Rating: 
Summary: Finally, one for the girls too!
Review: Yes, three hot biseinen and one ever-hungry bakazaru (stupid monkey)! The official review above mentions how 'loosely' this is based on the classic "Journey to the West" but frankly Saiyuki is far closer to the classic legend than the much-touted Dragonball. Which *still* isn't saying much, unfortunately... ... If you want the original legend, Amazon sells some very nice translations, but if you want broody fun, handsome main characters and plenty of off-beat adventure, give Saiyuki a try.There are dozens of anime series out there that feature girl-heavy casts all panting after one or two main male characters - the stuff of most 15-17 year old boys fantasies, it seems - and a powerful marketing force, at least in most producer's eyes. But half the world's population is female after all... this is an action-adventure series that still appeals to the boys for it's frequent use of rather slapstick humor as well as violence, but it's slanted to the girls too with a whole pack of angst-ridden characters just trying to survive in a strange and ever-changing fantasy world. That's another point to mention; this is an odd amalgam of fantasy/modern times. Just go with it! There are guns and jeeps and cigarettes but also horse-and-wagon transport, rural life, magic and apparently fuedal political structures. There is no real attempt made to explain the rational behind the world's setting, but then a great deal of anime asks you to accept even wilder premises, so Saiyuki doesn't break the mold that much. Except for the fact that the some of the 'villians' are more sympathetic at times than our heroes! You'll hear the term 'bishounen' tossed around a bit on anime reviews, but that just means 'pretty boy' and is more commonly used because so many anime series tend to be about high school aged protaganists - however, 'biseinen', as I used it above, means 'pretty men' and that's a huge distinction. Because the Saiyuki men certainly ain't boys... except for Son Gokuu. Expect a bit more 'adult' humor and situations because of that.
I bought the NewType USA with the preview CD with the initial episode for this release on it. And the dub, frankly, stinks. The voices aren't distinct enough to make the characters unique and the 'Americanizing' done to the script drastically alters at least one of the main character's personality. Nope, sorry, Hakkai is NOT a foul-mouthed surfer-boy as he seems in the preview. He's supposed to be a soft-spoken, polite and rather reserved man. I shudder to think of what else ADV has changed about the dub story as well, given just the inital preview. So I suggest you watch the subtitled version instead to get the real Saiyuki experience. And no, this isn't a profound anime experience like "Spirited Away", but then, it's not touted as such. This is character-focused action-adventure that occasionally asks some interesting questions about loyalty, friendship and determination. But it's not deep and it leaves a great deal of it up to the viewer - or at least it did in the original. I only gave this DVD 3 stars for ADV's version of Saiyuki based on the horrible dub preview disk. But if the subtitled version available on this DVD sticks to the actual story (and rumor has it that it does *whew*) then it's still worth the price. Frankly, I'm an otaku-anime-geek who only ever watches subtitled versions anyway but I understand the economic necessity of dubs for the general viewing audience - I just wish the material was treated with more respect by the importing companies. And while this means anime is coming over to the US faster and faster all the time, it's disturbing that companies like ADV feel it's their right to change the original stories so much. Leave it be. The cultural differences aren't *that* hard to explain - and the changes in the dub that I saw weren't improvements at all, in my humble opinion. They were just annoying. But join Genjo Sanzo, Cho Hakkai, Sha Gojyo, Hakuryuu and Son Gokuu on their journey West! It's a heck of a ride...
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