Review of Saiyuki Reload: Volume 6

Introduction

Do you remember Monkey? Loads of kung fu action, flying clouds, an infinitely extendable pole, fnar, and a Buddhist monk of indeterminate gender, all topped off with the most comical dub you will ever hear. In its native Japan it`s called Saiyuki, and is one of countless adaptations of the Journey To The West legend. The four heroes were on an endless journey, battling the forces of evil each week, only to have to start afresh at their next stop off point in the following episode. It`s nice, routine, formulaic storytelling that television used to love once upon a time, where continuity isn`t a problem, and episodes can be inserted into the schedules when convenient.

Saiyuki is no stranger to anime, and with this Saiyuki Reload series from MVM, we join the travellers 50 episodes and 1 movie into their journey. It doesn`t seem as if a lot has happened in that time, indeed the four travellers keep on heading west with no end in sight. There has been an update of course, with the characters and story moved to the present day. It appears that someone has been trying to resurrect the demon Gyumaoh, which causes no end of mischief in the demon world. Naturally, that impacts on the human world and of course someone has to do something to restore the balance. Step forward the priest, Genjyo Sanzo and his supernatural companions, Son Goku, Sha Gojyo and Cho Hakkai. Together they travel west to India (in a magic jeep named Hakuryu) to deal with the menace.

This is the penultimate volume, and following on from Volume 5, we`re meandering perilously close to an overarching story, continuing the `God` story started therein. Three episodes are here for your viewing pleasure, or as close as you can manage.

20. Prelude
21. Fight
22. The Broken

God certainly didn`t treat the Sanzo party well, and they are well shot of him, and eager to be on their way. Most of them that is, as Gojyo took the renegade priest`s actions personally, and has sworn vengeance. So it is without the skirt-chasing water demon that Goku, Hakkai and Sanzo continue westwards. They soon begin to feel his absence though and take it out on each other, and it`s with the pretence of killing the annoying Gojyo that they eventually turn back. But coming back to God`s mountain, they find that a mystical barrier protects it. Gojyo in the meantime is trying to confront the renegade priest, and finding that he has to confront his past first. But even if the friends can be reunited, they`ll find God a tough nut to crack, indeed they will be totally outclassed, and their mission to the West jeopardised.

A Saiyuki Extra comedy skit follows each episode.

Video

Saiyuki Reload is presented with a 4:3 regular transfer. There are a few compression artefacts, but it doesn`t really hurt the animation that much. It`s a simple, no frills anime, it really only comes alive for the action sequences, otherwise it`s comparatively static. The character designs are generic but effective, and the demons have those characteristic pointed, stick out ears common of the Japanese supernatural. More generic is the world design, the succession of villages all look identical, and there is nothing really striking or unique about any of it.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 2.0 English and Japanese, complemented by English subtitles and signs. Aside from the annoying theme tune, the dialogue is clear throughout. As usual the Japanese track was my choice, but what I sampled of the English dub was reasonable enough, if unspectacular.

Features

This disc contains the Commercial Collections (Hakkai Version), which are two minutes of the trailers used to promote the series in Japan, as well as trailers for Ergo Proxy and SpeedGrapher.

Conclusion

And the tedium continues. Saiyuki Reload is dull, uninspiring fare that on occasion piques my interest, but quickly degenerates into juvenile, routine anime that doesn`t have any spark to it. Stock characters and unimaginative situations do little to endear it to me, and this volume is yet another in a series that shows that even anime has series that succeed on name value alone. Why else would there be so many episodes of Saiyuki out there, in one form or another?

`God` is apparently the big villain in this series, this is despite a damned interesting storyline set up in volume 4, where Sanzo`s rival Kougaiji got duped into taking part in an ominous scientific experiment, an experiment whose results we are yet to see, even if they are hinted at in this volume. Instead we get a renegade Sanzo priest as the big bad evil of this series, a preternaturally powerful foe who made his presence felt in the previous volume, when he caused Goku and Hakkai to be `killed`. This of course led to Gojyo becoming determined to take revenge, which leads to the events of this volume. We begin with a series of flashbacks as the remaining Sanzo party take half an episode to realise that they miss the longhaired demon, and as is usual for such quests, getting back to face the villain is half the effort itself. Even when that challenge is surmounted, and the four friends are reunited, they have to confront God in his lair, and find that they are totally outclassed. We end the disc on a cliffhanger, with Sanzo beaten and tormented, and the scroll that they were supposed to protect in the hands of the bad guy.

The trouble with parachuting a villain in nine episodes from the end, is that in this case he gets scarce character development. He`s just a problem to be surmounted, rather than the emotional and personal challenge that facing Kougaiji and his friends would have been. Even if that storyline is to be resolved, there are only three episodes left to do it in, as well as complete the current God storyline, and it obviously won`t be satisfactorily done.

I also realised another problem with Saiyuki, that of re-watchability. Prior to watching volume 6, I had the occasion to watch the earlier discs again, and although the first few episodes of the series offered entertainment and added a little energy to the proceedings, the subsequent volumes settled for a comfortable routine of cookie-cutter storylines and minimal character development. I found myself dozing through them more often than not. Saiyuki is anime that settles for the lowest common denominator. It`s watchable, once, and that`s probably as enthusiastic as I can get about it.