"Saiyûki" (1978) TV series 1978-1980

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Directors:

Toshi Aoki
Jun Fukuda

Writers:

Motomu Furuta (screenplay)
Hiroichi Fuse (screenplay)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | unknown

Release Date:

1 October 1978 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Family | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

Plot:

Monkey is the story by Wu Ch'êng-ên based on the ancient Chinese legend tracing the origins of Buddhism...

Plot Keywords:

Monkey | Buddhism | Legend | India | China

Cast

Peter Woodthorpe	...	Pigsy (14 episodes, 1978-1979)
Masaaki Sakai	...	Sun Wu-Kong (Monkey) (13 episodes, 1978)
Toshiyuki Nishida	...	Zhu Ba-Jie (Pigsy season 1) (13 episodes, 1978)
Shirô Kishibe	...	Sha Wu-Jing (Sandy) (13 episodes, 1978)
Masako Natsume	...	Xuanzang Sanzang (Tripitaka) (13 episodes, 1978)

Also Known As:

Monkey (International: English title) (dubbed version)
Monkey Magic (Australia) (informal English title)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG | Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG (some episodes) | Australia:MA (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

Kokusai Hoei

Trivia:

Made with an ensemble cast and on low budget. Sets are clearly recycled from episode to episode, and the supporting cast can be the King one episode, a demon the next, and a gambler in the one after that.

Quotes:

Monkey: [after finding out that Buddha was female] I always thought Buddha was a fella!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Paprika (2006)

Monkey is Magic!

Warning - once you hear the theme tune to this show, you'll never totally get it out of your head!

Monkey Magic is probably the craziest and most enjoyable TV series of the 1970s and I have very fond memories of watching it as a small child, growing up. Recently, the videos became available and I bought one just to see if it was as fun as I remember - and it is!!

Monkey Magic rules!