The Last Saiyuuki

Chapter 17:

After the heroes manage to defeat the followers of Chaos and some glimpse on Estelle past. I think they will be busy with Obon's Festival... Okay. Unless if the manga survived, we'll see

Chapter 18:

So the heroes are tasked to guard the Black Gate of Obon Festival so that no one can trespass it and getting suck into the other universe... Right. And the effect is a bit strong

Ryuu's reaction was pretty poignant. ='(

Yeah, that was handled real well. The sudden 180 from "it's okay, I've made my peace with it," the half-page closeup on his face.

Guess that's one reason true humans aren't supposed to have emotions. That way they don't go tearing off into fake afterlives.

I heard the manga's sell was really disastrous. Poor thing

Chapter 19. The pace is clearly accelerating, but it was a nice one. I did not expect Ryuu to throw the guy off-balance that way, I admit. He really does care about Estelle more than he lets on, eh. Aaand Kei's waiting for them on the other side.

I hope we learn why the hell Ryuu's father did what he did…

Chapter 19:

Yea... It's not Koharu who's waiting them on the Black Torii gate. Though it's interesting that Ryuunosuke confessed that he kissed Estelle. Lol

Chapter 20:

So... Monsters were created by humans to make humans happy? Ok. And there's a lot of monsters of Tales of Momotaro and boy the last one is the scariest one yet. And ding ding ding... Plot twist regarding Ryuunosuke's mother and Koharu. A bit convoluted but interesting at the same time

What I'm finding interesting about this is that there's not really a villain. The enemy people turn out to not be enemies so much as into tough love and the monsters that need killing are in their own way beneficial to humanity. Even the end boss that everyone has to unite against is just a natural disaster given a face so that it can be punched there.

Yep. I found the chapter a little too infodumpy though, it was hard to digest.

Chap 21…

And they say that childbirth is painful. >.>

Chapter 21:

So plot twist is that Koharu was Ryuunosuke sister and her mother died after giving birth to Koharu? Okay

So Saiyuuki chose to leave open-ended rather than rush a conclusion, and I prefer that. But honestly, that group pose in the last page? That's probably what the characters should have looked like to begin with.

I can't help but find some subtext in Ryuunosuke spending most of the chapter talking about how he wants to do all this fun stuff and meet new people, right before the editorial axe comes down on his adventures.

What, taller? They didn't look that different to my eyes.

Going to catch this up too. Sad to hear the manga got axed

Well yeah, they look mostly the same, but less childish. That woud have appealed to Jump readers more I think.

Chapter 22:

I guess it's about time that Koharu and Ryuunosuke reunite together. That's about it

Chapter 23:

And this chapter marks the end of the manga with the cast reunite together and grow up to face a bigger threat in the end with a picture of a baseball ball being played. Goodbye Saiyuki! We miss you.

Final thoughts: Yeah, I won't gonna lie, some of the manga needs some work including the infodump, the artwork and finding a suitable niche given that Saiyuki's story has been told before despite the story itself is pretty decent. But yeah, sad to see this one has to go despite its potential.

Maybe. I'm not sure a fairly minor change like that would have made much difference, though.