To those who have read Saiyuki Gaiden I write this for you to be my main audience.

Intro: I have to say that this being a kind of continuation of Saiyuki Gaiden not only killed the ending of Saiyuki Gaiden, but also screwed the storyline.
I mean if it were another independent story by all means, it's not bad but because it isn't really made me gnash my teeth as I was reading it.
The quality of the illustrations was mediocre, as I saw it, and the story was a bit forced, compared to Gaiden.
Ultimately, it disrupted the story of Saiyuki Gaiden and to anyone who has finished reading Saiyuki Gaiden and wants to try this one, I sincerely hope you don't.

I think the writer should have stuck with choosing one storyline to follow instead of writing two similar ones.

First of all I’ll tell you that the story-line was kind of the opposite of its so-called predecessor; the predecessor concentrated on one character more than others but gives the other characters the spotlight sometimes but this story is more about a group giving the spotlight to each and every-one of them which to be honest since this is the supposed sequel contradicts the predecessor. Also, the predecessor had one deep running story while this one is several different stories, each different and non-related to the past one, meshed together.

The story itself was like comparing silk to stone, quality-wise, while Saiyuki Gaiden had a beautifully told heart-wrenching story, the stories told by Saiyuki were kind of shallow, the plot for most of them was like there-is-trouble-we-must-help-happy-ending. As the plot was that simple it doesn’t grab the reader’s attention enough to make anyone feel for the characters which puts Saiyuki Gaiden to shame, since Saiyuki is the supposed successor.

The characters in Saiyuki are all chummy-chummy and that’s great except that in Saiyuki Gaiden you had the chummy-ness and some DEPTH which Saiyuki lacks.

The illustration went downhill with the story line.

Honestly, this was like a slap in the face to those who are fans of Saiyuki Gaiden and if you’ve finished reading it (Gaiden); my advice is to move on and not bother to read this, it only damages the Gaiden’s reputation.

Although you must take account that though Gaiden was written after Saiyuki, Saiyuki takes place after Gaiden; so pointing the finger towards the writer for leaving fans unsatisfied with both stories doesn't seem to be a bad idea. Doesn't it?