6/16/12

Monkey King

 
So for a while now I've been interested in the old Chinese Journey to the West story. Enough to actually read books (gasp!)

For those not in the know, it's the story of the "Great Sage Equal of Heaven" Monkey (also known as Sun Wukong or Son Goku), who's really a bit of a jerk! He is petty, rude, and violent everywhere he goes, and went so far as to rebel against Heaven itself. It got so outrageous that Buddha trapped him within a mountain as punishment. Monkey stayed there for five long centuries, until he was convinced to accompany a Buddhist monk to India as his disciple/bodyguard to finally atone for his misdeeds.


So then he goes off to India, basically kicking ass and taking names! You see, this monk he's guarding, Tripitaka, well, he's a bit of a wuss. Not only does he prefer meditating to fighting, every demon between China and India wants to feed on his flesh because, he's so dang pious and pure, that doing so will make them immortal!

Along the way they pick up two other blokes, a pig and a river spirit. They're basically there to gape at how incredible Monkey is as audience surrogates, and sometimes lose fights for dramatic tension! That way when Monkey later easily beats the guys who defeated them, he can look even cooler. u_u

Anyway, Journey to the West has been adapted about twenty billion times into every form of media imaginable. It's really popular! Among them . . .

Dragon Ball,


Saiyuki,


Enslaved,

. . . erotic Takeshi Matsu manga,


and many, many others! Like, for serious. It'd be impossible to list them all.

Some common elements to most versions include his weapon, an extendable staff that which can freely change size in width, girth, and length. It leaves itself open to lots of dirty jokes.
And also a circlet which he's forced to wear. When the magic words are spoken, he receives a blinding headache from it. Only Tripitaka knows the words, and he uses them whenever he needs to convince Monkey to do something he doesn't want to do. Because nothing says 'faithful bodyguard' like pained coercion.



Anyway, let's have more interpretations of the character.

I find it interesting how varied his appearance can get, yet still be definitely 'Monkey'. u_u





 
 
 
 Don't worry, we have some naughty pictures too. u_u

 
 
Monkey.

12 comments:

  1. Actually, one odd thing about this story is Tripitaka was actually inspired by the story of a real Buddhist monk who did make such a pilgrimage in the early 600s. The real monk seems to have been a bit more practical than Tripitaka (he managed to travel to and all around India and back) without a monkey bodyguard, but some of the characerization is accurate.

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    1. Yep! A real monk who went to India for real scrolls. The trip took 14 years in the story. Wonder how long it was in reality? *_*

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  2. I know it's been adapted a lot of times but I would like to know where did you find the original story (if it's in digital better, I'm not really close to any of the book stores you might have visited). Or at least what's your source material. Any recommendations on how to aproach the story?

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    1. The book I've been reading is this one that I ordered from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Novel-China-Wu-Cheng-en/dp/0802130860/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1339896670 and it is . . . serviceable? The translation is a bit dry actually, hahah. But it gives a good straight-forward rendition of the story which is what I wanted. Only problem is all these buddhist and taoist concepts that keep going over my head. x0

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  3. THat second picture, the one with the dragon, is a League of Legends skin.

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  4. Let's not forget about the animated/stage musical version directed by the lead artist behind Gorillaz. That one even briefly had a penis in it! :P

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT0tBKB2_PA

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  5. One of my personal favorite 'inspired by Son Goku' characters is Kento of Hardrock from Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. It's not really blatant unless you know what to look for. His yellow headband with that curled symbol, his weapon is a staff that can be broken apart and lengthened, even in one of the episodes he's pictured jumping from tree to tree and called a monkey. Not to mention he's said to have an insatiable appetite.

    Kento's also the only boy in the five guy group with a little meat on his bones, and he's got the best expressions of anyone else in the entire anime. Seriously, look him up.

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    1. You know, I do dimly recall watching that show on Toonami when it first aired and that there was one Ronin Warrior WAY hotter than the others. I'll have to assume that's gotta be Kento. xD

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  6. I have that Dark Horse manga of the Monkey King. The artwork in it was spectacular.

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    1. asdfgh I TRIED to order that manga and Amazon told me there was a "lack of availability". From the samples I've seen, it looks soooo pretty. ;_;

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