Oh, Saiyuki my bad babe, we've had a long and passionate relationship over the years and I still think you're one of the best.

What can I say? Saiyuki by Minekura Kazuya was one of the first manga series I ever read and it has been my companion, inspiration and friend for a long time. Now it's time to spread the love.

*This is a spoiler free review*

This is the first part of the long-running Saiyuki series and the point where you should start your reading. Originally published in a magazine aimed at boys it's a curious mix of material seemingly targeted towards catering female audience and the shounen-esque escalating structure of the story filled with action. If you're familiar with the old Chinese legend about The Journey to the West...this is not like it at all. The characters are based on it but their personalities, origins and motives are heavily altered to fit in this particular story. To cut to the chase, we have a bunch of anti-heroes, villains, megalomaniacs, psychopaths and knight templars and...wait, did I just describe our protagonists too? Good doesn't always have to be nice and vice versa. And who's to judge what's good or evil anyway, huh?

At this point of the story the plot is mostly about introduction to the world and characters and it's greatest function is to move our main guys to new places to kick some ass - and to give them some more reason to get snarky with each other. When we get to the sequels, Saiyuki Reload and Saiyuki Realod Blast, the story starts to unravel more. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. What we have in here is a straightforward road trip adventure mixing witty dialogue with action and mythology with past events heavily on the background. The episodic story arcs throw us in monster-of-the-week situations which usually trigger our main characters to have to deal with their own inner demons as well. The setting can be only described as "schizo tech gone wild" with it's weird and intriguing combination of magic and science.

I've always loved the characterization and character dynamics in Saiyuki. There's many kind of relationships to discover, from loving to lethal to unconventional. The bickering and passive-aggressive attitudes are hilarious and there's also some of the best executed tense moments I've ever read in any manga. Both the strength and weakness of the characters lies in the fact that they stay true to themselves with their own moral codes and ideas of how to live. Saiyuki is also infamous for the angst: almost every single boy, girl, granny and their dog is in some way or another traumatized by their tragic past and we get a full set of psychological problems and other less pleasant topics do deal with. Hardships have an effect on us, be it something easily overcome or something more brutal. The past shapes you and can always be in your mind but it doesn't have to chain or define who you are right now and I love Saiyuki for showing that.

Minekura's art is distinct and easily recognizable. And I adore it! I admit, the proportions are a a little off, especially at the start of the series and everybody is just so beautiful that it makes you sweat uncomfortably but I still look up to it because of it's uniqueness. Her art evolves along the way and the later parts of this first series is where I've always considered it to be at it's peak. The other thing I appreciate is the composition. Everything's in it's optimal place, the panels run smoothly and story flows as intended; dramatic and emotional moments have plenty of punch.

The greatest thing about Saiyuki is that it doesn't pretend to be anything else than it is: an action romp with badass bishounens on the wheel. You don't have to try to search anything deep from it, because the action and comedy are great, but there's also some interesting questions about self, identity and purpose of life to ponder. In this fascinating world there's great ambiguous characters to love, pretty art to enjoy and up to date best dialogue translation Tokyopop ever came up to.

This series can never get too much love. I've grown up with it and been even taught some life lessons along the way and it still feels fresh every time I start the journey again. I'd dare people to give it a chance and maybe get surprised. The story continues.

TL;DR
Saiyuki is an entertaining over the top adventure oozing with blood, hot guys and angst. If you're up to some action and mad one-liners I'd tell you to pack your Smith&Wesson and give it a shot.