action/adventure: October 2006 Archives

As you get in more involved with Anime you will find that hundreds of titles are released each year. You dig through the pile, watching the first couple of episodes to see which gets the ax.

If the title makes the cut, it will become one of your favorite shows, and you will stick with it until the end, no matter how many episodes you have to watch (One Piece, 279+ episodes, Naruto, 200+, Inuyasha 167). This is huge investment in terms of time and possibly money.

But sometimes you get tricked! At least I felt that way. You find a series that starts with a great premise, lots of action, interesting and unique characters. You watch the first episode and you are hooked! You impatiently wait for the second episode, and it's just as good. You can't wait for the third one, OMG, even better than the last two! It has become one of your favorites, and then...FLOP!

That was my relationship with Tsubasa Chronicle.

I fell in love with the series at first glance. The CLAMP characters looked like nothing I had seen before and together with the action sequences and the love story it was a powerful combo.

Then they added some Pokeman looking thing, which did NOTHING but 'look cute'. Everybody has to carry the freaking thing around even though it has huge feet.

Somehow I managed to get through this first hurdle. However I found it increasingly hard to watch and the story deteriorated into a 'lets see who they are going to fight in this episode".

I had to stop watching it.

From time to time I would read the reviews on the Internet forums. Most people still loved it. Others like me hated it. Still others watched because they had invested too much time to stop now.

I wondered if those people were still in their teens or just liked bad stories.

According to Anime News Network, cable channel Encore Action will be showing "Saiyuki Reload" starting Nov. 8 at midnight. The show is worth a peek.

"Saiyuki Reload" is the second installment of the popular "Saiyuki" series and both seasons are out on DVD. The third season, "Saiyuki Reload Gunlock" is sloowly coming out on DVD. I saw the third "Gunlock" DVD not too long ago.

The series is a very loose re-telling of the Chinese story, "Journey to the West". In this anime version, a monk and his three demon companions are heading west to find out why demons who used to live in harmony with humans in Shangri-La are now attacking and killing people. They're not going of their own accord but were ordered to do so by the Three Aspects of the Buddha.

Genjyo Sanzo is a blond high-ranking Buddhist monk who wields a revolver, smokes like a chimney, gambles and drinks. His traveling companions include Cho Hakkai who became a demon after killing 1,000 demons, Sha Gojyo a half-demon whose stepmother tried to kill him and Son Goku a monkey demon with enormous strength.

They haven't reached the West yet. And many of their adventures are one-off episodes.

The show's episodes can be pedestrian and the quality of the animation suffers in "Saiyuki Reload" but thankfully improves in "Gunlock."

"Saiyuki" and its two sequels remain a guilty pleasure for me. I watch it mostly for the interaction between the four main characters. The moody Sanzo usually smacks the bickering Goku and Gojyo with a big fan or shoots at them to make them shut up. He is not above threatening his companions with death either. Hakkai puts up with their slovenly habits and acts as a referee most of the time. He has his limits. But you know they care about each other. Well, maybe not.

It's not a show that makes you think about the nature of man or his place in the universe. So park your brain, take out that bowl of snacks and settle in for a fun ride with Master Sanzo and the gang. And try not to annoy him too much. He has a hair trigger temper and a faster trigger finger.