12/19/2005: This has been such an awful month. Crisis after crisis at work, and friend after friend having terrible luck (it got me too on Saturday, making for one of the most mortifying experiences I've ever had in Japan, and killing my camera too! *sob*), and a week of weather so damn cold, it was 5C/41F in my apartment when I got back from work tonight! Poor Loran...moved him to his little winter tank on top of the kotatsu, but it's too dangerous to leave the kotatsu and kerosene heater on while I'm away, and things are so wild at work, haven't been able to get back here much before midnight! The bright spot is that my partner flies in on Thursday so we can spend Christmas and New Year's together, and Saturday is the last day of work for the year...but boy, I need a shovel to muck out this place before Thursday! Gotta finish GUNSTOCK by then too, man oh mannn...Well, so far tonight have put up a new Trivia Fact, updated the release list ("Saiyuki RELOAD" tankoubon Vol. 6 comes out January 25)...and check out the December Honorable Mention winner in the Zakuro Art Contest of DOOOOOOM (congratulations to Lizalou42!).
12/11/2005: Back online after one ugly week, working 12- to 15-hour days...hey, kids, never work in retail selling toys by mail-order in December! So far today, have added this week's Trivia Fact to the front page, three fukusei cels (Gojyo, Goku and Kougaiji) to the Fukusei Cel Gallery, and nine various Reload and Gunlock douga listings to Douga Party.
12/06/2005: Missed yesterday to guest on a different Banri'cast--only so many hours in the day, *sigh*--but now Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK continues! Also updated the release lists.
12/04/2005: Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK continues! New Zakuro Mind-Control Method of the Month is up. (This had originally been planned to just run this year, and entrants had to send in 15 ideas 'cause I planned to do something with the last three in a special separate contest during December...but with GUNSTOCK going now too, am just not going to have time to do it up right. So the Zakuro Mind-Control Method of the Month will continue through the first three months of 2006 too, and then the overall Gang Of Five will be determined in March.)
12/03/2005: Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK continues--and contest entrants and casual readers alike should be sure to see the Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK Listeners' Guide!
12/02/2005: Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK continues!
12/01/2005: It's baaaaack...the Summer of Saiyuki Love shines on in the bootleg Banri'cast of Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK! The December Birthdays list is up now, too.
11/30/2005: Slew of additions yesterday and today: super-quickie news item, the November Honorable Mention winner in the Zakuro Art Contest of DOOOOOOM (congratulations to TKY!), new trivia fact (also added what should have been last week's trivia fact to the Trivia page, since I missed putting it up last week), four fukusei cels (Sanzo, Kenren, and two Gojyo) to the Fukusei Cel Gallery, a dozen various Reload and Gunlock douga listings to Douga Party, and three people to the front-page Birthdays list (thanks to Summer Queen for the heads-up on Ryoutarou Okiayu!)...oh yeah, and very special birthday wishes to Youkai Sanzo! Also updated the release lists and Journey To The Rest Area. Tomorrow, Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK returns!
11/22/2005: This just isn't my month. Took a whopper of a fall at work last week. The heels of my hands still look like beef jerky, but am able to use both arms again now (had whacked one elbow so bad, couldn't lift or carry anything with that arm for a few days). Since most of my job is typing, hadn't been up for any more of it after work last week, but rested all weekend and feel a lot less achey now. Tonight I added three doujinshi (updated circles are noted in the Doujinshi section); that brings the total to 897, so think next time will see number 900!
11/13/2005: Been down with the Cold From Hell, but it's finally starting to ease up (knock wood!). New today are this week's trivia fact, three doujinshi (updated circles are noted in the Doujinshi section) with one of them also going on a new Ukoku/Kouryuu page in the Couplings section), two new fukusei cels (Kanan and Goku) to the Fukusei Cel Gallery, and 11 various Reload and Gunlock douga listings to Douga Party.
11/08/2005: Quick new news item tonight.
11/07/2005: Last week was a rugged one. Didn't get much done other than work, so planned to catch up on the weekend--but then got a short-notice chance to see all five Uchuu Senkan Yamato movies at Tokyo's gorgeous Virgin Toho Cinemas, so spent the weekend there for its pair of all-night screenings. Back now, and scrambling to catch up! Tonight I added Zakuro's new Mind-Control Method of the Month (congratulations [?] to Miyuri!) and Gang Of Five. Oh yeah, and realized that the report on last year's "Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK Talk Show" was missing from the front page's list of miscellaneous-type features, so added it.
10/31/2005: Added a new front-page blurbie called "This Month's Saiyuki Birthdays." Added three Saiyuki doujinshi (updated circles are noted in the Doujinshi section), with one of them also going on the Ukoku/Koumyou page in the Couplings section. Trivia fact and new news item to come.
10/24/2005: Quick 'n dirty new news item; new trivia fact; four new fukusei cels (including Jien and li'l Gojyo, awwww~!) to the Fukusei Cel Gallery; 17 various Reload and Gunlock douga listings to Douga Party. Gearing up for the restart of Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK! Meanwhile, wanna see the snickersome settei for Apron Sanzo? Take the poll that just started at Journey To The Rest Area!
10/16/2005: Wild but true, "Journey To The REST" is now four years old! It wouldn't have made it this long without the kind encouragement that some of you have taken the time to send--thanks so much for reading, and for your support! Thanks too for your patience during the site's down time this past couple of weeks. I wasn't able to finish everything that I'd hoped to--it's been solid 11- and 12-hour days at work, and things likely won't let up until after Christmas--but after I finish contacting the various contest winners and getting their prizes out, Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK will resume. In the meantime, check out Zakuro's new Mind-Control Method of the Month (congratulations [?] to Thorn!) and Gang Of Five, and the October Honorable Mention winner in the Zakuro Art Contest of DOOOOOOM (congratulations to Letainajup!). Have also added three Saiyuki and one Wild Adapter doujinshi (updated circles are noted in the Doujinshi section). A new news item will be up soon, too!
9/25/2005: Added this week's trivia fact, and four new fukusei cels (the Sanzo and Hakkai each came out yesterday through Commit) to the Fukusei Cel Gallery, and 15 Reload and Gunlock douga (all listings; no scans yet) to Douga Party. Congratulations to nightcat82, the September Honorable Mention winner in the Zakuro Art Contest (sorry, had goofed the link earlier--it's fixed now)! And now the bad news: I'm way, wayyyyy behind--behind on the site, and on contacting various contest winners and getting their prizes out, and on a slew of important Real Life things. Last month I was idiot enough to make my workdays longer, suggesting that we change the system so that I manually do a chore that had previously been automated. I thought it would make our customer service even better...but hadn't realized how much work it would be. The shortest day since then has been 10 hours, and there've been a couple 14-hour monsters, trying to catch up after weekends and national holidays. I'm whupped, guys. Whupped, and pretty overwhelmed with everything I'm behind on, and pretty damn discouraged too after an Italian website hotlinked to all the scans on Radio Free Banri, crippling my other site (where the scans were stored) for a good chunk of this month. Very much time for a break; a little less stress will be a big help in concentrating on catching up on things. GUNSTOCK entrants, am really sorry for the further delay! The end result will be worthwhile, and I've added a few more goodies as prizes (including Saiyuki Offroad!). Thanks so much for your patience, folks...will be back on October 15.
9/18/2005: Whoa, had forgotten to put anything about last Sunday's update here...and not sure I can even remember all of today's now! Uhhh...new trivia fact, new page of lyrics and sheet music for "FOR REAL", added three brand-new fukusei cels (including a Sanzo that sold out its edition of 5 in less than 5 minutes, and the first-ever Dokugakuji, woo-hoo!) to the Fukusei Cel Gallery, and updated Douga Party with about a dozen scattered Reload and Gunlock douga (mostly listings, but did add one scan: winged monster Hazel from Gunlock #26, yeah boy!), and got a Jeep x Sanzo doujinshi yesterday so was able to add another rare pairing to the Couplings page (plan to add a Jeep x Sanzo page soon)... GUNSTOCK needed some reorganization, but it's ready to go on with now; tomorrow is a national holiday and that's how I plan to spend it! Still need to do a new news item, too...hoping tomorrow will be a productive day.
9/04/2005: First weekend home in way too long--and have spent most of it asleep! New Trivia Fact today, and updated the release lists and Douga Party). The Zakuro contest winners for September will be posted next Sunday. The bootleg BANRI'cast of Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK will continue!
8/25/2005: The bootleg BANRI'cast of Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK is underway! So too is a monster typhoon that's grinding across Japan now; the worst will hit here in a couple hours. Hope to have the first day's GUNSTOCK coverage up before the storm gets here...!
8/24/2005: Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK is happening now! (Um, does anyone have an extra ticket so I can see it too...?)
8/23/2005: Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK starts tomorrow, but you can catch its PROLOGUE today! Oops, gotta put up a new trivia fact...and arrgh, thought I'd done the new news item, but nope! Will get on that too...
8/18/2005: Back! Been making scattered updates since 8/16: Zakuro's new Mind-Control Method of the Month (congratulations [?] to Thorn!) and Gang Of Five, the August Honorable Mention winner in the Zakuro Art Contest of DOOOOOOM (congratulations to Kai!), three new fukusei cels (including a Hazel!) to the Fukusei Cel Gallery, 11 douga from Reload episodes 22-25 (listings only, no scans yet) to Douga Party, two Saiyuki and one Wild Adapter doujinshi (updated circles are noted in the Doujinshi section)...oh yeah, and a front-page banner link to Radio Free BANRI, in trade for some assistance with the upcoming Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK concert... A new news item on the Summer WARD and Summer Comiket is next!
8/10/2005: Things have been so wild, those first-Sunday-of-the-month features are unfortunately not going to get up until the 16th--very sorry about that! And hey, today is the deadline to enter the Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK contest--as long as it's still August 10 somewhere in the world, I'll accept your entry, so don't miss out! Entrants, please take a peek at today's Journey To The Rest Area entry on what was apparently a brief Gmail service outage today; in short, if you haven't received my e-mailed acknowledgement of getting your GUNSTOCK entry, please go ahead and send it again before deadline to make sure! Have to head out tomorrow night to get to Tokyo for the gruelling Comiket three-day weekend--and after that, no more craziness for a good while, whew! See you next week!
8/02/2005: Heh-heh, fell asleep before posting the new news item...it's up now! Just need to upload the Kougaiji scan and then that's complete.
Will be offline the rest of the week, trying to learn the darn songs before this weekend's big karaoke shindig, and then heading to Tokyo on Saturday to try to do it! After that, JTTR's regular first-Sunday-of-the-month features will go up on Monday, August 8. See you then!
8/01/2005: *Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!* That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger, and I have survived spending the weekend in a B2-floor nightclub with 300 other fans, trying to sing 1,000 anime songs from 5pm Saturday until 5pm Sunday (with a few mental health breaks, including mini-concerts by guests MIQ, Takayuki Miyauchi and MoJo) to set a new record! We "only" reached 884 before time ran out (Gensomaden Saiyuki's "Still Time" was #658), but 884 is a new record anyway, and the event organizers plan to try again next year. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had as an anime fan, and I wear the resulting butt-bruises (who'da known sitting so long on a wooden bench would do that?!) with pride! ;^) Was just too exhausted after getting back last night to do the update, but feel better today, and am putting the update together now. First up, a new trivia fact!
7/29/2005: Very sorry, folks--not enough hours in this day, and time has run out. Just have time enough to put up the SAIYUKI RELOAD GUNSTOCK contest logo (thanks so much to Avalon Jones!) before scramming to Tokyo for a mondo weekend event. Big update when I get back Sunday evening!
7/28/2005: Saiyuubito and the September ZERO SUM are here! Big news item to come tomorrow...until then, some fun awaits at Journey To The Rest Area!
7/26/2005: Ohhh, man, folks, am so sorry...took a bath close to midnight last night to think out the last few details of the contest before putting it up--but got engrossed in the new Harry Potter book while soaking, and when I got out, was shocked to find it was almost 4:30 a.m.! Sorry to have kept you waiting!! Here at last are the details on how to win Saiyuubito or the Summer 2005 WARD in the SAIYUKI RELOAD GUNSTOCK contest!
7/25/2005: New news item. Being put up now are details of the "Win 'Saiyuubito'" contest!
7/24/2005: Today's Trivia Fact brings Zakuro Month to its big finish! Also today, added 18 RELOAD and GUNLOCK douga (listings only; not scanned yet) to DOUGA PARTY.
7/20/2005: Zakuro Month continues with this week's new Trivia Fact. Quick news update on the upcoming Summer Comiket. Also updated Journey To The Rest Area today.
7/18/2005: 'Nother update to Journey To The Rest Area today!
7/13/2005: Update today to Journey To The Rest Area!
7/10/2005: The next five weeks are going to be cram-packed for me, between cramming to improve my Japanese and prepare for a karaoke contest, three anime song concerts and three days of Comiket, and helping a friend pack a hefty houseful to move. Also need to scan and upload the covers of all the doujinshi since this spring's Haru Comic City, and overhaul the library to be able to put those books away, 'cause the shelves have reached critical mass! Had thought about not making any more updates here until mid-August to take some pressure off, but would rather avoid that if possible, so am aiming to make one update each week until the summer craziness finally finishes up with the Summer Comiket. Updates today: New news item. New trivia fact. Updated the release lists. Added a doujinshi each to the circle sections for KATOUZA, RYOUGETSU DX VS A TO Z SP and SUPER BABY'S/TENKAICHI BENNY'S. Added a couple dozen RELOAD and GUNLOCK douga (listings only; not scanned yet) to DOUGA PARTY.
7/03/2005: Zakuro's Mind-Control Method of the Month is up now--congratulations (?) to SychoGrl and Zakuro's Gang Of Five this month! The Zakuro Art Contest of DOOOOOOM's July Honorable Mention winner is up now, too--congratulations to Mango!
6/28/2005: August ZERO-SUM came out today. Put a quick preview up at Journey To The Rest Area, and updated the release lists here.
6/26/2005: A big Gojyo/Hakkai fan event, and RELOAD/GUNLOCK douga random sale (hige-Gojyo vs. Kami-sama, yeahhh baby!!), and Comic City In Tokyo doujinshi event...and now for some reason I'm whupped. Aaaaando broke. Aaaaando mighty glad the new ZERO-SUM doesn't come out 'til Tuesday, so I've still got a shot at completing the news item on the July issue before it's time to do the August issue...! ;^) New trivia fact up today. Off to bed...
6/20/2005: Yowza, what all has there been over the past weekend? New trivia fact, and added some characters to the SAIYUKI CHARACTER ROLL CALL, and some fukusei cels to DOUGA PARTY: FUKUSEI CELS, and some RELOAD and GUNLOCK douga to DOUGA PARTY, and a doujinshi each to the circle sections for NOUZENKAZURA, SPINEL and TEAM CHIRARISM/SHOKOCAPRICCIO... plus, there's the first half of a new news item! (Ran out of time tonight; the rest to come!)
6/07/2005: Zakuro's Mind-Control Method of the Month is up now--congratulations (?) to Thorn and Zakuro's Gang Of Five this month! And you won't want to miss the Zakuro Art Contest of DOOOOOOM's July Honorable Mention winner, too--congratulations to Grey Dove! (I goofed on the link earlier; it's fixed now.) Having trouble getting clean scans with the new scanner; it's good for scanning from one piece of paper, but put anything in there that's big enough to keep the cover from closing (a two-inch-thick Zero-Sum issue, f'rinstance!), and the result comes out gray and dirty-looking. Try to brighten it in Photoshop, and the drawing detail gets lost. Crap, crap, crap...Gonna stop fighting with it for tonight and try again later. Thanks for your patience!
6/05/2005: Was a rugged rest-of-the-week after getting back from Nagoya--lot of catching up to do at work, and my biteikotsu hates me hugely--so aimed to catch up on the site over the weekend...but then, heh, spent most of the weekend asleep. Sorry about that! The new trivia fact, a one-line "news item" and some new upcoming releases and release dates--and oh yeah, this new update page too--are up now. Off to work on the images to go with the rest of the stuff to come!
GO TO JOURNEY TO THE REST Updates: January 2006 To Present.
GO TO JOURNEY TO THE REST Updates: January-May 2005.
GO TO JOURNEY TO THE REST UPDATES July To December 2004.
GO TO JOURNEY TO THE REST Updates: January-June 2004.
BACK TO JOURNEY TO THE REST: A Roadside Revelry in Saiyuki and Its Doujinshi.
This page was created June 5, 2005. Last updated July 17, 2006.
This page's text and source code are copyright Kagenami Q. Opening art is by the ever-awesome Tracy Ellen. DO NOT REPRODUCE. 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.
8/29/2005: The bootleg BANRI'cast of Saiyuki Reload GUNSTOCK continues--with something you're gonna want to see! ;^)
Later 8/25/2005: About a third of GUNSTOCK Day One is up now, but the weather has gotten scary-ugly, so I'm going to quit for the night and try to find where I put the flashlight, just in case...! More tomorrow, I hope.