Journey To The West
Quick Intro
Journey to the West is a household legend and myth throughout East Asia,
especially China, and among Chinese throughout the world. It is based on the
real life monk Xuan Zang's (also known as Tripitaka or Tang San Zang) pilgrimage
to India, to fetch back some Buddhist scriptures. Nonetheless, this fictional
retelling focuses on San Zang's first disciple, the monkey king, Sun Wu Kong,
who captured readers' hearts and imagination with his bold, daring, and
mischievous personality. He was also very rebellious. As a matter of fact, Wu
Cheng En wrote Journey to the West to criticize China's political system and
society.
Basically,
Journey to the West is about Tang San Zang's journey to the west (duh)
and the
difficulties he and his disciples face in between. It is overflowing
with magic,
demons, gods, immortals, and scrumptious action and adventure! It has
lots of
humor and some angst as well. Monkey King Wu Kong and the other
disciples, a pig demon Zhu Ba Jie and the river demon Sha Wu Jing, have
to battle hordes of demons, who all
want their master because his flesh will give immortality to anyone who
eats it.
This epic story
is a captivating read, with the pilgrims getting into trouble in the most
unexpected places, fighting through not only outright confrontation and
abduction but also lies and disguises while using trickery of their own. Sun Wu
Kong the Monkey King is especially good at this, having mastered the way of transforming himself
into anything he likes, including a fly, tree, or a beautiful girl. Xi You Ji
spans over a huge area, taking readers for a wild ride to the Heavens,
volcanoes, seas, wide rivers, mountain peaks, demon-filled caves, right down to
the pits of Hell. The plot is imaginative and full of conflict, either with
external enemies or between the pilgrims themselves. The characters are well
developed, with distinct, three-dimensional personalities. Well, most of them,
at least. There are also underlying spiritual and religious themes. This
masterpiece is frequently underestimated as it also portrays a realistic view of
the political and social scenarios during the Ming Dynasty. In short, Xi You Ji
is definitely worth your time. Grab the chance to experience one of the greatest
classics of ancient China!
This is a very famous Chinese live
action TV series produced by CCTV in
1986, starring Liu Xiao Ling Tong as Sun Wu Kong, and
directed by Yang Jie (click here for her pictures). It
follows the original storyline faithfully and is widely
regarded as a classic. The portrayal of Sun Wu Kong by Liu Xiao Ling Tong
is by far the best and most masterful. If Sun Wu Kong was real, this would be
what he would look like. Unfortunately, there is no English dub. However, a
reader has informed me that there IS a Spanish dub, which was 'broadcasted in
México in the year 1996 by a small Mexican Cable Network named "TVC" (Television
por Cable)'. Thank you Jose for the info! Apparently, 'the Latino Actor who
plays the voice of Sun Wu Kong is 99% similar to the Original Chinese Actor!'
Torrent link to download (English subtitle):
Monkey King Cartoon a.k.a.
Cartoon Xiyouji
This is a cartoon series of Sun Wu Kong made in 2D animation.
There are 52 episodes in all. The character designs aren't particularly striking
except for the protagonist Wu Kong. Of all the Xi You Ji cartoons I have seen, I
love the character design of Wu Kong here the best. First of all, it is true to
the description in the book (short, thin, tiger skin skirt etc) and yet is cute
and mostly aesthetically pleasing to my eyes (I adore his long hair it is so
beautiful ^o^). I feel that the animation of this character really brought him
to life through his mannerisms, expressions, body language, etc. The character
design also evolves together with the character, for example: In the beginning
Wu Kong had short hair whereas after being imprisoned under the mountain the
creators drew him with long hair, signifying the passage of time, perhaps? In
addition, the contours of his face change, becoming more mature, more human
after the imprisonment, probably reflecting the change of personality.
The storyline is more or less loyal to the original novel,
with the customary tweaks here and there. There is a sort of girl monkey (who
doesn't play a large part, thank god) who is Wu Kong's childhood friend, and
there are some other changes in details, but mostly true to the originals.
Suitable for children. The opening and ending songs are too cheesy for my
liking, evidently targeting younger audiences. However I certainly enjoyed it (a
few years back when I was still a child heh). It's in Mandarin and there's no
English version though. I have only the first 26 episodes. I can't seem to find
the second part in the shops. Damn. *frowns*
Note of interest: Sometimes, Wu Kong reminds me quite forcibly
of Peter Pan. >D
NEW!!
You can now buy the English version on VHS
on amazon.com! It has only the first part of the series though.
Dragonball and Journey To The West
This famous manga is loosely
based on Xi You Ji. Very, very loosely based. Basically, the only concrete
similarity is the main character’s name, which is Son Goku. (Son Goku is
Japanese for Sun Wu Kong.) A teenage girl scientist, Bulma, takes the place of
San Zhang, a pig with transformation abilities, Wuron, takes the place of Ba Jie,
but only for a while. The author follows the basic plot structure of Xi You Ji
only for the first few tankoubons, after which the storyline spirals wildly out
of control. This is actually an original manga, as it loses all ties to Xi You
Ji (except for the names) not even halfway into the series.
Goku is vastly
different from Wu Kong. First of all, Goku is naïve and innocent, whereas Wu
Kong is calculating and kind of evil. Wu Kong uses a metal rod for a weapon,
whereas while in the beginning stages, Goku uses a wooden staff that can also
stretch and shrink at will, eventually he discards it for arm-to-arm combat and
other ki techniques such as the famous Kame Hame Ha and ultrasonic speed. Goku
also marries and has two children, Gohan and Goten, whereas Wu Kong would puke
at the very notion.
Dragonball is
basically a manga about fighting, fighting, and more fighting, with the enemies
thrown at Goku and gang getting stronger, and stronger, and stronger, hyperbole
style, until the final showdown where the villain is capable of destroying the
entire Earth with a single well-placed ki blast, and Goku draws his strength
from all the inhabitants of Earth to create a immense ball of energy which he
then uses to (finally!) destroy the enemy. You get the drift. Dragonball is
hugely entertaining, with an engaging plot, wacky characters, superb artwork and awesome fight
scenes, and it has remained an all-time favorite for decades, a testament to
the author’s creativity, fired and catalyzed by the older classic, Journey to
the West.
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