Quote by Hakaru It's seems that the Sanzo Ikkou had fight with Ukoku in the original manga. So whatever happen to Ni Jianyi, why is he reported missing in RB?
You are correct. Ukoku reported as missing is exactly what's currently happening in the manga. His whereabouts, even as of the most recent chapter, are still unknown.
At a certain point during the Reload manga, Ni JIanyi (real name Priest Ukoku Sanzo) left Houtou Castle and headed east bound to meet up with another important character (Hazel) as well as take matters into his own hands to a certain degree. A lot of events take place in between, even a temporary split between Sanzo & the other three, but eventually they come back together right at the end when a fight against Ukoku begins.
The experience is nearly fatal but they survive....barely. Ukoku leaves but not without first receiving a "parting gift" from Sanzo. From here, we don't know where Ukoku went. We only know he returned to Houtou Castle temporarily and returned his sutra back into the Bunny Doll, sealed it up, and left it in the experiments lab (this is the scene you see during episode 2 of the SRB anime).
So why is the anime so different, especially Reload/Gunlock? The same that happens to most anime adaptations: they catch up with the manga & fillers need to be created. That's why in Gensomadem you have that whole battle against Homura & the God Child arc was instead animated for the Reload anime. As for Hazel, the character was developed by Minekura for the anime originally, but as the character grew on her, Minekura ended up giving him a much longer storyline in her manga. This is why the first episode of the anime Hazel appears in is much more similar to the manga version and certain elements from later Gunlock episodes are nearly the same.
The same goes for Ni Jianyi/Ukoku: he was originally a much smaller character in the first Saiyuki, but as the story progressed, Minekura grew to like him and gave him much more background, ultimately becoming the main antagonist in the series.
Sorry for the long wall of text, but I felt that needed deeper explanation. In short, for all of the above, this is why I'm not too critical of the differences between the anime and the manga as it is the anime that has sometimes further inspired events in the manga, contrary to popular belief. There's still the possibility that some material from Reload may be adapted into Reload Blast, just as we've seen before with the "God Child" arc, but only time will tell. I do feel the current anime intends to stick closer to the manga, but again, only time will tell.
