I've seen the first handful of the Japanese live-action Saiyuki, which... just didn't click for me. I've tried to watch two of the Cantonese versions, but after studying Mandarin, listening to Cantonese gives me a headache. (I think it's because I'm far from fluent in Mandarin, but know the expected sounds enough that my brain keeps trying to make sense of the similar sounds in Cantonese -- sometimes the same thing happens, here and there, when watching Vietnamese shows, too.) Not to mention the HK studios are mad-crazy about their wire work. And you can only see so much wire-work before you start wishing for, y'know, Jackie Chan to show up and show everyone how it's really done.
I caught a little bit of the SciFi channel version, which was right around the time that I first moved in with CP (who was raised in East Asia and grew up with Monkey). I think I sort of adopted CP's irritation with having a white/american guy be the lead role (taking over Tripitaka's part, basically). Actually, one of the main reasons the two of us ever started watching anime -- other than the highly recommended Spirited Away, up to that point -- was because I was at Tower Records and browsing the DVD section and ended up in the anime section. Idly I picked up a random DVD, flipped it over, and inside of two sentences was thinking, "this sounds an awful lot like that story CP loves so much..."
Ayup, Saiyuki started it all, and all because I had learned the basics of Monkey, so recognized it. (Didn't have a clue whether it was a faithful or even decent adaptation, and it did take awhile to adjust to the mangaka's animation style, but at least I had CP to point out same/difference, and the first company to have the Saiyuki distribution contract did have extensive cultural notes -- which sadly disappeared when Saiyuki's distribution contract changed to whomever.)
I did see promos & trailers for The Forbidden Kingdom (another USian adaptation) but even with Jet Li and Jackie Chan, I was less-than-enthused about it being yet another "white guy comes in to save the day" with everyone else being supporting characters. I mean, I get the tie-in to make USian audiences pay attention -- and Hollywood does tend to assume USian audiences only pay attention if it's a young, semi-handsome, white guy at the helm -- but still. If I want Tripitaka, then I bloody well want Tripitaka, and not some white kid from the Bronx, y'know?
Every now and then, I come across Japanese manga that adapt (faithfully or just as starting point) some aspect of JttW, but most of them just haven't caught for me. I think maybe because too many of them emphasize the shonen/fighting aspect over the satirical humor I find in the written stories. (We have the abridged/first English translation, and a longer translation; I've read most of the first, but was scattershot with the second, which seems to be sort of okay, since the stories do get kind of cyclical.)
But I do hear they're reshooting the 86-87 two-season series of JttW, with the original cast, but this time in HD (and probably with much better sfx, no doubt). That, I can't wait to see, after being told about it by friends who watched it in high school and remember it fondly.
And if you don't know how much I think Gintama should come with it own entire Dune-sized handbook, just listen to the next installment...
heh, sorry, couldn't resist. sometimes I want to end posts that way, and wonder if anyone would actually get it.
no subject
Date: 20 Mar 2011 07:23 am (UTC)I caught a little bit of the SciFi channel version, which was right around the time that I first moved in with CP (who was raised in East Asia and grew up with Monkey). I think I sort of adopted CP's irritation with having a white/american guy be the lead role (taking over Tripitaka's part, basically). Actually, one of the main reasons the two of us ever started watching anime -- other than the highly recommended Spirited Away, up to that point -- was because I was at Tower Records and browsing the DVD section and ended up in the anime section. Idly I picked up a random DVD, flipped it over, and inside of two sentences was thinking, "this sounds an awful lot like that story CP loves so much..."
Ayup, Saiyuki started it all, and all because I had learned the basics of Monkey, so recognized it. (Didn't have a clue whether it was a faithful or even decent adaptation, and it did take awhile to adjust to the mangaka's animation style, but at least I had CP to point out same/difference, and the first company to have the Saiyuki distribution contract did have extensive cultural notes -- which sadly disappeared when Saiyuki's distribution contract changed to whomever.)
I did see promos & trailers for The Forbidden Kingdom (another USian adaptation) but even with Jet Li and Jackie Chan, I was less-than-enthused about it being yet another "white guy comes in to save the day" with everyone else being supporting characters. I mean, I get the tie-in to make USian audiences pay attention -- and Hollywood does tend to assume USian audiences only pay attention if it's a young, semi-handsome, white guy at the helm -- but still. If I want Tripitaka, then I bloody well want Tripitaka, and not some white kid from the Bronx, y'know?
Every now and then, I come across Japanese manga that adapt (faithfully or just as starting point) some aspect of JttW, but most of them just haven't caught for me. I think maybe because too many of them emphasize the shonen/fighting aspect over the satirical humor I find in the written stories. (We have the abridged/first English translation, and a longer translation; I've read most of the first, but was scattershot with the second, which seems to be sort of okay, since the stories do get kind of cyclical.)
But I do hear they're reshooting the 86-87 two-season series of JttW, with the original cast, but this time in HD (and probably with much better sfx, no doubt). That, I can't wait to see, after being told about it by friends who watched it in high school and remember it fondly.
And if you don't know how much I think Gintama should come with it own entire Dune-sized handbook, just listen to the next installment...
heh, sorry, couldn't resist. sometimes I want to end posts that way, and wonder if anyone would actually get it.