The Chinese classic Journey to the West, which tells the story of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang and his companions Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing as they travel to India in pursuit of sutras, remains, after over four hundred years, an extremely popular and malleable tale, one very widely known all over Asia (and lately in the West as well, although regrettably only through Akira Toriyama's Dragonball, which borrowed numerous elements from it). The staying power of the story has a lot to do with the strength of the characters -- particularly the memorable Sun Wukong -- and with the whole open-ended "quest" aspect of the tale: there's a lot of room in there for original storytelling.





Unfortunately, the sheer popularity of the story sometimes works against it. The plot and the characters are very familiar to most Asians, and as such, when new iterations of the story are told cinematically (as happens practically all the time; see A Chinese Tall Story or The Monkey King), the producers rarely spend any time actually introducing the characters, because they assume (often rightly, I'll admit) that the audience already knows all about them. Saiyuuki, a new Japanese TV series (the title is simply Japanese for "Journey to the West") is a case in point: the show immediately jumps right into the action in this first episode, never even taking the time to establish the details of how the four main characters found each other (although this is eventually provided in flashbacks later on). For a Westerner unfamiliar with the characters, this can be disconcerting, and even a reason to give up on it.

Ultimately, though, the audience's patience is rewarded. Saiyuuki is a smartly-crafted series with spectacular production values that effectively manages to avoid the awkwardness that has traditionally hampered previous tellings. For example, the actor who plays Son Gokuu (the "Stone Monkey" who always tends to steal the show), one Shingo Katori, does not wear extensive monkey-makeup: in fact, beyond a pair of sideburns, he doesn't really wear any at all; instead, he relys on exuberance and monkey-like mannerisms to get the point of the character across. This is a definite step up from the bad Planet of the Apes-style makeup used in series such as the aforementioned Monkey King. Likewise, Cho Hakkai, the pig-character (played by Atsushi Itoh of Densha Otoko fame) wears only a pair of big floppy pig ears, and thereby saves the audience from the aesthetic unpleasantness of having to look at things like this. Combine these wise stylistic choices with great costumes, great art direction, and digital effects that actually look pretty good, and the series comes across as one of the cleanest, slickest versions of Journey to the West (albeit a distinctly Japanese version) that has ever been attempted.

And, despite the somewhat cursory introduction, the show eventually finds a good narrative pace and sticks to it. It also manages to hit an even tone early on, a good balance between comedy and action and drama (because of the popularity of the character of Son Gokuu, there is a tendency among those who have tried to film Journey to the West to let him absolutely steal the show, which usually ends up turning the whole thing into a screwball comedy, removing completely the underlying spiritual aspect of the story).





This particular episode picks things up a short time after Son Gokuu has joined the female monk Sanzou Houshi (Eri Fukatsu), the pig-dude Cho Hakkai, and the "kappa", or water-spirit Sa Gojou (Teruyoshi Uchimura) on their journey to Tenjiku. Son Gokuu is loud, rude, and uncouth, and the others are constantly annoyed by him, especially when the group stops for a welcome meal at the home of Sanzou Houshi's old teacher, in a burned-out town frequently menaced by the evil Gyumao, or Ox Demon Lord (Gokuu is always very eager to talk about farts, and acts like a three year-old in talking openly about having to relieve himself). Already on the outs with the group, Gokuu gets into more trouble when he hears Houshi's old teacher plot to betray her to the Ox Demon Guy, and no one believes him. Houshi forces him out of the team, and he spends much of the third act grumpily stewing over the injustice in a cave...but of course he comes back in the end to save his friends and do some fighting, after flashing back to the lesson Houshi taught him when they first met. We also meet Rin Rin, a cute female thief, and Roushi, the enlightened old dude who guides them.

The performances are generally good; Katori is a natural as Son Gokuu, and Eri Fukatsu, as Sanzou Houshi, plays well against him. Story-wise, this first episode isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's easy to see the potential -- the fact that the comedic stuff isn't overblown is a clue as to how intelligently things might progress thematically. All in all, Saiyuuki is a pretty entertaining show -- nothing amazing, but a lot of fun if you can get into it.

Thanks again to 8thsin, keroro, tianj, gryzze, and pokute for this one.

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