Cho Hakkai (Saiyuki)
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| Cho Hakkai by Minekura Katsuya | ||
| Name | Cho Hakkai 豬八戒 | |
| Debut | Gensomaden Saiyuki Vol. 1, manga | |
| Seiyu | Akira Ishida | |
| Voice Actor | Braden Hunt | |
| Age | 22 Years old (Saiyuki Vol. 1) | |
| Eyes | Green | |
| Hair | Brown | |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (181 cm) | |
| Weight | 153 lb (69 kg) | |
| Birthday | September 21 | |
| Astrological Sign | Virgo | |
| Blood Type | AB | |
| Dexterity | Right Handed | |
| Powers | Chi Gong An anchient Chinese art that utilizises your body's chi | |
Cho Hakkai (豬八戒 Cho Hakkai) is a fictional character in the manga and anime Saiyuki. Cho Hakkai is the mild, polite and level-headed member of the group who always looks out for their day to day wellbeing. He takes on the more feminine roles: cooking, cleaning up after everyone, making sure their supplies are in order, and solving (or at least calming down) the arguments and yelling matches that happen frequently. He is also their healer, his kikou jutsu (chi manipulation/Qigong) coming in handy in battle in the form of ki blasts and protective barriers.
Hakkai is very fond of sake, but never gets drunk no matter how much he consumes. He is extremely good at poker as well. His pet dragon, named Hakuryu, turns into a green jeep and serves as their mode of transportation. Hakkai usually drives with Genjo Sanzo in the passenger seat, and Son Goku and Sha Gojyo in the back. He wears a monocle over his nearly blind right eye, and on his left ear he wears three metal clips which are youkai (yōkai) limiters, keeping his power and form in check. Unlike Goku, Hakkai has more control over his transformation, and has been able to remove and replace his limiters under his own power on three separate occasions.
Contents |
[edit] Before the Sanzo-Ikkou
Hakkai was born human as Cho Gonou (Cho Gonō). He was an orphan and was raised by Catholic nuns through his childhood, he was not a very sociable child, and frightened the other children. He also said that he did not believe in God. He fell in love with a woman who he later found out was his older twin sister, Kanan, who he'd been separated from since birth (though in the anime they don't mention that she is his sister), and lived with her in a town where he had a job as a school teacher. One day he came home to find that the villagers had given her over to the centipede youkai Hyakugan Mao (translated as 'Centipede King or King of the Centipedes), who loved to devour beautiful women, in order to save one of the villagers daughters. Gonou then went on a killing rampage, first slaughtering the villagers before killing all the youkai in Hyakugan Maou's castle to get her back. Gonou slaughtered the entire clan of youkai only to discover that Kanan had been raped and was carrying Hyakugan Maou's child. Unwilling to give birth to "the child of that monster", Kanan killed herself with Gonou’s knife, rendering Gonou's promise to save her a failure.
Chin Yisou, the son of Hyakugan Maou, angered at the slaughter of his tribe, attacks Gonou, giving him a deep stomach wound. Yisou then decides to test the legend that "a human who bathes in the blood of a thousand youkai can become a youkai himself." He cuts his own wrist and spills his blood onto Gonou. It turns out that Chin Yisou really is the thousandth youkai, and after he transforms into a youkai, Gonou kills him. Chin Yisou however, right before his death, shoves a Mahjong tile into one of his wounds and turns himself into a shikigami, then makes an appearance later in the story.
He acquired power limiters at this time that allow him to retain a human appearance, although the details of this are unknown at this time.
Severely injured and near death, Gonou leaves the castle and stumbles about in the rain before collapsing from blood loss. While on his way home from gambling, Sha Gojyo runs into him, takes one look into his eyes and decides to save him, apparently to spite Gonou's obvious desire for death. Gojyo shoves Gonou's guts back into him and gets a doctor to stitch him up. Upon waking, Gonou finds himself in a stranger's room, learns that he has been in a coma for a week, and that he should be stuck in bed for another month. Meanwhile, Gojyo makes introductions by complaining about not being able to smoke while he was unconscious, lighting up, and then stating that "this is the first and last time [he] bring[s] a guy to [his] bed." Strangely enough, this was the start to a beautiful friendship.
Meanwhile Genjo Sanzo and his companion Son Goku are ordered by the three Aspects to "apprehend this felon... Cho Gonou... a young man who was once human." While living together Gojyo and Gonou learn more about each other and Gonou shows off his card-playing skills much to Gojyo's annoyance. Gonou talks about his love for Kanan, while Gojyo wishes that he could love someone someday. Gojyo never once asks about Gonou's affairs or his name. After he heals enough to walk, Gonou decides that it is time for him to take one last action. But before leaving he has one last talk with Gojyo, in which he tells him that his hair and eyes strike him as the color of blood. "That red that stained my hands... kept me grounded when I tried to escape the weight of my crimes. Your hair and eyes remind me of that. They're like a warning I suppose." What Gonou says strikes Gojyo deeply, as Gonou is the only one who has ever seen his red hair and eyes the way he does. Before Gonou leaves the house Gojyo asks him his name. He is about to answer when there is a knock on the door. Enter Genjo Sanzo and Son Goku.
They ask for Gonou, and Gojyo tries to keep Gonou hidden, but Sanzo already gathered information from the town. A fight soon ensues in which Gonou ends up stealing Sanzo's gun, and asking for more time runs off into the woods. As they think about how to find Gonou, Sanzo shares some of his wisdom and Goku muses about how Gonou didn't seem like a bad man. Gojyo makes a comment about how, once he has done what he intended to do, Gonou will probably die; "he seems the type." This disturbs Sanzo, who reveals that he never intended to kill Gonou, only capture him. Gojyo decides to join up with the two, stating that "if letting him die is the kind thing to do... then I... must be one selfish bastard."
Gonou wished to return to Hyakugan Maou's castle to retrieve Kanan’s body and to die beside it, but ends up encountering a survivor of the youkai clan. The youkai shows him his dead brothers eyes, (ripped out by Gonou) and vows revenge upon him. Gonou responds with "We took away each other's families. We're almost even. Will giving you my eyes be enough? Be my guest. It's not as if I need them." He then proceeds to completely rip out his right eye and throw it at the Youkai. Before he can fully rip out the left one, Goku tackles him and convinces him not to do it. Gonou then kills the youkai using Sanzo's gun, and together the four of them continue on to Hyakugan Maou's castle only to find it burnt to the ground, Kanan's corpse lost forever. "I couldn't save her again." Gonou falls to his knees, and at Gojyo's insistence Genjo Sanzo recites a sutra, though before he does he states that "when I read a sutra... It's not for the dead." Which really introduces the theme of Saiyuki, to live. The light of the sun comes up, showing Gonou that he still has a chance to continue his life.
[edit] Discovering Hakkai
Sanzo and Goku took Gonou back to the temple where he stood trial for murder. Sanzo spoke on his behalf, and plead Gonou's case before The Three Aspects. Before Gojyo see's Gonou, Sanzo tells him that Cho Gonou is dead. Gojyo, who is stricken with grief at the loss of his companion, returns home and cuts his hair. Then one day, while Gojyo is buying apples, Gonou appears at his side. They then return to Sanzo and Goku, at the Palace of the Setting Sun, where Gonou announces that his name is now Cho Hakkai. After being accused of lying, Sanzo claims that Gojyo jumped to his own conclusions and that Buddhism forbids killing. With a second chance at life and a new name, Cho Hakkai convinces Sha Gojyo to let him move in with him. The two parties (Gojyo/Hakkai and Sanzo/Goku) go their separate ways only to rejoin once the minus wave spreads over Shangri-La, and form the Sanzo-Ikkou (or the Sanzo-Party), although they do see each other occasionally during the intervening time, with Goyjo and Hakkai often taking on side jobs for Sanzo.
Cho Hakkai hides his sadness and guilt over his past with his ever smiling face. There are numerous occasions when Hakkai's mask slips and he lets 'Gonou' out though. This side of Hakkai usually scares his colleagues because he is such an impassioned being. It is shocking to see such hostility in place of his usually placid temper. Though there are times when Hakkai gets angry at his colleagues, but keeps smiling, which creeps them out a bit, and seems to actually increase the threat. Even though Hakkai is the only one of the Sanzo-ikkou that can talk to Sanzo without his life being threatened, and they share certain aspects of their past, no one seems to be closer to Hakkai than Gojyo. Hakkai is the only one in the party that Gojyo really opens up to, and even though Hakkai is not keen on talking about his past, he and Gojyo seem to share a mutual understanding of that subject and each other. They seem to communicate on a level that none of the others can achieve.
He is very protective of the group, and more obvious about it than the others, eagerly preferring to put himself in the way of danger rather than let the others get harmed. He once used up all his power and fainted from shielding the group. It seems that his failure in saving Kanan and the numerous murders lead him to try to redeem himself through present action.
[edit] His Youkai Self
In the Saiyuki manga, Hakkai had taken off his limiters three times - once in the Burial Arc to save Gojyo from a group of youkais who held him hostage, another time in the Kamisama Arc before Goku while they were trapped in Kinkaku's gourd, and a third time in the "Even a Worm" Arc in the Reload manga, where he had to stop a berserk Goku as Seiten Taisei. As mentioned previously, he also took his limiters off in the Homura Arc in the anime.
Until recently in the "Even a Worm" Arc, Hakkai's transformations reveal only a back view and a blurry profile of his youkai self. Very limited information is given regarding his conditions as a youkai. The "Even a Worm" Arc clarifies a lot of things. The story was that Goku was attacked on the streets by an unknown foe and was badly injured, to the point where Hakkai declared that the only option was to take off his diadem and hope that his Seiten Taisei lifeforce can save him. In the meanwhile Sanzo had gone off by himself to find the one who attacked Goku (and kill them). As Goku recovered and turned berserk, even Gato's bullets could not stop him - he caught them all. Deciding that there was one available option to take, Hakkai took off his limiters, asking Gojyo to stop him if he goes berserk.
Now we are provided with a bit of background information in the form of a flashback of a conversation between Sanzo and Hakkai. Sanzo warned him that Hakkai should not take his limiters off - that he, unlike Goku, would be affected by the minus wave, and possibly lose his senses for good.
This is also the first time where the audience can see Hakkai's face as a youkai: he has the typical pointed ears, and his hair gets longer - Gonou's hairstyle, basically. His vine markings wound around the whole of his body, even his face (in the manga, the vines are green; in the reload anime they are red). And as the solution for the much-debated topic of Hakkai's eye in the manga, here Hakkai's right eye is clearly shown to be prosthetic; his left eye becomes golden with a slit-pupil, while his right remains green with a round pupil.
As Hakkai took on Seiten Taisei Goku, he is shown to be much faster than his human self, and much more durable. However, as he was subjected to the minus wave, he was shown to be sadistic, as he repeatedly punch Goku in the face whilst holding him down. As Gojyo held him back, Hakkai's fist almost landed onto Gojyo's face before he restrained himself and regained some human senses. He himself was shocked by his own brutality under the effects of the minus wave.
Another exciting feature of Hakkai in youkai form is his markings. They are much more extravagant and dynamic than those of normal youkais, and for a good reason - one of youkai Hakkai's ability is controlling his vine markings and have them travel across the surface of any solids in order to bind. He used it to grab hold of Goku as Goku landed onto the ground, grabbed Goku's arm from having them travel out from his ankles, and to conduct electricity through Gato's gun, Gato, Hakkai himself, the ground and Goku, all bound by his vine markings. This skill in its own nature seems to startle and even shock the Seiten Taisei Goku.
However powerful Hakkai is shown in this battle, it is also made clear that he is no match to Seiten Taisei Goku. Goku is a lot more agile, faster, more brutal, stronger and recovers at an unbelieveable rate, and he can also utilise the energies of the earth. Hakkai only managed to restore Goku's diadem through manipulating the natural power of lightning, and he almost killed himself in the process.
[edit] Gaiden-His Past Life
In his past life, Hakkai was Field Marshal Tenpou (Tenpou Gensui) who outranked General Kenren (Sha Gojyo's past self). Despite this, during the main portion of Gaiden he serves under Kenren rather than vise versa. This arrangement, combined with the closeness between the two men, leads some of the gods to make snide comments to the effect that they are having an affair. They don't seem too worried about these insinuations, even joking about their relationship.
Tenpou was also old friends with Konzen Douji (Genjo Sanzo's past self). He owned a huge library and had a habit of disappearing inside it for long periods of time. Tenpou was very messy, a distinct difference from the neat Hakkai. He was a chain smoker and showed very limited concern for his personal hygiene and appearance. His love for children is evident through his interaction with Goku, asking him to address him as "Ten-chan". He had a strange hobby of collecting "artistic" items from the mortal world, such as his frog-ashtray and a Colonel Sanders bust.
Despite his easy-going external facade, Tenpou is highly impulsive and can lash out to anyone disregarding the consequences when he is angry. This is the primary difference between Tenpou and Hakkai - Hakkai guards his darker side much more closely. He is very observant; it was he who saw the decadence of the Tenkai (Heavenly) Army and stirred the revolt against it. Tenpou is quite capable of violence in self-defense - when the four (Konzen, Goku, Kenren and him) were cornered by the Eastern Army after the revolt began, and the Western Army soldiers charged in to help the four, Tenpou killed the General of the Eastern Army without second thoughts, and commanded for the Western Army soldiers to kill every single one of the Eastern Army; not even one should be spared. For the sake of self-preservation, and the concerns for his soldiers, Tenpou would take the appropriate measures, even if it meant sacrifices.
[edit] Trivia
- Hakkai was accepted into a research college at the age of 15, and there he studied physics and theology. That was also when he was reunited with Kanan.
- He studied lock-picking by correspondence.
- Hakkai's role as the "mother" figure is not exclusive to the Sanzo-ikkou; according to the novel based upon Hakkai's life Kanan was very masculine - she was a tough woman who would challenge a cockroach's advance before she would grab a book and smash it - Hakkai having to clean up after her. She was tough on the outside and soft inside; whereas Hakkai at the time was not a very kind-hearted person.
- Hakkai and Kanan lived together until they were three, when their parents divorced. Kanan was in custody of her father and Hakkai remained with his mother. When Hakkai was five his mother went missing and he was then sent to the orphanage.
- One of Kougaiji's attendants, Yaone, sparks a small interest on Hakkai. This is mostly because she somewhat reminded him of Kanan (Especially the way she attempted to commit suicide during their first fight, which is parallel to Kanan's suicide). They are also both healers. Due to this, they often help each other rather than fighting. There was one occasion where the Sanzo-ikkou learned that Yaone was kidnapped by humans and suddenly Hakkai decided to rescue her, and the whole group followed him, as well as Kougaiji's group (though Kougaiji is not motivated by Hakkai's decision). This relationship is interpreted by the fans that Hakkai may have romantic feelings on Yaone and vice versa.
- According to Sanzo, Hakkai sleeps with his eyes open, and sometimes giggles in his sleep.
- Hakkai has a striking resemblance with Canas from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken. The monocle, the calm and passionate nature, and the ability to unleash psychic bolts(Canas's are dark, and Hakkai's are spirit) support this.
[edit] Other
Cho Hakkai (豬八戒 Cho Hakkai) is the Japanese name for Zhu Bajie, a character in Journey to the West. The character Cho Hakkai has very little in common with Zhu Bajie, his counterpart in the original Chinese story Journey to the West; in some ways Gojyo has more in common with Zhu Bajie than Cho Hakkai. Gojyo flirts with women and drinks almost like Zhu Bajie. However, Hakkai's dual nature is in some ways similar to Zhu Bajie. A con artist who tries to impersonate him partway through the series has more in common with Zhu, a pig being.
In the English dub, he is voiced by Braden Hunt. In the Japanese version, his voice is that of Akira Ishida (who's also a close friend of Soichiro Hoshi, the Japanese voice actor for Goku).
| Series |
|---|
| Saiyuki · Saiyuki Gaiden · Saiyuki Reload · Saiyuki Gunlock |
| Characters |
| Sanzo Party: Genjo Sanzo/Koumyou Sanzo · Son Goku · Sha Gojyo · Cho Hakkai · Hakuryu |
| Kougaiji's Group: Kougaiji · Lirin · Dokugakuji · Yaone |
| Gyumaoh's Revival Group: Gyokumen Koushou · Dr. Ni Jianyi/Ukoku Sanzo |
| Others: War Prince Nataku · Gyumaoh · Kanan · |
