Is it a faithful adaptation of the book?

No

Does it have to be?

Even more no

Because JTTW for 4 books and they only have 30 episodes so it’s understandable they mix demons up a bit

And they do a damnablw job of making every fucking character the literal best written character ever

I’m only on episode 20 and I know this is my favorite

Bajie is trying to teach Wukong how to be a “passionate” man so he can be kidnapped by spider demon ladies to find their kidnap master.

And by god

This is the literal best piece of media I’ve seen

No amount of acting will top this, everyone stop making shows rn

Ep 20: Wukong spouting poetic nonscene to anything that has a pulse. Old men, women, dogs. He immediately moves on when a women says she married like “oops sorry ma’am” and after failing so many times Bajie and Wujing have to literally pick him up and carry him off screen.

Dicky is a phenomenal actor I can’t express to you how much passion he puts into this performance. He moves with so much extra energy I forget that’s a man and not a monkey.

This is my favorite Wujing so far. The man is a literal cannibal and I would die for him because of how sincere he is. He is trying his goddamn best and he may cry at any little thing but he just cares so much.

They even made Bajie like the most fuckboy I’ve seen yet and also like the BEST as well?! Like he got sentenced to 1000 lifetimes of heartbreaks and yeah he is a fuckboy and totally goes overboard but also he is an actual good husband when he was one and actually shows to have character growth and make up for his mistakes and BE A BETTER MAN

Also this Tripitaka is hell good too! Like he is actually a real genuine guy who tries to see the best in people and yeah while a little naive his heart is always in the right place and he is actually so fucking funny. He genuinely wants to see the good in people and demons alike, sparing demons to give them a second chance as well. He cares for his disciples and tries to get them to think about their lessons, not just say them. He’s actually pretty clever in this.

I cannot stress to you enough how much I love this series and I’m not even done After episode 18 when a certain thing happens that I’m pretty sure wasn’t in JTTW but it makes the boys SO MUCH CLOSER AS BROTHERS. Like Bajie use to be insufferable with his shit talk but now he uses that shit talk against the enemy and it’s so fucking funny. It’s like 3 siblings that realize it’s them vs the world and they still mess with one another but you can FEEL the dynamics change the trust being built and how comfortable they are with one another by this point and it honestly feels EARNED. I don’t know if I can describe the dynamic as three Scrooge-est as I’ve never see the three scrooges but they dynamic is wonderful. Wukong as the leader to get them in a situation, Bajie as a septic but more than willing to endugle, Wujing has the hesitant youngest brother who doesn’t want to get in trouble but always tags along. And Triptaka trying to keep them from dying.

I can’t say all the highlight of this series but here’s a few

Wukong is in charge of the Bull Family’s marriage counseling

Wukong and the BDK and IPF were classmates in Immortal School

Wukong has a slide in his castle

Wukong partied too hard in heaven and it pissed off the Empress

Wukong doing a dance while headless because he can

Wukong being so bad not horny and bad at flirting that Bajie and Wujing pretend to be his parents and later about their “passionate” son with Bajie as the mom Mulan style and Sandy as the sad dad

Bajie used time travel to try to get with Chang’e but stilled failed cause he was being a creep

Bajie has committed has been tourtured/killed/and committed suicide in last lives because of his failed loves making him one of the most tragic characters I’ve ever seen in media

Bajie still trying for love 502

Bajie cheering Wukong on during his trails against the Deer Demon

Bajie posing in sync with Wukong after their bonding arc

Wujing posing in sync as well

Just the posing and saying stuff being in sync with one another warms my heart. It’s just so extra

Wujing picking a mountain of fuit because he thought Wukong would need to eat more

Wujing giving Wukong a piggy back ride for like 1000 miles to heal him by the Guan Yin

Wukong once healed immediately returns the favor and gives him a piggyback ride back

Wujing crying over his kidnapped Master and can’t tell Wukong he was kidnapped he was crying to hard

Cried when he thought Tripitaka was going to make him leave

Cried because he thought Tripitaka died

Cried cause he thought Wukong died

Cried cause he thought Bajie died

Cried because he saw a big spider and wanted Wukong to make it go away

When Bajie threaten to leave and tried to divide the luggage he ran back and forth at every piece of cloth telling him not to leave

Does the exact same thing with Wukong. Placing the cloth back in the luggage just to be thrown out again and diligently scrambles to catch each article

Wujing telling a Goat Demon he shouldn’t try to fight Wukong after Wukong killed his brothers. Because Goat should at least be alive to plan their funerals

Himbo energy

Tripitaka giving Wukong and Bajie such a stick eye when they thought he was some guy trying to look better “why do you want to look better? You already look like our master!”

Tripitaka giving Wujing another stick eye when he told Goat he better give up to plan his brothers funerals better

Tripitaka being 100% keeping his shit together despite only being his 20s and it shows

Bailong has made one (1) appearance after his intro and he fucking got decked