Saiyuki/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Sanzo-ikkou

The Sanzo Party

Our hotties and "heroes", the main characters of the series.

  • Badass Crew
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Hoo boy, to put things one way, one of the fillers showed an image of them at their most traumatic memories, everyone but Goku was covered in blood. And that's just because Goku's memories of the covered-in-blood incident got erased.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Even Goku gets in a jab now and then.
  • Fan Nickname: The Sanzo-ikkou, an honorific indicating a group, especially a group of religious pilgrims. Kougaiji, Lirin, Yaone, and Dokugakuji are often referred to as the Kougaiji-tachi, a group honorific with a connotation of "team".
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble


Genjo Sanzo

A short tempered Buddhist monk that smokes and carries a revolver. He was abandoned as an infant and found by the Sanzo priest Koumyou, who raised him and named him Kouryuu. He was granted the supreme rank of Sanzo, guardian of one of the Sutras from the Dawn of Time, at 14, becoming the youngest to ever attain the title. Shortly afterword, Koumyou was brutally murdered in front of Sanzo and his sutra stolen, setting Sanzo on a quest to recover the sutra and avenge his master that has lasted his entire adult life. His behavior is classic Jerkass but he's the legitimate emissary of the gods and on the side of Good.

  • Aloof Older Brother: To Goku, despite the fact that they are not related.
  • Anti-Hero: Type III
  • Arc Words: Repeatedly described as being like or even just being the sun. This plays a part in a mysterious symbolic bet between Koumyou and Ukoku.
  • Badass Preacher
  • Badass in Distress: More badass than his original, ever-gullible counterpart but still has quite a few James Bondage moments. As the only non-youkai in the group, he is physically the most vulnerable. As the bearer of 20% of the source code for the universe, he's the ultimate target of most attackers. Result: Sanzo takes a lot of damage and the others frequently have to run interference for him.
  • Badass Long Robe
  • Berserk Button: Do not harm Goku in his presence.
  • Big Brother Mentor: To Goku, when he's not being an Aloof Older Brother.
  • Celibate Hero: By Word of God, the one monastic vow he has never broken...but not out of piety. He just doesn't like being touched "that way". In fact, Sanzo recoils from pretty much any touch at all, with some degree of exception for his traveling companions, especially Goku. See Rape as Backstory below for a possible explanation.
  • Closest Thing We Got: Sanzo's a horrible choice for a hero. He knows this. Everyone around him knows this. He's also got a better chance of surviving sanzohood than any of the other alternatives.
  • Dead Little Sister: His mentor, Koumyou Sanzo.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: All four main characters get attention from other men but Sanzo kind of takes the cake. The Requiem OVA's plot centers around his same-sex stalker.
  • Everyone Calls Him Sanzo: It's his priestly rank/title. The closest thing he has to a personal name is "Genjyo".
  • Good Is Not Nice
  • The Gunslinger: Type A, The Trick Shot. He shoots Chin Yisou's seed out of Gojyo's body without otherwise harming him, even though the seed is right next to his heart.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners / Ho Yay: With Goku. Whether he likes it or not...
  • Jerkass Facade, with shades of Jerk with a Heart of Gold/Jerkass Woobie
  • Knight in Sour Armor
  • Master Apprentice Chain: Connects him to Ukoku and Kami-sama on the other side.
  • Meditation Powerup: When the Sutra comes out, people are going to get owned.
  • Paper Fan of Doom
  • Purple Eyes: Remarked on in-series as being both exotically appealing and deeply unsettling.
  • Rape as Backstory: In the Burial Arc, the first time he ever killed another person, he shot a thug who was trying to rape him. There are many other implications of creepy attention based on his attractiveness as well. This puts Sanzo's responses to touch and to sexual advances in a different light.
  • Sexy Priest: But call him one and your ass is toast.
  • Smoking Is Cool
  • Strong as They Need to Be: The first anime series mostly depicted him close to the manga, but had a couple moments where his strength was greatly inflated, such as once when he knocked Lirin out with a single punch and blocked a punch from Goku's Super-Powered Evil Side.
  • Warrior Monk: Duh.

and his previous incarnation

Konzen Douji

  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: Konzen's androgynously beautiful and dressed in flowing silk that doesn't exactly scream "masculine". It's downright shocking to see his animated incarnation for the first time and then to hear Toshihiko Seki's deep voice when he speaks.
  • Jerkass --> Jerk with a Heart of Gold
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: Or at least “long since bored past the point of caring” bureaucrat with OCD. He never seems terribly impressed with Heaven’s regime but he’s very serious about his job--until Goku gives him something better to be serious about.
  • Papa Wolf

Son Goku

A being born from the Earth, and imprisoned 500 years prior to the series by the gods. He knew the past incarnations of the rest of the Sanzo party, but his imprisonment erased his memory. He was eventually let out by Genjo Sanzo, and since then followed him everywhere, though Sanzo never admits to caring for Goku. Is the most childish of the group and has a child-like enthusiasm for fighting. Of all the characters, Goku has probably changed the most over the course of the series.

Has a Super-Powered Evil Side that comes out if his diadem is ever removed, in which he attacks everything in sight and his enjoyment of fighting turns into a sadistic joy of inflicting pain on others.

Sha Gojyo

A half-yokai that grew up with an abusive mother that eventually tried to kill him, but his older brother Jien killed her right in front of him to save him. Is womanizing and frequently gets into fights with Goku. As a result of the abuse he endured as a child he's quick to defend children.

previous incarnation

General Kenren

  • Badass Longcoat
  • Big Brother Mentor: To young Goku.
  • Four-Star Badass
  • House Husband: Back in the day, Kenren was the one who kept Tenpou’s office clean and made sure he remembered little things like sleeping and bathing.
  • With Due Respect: Kenren is not exactly known for holding his tongue and he’s the first one to lash out against the Heavenly authorities…but the others immediately back him up when he does.

Cho Hakkai

Originally named Cho Gonou, he lived with his sister, who he shared a romantic relationship with. One day she was kidnapped by youkai, and Gonou proceeded to singlehandedly kill them all, only to find his sister had been raped, and not wanting to give birth to a youkai child, killed herself right in front of him after he had fought so hard to rescue her. In the process, he got the blood of a thousand youkai on him and became a youkai himself. Later he meet with Gojyo and the two were found by Sanzo and Goku who were tasked to bring Hakkai for trial for his murdering the youkai. It turned out for Hakkai that as Buddhism forbids killing (not that ever stops Sanzo), he is instead given a new identity as Cho Hakkai. He is generally the most polite and intelligent of the group, but even they find him terrifying when he's angry. Occasionally he removes his power limiters and fights as his youkai self, but does so rarely as it can potentially expose him to the influence of the Minus Wave.

previous incarnation

Field Marshal Tenpou

Hakuryuu / Jeep


Kougaji Party

The Kougaiji Party

A band of four youkai that were unaffected by the minus waves, but for reasons that come from following Kougaiji they serve as rivals to the Sanzo party.

Kougaiji

A Noble Demon that was the son of Gyumaoh. He has no interest in reviving him and has nothing against humans or the Sanzo party, but as Gyokuman Koushu promises to revive his mother if he helps complete his plans, he none the less aids her.

Lirin

Kougaji's younger half sister. Can be best described as a female Goku; replace his relationship with Sanzo with hers with Kougaiji minus that he treats her much better, except she's a bit of an airhead. Also has surprisingly large breasts despite her young age.

Dokugakuji/ Sha Jien

Yaone

Zakuro


Also Pebbles In The Ikkou's Shoes

Gyokumen Koushu

The youkai that aims to Gyumaoh, and Lirin's mother. As a Foil to the Kougaiji Party, she appears completely evil, caring for nothing and nobody apart from achieving her goals, even her own family mean nothing to her.

Dr. Nii Jianyi /Ukoku Sanzo/Ken'yuu

An extremely eccentric yet very threatening human mad scientist attempting to revive Gyumaoh for unknown reasons. As of the end of Reload is also known to be Ukoku Sanzo, the heretical keeper of the Muten sutra and an old friend of Koumyou Sanzo...and possibly also his murderer.

  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Almost literally, but do NOT mistake this guy for harmless due his eccentric behavior, he has plenty of Kick the Dog moments in his pursuit of mad science. That's not even counting the destructive power of the Muten sutra and the fact that he was able to use Buddhist magic to kill fellow monks with no more than a wave of his hand even BEFORE he was elevated to Sanzo.
  • Deceptive Disciple: Killed his old master Goudai Sanzo.
  • Eye Scream: End of the Reload manga. Still waiting for canon confirmation of the extent of the damage.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Gyokuman Koushu may be the one that came up with plan to revive Guymoah, but Nii is the one that allows her plan the possibility of succeeding, and as a whole is far more crafty than she is.
  • Klingon Promotion: Ken'yuu rose in rank to Ukoku Sanzo by killing his master, Goudai. While his master had in fact declared that succession would be decided by a battle to the death, Ken'yuu had been specifically disqualified from participating. This results in Ukoku's strange heretical status: the Muten sutra recognizes him as its owner but he has never received the chakra mark that indicates approval from the gods.
  • Mad Scientist
  • Magnificent Bastard: It seems to be heavily hinted at that his entire involvement with the Gyumoah revival was part of a bet with the late Koumyou Sanzo.
  • Master Apprentice Chain
  • Ravens and Crows: His symbol in the series, along with the darkness of night. His Buddhist dynastic name is "Ukoku", "a crow cawed", after the bird that cried out when he killed his master.
  • Ret-Gone: The Muten Sutra.

Hazel Grouse

  • Dead Little Sister: His master.
  • Enemy Within: He's been possessed by the demon Valhalla since it killed his master when he was a child, though he doesn't know it. This is implicitly the doing of Ukoku Sanzo, who was visiting at the time.
  • Foil: To Sanzo. They have a similar history, both having lost their mentors/father figures to youkai attacks and devoting their adult lives to vengeance. However, Hazel pursues his vengeance by seeking to eliminate youkai entirely, even those unaffected by the Minus Wave like young children. Hazel’s magic amulet holds out a kind of false hope because for every human life it restores it must destroy the soul of a youkai. Sanzo, while very willing to kill anyone youkai or otherwise who tries to impede his quest, has not simply generalized that hatred to the entire species. He’s seeking to shut down the Minus Wave and end the problem at its source, restoring the possibility of coexistence between humans and youkai.
  • Kansai Regional Accent: In Japanese...because he's from "The West". It gets changed to a mild, Southern accent in English translations.
  • Koichi Tochika
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: He believes in the obliteration of all youkai, berserk or no, since his master's murder.

Gatty "Gat" Nenehawk

  • Back from the Dead: Gat was Hazel's first human victim, by accident. Hazel used his power to bring him back to life. Seems to have been an Unwanted Revival.
  • BFG: Each one is about 3 times the size of Sanzo's little Smith and Wesson. Gat asks Sanzo, after Hazel's talisman is broken, to carry the guns once he can no longer be revived. Sanzo replies that they're guns only someone with Gat's strength could use: Sanzo would have to use both hands to be able to aim just one of them and the recoil would probably numb his entire arm, so he'd only be able to get off a single shot. One of them gets used quite dramatically in the climactic battle of Reload, against Ukoku. Result: The most successful attack against Ukoku yet--he’s probably lost an eye, maybe both. Sanzo does indeed have to use both hands and has to make his one shot count.
  • Boom! Headshot!: Tries this on Seiten Taisei. It doesn't work.
  • Gentle Giant
  • Guns Akimbo
  • The Gunslinger: Unlike Sanzo, Type B, The Vaporizer, with some elements of Type C (The Woo) use of Gun Fu. Gat's a very good shot but ultimately his style relies on the exceptional firepower of his huge pistols.
  • Magical Native American: Though by Hazel's magic rather than his own.

Meanwhile, Up In Heaven

Kanzeon Bosatsu/The Merciful Goddess

  • Genre Savvy
  • Hermaphrodite: In the manga, Kanzeon as a "perfected" boddhisattiva is both fully male and fully female. In the anime, Kanzeon is portrayed as fully female like in Chinese tradition.
  • Intrigued by Humanity: While she's definitely arrogant, her Butt Monkey man-servant once implying that she's an egotist even compared to the other gods, she regards Earth and its dynamic, constantly changing inhabitants as far more interesting and compelling than static, eternal Heaven. Woe betide you if she finds you especially interesting...like the Sanzo-ikkou.
  • Physical God: In Saiyuki Gaiden, she's shown to be even stronger than Goku with his power limiter removed.
  • Jerkass Gods: She sends the Sanzo party out for her own amusement rather than any desire to do good, and only rarely ever helps them. And believe it or not, she's actually one of nicer gods seen in the series.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old

Nataku

Li Touten

The Three Aspects/The Sanbutsushin

  • Huge Holographic Head: The way they appear in the Temple of the Setting Sun.
  • The Omniscient: Supposedly. There's some suggestions that the Aspects are just following orders from higher deities like Kanzeon.
  • Power Trio: They represent the three "bodies" of the Buddha--Truth, Bliss, and Manifestation--but the character designs look more like they represent the Masculine, Feminine, and Androgyne genders.

Monastic High School Drama

Houmei/Koumyou Sanzo

  • Badass Long Hair: Goes from being just long enough to tie back as a novice, to a waist-length ponytail in middle age, to waist-length even when braided at his death.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: The description used in Ibun is “a little stray cloud off in his own world”. Koumyou claims to be less reliable than the moon. He’s got a real thing for paper airplanes and forgets to hide the pipe and the booze from the other monks. At one point he quotes Dragonball Z to explain his strategies. I am not making this up.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As a novice, Houmei was known as “the demerit monk” for his chronic rulebreaking and laziness. He was also stronger in Buddhist magic than any of the other sanzo candidates. As Koumyou Sanzo, he’s still blowing off lectures and sneaking alcohol…while also being the youngest person ever to reach that rank and the only one ever to be entrusted with two sutras.
  • Master Apprentice Chain: Learned from Jikaku as a novice, and transmitted his teachings to his successor, Genjyo Sanzo.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard
  • My Death Is Only the Beginning: Ukoku has suggested that Koumyou’s death in a youkai attack may have been intentional, as he was more than strong enough to fight such intruders off. This raises the possibility that Koumyou knew the effect his death would have on Genjyo and set him on that path on purpose.
  • The Only One: Two of his closest friends (Tenkai and Goudai) stick him with their own problems (the Maten Sutra and Ukoku, respectively) when they die, because they believe him to be the only one who will not collapse under the karmic burden.
  • Valley Girl: Houmei talks more like a Nagoya schoolgirl than a grown man—using cutesy nicknames and honorifics (i.e., “Momo-chan”), referring to oneself in the third person, and using “boku” and “anata” pronouns are all young, girlish verbal traits in Japanese.

Toudai/Goudai Sanzo

Genkai

  • Blessed with Suck: Genkai’s prophetic talents were exploited by his parents and he foresaw the deaths of many, but could not protect his parents when they were in danger.
  • Oracular Urchin: Genkai’s body stopped growing very early and he’s about the size of a 4 year-old.

Jikaku

  • Arc Words: Jikaku was the first to make the comparison between Ukoku as “the dark of the night” and Koumyou as “the light of the moon”. The full significance of the comparison is still unclear.
  • The Gump: Jikaku's a senior monk at a major temple the first time we see him in Saiyuki Ibun, and was the abbot of Keiun (the largest monastery in China) before Genjyo Sanzo. But what's MORE interesting about him is that he met at least 8 sanzo priests in his lifetime (3 unnamed former sanzos, Koumyou, Goudai, Genkai, Ukoku, and Genjyo).
  • Master Apprentice Chain: Jikaku instructed both Koumyou and Goudai as novices. In turn, Koumyou taught his successor Genjyo and Goudai taught his successor Ukoku. Genjyo and Ukoku are now on opposite sides of the Minus Wave conflict.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Don’t ever teach Genjyo Sanzo a valuable lesson if you want to survive to the end of the story arc.
  • Retired Badass

FREE TIBET!

Sharak Sanzo

Hassan

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