The Last Saiyuki

[amasposu]

Spoiler for :

Name: The Last Saiyuki
Associated Names: Saigo no Saiyuuki; 最後の西遊記
Story & Art: Nonoue Daijirou (Mutou Black)

Returning from school, third-grader Ryunosuke is introduced to a young girl. His father tells him that she will be his little sister starting that day. Her name is Koharu. She is blind and her arms and legs are prosthetics. She holds within her a power beyond human understanding... A bizarre and fantastic Saiyuki story for a new generation!

Manga-Updates: https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=153104

[amasposu]

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapt...e-last-saiyuki

Weekly Jump's newest series. You can read the first chapter for free at Viz.com.

[Nivek von Beldo]

How long before the AX?

[amasposu]

Spoiler for :

Wow. This series is so violent against children.

[FlareKnight]

Not a bad start thus far for the series. Definitely not holding back on the nightmarish quality of these monsters. At the very least should be interesting to see how the story plays out in the short term.

[RedWingFM]

Last Journey (to the West)?

[wuhugm]

Interesting

[James Rye]

I like the bursting box that only MC, his father and Koharu can see. Wonder what kind of Monster will emerge from that.

[wuhugm]

I still feel that Koharu should be killed though
Too risky

[zztop]

I'm interested to see how the mangaka will implement elements of the Saiyuki/Journey to the West story into the manga.

IMO for now,

- Koharu is Sanzang/Sanzo. (Evil parties want her power, like the demons want to eat Sanzang for his holy powers.)
- Ryunosuke is Sun Wukong/Son Goku. (Defender of Sanzang, has magic staff.)

Other references to put in would include Sha Wujing, Zhu Bajie, the white horse, and the journey to India for the Buddhist scripture.

[amasposu]

That is because Journey to the West is the most popular Chinese story that is known to all children growing up in many parts of Asia. To give you an analogy, it is like the western story of Santa. Everyone knows what the story is growing up.

The most famous manga based on Journey to the West is Dragon Ball Z. Son Goku is the name of the monkey protagonist in Journey to the West.

[amasposu]

Chapter 17 is out: https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapt...e-last-saiyuki

The story is not bad. It is a shame that the powers are so generic.

[James Rye]

Yeah, I like it, but I think it needs a bit more pep to keep readers attention, especially in Japan with its huge competition.

[zztop]

Someone tweeted their thoughts on why Saiyuki isn't succeeding in WSJ. https://twitter.com/RainSpectre/stat...92285764501504

In short, they said it lacks discussion/anticipation hype amongst readers; ie. lack of a fandom formed through discussions.

(I think) manga success is (not built on talent, innovation or power, rather) through a system/algorithm (of popular anticipation and discussion). Series which fail...are those (unable to) work in that system.