The Monkey King and youkai, unlimited
I've been reading some of moonsilver's fun fics, and wanted to comment about the unlimited youkai forms of characters in Minekura's Saiyuki books.
I think of everyone's alter egos (or, more correctly, actual selves) as intelligent beings. I think the danger is that they may not remember their limited selves and lives and friends, in the heat of battle. In Minekura's world, the youkai were as smart or stupid as the humans, until the Minus Wave hit them, and the bad youkai were just thugs and gangs, aligned with the wrong side in this earthly war.
The Monkey King was a rebel, not an animal who couldn't communicate. He was mischievous, smart, powerful, and quite likeable; he reminds me of Raven in Pacific Northwest tales, or Coyote the trickster/creator in Southwest stories. Like several other fine Saiyuki characters, he went up against a nasty political structure that deserved opposition, and lost.
For another view of the Monkey King and the original story, check out
http://www.wku.edu/%7Eyuanh/China/tales/monkey.html.
cross-posted to saiyuki
I think of everyone's alter egos (or, more correctly, actual selves) as intelligent beings. I think the danger is that they may not remember their limited selves and lives and friends, in the heat of battle. In Minekura's world, the youkai were as smart or stupid as the humans, until the Minus Wave hit them, and the bad youkai were just thugs and gangs, aligned with the wrong side in this earthly war.
The Monkey King was a rebel, not an animal who couldn't communicate. He was mischievous, smart, powerful, and quite likeable; he reminds me of Raven in Pacific Northwest tales, or Coyote the trickster/creator in Southwest stories. Like several other fine Saiyuki characters, he went up against a nasty political structure that deserved opposition, and lost.
For another view of the Monkey King and the original story, check out
http://www.wku.edu/%7Eyuanh/China/tales/monkey.html.
cross-posted to saiyuki