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Saiyuki At Large
17/7/02 18:14It's great when you're getting paid to think/talk about anime. Well, okay. So they were paying me for mounting slides from a book.
But then I realized that the book contained a small synopsis and excerpt from the original version of "Journey to the West," aka Gensomadden Saiyuki, an adaptation of the same that is one of my favorite anime. Needless to say, I went into multitasking mode.
Fun, fun stuff. I now realize that I need to go and get a copy of the entire thing. As soon as possible. Are there good versions out there, anyone?
I also got to talk to a grad student about Princess Mononoke and inform him of the existence of the bico anime club, which was a Good Thing.
There may be small spoilers below for those who have not seen the series, and those who have, so tread with care.
Some thoughts.
In the synopsis, the author, Rosalind Kerven, detailed the characters. I could tell who some of them were right away. Or so I thought. Goku was Goku, of course. And Sanzo, though he had a different name, being originally in Chinese and all, was pretty much still Sanzo.
The character whose name was "Sha" something-or-other, though, definitely did not have the personality of Sha Gojyo from the anime. The character whose name was translated as "Pigsy" had Gojyo's personality (kicked out of heaven by buddha for 'drinking and inordinate sex', I believe, was the quote).
However, this "Sha"-person - whose name was apparently translated in the excerpt as "Sandy," seemed to have the good parts of Hakkai without the bad ones, and therefore I approximated him to Hakkai instead.
Interestingly, there was also a "dragon-horse" mentioned as a fourth hanger-on; a fully-rounded character. I am assuming that this is the little dragon that Hakkai has, as the horse part, I suppose, could have filled the same role in the original story as the Jeep does in the anime version.
However, during the excerpt, things either got more complicated or badly translated - or else she just didn't stay constant with her use of names, which I think is the case.
The excerpt was from the end of the Chinese original, and was Sanzo's (I know that's not his Chinese name, but I won't attempt to butcher the spelling of the original) speech to the Emperor upon presentation of the sutra-scrolls retrieved from the west.
Sanzo's recounting all the trials and tribulations they went through, and then you get to the following part, which I will paraphrase:
But [the Buddhist avatar of mercy] didn't send me to do all of this by myself. I got some companions along the way. There was Sandy (remember, the Hakki-analouge, I think) who, with his necklace of bird-skulls (insert nasty flashback to "Prayer for the Living") here, could change shape to whatever he wished. Once he changed into a boat and got us across a river...then there was the son of the dragon-king (not named) who, to atone for his rebellion against his father, also came on this trip with us.
I couldn't figure out if that was the horse-thing or not. If not, I have no other clues to who it could be.
A few thoughts: it appears that if Hakkai's dragon is analagous to the horse-dragon thing in the original version, the creators of the anime gave it the shape-changing power instead and downplayed its influcence as a character, which (in my opinion, which is admittedly biased) was a shame.
I can't figure out why the "Sha" thing would be Gojyo's name in the anime, while the figure who is closest to Hakkai in the original story is "Sha-whatever". Perhaps this is explained by the movie, or the second season of the anime? Clues?
If, in the original version, the Sha/Hakkai character's name does indeed translate to "Sandy," then it explains one of my nagging questions about the opening of the series - why the title for each episode appears to have been written in the sand.
A small thing that will make your brain leak out your ears if you think about it too hard, but was too amazing to keep to myself - and remember, this was stuck in with the rest of the recitation of the feats of valor: "We won a rain-making contest."
Like I said. Don't think about it.
More later.
I figured out how to do tiger-stepping today, finally; but two people aren't showing up for the tai chi stuff tonight. But I might get to learn a little naginata....
But then I realized that the book contained a small synopsis and excerpt from the original version of "Journey to the West," aka Gensomadden Saiyuki, an adaptation of the same that is one of my favorite anime. Needless to say, I went into multitasking mode.
Fun, fun stuff. I now realize that I need to go and get a copy of the entire thing. As soon as possible. Are there good versions out there, anyone?
I also got to talk to a grad student about Princess Mononoke and inform him of the existence of the bico anime club, which was a Good Thing.
There may be small spoilers below for those who have not seen the series, and those who have, so tread with care.
Some thoughts.
In the synopsis, the author, Rosalind Kerven, detailed the characters. I could tell who some of them were right away. Or so I thought. Goku was Goku, of course. And Sanzo, though he had a different name, being originally in Chinese and all, was pretty much still Sanzo.
The character whose name was "Sha" something-or-other, though, definitely did not have the personality of Sha Gojyo from the anime. The character whose name was translated as "Pigsy" had Gojyo's personality (kicked out of heaven by buddha for 'drinking and inordinate sex', I believe, was the quote).
However, this "Sha"-person - whose name was apparently translated in the excerpt as "Sandy," seemed to have the good parts of Hakkai without the bad ones, and therefore I approximated him to Hakkai instead.
Interestingly, there was also a "dragon-horse" mentioned as a fourth hanger-on; a fully-rounded character. I am assuming that this is the little dragon that Hakkai has, as the horse part, I suppose, could have filled the same role in the original story as the Jeep does in the anime version.
However, during the excerpt, things either got more complicated or badly translated - or else she just didn't stay constant with her use of names, which I think is the case.
The excerpt was from the end of the Chinese original, and was Sanzo's (I know that's not his Chinese name, but I won't attempt to butcher the spelling of the original) speech to the Emperor upon presentation of the sutra-scrolls retrieved from the west.
Sanzo's recounting all the trials and tribulations they went through, and then you get to the following part, which I will paraphrase:
But [the Buddhist avatar of mercy] didn't send me to do all of this by myself. I got some companions along the way. There was Sandy (remember, the Hakki-analouge, I think) who, with his necklace of bird-skulls (insert nasty flashback to "Prayer for the Living") here, could change shape to whatever he wished. Once he changed into a boat and got us across a river...then there was the son of the dragon-king (not named) who, to atone for his rebellion against his father, also came on this trip with us.
I couldn't figure out if that was the horse-thing or not. If not, I have no other clues to who it could be.
A few thoughts: it appears that if Hakkai's dragon is analagous to the horse-dragon thing in the original version, the creators of the anime gave it the shape-changing power instead and downplayed its influcence as a character, which (in my opinion, which is admittedly biased) was a shame.
I can't figure out why the "Sha" thing would be Gojyo's name in the anime, while the figure who is closest to Hakkai in the original story is "Sha-whatever". Perhaps this is explained by the movie, or the second season of the anime? Clues?
If, in the original version, the Sha/Hakkai character's name does indeed translate to "Sandy," then it explains one of my nagging questions about the opening of the series - why the title for each episode appears to have been written in the sand.
A small thing that will make your brain leak out your ears if you think about it too hard, but was too amazing to keep to myself - and remember, this was stuck in with the rest of the recitation of the feats of valor: "We won a rain-making contest."
Like I said. Don't think about it.
More later.
I figured out how to do tiger-stepping today, finally; but two people aren't showing up for the tai chi stuff tonight. But I might get to learn a little naginata....
