Gensoumaden Saiyuuki

If you like the manga, for all that is good in this world, don't ruin it and watch the anime. Sure, the storyline is top notch in my opinion... but the TERRIBLE voice acting in BOTH English AND Japanese is just not worth the pain of watching it. If you would sit around and watch 50 episodes, then there is no reason why you can't go out and read 9 volumes. It would take you less time and you'd enjoy yourself more. This is not to say it's not an enjoyable anime. If you can get over the awful voices than it's still a pretty ... fair anime. The animation is kind of half-assed though. In comparison to the beautiful manga art of Kazuya Minekura's, the anime just kind of rips the characters up and makes them incredibly shiny (shading wise) and rather strange in hairstyle. There are quite a few points where the four main characters just don't seem portrayed correctly AT ALL. Not to mention most of the youkai in quite a few of the episodes are just terrible stereotypical excuses for muscular human beings with large ears and funny colored skin. Oh and let's not forget the feral set of canines complete with each demon!

If you must however feel connected to the Saiyuki anime in some way shape or form, I suggest a soundtrack or something. Then you can better use your time; instead of watching all 50 episodes, grab volumes 1-9, play a few of the anime theme songs, and enjoy. (And then you can grab Saiyuki Reload volumes 1-8 too!)

I got into this one because I heard it had a similar vibe to Yu Yu Hakusho, another fantasy series revolving around a four man main cast. For the most part, I think Saiyuki does not quite reach the heights of storytelling that series did, but it does distinguish itself in ways both good and bad.

Firstly, the plot is mostly episodic in nature, with copious episodes that succeed at establishing characterization and worldbuilding, but otherwise do not move the plot significantly. It is filler, but pretty good filler in my opinion, since it really gets the viewer immersed in the world. This is an old-school ... adventure story first and foremost, and the length of the journey is painted in the medium via this long-form storytelling. A certain patience is expected from the viewer as Hakkai's jeep slowly plugs along the desert roads. I think those who enjoy episodic series like Pokemon won't mind this at all, while those with no patience for filler will immediately drop the series, it is a defining factor.

One thing I heartily congratulate this series for is the main characters. They are all very fleshed-out, rounded, and compelling in their own ways, almost archetypically so. You have the womanizing water sprite Sha Gojyo, hot-tempered and vain like any seducer. There's Cho Hakkai, who arguably has the most fucked-up backstory of the lot, but nowadays acts as the driver and mediator of the group. There's the spunky kid tagalong, Son Goku, who is entertainingly whiny and always hungry, but seems to be the best fighter of the group. He also has a limiter device on his forehead which holds back a psychotic dark side that can't distinguish friend from foe, like he's on some Kid Buu shit. Fun times! And then there's my personal favorite, and arguably the main character, Genjo Sanzo. I like both his japanese and english voices (David Matranga has always been cool in my book). Furthermore, he's a huge asshole who spouts off action movie one-liners before putting holes in demons with his revolver, he's simultaneously very cool and very lame. Gotta love it! In general, the character designs are quite good.

The antagonists are hit and miss - the creepy doctor and whatever the name of the main female villain was, they were very one-note and forgettable. The Kougaiji group was alright, they were all rather sympathetic and fine enough characters. But the real badasses were the Prince of War and his two sidekicks, those guys were absolutely sick!

Now, we arrive at the flaws, which are sadly rather striking. It is clear from the beginning that these guys are balling on a budget - the fights are mostly a series of still frames, recycled animation loops, and reaction shots. When demons are killed, they break apart as if they are made of glass. It rather reminded me of when monsters are destroyed in Yugioh. I like old school animation, but a lot of this was probably bad for its time, and it obviously doesn't age well. So if animation is a problem for you, turn back now!

As far as the voice acting goes, I can only speak to the English dub. I thought the main characters were mostly fine, David Matranga as Sanzo and Vic Mignogna as Kougaiji in particular doing a good job. Gojyo's actor came across as wooden a lot, as did most of the one-episode-only villagers and short-lived demons. I will give credit to the scriptwriters for including some swearing, Gojyo even calls someone a bundle of sticks at one point. They certainly wouldn't have the balls to do that nowadays, though considering how effective outrage marketing obviously is, it's a tactic that might get dusted off again at some point. But generally, I would advise sticking to the sub. As a sidenote, I really liked the first opening song as well, it had a classic rock vibe that was very unique in my opinion.

Overall, the show is fine. If nothing else, the main characters are strong, the worldbuilding is good, and there are aesthetically pleasing moments. I'm interested in seeing how the 2017 series fares in comparison to this - I hope that it fixes many of the issues while contributing to the strengths. As is, I wouldn't go into this expecting more than some easily digestible entertainment.

Everyone hates a critic, but I am used to haters so it's okay. I am going to be truthful and not lie to you guys just because this is anime. Honestly, this was not the best anime I saw. In fact it's number 8 in my top 10 worst anime I ever watched.
Story- Let's start with the story. You have four guys, a priest named Sanzo, and three demons Gojyo, Goku, and Hakkai wo are going to India to stop the resurrecting of Gyumao. I never watched Dragon Ball Z so I am not going to say this show copied the whole story. However it ... did copied the traits of Goku in DBZ. I will explain that more in character.
Back to the story. Their journey west is always interrupted by some demons or Gods trying to destroy them for a scroll Sanzo holds. You begin to feel tired of the journey and wonder will they ever make it west. The fact this is a episodic show is more stupid. Episodic shows never have a climax. They show stories in every episode or 2. This would work if the show was like Sponge bob where the goal was not obvious. This show's main goal, conflict if you will is obvious therefore defeats the purpose of being episodic.
Luckliy, there are two more shows so the chance of their journey being finished is higher. I understand that this anime focus is the journey not the goal, but the characters haven't changed since the beginning making the idea fail.
Art- The art is old looking and very PG. If you are looking for gory scenes go find a different anime because this one does not provide one. Even when they kill demons you see no blood. You only see the demons disintegrate with a white background.
Also to attract the male audience the women in this sow are degraded with big breasts.
To attract the female audience the main characters do some questionable things with each other. In the opening themes there are times when the guys look like wuss instead of strong like their personalities.
Lastly the backgrounds will be so plain like black and a character's face. I like seeing new things, but that fails. I guess they were trying to make the viewer use their brain to imagine where the characters were at times. Nice stragedy except most people who watch tv do so so they can use little to no imagination.
Sound-
The sound. The characters unnecessarily cussed all the time. It was annoying especially if it didn't fit the characters. The openings were fairly okay as for the endings idk because i never bothered to listen them. The ost in this anime were typical for this anime genres. However i found a good ost in this anime. It's called open up your mind. I'm listening to it as I write this review.
Character- very typical. You had a womanizing, drinker/smoker(gojyo), pretending not to care character (sanzo), motherly like character (hakkai), and annoying, greedy character (goku). To address Goku in more depth I heard a rumor that he is a huge copy of DBZ Goku. People say Goku eats like the goku in dbz, fights like him, and is a monkey like him. I do not know if this rumor is true, but I hope it is not.
The character's story were okay I guess. Goku was the most predictable. Hakkai was the most cliche one. Sanzo was the most normal one and Gojyo was the most unique.
Enjoyment- I liked the anime, but not that much. If i really loved it like so many others I would have finished this in two days not approx. a week like i did. I procrastinated because it was bad and i knew nothing will change. There was something that got my off guard, but it was only once.
Overall- I will be nice and give it a 6. Don't take my opinion. Check it out for yourself.

I really enjoyed the Saiyuki manga. It used to be one of my favourites, before the position was usurped by the likes of Berserk. It was funny, the characters likeable, and on a whole an entertaining and enjoyable work.

The anime on the other hand was not so enjoyable. Perhaps I am just picky about animation/art, but I was not a fan of the animation in the Saiyuki anime. I'm not sure what the budget for it was like, but from the two episodes that I watched, the animation style seemed to adhere to a principle of "as little as possible". You know those crappy gifs ... that have only part of the image animated? Yeah, that's what watching Saiyuki is like.

The art excepting the animation is ok, with some really nice backgrounds in some scenes. However, that doesn't make up for the crap animation.

As far as character design, the main characters are pretty bishie. Otherwise, not too special.

But hey, if you can get over the animation, I'd say to give it a watch. I'm not entirely sure how closely it adheres to the manga, not having watched the entirety of the anime, but based on my experience with the manga, it should be decent, with plenty of hilarity thrown in.

Where I'm concerned I'd rather just re-read the Saiyuki manga. Don't have to deal with crap animation, the characters are still bishie (if you like that), and you don't have to hear Goku's annoying voice.

Saiyuki is one of those shounen action titles that tries being cool with the attitudes and vices that our main cast of characters give into as Sanzo and his demon comrades journey west from China to halt the efforts of demon forces to resurrect the powerful demon Gyumao. The series is really loose with faithfulness to Journey to the West with the four members of the Sanzo party having their vices to give into with the older members frequently smoking, gambling, womanizing or drinking and Son Goku depicted to almost always be hungry, no different from the character's depiction from Dragon Ball. Also several members ... of the demon side assisting in Gyumao's resurrection are more like honorable villains as they don't often cause trouble for Sanzo's party and usually find themselves teaming up to take on a worst enemy threat. The first half mostly features the Sanzo group thwarting whatever "demon of the day" threat opposes them with some exploring tragic pasts that each of the group members have to bear. This half also tosses in some rather subpar attempts at humor compliments of the archetypal personalities of the Sanzo party members clashing with one another and having the occasional filler episode with some bizarre predicaments such as a group of scammers impersonating the members of Sanzo's party.

The second half of the series delves into exploring what the world of heaven is like in Saiyuki when Sanzo's group come at odds with a trio of fallen gods having their own hidden plans with Son Goku's power and the scroll used by Sanzo. These episodes are slightly better as they do introduce the first genuinely serious threat that Sanzo's party has to confront and more light is shed on Son Goku's time while he was in heaven while dealing with prejudice from the other gods for his heretic status, befriending another heretic like himself in the form of Nataku and interacting with gods who are actually past incarnations of the older Sanzo party members. The episodes do have their shortcomings in that they don't explore the final moments of the four while they were still in heaven and that the show still resorts to occasionally slipping in either a "demon of the day" conflict or "comical" filler episode with Sanzo's group.

The visuals to the series are rather lackluster. In spite of the attractive character designs shown with members of Sanzo's group, the Gyumao party and a number of the god characters, lining on character designs were on the rough side and animation was rather lacking at many points since Saiyuki made liberal use of animation shortcuts to limit onscreen movement, this being quite noticeable during action scenes when characters strike battle poses or simple movements in a lazy attempt to depict action. While having a much longer episode run than Saiyuki, Inuyasha was much better looking in the visual department in 2000 with clean details and better implementing its animation shortcuts to create convincingly engaging action scenes.

Overall, I'm mostly indifferent to Saiyuki since it tries being something that I am not too convinced it really is due to the characters and storytelling being mostly cliched in the series, even with the slightly more engaging second half with the trio of gods that Sanzo's party have to deal with. Would only recommend this if you're a diehard fan of shounen action titles.

There's so many good review already, mine would be extra and might not help much but I can't seem to find anyone have a complete list of story order around the net though, it took me some time, I hope it helped anyone who interested ... Enjoy ...

- Saiyuki Watch Order -

0. (1999) Saiyuki Premium | 2 Episodes (Original)
1. (2011) Saiyuki Gaiden | 3 Episodes (Before They Reborn?)
2. (2007) Saiyuki Reload Burial | 3 Episodes (Before They Team)
3. (2000) Gensoumaden Saiyuki | 50 Episodes (After They Team)
4. (2001) Gensoumaden Saiyuki Requiem | Part 1 Movie
5. (2002) Gensoumaden Saiyuki Kibou no Zaika/A Sin of Hope | ... Requiem Sequel Part 2 Gamerip Movie
6. (2003) Saiyuki Reload | 25 Episodes
7. (2004) Saiyuki Reload GunLock | 26 Episodes
8. (2017) Saiyuki Reload Blast | 12 Episodes