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Shangri-La is a world where magic and science exists together,
it is an unsafe land, a land in chaos. Experiments to release
the demon Lord Gyumaoh have turned the world's demon population
mad. The only hope for the land is the Sanzo Party - four
disparate adventurers who travel to India where they must
stop the revival of Lord Gyumaoh. Along the way they have
to contend with both angels and demons who have their own
agenda...
I'm
sure you won't be surprised to discover that Saiyuki Reload
is the direct follow on from the equally successful Saiyuki.
What? I hear you say that you've never heard of the story?
Shame on you. The anime was based on the original manga by
Kazuya Minekura, which was itself based on the Chinese novel
Into the West (X? Yóu Jì), which (wait for it...)
was also adapted for television as Monkey - anyone
want to make a bet if I was sad enough to do the whole fingers
and lips thing? Of course I did, Monkey was a great
program.
Reload
ran for a decent twenty-five episodes, and this volume contains
episodes one through four. You just know that you're in for
a wild ride when the heavy rock titles start pounding out
of your speakers, and the show does not disappoint. If you
haven't met them before you're just about to meet the legendary
Sanzo Party, Son Goku, Sha Gojyo, Cho Hakkai and of course,
the gun toting priest Genjyo Sanzo who travel towards India
in an effort to halt the revival of the evil Gyumaoh.
Episode
one and the gang roll into town only to be mistaken for demons.
Seems that a lot of young girls have been disappearing and
suspicion falls on the lads. The show does end on a nice humorous
vignette, explaining that the reason why the group don't just
take a plane to India is that as heavy smokers they wouldn't
be allowed to smoke on a plane.
Episode
two, Wanted Dead or Alive: Writhing Trap, and erm...
the boys roll into town and start to eat - their favourite
obsession it would seem. Looks as though the townsfolk have
been turned into a bunch of zombies by having red insects
inserted in their ears. Why would anybody want to do that?
It seems that everyone is after Sanzo's scripture book. The
show has some really nice effects, especially when they stick
their weapons into the villain who is made of bugs.
Episode three, Lethal Weapon: Toughest Enemies Ever,
and what could be worse than fighting demons? Well, how about
fighting yourself? A demon decides that the only people who
can take the Sanzo Party down is the Sanzo Party itself. So,
after a bit of jiggery-pokery, he recreates the team and sends
the copies off to kill the originals.
Episode
four, Negative Energy: Final Promise, and one of the
few demons who hasn't yet given into the madness affecting
his kind, has a promise to keep. Rampa, the demon, wants to
give a painting he created to someone special. But will he
be able to keep his final promise or will Sanzo be forced
to kill him as his grip on his sanity ebbs away?
The
show is presented in the original aspect ratio 4:3 and the
audio set-up consists of both English and Japanese stereo
with the options for signs and subs. Extras are creditless
opening titles and the original Japanese opening as well as
the usual trailer section. Being a successful show Reload
spawned a Playstation 2 RPG game in 2004.
Overall the quality of the animation is quite good and as
an introduction to the show the disc holds up well. Only time
will tell if the show will continue to grow to become something
truly interesting.
Charles
Packer
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