| Saiyūki | |
|---|---|
| Format | Drama |
| Created by | Yuji Sakamoto |
| Starring | Shingo Katori Eri Fukatsu Atsushi Ito Teruyoshi Uchimura Asami Mizukawa |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| No. of episodes | 11 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 84 minutes (Ep.1,11) 54 minutes (Ep.2-10) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fuji TV |
| Original run | 9 January 2006 – 20 March 2006 |
Saiyūki (西遊記) is a 2006 Japanese historical TV drama based on the 16th Century Chinese story Journey to the West. It is a successor to the popular 1970s TV show Saiyūki, known outside Japan as Monkey. There have been three dramas and one special based on Journey to the West that have aired previously, making this one the fifth adaptation in Japan.
Fuji TV made an unusual decision to air this on 9pm every Monday, a primetime slot usually reserved for romantic dramas, hoping to capture both the young and the old by making this choice. While the series started off with viewership nearly reaching 30%, its rating gradually sank, barely making it at 20% at one point; the last episode finished off with 24.5%.
Rather than producing a second season, Fuji TV and Toho produced a feature film version of Saiyūki,[1] that was released in Japan on July 14, 2007. The film was a box office success, becoming the 8th highest-grossing film of 2007 in Japan.[2] The DVD was released on January 1, 2008 in two formats: a single disc version with audio commentary and trailers, and a 2-Disc limited collector's edition with documentaries and making-of featurettes; it has also been released to both DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United Kingdom, under the title Monkey Magic: The Movie.[1]
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