#one chapter of jttw itself

[1pcii]

Sun wukong inspired Luffy redesign

After learning that he was inspired off the monkey king himself I've been kinda obsessed with this idea, they already have alot of visual similarities but I wanted to try a more directly inspired look

(post-timeskip ver + extra under cut)

I think I like the post-timeskip version more since the cardigan(?) Around his shoulders kinda resembles the OG!swk's cape.

I also really like the idea of Luffy's "pirate king crown" being similar to wukongs since the shape language is very similar to that of gear5.

#while i dont think i will make this into an actual au since my swk/jttw lore knowledge includes all of 2 seasons of lego monkie kid and #one chapter of jttw itself #i do think that he legit just hatched out of a rock #and gained partial immortality from the gum gum fruit (which he ate thinking it was a peach of immortality) #i didnt give him any actual monkey-like features but i may do that in the future idk #1pc #one piece #monkey d. luffy #monkey d luffy #luffy #one piece luffy #strawhat luffy #fanart #au #trans headcanon #trans luffy #(yea i also made him a no-op trans dude cause why not XP) #partial nudity #nudity #ask to tag for that ig idk #also does anyone else thing gear 5 was kind inspired off swk's character design? like in terms of shape language maybe? #my mind keeps going to cloud somersault but idk i could just be reaching #psii.png

[comicaurora]

hi red!! i'm doing an analysis of sun wukong's (and journey to the west in general's) impact on modern culture for my world mythology final, and for some reason i'm having a hard time finding sources. is there anything you can recommend?

The fact that Journey to the West has contributed an enormous number of tropes to modern media is very clear when the media in question is examined, but I don't know of a specific secondary source that's already done that analysis for you. However, this IS a very good excuse for you to plow through a metric buttload of shonen manga, since the lineage is basically Sun Wukong -> Son Goku -> like a solid third of all shonen action heroes written in the last forty years.

Dragon Ball kicks things off:

Started in 1984 and almost unquestionably the most influential manga ever made. Its first arc features the weird super-strong monkey-kid Son Goku - which is just the japanese pronunciation of the characters of Sun Wukong's name - meeting up with a wacky crew of thinly-veiled expys of the Journey to the West crew, with teen inventor Bulma filling the role of Tripitaka, Oolong the pig-man filling Zhu Bajie's role and Yamcha the desert-based bandit as Sha Wujing.

Hijinks ensue, and while the story drifts pretty far from Journey to the West's original plot, it actually stays pretty solidly referential in weirdly unexpected ways. Several the villains of the week are JttW references, and even the later appearance of three more Saiyans lines up with the surprise reveal of three more Wukong-like mystical apes in the original story.

The connection between Dragon Ball and JttW is very unsubtle and a frequent reference in the chapter covers and supplemental art.

Not every subsequent JttW reference is the result of Dragon Ball popularizing it or anything, since it was already enormously popular, but I think it's pretty hard to extricate Dragon Ball's influence on anime and manga from the original influence of Journey to the West itself.

One way that a distinction can be drawn is in the differences in characterization between Goku and Sun Wukong himself. A lot of the next generation of shonen protagonists were kind of Goku-alikes - pure-hearted dumbasses who only care for the three Fs: Food, Fighting and Friendship.

But the original characterization of Sun Wukong is not really all that similar. He's a trickster, sure, but he's far from a young, friendship-motivated goober. He's profoundly intelligent, pretty much the most well-educated entity on the planet, and routinely brings up that he's centuries older than most of his peers. The Goku-alikes from the later decades of shonen anime are tellingly far-removed from that original characterization. So you get characters based on Goku's cheerful idiocy, but it's just a small subset of the broader influence of Journey to the West on the space of literature.

In general, Journey to the West frequently shows up in very small, bite-sized tropes in other stories. It's less "this is wholly based on Journey to the West" and more "oh, I know where they maybe got this idea/aesthetic/power/weapon/villain of the week from." There are way too many to list, but some of the ones that tend to jump out at me are-

Sneaky characters with monkey motifs:

Tricksy, highly mobile characters who fight with a staff:

Characters afflicted with a magical restraint artifact that allows a much weaker character to stop them from misbehaving:

Specific esoteric weapons, eg. magical fans, rakes, gourds, namedropping The Sword of Seven Stars, etc.

Villains with prominent ox or pig design motifs:

Characters whose primary combat strat is just making Shitloads Of Disposable Copies Of Themselves:

Honestly it just keeps going like this. It's kinda everywhere. Finding the JttW in things is my favorite conspiracy theory rabbit hole because it's 100% harmless and more often than not completely correct.

#asks #not aurora #media recs

[jttwaudiodrama]

Zhuang's JttW Doodles #2

Ne Zha yelled, “You unruly, fiendish monkey! How could you not know me? I am Ne Zha, Third Prince of my King Father the Pagoda-Bearer. By the imperial command of the Jade Emperor, I have come to arrest you.” Wu Kong burst into laughter, “Little prince, your baby teeth have yet fallen, and your foetal hair is still wet. How dare you talk so big? I shall spare your life and not fight you."

Journey to the West, Chapter 4

This poem appears in Chapter 4, Part 2 of the audio drama.

Also featured on our Patreon page.

===

Hi, this is Zhuang. I made all the art for this series.

Here are some doodles I made almost 10 years ago when I could kind of draw but not really. Not sure if I'm entirely out of that state now but hopefully I have improved.

Each one corresponds to a specific passage in the original text, as written on the doodle itself in traditional Chinese. And I will also put the English translation from the audio drama down below for your reference. Not every chapter has a doodle, so I will post the ones we've already covered in the drama, and the rest as we eventually get there.

===

Why I chose this scene:

Ne Zha was a rebel of his own in his earliest days. A child so out of control that left his own father permanently traumatized. One wonders if Ne Zha in any way saw his younger self in Wu Kong.

In a way, Wu Kong's "crimes" definitely affected more people/god, but they were also much less violent and gruesome. Compared to Ne Zha, who paid for his sins with his own flesh and blood, what Wu Kong did sure seemed like a child's play.

Back to this actual encounter. Wu Kong definitely has his own little rulebook on who he would or would not fight. He tends to start with verbal insults, usually about how weak and unworthy his opponent is.

Ne Zha was definitely older than he was despite looking like a little boy. At the same time, Ne Zha was just as easily provoked as Wu Kong was. This is one of the earliest instances of Wu Kong trashtalking his opponent and getting into a fight anyway.

Wu Kong probably knows the trashtalking never deters anyone. He just has a lot of fun doing it.

#journey to the west #ne zha #sun wu kong #sun wukong #monkey king #chinese literature #the fifth monkey #xi you ji

[imminent-danger-came]

I might be misremembering but I assumed the "just a story" line in AHiB was referring to the legend of Wukong sealing away DBK, not JTTW/SWK's existence as a whole

I guess if you wanted to you could interpret it that way (and it is totally applicable there), but it also applies to the broader narrative in lmk itself. Jttw is also notably referenced a decent amount throughout the "A Hero is Born" special:

Tang: “The thing you need to understand about the old legends, is that the story is never finished. There maybe be no more pages left to turn, but there’s always more to the journey."

Which, this line by Tang is the first instance of story motif in LMK as a whole. It's then "book ended" by another narration by Tang later in 3x14:

Tang: “The curious thing about legends is the way we can continue to be moved by the same stories. We’re comforted by familiar tales of friendship, courage, redemption. At times, the path of the hero might seem unclear, and the stories chaotic and directionless. Sometimes it may seem as though we’ve ended back where we began, but it’s clear to see how much we’ve grown on the journey—for although the story is over, there’s always room on the shelf for another.”

Like, even if some details don't match and some things changed, the AHiB special is foundational. It's constantly referenced back to in one way or another, and is the first instance of a significant amount of motifs and themes, for example:

Hand Motif

Reflection Motif

Theme: Identity (1) (2) ("You might have that old fool's staff, but you are not the Monkey King." in AHiB -> "Well, I'm not the Monkey King! Okay!" in RoTSQ)

Running Away

Theme: Self Belief ("Just believe in yourself! Even a smidge makes all the difference"/"Nothing is impossible if you just believe in yourself!" -> "It's always my fault!") (1) (2)

Turning Around Motif

Kneeling Motif

So, when thinking about "the story never being finished", it reminds me of MK's recent conflict of wanting things to stay the same, of not wanting to move forward:

MK: “Honestly? I’m kinda liking the world as it is, right now. So...if it could just stay like this, forever? That would be awesome.” Sun Wukong: “Yeah well...forever’s a long time bud...trust me.”

(4x01 Familiar Tales)

-

MK: "You ever wish things will just- stay like this, like they are right now?" Sun Wukong: "Pssshhkk, where's the fun in that?"

(4x14 Better Than We Found It)

-

Ultimately, MK wants his story to be finished, but that's not how it works. There is no "final chapter" so to speak, there's just life, and you have to keep going and picking up the next book and moving through the next chapter.

I made a whole comic around this idea if you wanted to go look!

But yeah, DBK's sealing is the first instance in a long line where the story "isn't finished" because the seal doesn't hold, and plans move forward. This happens again with LBD and then later with Azure. It can even apply to things like the Samadhi Fire (and most likely the Jade Emperor's Seal in the future)—supposedly, sealing these things away should have been the end of the story, of their story, but it wasn't. So it's interesting to take that line and use it as a sort of framework to view the rest of the show in

#hope that clears things up! #asks #lmk #lego monkie kid #story motif #lmk analysis

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 38 Thoughts

Chapter 38 for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group!

Hey, in all fairness the demon didn’t take advantage of the queen! That is something you ought to give him credit for.

Also the way the prince breaks away from his mother does carry the slightest sense of ‘Oop, nope, too much info.’ which is hilarious.

Even more animals, this Arc is spoiling me! I’ll take a closer look at the list of creatures the deities and soldiers caught or rather got handed.

Grouse sort of, it seems like you could also translate this bit to wild chicken, but more accurately it seems to mean ring-necked pheasants, which is a collective name for a couple of subspecies of Common Pheasant that share the trait of a white ring around their neck. Like this one.

After that it’s the same pheasants mentioned last chapter, which likely makes this a Reeve’s Pheasant then.

Horned deer, yes, the character for deer here is the unspecific one. The second is, you guessed it, not fallow deer but Chinese Water Deer!

“[… F]oxes, badgers and hares […]” Yes, yes and yes!

“[… T]igers, leopards, and wolves […]” All correct as well! Though there is a fourth character grouped with those that on its own translates to insect or invertebrate, which I don’t know what that means for this context.

Sidenote, in the German translation Sun Wukong tells them to break their necks instead. While technically also brutal, I feel like that’s nicer and quicker than having their tendons pulled out.

Love to see Sun Wukong showing off his smarts and the knowledge about royal affairs he probably got from his time in Heaven.

Also him getting upset about the dishevelled state of the garden. Perhaps a traumatic trigger of his own mountain, his ‘garden’ if you will, being destroyed. It is probably also quite different when a previously tended to garden is just left to fend for itself than a wild area always having been wild but having an established self-sustaining ecosystem.

#xiyouji #journey to the west #jttw #sun wukong #monkey king #jttw reading group #jttw book club #pheasant #ring necked pheasant

[ryin-silverfish]

Chapter 22: Coarse, rough, and gets everywhere

-After dealing with the Yellow Wind demon, the gang ventured forth in this fine autumn season, only to be blocked by the Flowing Sand River, 800 li wide and full of Weak Water.

"What, exactly, is a Weak Water? Are there like, Strong Water?"

-As the poem suggested, Weak Water(弱水) refers to water that has no buoyancy, and anything that fall in would just sink, even a feather. Record of such strange water appeared first in the Book of Mountain and Sea; it surrounds Mt. Kunlun, the abode of Queen Mother of the West, and Book of Late Han also stated that Weak Water and quicksand could be found near QMoW's dwelling.

-These tales could be inspired by IRL geography, where a lot of the rivers in western China, bc they are flowing through plateaus or deserts, are very shallow in depth and regular boats would just capsize inside. When non-native ppl saw those rivers that couldn't be traversed by boats, they thought the water itself has no buoyancy.

-Also, there was a portion of Gobi Desert the historical Xuanzang crossed, 莫贺延碛, which had the alternate name "Sand River"; in Xuanzang's biography, this was also where he was awoken from his thirst-addled sleep by an unnamed great deity. Much like how this desert deity would later evolve into Sandy, the "Sand River" would also become a literal river in the JTTW story cycle.

-We learn the real reason SWK isn't good at underwater combat: he either needs to use one hand to cast a Water-repelling Spell in order to move freely, or transforms into an aquatic critter, both of which would get in the way of wielding his staff.

-Hmmm, why couldn't he just grow a third arm (sth he's obviously capable of, given his fight with Nezha) and use it to maintain the spell while bashing some aquatic demons' head in? Maybe only 1 concentration spell is allowed at a time, D&D style...

-I feel like we've all wondered what the job of "Curtain-raising General" entails—is he like, literally the guy at the gate who lifted those fancy bead-curtains every time a celestial came through? Well, kinda. Not really.

-"Curtain-raising" is actually an important part of Daoist rituals. Before the sacrificial offerings began, there were curtains covering statues on the altars, and only after it was believed that the gods in question had arrived to court were the curtains lifted(literally or metaphorically), and the priests able to present their prayers to them.

-Here is a video of the "Curtain-raising Charm", performed by Quanzhen Daoists:

-So Sandy's job is less gate guard, and more of an announcer of JE's court sessions. This is my personal take, but I feel like part of why the punishment for him breaking a cup was so harsh was bc he was an official specialized in court rituals and propriety, so he should've known better than to jeopardize such an important event.

-We also learn the answer to another question many have asked: "Why can't SWK just fly Tripitaka to Vulture Peak on his somersault cloud?" Turns out, a mortal's body was too heavy to be carried on clouds, and though the Yu translation was slightly wonky here, ordinary demons could summon a magical wind for fast-travel and kidnapping, but they were still staying close to the ground and not truly high-up in the air.

(Also, if he could, we wouldn't have a 100 chapter story.)

-Finally, some internal alchemy stuff relating to Sandy from my annotated Chinese edition: during the fight between Pigsy and Sandy, the latter was referred to as the Spatula, 刀圭. The second character, made of 2 characters for "Earth" stacked on top of each other, was later broken into "Two-Earths" in referral to Sandy again.

-In internal alchemy, Earth represents ideation/determination, specifically, that of attaining immortality. When the ideation stills, it is known as "Yin-Earth", and when it stirs, the "Yang-Earth", collectively referred to as "Two-Earths". It functions as the catalyst and meditator between the Spiritual Mind(Wood) and Vital Energy(Metal), which must come together and mingle during cultivation to form the Golden Elixir.

-Thus, Sandy's soon-to-be role as the Only Sane Man and meditator between SWK and Pigsy.

@journeythroughjourneytothewest

#journey to the west #jttw book club #xiyouji #jttw reading group #Youtube

[semisolidmind]

I'm reading the fic and it only has like three chapters, but your fanart feels much more advanced in the plot. Am I not reading the right one?

ok so

my drawings are just kinda...based loosely on the idea of isekaid to the west. like, the concept of the "reader" character going to the jttw universe and joining the group as a member (andbasicallymarryingsunwukongbut that's beside the point–)

@skittlescripts (the author) writes about some (possibly canon??) future stuff as well, but the yeah the story itself is in the first stages

#its their world im just livin in it #i liked the idea #it inspired the monkey brainrot

[sketching-shark]

niuhou for ship opinions?

Aroace Sun Wukong truther though I am, in all honesty anon the niuhou ship is one of my favorites in the jttw fandom <3.

It's true that in Xiyouji itself we don't get a super in-depth amount of space dedicated to the details of their relationship when they were sworn brothers, but there is a real sense that they genuinely liked AND respected each other. And that's a feeling that's really increased when we see their reunion later on during the journey, when even with an absence of over 500 years and a lot of reasons for antagonism for the both of them (the Demon Bull King wants to eat Tang Sanzang & otherwise hinder Sun Wukong's journey, Sun Wukong played a major role in getting Red Boy captured by the Bodhisattva Guanyin & caused Princess Iron Fan a lot of physical pain), both spend quite a few pages dancing around whether they're going to attack the other because of their former strong bond until things irrevocably crumble. Wu Cheng'en even dedicates an entire poem to how tragic this break-up is (and how epic the resulting fight was lol).

But probably best of all for me is that this is one of those ships where both characters really get to shine through as their own individual people with rich stories. When you look at other ships involving the Monkey King (especially the tons of movies with a SWK romance) it tends to be the case where the romantic partner in question seems to revolve their entire life and personality around old Monkey in one way or another, usually with a heavy dose of "being eternally patient & forgiving no matter how much shit he gives them" and also ending with the fate of them dying so that he can be sad/having to Learn a Lesson. So yeah said "romantic partners" often feel more like hollow shells or desperate obsessives than full people.

Which to put it academically sucks major balls.

With Niuhou, however, that's not the case at all! Obviously a good chunk of Xiyouji is dedicated to Sun Wukong's character and his multitude of complexities and development, but even in the few chapters we see him the Demon Bull King really stands out as one of the yaoguai kings who had a very active life after the Mt. Huaguoshan war with heaven, doing everything from gathering wealth, allies, power, and friends to getting married and having a child that he very much loves to then having a falling out with Princess Iron Fan because he took on a concubine with Princess Jade Countenance. He's also described as being just as powerful as the Monkey King (while also being stockier), and his rage really is something that can shake the Heavens! It all makes for a very involved part of the journey, ranging from Sun Wukong and numerous gods having to go to battle against a colossal Niu Mowang to the Demon Bull King calling time-out on a preliminary fight because he wanted to go party with some of his dragon friends.

And as a final bonus this is also one of those rare ships involving the Monkey King where he's actually very obviously invested in maintaining it, from being his active and ambitious social self as a warlord to trying every which way to get what he needs from the Demon Bull King to continue the journey while still maintaining his bond with Niu Mowang. And while it does end in tragedy, you do have the delight of thee Monkey King approaching the situation like "PLEASE bestie my beautiful princess with a disorder PLEASE remember what we mean to each other!!!" And then the Demon Bull King being like "me remembering that is the only reason why I haven't killed you where you stand."

#xiyouji #jttw #journey to the west #sun wukong #monkey king #demon bull king #niu mowang #niuhou #for never was there a story of more woe #than that of this fuckin bull and monkey #anyway #main point being that it's nice to see a swk ship where both of them get to be assholes with layers lol #anon answered

[fluffypotatey]

Hi! Me again. Do you have any headcanons about the JTTW gang? I'd LOVE to hear all of them: the fluff, the funny, and the angsty. How did you think Tripitaka found SWK when he's inside the mountain itself instead of under it, and why? Why did Ao Lie reveal himself in his human for to the two at the bridge? In the book the trio met Zhu Bajie when the father of the the pig's wife requested their help to bring his daughter back, it even referenced this in the game, but in the flashback they met at Zhu Bajie's food stall where it seems like Trip was complaining about the food to the chef. How do you think the showdown between Sha Wujing and the quartet went down in this verse? Who do you think Wujing challenged first?

hey! sorry i'm replying to these a day late T^T

so imma assume you meant the jttw gang in the context of lmk bc any headcanons of them within the book is a tough one for me bc i'm still reading through it and trying to differentiate between what's a translation issue and what's "canon" is a time :)

anyway,

i think i mentioned this before, but i love the idea of Sun Wukong finding comfort in Tripitaka and Ao Lie out of the rest of the companions post-journey. like if he were ever in a slump or feeling overwhelmed he would go to them (or they would reach out to him if they notice swk being less chipper and talkative). i think even before Wukong's isolation, he would not go out and visit people as often, mostly keep to his friends and allies (how many few they were now).

also, Ao Lie would take Wukong on so many trips into the city just as an excuse to hang out and give swk a chance to be outside. i have an inkling that Ao Lie is the type to get lost or accidentally find himself in a precarious situation that swk would have to help him from (taking a wrong turn and finding himself face-to-face with a gang or something for example, and, being the conservative warrior he is, Ao Lie would not fight them or anything). one of Ao Lie's favorite places would be the city's theater districts because it was the most colorful, and Wukong would allow the dragon to drag him along anyway, past memories be damned.

with Tripitaka, i think Wukong enjoys making playful jabs at the monk for funsies. when they were originally acquainted, these jabs were more hurtful and condescending and aggravated the monk to no end. now tho, the jabs are in good fun, and Tripitaka's sighs are more jovial than exasperated. (though he does have times when the exasperation does come bc Wukong is nothing if not a monkey hell-bent on mischief, and Tripitaka always seems to be the guy he calls to help bail him out. out of love of course.) and given that i am a "Tripitaka and Sun Wukong's relationship wasn't abusive" truther, i like to believe that both monkey and monk view their relationship as something that resembles familial and brotherly.

Wukong and Zhu Baije i headcanon as rivals to friends who are still rivals but now care for each other deeply. they will shit-talk each other, they will get into spats, they will threaten to murder the other ("roast pork-let on a stick" and "make their own monkey pelt skirt"), they will give Tripitaka and Sandy/Sha Wujing the worst of headaches but it's with love <3

Wukong and Sha Wujing are comedian buddies. i am so sure about this, the pregnancy chapter confirmed it to me. Wukong told me himsel-

but enough about my opinions about their alleged relationships in th lmk context....for le questions!!!

well, from what i remember, Ao Lie first introduced himself as, and to quote Red from OSP, "an enormous fuck-you dragon" before changing shape into his human form. so, probably during his little skirmish with Wukong (+ Tripitaka hiding behind a rock), he realized that the two were supposed to be his companions on the journey, and switched up real fast to show them that he's actually friendly!

i do think it's interesting how Zhu Baije's story is different 👀 i'm guessing they changed it to show some similarity to Pigsy and his ancestor? so the reference we saw in the game could have just been an in-book easter egg??? i honestly don't know why they changed that, but it is funny to think that Zhu Baije was a cook who met the gang when he captured Tripitaka so that his business could boom with serving specialized, holy monk meat 😂 i can, like, imagine Wukong busting down the doors of Zhu baije's "restaurant" demanding that he give the demon his monk back lmao (but that also adds another bit of confusion bc Zhu Baije was chosen by Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy, to be one of the pilgrims for the journey, so he should have recognized that the monk he wanted to eat was the monk he was supposed to protect? unless in lmk, Guanyin didn't go out and choose companions for Tripitaka?????)

now for the showdown with Sha Wujing, i bet 100 bucks that the order of fights went like this:

Sha Wujing asks/demands which if the four would fight him to be called the "strongest demon of all,"

Wukong opts for going bc he's the fucking Monkey King™️,

Zhu Baije says fuck that bc he is NOT gonna let the monkey show off again,

Zhu Baije loses, Wukong offers to help (not really, he did that to piss the pig off) & Baije tells him to fuck off,

Baije loses 3-5 times later, tripitaka pleads for the pig demon to stop and just "let the monkey do it, dear Buddha,"

Wukong rolls up his sleeves,

Sha Wujing laughs and calls Wukong puny,

Sha Wujing is pomelled to the ground without breaking a sweat,

Baije complains that he helped weaken the river demon for Wukong

exactly like that, yeah

#hope i answered them well! #it got a little long lol #lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk sun wukong #jttw #jttw crew #sun wukong #lmk tripitaka #lmk ao lie #lmk zhu bajie #lmk sha wujing #asks

[duhragonball]

Journey to the West ch1-6

I've gotten my feet wet with Journey To The West, and I feel like I need to record some observations as I go, since this is going to take a while, and there's a lot to take in.

I guess I should start by explaining my agenda here: Dragon Ball is famously inspired by Journey To The West, with a number of characters and situations based on the 16th Century novel. Goku's magic staff, his flying cloud, his numerous transformations, his monkey tail, his name, it's all a callback to Sun Wukong from JTTW. I've been a Dragon Ball fan for about a quarter century, and I feel like it's high time I got in on the joke.

The book is surprisingly simple and complex at the same time. It's kind of fascinating, really. Sun Wukong is born, becomes leader of a community of primates, then learns super powers from human teachers to better safeguard his "kingdom". He seems to be nigh invincible, and so he just kind of does whatever the fuck he wants. It's not that he's evil, it's just that no one seems to be able to stop the guy. A guy named Erlang finally fights him to a standstill and this allows the combined forces of Heaven to (barely) capture Sun Wukong, and that pretty much covers the first six chapters. It's pretty easy to follow.

At the same time, there's this dense mythology surrounding almost everything that isn't a wild animal. There seem to be hundreds of supernatural beings and concepts in the story, and most of them don't appear to actually do anything, they're just casually mentioned throughout. The Jade Emperor runs Heaven, and there's lower deities that report to him, and that's pretty easy to understand, and there are a lot of them, which isn't unreasonable, but at times the redundancy almost seems to be an end unto itself.

The first six chapters feel a lot like a big dumb Marvel crossover, where 900 superheroes meet up in a conference room to fret about the latest crisis. Or, in this case, I guess it's a lot like that picture of all the Marvel heroes facing off against Goku and Vegeta, only it's a bunch of Chinese deities vs. Sun Wukong. They keep throwing guys at the problem and none of them can get the job done, and then some other guy shows up and he wants to give it a try and that doesn't work either, and then they call in another guy who apparently hadn't heard about this whole mess.

The thing I'm picking up here is that I probably don't need to study all these concepts in depth to follow the story. In a "Goku vs. Marvel" image, they probably put Captain Britain in there somewhere, but you don't need to know anything about him. He's just a face in the crowd. The "who" and "how" and "why" of it is less important than the "what", which is this cool OP monkey dude owning all the strongest gods. Well he beat Hulk and Silver Surfer, but there's no way he can stop Galactus, ope, he beat him too. Wow, this guy's strong.

So I appreciate that there's this entry-level access to this story. I think there's a lot of other levels to all of this, but even if you don't know much about Chinese folklore of Buddhism, you can still relate to the idea of a monkey getting drunk and stealing God's peaches. Journey To The West is giving me permission to read this on easy mode. I don't regret skipping that 100-page introduction at the start of the book.

#journey to the west #that fanart of broly punching out the living tribunal keeps coming back to me #i still need to read the e-mails from the jttwdaily group but one thing at a time

[mythologyfolklore]

Liù'ěr Míhóu joins the jttw gang, or: How to redeem an all-hearing celestial monkey with a superiority complex and a seriously bad attitude

Chapter Twenty-One: Bājiè's very bad evening

.

“What took you so long?”, Bājiè received their Youngest Brother, when he returned from an errand.

The six-eared arsehole shrugged. “I promised my new Jiějiě, that I would return her fan, when I was done. So I did, her husband and son were there, I got into a squabble with Hóng Hái'Er-”

“Fucking Hóng Hái'Er”, the pig demon growled.

The youngest menace gave him an unimpressed look. “I don't like him either, but if you fall for the oldest tricks in the scroll, that's your fault, hogface.”

Bājiè narrowed his eyes. “Are you implying that I'm stupid, nutcase?”

Said nutcase gave him a condescending smile and cooed: “Ah, but Elder Brother! I would never imply, that you're stupid!”

“Yeah, that's what I thought-”

“I would say it flat out!”

The pig demon's jaw dropped.

The other bastard macaque started cackling in the background.

Then he scowled and stomped off angrily.

“Fucking dumb Spiritual Primates”, he grumbled to himself. Only to let out a startled squeal, when something small and sharp missed his left ear by a hair's width and buried itself in the trunk of the tree next to him.

“I heard that, Piglet.”

Fortunately for Bājiè, their master stepped in, before the situation could escalate.

After a stern lecture from the monk, the white macaque huffed and skittered over to Shā Wùjìng to help him set up camp.

By that point the other monkey menace also had stopped laughing and was now pampering Bái Lóng Mă.

Tripitaka came up to his third disciple and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Wùnéng, why don't you start making some dinner with what Wùhuàn has brought along?”, he suggested.

Bājiè pouted, but obliged.

.

---

.

Wùhuàn & Bājiè: *glaring angrily at each other* Tripitaka: *playing "Why can't we be friends" on a biwa in the background*

#journey to the west #zhu bajie #liu'er mihou #tripitaka

[the-monkey-ruler]

do u think there can ever be a jttw media that surpasses the novel like how it surpassed everything before it?

I don’t think that can be applicable nowadays honestly. Like I have seen very popular interpretations of the book, but to have a complete rewrite of the entire story after being such a huge influence on current culture today... I don’t think I could ever be considered anything but just another piece of media that ties in with the original contacts. Similar to how translations can be considered an interpretation of the source material but it is still part of the original material itself.

I couldn't even begin to imagine how they would try to rewrite the story with new elements and character changes that would completely take over the original content. And don't get me wrong there are actually of like a Xiyouji media that gets referenced in other media.

The name Ao Lie isn't Bailong's canon name. It was a name given to him in the 2000 Journey to the West After 西游记后传 and carried on to other media like Lego Monkie Kid and even other Movies. But not other media like Westerward where his name is Ao Xue. There is also how some movies use the design for 1987 Wukong! There are tons of movies that take that Wukong design as the standard as he is more of the more iconic looks for Wukongs. Even the 1996 Bajie was used in other another movie as more of a cameo but he was popular enough to get that recognition.

However, none of these can compare to the plus 900 media references that Xiyouji has gathered over the last 400 years. No one is remaking the 1987 Journey to the West or making media just for the 1996 Journey to the West, and while people use elements from these series and their influence is unquestionable, they are not the standard. It always goes back to the original Xiyouji.

One of the reasons I believe that Wu Cheng'en's book was able to take off with such popularity was because there wasn't a lot of competition around it either. Xiyouji Zaju's script isn't even a 4th as long as 100 chapters of Wu Cheng'en's book if it could be compared. There were only 2 notable demons in the play versus the 36~ in the book and while the play would have to be watched at certain times, anyone could buy the book if they could read or pay for it.

And what really solidified that Wu Cheng'en's version was so popular was the unofficial sequels that came out. Or what I think was the first 'media' for this version. These were not rewrites but rather other authors' interpretations that used Wu's version as the foundation of their own creative liberties.

There are absolutely popular interpretations that people enjoy, but the magnitude of how these pieces of media compared to the original can only really be measured if we wait... another 400 years. Xiyouji already has a huge head start after all this time is the new canon and honestly, the only way to really see if it holds out to other media it to measure if any other media can create more of an influence with that given amount of time.

I have yet to see a director or artist that looks at another Xiyouji media and try to recreate it as their own (few expectations like Immortal Demon Slayer and Bad Monkey from webnovels) as most artists rather take from Xiyouji itself and make their own interpretations from the 'source'.

But who knows where we shall be in the next hundred years or so! Wu's Xiyouji has had a great headstart... and yeah I don't think other media can catch up by now!

#anonymous #anon #anon ask #jttw #journey to the west #xiyouji #ask

[lee-hakhyun]

no prob :D (regarding sharing the star writer factoid) i can’t read korean and i’m not in a position where i can just pay to read willy-nilly, so i’m enjoying seeing you and others talk about it in the meantime

it does leave me to wonder though; using minor villain cheon inho, giving focus to a character that originally had a smaller role, reusing a character from a previous, discontinued work, on top of the world after the fall revisions bringing in another one of singsong’s older babies (jaehwan) into the forefront… it’s making me think of the whole situation with the outer gods being forgotten stories, and how kim dokja had sincerely wanted to see even them come to the forefront back in the n’gai and journey to the west chapters

the thing about that is that he tried to help them by first making the yogoes follow along in their revised ‘journey to the west’ followed by trying to become an outer god himself, but kim dokja by that point was too beloved - and despite what his past taught him to believe, his story has long since turned unforgettable. transformation halted by shin yoosung whose story is told through her survival which kim dokja ensured, and then by sun wukong who had witnessed kim dokja’s story from the very beginning and didn’t want it to fade away

but what about now? the curtain has fallen upon the saga of kim dokja and friends, beloved by readers all around the world and hailed as a masterpiece, but the tales that came before them still lay ‘forgotten’. but i imagine singnsong loves them still, wouldn’t they? past works that lay as the building blocks for their future successes… the same way kim dokja wanted to ‘repay his debt’ to the story that kept them alive, perhaps the authors want to pay it forward to the stories that helped them get this far.

perhaps the side story may be a story ABOUT the Reader, but it’s FOR the Authors singnsong and the Protagonists and other Characters they had loved but couldn’t bring to the forefront before; a side story because it’s not the main tale of ORV itself, but written upon its premise and loved all the same

and the Reader who loyally followed through 1863-1865 separate tales (worldlines) based on the same premise where no one else would, who mourned the stories that laid forgotten; perhaps he’s loyally reading this too? lovingly reading through its pages, no matter how flawed the words can be. and just like how the yogoe followed along in han sooyoung’s journey to the west, the premise of orv now acts as a stage to bring the characters of old into the fray in the side story. perhaps it won’t get as much attention as the original, but that’s okay; this story is for the authors and the protagonist whose story they couldn’t finish before.

and regardless of popularity, it ensures it receives love all the same. your lee hakhyun brainrot proves it, after all!

i got an inkling when you mentioned a character that didn’t get much screentime being fleshed out more in a previous post, but finding out about where lee hakhyun came from helps bring into perspective what singnsong might be doing right now

ok. ok wow. first of all, i haven't actually read TWAFT yet, so i can't really speak on jaehwan, though i do plan on reading it this is about to be all over the place, but i do agree with you!! you're right!! your comparison with the JTTW arc is lovely

with another disclaimer that i don't know korean and all my thoughts stem from my own edited mtl, adding on my thoughts ^^

i do believe at least some part of the side story is made for exploring other sides of orv, from scenarios, to characters, and forgotten stories as singshong said in the author's note for the prologue, it's a story for kim dokja, but not just that one kim dokja and even if this isn't solely kdj's story anymore, he's still everywhere in the side story, even if he's not physically there. in the thoughts of the readers, in lhh's dreams, literal kdj kkomas watching lhh. there are a lot of stories that can still be told, and new ones that never had a chance to blossom

but the tales that came before them still lay ‘forgotten’.

on characters that gain a new focus, i want to talk about bang cheolsoo again

bang cheolsoo, in every regression, was nothing more than a very minor villain, defeated in the early scenarios and always ending up as nothing more than a minor villain but lee hakhyun meets him early, and he's in a position where he can easily deal with bang cheolsoo and his group. but he doesn't, and with '☐☐' he gives bang cheolsoo a chance to change

and he does! he jumps at the opportunity, and follows lee hakhyun. instead of monopolizing geumho station, he protects the people there, distributes food, and gains the trust of everyone in geumho station and when yjh barges into the station and subdues cheolsoo assuming he'd be the previous regressions, and subsequently getting harassed by the people in geumho station defending him, peacefully leaving (41st yjh being different than what kdj described is a whole different topic) there are stories to be told for these characters who didn't originally have a chance, what would happen if they had gotten support early on? could more of them have survived? even yoo joonghyuk was surprised at the amount of survivors in geumho station when he arrived there.

lee hakhyun clearly has different views than kim dokja, with him trying to save everyone in the first scenario and giving out food instead of selling it to those in geumho station even after acknowledging that he could get more coins through it. neither way is better than the other, orv is in kdj's pov and you can understand why he did what he did.

and even the major characters of orv, they're changing too. with lee hakhyun writing a backstory for jung heewon, and her new attribute, it's obvious that things are going to be very different than kim dokja's round. with different characters, perhaps we can see other sides of these characters that wasn't shown in the main story kim namwoon is likely still alive in this round, i would especially love to see him.. poor guy died so early on

and on reusing previous works, i do remember the star writer novel being mentioned in chapter 549

he wrote his own story! and now he's starring in another one i do love how singshong are connecting all of their stories together as well, jaehwan meeting kdj in orv, yjh showing up in TWAFT's revision, and lee hakhyun getting his own side story in ORV,,

and regardless of popularity, it ensures it receives love all the same.

just like the main story, the side story is so full of love and even if it is less popular the characters will still get the love they deserve <3

#orv side story #orv #orv spoilers #I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE. I JUMPED AROUND A *LOT* #ask

[jttwaudiodrama]

Zhuang's JttW Doodles #1

The chase for fame and wealth will never cease, Rising early and retiring late, a life never freed. Body on a mule, mind on a noble steed. Now a minister, wishing to be a royal breed. They suffer fatigue and stress, for mere clothing and food. Never fearing that the kings of the underworld will have them hooked. Seeking for their descendants, riches and fortunes. Not one, not a single one, willing to turn back and look.

Journey to the West, Chapter 1

This poem appears in Chapter 1, Part 2 of the audio drama.

Also featured on our Patreon page.

===

Hi, this is Zhuang. I made all the art for this series.

In the future, I will be posting doodles I made almost 10 years ago when I could kind of draw but not really. Not sure if I'm entirely out of that state now but hopefully I have improved.

Each one corresponds to a specific passage in the original text, as written on the doodle itself in traditional Chinese. And I will also put the English translation from the audio drama down below for your reference. Not every chapter has a doodle, so I will post the ones we've already covered in the drama, and the rest as we eventually get there.

===

Why I chose this scene:

This poem to me has always been one of the most underrated parts of JttW and Wu Kong's character development. Very few adaptations chose to depict his earliest encounters with human society and even fewer chose to show how disappointed he became in the end (I can only remember one). Instead, many portrayed Wu Kong as ignorant about the human world to the point of looking almost stupid. But that is very much contrary to what the novel tells us.

Of course he was initially curious and dazzled, but he also spent almost a decade just moving through human society and watching all that went on around him. The sentiments expressed in this poem is certainly not from someone who is still naive. It sounds calm, almost solemn. And this is Wu Kong BEFORE he found the Way and all the brilliance of immortality. Even before he found the truth, he had figured out what was certainly not the truth. He was very clear about what he did not want in life.

And this is a fact many forget to bring along as they interpret Wu Kong's subsequent adventures. Wu Kong was seen as unruly and disobedient by those who made the rules. But Wu Kong didn't do what he did because he was ignorant or wild or mean. Wu Kong did what he did KNOWING what the rules were but simply chose not to play by them. He knew exactly how the world functions and what was expected of him, but he simply refused to play the game. If anything, his immense powers gave him more autonomy to hold on to his childish innocence, to declare to those in power, "I insist on experiencing this world in my unique, monkey way."

It is natural for someone who has no knowledge of the world to remain innocent and pure. But it takes active courage to hold on to that innocence AFTER learning all that was ugly and rotten about the world. If anything, his deep disappointment in the world only made everything he did against it more valuable and brave.

Wu Kong knew more about the world than he would have liked and STILL chose to remain innocent and pure. That is not something Pu Ti or any other powerful god taught him. That is something he found out and kept in his heart by pure will. This is why I personally resent any portrayal of Wu Kong as some out-of-control ape or a one-dimensional silly monkey. He is much more than that.

#journey to the west #sun wu kong #sun wukong #monkey king #chinese literature #the fifth monkey #xi you ji

[neonkrystals]

-> Welcome to Nyx's Tumblr! <-

hello people of tumblr, you can call me Nyx (currently), Kris, Kit, Kristen, Krystal, Kristopher, Kat, Neo, Neon, or whatever you like. you can also call me silly names of fictional characters. im one hundred percent vietnamese. i like drawing and writing stories, fandom related and my own original characters. they/he/xe/etc. (more on sexuality/pronouns/gender)

————

-> TAGS USED <-

#neonkrystals is the main tag to indicate my stuff

#neonkrismilestones are...well, milestones

#neonkrisninjago is my ninjago stuff

#neonkrislmk is my monkie kid stuff

#neonkristmnt is my ninja turtles stuff (#neonkrisrottmnt is specifically rise of the ninja turtles)

#neonkrisdreamzzz is my dreamzzz stuff

#neonkrislegocity is my lego city adventures stuff (#neonkrislcnl is specifically for lc: no limits)

#neonkrisartwork is my art stuff

#neonkrisanimated is my animation stuff

#neonkrisfanfic is my chats, fanfics and one-shots

————

-> FANDOMS (top = very active) <-

-> Main Fandoms <-

Lego Ninjago + Ninjago: Dragons Rising

Lego Monkie Kid (didn't read jttw whoops)

Miraculous Ladybug + Miraculous Awakening/Movie

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles + TMNT 2012 + Rise of the Ninja Turtles (NO SPOILERS FOR MUTANT MAYHEM....please :'])

-> Side Fandoms (and shows I watch but I don't involve myself in the fandom itself) <-

Sonic the Hedgehog

Lego City Adventures + Lego City: No Limits

Lego DreamZzz

The Amazing Digital Circus

Lego Friends (only watched Lego Friends: A New Chapter)

Hermitcraft (still trying to figure out ny favorite hermit oof)

Wakfu (only watched the animated series)

He-Man & She-Ra (I've only watched S-R:PoP and He-Man &tMotU)

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This blog is safe for work only. Do not get into any NSFW topics.

#introductory post #introduction #introducing myself #introducing post #introduces #intro post #pinned post #pinned intro #blog intro #first post #neonkrystals #neonkrisintro

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 19

Chapter 19 for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group!

Once again I really like the theme of working for your abilities. Zhu Bajie wasn’t a chosen one, he had to work hard to become an Immortal, though his meeting with the true Immortal was lucky of course.

It’s quite curious how often Sun Wukong has a hard time getting inside caves, either outright by being barred or due to some other thing. Something to keep an eye on.

I believe he didn’t just head back to check in on his Shifu, but also to clarify some things with old Mr. Gao.

In the J. F. Jenner translation after Tang Sanzang asks where Sun Wukong was all night, Wukong says “[h]e's no common or garden ghost” referring to Zhu Bajie, which made me think of the HTTYD books and the common or garden dragon, which is how I managed to figure the meaning. Afterwards I actually looked up the specific meaning of calling something common or garden, which is used to describe something you think is ordinary and not special in any way.

Ah it’s always the problem of appearance. A tale as old as time I feel.

“[A] man who breaks someone's door and enters without permission may be guilty of trespassing” I think that’s not just trespassing, that’s breaking and entering.

‘Ice iron’ sounds like such a JRPG term, I wonder if it’s ever been used as such. It might, but if it hasn’t that’s potential untapped if you ask me.

So it’s been years since Guanyin came by, huh. She must have been quite thorough at surveying the path then if it took this long!

Nice to see they manage to talk it out like that this time. Progress compared to the dragon instance.

Why does Sun Wukong insist on arson? There is a disproportionate amount of arson in relation to him, I wonder if this will persist into later chapters or not. Another thing to keep an eye on!

Okay, so Monkey is Metal and Zhu Bajie is associated with Wood, good let’s keep track of that.

Oh yeah, I can see why people may entertain a ship between those two. This poem just lends itself to that interpretation. Like overtly so.

Tang Sanzang just doesn’t get to actually name anyone. Only ever nicknames, it’s kind of funny.

Also interestingly enough in the J. F. Jenner translation it is Sun Wukong who remarks on their religious names matching.

Sun Wukong admitting to being a lightweight, we love to see a king knowing his limits.

Also very nice that Tang Sanzang allows them to have wine but draws the line at them getting drunk. Reminds me a bit of our lovely Paladin from DnD Honour Among Thieves. He’s got his code, but he is willing to adjust it to work with the world around him.

Hold on a moment, the Eight Rules forbid dancing and music?! I need to look into that a bit more, because if it is how it appears at face value I don’t know how to feel about this.

Very sweet of Sun Wukong to give Gao Cai some of the money!

Verdant returns! Zhu Bajie’s new outfit is actually verdant.

Blue and pink phoenixes you say? Trans pride phoenixes perhaps? That’s what I’m imagining anyway.

Deer check time! In the Chinese original it is a [麋鹿 Mílù] in English known as Père David's deer!

Wait, the guy literally hangs out in a crow’s nest? That’s pretty neat.

Oooh Sha Wujing foreshadowing! No mention of our Bailong Ma this chapter though, sad.

#xiyouji #journey to the west #jttw #sun wukong #monkey king #tang sanzang #zhu wuneng #zhu bajie #jttw reading group #jttw book club #père david's deer