ku-ki. Engokuki. Am gonna need to remember that name tonight, if last week's preview for this episode was accurate...(y'never can tell. The last shot in the preview for last week's episode never appeared in the episode!)
Usual opening titles. From last episode: Dokugaku slices into Gato's shoulder...and Gato shoots him.
Down goes Dokugaku. The rest are stunned. Goku goes running at Gato, leaps, and Gato aims...Goku lands next to Dokugaku and crouches down, Gato keeping the gun trained on him. Goku hauls Doku up over his shoulder...and rather than shoot, Gato chooses to reload his other gun. Goku leaps back away, carrying Dokugaku to relative safety, and Yaone runs to meet them.
Kougaiji pointedly reminds Goku that it's his group's battle, not Goku's. Meanwhile, with a smile, Hazel heals the huge slash through Gato's shoulder (wow, those youkai souls are versatile--Hazel can even repair clothing with 'em...! ;^) ), and comments on what he sees as Goku's display of youkai kinship with Kougaiji.
Goku wants to help, but Kougaiji insists that it's no relation to them, and they'd just be in the way. Yaone thanks Goku for his help, and the monkey returns to the rest of the Sanzo-ikkou, observing from a distance. (Gojyo is taking all this awfully well...)
Kougaiji summons the (oh boy!) Engokuki, and it comes hurtling toward Gato and Hazel. Gato moves to protect Hazel, but the Engokuki is so huge, they both finally have to try to leap out of its path. It pursues them as the Sanzo-ikkou watches...but suddenly the jeep is in the Engokuki's path, too! Pushed in part by the blast, the jeep hurtles into the side of a building, and Gojyo and Goku are showered with rubble.
Now Gato approaches Kougaiji--it's showdown time! Firing away as Kou works on summoning the Engokuki, Gato makes things difficult for the youkai prince by keeping him on the run. He finally traps Kougaiji behind a rock. Yaone watches from Dokugaku's side, and the Sanzo-ikkou are also worried.
Suddenly, the rock explodes in a blast of fire, and Kougaiji leaps out to knock Gato back. Yaone comes soaring in too, throwing her explosives...but Hazel intercepts her, sending her sprawling with a vicious kick! Gato scores, too--Kougaiji takes a bullet in the chest!
Commercial break.
Kou's been shot on the right side, and he falls. Meanwhile, at Houtou Castle, Lirin wakes up after her long nap. The guards outside her door hear a crash. They come in to check, and are tricked by Lirin, who dashes out to find what she's been missing.
Yaone rushes at Hazel--and Gato shoots at her. She flings her last explosives at him; he's burned, but still stands. Hazel raises the pendant to heal him. Kougaiji lies motionless in the sand. So does Dokugaku. But Yaone is still crawling, and glares up at the gloating Hazel--who assures her she'll soon share the same fate as the rest. The Bishop calls to Gato, who seems lost in thought.
Without answering, Gato goes at last to Yaone, slowly draws, and aims down at her head...and as he's pulling the trigger, Goku knocks him back with the nyoibou! Just behind Goku is Gojyo--and here's Hakkai and Sanzo too, moving between Yaone and her attackers! Taking sides after all? No, Sanzo grits to Hazel--youkai or human alike, if a woman is being harmed, they won't allow it to go on. (Especially Gojyo, Sanzo adds, over the kappa's protests.)
Far to the side, Kougaiji has managed to find his feet. Yaone warns the Sanzo-ikkou to run--because with all that Kougaiji has left, here comes the Engokuki!
No time to get out of its way, Gato faces it and insists that Hazel take shelter behind him. Hazel brings out the pendant...and when the blast has passed, Gato sits, scorched but miraculously still alive, and Hazel rises unharmed.
Kougaiji swears that he'll give his life to defeat them. Gato is unsteady but game to go on--but Hazel opts to call it a day; the pendant's store of souls has been spent, so more will be needed. As he and Gato start to leave, Kougaiji yells at them to wait--but suddenly, looming before him is Dokugakuji, begging him to stop! (Fortunately, Loran, my pet desert kangaroo rat, had called upon all his kin to dig a tunnel under the sand and pull Dokugaku through it on a 600-rat sled. [C'mon, how else could Dokugaku have gotten all the way over to Kougaiji without being seen? ;^) ]) Wiped out from his effort, Dokugaku collapses. Kou gathers him up as Hazel, with a tip of his hat, takes his leave of the Sanzo-ikkou.
Kougaiji and Yaone head for their fire-dragons, Dokugakuji in tow, and Goku runs after to see if they're all right. Kougaiji warns him not to interfere.
The Sanzo-ikkou hits the road again, as Goku wonders if Kou and company will be okay.
Next time: Lirin gets her chance with Hazel and Gato...and we'll learn why Hazel hates youkai. It's "Tsuioku ~deprivation~."
Off to bed now...(and off to bed happy, because Dokugaku's still kickin'!).
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD Episodes #1-4
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD Episodes #5-8
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD Episodes #9-12
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD Episodes #13-16
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD Episodes #17-19
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD Episodes #20-22
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD Episodes #23-25
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK Episodes #1-4
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK Episodes #5-10
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK Episodes #11-13
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK Episodes #14-17
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK Episodes #21-23
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK Episodes #24-present
GO TO RELOAD RICOCHET: "Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK Episode #1" April Fool's Edition!
BACK TO JOURNEY TO THE REST: A Roadside Revelry in Saiyuki and Its Doujinshi.
This page was created July 29, 2004. Last updated February 13, 2005.
The Nama-Yammer, Yammer, and Yammer-hammering inbetween are copyrighted features of JOURNEY TO THE REST. This page's text and source code are copyright Kagenami Q. DO NOT USE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION. Saiyuki, Saiyuki Gaiden and Saiyuki RELOAD are copyright Kazuya Minekura/Issaisha; Gensomaden Saiyuki is copyright Kazuya Minekura/Issaisha, Saiyuki Project and TV Tokyo 2000; the Saiyuki RELOAD anime is copyright Kazuya Minekura/Issaisha, TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Pierrot 2003; Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK is copyright Kazuya Minekura/Issaisha, TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Pierrot 2004. All images are copyright their respective artists and creators. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.