Saiyuki: disc 5

I'm on the fifth disc of SAIYUKI, and still enjoying it very much in all its male-bonding homoerotic over-the-topness. Those guys really love each other, and there's something quite touching about the emotionality of their relationships as they alternate bopping each other over the head with paper fans with carrying each other through the desert when someone is wounded or collapses from exhaustion after saving everyone's lives. You get the picture.

It's interesting how often anime has teams of characters who are pitted against another team who are in some sense their doubles or mirror images. You see this in X/1999, FUSHIGI YUUGI, and SAIYUKI. In the latter, the antagonists (who are not villains) are explicitly paired, one each, with each of the protagonists: one brother on each team, leader vs. leader, the impulsive boy Monkey King against the impulsive little sister of the opposing team's leader, and the courteous gentleman Hakkai against the courteous lady on the other side. They even each have a dragon who acts as their transportation.

You see some of this in non-anime Western stories, but it's not that prevalent and not usually that emphasized. The characters' back stories and inner conflicts are also paralleled and contrasted in complicated and intriguing ways.

The SAIYUKI discs are very well-designed and all feature a sexy picture of one of the characters, bloodspattered and bandaged and looking tough, regardless of whether any of that character's blood is actually shed in those particular episodes. The first disc caught my eye with one of those pictures-- I'd never heard of the series, but I went "Ooh!" and rented it, so I guess the designers know their demographic.

I could have bought an action figure of Hakkai with his little white dragon Hakuryu the other day in a bookshop, but though I was tempted I'd already bought fifty dollars worth of manga, so I refrained.

Saiyuki: disc 5

I'm on the fifth disc of SAIYUKI, and still enjoying it very much in all its male-bonding homoerotic over-the-topness. Those guys really love each other, and there's something quite touching about the emotionality of their relationships as they alternate bopping each other over the head with paper fans with carrying each other through the desert when someone is wounded or collapses from exhaustion after saving everyone's lives. You get the picture.

It's interesting how often anime has teams of characters who are pitted against another team who are in some sense their doubles or mirror images. You see this in X/1999, FUSHIGI YUUGI, and SAIYUKI. In the latter, the antagonists (who are not villains) are explicitly paired, one each, with each of the protagonists: one brother on each team, leader vs. leader, the impulsive boy Monkey King against the impulsive little sister of the opposing team's leader, and the courteous gentleman Hakkai against the courteous lady on the other side. They even each have a dragon who acts as their transportation.

You see some of this in non-anime Western stories, but it's not that prevalent and not usually that emphasized. The characters' back stories and inner conflicts are also paralleled and contrasted in complicated and intriguing ways.

The SAIYUKI discs are very well-designed and all feature a sexy picture of one of the characters, bloodspattered and bandaged and looking tough, regardless of whether any of that character's blood is actually shed in those particular episodes. The first disc caught my eye with one of those pictures-- I'd never heard of the series, but I went "Ooh!" and rented it, so I guess the designers know their demographic.

I could have bought an action figure of Hakkai with his little white dragon Hakuryu the other day in a bookshop, but though I was tempted I'd already bought fifty dollars worth of manga, so I refrained.