Fans crammed the Pierrot space at the Tokyo International Entertainment Market 2004 to see voice actors Toshihiko Seki (Sanzo), Souichirou Hoshi (Goku), Hiroaki Hirata (Gojyo) and Akira Ishida (Hakkai) in a two-part get-together that was part playful reminiscence and part State Of Saiyuki address.

Seated at a long table on stage before 100 lucky fans (the first 50 sitting in five rows, the last 50 standing in three rows) ringed by hundreds more, the four started the first Talk Show by accidentally coming out in the opposite order of their assigned seats, so that Seki was at the seat with a Hakkai decoration on the front of the table, Hoshi was in the Gojyo seat, Hirata sat in the Goku chair, and Ishida was in the Sanzo seat. That prompted a good-natured squabble between Hirata and Hoshi, who went on abusing each other's table decorations for some time after the seating order was corrected.

The last episode of GUNLOCK had been shown on a screen next to the stage in the half-hour before the first Talk Show's noon start, and Pierrot's moderator asked the four if they had any particularly funny memories from doing the series. Seki said that he kept thinking of Hazel and Gato as "Hazel and Gretel." Hoshi had thought the dice-game episode (episode 7, "Noroi No Sugoroku ~inevitable game~") was a lot of fun. Fighting "Hyper-Kougaiji" early on was the highlight of the series for Goku, though, he observed; Goku hadn't had much to do after that. Ishida apologized to Goku fans that GUNLOCK wasn't the best series for their favorite. Hirata commented that the series being not so good for Goku meant it was even better for someone else. Hoshi shot back that it wasn't so good for Gojyo either, but Hirata smirked that at least Gojyo had an episode where he got to "play" (episode 8, "Akai Kami No Onna ~stupid woman~").

Seki assured the crowd that GUNLOCK was by no means the last they would see of Saiyuki animated; it had done well and fan support was strong, and it would certainly continue. He said that fireworks are needed for a good story, and that Minekura-sensei has plenty of fireworks planned for the ongoing original manga, so they're looking forward to the future.

The topic of the GUNLOCK PlayStation 2 game came up. Seki said that he's not very good at games, but that Hoshi had really gotten into playing it and had excitedly shown him what happens when you hit certain combos. That led to remembering the time the four went out to play darts together, an outing that had been transcribed and featured in the spring issue of "Reload Press," the Saiyuki Reload Fan Club 'zine. Hoshi had demolished the competition then (Hirata was a distant second, followed by Ishida and Seki), and at the Talk Show he said he likes playing darts so much, he downloaded a darts game to play on his cel phone. Ishida thought that must be a strange game, and Seki joined him in pantomiming throwing darts at a cel phone held at arm's length.

The moderator mentioned that Ishida's birthday is coming up in November, and Ishida sheepishly admitted it's November 2. There was a present waiting for him; Seki hoped it was a game to throw darts at a cel phone, but a lovely little cake with burning candles on it was brought out, to what seemed to be Ishida's genuine surprise. The fans were asked to join in singing "Happy Birthday" to him--"Make it 'Dear Akira'," suggested Seki (who gallantly resisted calling him "A-keeer-a," the gaijinesque pronunciation Ishida's cohorts have teased him with in some past Saiyuki events and radio shows)--and all sang and clapped in rhythm with the song. Hirata threatened to help blow out the candles, but Ishida did it himself as the fans cheered. The moderator prompted the three to give Ishida a special birthday message; each ribbed him and wished him continued popularity.

Ishida wasn't the only one to get a present. Each of the four had signed a mini-shitajiki of his character, and then all four had signed a poster for the GUNLOCK DVDs, to give as prizes to five lucky winners in a drawing. Seki drew first to give away the Sanzo shitajiki he'd signed, and the girl whose ticket number matched the number he drew immediately stood up, then immediately flopped back down, her legs were shaking so hard! As Seki tried to see who had won, she tried again to stand up, but her legs wobbled out from under her once more. "Don't worry, Dr. Blackjack is just across the way," said Seki kindly, referring to the lifesize statue of Blackjack at the Tezuka Pro booth across from Pierrot's, and then did an "air-handshake" with her across the five meters or so that separated them.

Before drawing, Hirata apologized in advance to any Seki fans whose number he might draw, "but if you're a Hoshi fan, tough luck!" The winner, to his delight and her's, turned out to be wearing the Fan Club exclusive Gojyo T-shirt Hirata had designed!

Who would draw for the grand prize, the signed poster? A four-way janken match was held--with Hoshi the immediate loser, three papers against his stone ("Three against one--it's always that way!"). The other three then came up with the same thing four times, laughing in amazement, and then all were different the fifth try, yet another tie! Ishida finally lost the next go-round, and in the deciding showdown, Hirata beat Seki. (The winning number was 82. I had 84...*sigh*)

In closing, Hoshi said there were a lot of Saiyuki projects to look forward to. He started to say something about a movie version, but the others immediately chorused, "You can't say that! Go back! Go back!"--as if it was something hoped for but not a done deal. Hoshi hurried to say that several CDs were coming out, including the Saiyuki RELOAD Vocal Album Vol. 2 and a drama CD that will center on Hakkai.

Ishida said that he's enjoying providing Gaara's voice in Pierrot's series Naruto (Hirata added that his character in Naruto, Genma, is coming back soon; Seki sighed that his character, Iruka, appeared a while ago...). He looks forward to returning to the role of Cho Hakkai when the time comes for "Saiyuki Reload Gunlock Next"--a comment that sent a ripple through the crowd, prompting the moderator to add that there isn't anything in the works called "Saiyuki Reload Gunlock Next"; Ishida had meant it figuratively.

The four took their leave, waving to the sea of fans frantically waving back, and this hour-long first Talk Show ended with the 100 fans with tickets each receiving a little bag as they left. Most of the bags held two pieces of Halloween candy, but a few held a card with Seki's autograph!

The Talk Shows' 200 tickets had been distributed at Pierrot's booth at the huge Entertainment Market event, with those who made a purchase of at least 3000 yen in Saiyuki goods getting one ticket, and those who spent at least 6000 yen able to get the limit of two tickets. Saturday morning 150 tickets were allocated for distribution (75 for each of the two Talk Shows)--and were all gone 20 minutes after the doors opened!--with the final 50 tickets (the last 25 for each show) distributed Sunday morning.

Most of the fans in time to get tickets had splurged for the two-ticket limit, with their tickets numbered almost identically for each show (for instance, mine were #84 for the first show and #82 for the second). The majority of the second show's audience had also been at the first show, seated in almost the same positions as before--so between shows Pierrot staff obligingly reversed the seiyuu seating arrangement, carefully relocating the table decorations and stars' water bottles to the correct places, so that those on the Seki and Hoshi side last time had the Ishida and Hirata side this time.

Out they came, Seki calling out Hoshi's trademark "Pappii~!" greeting himself before Hoshi got the chance, and Hirata joining in the Hoshi harassment by refusing to sit in the unswitched chair Hoshi had occupied last time.

Gensomaden Saiyuki had brought the four together for the first time, and they reminisced about meeting each other and working together. Seki remembered how excited Hoshi had been when they promoted Gensomaden Saiyuki: Requiem in person in Osaka and Tokyo. Hoshi explained that he hadn't experienced anything like that before; that had been his first movie. Seki commented that with all the success "Hoshi-sama" has had, he's surprised Hoshi hadn't done a movie before Requiem.

Hirata remembered how nervous and uptight he'd been at the first Saiyuki live event in 2000. He wondered aloud if anyone in the audience had been there--and was startled when about a dozen hands went up!

The moderator noted that one of the drawing winners last time was wearing a Saiyuki Reload Fan Club exclusive T-shirt that Hirata designed, and that it was great to see that some audience members were wearing the club's other exclusive T-shirts. The four had enjoyed designing them, so they would talk about their creations now. (Note: The summer issue of "Reload Press" had featured the four trying to come up with ideas for unique Fan Club-exclusive goods. After Saiyuki Curry, Saiyuki Lingerie and Saiyuki Sea Monkeys had been debated and discarded, they decided on T-shirts. Each created his own design, with the resulting four T-shirt designs produced for sale to Fan Club members.)

A staffer brought out the T-shirt Seki desiged. On it, a silhouetted Sanzo-ikkou are walking across the front, not riding--because of the "best part," Seki pointed out: Hakuryuu is flying on the sleeve!

Ishida mused that it was like in Sazae-san. Hirata fell off his elbow; what did this have to do with Sazae-san? Ishida explained that they were walking along in a line, just like Sazae-san and her family during that show's ending titles.

The moderator asked how many people had bought this shirt, and most hands shot up.

Next out was the Goku T-shirt designed by Hoshi, who said the best part was Goku's line from the mah-jongg episode of Saiyuki RELOAD, "Oretachi ni wa oretachi no yarikata ga anjan!!"

With some encouragement from the others, he agreed to read it as Goku, setting off a surge of delight in the crowd. He twisted around in his seat to face the wall behind him, gathered himself, and then exploded out the line. The fans went crazy, and Hirata nodded approvingly--"Just like him." "Just like him?!" spluttered Hoshi.

Hirata's Gojyo T-shirt was brought out next, featuring what he described as Gojyo's "unreadable" face. He felt the best part is the smoke curling up from the cigarette and the thrown-away cigarette pictured on the bottom of the back of the shirt--but in pointing out the thrown-away cigarette, he suddenly stopped and stared more closely at it. When designing the shirt, he explained, the shirt he'd been given to use had a little hole in the back--so he'd made the hole the tip of a thrown-away cigarette, as if it had burned through. He'd thought the production shirts would all have that hole.

Then there was Ishida's green-on-black shirt--which he was actually wearing himself---of the RELOAD logo with Hakuryuu in silhouette. Why that design? Because, Ishida explained, "where Hakkai is, Hakuryuu is." "He'd be surprised if that's a fire-dragon," deadpanned Hirata.

As they remembered their brainstorming session that yielded the T-shirts, the notorious Saiyuki Bra came up. "That was Seki-san's idea!" Hirata insisted, with surprising indignation. "Well," Seki said innocently, "it probably would have sold..." In the audience, a few heads bobbed amid giggles. "Not to me," Hirata grumped. "I don't need it." The other three stared at him for a beat, and then burst into laughter, Hoshi crowing, "You don't need it?!"

The moderator mentioned that Ishida has a birthday coming up, a fact now greeted by Ishida's cohorts as the surprise of the century--"Really?!" The cast and crowd again sang "Happy Birthday." When asked what his favorite foods are, Ishida named curry rice and apples, and a bag containing a gift-wrapped box was brought out. Inside were assorted packages of fancy curry! Ishida was beaming as he thanked everyone.

Was there anyone else with a birthday soon? Hoshi's is in May, Seki's is in June, and Hirata's is in August. How about the audience--anyone with a November birthday? A few hands were raised. "Anyone on November 2?" asked Ishida...and in the back, one hand stayed shyly up. "The same day! Is your name Akira too?" Seki asked. She shook her head, laughing, and Ishida wished her a happy birthday.

Another drawing was held for four signed mini-shitajiki and a signed GUNLOCK DVD poster. To determine who would draw for the grand prize this time, a killer janken tournament was held with a pair competing at a time; right after the two janken, the winner points up or down or left or right, and the loser has to look in a different direction or it's over. The first match was "Sanzo" versus "Goku," with Seki doing it in Sanzo's voice to a huge roar from the crowd. Hoshi lost immediately. Next was "Gojyo" versus "Hakkai," with Ishida fast to fail. Hoshi and Ishida then battled for third place; Ishida's timing was off at the start (when teased about it, he gulped, "I'm nervous!") but once going, the match flew several fierce rounds before Hoshi prevailed. But Seki versus Hirata was over in a blink: when janken winner Hirata pointed up, Seki looked up (oops!) with such force, his baseball cap went sailing off his head!

As the hour-long show came to a close, Seki said that his work schedule is very busy next year--in addition to voice work he'll be doing more stage acting (he slipped in a plug for Hirata, performing in a stage play next month)--but when the time comes for the next Saiyuki, he'll gladly make the time to do it.

Hoshi said he's looking forward to more get-togethers like this with the fans. He reiterated about Saiyuki's upcoming CD releases--and added that with next year being the tenth anniversary of Saiyuki's creation, it wouldn't be surprising if that was commemorated somehow.

Hirata mentioned the earthquakes in Niigata; at that point the region had suffered eight earthquakes of strength 5 or greater in the past 20 hours. He asked those who had come from affected areas to please be careful, and everyone to take good care of themselves.

Ishida said he hopes Saiyuki will continue another 10 years, and gave his sincere thanks to all for their support.

Waving, the four left the stage. As in the first show, the 100 fans with tickets were each given a little blue Animate bag as they filed out. Most found two pieces of Halloween candy inside--but a fortunate few got an card autographed by Seki, Hoshi, Hirata or Ishida!

-Kagenami Q

Return to JOURNEY TO THE REST: A Roadside Revelry in Saiyuki and its Doujinshi

This page was created October 25, 2004. Last updated October 27, 2004.

This page's text and source code are copyright Kagenami Q. DO NOT USE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION. Saiyuki, Saiyuki Gaiden and Saiyuki RELOAD are copyright Kazuya Minekura/Issaisha; Gensomaden Saiyuki is copyright Kazuya Minekura/Issaisha, Saiyuki Project and TV Tokyo 2000; the Saiyuki RELOAD anime is copyright Kazuya Minekura/Issaisha, TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Pierrot 2003; Saiyuki RELOAD GUNLOCK is copyright Kazuya Minekura/Issaisha, TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Pierrot 2004. All images are copyright their respective artists and creators. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.