Saiyuki Reload Blast (2017)
I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Saiyuki was getting a new anime. Thankfully it continues the story instead of just redoing it again. It has been many years since the last anime ran though. If you're not familiar with Saiyuki, it is a take on Journey to the West, a classic Chinese novel. There's a lot adaptations and Dragon Ball is probably the most popular one though it is very loosely based on the novel. I don't think fans of it even knew it based on it. Saiyuki on the other hand, it a lot more obvious that it is based on the novel but it does changed a lot things like having a car for example. Saiyuki Reload Blast is the fourth season, and should cover the gang's journey to India which is their destination.
The main story of Saiyuki is a Monk name Sanzo is tasked to travel to India to stop the resurrection of the demon king. With him are three demons Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai. The story is mainly their adventures on the road. I have watched the earlier anime when I was younger and really enjoyed it.
This season did spend a few episodes condensing the origin story of how the gang met in Heaven. These episodes seem to confuse people who are not familiar with this series at all. It maybe better to skip these and watch the OVA Saiyuki Gaiden. This Heaven story takes place 500 years before the main story Saiyuki and it is about the previous life of the gang. Saiyuki is about their reincarnation so sadly they do not remember their time in Heaven at all. If you want to catch up or refresh your memory the seasons order is this:
Saiyuki Gaiden (3 ep OVA)
Saiyuki (or Gensomaden Saiyuki)
Saiyuki Requiem (movie)
Saiyuki Reload
Saiyuki Reload Gunlock
Saiyuki Reload Blast
The seiyuus for the four characters thankfully remain the same. Though since it has been a long time they may sound a bit different. Since this series is like 20 years old, the storytelling and comedy may seem a bit dated. I'm not sure if it would gain much new fans, but hopefully the core story and characters would be good enough to get people interested. I enjoy how different it is from the original story so I do hope this will bring people to be curious about the original story as well. So I definitely would recommend this anime to everyone!
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