Saiyuuki Reload

This is a review of the anime only. I have not read the manga.

This felt more like a long OVA than a true sequel but it was still worth the watch. If you like the characters already and want to spend more time with them, this is a great way to do it.

What i loved about it:

1. The characters. These four are just so awesome. I can't get enough of them.
2. The art was far improved to the original. That was a plus for me.
3. It was super funny. Funnier than the original.
4. I liked the hand-drawn cards during the ending song. ...
5. I liked the ending song (but not the opening).

What I didn't like about it:

1. There was no solid throughline like in the first series. There was no clear adversary nor goal. It was mostly episodic.


If you're a fan of Gintama and how it can go from ultra funny to ultra serious and tragic ... that's sort of what this series does over the course of all these series put together. The first series was mostly serious and dark. This one is much more lighthearted. We get to see the characters interacting in situations that are more humorous and I enjoyed that. So if you'd enjoy that too, then you'll like Reload.

I really enjoyed the manga as well as the original "Saiyuki" series, so I had great expectations for the sequel. However the change in the animation and voice actors really bothered me. The story in itself is amazing and I recommend reading he manga, but in my opinion of you love the first series like me I wouldn't bother watching the anime unless subbed avoid dubbed.

If you watched Saiyuki and liked it, you will definitely watch the Reload and gunlock sequels. However you will be surprised (as I was) that the sequels are all filler episodes. In Saiyuki, they showed some parts in the character's past lives so one would think it would have some relation to the overall plot of the sequels, which shockingly it did not. The characters look better in the sequels than in saiyuki (especially gojo, his hair actually becomes red and not purple this time) so that was a plus, if not the only one.
And the whole one-pattern personalities and lines get old after ... a couple hundred episodes, and I was just left wondering why oh why did I waste my time watching 60something episodes of plotless intermission to which there is no sequel. So, if you want to just watch some more of the characters of saiyuki getting together then this is the series to watch, because there is no story really, its just a veeery long series of filler episodes.