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!)
Jumbi wa ii ka, yarou-domo?! Take a deep seat and lean on your heels--one last time, heeere we go!
From last episode, Kami-sama explains how his teacher gave him everything. Except the kyoumon, points out Sanzo. Kami-sama screams at him to shut up.
The toys are attacking--and even more dramatically this time. Just as his teacher had said, all lives are Kami-sama's toys--and Kami-sama punctuates that thought with a crunching kick into Goku's gut. Then he notices that off to the side, Sanzo, struggling under a heap of killer toys, is muttering...getting the words out a little more strongly now...and is chanting! "Makai tenjou!"
The kyoumon leaps to life, sailing skyward and through the shrieking, disintegrating toys...and back to Sanzo's upraised hand.
"Give it back!" demands Kami-sama. He starts to wield the dorgi, but Gojyo is suddenly there, grabbing his wrist. Kami-sama's string of beads spears into Gojyo's chest, but Gojyo manages to haul Kami-sama into the air and then hurl him to the ground before having to fall himself.
Behind him is Goku! Shaken Kami-sama tries to hold him off with a flurry of shooting beads. But although the beads embed themselves into the charging Goku (hard to watch without flinching...), he won't stop, and nails Kami-sama with his nyoibou! Kami-sama is sent into a wall, and down goes Goku.
"I'll kill you all!" snarls Kami-sama. Hakkai is before him, inviting him to do it, and is about to deliver a chi blast...but then stops and spreads his arms wide. Something shakes Hakkai, and then blood spurts onto the ground between them.
"Why did you stop your attack?" Kami-sama wonders. "Because it was already over," says Hakkai, with a weak smile. Kami-sama looks down to discover that bloody spots are welling up through his robes! Hakkai falls--and behind him is Sanzo, gun smoking.
Red beads clatter to the floor, blood drops spatter down beside them, and Sanzo reloads as Kami-sama falls. Kami-sama can't believe it--how could Sanzo have shot his own comrade?
Muichimotsu, explains Sanzo.
Kami-sama doesn't understand. As the other three members of the Sanzo-ikkou get back up (Goku and Gojyo, anyway; Gojyo is half-carrying Hakkai), Kami-sama insists that Sanzo has so many things--can't Sanzo just give him that one? Sanzo turns him down. "Stingy," pouts Kami-sama.
The ground begins to rumble, shaking the castle, and pieces of the building start to fall. Lying on the floor almost serenely, Kami-sama realizes the end is coming.
Commercial break...
ZERO-SUM commercial for the May issue going on sale Saturday. Center color of "Saiyuki RELOAD" coming up (slick tattooed Gojyo shown), and wow, a Sanzo cover! Although his fashion statement of wearing a fanny pouch on top of his head is a little...uh...Oh, wait, that might be a gas mask shoved up there. (Too many burritos for Goku?)
Kami-sama remembers when he first met his teacher. He had tugged on Ukoku's robes, calling him "God" ("Kami-sama") and begging him to take him along. (In the manga, he begs Ukoku to buy him...) A village man laughs that the priest won't do that, but Ukoku looks down at the youngster at his knee and asks, "Say, do you think there's a god?"
Back in the present, the Sanzo-ikkou wonders if this is an earthquake--but from the floor, Kami-sama explains that everything is going to be destroyed and disappear, because the game is over. His teacher promised him that the game would go on until Kami-sama was beaten; it's a game his teacher was playing.
He recommends they escape before the castle is flattened. Gojyo tries to bring him along, but Kami-sama shoves him away. He's touched by Gojyo's kindness, but he wants to just wait there. With time getting short and chunks of ceiling coming down, the Sanzo-ikkou has to leave.
Getting out won't be easy. They run through the building as best they can, but Hakkai has to stop in pain, and various obstacles slow them down too.
Kami-sama lies sprawled within the grand, stained-glass-windowed chamber that was his former "toybox." There are footsteps, a shadow falls over him--and Kami-sama's teacher has returned. It's Nii.
Kami-sama apologies for losing. Bemused and a bit preoccupied, Nii replies that it's too bad. Kami-sama asks if he's going to die; Nii checks his watch and says he will in about a half-hour.
From the floor, Kami-sama earnestly tells his teacher what he has learned at last: that the things Nii gave him were all things Nii didn't want anymore, and that he was a toy of Nii's... Standing above, Nii only then notices his pupil speaking; with the noise of the place coming down, he tells Kami-sama, he didn't hear him.
The castle is crashing down in huge pieces now, and the Sanzo-ikkou still hasn't made it out. Some quick gunshots from Sanzo save Gojyo and Hakkai from being flattened by a plummeting piece of ceiling, but things are getting desperate.
As Nii observes, detached, Kami-sama tells him he doesn't want to die. He asks his teacher, "Is there a god?"
"There probably isn't, is there?" Nii muses, taking a drag on his cigarette as the stained-glass windows explode.
"I'm glad..." murmurs Kami-sama. The ceiling falls, burying him.
The Sanzo-ikkou run like hell. Hakuryuu bursts out through a window after them. They reach daylight just in time; with a big blast, the castle comes down.
There's eerie silence after the castle has fallen. The four sack out on the ground with the rubble all around them.
Goku wonders whether Sanzo really shot through Hakkai. Sanzo replies that no, he aimed just beside him. Hakkai adds that he was grazed by a couple of the shots.
Now Goku wonders what Kami-sama really was. Sanzo has no interest in knowing. Hakkai thinks it's fine to just think of him as "Kami-sama."
Goku starts to announce he's hungry--but the others beat him to his trademark line. The indignant monkey chases after them as they head back down the long, steep stairway.
Amid the rubble, Nii lifts Kami-sama's crown and plunks it onto his own head. "You left me something quite interesting, Koumyou," he says. "Now, what will we play at next?"
At the foot of the stairs, Sanzo is in the driver's seat of the jeep; the others look like death warmed over, so he thought he'd drive. The others get in, with some reservations. Hakkai asks if Sanzo needs a map, but Sanzo shrugs that there's just one way to go forward. He's not sure exactly where the accelerator is, though--and they go zooming, and screaming, off into the sunset!
As Kanzeon and Jiroushin observe their progress, the four are shown one by one in close-up, names supered: Genjyo Sanzo, Son Goku, Sa Gojyo, Cho Hakkai. They head for the horizon, and a "Saiyuki RELOAD" card comes up, shot through by a bullet. End of episode.
End titles. Nothing different there...
New TV series promo: "Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK"! It starts on Thursday, April 1, at 1:30am. The footage shown is all from last October's first episode of Saiyuki RELOAD (come on, guys...), but it's backed by a song that sure beats "Wild Rock"!
The pre-show promo is Gojyo's--finally got it on tape, *whew!*! Hard to believe that there's only one more week of "Wild Rock" and this opening title... Oooh, there's a new commercial for the RELOAD Playstation game! The game went on sale today. (Crap, the "o" key on my keyboard doesn't want to work!)
Recap from last week: The mah-jongg game gets the Sanzo-ikkou back in gear. To refuse to lose is only half the battle, though; Hakkai muses this may need teamwork like never before. Kami-sama's cheerful doppelganger greets them on the stairway to his castle--"You've come back? Didn't you understand what I told you?" Sanzo is there to take back what's his.
The Sanzo-ikkou reaches the door of Kami-sama's castle, and kicks it open. For a minute, it seems to be deserted. But no, a perky voice comes from beyond another set of closed doors, letting them know that smoking and guns aren't allowed inside ("If it's no smoking and no guns, Sanzo's out," smirks Gojyo).
Sanzo knocks open these doors--and there the voice's owner, a two-headed toy, who welcomes them to Kami-sama's castle as if it were an amusement park. They're the castle's 48th group of visitors, and there's no time limit on its attractions. The talky toy reminds them that smoking and guns aren't allowed--and neither are children or pets, to the annoyance of Goku and Hakuryuu. If the rules aren't followed, something bad could happen...like the stone pillars that suddenly plunge down at them from the ceiling! They barely avoid being crushed, and scramble away through a door Sanzo has spotted.
Through the doorway is a staircase leading up, and Sanzo snorts that idiots and smoke like high places. There are 13 floors, each with a different trap or maze or gimmick (whoaaaaa, watch out for those enormous Lego blocks of doom, and those giant toppling dominos...!) and they charge through each of them. (Well, Goku gets distracted by the bouncy inflatable floor on the 10th level, but they are eventually able to move on...)
They finally reach the 13th floor. Towering doors swing wide before them...and there's the two-headed toy again, congratulating them for reaching the top! It was able to get there so quickly because it rode the elevator (a fact the Sanzo-ikkou doesn't take very graciously). It presents Hakkai with their gift for having reached the top. Goku is sick of the silliness and demands to know where Kami-sama is. He's on the first floor, the toy explains--and a hole abruptly opens beneath them, sending them plummeting!
Goku's nyoibou can't even slow their fall, and they slam down hard...onto a vast pile of toys! At the far end of the room, Kami-sama is laughing, delighted that visitors have found their way to his toybox.
Commercial break...
Sanzo observes to himself that the giggling Kami-sama seems almost simpleminded; he just wants to play with them again. But they make clear to Kami-sama that this isn't playtime; they keep the pressure on, attacking one after another from directions he doesn't expect, and Kami-sama is rattled. Out comes the dorgi, and his beads bullet at them with vicious speed--but the Sanzo-ikkou won't stop, and Goku even comes close to landing a blow.
Exploding with rage, Kami-sama shoots the beads in an even more terrible attack. This time, our four fall...but to Kami-sama's frustration, they slowly, determinedly, find their feet again. Sanzo grits out that Kami-sama is just playing a game, but they're there to gamble--with their lives at stake.
Kami-sama attacks again and again. More battered and bloody each time, the Sanzo-ikkou keeps rising.
Crazed Kami-sama finally shouts at them to give up, blurting out an adage from his teacher: "Girls won't like you if you're persistent!" Sanzo muses that his teacher must have been Ukoku. Kami-sama is stunned that Sanzo would know his teacher's name...but Sanzo has finally remembered their encounter some 10 years ago.
Back then, doll in hand, Kami-sama had been looking for a playmate. He grabbed Kouryuu by the hand, but Kouryuu yanked himself loose, sending the doll to the ground as Kami-sama's teacher came up. "Girls won't like you if you're persistent!" Kami-sama's bespectacled teacher had chided his charge. The familiar-looking, dark-haired man is a Sanzo, and had mistaken Kouryuu's gender. "Are you a boy? You have such a pretty face, I thought you were a girl...sorry..." That man, Kouryuu later learned from Koumyou, was 23-year-old Ukoku Sanzo Houshi--a heretic Sanzo without a chakra, and at that time the youngest-ever person to become a Sanzo.
Sanzo's comrades are startled to hear that Kami-sama's teacher was a real Sanzo. Kami-sama brags that his teacher is a great man who can do anything, knows everything, and created this castle. His teacher has passed down all the duties of being a Sanzo to him, and so he's a real Sanzo now, too.
He's just someone with a stolen kyoumon, argues Sanzo. Kami-sama's teacher gave him the robes, the teachings, the castle...but not the kyoumon! Kami-sama screams at him to shut up.
Suddenly, the toys in the pile come to life! They start climbing the legs of the Sanzo-ikkou as Kami-sama explains that these aren't just toys--they're his toy soldiers, animated by the human souls that had been gathered with the bottle gourd! The toys pull down Sanzo and are working on the others too as Kami-sama laughs, joyful that his teacher left him all this. Just as his teacher said, all lives are Kami-sama's toys...
Ending credits...yep, Ukoku's voice actor also does Nii...
Next week: It's the world's shortest promo! Lots of eye close-ups, and the final showdown with Kami-sama, too; it's "Ketchaku: Nothing To Give." (This week there's something to give, and that's why the preview is so short: There's a write-in giveaway for 10 people to get a set of the "Fukisusabu Kaze No Naka De" CD and Playstation 2 RELOAD game.)
UraSai: "Saishuukai" ("Final Episode"). Sanzo's reading a newspaper at a table, Goku and Gojyo are sprawled on the floor watching TV, but Hakkai, folding clothes in the foreground, realizes that this is the final UraSai! "It's a little sad, isn't it?" Hakkai says, and they remember some past silliness: Gojyo's bowl haircut, Goku asleep with open eyes drawn on, Goku taking the earcuffs off of sleeping Hakkai, Sanzo's holiday reindeer suit. "...Maybe it's not so sad," shrugs Hakkai, going back to folding. (Written and storyboarded by Minekura-sensei.)
UraSai: "Okigae" ("Changing Clothes"). Our four have some free time, and Gojyo tells Goku to think of an interesting way for them to fill it. Goku suggests that they all change clothes for the day. Long-suffering Sanzo puts on Gojyo's outfit. Gojyo gets into Goku's clothes. Wearing Sanzo's robes, Hakkai calls to Goku to see if he's dressed yet...and out bounces super-genki Goku in a bunny-eared, magical girl-type dress, complete with wand and all the trimmings! He's met by gunshots from Sanzo (uh, don't ask how the robes returned), who demands, "Who are you supposed to be dressed as?" "It's just a little service..." quavers Goku. "For who?" asks deadly deadpan Sanzo. (Ohhh, I laughed and laughed...!)
Complete yammer coming soon!
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 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.