Saiyuki and I go way back. I first watched the anime in college after a bunch of us discovered a site that sold entire subtitled series! For cheap! I picked up Saiyuki, Yami no Matsuei, and Fruits Basket this way for a fraction of the licensed cost. Furuba, Yami no Matsuei and the first season of Saiyuki were badly translated but at least decipherable; to this day I have no idea what the hell was going on in the second season of Saiyuki. It’s been out on dvd in the US for awhile now, and eventually I may shell out for it just to relieve my curiosity.

But anyway, the manga. It’s split into three titles thanks in part to Minekura changing publisher’s mid stream – the first 9 volumes were entitled Gensomaden Saiyuki, subsequent ones were titled Saiyuki Reload, and there are also three prequel volumes called Saiyuki Gaiden. I’ve been reading the Tokyopop version of Saiyuki and scanlations of Reload, and its as cool as I remember it.

Cho Hakkai and his relationship with Sha Gojyo is still my favorite, no surprise there. There are certain types of characters I will always like, and so many of my favorite characters fall into this category – and Hakkai is probably the archetype, even though Tezuka Shinobu from Here is Greenwood was the first I identified. He’s very polite and well-mannered, quiet, but that’s only the surface; underneath he’s ruthless. Like I said, all of my favorite characters have this – Shinobu, Yanagi Renji from Prince of Tennis, Kigai Yuuto from X – but Hakkai is the most extreme, and he’s the most complicated. He’s the kind of character that makes me want to write fanfiction.

As for Gojyo, on the surface he’s like a foil to Hakkai – flamboyant and womanizing – but he’s definitely got his own issues, and he and Hakkai lend each other strength. I can’t write about one without involving the other.

Anyway, I read the first two volumes of Gensomaden this morning, and have the next four on order from Barnes & Noble. I’m also about to get to the Hakkai/Gojyo sections of the Burial Arc in Reload (an arc entirely about the pasts of the main characters) so there will probably be more about Saiyuki in the future.