Cho Hakkai
Saiyuki character
Cho Hakkai as drawn by Kazuya Minekura
First appearance	Saiyuki (1997)
Created by	Kazuya Minekura
Based on	Zhu Bajie by Journey to the West
Voiced by (Japanese)	Akira Ishida
In-universe information
Alias	Cho Gonou
Species	Yōkai
Gender	Male
Occupation	Traveller; member of the Sanzo party
Weapon	Kikōjutsu

Cho Hakkai (猪八戒 (Chō Hakkai)) is a fictional character and one of the four principal protagonists of Kazuya Minekura's manga series Saiyuki. He is Minekura's reinterpretation of Zhu Bajie, one of the companions of Tang Sanzang in the Chinese novel Journey to the West. Hakkai is a former human who became a yōkai after a violent episode involving the death of his beloved Kanan, and he later joins the Buddhist priest Genjo Sanzo on a journey west with Son Goku and Sha Gojyo.

Hakkai is characterized by his calm, courteous and restrained personality, which contrasts with the violence associated with his past. His relationships with Gojyo, Goku and Sanzo, as well as his previous identity as Cho Gonou and his incarnation as Tenpou Gensui, are central to his characterization. In the anime adaptations, Hakkai is primarily voiced in Japanese by Akira Ishida.

Critics have variously emphasized Hakkai's composure, hidden capacity for violence, role as a stabilizing member of the Sanzo party, and the tragic history underlying his otherwise gentle personality.

Creation

Character

Hakkai is generally portrayed as calm, polite, and approachable, often serving as the most composed member of the Sanzo party. Although he usually avoids conflict, he can become frightening when angered, reflecting the darker side of his character.^[4]

His demeanor contrasts with the more impulsive personalities of Son Goku and Sha Gojyo. He frequently mediates disputes within the group and responds to their behavior with patience, humor, or understated sarcasm. His calm manner, however, masks a capacity for considerable violence.^[4][5]

This contrast is closely tied to the distinction between Cho Gonou, his former human identity, and Hakkai, the name he adopts after becoming a yōkai. His past continues to shape his personality, even as he maintains a controlled and composed outward demeanor.^[7]

Relationships

Abilities and equipment

Hakkai does not normally carry a conventional weapon. Instead, he fights using kikōjutsu, manipulating ki for both offensive and defensive techniques.^[5]

His abilities stem from his transformation into a yōkai and include projecting concentrated energy and creating defensive techniques without relying on physical weapons.^[5]

Hakkai wears a limiter on his left ear that suppresses his yōkai power.^[5]

When the limiter is released, his yōkai power increases significantly, revealing the destructive strength that he normally keeps under control.^[4]

Relationship to Zhu Bajie

Cho Hakkai is Minekura's reinterpretation of Zhu Bajie, one of the principal companions of Tang Sanzang in Journey to the West. The correspondence is established through his name, position in the traveling party, and broad narrative role, but Hakkai differs substantially from Zhu Bajie in both personality and backstory.

Unlike the more openly comic and gluttonous Zhu Bajie of the classical novel, Hakkai is portrayed as composed, courteous, intelligent, and emotionally restrained. His violent past and transformation from human to yōkai also give him a tragic personal history that is substantially different from that of his classical counterpart.^[2][1]

The adaptation therefore retains the structural relationship between the two characters while redistributing many of Zhu Bajie's traditional characteristics among the modern cast. Hakkai's calm demeanor and hidden capacity for violence become defining elements of Minekura's reinterpretation.

Appearances

Anime casting and reception

For the early Saiyuki OVA, Cho Hakkai was voiced in Japanese by Akira Ishida. Contemporary material for the OVA lists Ishida in the role.^[15] Ishida subsequently reprised the role in the television series Gensomaden Saiyuki, the film Saiyuki: Requiem, Saiyuki Reload, Saiyuki Reload Gunlock, the OVA Saiyuki Reload: Burial, Saiyuki Reload Blast, and Saiyuki Reload: Zeroin.^[16][17][18]

In an interview following the recording of Saiyuki: Requiem, Ishida discussed Hakkai's emotional role in the film. He said that Hakkai is generally cheerful and smiling in scenes outside the main storyline, but, after looking back on the finished work, he regarded the character's predominant emotion as sorrow accompanied by sympathy.^[19]

For Saiyuki Reload: Burial, Ishida returned to Hakkai after several years away from the animated role. In comments published during promotion for the OVA, he joked that the production staff might feel guilty enough to give Gojyo and Hakkai's story a two-disc release and said that he was looking forward to playing Hakkai again in animated form.^[20]

In Saiyuki Gaiden, Ishida appears in a related but different role, voicing Field Marshal Tenpō, Hakkai's previous incarnation, rather than Hakkai himself.^[21]

During recording of the first Saiyuki Reload Blast drama CD, Ishida said that the recurring "Suzuki-san" gag originated as an ad-lib by Hiroaki Hirata, who voices Sha Gojyo. He also described the drama CD as showing a lighter side of the Saiyuki world in contrast to the more serious tone of the television anime.^[22]

A contemporary review of Gensomaden Saiyuki praised the series' voice acting, particularly the voices of Hakkai and Sanzo. In discussion of a Hakkai-focused episode, the reviewer attributed a substantial part of the episode's positive reception to Ishida's acting ability.^[15]

For the English dub, Braden Hunt voiced Hakkai in Gensomaden Saiyuki and Saiyuki: Requiem, Steve Staley voiced him in Saiyuki Reload and Saiyuki Reload Gunlock under the name Steve Cannon, Micah Solusod voiced him in Saiyuki Reload Blast, and Howard Wang voiced him in Saiyuki Reload: Zeroin.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

English-language reviews have also commented on the series' dubbing. A contemporary review at theOtaku.com praised the voice cast and said that the casting suited the characters.^[28] Anime News Network reviewed the English dub across the original series, while later reviews of the series continued to comment on the effectiveness and distinctiveness of its voice performances.^[29][30] In a review of the English dub for Saiyuki Reload Blast, Bubbleblabber discussed the cast's performances in the episode "Promise", while The Fandom Post gave the release a favorable assessment and described its English dub positively.^[31][32]

Audience responses collected by Animate Times across its 2018–2025 reader polls have consistently praised Akira Ishida's portrayal of Hakkai, particularly the fit between his voice and the character's gentle appearance and personality, his ability to convey Hakkai's kindness alongside his hidden sadness and violent side, and the consistency of his performance over more than two decades.^{[33][34][35][36][37][38][39]}

Critical response

Critical commentary on Hakkai has particularly emphasized the contrast between his outwardly polite and composed personality and the darker history that lies behind it. Enoch Lau of THEM Anime Reviews described Hakkai as a polite and well-mannered member of the group and contrasted him with the more eccentric personalities of Son Goku and Sha Gojyo. Lau's review presents Hakkai as the comparatively ordinary and restrained member of the central cast, making the later revelations about his past and his capacity for violence a sharp contrast to his usual demeanor.^[1]

Manga-News likewise presents Hakkai as one of the quietest and most discreet members of the group, while emphasizing his role as a calming and reflective presence within the Sanzo party. Its character profile draws particular attention to the contrast between his frequent smile and apparently gentle demeanor and the weight of his past as Cho Gonou. The profile also presents his present tranquility as at least partly a façade and connects his ability to move forward with the support he receives from Gojyo.^[40]

This contrast between Hakkai's outward calm and his capacity for violence has consequently become one of the defining features of his characterization. His gentleness is not presented simply as an absence of aggression; rather, it exists alongside the violent past associated with his former identity as Gonou. In this reading, Hakkai's composure becomes part of the character's complexity, because his controlled behavior is maintained despite the guilt and consequences attached to his earlier life.^[1][40]

Critics have also emphasized the distance between Minekura's Hakkai and the traditional Zhu Bajie. Lisa Shea described the Saiyuki version as an energy-blasting intellectual, contrasting him with the pig-like figure of the original Journey to the West. Her discussion presents Minekura's principal characters as darker and more modern reinterpretations of their classical counterparts, with Hakkai representing a particularly substantial transformation in personality, appearance, role, and characterization.^[2]

The importance of Hakkai's past is also consistent with wider critical discussion of character development in Saiyuki. Barb Lien-Cooper praised the series for the depth of its principal characters and for the way their earlier experiences are gradually revealed to the audience. In her review of Saiyuki Volume 6: Demon Rising, she praised the characters in particular and noted that the series allows readers to see their greater depth as their histories become clearer. She also highlighted the mixture of humorous, frightening, and tragic material used to develop the characters.^[41] Sheena McNeil similarly emphasized the protagonists' darker histories and the importance of revealing what lies behind their present identities. She also noted the distinctive visual techniques used for flashbacks and backgrounds, an element that contributes to the way the characters' earlier lives are presented to the audience.^[42]

More specifically, a review of Saiyuki volume 5 places Hakkai's guilt and his relationship with Gojyo at the center of its discussion of his past. The review describes the circumstances surrounding Gojyo's rescue of Hakkai, then still known as Gono, and emphasizes that Hakkai no longer regards his own life as valuable or worth preserving. His desire to atone for his past actions becomes an important part of the review's interpretation of the character, connecting his personal history to the manga's broader themes of life, death, survival, and the consequences of violence.^[43]

Hakkai's relationship with Gojyo is consequently important not only as part of the group's interpersonal dynamics but also as one of the main ways in which his past is interpreted. Gojyo's role in Hakkai's recovery provides a counterpoint to Hakkai's guilt and self-destructive view of his own life, while their shared history gives greater context to the trust and familiarity that characterize their relationship in the present.^[40][43]

Shweta Basu of Jadavpur University notes that Hakkai's incestuous past with his deceased sister and his prolonged cohabitation with Gojyo before the journey have been identified as part of the sexual and relational material present in Saiyuki itself and subsequently explored by fanfiction.^[3] The reviewer also emphasizes Hakkai's low self-esteem and guilt in discussing his characterization.^[3]

The reception of Hakkai therefore centers less on his function as a conventional action character than on the tension between his present identity and the violent history that he carries with him. His courtesy, restraint, and apparent normality are repeatedly contrasted with guilt, suffering, and the consequences of his earlier actions. At the same time, critics' discussions of the series' broader treatment of its protagonists' pasts help place Hakkai's characterization within Saiyuki's larger interest in memory, personal history, and the process through which damaged characters continue living after traumatic events.^[41][42][40]

Legacy

Cho Hakkai is one of the four central characters through whom Saiyuki reinterprets the main figures of Journey to the West. His combination of a calm exterior, hidden violence, tragic past, and role as a stabilizing member of the Sanzo party distinguishes him from both the traditional Zhu Bajie and the other principal characters of Minekura's series.^[1][2]

His relationship with Gojyo became sufficiently prominent to receive dedicated treatment in the Burial OVA and in Ichijinsha's character book devoted to the two characters.^[10][44]

His characterization has also been subject to fan reinterpretation. A study of anglophone Saiyuki fanfiction notes that fan-authors preserve traits associated with Hakkai in Minekura's original characterization, particularly his low self-esteem and guilt, while placing the characters in alternative but thematically coherent settings.^[3]

Hakkai has remained a principal character across the major manga and anime installments of the franchise, including Saiyuki Reload, Saiyuki Reload Blast, and Saiyuki Reload -ZEROIN-.^[12][14]

See also

• Saiyuki
• Zhu Bajie
• Genjo Sanzo
• Son Goku
• Sha Gojyo

References

External links

• Cho Hakkai at the Saiyuki Reload -ZEROIN- official website (in Japanese)