Monkey Magic! (©️Toho Co Japan Ltd) Opening & closing themes!
Sinceres to Toho Co Ltd for providing us all with this. [Views are down 90% since the 2022 kerfuffle anyway so whatever.]
Monkey!!! "A long time ago, when men were all apes..." I assembled the opening & closing themes for Monkey!" The opening theme sets the tone for excitement, while the end theme, "Gandhara", is especially beautiful to close. Both pieces are by Godiego, composer Micky Yoshino. Extra trivia: Andrew Sachs (Manuel from Fawlty Towers) voiced the Horse.
Monkey (Jap: Saiyūki) was NOT just a show, it was our life, before 'lifestyles' existed. We used to have Monkey battles at school regularly. Staff banned staffs. And we learned a lot from the show itself, mostly how to think from a different angle. The nature of Monkey was and is still... IRREPRESSIBLE!
Monkey was played by the fantastic Masaaki Sakai. Sadly, Masako Natsume who played Tripitaka died in 1985 from acute Leukaemia. She was chosen to play the male role because she embodied more of Tripitaka than the male try-outs. An exceedingly pretty woman also who was just finding her feet as an actor.
Let's not forget Pigsy, the show wouldn't have been the same without him! I preferred the first Pigsy (Toshiyuki Nishida) over the second (Tonpei Hidari) but I'm not knocking Hidari-san, he had big boots to fill. Sandy (Shiro Kishibe) sort of played the straight man in the inevitable chaos. Sadly, Sandy has also returned to the water.
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I would like to thank Toho Co Japan Ltd for allowing it to at least still be shown, on behalf of the remaining 'Monkey Community'.