Gensomaden Saiyuki

Gensomaden Saiyuki (幻想魔伝 最遊記) is a Japanese anime television series that is based on Kazuya Minekura's manga series Saiyuki. The show is set in Shangri-La, an earthy paradise where humans and youkai (demons) live peacefully together. The world is invaded by "Minus Waves", which are created by the mixing of scientific research and magic in an attempt to resurrect an ancient, powerful and evil god named Gyumao. The youkais return to their bestial habits, killing and eating humans. Goddess Kanzeon sends the Buddhist monk Genjo Sanzo and his acolytes Son Goku, Sha Gojyo, and Cho Hakkai to Tenjiku (India) to stop the curse and prevent Gyumao's resurrection.

The series is produced by Studio Pierrot; it is directed by Hayato Date and written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, and the music is composed by Motoi Sakuraba. Gensomaden Saiyuki is the first season of the Saiyuki anime series; it is followed in the first-series continuity by the film-adaptation-and-direct-sequel Saiyuki: Requiem in August 2001, and Saiyuki Reload from October 2003 to March 2004.

Gensomaden Saiyuki 50 episodes were initially broadcast from April 4, 2000 to March 27, 2001, in Japan on TV Tokyo. In July 2001, ADV Films licensed the series in North America until 2009. Enoki Films holds the U.S. license to Gensomaden Saiyuki under the title Saiyuki: Paradise Raiders.

In October 2009, Madman Entertainment announced it had licensed Gensomaden Saiyuki in Australasia. The series was released at a rate of one episode a day and remained online until 20 January 2010. in North America AEsir Holdings licensed the anime, released the series as part of a complete collection of Saiyuki on DVD in February 2013 and April 2015, and on Blu-ray in March 2019.

The episodes have two opening and closing themes; the first opening theme "For Real" by Hidenori Tokuyama is used for the first twenty-six episodes and "Still Time" by Tokuyama is used for the remainder of the episodes. The two closing themes are "Tightrope" by Charcoal Filter and "Alone" by Mikuni Shimokawa.

Reception
Gensomaden Saiyuki won Animage magazine's Anime Grand Prix Award in 2000 and Genjo Sanzo won the Best Male Character category. In January 2001, "Gensomaden Saiyuki" was ranked second on Animage list of 100 most-important anime ever published. In May 2002, Gensomaden Saiyuki was ranked fourth in an Animage reader's poll of Top 20 Picks Best of 2001, and in August 2001, the series was ranked ninth in Newtype magazine's poll of top-10 Anime, and Genjo Sanzo was sixth in the top-ten male characters list.

In October 2004, the website Animaxis reported research had shown Saiyuki anime has become extremely popular among young Japanese women. In September 2005, Japanese television network TV Asahi broadcast a popularity poll based on a nationwide survey in which Saiyuki was placed 96th of the channel's Top 100 Anime. October 2006, TV Asahi broadcast a similar poll in which Saiyuki was placed 24th of the channel's Top 100 favorite Anime. In 2007, another large-scale poll by TV Asahi placed Gensomaden Saiyuki as the 27th-most-appreciated anime in Japan. In August 2020, Japan’s biggest ranking website Goo Ranking published its list of the most-popular anime that debuted in the last 20 years. Among these titles, Gensomaden Saiyuki was ranked eighth. In March 2022, Cheyenne Wiseman of Comic Book Resources chose ten of the best anime that are based on novels; Gensomaden Saiyuki was ranked ninth.

Critical response
Sage Ashford of Comic Book Resources wrote the series Gensomaden Saiyuki looks brand new after two decades and provides a new spin on the journey to the west. Enoch Lau of THEM Anime Reviews gave the series a three-out-of-five-star review, describing the series as a low-budget presentation that is entertaining and fun, and mixes mythology and religion beyond recognition. TheOtaku.com rated the series 9.5 out of 10, praised the English dubbing, and called the voice actors superb. The reviewer stated the series is full of morals and life lessons, and explains one of the reasons for its popularity. They described the visual effects as excellent, the episodes as full of seriousness and heart-felt emotion, mixing a great variety of humor, but criticized "filler" episode that neither advance the story nor show the strengths of the characters. Manga News wrote the series has several flaws, especially in the beginning, but they appreciated the initiative of including the Gaiden part in the series.

Writing for Anime News Network (ANN), Bamboo Dong said he found "the adventures of Sanzo Group with random people/objects and the concept of redoing the classic Chinese myth with modern day equipment" to be interesting, and called Kazuya Minkura's story "creative". Zac Bertschy of ANN criticized the anime series but gave an above-average score to DVD 7: The Gods of War; Bertschy also praised the art, described the show as a brightly-colored, well-designed world; praised its cinematic moments and fight scenes; and compared the improvement of the series to Rurouni Kenshin (1996), which has become more popular over time. Darius Washington of Anime Jump said the anime is "utterly pedestrian" and that it feels like "Ninja Scroll with a Weiss Kreuz complex", and criticized the English dubbing.

Layla Lawlor and Barb Lien-Cooper of Sequential Tart give an above-average score to Saiyuki Volume 1: The Journey Begins. Lien-Cooper, reviewing Saiyuki Volume 6: Demon Rising, graded it 8 out of 10 and praised the "interesting plots with varying tones (funny, scary, tragic), some unexpected twists and turns, and especially the characters". She also said the audience can see the depths of the characters and understand them. She also said the show's themes are "quite allegorical and enlightening in a 'choose good' sort of a way". Fellow Sequential Tart reviewer Sheena McNeil gave a 9-out-of-10 grade to first volume, and praised the art and animation, which has "some new styles of overlapped frames and use of static like shading". McNeil said the story "is definitely a new twist on the relationship between humans and demons as they normally get along peacefully ... [and] also combines a quest with a "Good vs Evil" battle"; and called the themes and characters "diverse". Later volumes of anime were also praised; McNeil praised the art style and gave a high score to Saiyuki Volume 3: Confronting Their Demons, and said: "I like that the main characters are not completely "good guys"—they all have dark pasts (and three are demons) and they're only doing this because they have to". She also stated the art techniques used for the flashbacks and backgrounds are different to those of other anime.

Sandra Dozier of DVD Verdict said Saiyuki "sort of resembles a very pretty, stylistic Dragon Ball Z", and called the eighth volume very enjoyable, and that she "found this volume to be relaxed in pace, letting the stories unfold without rushing it. Fight scenes were excellent and engaging, but too few on this particular volume." In her review of the ninth volume, Dozier called the disc a "nice suite of episodes" that explore the main characters' childhood memories, and said:"It's interesting to see some of the past events for these characters, and to see a very vulnerable side of Gojyo, especially". In her review of the tenth volume, Dozier called its animation "glossy and gorgeous", and the fight scenes "cutting-edge", but she found connecting with the main characters difficult.