YMMV / Journey to the West (1996)

• Awesome Music:
  • Check out the theme song for yourself.
  • The Japanese musical group, S.E.N.S, is a regular contributor to the series' recurring background tracks, and they did an amazing job in conveying the show's oriental atmosphere. This awesome score for instance (which plays practically Once an Episode).
• Broken Base: Fans are passionate about which Wukong (Dicky Cheung or Benny Chan) is their favorite.
• Cult Classic: The general consensus is that its So Okay, It's Average, the plot of the longer and more ambitious story arcs often leave much to be desired, with the Breather Episode story arcs more well-received partly due to them being more faithful to the novel. However, as always there are fans that loved these 90s series for various other reasons, be it the comedic portrayals of Chinese folklore, the bad CGI, the endearing performances of select actors like for example Dicky Cheung, etc.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: White Bone Demoness, already a character belonging to one of the more popular stories in the Journey to the West folklore, is one of the more memorable villains in this series. Among the long story arcs, the White Bone Demoness arc is arguably the most well-received given its effective amalgamation of two original stories in the novel, the villain's believable motivations and how the story brought the team of protagonists down to their Darkest Hour. The character's popularity was so much so that 2 years later the actress reprised the role, albeit a supporting one, in the second season finale.
• Ho Yay: Oodles between Sanzang and Wukong. Season 1 has Sanzang healing a badly injured Wukong with a teardrop, Wukong sparing hunters' lives because of a flashback to Sanzang, Wukong carrying an unconscious Sanzang through a desert, Wukong crawling to touch Sanzang's hand and curling by his head, Sanzang and Wukong going behind Bajie and Wujing's backs to steal their babies in womanland, etc. Season 2 includes fake marriage (with Wukong Disguised in Drag), mock banter, more hand-holding, Sanzang frequently rubbing Wukong's head, and Sanzang willingly leaving his quest for the sutra to retrieve Wukong. Even Bajie thinks the sutra represents all of Sanzang's hopes and dreams. A few quote examples include:
  • From s2e27 while the group is stuck in the land of the 9 suns.:
    • Wukong: If anyone dies, then me and Master die together.
  • From Season 2:
    • Wukong: True, sometimes the headband causes me great pain. But it also represents the affection between Master and I.
  • From s2e39 during Sanzang's Disney Death:
    • Sanzang: (grabbing Wukong's hand) You will always be my best disciple.
  • From s2e41 when a framed Wukong is trying to convince Sanzang he's returned to being an evil demon:
    • En En: I guess the Tang priest loves him more than me.
    • Sanzang: If you want to eat someone, then eat me first.
    • Sanzang: If you want to be married, then I will be your witness. If you want children, then I will take care of them for you.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Bajie. He's had to endure multiple lifetimes of tragedy, each involving the death of a woman he falls in love with. Even after he's supposedly relieved of this punishment so he can redeem himself by becoming Sanzang's disciple, he ends up with yet another tragic love life where his true form scares his fiancé to death. These would certainly make Bajie a big woobie...if his perverted behavior back when he was a soldier for Heaven didn't send him down this path in the first place.
  • The White Bone Demoness. She's wholly a villainous character, but her actions are motivated by love and later on revenge. She initially seeks to eat Sanzang so that she can gain a human form, believing that her husband (whom was forced to marry her years ago) would truly love her if she became human. After her husband was accidentally killed by the protagonists, her goals shifted to revenge instead. Even in her last moments (In the 1st season anyway) she returned to her husband's corpse to die by his side.
• Like You Would Really Do It: There are quite a few times in the series where there's half-hearted attempts to make it look like Wukong was killed in order to shock the rest of his team mates, but he showed up alive and well a minute or so later. Even more obvious for those who read the novel or are familiar with the character.
• Nightmare Fuel: The entire duology on a whole is mostly light-hearted, but the part in Season 1 where Si-si discovers Yu-shu's true colours is a Surprisingly Creepy Moment that wouldn't look out of place in a horror film. After randomly wandering out of Yu-shu's chambers, Si-si discovers the whole place to be littered with bones of Yu-shu's precious victims, the hall has Nothing but Skulls, and an oblivious Si-si then walks into Yu-shu and his accomplice, a Cat Demon, brutally killing a lesser demon to absorb his chi. She expectedly tries to make a run for it, only to stumble and trip headfirst into a skeleton, with the rolling skull taking up the whole screen... the Scare Chord and creepy background music isn't helping either.
• One-Scene Wonder: Nüwa (yes, that Nüwa) in the opening scene of second season where she in her glory mends the heavens (and inadvertantly leaves two magical stones from which Wukong and Little Monkey were born on Earth).
• Special Effect Failure: The effects of the series has not aged well. It wouldn't be so bad if the series didn't keep showcasing them as a selling point.
• Squick: Heavily dehydrated while traveling through the desert, Wukong, Bajie and Wujing resort to keeping Sangzang hydrated by feeding him their piss.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The finale of the Spider Demoness story arc. Yushu (Reincarnated as a Centipede Demon) killed En En in front of Mother Spider and the rest of the protagonists, drained Si Si of most of her powers to achieve his ultimate transformation ability, but was eventually defeated. As an Ironic Echo, the depowered Yushu was beaten to within an inch of his life by the angry villagers, and the vengeful Mother Spider called for his lynching. Si Si made her final tearful exchange with the now regretful Yushu, and just like what the first incarnation of Yushu did, carried her lover to the fire, where this time they perished together for real.
  • A couple of moments in the White Bone Demoness story arc would count. The moment when the misblamed Wukong is sent away by Sanzang, as well as the ending when Bajie continued on the pilgrimage without bidding his lover princess farewell, although not before taking one last look at the Wanted posters of his fake identity - the pain and sorrow from having to leave is still evident.
• The Woobie: Spider Demoness' Si Si and En En.
  • Si Si spent 500 years searching for her reincarnated lover Yushu who perished as a human when attempting to protect her from a lynch mob. When she eventually found him, he was revealed to have been reincarnated into a Centipede demon who doesn't cherish their new-found love and instead seek ultimate power. Both of them were eventually depowered, and died together in a fire set up by another lynch mob who now targeted Yushu instead.
  • En En died due to her unrequited love for Wukong: The Centipede Demon took advantage of the fact she had a crush on Wukong and impersonated her crush, allowing her to fall into his hands, upon which he absorbed her life force. She reverted back into an ordinary spider, effectively killing her.

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