Patalliro Saiyuuki!

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!

Another animated shot at the Patalliro franchise by a non-Toei company, with the added twist of being based on the classic of chinese literature Journey to the west, and like the main entree (movie included) it's very good, very fun and enjoyable. The animation is excellent, the intro and outro are good, the seiyuu performance is excellent, there's really just one thing that boggles my mind of the entirety of this series: no, it's not the pederast relationship shown in a couple of episodes because being this based on an old chinese tale and being this from Japan (place from where I've already seen other ... animated medias with the same kind of pedophile relationship) I can put it in its perspect, it's the fact that again like the main Patalliro series from the 80's don't let you distract from the fact that the core ideas behind this series couldn't be more heterocentric/heteronormal even if it were directly written on the cover of the show, meaning it's reiterated the same idea behind anime harems that the male character/onnagata (Bacoran) is the one directing and deciding it all in the relationships with the female characters/bishounens lagging behind, a 1000% heteronormal belief some hardcore feminists nicknamed "the superman syndrome". It's not a blame on Mineo Maya of whom I've become a fan (check the guy's mangas ASAP, the work of the guy is simply crazy), Kaze To Ki No Uta was an hetero (albeit female, in that case) fantasy in the same way and that wasn't the problem, it's just as an objective element I want to consider to dispel the idea of Yuri/Yaoi storytelling as the mouthpiece for LGBT rights that for the most part actually isn't and has never been from the very beginning. With this postscriptum added, it's highly enjoyable nonetheless so give it a shot if you can.

This Is A Slight Variation Of "Journey To The West" With Similar Characters.
A Monkey, Pig, Sea Monster And A Buddha/Priest, All On A Journey To Find The Scriptures, Again. All Of These Are good To Watch. The Art Is Very 1980s, But Fine.
Then Came The Awful Part....
A Priest Uses The Teachings To Sleep With Really Young Boys. The Even Worse Part Is Showing Them Actually Enjoying It. There Are Love Hearts Above The Bed They Are In.
Then The Abused Boy Turns Into A ( Man ) Abuser Himself, Sleeping With Anyone Male Or Female.
I Always Was Led To Believe That Priests Or Very Religious People ... Do Not Sleep Around, This Shows Exactly The Opposite
If You Removed The 3 Or 4 Episodes Of This, The Rest Is Good But It's Hard To Dismiss When They Make It A Part Of The Storyline.
Be Warned, This Is Not Romantic At All.
If You Do Like JTTW And Want To Watch A Slightly Different One, Or To Complete all Of The Versions, Then Watch Thiis, But Try To Skip When It Gets Uncomfortable.
I Should Have.
This Is Classed As BL But There Are Very Few Episodes Where This Happens.