Saiyuki RELOAD: ZEROIN
(small spoilers)
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How do i explain this to a bunch of weebs who dont know what this is... think a brotrip of a jojo's adventure, but calm down its journey to the west, but the demons and humans try to coexist, but the power system and world building is ancient buddhism, but all the themes are philosophy. Hows that?
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A lot of symbolism about classism and eternal suffering and the cycle of death and rebirth. First half of the season is kinda fun and has some old reoccurring jokes making their way into this version, but the last half is very srs and dark and thoughtful. Fav part was goku's growth moment about not knowing who or what he kind of a monster he really is, but still deciding to live his life unapologetically and to the fullest with no regrets. Everyone dies, you cant change your nature, some things just suck. All you can really do is decide to keep on living, while you can, to the fullest that you can.
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Hazel's character starts off kinda shallow and played as a counter to sanzo but as you learn about him he becomes the protag of his own story and his actions becomes completely understandable. He is a lot more interesting than i thought he would be and sanso's talks with hazel and gats gets so real, the dialogue was really well written and hit me in the feels. I also love the lessons on pride, those probs hit too close to home. But the most important theme is how much focus is put on what it would actually mean in a real life way to ' wish someone back to life,' how many perspectives that idea is tackled from, and how that maybe isn't the happy ending you're imagining it would be.
Like yashahime, its hard for me to tell if this would be a good watch without nostalgia goggles, my guess is that unlike yashahime, it would ...not be... But thats not to say its a bad story and i'd def still recommend to certain people, if interested probs check out epi9 and see if the vibe is right. Personally, I love when stories take the priest archetype and instead of making them a wimpy healer who cares too much, they make them hard and tsundere with good reason to be, and sanzo delivers that. And also sanzo's va was the same as tanigaki, and gojo's va was the same as sugimoto so that was a real surprise treat. Fun adventure story, surprisingly deep w/ adult themes, lore that rewards you for paying attention, lovable well-rounded cast, easy watch
84/100
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