The land of Shangri-La is in turmoil. A dark force spreads all over, turning
peaceful Demons into ravaneous beasts, unleashing their fury upon Humans. As the Demons begin gathering under the
banner of the Demon God Gyumao, the powers that be assign a unlikely team to
stop them. One is a bitter Priest with a
ton of attitude. His three Companions
are three Humanoid Demons with immense power and combat skills. Together, they venture to a distant land in
the West. The Mission: Save the World…if they don’t tear each other
apart first.
Dragon Ball may be one of, if not the, biggest name in
Anime.
But most tend to ignore or forget
the fact that it was inspired by a Chinese Novel called “Journey to the
West”.
A lot of Dragon Ball elements
stem from this classic from the character of Goku, to the Nimbus Cloud he rides
and the Power Pole he wields in the original series…plus the whole grand
adventure/quest.
While Dragon Ball tends
to be a straight forward adventure romp for all ages, there is another Journey
to the West inspired Anime…probably a few but we’re talking about the one here
today on First Impression Friday.
Enter
Saiyuki: The edgier cousin of Dragon Ball in the Journey to the West adaptation
family.
This show came out in 2000, worked on by Studio Pierrot
and Dentsu.
And since this is turn of
the century Anime, that means a lot of Digi Paint and that tends to be hit and
miss for me.
It’s a miss here with
Saiyuki because even though there was a lot of movement, I feel like we weren’t
seeing it.
The first episode has a lot
of still frames and characters standing so still you’d think you might’ve just
blinked and missed an action scene.
Well…you kind of did or at least the animation is so stiff that the act
of our heroes crippling or defeating foes in one blow feels not quite so
epic.
Not sure why but the character
models kind of bother me too.
Honestly,
part of it is the Dragon Ball fan in me who cant accept a Goku other than one
with spikey black hair and an orange Martial Arts suit.
But really, Sanzo is the character model that
bothers me the most.
I keep using this
word but “Stiff” is the word of the day when it comes to Saiyuki’s first
episode and Sanzo just staring blankly into the wind even during conversation
exemplifies this.
This is supposed to be
an edgy action series and yet the action has no fluidity or energy to it.
Again…stiff.
The main quartet are eh.
The main stand out about all of them is that theyre a pretty boy warrior
group a la Ronin Warriors.
It’s another
reason why I think the animation is a weak point with Saiyuki out the
gate.
Beautiful Bishonen Boys can only
get a show so far.
And while just the
act of them being on screen might attract the fan girls, they could get more
attention by doing something actually cool besides stand around and posture and
end a fight in one poorly animated swing followed by digital disintegration
effects.
Personality wise, like I said,
I don’t like Sanzo and clearly he doesn’t care about what I think, nor does he
want to be on his quest, so uptight.
Goku retains the immense appetite of his DBZ counterpart but whines a
considerable amount to the point of annoyance.
Gojyo and Hakkai offer a bit more of a coolness factor but don’t get a
chance to properly show off what they can do.
As far as first impressions go: basically all the guys do is just unite
and stand around and look tough but I’d hardly call them cool.
Also, It’s interesting that for a tale
seemingly set a long, long time ago, modern technology seems attainable, as is
the case with Hakkai’s pet dragon, Hakuryu, being able to turn into a jeep.
Just thought I’d point that out.
Saiyuki is far more than just one season and even if that
wasn’t a daunting task, I don’t think I’ll continue on past the first
episode.
Not a fan of the core cast and
Digi Paint seems to be the shows Achilles Heel.
The them song, “For Real”, is pretty kick ass.
But if I want my fix of Journey to the West,
I’ll stick with OG Dragon Ball…or Dragon Ball Z if I want something more
mindless and cool.
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