English Dub Review: Saiyuki Reload Blast “Flower Banquet”

Excrement, meet spinning blades.

Spoilers Below

In our flashback to ancient days, Nataku has been laid up ever since his battle to put down Gyumaoh. They won’t allow Goku to see him, and that depresses the little monkey. More disturbing still is the prince gets sent off on another mission, even though he hasn’t completely recovered. Kenren (Gojyo’s past life) steps up and offers to take Nataku’s assignment instead. The entire court is in an uproar, believing this act of mercy and kindness was a slight at Nataku’s power. Kenren is sentenced to a fortnight in prison, but Nataku still thanks him for trying as he passes by. This gets Kenren’s Tin Foil Hat in gear. Something isn’t right about how they’re treating this kid. Fortunately, Tenpou (That’s Hakkai) steps in on Kenren’s behalf, and the general keeps his job. Nataku returns from this battle, and Goku is there waiting to meet him, but Nataku’s power hungry father forbids it.

Goku wants to sulk about being snubbed by Nataku, but Kenren, Tenpou, and Konzen take him out to drink sake and view the cherry blossoms. While Kenren distracts Goku with tree-climbing and games, Tenpou and Konzen discuss the odd case that is Nataku. The reigning theory is that the boy was a hybrid of god and demon, artificially created to fight the war against the demons. He showed up just in time to turn the war and seems oddly obedient for a child. What they don’t know is that his “father” Li Touten is a freaking creepy pedo who strips the boy down for his own jollies. The next time Nataku is summoned to court, Goku bursts in, demanding to talk to his friend. Li Touten orders Nataku to kill Goku and… well, it’s chaos from there. The fight between the two starts to involve Kenren and Tenpou, and Kenren hopes to end the fight before it gets out of hand, and Tenpou tries to end the madness by shanking Li Touten. Nataku makes a final lunge at Goku, but monkey doesn’t even try to stop him. He just tells the boy his name. Rather than disobey his father, Nataku stabs himself with his own sword. Konzen arrives to see a bunch of guards tackle Goku.

The struggle breaks his limiter.

Someone is going to die.

Whelp, that does it. This flashback is getting more interesting than the previous episodes that happened in the present. Okay, That was a tough sentence. Let me unpack it. While the first three episodes of the series followed the formula of the original show pretty much to a tee, these flashbacks break the mold. From what I’ve found, this is a retelling of the Saiyuki Gaiden OVAs, but with a slant towards Goku’s perspective. I never got to see that series, so I’m seeing this story line with a fresh set of eyes. I love it. Those who know the source material know that everyone but Goku is going to die, and Goku is gonna go berserk all over those stuffed shirts in heaven. What’s interesting is seeing how this interpretation of the story twists it, giving it a whole subplot of political intrigue. It kicks the storytelling up a whole notch from “Goku got tricked into being a stable boy, figures it out, and kills everyone”. Rather than having everyone be terrible people that reincarnate and redeem themselves, these are good people that fight against bad things. They reincarnate to do important work. After the halfway point of the episode, where you see how Li Touten treats Nataku when they’re alone and how it has skewed the boy’s perceptions of love and tenderness, you really just hope that the dude gets smeared.

So, Greg Ayers, man… Hat off to you. Great job with Goku today. The brat had so many layers to him, it showed you really got into his head. Though he always has a roughness to his voice, he was able to soften during the cherry blossom scene to give him a tender quality he usually lacks. Then, hearing him during the fight with Nataku was practically heartbreaking. But Greg wasn’t the only one that did a great job. All four of the Sanzo Party of the Past had great voice acting behind them.

I feel like this episode took the animation up a notch. There wasn’t just your typical combat montage like I’m used to seeing from this show. There was real animation in that fight, and it was epic. This didn’t hurt the quality of the art at all. It still maintained that attitude and style that makes this show famous. Really, this episode was just what I needed after a long, hard day. Thank’s guys.  To you, I give nine broken limiters out of ten.

By the way, did anyone notice how the Dragon King of the Western Sea looked an awful lot like Zelgadis from The Slayers? He’s the dude on the far right there. Let me look that up… Wait, THAT’s HAKURYUU? Yeah, that dude is the Jeep Dragon they’ve all been riding on this whole time. This was confirmed in a 2009 interview with the creator, and it’s based on the story in the original legend where Tripitaka rode around on a dragon after it at his horse. Maaaan, that’s funny stuff.