#god saiyuki what a FLASHBACK

[chaos0pikachu]

#i like it when dubs just have fun#the yyh dub in general? iconic#saiyuki? there's some serious spiritual shit going down. amazing#sk8? bitches bros and nonbinary hoes? showstopping#more dubs should have fun

speak that shit

The Pokemon English Dub is good and here is my evidence

[lattewithatwistoflemon]

Disclaimer: I mean no offense to anyone believing whatever they believe. This is simply an analysis of my own belief system and my personal interpretation of Saiyuki.

Saiyuki and Atheism

While watching episode 2 of Saiyuki Reload Zeroin, I was reminded of something that might actually be the main reason that Saiyuki really hooked me and stuck with me all these years. I was just too ashamed to admit it. So, when I first watched it as a 13 year old, initially I just thought I was doing it to be rebellious, because the characters did a bunch of stuff that I deemed “wrong” in real life, like smoking, drinking, and cursing. But even back then, I instantly noticed something that hit me in a personal way. Saiyuki made me realize I’m atheist. Or at least, heavily opposed to a lot of Christian concepts. Now, I’m not saying Saiyuki intended such a thing. It’s just that my young American self saw it this way. I never went to church growing up. Most of my knowledge of Christianity was passed down from my mom or from other religious people in my life. I was raised vaguely Christian, without any real understanding of it.

Anyway, one of the first episodes of Saiyuki that I watched was episode 9 of Reload, where the characters enter a town in which people live their lives following the directions in a book, which ended with the moral of the story being that you should live your life the way you choose, instead of following a set of instructions, because they aren’t always the right thing to do (like how that poor boy would’ve gotten stuck outside the castle, because the book said not to lower the drawbridge). So my personal interpretation of that was “Oh, this is like how people do whatever the Bible says, even though it was written so many years ago and the things that it says to do and not do are totally outrageous by today’s standards”. That’s what I thought as a 13 year old. And while I don’t think that’s actually what was intended, I can’t unsee it. Years later, while I now have more knowledge on Christianity and the Bible, I still agree with my viewpoint that living your life strictly based on how a book tells you to live is not a good idea.

Now, it could’ve just ended with that, but the entirety of Saiyuki is riddled with more blatant atheist views. Or more accurately, views that can be seen as atheist from a western perspective. Since then, I’ve realized that Saiyuki is actually a very religious story. It’s very much about Buddhist principles. Years later, I learned that “if you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha” is in fact not anti-buddhist, but actually a real Buddhist concept! However, there are scenes and themes that are undoubtedly about not believing in or following God. “Even if I don’t believe in God, I believe in myself”. Kouryuu said this in a flashback in volume two. In volume 4, Sanzo says: “The gods don’t save anyone. You have to save yourself.” There’s this overall theme that makes me feel like… it’s okay to not believe in God, as long as I believe in myself. Sometimes all you need to get by is faith in yourself. Not everyone has to have a god to look to for help.

Then of course, we have the whole Kami-sama arc, where the antagonist is a man who calls himself God. Hakkai says “let’s go pick a fight with God”. It’s not that this particularly resonated with me. I never wanted to fight the concept of God, but there was this feeling, as a teenager, where I was knowingly watching something that my mother deemed blasphemous. So maybe I was just being rebellious. Nonetheless, it still gives off this feeling of the protagonists opposing God, which adds to that atheistic theme.

And then we have scenes like the one in Reload/Zeroin, where villagers come to Hazel for help, and he says “I’m not a god,” which makes you think for a second that he won’t be able to help them. And then he says “God won’t do a thing. It’s not worth the worship,” saying that he’ll be much more help than God would be. Now, in that particular case, I think it’s just meant to show how cocky Hazel is. But we see this theme quite a few times over the course of the story. It emphasizes that people here on earth can actually make a difference for themselves. Whereas praying to God and expecting a higher power to solve your problems for you doesn’t always work out.

I know I’m taking some stuff out of context, and it’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly when these themes were brought up in the story without going back through and analyzing it as I read it. But in summary, my atheist interpretation of Saiyuki really stuck with me. And while I sometimes think I might not be completely atheist, I still agree with a lot of Saiyuki’s philosophy. It really emphasizes the theme of believing in yourself above all else and tells people that they CAN solve their own problems.

[ichika27]

Saiyuki Reload -Zeroin- 07

I usually don’t use these and just take random screenshots but it’s a nice image of Seiten Taisei and I didn’t wanna pass it up lol.

Besides, he’s shows up in this episode anyways.

Continuing from where the last episode left off, Goku had been attacked. When Sanzo finally snapped out of his shock he immediately crouched down close to Goku. He pulls out his gun and looks around for an enemy but there's no one. He notes he couldn't feel any human or demon presence.

He then suddenly remembered a time when he felt the same thing.

Sanzo remembered when he met Ukoku for the first time. Ukoku really does leave that weird feeling/impression on people, huh? Like, this guy is empty but not in a good way.

Gojyo and Hakkai finally arrive and saw what happened. Hakkai had to slap Sanzo to snap the latter out of it as Sanzo won't let go of Goku and Hakkai needed to try and heal him. Sanzo watched as Goku continued bleeding and something in him seem like it snapped cause he left saying he's going to kill whoever did this.

Hakkai then said the worst thing possible: that it's too late. He then tells Gojyo they still have a choice, a terribly risky one. Hakkai proposes they take off Goku's limiter so that the Seiten Taisei could heal his body. Doing that though means that they're at risk of having a rampaging Seiten Taisei around... in a town full of people.

Oh boy, they did it! He's alive (and is healing himself)! I can't say the same for any poor bystanders if Hakkai and Gojyo can't deal with him though. The two get themselves ready to fight Seiten Taisei and get the limiter back on him. And so a fight begins.

Hazel and Gato arrives in time before Seiten Taisei could hurt anyone. This also meant their suspicions about Goku were unfortunately proven true. The two now joins the battle against Seiten Taisei.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Seiten Taisei will just keep healing himself and the others are having trouble dealing with him. Sanzo is nowhere to be found as well. Hakkai decided to take off his own limiter and asks Gojyo to stop him if he himself goes on a rampage.

Hakkai in demon mode can actually attack Seiten Taisei but it's still not good enough. The Earth itself created Seiten Taisei and it will keep him alive. Hazel realizes that Goku is more than just a demon - he's more like a god.

We get a flashback from a time before Sanzo met Goku).

It's when Sanzo met Jikaku - the head priest of Keiun Temple - as he stayed there. Back then, Sanzo didn't wear his sutra like he does now and he was plagued with nightmares of his master's death and all of the things he did to survive on his journey. He couldn't think of himself as a priest back then with all of the kills he had to do but the head priest tells him that maybe the blood he smells on himself was his own.

A group of bandits later attacked looking for Sanzo but Jikaku tried to face them himself. Sanzo arrives just as Jikaku gets stabbed. With a few parting words, Jikaku dies and well, if you want to know how everything went, please watch Saiyuki Reload Burial. It’s an OVA prequel of Saiyuki with the characters’ backstories including this flashback but expanded.

The thought of the past - and all of his talks with the old priest - finally calmed Sanzo down from his anger. He realizes that Goku's limiter must've been taken off and runs.

Meanwhile he weather is going crazy and Seiten Taisei is beating the heck out of Hakkai. Hakkai uses that opportunity to wrap vines around Seiten Taisei and when he's finally able to pin the latter down, Hakkai beats Seien Taisei back. He seems to be losing it too at this point and is enjoying punching the hell out of Seiten Taisei.

Gojyo had to step in and stop him like he was asked to. Hakkai finally calms down when he realized what was happening.

Hakkai has a plan and asks Hazel and Gato for help. With their combined powers - Hazel strengthening Gato, Gato acting as a lightning rod, and Hakkai'z vines - they successfully electrocuted Seiten Taisei. Sanzo gets there just in time to see Gojyo put on back Goku's limiter.

The entire ordeal took a toll on Hakkai and he's now the one unconscious from his wounds. Gojyo performs chest compressions and brought Hakkai back from near death. Hakkai wakes up and asks if Goku's okay and Gojyo's just relieved no one died.

Gojyo carries the unconscious Goku and Hakkai away past Sanzo. It seems he’s mad that Sanzo had left them earlier when everything was going down.

--

This episode was fun. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Seiten Taisei after all.

There were no POV of Seiten Taisei this time around though so there’s that. I mean, back then there’s at least Goku remembering, even very vaguely, Konzen and the others before completely losing it. But then again, there was no time for him to slowly transition from Goku to Seiten Taisei with Goku being temporarily dead.

I was so worried when Hazel and Gato arrived but the result was actually an okay one? They collaborated with Hakkai and Gojyo when fighting against Seiten Taisei and never questioned that. Like, they talked with the two cooperated with no complaints. They seemed to be worried about Hakkai at the end there, too. Hazel even wordlessly tried to offer to revive Hakkai with the pendant but Gojyo stopped him and tried bringing him back the normal way. I guess this means they’d at least talk to the guys later about everything instead of just trying to kill Goku, right?

I want them to be friends now that I know they’re really not so bad. Besides, last episode it was explained that they’re not on Ukoku’s side. That guy is too shady even for them.

I wonder how long they’d be allowed to stay in town after the events of that night. The townspeople know Goku is somewhat like a dangerous demon after all. The group needs to talk to each other after everything as well, especially Sanzo. I wonder how they’d be able to figure out who attacked Goku? I’m really excited and curious right now but I’d be waiting for the next episodes.

The Saiyuki Burial flashback was surprising to see. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the OVA but I recognized the scene immediately lol. The OVAs can be found on anime sites even the ones I use now which is great cause I remember back when I tried watching it years ago, I had to search for it cause it wasn’t uploaded in a lot of places.

By far, I think the hardest Saiyuki OVA to find is the extra episode of Gaiden which features Heaven’s Western Army which was under the command of Kenren and Tenpou back then (they helped the group escape from heaven). It’s not in most sites and some I did find weren’t English subbed. The only English subbed one I found was translated by someone not that fluent in Japanese but I do appreciate their hard work on it as I’d never have watched it if it weren’t for them.

Anyways, I guess I gotta wait for next week :)

[alienatheart]

Reload Blast Ep 4 Reactionanalysis

Well, this was way easier, I was thinking about it already while trying to edit the other one :) Spoilers!

Summary: Up in Heaven, Jiroushin informs Kanzeon that Nataku is Missing! Down on earth, Hakkai narrates the history of Shangri-La’s creation from one scripture broken into five thus called the Founding Scriptures, remaining on earth in the care of the Sanzo Priests. Sanzo admits even he doesn’t know much about the scripture’s history beyond that legend, but after they finish defending themselves from another group of youkai bandits demanding the scripture, they conclude that the gods must be pretty irresponsible to leave such powerful artifacts lying around. Back in Heaven, Nataku hasn’t been found, prompting Kanzeon to reminisce about the time 500 years ago, before Nataku was comatose…it’s time for the Gaiden flashback! 

500 years ago, Traveler Egan found a golden-eyed animal, neither human nor youkai, born from the earth itself. Brought to Kanzeon for judgement because of his ominous golden eyes, he’s given to the care of Konzen Douji, bored nephew of the Bodhisattva. While hiding from Konzen, he meets Nataku, instantly makes friends, and then realizes he needs a name of his own. Konzen dubs him Goku, and soon they meet  Marshal Tenpou, who explains the meaning of the name. Turns out, Nataku is the War Prince, the only being in Heaven authorized to kill, and the Jade Emperor sends him to earth subdue Gyumaoh. Shortly thereafter, Goku goes looking for Nataku but meets General Kenren instead. Kenren heard about Goku from Tenpou but is surprised by Goku’s heavy chains and wonders if they’re really necessary. When they hear Nataku is back from his mission, they go to meet him, but he was badly wounded and collapses in Goku’s arms. 

Kenren reports to Tenpou that the soldiers accompanying Nataku were uninjured, as if they didn’t fight at all. He and Tenpou lament such treatment, and worry about Goku too. Nataku has a nightmare but is woken by Goku who came to cheer him up. When Konzen comes to retreive Goku later, they’re both fast asleep. Later at the Jade Emperor’s birthday celebration, Nataku listens uneasily to his father Li Touten’s ambitions, while below Goku gets picked on by some bullies in the crowd. When they insult Konzen, Goku gets physical, and Tenpou steps in to defuse the situation…only for Kenren to arrive and start an all-out brawl! Finally Konzen shows up looking for Goku and gets them mostly out of trouble and they leave, all together for the first time, but certainly not the last…

Something I love about Minekura’s storytelling is that everything has a purpose. Although she’s said she makes it up as she goes along, she manages to make everything look planned and ties it all together beautifully. For example, even the discussion of the Founding Scriptures at the beginning reminds us Sanzo didn’t get the full Scripture Bearer Training Experience™ no matter what Koumyou said about “no qualifications.” That’s about to become very relevant…as soon as the walk down memory lane is done!

I could call this Super-Condensed Gaiden since it skips several scenes, but it does form a streamlined narrative focused on Goku and Nataku, which should make sense in the greater context of the Reload Blast storyline.  I’d love to see more, but I understand time and budget constraints mean we can’t have absolutely everything. It was nice to get some extra exposition about Goku’s golden eyes and heretical nature, even if Heaven’s excuse for fearing him amounts to superstition. Nataku and Goku are adorable, Konzen, Kenren and Tenpou are handsome, Goujun was…conspicuously absent, but I assume he’ll show up next episode? He and Goku barely interacted, so I see why they left him out, but now he’s going to show up out of nowhere without context since his introduction got skipped. On the other hand, I’m sure they’re expecting most fans to have read/watched Gaiden already, and I have, and I’m loving being able to compare and contrast all the versions! Gaiden is actually one of my favorite parts of Saiyuki, even though it hurts me every time. I can’t wait for the next episode!