Derivative Works / Journey to the West

^{Clockwise from top right} Monkey, Monkie Kid, The Crown of Wu, Dragon Ball

Works based, more or less, on Journey to the West include:

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Adaptations & derivative works

Anime and Manga

• The 1960 anime film Alakazam the Great, based on the manga Boku no Son Gokū by Osamu Tezuka, which got another anime film titled Boku no Son Gokū in 2003.
• Dragon Ball, as it's no secret that the name "Son Gokū" is literally "Sun Wukong" in Japanese on'yomi, who ended up being a very popular character different from his naming origin. This mainly applies to the first Dragon Ball series where the version of Wukong/Gokū is a monkey with a staff and cloud (the said staff and cloud have the same exact Asian names as the original staff and cloud from Journey to the West) travels with Bulma (human with a radar) to find a special treasure, and they are joined by a cowardly pig. This is not the case for later entries, which pretty much turns the Japanese reading of Sun Wukong's name into a whole new "legend" of its own within the anime and manga community; it's almost to the point where the Dragon Ball Z version of Wukong/Gokū barely ever pays enough respect to the source material outside of just his own name being the same.
• Goku: Midnight Eye
• Monkey Magic, an animated series which is a straightforward adaptation.
• Queen's Blade: In the Alternate Continuity Queen's Blade Grimoire, one of the characters (named Seiten) is inspired by Sun Wukong. This is also notable for being one of the few works when a version of him is depicted as a female.
• Saiyuki. Follows many elements of the source material with several of its own touches. Ironically, via the trope Decomposite Character, the portrayals of Wukong/Gokū and Wujing/Gojyo both carry-on traits that are akin to the original version of Bajie/Hakkai (AKA Pigsy); the above Wukong/Gokū from Dragon Ball and Saiyuki's Wukong/Gokū both share his hunger, while Wujing/Gojyo from the latter shares his perverted tendencies and his tendency to fight/argue with Wukong/Gokū.
• Secret Journey is a Shotacon H-Manga that gender-flips the disciples as Goku is now punished for having a harem of boys and trying to jump Buddha with the seal resulting in a hair-removing bikini, Pig being roughly the same and Sandy (a Meganekko and Pettanko) needing that type of facial to access a Super Mode giving her Femme Fatalons.
• Shinzo, where the heroes quest is to look for Shinzo, the last remaining human city after humanity is believed to have been destroyed in a war with the bio-engineered Enterran race centuries before. The saintly-tempered Yakumo frees the anti-heroic Mushra from confinement and they travel together.
• Starzinger is Journey to the West IN SPACE! (Dubbed into English as Spaceketeers; The Three Musketeers IN SPACE!)

Comics

• There are many manhua series based on this tale. Some examples are:
  • Journey to the West (Shenjie Manhua)
  • Journey to the West by Zheng Jian He
  • Monkey King by Wei Dong Chen
  • Saint by Khoo Fuk-lung
• The graphic novel American Born Chinese ties together Monkey's story with the tale of a Chinese-American boy's coming-of-age story and the sitcom-like hilarity of an all-American jock plagued by his painfully stereotypical Chinese cousin. And the Christmas story.
• The American comic book series XIN, created by Kevin Lau and published by Anarchy Studio in 2003. The main character, Xin, also known as Monkey, was based on the character Sun Wukong. XIN took many facets of the ancient tale and twists them with a modern sensibility.

Eastern Animation

• The Flying Superboard by Hanho Heung-Up.
• Havoc in Heaven^note Sometimes Uproar in Heaven (1964) from the same creators as Princess Iron Fan. Considered one of the greatest works in both Chinese film and animation.
• The Monkey King Conquers the Demon, a 1985 sequel to Havoc in Heaven, largely using the Baigujing story arc, but with elements of some others.
• Journey to the West: Legends of the Monkey King, an animated series co-produced by CCTV and Cinar, and aired in Canada in the late 1990's via Teletoon. More recently aired on This TV.
• Journey to the West: Return of the Demon King, a Darker and Edgier 3D animated film released in April 2021.
• Monkey King, an unsubbed, undubbed Chinese cartoon produced in 1986.
• Monkey King: Hero Is Back, A Chinese 3D animated buddy-travel/adventure movie released in 2015.
• Monkey King Reborn, a 2021 animated Chinese film directed by Yunfei Wang and written by both Yunfei Wang and Xiaoyu Wu.
• Princess Iron Fan (1941), China's first feature-length animated film.

Film

• The Cave of the Silken Web, a 1927 silent adaptation of the episode where Wukong and co. encounter a group of female spider demons. Feared lost for decades until being rediscovered in 2013.
• A Chinese Odyssey, two movies directed by Jeff Lau starring Stephen Chow. A later Jeff Lau film, Chinese Odyssey 2002, has no relation to Journey to the West.)
• The Forbidden Kingdom, a 2008 movie starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
• Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, a 2013 film directed by Stephen Chow and Derek Kwok. Had a sequel released in 2019, Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back.
• The Lost Empire: The Legend of the Monkey King (a.k.a. The Monkey King), a two-part Made-for-TV Movie for NBC from 2001. An American scholar finds himself transported into the realm of the Monkey King and his companions by a luck goddess and and must help them save the very story of Journey to the West from demons who would remove it from the world — and reverse time itself in the process.
• The Monkey King, a 2014 Hong Kong film retelling the origin of Monkey, starring Donnie Yen as Sun Wukong. Followed by:
  • The Monkey King 2; Aaron Kwok takes over the title role, joined by Feng Shaofeng (Tang Sanzang), Xiaoshenyang (Zhu Bajie), and Him Law (Sha Wujing). The story depicts the conflict between the heroes and the White Bone Demon (Gong Li).
  • The Monkey King 3; the heroes enter the Womanland of Western Liang and get entangled with the queen (Zhao Liying).
• Monkey Sun, a 1959 movie by Toho Studios.
• The Shaw Brothers produced four adaptations: Monkey Goes West (1966), Princess Iron Fan (1966), The Cave of the Silken Web (1967 film), and The Land of Many Perfumes (1968).
• There is a Denser and Wackier two-part duology, New Pilgrims To The West, made in Taiwan a decade after the Shaws' effort.
• The Monkey King, an International Co Production between the United States and China.

Literature

• Due to the popularity of Journey to the West, the novel itself received several contemporary unofficial continuations. A notable one is A Supplement to the Journey to the West (Xi You Bu), is pretty much a Bizarro Episode set during the Princess Iron Fan storyline (chapters 61-62) of the original novel, where Sun Wukong is trapped in Dream Land by a desire demon, forcing him to Time Travel to various places and periods of Chinese history through a tower of mirrors. He meets Qin Shi Huangdi from a thousand years ago while disguised as one of his concubines, for a quest to gain a bell that removes mountains; goes to The Underworld to judge the infamous historical traitor Qin Hu and brutally tortures him for his crimes while alive, before turning him into blood stew and takes his victim and folk hero Yue Fei as a master; and a Bad Future where Sanzang gave up his journey and settled down to start a family and a new career as a general, while Wukong discovers that he sired several sons with Princess Iron Fan, who he meets in battle. This causes Wukong to wake up and discover the demon's tricks, having disguised itself as a young monk who joined the party. Wukong kills the young monk, thus purging himself of desire and earning Sanzang's commendations. The book ends with a series of author's notes and questions, where the author explains that the story was written due to his wish to create a villain that Wukong cannot defeat through sheer strength alone and can influence people without their knowledge, and by learning to look inside himself and leave behind his desire, Wukong reaches closer to enlightenment.

Live-Action TV

• American Born Chinese (2023) is an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name and is set to likewise include the characters from Monkey’s story.
• Giant Saver the core team of the Chinese Toku series are based on the main characters of the novel.
• Into the Badlands, the 2015 AMC series is based on the story with Sunny being Sun Wukong and T.K. as Xuanzang/Tripitaka.
• A 1986 Journey to the West series what aired on CCTV in China, which got a second season in 1999 adapting portions not covered in the first one. Officially uploaded to YouTube with English subtitles here.
• Journey to the West (1996), a Hong Kong 1996 live-action TV series, with a second season airing on 1998. It stars Dicky Cheung as Sun Wukong.
• Journey to the West (2011), a Chinese 2011 live-action TV series.
• Monkey series.
• Monkey King: Quest for The Sutra, a Hong Kong/Taiwanese 2002 live-action TV series. While the characters are clearly those of the pilgrimage as described in the novel, the plot is totally different and twisted compared to the original.
• The New Legends Of Monkey, Australian-New Zealand production.
• Saiyuki, a 2006 Japanese TV series that starred Shingo Katori, a member of the pop group SMAP. Such a hit that a third of all viewers tuned into every episode.
• The Wishbone episode "Barking at Buddha" adapts the first seven chapters, featuring Wishbone as Sun Wukong. ("Okay, I'm not really a monkey, but work with me here. It's a character thing.")

Manhua

• Old Master Q: Fantasy Battle have Master Q and friends entering the world of fairytales, one of them which is Journey to the West. It was there they discover Sun Wukong, Bajie and Sha Wujing had inexplicably abandoned their master, Tang Sanzang, and must figure out a way to unite the disciples.

Opera

• Monkey: Journey to the West, an opera by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett done in the Chinese style and mixed up with martial arts and circus acts. Beautiful and humorous.
• Fred Ho's critically acclaimed, pop culture-infused 1997 Jazz opera Journey Beyond the West: The New Adventures of Monkey.

Video Games

• Black Myth: Wukong, an upcoming action game for the Next Gen Consoles and PC from Chinese studio Game Science that's a Dark Fantasy take on the myth.
• The Crown of Wu is a steampunk take on Journey, with the player in control of Wukong in a future filled with robot enemies.
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, for the Xbox 360 and PS3, where the setting is a post-apocalyptic earth.
• The story is retold in a Fate/Grand Order event, introducing Xuanzang as a Caster-class servant, with the protagonist taking on the role of Sun Wukong, David from the Old Testament as Zhu Bajie, Li Shuwen as Sha Wujing, and Lu Bu as Yulong.
• Ganso Saiyuuki: Super Monkey Daibouken, an infamous Action RPG for the Famicom.
• Mickey's Journey to the West, where Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy inherited the weapons of Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing respectively.
• Mighty Monkey, a 1982 Universal arcade Shoot 'Em Up.
• Monkey King: Hero Is Back, a video game adaptation of the film of the same name.
• Monkey Hero (Obscure PS1 game developed by BLAM!)
• The Monkey King: The Legend Begins, a Wii game.
• Kǒudài Xīyóujì, an MMORPG, known in English as Ether Saga Odyssey.
• The Oriental Legend duology, a short series of Beat 'em Up action games based on the myths, with Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing as playable characters. Various demons and enemies in the novel shows up as bosses.
• Saint, a Wii game.
• Saiyuuki World for the Famicom, a Dolled-Up Installment of Wonder Boy in Monster Land. The sequel, Saiyuuki World II, received a Divorced Installment in the Western world where Sun Wukong was changed into a Native American.
• Saiyuki: Journey West, a PS1 video game by Koei.
• Son Son, a 1984 Capcom arcade game. The title character's granddaughter, named Son Son III, appears in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and has Sun Wukong's powers from the original story.
• Sun Wukong VS Robot, a video game where Sun Wukong returns to the plane of mortals after 500 years in heaven to fight a Robot Apocalypse.
• Unruly Heroes, where we can play as the four heroes in a quest to restore the world.
• YuYuKi, a Japan-only Famicom game published by Nintendo, part of the Famicom Fairytales series that includes Shin Onigashima.
• Rabbids: Party of Legends, a Raving Rabbids Party Game with characters and scenarios based on this story.

Webcomics

• The God of High School: The main character is Sun Wukong with amnesia.
• Tang Hill Burial, an off-the-wall parody of the tale notable for its oddly muscular portrayal of Tang Xiaolong and gender-flipping of near half of the cast.

Western Animation

• Monkie Kid is a LEGO animated series based on Journey to the West, starring Monkie Kid, an ordinary kid whose life is changed when the Demon Bull King, Monkey King's Arch-Enemy, is resurrected.

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