Xi You Ji

Note: this review is about the original Chinese release in 1999, not the English dub / edit.

This show was key in introducing my childhood self to ancient Chinese mythology, culture and literature. It made one of China’s “Four Great Classical Novels” extremely accessible to a younger audience. I swear China has at least one new modern adaptation for “Journey to the West” every year (what can I say – we all love it!), but this cartoon remains one of the best. The original story remains a huge influence for modern media, from Dragon Ball, to RWBY, to League of Legends.

This review will be a blend ... between my impression of this show as a young child first experiencing it and as a young adult revisiting it.
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Story: 9/10

It’s a classic story that works really well for adaptation purposes: it has a huge expansive world, a wide cast of characters firmly cemented in something the audience already knows (in this case, classic Chinese mythology), a tale of unlikely friends banding together to achieve a great goal, dynamic and round characters who all have their own extensive past, a huge variety of obstacles and villains to conquer, etc. These are the hallmarks of great adventure stories, and are common elements in successful stories today as well.

The story structure is familiar; there is one big overarching adventure with a huge goal that the protagonists slowly approach, and smaller arcs with different antagonists and supporting protagonists. It’s a narrative structure that has withstood the test of time, and one that is used by modern stories (like shounen) over and over.

Now that I’m older I can recognize and appreciate these themes, but honestly as a little kid I just had a blast feeling like I was a part of the adventure and friends with the characters, defeating all those who stand in our way and being badass. When you watch this, you can read into it deeper and delve into some Chinese myth, history, and culture to enrich your experience, or just enjoy this as an easy-viewing fun filled adventure. Both work well for this show.
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Art/Animation: 10/10

This is something I couldn’t really appreciate as a child, but watching the cartoon recently, I can see the limitations in traditional animation from the 90s. Keeping that in mind as the basis of judgement, I think the quality is wonderful. The character designs really captured the personality the cast. The way the characters move also represents their personality. The background art is beautifully coloured and detailed. The animators did a wonderful job of translating traditional Chinese art into a modern cartoon – not only representing the fashion and architecture of the time, but also drawing inspiration from classic Chinese paintings.

This story is filled with action, and the fight scenes are dynamically animated. You won’t find any lame freeze frame character glamour shots with a blurry background whizzing behind them here. The characters move fluidly and the hits have weight. Due to the nature of the character’s powers, the fights are especially flashy.
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Sound: 10/10

The opening and closing themes are absolutely iconic. I still know them by heart after almost two decades. The background music is great at communicating different moods, particularly comedy and tension.

The voice acting is solid and all the actors sound exactly the way the characters should. After over 50 film/television adaptations of this story, there are specific voices people associate with the cast, and this cartoon does all of them very well. (Note: I have only ever seen the Mandarin version. I only just found out there is apparently an English dub, though I’ve never managed to find it. I recommend trying the Mandarin version with subs. I checked out a bit of it and the translation seems to be as accurate as a Chinese to English translation can get.)
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Character: 8/10

This show begins with the origins of Sun WuKong, establishing him as the main focus of the show. I think WuKong might be the original “overpowered protagonist”. Out of the main cast of 4 (or 5 if you count the horse), he is without a doubt everyone’s favourite. One of the simplest pleasures of life is watching a lovable character become stronger and stronger, and outsmart and defeat their enemies in spectacular ways. The other characters also have interesting pasts that are depicted in the show (even the horse), but there is no doubt WuKong is the star. He has been many people’s childhood hero (including me for sure).

A lot of WuKong’s personality and powers can be seen in modern shounen anime (Goku and Naruto for example). He is the original lovable hotheaded but trustworthy and playful guy with incredible skills who is always fighting for what’s right and defending his friends. Without a doubt, Journey to the West has been a huge influencer of Eastern culture and media. Because this story draws so much from Chinese mythology, I could recognize characters from other stories I’d heard, and connect everything in my mind to form a richer narrative. Foreign audiences may lose this layer of detail, but the characters are strong enough on their own that this won’t detract much from your experience.
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Enjoyment: 10/10

I was completely enamored with this series when I was growing up. I would watch the whole thing endless on repeat with my box set of DVDs. One day recently I was feeling particularly nostalgic and watched it again for old time’s sake. I wasn’t completely mind blown and rendered motionless by pure wonder like I was as a kid, obviously, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s a surprising amount of detail and subtlety that I realized I had missed as a kid, which makes me believe that an older audience can enjoy it as well.
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Overall: 9/10

If I was still 5 years old I would give this show an 11/10. Nostalgia often clouds people’s vision when judging something they loved as a kid, but I genuinely think this is an unbiased review. For this one show that I loved as a kid that I still love now, there are dozens of other shows that I have tossed out of mind.

Watching this show at my current age, I can see how the animation may feel outdated, or how the plotline and characters may feel too simple for a more mature audience. Its also very possible that someone with no background in Chinese culture or mythology will find some parts of the plot or characters harder to understand. This story is built upon a lot of established myths and deities, and doesn’t always explain things in depth. A significant amount of cultural significance is lost without this background knowledge, but even without it, a foreign audience can still appreciate this show and perhaps even use it as a starting point to learn more about Chinese culture. The fantasy world this show builds is strong enough on its own to stand as an independent work of art.

This cartoon or “dong hua pian" is still viewed as an example of great classic Chinese animation, and it has played a role in being the predecessor of the all the successful elements of adventure stories. Of course, it's also just good fun to watch, and easy to take in.

Yellow Robe Demon vs. Zhu Bajie (Episode 19 唐僧变老虎)
天堂有路你不走，地獄無門你闖進來
translates to Heaven has a way, you don't go, hell has no door, you break in
Sounds epic in Mandarin, frighteningly epic in Cantonese

This is one of my favorite Chinese animation since long ago when I got the VCDs. I have watched in both Cantonese and Mandarin, I can speak both. Cantonese is the best dub for me, best voices and the language-based humor of the script is off the roof. The show is cool and kickass, it's got amazing art. I find this Sun Wukong is the most handsome/sexy Monkey King in all Journey to the West ... adaptations.

Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie are both big trolls. Jade Emperor is a funny habitual liar troll too. Ever since Sun Wukong crashed his court 500 years ago for his injustice, he still don't do the right stuff. He ostracizes Sun Wukong, acting like the too good for you calm prick god he is, and then he's here when Sun Wukong holds him to his responsibilities. He is really scared of the destruction Sun Wukong causes. I like the literature, it shows the deities above or below are also flawed or imperfect.

Sun Wukong is close to a deity himself, The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal 齐天大圣, Zhu Bajie himself was once a Heavenly Navy General of 80,000 Heavenly Soldiers 天篷元帅 banished into a pig, and Sha Wujing the 3rd disciple another banished Heavenly General 卷帘大将. For redemption of punishment, their powers are used on a pilgrimage to the west to protect the monk Tang Sanzang (from evil demons that want to cook and eat his flesh for immortality) to bring back Buddhist scriptures.

The long journey to be completed on foot is a sacred test observed by Buddha to see if they can overcome the many trials and if their wisdom for it is seeked, aided by the Bodhisattva powers to cast off evil. Faithful and so fun to watch adaptation of the classic Journey to the West literature.

Journey to the West is one of the oldest action adventure tales as well as one of the oldest examples of the five man band trope (yes, the horse counts) but this incarnation of the tale still holds up as a highly original work in a landscape saturated with action-adventure shows inspired from it. The most prominent of these is Dragon Ball Z, and I'm just going to come out and say it: Xi You Ji walks all over Dragon Ball Z even when I remove my nostalgia glasses. Yes, it's still mainly an action-adventure series aimed at kids so there won't be much intellectual ... substance, long, complex story arcs, deep characters, nor emotional drama. It doesn't reach for these things either, as its tone, visuals, and music indicate that it's an honest attempt to tell fun, episodic adventures, and its plentiful charm allows it to succeed in this. Whereas Dragon Ball Z's 2 episode long constipating contests, poorly handled power creep, and corny hero-villain dialogue make it inaccessible to viewers who didn't grow up with it, Xi You Ji's charm holds up for both kids and adults just like Tom and Jerry's childish slapstick comedy is timeless.

(Edit: To say that Xi You Ji has nothing to say of substance would be inaccurate. The Journey to the West is about the individual's journey to cultivate the self. Wukong represents the mind, Tripitaka represents the heart, Pigsy represents our base instincts, and Sandy represents our common sense. We need to balance all these aspects of the self and in order to do so, we must go through numerous tribulations. Tripitaka's compassion and spirituality leads him to be too trusting towards demons and lands him in trouble and that's why he needs Wukong's cunning intellect, practicality, and ability to do what needs to be done. Wukong on the other hand, suffers from lack of self-restraint and spirituality. Compassion and spirituality must be tempered by logic and practicality. When Wukong decides to leave Flower Fruit Mountain and continue his journey, his monkey subjects beg him not to leave. They tell him that if he goes, he will suffer numerous hardships whereas if he stays, he can enjoy being king and having everything at his disposal. Wukong replies that he must go, because going through the 82 tribulations is honing his soul and his character. )

Most of this charm comes from the mandarin voice acting itself (which is fantastic, especially in the delivery of the comedic moments) and Son Wukong's personality. Mischievous, clever, persistent, and rebellious, Son Wukong stands up for what he believes is right, with a particular disdain for pompous authority figures. Moreover, he can back it up. His journey from a monkey born out of a giant rock to Monkey King, to Great Sage Equal to Heaven, is equal parts empowering in the way he takes on all of Heaven and wins.

Endearingly humorous, he answers trickery and connivery with clever wit and even greater trickery stemming from his monkey mischievousness. Here is what separates Xi You Ji from most other action-adventure series/shounen. The action conflicts are not simply bouts of who is more powerful or who is more intelligent; yes, Wukong is more powerful than his enemies most of the time, but he prefers to use his ability to transform into anything and deception to play with his enemies (monkeying around, if you will), making for some really fun sequences. As a result, it doesn't have to rely on power levels to get viewers invested in the fights, and each fight is unique and creative.

It's really hard to describe (and that's a good thing) so it's best you look up clips on Youtube to see what I mean. For now, I'll give an example. In one episode, it seems Wukong has finally met his match in Erlang Shen. In most series where two rivals fight, they try to hype it up with insane feats of power from both characters (Oh my god, they're both moving so fast we can't see them! Woah, he's so strong! Wow, I can't believe how he predicted that move!). Here, Wukong and Erlang Shen do compete to see who can grow the biggest, but then they both reach their limits and they start arguing about who should grow smaller first. Later, Wukong tries to flee so he turns into a sparrow, so Erlang Shen turns into a raven to chase him. In turn, Wukong turns into a hawk and chases Erlang Shen, who then turns into a condor, etc, etc.

In general, the villains are also charmingly villainous. Most of the time, they'll just be demons doing demon things, saying "We'll eat Tripitaka and gain immortality!" and they'll sound cute and diabolical at the same time. Objectively, many of the villains are repetitive, just like how in this 52 episode series some of the episodes may start to feel boring and drag due to the lack of much of an overarching plot and sparse character development. Still, the decent stories and villains are well distributed throughout the series. The fact that each of the villains are defeated in a different way, often requiring Wukong to come up with a creative solution, especially helps reduce the wear from the episodic story structure. However, it is also clear that Wukong is too overpowered for the story's good and some episodes will depower him to create conflict and use deus ex machinas to defeat the villain. Another thing to note is that though this series is supposedly for children, there is an ample amount of violence. Wukong has no problem killing his enemies with a big thump of his Ruyi Jingu Bang (and the show makes it clear people are dead), in case you're worried the action is too childish.

Even though I did say that there aren't any deep characters, Sun Wukong is still a great lead character unlike any other whose charisma keeps him interesting all 52 episodes. Zhu Bajie (Piggsy) is one of the best comedic characters out there, whose lovable lust, gluttony, and selfishness rivals Sun Wukong's lovable mischievousness, cleverness, and rebelliousness. Sandy's just there most of the time to play the straight man and is pretty weak in a battle unless it's in the sea. Tripitaka is the damsel in most of the episodes and often comes off as pious and self-righteous, making Sun Wukong's devotion to him somewhat unbelievable. And yet, the bond between teacher and student does provide for some emotional moments throughout the show, bolstered by the great soundtrack.

From a technical standpoint, Xi You Ji might not be anything special compared to anime from the same time period, but it should be noted that the Chinese animation industry was crippled for decades by communist censorship and what Xi You Ji has achieved in spite of that should be given high praise. The backgrounds are beautifully drawn and the art is shows a unique Chinese touch without leaning on the style of the much more mature anime industry. As I said, the music is exceptional as well. The opening song tells of the legend of Wukong with powerful dignity, conveyed by a vigorous male voice that puts most generic rock OP's to utter shame, while the ending is a catchy children's choir song.

Not only is Xi You Ji a significant cultural work drawing on the last remaining vestiges of Chinese civilization that have escaped communist depravity, but it is the best kind of children's story- the kind that will make you rediscover and cherish our youthful monkey nature.