Katsuya Terada’s The Monkey King Vol II Review: Action-Packed and Sexy

Ever since it was first published in the 16th century in China, “Journey to the West” has seen many adaptations. These range from movies to video games, comics to TV dramas. One of the weirdest adaptations to date is Katsuya Terada’s “The Monkey King.” After a seven-year hiatus, Terada has finally released volume two of his work.

This isn’t your ordinary adaptation of “Journey to the West.” Terada does away with the traditional Chinese classic storyline in favor of good helpings of blood, gore, swearing, fighting and nudity. In fact, the monk Sanzo spends the entire comic inside the body of a naked women bound up in S&M style leather bindings. Oh, the characters are still travelling to the western lands, except Terada decided to add a major villain named Shaka who we do not see and lots more action than there was in the book. Some fans may be appalled by these changes but they just make the story more like a manga. This is more action, it’s weird and pushes the envelope. It’s way more “edgy” than the original novel.

Speaking of weird and pushing the envelope, there’s lots of that here. The most prominent is a deformed six-armed demon fetus thing in a sac that is feeding on the energy of an entire town. One look at that and it will scar anyone with a weak stomach for life.

The manga stands out from other works in that it is all in color, whereas normal manga is in black and white. This helps out with Terada’s art style, which is something to see to believe. This guy managed to make Monkey, a character normally depicted as cute or wise looking, as a big hulking savage brute straight out of the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual. He just screams “you mess with me I’ll rip your head off.” Pig, on the other hand, looks weird. He’s drawn as this small, pathetic looking pig who walks around with a loincloth. He’s mainly used as comedy relief than anything else.

Terada loves to draw sexy naked women. This manga proves that with every female being white-hot and wearing nothing. His women are also bloodthirsty demons that will make anything in “Heavy Metal Magazine” look tame. They’re provacative and grotesque at the same time.

Katsuya Terada’s “The Monkey King” is am action packed, violent, gory and sexy manga adaption of “Journey to the West” that is worth the seven-year wait. If you can push your love of the source material aside you’ll find an edgy new way to tell this classic story with an artstyle that is extraordinary. Definitely worth checking out.