Episode Guide to Saiyuki Reload

19. ==Farewell ++Kami-sama++ (Kami-sama)

Script: Touko Machida (also wrote #3, 7, 9, 17 & 18); Storyboards: Akira Iwanaga (also storyboarded #7 & 13); Episode Director: Akira Iwanaga (also directed #7 & 13); Animation Supervisor: Nahomi Miyata (also supervised #7 & 13)

First broadcast in Japan 2/12/2004

(directly from manga: Saiyuki Vol 7. Ch 40, "Blind Faith", and Ch. 41, "Farewell")

The silver-haired youkai kid tells Hakkai and Goku that it was his twin brother who attacked them, and that they aren't dead, just trapped in "the world inside the gourd". --If we aren't dead let's get the heck outta here, says Goku, but Hakkai wants to know why Ginkaku is here and what he and Kinkaku are. Ginkaku emotionally asks them to save his brother.

Kinkaku still has Sanzo trapped in the gourd's throttling vines, and Gojyo furiously asks what the hell he's up to. That bad person is going to die, the kid serenely replies, and Gojyo's had it up to here: he summons his shakujou and snarls that he's tried to go easy on the kid but refuses to be messed with anymore. But the gourd's vines grab the crescent blade without letting Sanzo go, and Kinkaku says they can't possibly beat him, because Kami-sama gave him this...

Ginkaku explains that they grew up in a normal youkai household and were very happy--until, you guessed it, the Minus Wave hit their village and sent everyone, including their parents, violently berserk. Hakkai nods, saying it seems to have affected all youkai except very strong-willed adults and young children. –Since it was no longer safe for them there, the boy says, they escaped into the woods together, and there were found by a beautiful figure in pure white robes, with shining golden hair. [He's also wearing the gold lotus-petal tiara of a Sanzo Priest.] We were so exhausted and desperate, that we thought he was a god, he says; and he took us to his palace, and took care of us, and gave us whatever we wanted. My brother is so innocent that he loved and admired him, but I began to be afraid of him, Ginkaku goes on; he always smiled so beautifully, as if he had no soul. And then one day...we see Ginkaku telling his brother that he's afraid, and wants to run away from here; and Kami-sama hears them, and with a wave of his hand Ginkaku is seemingly transformed into the oni-like monster we've seen. The terrified Kinkaku begs Kami-sama to tell him what will change his brother back, and the smiling figure says, you could do a lot of good deeds...like making bad people disappear...

We see Gojyo telling Ginkaku that the guy he believes in must be crazy; he passionately denies it and says that he'll save his brother this way. But Kinkaku is sadly telling Goku and Hakkai that his twin's been brainwashed, and believes he's rescuing him by doing these things. Goku scornfully says that's nuts, but Hakkai quietly says that everyone needs something to believe in--even Goku feels that way about a certain someone, doesn't he? (The saru halts, wide-eyed.) ==Ginkaku, nearly in tears, says that if these two die his brother is sure to come back; but Sanzo dishes out a classic Zen slap, asking if this Kami-sama is the only one he believes in--not himself, not his brother? Did Kinkaku himself ever say, "I don’t care, even if my brother has to kill people, I want to be saved"? ==Shut up! --howls Ginkaku, and the tentacles hurl Sanzo into a tree, Gojyo throwing himself in between priest and tree to take the impact of the blow. Not used to having a guy be on top, grumbles the hanyou [--classic. =)] but Sanzo snaps for him to can the wisecracks and take Sanzo's gun. He shoots the gourd out of Ginkaku’s hand; Sanzo starts to say that if they get it they may be able to get back Hakkai and Goku, but Gojyo's next shot shatters the thing. Um, oops?

His instincts were sound, though: back in the inn room, Hakkai and Goku awaken and compare notes. They both have the same memories of their experience, so it must not have been a dream. Let's get going, we have to pick up those troublemakers, says Hakkai. [Heh, we wonder which ones he means. =)]

==Stupid kappa, why are you even here? Will you just die already?! --rails Sanzo, grabbing back his gun; give me that, your idiocy might be contagious. Gojyo retorts that if he's helped them escape that's all that matters. Ginkaku is staring in horror at the destroyed gourd, saying "that was a precious gift Kami-sama gave me...he’ll be so angry..." The truth is that you’re afraid of him, isn't it? asks Gojyo. The kid denies it, but the hanyou gazes sadly and thoughtfully at the boy, thinking how much he's reminded of his own young self "who wouldn’t stop believing and just wanted to be loved, but was scared out of his mind".

Suddenly the monster-Kinkaku appears behind them, lunging so fast that S&G have to dive aside to get clear; Gojyo calls up his weapon again and heads for it, but can't help remembering that this beastie is still the terrified kid's brother, and checks his blow long enough for it to land on him, nailing him headfirst to the ground. Sanzo cries out his name in alarm [he may be a hopeless idiot, but he's your hopeless idiot, huh? =)] and draws a bead on the oni, but Ginkaku grabs his arm, begging him not to shoot. While they struggle, Gojyo gets an arm free, grabs the shakujou and is able to lay Kinkaku out without killing him. Ginkaku runs to him and pleads with Gojyo not to kill him, saying he'll do anything, even give his own life, for his brother to be spared. ...Well, you know this rings all sorts of bells in our hanyou's head. Dammit, he sighs, why do kids have to be so damn innocent and honest? He lays his hand on Ginkaku's head and gently says that they're not going to kill him, they've got no reason to. We're in the same boat, he explains: you want to save your brother, and we want to rescue our friends. But aren't they annoying people? --asks the little youkai, and Gojyo laughs, and says they sure are; if it's a matter of good and evil they're definitely closer to evil, they're a pain in the ass and they never shut up. But that's not really what matters, and someday he'll understand that for himself. So don't give up on life so easily, OK? --Gojyo tells him, that'd really be a waste.

==Much relieved, the kid tries to call his brother off, but the big oni lashes out and throws the kid sprawling. Sanzo yells for Gojyo to get away and takes aim, but before he can shoot a gold-and-brown streak appears from nowhere to deliver the smackdown, and there's a screech of brakes in the background. Goku and Hakkai, just in time. The four take a moment to reconnect (Gojyo is smugly pleased that his shot apparently did do the trick after all =), and then Hakkai confronts Ginkaku with the bad news. Kami-sama put him under some kind of spell to convince him that creature was his brother, but it's not, and never was. The real Kinkaku asked Hakkai and Goku to save Ginkaku because he himself can't leave the gourd world; his physical body is long dead, lying among the mountains of forgotten toys Kami-sama gave them.

That’s a lie! —cries the kid, but before anything else can happen a projectile flies out of the trees and nails into his forehead. He only has time to gasp "Why...Kami-sama?" before falling dead. --Why? Because I don't need you anymore, replies a soft voice, and they all look up to see a white-robed figure perched gracefully on a tree bough, draped in red beads. Everyone reacts in shock to the unmistakable vestments of a Sanzo Priest, but the figure says he doesn't want to be classed with the likes of our Sanzo--he's God. [The usage "Kami-sama", 'lord god', usually denotes the monotheistic God, rather than the lowercase, pantheistic "kami", 'god', of Buddhism and Shinto. That's obviously what Minekura means and how it's translated in the manga, so I'll use it as well.]--Sanzo shoots at him point-blank, but the bullets apparently pass through him harmlessly, and "God" laughs at him. Gojyo, however, doesn't care if he's the fucking Jade Emperor in person: he kneels down, gently closes the dead boy's eyes, and asks in a deadly low voice what's so damn funny about turning innocent kids into murderers. [This episode is just a tremendous performance by Hiroaki Hirata as Gojyo --incredible emotional range.] He lets fly with his shakujou, but Kami-sama's body turns into a shower of red beads and is gone, leaving only a sound of fading laughter. Gojyo smashes one of the beads into the ground with his fist in helpless anger; Hakkai is obviously worried.

Back at the inn, everything seems to be normal; too normal for Hakkai, who thinks Gojyo is trying a little too hard to act as if nothing happened. They couldn't find the man called Kami-sama, so they just buried Ginkaku's body and headed back down the mountain. Goku wants to know more about that guy, but Sanzo's having none of it. It's true I'm not the only Sanzo monk, I've never said I was, he says, but whether that man was a real Sanzo or just some freak playing dress-up [the manga translation is "cosplay nutcase" =)] is of no concern to us. Unless he’s working for Gyuma'oh we forget him and move on; I'm tired of being sidetracked by things not related to our mission. Goku protests, but Sanzo snaps that they aren’t heroes (or "champions of justice"), and if he says they'll go, they'll go. Period. ==Gojyo, standing at Hakkai's shoulder, very quietly says "“Sorry," and then announces he's off to bed. Hakkai gazes after him, very worried indeed.

And in the morning, when Hakkai comes to Gojyo and Goku's room to wake them, the monkey is snoring obliviously, but Gojyo’s bed wasn't slept in, and he’s nowhere to be found...

URASAI 19—"Knitting 2" (Amimono, Vol. 2)--again Hakkai is knitting for everyone; this time it's white mittens with red hearts on them for Valentine's Day (episode was broadcast on Feb 12th), but again they're all connected, and again the joke is that Goku would drag them all from place to place in quest of food. This time Gojyo throws a pillow at Hakkai, presumably for reusing the same dumb joke...

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