I wonder if Sanzo would have turned out much more like Konzen had Koumyou not been slaughtered in from of his eyes.

I'm inclined to think not, given what we see of little Kouryou during various flashbacks. I'm thinking, in particular, of the one where Koumyou says that he heard Kouryou calling, and Kouryou says that if someone did the same to him, he would pop them in the nose.

I love the bit with the coffee pot.

I also realized, upon rereading, how much I just passed over all the Gaiden references the first time around, since they didn't mean anything at the time.