The first season of the ''

Saiyuki may refer to: *''Saiyūki'', the Japanese language title of the Chinese classic ''Journey to the West'' *''Saiyūki'', a 1960 anime film based on Osamu Tezuka's manga adaptation of ''Journey to the West'' titled ''Boku no Son Goku'', released in En ...

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series, was directed by Yuto Date and produced by

Studio Pierrot is a Japanese animation studio established in May 1979 by former employees of both Tatsunoko Production and Mushi Production. Its headquarters are located in Mitaka, Tokyo. Pierrot is renowned for several worldwide popular anime series, such as ...

and

Dentsu Dentsu Inc. ( ja, 株式会社電通 ''Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū'' or 電通 ''Dentsū'' for short) is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is currently the largest adverti ...

entitled . The series adapt

Kazuya Minekura is a Japanese manga artist widely known for the '' Saiyuki'' series. Biography She was born in Kanagawa-ken, and still resides there. Her blood type is A. Her other manga series include ''Wild Adapter'', ''Shiritsu Araiso Koto Gakko Seitokai Shi ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, directed by

Hayato Date is a anime, Japanese animation director most known for the anime adaptations of ''Saiyuki (manga), Saiyuki'' and ''Naruto''. Filmography Films *''Saiyuki: Requiem (movie), Saiyuki: Requiem'' (2001) *劇場版 NARUTO-ナルト-　木ノ葉の里� ...

, written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa and composed by

Motoi Sakuraba is a Japanese composer and keyboardist. He is known for his numerous contributions in video games, such as for '' Tales'', ''Star Ocean'', ''Mario Golf'', ''Mario Tennis'', '' Golden Sun'', and ''Dark Souls'' series, as well as several other ani ...

. The season follows the first adventures of

Genjo Sanzo is a fictional character in the manga and anime series ''Saiyuki''. He is one of the four protagonists, loosely based on (or inspired by) the character Tang Sanzang. Background "Konzen Douji" was the first incarnation of ''Genjo Sanzo''. Addit ...

with three demons, named Son Goku, Cho Hakkai, and Sha Gojyo, travel to the west, are questing to put a stop to whoever's trying to resurrect the ancient and powerful demon god, Gyumao. Of course, there are armies of other demons just aching to get in the way. The season initially ran from April 4, 2000 to March 27, 2001 in Japan on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

, spanning 50 episodes.

Enoki Films was a Japanese studio based in the Enoki Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo.Company Profile
. Enoki Films US ...

holds the U.S. license to ''Gensomaden Saiyuki'' under the title ''Saiyuki: Paradise Raiders''. Also

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...

licensed the series, released in July 2003 to 2009.

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatri ...

announced its license of the series in October 2009 for Australasia. The episodes was released at a rate of one a day for all 50 episodes and will remain online until 20 January 2010. Four pieces of

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

are used for the episodes—two opening themes and two ending themes. The first opening themes is "For Real" by Hidenori Tokuyama, used for the first twenty-six episodes and the second opening themes is "Still Time" by Hidenori Tokuyama used from episode twenty-seven to fifty. The two ending themes, "Tightrope" by Charcoal Filter and "Alone" by Mikuni Shimokawa. __TOC__

Home media release

Japanese

References

External links

Official TV Tokyo ''Gensomaden Saiyuki'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Saiyuki episodes Saiyuki (manga)