Foreign Horrorspondence: Japan serves Simian Surrealism

Imagine a poetic voice-over evoking Paul Giamatti doing a Pee-Wee Herman impression, spoken over a montage of dramatic images of sun bursts, clouds, and four volcanic islands rising from the sea:

“In the worlds before Monkey, Primal Chaos reigned.
Heaven sought order.
But the Phoenix can fly only when its feathers are grown.
The four worlds formed again and yet again,
As endless eons wheeled and passed.
Time and the pure essences of heaven, the moisture
of the Earth, the powers of the sun and the moon
All worked upon a certain rock, old as creation.
And it became magically fertile.
That first egg was named ‘Thought’.
Tathagata Buddha, the Father Buddha, said,
‘With our thoughts, we make the world.’
Elemental forces caused the egg to hatch.
From it came a stone monkey.
The nature of Monkey was….irrepressible!”

A rock explodes! Out leaps…a Monkey! Freeze frame! Next, one of TV’s catchiest theme tunes kicks in. And with that, we are introduced to “Monkey”, the titular character and hero of perhaps the most bizarre, but fun, TV series ever made. Produced by Japanese company Nippon Television makers of Godzilla Island, a television show spin off of the Godzilla Franchise, and animated hits such as Astroboy and The New Adventures of Gigantor, to celebrate the network’s 25^th anniversary. “SAIYUKI” (original Japanese title), which means “Journey to the West” from  author Wu Ch’eng-en’s novel (ca 1505-1580) is based on a real-life, legendary pilgrimage of a young priest “Sanzōhōshi” or “Tripitaka” who sets out to retrieve Buddhist scriptures from a monastery in India around 630 AD. The Monkey Magic series ran for two seasons each with twenty-six episodes (1978-1980).

“Tripitaka” is played by Masako Natsume, a model and actress presumably picked to represent the virginal and holy aspects of the boy priest, is aided and protected by three animal spirits: “Sandy” (“Sai GoJo”, in Japanese) as portrayed by Shiro Kishibe. is a fish spirit of Chinese legend. Represented more as a “Kappa” or Japanese water goblin, Sandy has long black hair with a metal dish on top of his head and wears a necklace of skulls. He’s a pessimist, a patient philosopher, and the least magical of the group. “Pigsy” (or “Cho Hakkai”) played originally by Toshiyuki Nishida and replaced in the second season by Tonpei Hidari is, yep you guessed it, a pig spirit. Strong but lazy and sporting “Yoda”-like ears, and an eye for the ladies. His weapon is a well-wielded muck rake. Pigsy never learns from his lustful desires and is frequently manipulated by various demons posing as beautiful women. Then there is our hero, “The Monkey King” himself, played with incredible energy by actor Masaaki Sakai, the son of a well-known Japanese comedian and frontman to popular Japanese group from the 60s, “The Spiders”. Monkey is a force of nature. Arrogant, impatient, rude and argumentive, his general attitude is not appreciated by those who cross him. Especially the God’s that invited Monkey to be gatekeeper of the royal peach garden but ended up casting him out of Heaven forever, after Monkey greedily ate ALL the Peaches. The fruit adds to Monkey’s substantial powers, making him immortal.

Monkey decides to challenge Buddha, but after losing a bet to fly from Buddha’s hand to the five pillars at the end of the universe, Buddha resolves to punish Monkey’s giant ego by trapping him on Earth under a mountain until he learns humility. Five hundred years later, Monkey is freed from his mountain prison by Tripitaka on the condition that he promises to accompany the priest on his voyage and protect him from the various evils that lie in wait. Did I mention that Monkey LOVES to fight? Well he does, and with anyone or anything that crosses his path, despite Tripitaka’s constant pleas for nonviolent solutions. “To conquer the monster in others, we must first conquer the one in ourselves…”, the young Priest is fond of asserting. This doesn’t stop Monkey though, as he feels no fear. With his magical powers, which include pulling hairs from his chest and blowing on them to create an army of monkey fighter clones of himself. He is indestructible and has the ability to morph into objects or insects to aid him in times of need. In the hopes of appeasing his enormous appetite for chaos, “Dragon King” also gifts Monkey a magical staff that can change size at command, and a trusty flying cloud.

Monkey takes on a variety of Demons, Monsters, Cannibals, Magicians, Dragons, Witches, Vampires and even humans who want to stop Tripitaka spreading the teachings of Buddhism to other lands. The action sequences are often comical, scored with the funky disco sounds of the day, and often involve Monkey taking on large groups of enemies single-handedly. We are also treated to SFX from some of Japan’s early masters including legendary Sadamasa Arikawa who served not only as visual FX artist but also director of photography on the original Godzilla (1954). Although nowadays the FX appear dated and cheap, they are of a high standard for a small Japanese show from the 70s and they maintain a kitsch appeal, which is charming to watch. Each episode of Monkey is punctuated with a voice over at the start and end. The voice over offers moralistic advice and philosophical ponderings, which give Monkey an added depth that makes it more dramatic than perhaps the bold costumes and comedic performances imply at first glance.

Although never properly aired in the United States, Monkey does have a strong and loyal fan-base across the world. It picked up a following after being translated by British writer David Weir (The Onedin Line and Space 1999) and dubbed for English speaking audiences by the BBC in the late seventies. Since its debut, it has enjoyed reruns on various cable networks recruiting new admirers. Monkey aired in New Zealand and Australia and even had a brief run in the US on a Japanese cable channel. The soundtrack to the show was also a hit with the title song, “Monkey Magic” performed by Japanese rock band “Godiego” reaching as high as number 2 on one musical charts. The song has been covered many times by other artists. The popularity of Monkey lives on to this day with animated retellings and live-action remakes. The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) starring Jet Li as “The Monkey King” or Journey to the West Conquering the Demons in 2013. A recent stage production entitled, “Monkey: Journey to the West” has enjoyed great success in Europe. There are rumors that none other than Guillermo Del Toro and “The Sandman” author Neil Gaiman are attached to another big screen version of this classic tale, which continues to find new audiences.

Now if you know the words sing along or get over to YouTube type in “Monkey Magic” and prepare to get funky with the punkiest Monkey that ever popped, after three! 1, 2, 3…

“Born from an egg on a mountain top
The punkiest monkey that ever popped
He knew every magic trick under the sun
To tease the Gods
and everyone and have some fun
Monkey magic, Monkey magic (repeat 4 times)

What a cocky saucy monkey this one is
All the Gods were angered
And they punished him
Until he was saved by a kindly priest
And that was the start
Of their pilgrimage west
Monkey magic, Monkey magic

With a little bit of monkey magic
There’ll be fireworks tonight
With a little bit of monkey magic
Everything will be all right
Born from an egg on a mountain top
The punkiest monkey that ever popped
He knew every magic trick under the sun
To tease the Gods
And everyone and have some fun
Monkey magic, Monkey magic (repeat 4 times)