English Dub Review: Saiyuki Reload Blast “Raid”

Beating your successor to a pulp does not undo your canning.

Overview (Spoilers)

The Sanzo party look on in shock at the demon mark on the back of Gojyo’s neck. This leads the quartet down the drain in assuming the worst is possible for the ruby-haired hanyou. As the discussion continues, it breaks out into a brawl. Hakuryuu, who IS the jeep they are fighting inside of, nearly flips himself over, dumping the misfits out onto the ground. This was his way of telling them to cool it. They manage to get a hold of themselves and mend fences, when there comes an impact in a nearby village. Nataku is attacking the town, which is filled with demons trying to resist the effects of the Minus Wave. Those demons are under the aegis of Sanzo Sharak and her Katen guard, but between the war god’s overwhelming chi blasts and his shikigami army, it’s a losing battle. Just as it looks like Nataku is about to wipe Sharak off the planet, the boys arrive to investigate. With incredible teamwork and power, they tear away at the shikigami. But even then, he drives them back and summons more. They can’t even lay a hand on him.

We’ve finally worked through Hakkai’s source of anxiety, and it might still be a thing to worry about. Hakkai may have been a made demon, but both he and the half-breed Gojyo are now considered demons in Nataku’s targeting system. How far has Gojyo’s transformation gone? If the blend from red to black on his mark indicates anything, he’s halfway there. Though the guys all comment that it looks like ice cream, I think the original Japanese had them saying it looked like a turd. That would also follow more with the show’s sense of humor.

Sharak also unveils some new abilities this time around, such as the ability to create a tree to bind her enemy. This seems a bit at odds with the nature of her Katen Scripture of The Unknown. I would expect the generation of plantlife to be the result of the Uten Scripture of Life. It ultimately is pointless, due to his shikigami. This was a rather interesting twist. When he first showed up, the spheres seemed like they were merely for effect. Now, we see that they pop out in humanoid soldiers of varying size and design. Though each of these soldiers is armed with a single sword, and are dispatched relatively easily, Nataku’s true horror is his limitless supply of them. This forces his opponents to fight through them to get to him, and once there, his defenses are already quite formidable. It will take something intense to defeat him. Either Goku or Gojyo going berserk, or the two scriptures being used together.

Our Take

This episode had a thoroughly emotional first half, culminating in an action-packed second half. Both were executed flawlessly for the aesthetic of the show. The boys fought by expressing their intent behind their actions, only to have the others over-react, and the situation spiraling out of control. Ultimately, this was less of them actually wanting to hurt each other, and more about blowing off steam from getting fired. Though none of them spoke plainly about their feelings (except Hakkai, and even he didn’t get to the point), their emotions were made plain by how they acted, as well as their voice acting. Micah Solusod was the focus in this episode, as Hakkai and Gojyo’s conflict came center stage. He did a great job of bringing a bunch of feelings out without making it feel like he was bringing a bunch of emotions out. Hakkai is typically so stoic and calm, that having any overblown emotion coming out of him would be off-putting. On the other hand, I feel like there wasn’t enough of Gojyo in Gojyo this time around. Ian Sinclair didn’t bring any of the hanyou’s characteristic wit and sarcasm to his lines.

The action of the episode played out very similarly to how Saiyuki likes doing things. Moving characters around the frame while they do very little in the way of actual animation, then cutting away. This gives us the illusion of action and more animation than there actually is. It’s always worked so well with the direction and the style of art used for the characters. The formula holds up here, though it isn’t as impressive after the incredible animation we saw at the end of the flashback arc. The effect used for the disintegration of the shikigami was definitely digital, but worked well with the traditional animation, and didn’t look out of place like many of the effects we have seen in earlier entries into the franchise.

The flow of the episode worked rather well. At first, the developing situation with the village only broke into the discussion with the boys on occasion, but as the episode continued, we saw more and more of it. Finally, when the boys are coming down from their bad vibes, the story fully switches to the village, and the boys appear within that story instead. This not only prevents the different scenes from getting stale, but it gives the viewer more of a feeling of continuity between the scenes. We only have one more episode to go until the show is over. Since it looks like it will be a major battle, we may be in for another installment of the franchise before we see the end of the Sanzo Party’s journey. I doubt we’ve seen the limit of Nataku’s power, and hopefully, it won’t just be more of a fight against his cronies. Given the buildup of how strong he is, the writers need to let loose some impressive stuff to let this season go out with a bang.