English Dub Review: Saiyuki Reload Blast “Squall”

The Boys are Back.

Spoilers Below

Courtesy: Funimation

A father and son villager team ride cautiously down a mountain road in the desolate wilderness of Western Shangri-La. They come under attack by a gang of demons, who want access to the village they came from. The son struggles free and runs. Just as one of the demons is about to shoot him down with a crossbow, a jeep descends upon them from the cliffs above. It doesn’t crash, vanishing instead, as its four occupants leap into action: A boy with a staff and a golden headband, a red-haired man with a monk’s spade, a spectacled pugilist, and a monk with a cigarette and a silver revolver. The demons never knew what hit them. This is the Genjyo Sanzo Party, continuing their sojourn to India to recover the last of the sacred texts and stop whatever is causing the demons to go berserk. They have been on the road for two years, and… they’re starving.

Courtesy: Funimation

The rescuers collapse from hunger after the battle and are brought back to the village for food and rest. The rest of the town isn’t too happy about this. All the townsfolk are so paranoid and xenophobic, they don’t allow anyone inside. They even mistreat a mentally ill woman for singing! Turns out, she had gone crazy because the village left her husband to die outside the village, rather than risk demons finding them. That night, in her crazed stupor, she decides to go out for a walk outside the village, leaving the drawbridge down. Demons rush in, slaying any human they encounter until the Sanzo party wakes up. Then, the carnage really begins. Demons are dropping like flies until only three are left. One of them has taken the crazy woman hostage and is using her as a meat shield. The boy the team rescued earlier presses for the village to save her, but they let their cowardice overrule them. But, he tells them to listen to the song she’s singing. It’s their village festival song. In this time of darkness, she spends her every waking moment dreaming of a time when they can come together to hold a festival as a community again. Her song is of hope and love and friendship. The villagers, still unable to fight, ask the Sanzo party to step in. With a quick snap of Sha Goujyo’s spade and a drive-by with the party’s jeep, the demons are eliminated. The party continues on their journey.

Saiyuki is back. After six years since the Saiyuki Gaiden OVA and thirteen since Gunlock, I have to say I’ve missed these guys. I remember watching the original series way back when and was absolutely amazed by the style. All that is here again. In fact, this feels just like one of the episodes of the original series, from how it’s written, to the art, even the voices! I feel like I’m in college. Wow, now I feel old. That being said, the formula that the series has is a pretty simple one: Go to a place on the road, see how people and demons are interacting, see the cause of the problem, kill the problem. What prevents this from becoming monotonous is the characters. The Sanzo party is comprised of four, extremely disparate men who care about each other but are always grating against each other because of their strong personalities. Anytime they aren’t in danger, they’re bickering and ragging on each other, and that’s part of the fun. As the writers have realized that this series has been a long time to come, and pay homage not only to what came before but recognize the gap. Goujyo comments repeatedly how things may have changed, but they still stay the same.

So, all this ranting about how good this show was/is, we have to come back to the technicals. The animation was bad. There. I said it. Wait, hold on. I’m not done yet. While the animation complexity was bad, the direction for the animation and art, overseen by Hideaki Nakano, was off the chain. Using incredible skill in laying out shots and applying effects, he used the series’ own characteristic style to hide the fact that the frame rate was low and shortcuts were everywhere. The show played out like a series of stills with sudden blood-splatters, stitched together with three-to-four frame animation cycles. But those skills were dynamic and loaded with impact, and that blood splatter was lifelike and cinematic. Yes, I noticed the shortcuts, but in the end, I didn’t care. Listening in for the voices, I was struck by nostalgia, then dismay. They sounded exactly like my memories of this series, and their voice acting. So, I went looking for the cast and… couldn’t find it. This information might be filled in later on. In any event, the VA’s for the main four were spot on with how they sounded. Some of Goku’s lines felt a little forced, but that’s always been the case with him.

I’m eager to see where this show is going to go. Will it live up to my expectations and wrap up this epic story in style? Or will it become a case of all flash and no substance like some have said of Reload and Gunlock? Time will tell. I give this episode eight dragons-turned-jeep out of ten. Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention the jeep was a dragon? I always loved that.

SCORE
8.0/10