Oddaptations - Journey to the West → Dragon Ball

And each of these telephone book sized tomes is a volume one.

Some people like to complain about the inevitable changes that occur when a story is adapted from one medium to another. But let's be honest, sometimes the less faithful an adaptation is, the more memorable it is. So, in this series I'll be taking a look at adaptations where creators took one look at the source material and said, "FUCK THAT NOISE!" and whether they still work. Today's Oddaptation:

Journey to the West (c 1592 CE) often attributed to Wu Cheng'en adapted into Dragon Ball (1984-1995) by Akira Toriyama

So, how much of one of China's Four Classic Novels (six if you count the satirical one and erotic one) made its way into the manga/anime sensation that my freshman year roommate watched literally every day on Toonami? Let's take a look:

The Original: Loosely based on the true history of the 7th century monk Xuanzong, Journey to the West relates the story of the monk Tang Sanzang (you might also know him as Tripitaka) who has been tasked with journeying westward to India so that he can return with Buddhist scriptures. But let's be honest, he's kinda boring (and weirdly whiny and vindictive for a character allegedly on the path to Buddha-hood) so the person everyone really remembers is Monkey (the protagonist of the first several chapters). You may also know him as Sun Wukong (the same characters are read as "Son Goku" in Japanese, that will be important later). He's an immortal anthropomorphic monkey whose antics in heaven lead to his five-hundred year imprisonment under a mountain. He flies around on a cloud and wields a rod that can change size. Anyway, Tripitaka and Monkey, along with the lazy, scheming Zhu Bajie, or Pigsy (an anthropomorphic Pig), the nondescript Sha Wujing, or Sandy (an anthropomorphic river monster), and White Dragon Horse (a hippomorphic dragon), travel for 17 years, beset by bandits, Taoists, and monsters that want to eat Tripitaka to absorb his ten lifetimes of good karma (he's the reincarnation of one of the Buddha's disciples). Ultimately they make it to the Western heaven, where they receive three baskets (ttripitaka in Sanskrit) of scriptures to take back to China before they ascend to Buddha-hood and other rewards.

The Remake: Dragon Ball is the story of Son Goku (Hey, that's familiar!) a young boy with a monkey tail who flies around on a cloud and wields a rod that changes size (also familiar). He meets a  whiny young female tech-whiz named Bulma who is on a quest to collect the legendary dragon balls. Whoever possesses all seven can use them to summon the Eternal Dragon and make a wish. Together with the lazy, schemingm, shapeshifting pig, Oolong, and the nondescript desert bandit Yamcha (and Yamcha's shapeshifting sidekick, Puar, who, I guess is meant to be the horse?), they go on a quest to collect the dragon balls before the evil Emperor Pilaf and his Red Ribbon Army can collect them and wish to rule the world. And that's just the first arc (basically one year in a manga that ran for ten). This eventually escalates from the goofy sci-fi fantasy of Dragon Ball into the bizarre interplanetary drama of Dragon Ball Z. By which point the plot similarities to Journey to the West have been abandoned and Goku is so absurdly powerful that Toriyama has to resort to increasingly hackneyed methods of handicapping him in order for his enemies to pose any kind of challenge. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew are sidelined as newer, more powerful enemies enter the fray.

Fidelity to Source Material: This is a very lo-fi remake, but I'm sure you noticed some similarities in the above descriptions. At least, I hope you noticed. I put them there for you to notice.

Things That Survived Intact: As might be expected, most of the similarities are structural. To say that the novel is episodic would be an understatement (probably why it's such a popular source for tv adaptations), so manga makes for an excellent adaptation medium. They're obviously both structured as straightforward quests, with the quests focused on their heroes' self-actualization (more on that later). A few character names are preserved (Son Goku, obviously, and his eventual father-in-law, who's named for one of the many monsters encountered in Journey to the West: 牛魔王 Gyū-Maō (Ox Demon-King)). As mentioned above, the primary quartet of characters in Dragon Ball actually match up neatly with their counterparts from Journey to the West (more on that later).

Smart Changes: In Journey to the West the only character who embarks on the quest because he really wants to is Tripitaka. Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy, and even the horse, tag along because the Bodhisattva Guanyin set it as a task for their spiritual reformation. Meanwhile the quest for the dragon balls allows each character to have their own motivation. Bulma wants to wish for a boyfriend, Yamcha wants to wish to be less shy around girls (huh, I wonder if there's some mutual resolution for those two wishes that doesn't require the intervention of a magical dragon), Goku just wants to be the strongest fighter ever, and, just when it looks like Emperor Pilaf will get to his wish to rule the world, Oolong jumps in and wishes for "The panties of a hot babe!" (some aspects of Dragon Ball have aged better than others, in the English dub of the anime his wish is for comfortable underwear).  Likewise, while Yamcha is still the least developed of the main cast, he isn't as overshadowed by his companions as Sandy is by his. So kudos, Toriyama, you managed to make your quaternary protagonist slightly more rounded than his inspiration.

Why it works: Dragon Ball's first arc retains the comic/anarchic tone of Journey to the West while discarding the overtly pedagogical and religious elements. And while that might seem to be missing the point, Toriyama succeeds in transforming a classic work of religious satire for adults into a fun adventure narrative for pre-teens. I'll freely admit that the reason I read Journey to the West is that I read and enjoyed Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z (in manga form, the anime has way too many episodes that consist of two characters charging up moves while thinking about each other's power levels, spoiler alert, in the next episode each warrior unleashes his move and they both miss).

But seriously, even without all the filler, the manga can be a bit of a commitment.

Oh, and here's a Journey to the West pro tip: since the story is so episodic, it makes a great book for a reading project. Just read one chapter a day for a hundred days and you'll be able to say you've read one of the Classic Chinese novels. Or, you know, read an abridged translation. Those are a thing.

Links:

I'm pretty much required to make some sort of reference to over 9000, right?

One of the stories from Journey to the West which Dragon Ball does not adapt is the story of how Sun Wukong fails to leap out of Buddha's palm. Here's a fun video summary from the aptly named "Overly Sarcastic Productions."