Ranked #2904

Patalliro Saiyuki!

A beautifully androgynous young master, in search of the holy scriptures of Buddha and to deliver a gift to the emperor, has various adventures through the dangers of the countyside on his journey. Along the way, he is provided a disciple as a bodyguard, Son Goku, a mischevious monkey with a love for pennies and always ready with insolent wit or a power staff of protection. He also finds various steamy situations from a few beings entranced by his beauty or who wish to use his body.

I am a yaoi fan, love bishounen, and also like lighter shounen-ai anime and manga as well. As a gay guy, even some of the ones that are suppose to be light-hearted or comedy too often have characters that are too little like real guys, gay, bi or otherwise, from my perspective and experience. So it's hard for me to find them really enjoyable, especially when they are trying to represent supposedly real gays, bis and others. They try too hard, and still don't get it right. Then you have a series like this that is kinda making fun of the gay/bi stereotypes anyway, and it comes off really hilarious. It's fun for pure fun's sake.

Art Style:

The art style is in the classic mode though it aired in 2005. It won't appeal to everyone, especially those usually to the razor-edge cut looking stuff, but since I started watching anime in the 90s, I love it! I love the classic look, and it's done well in this.

Characters & Sound:

The characters were fun, if stereotypical: bishounen vunerable beauty, a cat-quick mysterious warrior who appears and disappears (and sometimes seduces the bishounen) and the fool. You may recognize some references from the DragonballZ series, super saiyens, Goku, etc. but it's not distracting. I wasn't a fan of DBZ, but I didn't mind the tie-ins because they worked well. I'm deaf, so I can't give you indication about sound, sorry!

Enjoyment & Overall:

I completely enjoyed the series, it was fun and laugh out loud often. The story wasn't overly complex though a little average: guy on a quest with lots of trouble along the way, and I like the sexy little yaoi bits throughout. Overall, I gave it an 8. Each episode was just under 10mins, so I would have liked them longer, but for the dramatic comedy style it was effective. You were surprised, made to laugh, moan a little at the sexiness and then you were laughing again!


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