The gravity of how each member breaks arrives before you know their names. Sanzo's faith shatters in real time. Goku wakes up alone in a stone prison for five hundred years. Hakkai's humanity costs him everything, then asks him to keep living anyway. This is not the road trip comedy you remember from the first season, it is the weight each of them carries INTO that road trip, and watching them fracture teaches you why their friendship matters at all.

Set in the past, before the Saiyuki quartet came together and began their journey to the west, these three episodes show the four at an earlier point in their lives. The first follows Sanzo with his master, alongside Ukoku, who is later known as Ni Jianyi. The second shows Goku meeting Sanzo for the first time. The third takes place after Hakkai's sins and trial and covers his decision to live in Gojyo's house. The OVA mixes action, adventure, drama and fantasy.