Journey to the West meets bad acting and worse writing.

chrinos

This cartoon, like many from the East, is based upon the classic story of Journey to the West. I am unaware how much was made, but it seems that only this one season was translated. The problem the first reviewer has is understandable from the perspective of our instant gratification culture.

Very mild spoilers follow, as I have difficulty adequately describing what this story is about with no references.

Monkey is a short tempered, super powered, arrogant jerk. He exemplifies everything you might think of when describing a person acting like an animal--which is entirely the point. He, along with later characters, represents one of the facets of humanity a person must overcome to reach enlightenment.

Monkey is meant to be flawed. His story is about railing against the heavens, and, over time, learning to understand his own place in the universe. This season ends where the story of his redemption begins.

Also, it helps to know that in this mythology, the "gods" are bureaucrats. They aren't meant to be perfect, or even all that good, really. They are the middle management of the universe, taking care of the day-to-day business of keeping the world running.

That said, the production quality is pretty low, and the translation worse, so I can't really give it a good rating.

score 6/10

chrinos 7 March 2014

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2983551/