Rumi Ripley

I love this version of Sun Wukong soooo much. He’s such an entitled jerk and he’s arrogant, but his relationship with fruitie is so cuteeeeeee I almost cried watching this movie.

I’m not familiar with Michael Jackson, but after googling images of the guy, I do see a resemblance 😭 I’ve also seen many fans say Leona’s La Bonbonnière reminds them of a mafioso and/or Muzan from Demon Slayer.

FnnsjwbxksGK I’m glad that fans are memeing on this and having fun making silly fan art, even if they don’t like Leona’s new look. It’s taking lemons and turning them into lemonade, making the best of the situation!

P.S. Yana takes credit for the costume design and art direction of this card so 😭 I wonder if she took inspiration from Michael Jackson for Leona’s look??? Cuz apparently MJ is popular in Japan and there’s currently a (big hit!!) MJ biopic (Michael) running in Japanese theaters as well speak.

Anyway, I don't have proof but I'm HIGHLY sure Yana Toboso totally got inspired by MJ, bc it's true he was and is an icon in Japan (and basically everywhere) and it'd be too much of a coincidence that his outfit and hair give off "smooth criminal" vibes!

I bet she watched the biopic and said "Leona would look great as MJ".

(in what will likely become a series of both historical and allegorical notes to help readers/writers understand JTTW a bit better)

As we all know, Tripitaka is journey to the west-ing to pick up the set of scriptures he shares a name with. This great shining McGuffin written by the Buddha himself will help free the souls of the damned, those sinners who can’t get over themselves enough to get reincarnated. 

However the Tripitaka (meaning three baskets scriptures) is a real set of scriptures, organized into three sets. One is just rules for Monks (Vinaya basket), one is a collection of parables and poetry supposedly quoted directly from the Buddha (Sutta basket) and one is basically an introductory set of rules for this New Form of Buddhism (Abhidhamma basket). While not actually written by one person, the Real Xuanzang did collect all of them together and translated most of them upon returning home from his travels.

These scriptures would go on to form a new type of Buddhism; Mahayana Buddhism (often called the way of the Bodhisattva), which is the most widespread form, and the most famous in Western/English Speaking culture now. If you can think of a monk in modern media (DND, any Karate movie, most anime monks) they are probably a Mahayana Buddhist.

It’s important to note that this means that Tripitaka is not a Mahayana Buddhist. While before his journey there were about 18 major schools of Buddhism, it’s most likely that he was a Theravada Buddhist, the only recognized Buddhist division in China before JTTW. Lucky for us, it’s another school that still exists today.

Theravada Buddhism (often called the way of the Arhat or sometimes the “elder way”) is a strict, stoic religion that teaches that individual enlightenment is the most important thing for someone to strive towards. It focuses on cultivating the self with very little outside help, often calling reliance on others a moral (or at least social) failure, as it drags those you rely on away from Nirvana. It is. Very Daoist.

Mahayana Buddhists, however, believe in communal enlightenment, your journey is supposed to involve frequent stops (hey that sounds familiar) in which one sets down their own journey (uh-huh) to either help someone else achieve enlightenment (oh wait) or ask for help in getting closer ourselves (we’ve seen this before!).

Journey to the West is all an allegory for how necessary Mahayana Buddhism is, how everyone around us is suffering, and (if we are capable) we need to help as well as (if we are incapable) ask for help. It was also called the Buddhism of Mercy in the early days, as it believes in redemption (oh that’s familiar too) and argues against suicide as a means for “trying again”.

Sources and extras below

[Got this picture from a post in Twitter, their user is CalliopeDeXebec]

THE PEOPLE THERE ARE LUCKYYYY AHHHHHH

Tripitaka: He’s forced to and he has to get saved.

Bajie: For.. personal reasons, as we all know.

Wukong: Tax benefits.

Wujing: Because he actually wanted to.

Oh my gosh!!!