Saiyuki RELOAD, the anime incarnation of Kazuya Minekura's manga of the same name, 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, as I had planned to do before the series started. But it's hard not to comment after watching...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 screencap gallery, Are We There Yet?--please don't abuse it, folks!)
Neat new start! The intro with Kanzeon has been replaced with a much shorter sequence: first a close-up of Sanzo loading his gun, then the credits for the original manga supered over a black screen as Sanzo asks, "Jumbi wa ii ka, yarou-domo?", and then the gun fires through the black screen to bring us to the start of the main opening titles. Classy!
Something huge, purple and strappy entangles the parents of a young girl named Shion. Shion can only watch and scream as something messy-sounding happens to them, and her mother's decorative hair comb is flung to the ground.
Elsewhere, our four are busy at a typical day's work of battling youkai. They're high atop a mountain, and this typical day goes terribly wrong when Goku is blindsided near a cliff. The force carries both him and his youkai opponent over the edge, and they plunge to the forested ground far, far below.
Goku manages to survive the fall--the pointy-eared body nearby was clearly not as lucky--and starts to look for a way back to the village where the Sanzo-ikkou has stopped. His friends reach the area where Goku appeared to have fallen, but their calls are unanswered, and it's hard to see in the fog-shrouded trees. There's something strange in the forest, and Sanzo thinks they should go back to the village to wait for Goku.
Hungry and tired, Goku finally spots what looks like the end of the forest, and hurries to the clearing...where he finds the body of the youkai he had fallen with. He's back at the starting point!
Goku's progress--or lack of it--has been watched by a girl wearing a pretty hair comb. She comes forward and introduces herself as Shion. She lives nearby, and starts to lead Goku to her house--but as they cross a bridge, her hair comb drops into the river below. She's upset to lose something so important, and Goku nimbly retrieves it for her (after stripping to his jeans).
Grateful Shion explains that her mother gave it to her. The thought gives her momentary pause. She suddenly turns to ask Goku something, but the oblivious monkey pre-empts her--"How much longer until we get to your house?" "Just a little further," she stammers, and they continue on, coming to what appears to be the mouth of a cave. Her home is on the other side of this tunnel, and they head through...as, behind them, the entrance shifts to become a wall of rock.
Meanwhile, the other three are waiting in a tavern in the village. It's strangely quiet without Goku around, and the tavern staff also notice his absence, since the group had eaten there that morning. The staff explain that countless people seem to have been spirited away in the area, and that this has gone on since olden times.
The tunnel has led to a peaceful green valley, and at her home there, Goku sits down with Shion and her parents to a tableful of food and drink. The food is the best Goku has tasted in a long time, but the strange thing is, Shion's parents don't seem to notice that he's there.
Shion distracts him by asking how he came to be there by himself; Goku explains that he was looking for his friends, who are probably mad at him. Shion guardedly tells him that in the village nearby, she had seen some people who were looking for their lost comrade. Shion and Goku are quickly back on the road, and Goku asks why Shion and her family live so far from the village. Shion explains her body is weak, so it's best that she live in a quiet place.
The village is soon in sight, and there's a festival going on! Goku is delighted, and even more so to find Sanzo, Hakkai and Gojyo there. He expects to get swatted with the harisen, but the blow never comes from the surprisingly mild Sanzo. Gojyo is astonishingly civil to him too, and Hakkai gives him a bag of meat-buns. Goku introduces Shion--but the three don't seem to hear him. They encourage him to enjoy himself, and stroll away.
Goku realizes that they aren't real--and with that realization, they disappear. So does the festival...leaving just Goku and Shion. Oops, and Donald McDonald too (he's Donald, not Ronald, in Japan...), coming up behind a small Japanese girl dreading her turn at jumprope, and placing his kindly hands on her shoulders. The kid is startled. Yikes, who wouldn't be?! But now she and Donald are jumping rope together. See? We can do all things through McDonald's which strengthen us...*shudder*
Whew, back to the relative safety of the episode--but it ain't safe long, as the sky suddenly becomes solid. A kind of Godzilla-faced youkai, with tree branch-like tentacles aplenty, rises from the ground to tower over Goku and Shion; they're literally in the belly of this beast! Goku fights back, trying to buy Shion time to run--but he winds up wrapped up tight, and she doesn't even try to escape. She knows she can't, and the chortling monster knows why too: Her parents are dead, but in here, they can still seem alive for her. If she were to leave, they would disappear. And why would she even want to leave? The youkai makes sure she's happy here.
Goku works his nyoibou loose and shatters the head of the monster, who doesn't seem to mind. The tentacles send Goku toward a convenient lake of lava, but the nyoibou proves its worth.
Goku is sorry that the happiness Shion has now will end when this youkai is destroyed, but life is full of things to live for, he tries to convince her. He rallies and briefly breaks loose, but is brought back down, hard. The gloating youkai monster lets Goku in on Shion's secret: (SPOILER! Highlight to read) She's actually dead, too. After her parents had been killed, she blundered off the cliff in her grief, falling to her death. So if Goku kills the youkai monster, Shion will disappear too!
But now, seeing how Goku had tried to fight for her and help her, Shion comes to terms with the fact that her parents are really dead. The monster moves to finish Goku...(ANOTHER SPOILER! Highlight to read) but Shion leaps and carries Goku out of the way, flying through the air. She points out where to strike to destroy the youkai. The monster begs them not to; Shion is happy here, isn't she? But Shion rejects that happiness as a lie, the enraged monster snatches her, and Goku drives the nyoibou home, triggering a huge explosion. Goku is knocked senseless in the blast...and as the tunnel passage reappears and her form fades away, Shion places her treasured hair comb in Goku's hand.
Goku wakes up outside in an anxious Hakkai's lap (th' hell?), with the other two looking on. Was it a dream? Goku isn't sure just what has happened. The others are confused to find the hair comb, but their questions stop when they see that Goku is crying. He doesn't know how or why he has the hair comb. He doesn't understand why he's crying. All he knows is this terrible sadness...
Next week: "Lovely Baby"! Oh my gosh, Hakuryuu looks just like in the manga story! So do the three kids! There are, uh, added youkai...and a shot of our four looking nasty-mad, especially Hakkai! The voiceover is poor distraught Hakkai, thinking about his comrades' bad habits that might have convinced Hakuryuu to leave, and begging the little dragon to come back...This is gonna be great!
UraSai: "Sanpatsu" ("Haircut"), written and storyboarded by Minekura-sensei herself! Hakkai is cutting Gojyo's hair. Goku comes in to watch. As Hakkai moves in a circle around Gojyo, snipping hair, Goku asks Hakkai for a haircut too. Hakkai agrees, moves away from in front of Gojyo--AND (ENORMOUS SPOILER! Highlight to read...but you're really better off seeing it cold and being surprised!) GOJYO HAS A BOWL HAIRCUT NOW!! *BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!*
-
Coming soon!
-
Talk about a fine fan-service start: The Sanzo-ikkou are intent and sweaty and nearly naked, gritting out some time in a sauna.
Speaking isn't easy in the heat, but Gojyo is getting grim pleasure from speculating how close Sanzo must be to having dispatched 1,000 youkai. Hakkai contributes the voice of experience: If a human defeats 1,000 youkai, he'll become a youkai himself. (Mention of an important part of that equation, blood, is oddly absent...) Sanzo is smouldering, Goku is getting woozy--and the monkey passes out, to the delight of some kids who start poking him.
Our guys have come to an indoor spa resort, and Goku wakes up in its sunroom with an ice bag on his head and Sanzo nearby. In handling the ice bag, Sanzo accidentally punctures it with his fingernails...which, Goku notices with widening eyes, have grown unusually long. Could Sanzo be turning into a youkai?
Elsewhere, Hakkai and Gojyo are in the spa's game room, squaring off at ping-pong. Fortunately, after just one of Hakkai's killer serves, Gojyo's self-proclaimed flame of ping-pong spirit is spared any further damage when Goku comes running up.
Goku's news about Sanzo's nails has them momentarily confused, until he reminds them about their sauna conversation; then the two become instantly deadpan. Oh, yes, the long nails could be a sign that Sanzo may be turning into a youkai, they agree. Are there any other signs, like his ears growing, or strange things happening to his body? Goku hurries away to see--and Hakkai and Gojyo break up laughing.
Back in the sunroom, Goku spots Sanzo from behind--and Sanzo's ears are now long and pointed! Goku is already scrambling back to tell the rest when Sanzo's tolerance runs out; he won't put up with the little brat kid shoving a pointy-eared Pikachu-like mask up onto his face anymore.
Meanwhile, Hakkai and Gojyo have made their way to the back row of the spa's movie theater, enjoying a horror movie--and almost have heart attacks as Goku comes bursting in immediately behind them! He drags them to the sunroom, but Sanzo is gone.
Goku is worried that Sanzo has already become a youkai, but his friends explain they had only been joking about it. They persuade Goku that he might have been seeing things, and Goku almost believes it--until he runs headlong into Sanzo in a hallway, and sees three chevron-shaped markings on Sanzo's arm! Away Goku sprints again, leaving Sanzo to discover that in the collision, his arm had touched a zig-zag pattern of wet paint on the hallway wall.
Goku's frantic searching finds Hakkai and Gojyo having a watergun battle in the spa's vast room of indoor onsen rotemburo baths. They squirt him away, and now Goku is on his own. He feels a little better as he realizes that Sanzo will probably be all right, thanks to the power of his kyoumon...but then suddenly, in the hallway, a beefy blond monster of a youkai (think Devilman and Dark Schneider's love child) shambles past, complete with the chevron markings and Sanzo's rarely seen but no less wicked smile!
The youkai leaps up through the ceiling, and tears through the floor near the feet of Hakkai, who was heading back to the room. Loose in the walls, the youkai tries next to attack Gojyo, seated under a '60s-style hair dryer, but it's Hakkai to the rescue. The youkai retreats back through the building's infrastructure, but they find he's left behind some blond hair.
Goku stresses that it must be Sanzo. Whether the youkai is Sanzo or not, though, Hakkai and Gojyo can't allow him to terrorize the spa.
Commercial break. Hey, the Buzzlip CD is "NOW ON SALE," but the Flow-War CD is "NON ON SALE." (Kinda like the time a friend walked into a Japanese bookshop, plucked a volume of the manga Be Free off a shelf, and said, "Hey, this book Be Free!") Halfway home, and this episode is a real winner so far--it's well-drawn, pretty funny in spots, lots of nearly-naked fun...and here's the rest!
The first half of the episode, our four were wearing either nothing, skimpy towels, or resort wear with the spa's demented panda-face logo on the back. Now everyone is back in their street clothes. Gojyo forces the youkai from the ceiling, and they chase him into the rotemburo area, where Hakkai does not allow him to hide long. Hey, that youkai's naked! (In the immortal words of Devilman: "I'm Devilman. I don't have to wear pants.")
Goku is still trying to convince the other two that the youkai is Sanzo. He calls "Sanzo" by name, and after a beat, the intermittently growling youkai turns to eye him and growls again. "See, that's him! He answered!" Goku insists. The others can't see that it's anything more than coincidence.
Double-teamed by Hakkai and Gojyo, the youkai is in trouble. Goku is distraught that Sanzo is going to get hurt, or worse--and when Hakkai is about to unleash a blast, Goku officially teams with the youkai, interfering with Hakkai (don't miss Hakkai's expression just before he mistakenly blows a hole in the spa wall!) and Gojyo to protect his poor transformed Sanzo. The monkey trips up Gojyo once too often, and those two square off--a showdown interrupted by Hakkai, running for his life like we've never seen before ("Hakkai!" yells Gojyo), with the snarling youkai in hot pursuit ("Sanzo!" yells Goku).
In the end, Goku slips up--literally--and Hakkai and Gojyo bring the youkai down at last. Goku comes over sobbing, and sinks down at the head of the ruined youkai to cry his heart out over Sanzo.
And in walks Sanzo.
The others explain the situation, and Goku is terribly embarrassed. "Oh, this youkai looks nothing like you! Not at all!" Goku stammers with a sheepish grin, whacking the trashed youkai on the head for brownie points. He turns back to Sanzo, but behind him the youkai, having been thumped back to consciousness, springs up for a final attack...(SPOILER! Highlight to read)...and Sanzo shoots the youkai dead.
But Sanzo is suddenly stricken. He clutches his head...and sprouts long, pointed ears! Sprouts claws and fangs, and roars in agony...because that was the 1,000th youkai, and now Sanzo has become a youkai himself!
Goku shouts himself awake--and gets smacked on the head by Sanzo's harisen. Why, he's just waking up from the sauna, and Sanzo is there with the ice bag! "It was just a dream," Goku sighs in relief. "I dreamed you became a youkai."
"Me, a youkai?" growls Sanzo.
"But it was just a dream."
(ANOTHER SPOILER! Highlight to read) "It wasn't a dream," snarls Sanzo--who has long youkai ears now! Goku promptly passes out again.
But guess what? It turns out (THE BIG FINISH SPOILER! Highlight to read) Goku is sound asleep, twitching fitfully, in the back of the jeep as the Sanzo-ikkou drive along. The others wonder what he could be dreaming about. Oh well, their destination is finally in sight: the spa resort, complete with the demented panda-face logo! The end!
*bwa-ha-ha-ha!* That was great--lots of funny character bits, well-drawn, and enjoyable to watch in, heh, other ways too...definitely my favorite RELOAD episode so far!
Next week: Lirin's back. Goku's not happy. And Lirin's talking to...young Duo Maxwell?! (How convenient--Toshihiko Seki is already on the payroll!) Will the li'l Duo doppelganger and the other kid that Lirin is talking to help her get Sanzo's kyoumon?
UraSai: "Ryoushuusho" ("Receipt"). The Sanzo-ikkou is checking out and need a receipt. In whose name should it be? "Sanzo-ikkou-sama," intones Sanzo. Goku pipes up--but he's just the "okosama" (kid). Chiaki Kon wrote it and directed. (Um, Mr. Endou? I take it all back--it's okay to be scary, pleeeeeze come back...!)
-
Clap your hands to your face and scream like a girl--some new footage in the opening titles! The character-by-character intro of the Sanzo-ikkou has a new sequence for Hakkai: He lifts up a wet Hakuryuu, who shakes himself dry as Hakkai laughs! It's so adorable!
The other new sequence is right after the shot of Sanzo facing away from you and shot of Kougaiji facing away from you--boom-boom-boom-boom, a new shot each of Gojyo, Hakkai (with Hakuryuu), Goku, and Sanzo, and then an overall picture of them that the individual shots were taken from (nice!), and then the clawed youkai hand comes down and tears through as before.
The episode opens during a too-hot, too-long drive across the desert, with Gojyo and Goku squabbling (who drew this sequence, Mrs. Michiguchi's 3rd-grade class?!). Just like last week, there's Hakuryuu trouble; the jeep conks out, and they'll need to walk. Again.
Like a mirage, a huge fortress appears in the distance...
They reach the fortress (and the land of somewhat better-quality animation, thank goodness), and find it's well-armed--a chasm opens at their feet and a rain of arrows comes from above! Hakkai protects them from the attack, which finally tapers off. Then a bridge comes across, the door opens...and the human defenders of the fortress, led by leader Souryuu--who knows of the Sanzo-ikkou--come out and apologize for the mistake.
Sanzo asks if they can stay awhile for Hakuryuu to recover, and Souryuu allows them in.
Goku thinks this walled city is mighty neat. Souryuu explains it's an historic oasis in the desert, where humans are kept safe from youkai--with the help of a hefty "perfect manual" of 780 rules, handed down through the years.
They observe youngsters training in self-defense-type maneuvers; nearby, a pony-tailed boy, Kensei, is playing a flute...in violation of Rule 687, Souryuu informs him sharply. It turns out Kensei is Souryuu's son, and has a much more major worry on his mind--his sick mother--than following the city's strict book of rules his father totes around.
Finally, it's chow time! The four sit down with Souryuu to eat. Goku pigs out, to Souryuu's disapproval and the horror of some watching women. The monkey's eating methods are against regulations...so he tries to comply by doing it a relatively restrained bite at a time.
Souryuu leaves the Sanzo-ikkou with a room. Goku is still hungry. Gojyo has a bottle of something alcoholic, though, which should help. Sanzo agrees and holds up his glass...but back comes rule-quoting Souryuu to relieve Gojyo of the bottle. Smoking is also prohibited, he informs Sanzo. The regulations are good for one's health, Hakkai notes. Still, those rules are making for a far from pleasant time. "Hurry and get better!" Goku begs Hakuryuu.
Commercial break. "Zero-Sum" commercial--the January issue will have a Loveless cover and a send-in giveaway for a big Saiyuki RELOAD tapestry. "Wild Rock" commercial. "ID" commercial. And so on...
The Sanzo-ikkou wakes up to the sounds of the kids' training continuing outside their window. Hakuryuu is feeling much better, and they plan to leave as soon as possible (Goku is even willing to forego eating breakfast--now that's a sacrifice!). But suddenly, with a great clashing of cymbals, the alarm goes up: Youkai are on their way toward the fortress.
Souryuu quickly shepherds our guys up an oil-derrick-looking tower's elevator to the top level of the fortress, to show off what has kept this fortress unbeatable through the years. Armed guards are ready for action--but suddenly one of them spots Kensei running through the desert, heading back to the fortress after an unauthorized outing. But the chasm has already been opened, the bridge has been retracted and the doors closed to keep the youkai out--what can be done for Kensei? It's not an easy choice, but the city has to come first, Kensei's hard-ass dad decides. Souryuu's choice startles the guards--but his decision is in keeping with Rule 350, so who can argue?
Goku can, natch! He throws the lever to send out the bridge and open the doors, and Kensei scrambles through...with a horde of youkai pouring through too. Goku leaps down to fight them, with Gojyo and Hakkai close behind.
A panicked Souryuu searches his big book of regulations to find out what to do in this situation--but Sanzo puts a bullet through its cover. "Do things your own way, not what a book tells you," Sanzo advises. It's a new thought for Souryuu--but he catches on quick, grabs a sword, and hurries down to join the townsfolk (Kensei included) in battling the youkai.
The humans win, and afterward, Souryuu confronts his son. Why had the boy gone outside the walls? Well, Kensei had overheard talk of a cure-all medicine in the desert, went to find it and brought some back, wanting to give it to his ailing mother.
Souryuu starts to check the book for the penalty...and then rips the book apart! Kensei is distraught--how can the fortress be protected, without the book to tell them how to do it? An old fart totters up and blah-blahs that Souryuu has already shown he has the strength to guide them in protecting the fortress, and has proven that now he's "truly the king." And there was much rejoicing...yay... The Sanzo-ikkou heads as inconspicuously as possible toward the exit, just wanting to get the hell out of this episode...but there's no escape just yet.
"Eat more!" Souryuu insists to Goku that night. "Drink more!" he insists to the rest. That Souryuu--what a wacky party animal! He then regales them with more than they ever wanted to know about soybeans. But at least he calls for an ashtray for Sanzo...and the party continues into the night.
End titles. Preview: Three chevron-shaped markings on Sanzo's arm! He sprouts ears! It's "Youkai Genjyo Sanzo!"
UraSai: "Zoku Harumaki" ("Spring Rolls, Continued"), written and storyboarded by Minekura-sensei and Tetsuya Endou. The animation is almost all reused from the first "Harumaki" (episode 3's UraSai installment), with slightly different dialogue. As the four eat in a restaurant, Goku and Gojyo enjoy some spring rolls--"Zenzen OK! Yabe!" they agree, slinging slang terms meaning the spring rolls taste great. As before, Sanzo is cranky about their choice of words. Hakkai, who last time explained that "yabe" (which usually means something is bad) is currently slang among young people to mean something is delicious, now explains that "zenzen" is currently slang among young people to heighten how bad or good something is. Sanzo tries a spring roll. "Zenzen," he comments--leaving his confused companions to wonder if he means it's really good or really bad.
-
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 #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 #18-20
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 October 23, 2003. Last updated September 9, 2004.
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.