Saiyuki Gaiden
is a Japanese manga series that serves as a prequel to the Saiyuki series written and illustrated by Kazuya Minekura. It began serialization in Square Enix's Monthly GFantasy magazine in 1999 and later it continued serialization in Ichijinsha's magazine Comic Zero Sum WARD from 2002, before finishing in 2009 with four volumes. Gaiden work, It is a story of an era that dates back 500 years from the main story. A three-part original video animation (OVA) adaptation was licensed by Sentai Filmworks and aired from March to November 2011; a special edition titled Saiyuki Gaiden: Kouga no Shou was released on April 2013. Plot
Heaven, where the gods live. In that world where ‘death’ doesn’t even exist, Konzen Douji spent his days, bored. However, his life begins to change with the introduction of the golden-eyed boy at Kanzeon Bosatsu’s side, said to have been born of a Lower World stone. Charged with looking after the innocent boy, Konzen begins to sense a change in his life, even as he is irritated at being toyed about with. The boy receives the name “Goku” from Konzen Douji, becomes close to Tenpou Gensui and Kenren Taisho of Heaven’s Western Army, and makes his first friend. Shocked by that friend’s tragic death, Goku unleashes the power of the “Seiten Taisei” bound by his golden diadem, and massacres those in the area with this overwhelming power. Kanzeon Bosatsu knocks out “Seiten Taisei”, but Konzen Douji stops her from finishing the job. However, because of protecting Goku, Konzen Douji, Kenren Taisho, and Tenpou Gensui are made enemies of heaven. They take hostage the Dragon King of the Western Ocean, Gojun, and attempt to flee to the Lower World...

Media

Manga

Saiyuki Gaiden was serialized in Enix's Monthly GFantasy magazine in 1999 and released the first volume on December 1, 2000, although it continued serialization in Ichijinsha's magazine Comic Zero Sum WARD from 2002. The manga on hold for one year in 2004. Saiyuki Gaiden spans four volumes and after ten years running ended in May 2009. A special edition titled "Saiyuki Gaiden memorial" was released on July 16, 2009. On January 25, 2011, Ichijinsha published two new edition volumes of Saiyuki Gaiden. In September 2012, a new, one-shot story titled "Saiyuki Gaiden Heavenly Ants" was released. A Saiyuki Gaiden Anthology book released on July 31, 2017 by Ichijinsha. Anime

Production and release 

In November 2009, it was announced an OVA titled Saiyuki Gaiden had been green-lit. The OVA is based on the eponymous manga series Kazuya Minekura wrote and illustrated, and it is a prequel to the manga series Saiyuki, which ended in Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Zero-Sum magazine in 2009. The first of three volumes was released in Japan on March 25, 2011. The second of the three anime volumes was released in Japan on June 24, 2011 and the third volume on September 22, 2011 after being delayed two months. A special edition (4th episode) under the title , was released in Japan on April 26, 2013, A Saiyuki Gaiden Complete DVD Contains OVA episodes 1-3 released on January 22, 2013 by Sentai Filmworks. later a Complete Collection Blu-ray edition release that collected into a two-hour feature-length motion picture was released in North America on September 13, 2022 by Sentai Filmworks. Section23 Films is Home video distributor of Saiyuki Gaiden. On September 28, 2018 Frontier Works Released all 4 volumes of OVA "Saiyuki Gaiden" Blu-ray BOX by completely new HD digital remastering. Reception

Manga 
Saiyuki Gaiden manga remained in the top weekly Japanese ranking chart whenever a manga volume debuted. The fourth volume ranked fourth of the top-selling manga in Japan during July 27 to August 2 2009, selling 89,565 copies and a total of 135,913 copies. and ranked twenty-second during August 3 to 9 2009, selling 32,366 copies and a total of 167,971 copies. In addition to the volumes, the Monkey Perm 2 DVD-Box Deluxe Edition Gaiden ranked twelfth during the week of December 22 to 28 2014, selling 1,653 copies. and the Monkey Perm 3 DVD-Box Deluxe Edition Gaiden ranked third during the week of February 1 to 7 2016, selling 1,123 copies. Anime 
In his reviewing of anime DVD, Chris beveridge of The Fandom Post describes the story in general as very simple and straightforward, Saiyuki Gaiden is a very entertaining miniseries that plays it seriously. He feels there are moments of levity that fit the situation, calling the story enjoyable and the animation and character design lovely. In his reviewing of anime Blu-ray, Chris praised OVA series, said that the style used in the anime is relatively good, stating that "Saiyuki Gaiden fully reveals the events that took place in Heaven, which in turn created bonds that eventually shook its pillars so strongly", compares the moments of anime to a lightness and softness that fits with the situation. References

External links

 OVA "Saiyuki Gaiden" official website 

Adventure anime and manga
Ichijinsha manga
Chinese mythology in anime and manga
Shōnen manga
Shōjo manga
2011 anime OVAs
Works based on Journey to the West