Eeeeeee! New anime!

[dangermousie]

Got home to find both Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid and the entirety of Saiyuki awaiting me. Gleeeeee! I put aside TSR to watch with husband and checked out Saiyuki. I haven't finished the first ep yet, but so far I really like it. And I can see what you meant, crumpeteer about Sanzo being like Saito off his Midol. Heh. I like him.

Oh, and Doctor Who tonight. My friday is deliciously geeky.

Comments

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I love Sanzo to death. He's cranky, hedonistic, pragmatic and wields a mean paper fan, but he'd die to do what he believes in because he's so stubbornly true to himself. The very fact that he's been commandeered on the trip to India is enough in and of itself to make him annoyed on a daily basis.

They wait until much, much later in the manga to show you that Sanzo wasn't always like that. When he first started killing demons, he cared a lot, didn't smoke, and was actually fairly polite. He was also going crazy. His pragmatism (and really Goku too) became his coping mechanism for what he has to do.

Sanzo's...an interesting guy. Hakkai actually is extremely interesting too. If there's such a thing as the school of hard knocks, all four of the boys have passed with honors.

I hope you like it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am four episodes in now, and I am addicted. I just finished the ep where we find out abour the red-haired one's background (I keep confusing the names of him and the polite one with the dragon) and ouch. Really like him now, as he reminds me a bit of Sano (and the whole, he is half demon/half human so he is curse and he was brought up by his stepmom who hated him and tried to kill him but he was OK with it because she was the only mother he had is FUBAR0. I totally love all the four main characters, so far. And Sanzo just feels me with glee. I also love that he is arguing with the divine messengers. Heeeee.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

You'll find Sanzo argues with everyone. It's like a hobby for him. He also slaps the Merciful Goddess (who really isn't all that merciful, but seems to get a kick out of watching Sanzo's group). To put it mildly, Sanzo really has very little respect for his superiors, who are in this case, divine beings.

Gojyo's back story is, sadly enough, the least traumatic of the bunch. Hakkai wins hands down with his. And Gojyo isn't a bad guy, even though he can be an annoying lech sometimes.

Several of the "bad guys" are not really bad guys too. I love Kougaiji. The main quality this series has is the use of really screwed up people as their heroes. It's not just "I had a tough child hood and am now going to take over the world" type of a thing, these guys have traumatic pasts on a whole nother level. The only thing that keeps them going is the fact that they are SO darn stubborn and so beligerant towards their pasts in general that they just won't give up.

And the humor is another strong point. The episode where Sanzo gets drunk is priceless as is the one where Sanzo keeps having to babysit Kougaiji's sister. Or the one where they all get thrown in jail because no one believes that Sanzo is actually the Sanzo (which is understandable since he refused to shave his head like a normal Sanzo and his temperment doesn't lead one to think he's a benevolent religious leader).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I love Hakkai the most so far, mainly because he is so polite and laid-back and yet can still kick a tremendous amount of butt. I rather like Kougaiji too, even though he is supposed to be the bad guy. I think it's his angst about his mother that sealed the deal.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Hakkai probably ties for second with Kougaiji with me. Sanzo is by far my favorite. Hakkai is interesting because even though he's the sweetest of the bunch, he's also the most screwed up and probably the most dangerous. There's a lot of anger and pain with that character that even Sanzo doesn't have.

Kou and his group you come to care about just as much as the Sanzo group. With Kou you know he's better than all of this since there's such a dignity to him, but you also know that his step mother has manipulated him into this position.

Also, he and Gojyo get much better outfits in the second season.