Saint Seiya: Episode G Assassin Review

Posted on February 25, 2025 by dreager1

Saint Seiya is one of those franchises that is extremely elite but the anime titles never got as big as you would hope. This should be something that is consistently brought up along with the likes of Dragon Ball Z and Naruto. Episode G should absolutely have an anime by now and it’s a shame that they don’t. Well, either way I can definitely tell you that this is an absolutely elite series. Easy 9/10 and is one of the most satisfying sequel type stories with the original characters all getting a lot of respect which was absolutely due.

The series begins with Shura waking up in modern day Japan. He should be dead after he gave his life at the Wailing Wall at the end of the main series so why is he here? Something isn’t right with his memories either but he is quickly attacked by a mysterious foe who refers to Shura as King Arthur. It’s hard to say what is happening but Shura knows that he must protect the peace under all circumstances. So he continues to fight on as he learns more about this strange new world.

Episode G Assassin has to be one of the most hype manga out there. There’s just so much happening at all times and this i s the perfect example of why a good sequel should be amazing. You get the “cheat code” of getting to skip all of the character development and intros to get right to the big climaxes. That’s exactly what this series does as big characters will walk in and literally start throwing punches. No need to have an origin story or anything like that, they’re just ready to dominate. You will also get some extra mileage out of this series depending on how many legendary swords you know. By this point I know most of them from anime and manga so it’s cool to see them all show up. The true Excalibur, Caliburn, the Vorpal Blade, etc.

The sword fighting part of the series is relevant for the entire run. All of these legendary fighters are showing up to test their abilities and since the saints are forbidden to use any weapons, it puts them in a tough spot. It’s why Shura was a perfect match for these guys since his arm works as a quasi blade. It at least gives him something to clash with. Shura stays as the main character for over half the series although eventually he is replaced as we enter the big climaxes. Shura is fun though and he is a fairly likable Gold Saint.

It is hard to root against Aiolia when he first appears though. We just got to see Aiolia leading his own series and fighting against the titans so when he shows up to take down Shura, it just feels weird to see him as the antagonist. With the timestream going crazy and the dead returning to life, you could also make a valid point that perhaps Shura does need to be removed. I would not be on that side though as I never put preserving the timestream above someone’s life. The way I see it, Shura needs to stay in play especially while all of these villains are running around. Destroying him now would just be irresponsible.

There are also a lot of twists and turns here as this does play out like a true final saga. All of the gods from Athena and Hades to Poseidon and Zeus have plans going on. With this many wild cards in play you really can’t trust anyone. We know in the series that people can already be mind controlled and replaced so you really just have to trust in your own sense of justice. That is a main theme of the series throughout the adventure as well. As long as you know that you are doing the right thing then everything will eventually come into place.

The series does take a bit of a horror vibe near the end with some particularly huge twists. It’s a pretty cool concept although it’s also very dark so you can see why a lot of it was off screen. There are some similarities to the movie Us. If you had to fight off a doppelganger of yours that was your equal in every way but totally blood lusted, would you be able to win? Technically speaking you’d be the underdog in such a fight because it is hard to defeat someone that is absolutely crazy and doing whatever it takes to win. That’s also if you’re lucky as one character shows up without powers to fight a doppelganger that can destroy whole universes. Not a very fair fight.

Part of the intriguing thing with the story is that we’re also seeing it through a very narrow lens. We’re following Shura and then eventually the Bronze Saints but we’re not checking in on the various fights across the world. After the events of Saint Seiya, it seems like things are not going great around the world. Sanctuary itself seems to be losing status and funding after being around for so long and there just aren’t enough heroes to keep up with all the waves of villains although they are doing their best. There is still so much to explore even once the series ends. It feels like a large part of the story is still one big black box.

That could be where the 3rd title steps in of course. As intriguing as the story is, we’re ultimately here for the fights though. Fortunately the art has improved quite a bit since the first G title. It’s still not a big favorite of mine though but it gets the job done. The Saints all feel very powerful and majestic which is a strong point to the art style. They are portrayed as being larger than life which makes sense as the power levels have only grown stronger and stronger over time.

We get some really amazing double page spreads whenever the characters activate their true power. The new super forms and attacks all look really stunning while the old moves still get a lot of respect as well. The whole series being in color also lets them really show off the effects. In particular it’s so satisfying to see Seiya fighting again. Naturally he’s still injured from the Hades arc and that’s actually a pretty big deal for the whole series. Hades’ sword is special in that its stabbing effect lasts for all of eternity. Imagine constantly waling around with a sword in you that can’t be pulled out.

It shows what a trooper Seiya is. The series also re-establishes Seiya as the singular saint closest to Athena whom she can always depend on. He is the personification of hope in the series and the title goes as far as to say that if Seiya ever dies, the universe is doomed. He is needed in order for peace to stay without fail. Without him then hope itself dies which is really high pressure. There is a bonus chapter that also shows us how Seiya has stayed grounded and even helps out at the orphanage. He’s still beating up bullies as always which is great.

Then Shun has also had a lot of great character development. He is now immensely powerful. The guy still prefers peace over a fight but has kept his character development and will fight as needed. He is not someone to be saved anymore, Shun is able to handle just about anyone. He is portrayed as one of the strongest fighters in the universe now and even by the end of the series we didn’t get to see him fight seriously. That’s how strong he has gotten and so his character was handled really respectfully. This is quality character development done right.

Hyoga gets a particularly big role here. He may not look quite as impressive as Shun but he has also gone way stronger. Also due to some events that happens here, he even has a daughter named Natasha to look after. This gives him a reason to fight his hardest and that comes in handy since he gets some really personal fights in this series. It feels like Hyoga can’t catch a break when it comes to losing people and this title puts him through a lot as well. At least now he does have someone to protect once again.

Shiryu’s role isn’t huge but he is the first one to show up and help. It makes sense since of course he is the other wielder of Excalibur. His skills are the real deal and he is shown to be on par with Shura if not a bit stronger. Shiryu may not be an unstoppable force next to some of the others but he continues to get pivotal scenes. He really saves Seiya at one point in a really critical moment too. Without him Seiya would have been really doomed.

After that we have Phoenix Ikki who is the strongest as per usual. He is the first Saint to unlock a genuine cloth which is even above god status. The name itself doesn’t sound super impressive but that’s just how it goes. The only rough part here is that it takes so long for him to appear that he doesn’t get to properly generate those wins. By the time he fights he is going up against the craziest fighters in the verse. I would have liked to have seen some more dominating wins to really show off his power level. We still see narratively just how crazy strong he is but more screentime would be great.

As always Ikki also has to suffer in silence here as he dealt with a big threat on his own while the other Saints were busy. It’s really tough having his role but the guy never complains. He just keeps on going and does his best no matter what the cost. Meanwhile on the hero side we still have Death Mask and a few other Gold Saints who survived the Hades arc. The ranks have really thinned out over the years compared to how they used to be though. At this point it’s pretty clear that the Bronze Saints (Well they’re all gold now anyway) have to be the ones to save the world because the old guard won’t be able to cut it.

We get different cameos like Marin and Shaina as well which is cool. It’s nice to see that everyone is still kicking even if they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the power creep and at best have to deal with the minions the whole time. Put them up against any of the big threats and that would be it. Oh yeah Kiki gets a pretty big role here as he finally realizes his potential as a gold saint. He’s really changed a lot and is definitely a capable fighter now. It was nice to see his new form.

Now how about the new villains. Well first up you have the man who calls himself Aiolos. Is that really him or not? Well we get to see a lot of him and he’s a very fun villain. I do question his overall goals as the guy seems to be completely crazy by this point. I don’t know if he even knows what his true objectives are at this point or if he’s just talking to talk. Either way he is certainly taking a very long route to his final objectives. Then we have Zeus who is one of the most powerful entities in existence so you can bet that he is going to be doing a whole lot. His abilities are really impressive although his overall personality feels a lot more insane than I would have expected otherwise. He’s definitely not the calm and collected type like Hades or Poseidon.

You can’t doubt his passion though, the guy absolutely can’t stand humans in any form. He is convinced that the gods are leagues and leagues better than the humans could ever be. Then you have the various swords although most of them start to feel like the same character. They show up talking big about how they can’t lose and are virtually invincible and then they are taken down for the count. The main one to get a big character was Lancelot which makes sense since he’s so big in the mythos. Lancelot was a fun villain, one of those guys who is big on honor but seems to secretly be totally insane. I was expecting more out of the mysterious King Arthur though so maybe that’ll be in the sequel.

This is one of those titles that is directly going to lead into the next series though so as you can probably guess it will have a whole lot of cliffhangers. The plots aren’t going to end here and so there are quite a few villains on the loose. Assuming the third series is the final one, I do expect that everyone will be getting their final matchups there. There are more than enough heroes running around so they’ll probably have to add some new villains. That should be easy though with how the manga introduced the multiverse and everything. You really have an excuse to add basically anyone at this point. It can be any version of any character as well. We might even see an evil Seiya or maybe bring in Tenma from Lost Canvass. Definitely a lot of potential but that’s why you want to be careful not to get your hopes too high.

So we’ll see how it goes but this series was basically nonstop fight after fight after fight. The characters had some time for downtime and the occasional humor moment but these were definitely few and far between. It’s safe to say that the action was absolutely the focus of the series as you would expect. I can’t emphasize enough that this is the best depiction I have ever seen of the main Saints from after the main series and I don’t expect that any other title will be surpassing it. At least not in that regard, this series really set the bar crazy high there.

Overall, This is an elite title and I would recommend checking it out effective immediately. You are absolutely missing out if you don’t read through it. We finally get to see what became of the legendary heroes after all. Whether it is canon or not doesn’t even matter in the end. You are reading this to see the ultimate cast of fighters and at the end of the day you don’t need anything more than that. I’m definitely looking forward to checking out the next installment in the G series even if this one may have set a bar that was too high to be reached.

Overall 9/10

Saint Seiya: Episode G Review

Posted on February 2, 2025 by dreager1

Episode G is a title that I’ve been reading for many years. The final chapter was finally translated and so I can say that the journey is complete! I look forward to starting the G sequel sooner than later. This one definitely had some ups and downs as the overall story quality is top tier but the art does hold it back quite a bit. It is definitely one of the messiest styles that I’ve seen and I would consider it to be sub par. It does actually hold the manga back which is rare for any title. Even when I’m not super pleased with an art style, it is usually fairly decent. Well, at the end of the day this is still a great manga and I was satisfied with how it turned out.

The manga takes place a little before the main series which is fun to think about. It may be a little hard to believe but just roll with it. Aiolia is treated like an outcast by the rest of the saints since Aiolos betrayed them all to save Athena. Aiolia doesn’t know why his brother did this and remains confused in the present. He does have a loyal retainer in Galarian who helps him in finding temples and dungeons with monsters to destroy. Aiolia even bumps into a girl named Lithos who ends up becoming a close friend. At least he has these two to support him and Aiolia is determined to win the trust of his fellow Saints and prove himself although it’s not to be their friend since there is a lot of resentment on his side as well. Well the time for waiting may be past now as the Titans have awakened. These fighters have incredible abilities and above them are various fighters who are named after planets. They intend to destroy everything and are led by Kronos, one of the most powerful beings in all of creation. Without a proper Athena to command them, will the Gold Saints be able to put aside their differences and take these guys out?

So like I said before, the art here is definitely real crazy. For starters, most of the characters are drawn to look like girls. Aiolia is the biggest offender here as they took a lot of liberties with his design. It looks like the artist did this to make the fights smoother as everyone can be really off model the whole time. This lets the series show us massive energy blasts as characters stretch across whole pages with their poses. It’s definitely an interesting approach but ultimately a poor one if you ask me. It can be really difficult to make out what is happening in a fight.

The longer you read the series, the easier it gets but the fact that you have to make any effort is a problem. Manga art should always be clear enough where you can seamlessly read the pages as you keep going. If you have to stop and ponder what you’re looking at then it can only be said to be poor art. That should just not be happening and with proper artwork this really would have been super epic. It’s a title that isn’t afraid to shake up the plot unlike Saint Seiya: Next Dimension.

The fact is that this series had a whole lot of fun with new situations. For example in the pre arc we see some explorers going through ruins. Aiolia is tagging along as a mysterious guide and it’s just fun to see the heroes walking around and doing normal things beyond the fighting. I’ll take nonstop fighting of course but there is something to be said for putting the characters in new environments. We even get a cop/secret agent but things don’t go well for him here. At the end of the day Saint Seiya is one of those verses that is incredibly powerful so a human is not going to last very long without protection.

Aiolia does have two followers who aren’t the strongest and so he is always prepared to help them out. Galarian is one of them although the guy can fight since he used to be a big saint candidate. The guy hasn’t been in the ring for a while though so it is fair to say that he has weakened a whole lot. It was nice to see Aiolia have such a loyal follower like him. The other is a girl named Lithos and she is an ordinary girl all the way. So she can’t fight and is definitely someone that has to be protected. She gets written out for most of the series but does show up again near the end.

The introduction chapters showing this different side to the characters is fun because then we eventually do get to the nonstop fighting marathon that the franchise is known for. Once the heroes take the fight to the Titans for the rematch, that is the rest of the series. It takes up a massive chunk of the title as every character gets their own fight which is usually a few chapters long and then we get the final saga where they all get one more fight. I can guarantee you that you don’t have to worry about a lack of action or anything like that. This title has got you all the way.

While the artwork is hard to follow, it does get the scale across. The Saints are supposed to all be universal threats with unlimited powers as they invoke the names of planets and universes in their attacks. Well this title doesn’t hold back on that at all as the characters use more and more powerful attacks the whole time. This is where it’s hard to believe that it takes place before the main series because of the power ups that they all get. Aiolia for example learns how to use the 7th and 8th senses which in the main series only Virgo Shaka could go as far as the 7th sense. Tauros learns how to go beyond just using defense, Camus learns how to use his ice better, etc. It would have made a lot more sense for this to have been after Hades although that would present some issues as well.

The Gold Saints who are here by the end of the main series just don’t feel like they would lose to a bunch of Bronze Saints. I would have a hard time believing it at least. They also learned how to respect each other and fight as a team which doesn’t quite track. When looking this one up, it’s listed as an alternate timeline but even so I don’t think that would remove any of the issues that I’ve mentioned.

Ah well, the cool factor is more important than the timeline anyway. As for Aiolia, he was a good pick as the main character here. Aiolos will always be the character who really steals the show for me but Aiolia has done a good job of being his successor. I definitely would not say that he is as good as Aiolos or even that close but he has a lot of personality and determination. He is at least trying to make the Gold Saints more accountable and heroic. Most of the others are content to just follow orders and look the other way which is not a good way to do things.

Aiolia has a good amount of similarities with Seiya and that is always a good sign. Aiolia makes sure to protect his friends and by the end he saves the world first and then works on redeeming the villains. He never loses sight of his own goals and has some pretty good speeches. I definitely had no issues with him. His light based techniques are all a lot of fun as well. Well, electricity may be more accurate but he’s also known for being ultra fast. He is easily able to exceed the speed of light which is no small feat.

In true Saint Seiya fashion, the villains will sometimes no sell the attack anyway or move even faster. That’s just how it is here, the villains are super arrogant and it’s up to the heroes to put a stop to that. The villains will literally close their eyes before attacking which is always awesome. That’s not to say that the heroes are lacking in confidence at all though. They have their moments of bragging a whole lot as well. Most of the Gold Saints end up getting a big reality check here since they figured this would be easy and then end up taking a ton of damage.

To an extent I’d say a valid critique you can have here is that a lot of the Saints are written very similarly. They show up to fight their opponent, brag a whole lot, and then eventually win. They each have very noble dialogue by the end of it and eventually admit to Aiolia that he did good. There seems to be less time to really differentiate them unlike the main series which did this very easily. This series could have worked a bit harder on that but it is a minor thing. So they all sound really hype the whole time? It could be worse.

Even then Virgo Shaka and Gemini Saga really stand out as being the strongest. If I had to give a third shoutout it would be Shura who got to show off a bit more than the other Gold Saints. Without him then the heroes would have really been in trouble. He got to show why his invincible sword is still the strongest out there. Even in the main series I really liked his techniques because it’s all him just striking really hard. Unlike Tauros you really got the idea that he was the strongest.

On the villain side, Kronos was definitely the standout character. Much like the Gold Saints, his group of fighters were mainly more on the generic side. Saint Seiya is a franchise that loves its repetition and this series was no exception. Each villain would run in screaming about how he/she is a god and shouldn’t have to fight such mild mortals. It’s all very impressive the first few times and then you watch as they are defeated time and time again. Some handle their defeat with a little dignity and grace while others go down yelling. For the most part they feel more like obstacles than proper villains.

I’d probably blame the artwork here again since the designs seemed pretty good but got cut out a lot. I’d say the pacing is responsible for the rest since they just aren’t around long enough to really leave an impact. The exception here is Kronos who really gets a lot of screentime. I liked him. We got to learn more about him thanks to his temporary amnesia and then after that he became a big villain.

On the surface he may seem like another “I wanna destroy the world” kinda villain but it makes sense because this guy has been around for a long time and has really seen just how terrible humanity has been. After a while you would definitely be ready for it to all be over. This guy has the power to do it so why not right? It can get harder and harder to root against the enemies based on just how bad humanity is. Also when it’s a quick finish like this, it’s not like it’ll hurt much. So technically we’re rooting for the heroes but it’s not like I disliked Kronos or anything like that. He was a pretty fun villain.

I also liked the abilities that the villains had. Something called Duramis which works like a Saint’s Cosmos. It’s basically the same thing but what this set of gods uses. It makes sense that each set would call the energy something different and further helps to expand the universe. The Saints having to each take down actual gods is a real feather in their cap as well. The franchise always goes really high tier and I can definitely appreciate that.

Overall, Episode G is a fun series. It’s definitely very light on plot as it is all about all of the characters slamming into each other and battling it out but that’s all I really need. In that sense it’s a whole lot like the Dragon Ball Heroes titles. You’re reading it for the fights and nothing else. Nothing wrong with that and it’s a fun way to do a spinoff. I would definitely recommend checking this one out. Even factoring in the art, I had a great time here. Hopefully one day it’ll get an anime so we can really experience the fights in their full glory. I’ll be checking out the sequel pretty soon so I look forward to seeing how that one stacks up. Can it beat the original? It’s got way more chapters but way less volumes so we’ll see how that turns out.

Overall 8/10

Saint Seiya: Next Dimension Review

Posted on July 4, 2024 by dreager1

Uh oh, it’s time to look at the big Saint Seiya sequel. Basically this series is really trying to see just how far a good fight scene can take you. The story is a mess, the power levels are all over the place, the concepts are all recycled and the ending is terrible. And yet….I would say this is still a very solid series so just how good is the Saint Seiya cast to pull this off? I would think of it as a title of ultimate missed possibilities that tries its best to sabotage itself at every turn but was unable to finish the job. That’s the best way to look at this title and it really makes you think.

After Seiya took out Hades, he has been unable to regain consciousness in the present. In the present, the other Saints head to the past in order to find a way to wake him up. They then get to fight alongside Tenma and relive the events of Lost Canvass but in a very watered down, abridged version of that series. They have unfortunately not stayed sharp in their training and so they have a super hard time against all of the Gold Saints there but they have to keep on trying. The god of time Chronos has some plans of his own but this isn’t Episode G so the series never does much with him. Then meanwhile the angels have shown up to murder Seiya and have to contend with Marin and Shaina. They must be pretty weak eh?

So the series is jumping around a whole lot here. There are over 100 chapters but don’t let that fool you, the series itself is not as long as it sounds. A bunch of chapters are less than 10 pages long and you can often go several chapters without much actual plot progression. This is rough because this is a series that was trying to have a super big and ambitious plot. Without that at the ready, it starts to fall apart a bit. The main complaint the series has is that it’s just recycling ideas from the main Saint Seiya all the time and I have to admit that this is very valid. It basically replays the original series to a T.

The Saints run through the temples as they fight every Gold Saint and then take on the mastermind. We actually do this more than once as the bronze saints run the gambit but then a gold saint does too. There’s not much rhyme or reason to the fights as the bronze saints should be crushing these guys in their sleep but have a super tough time for no reason. The fights tend to be short and just follow the same format over and over and over again. There’s no creativity or originality to be found here at all so you better enjoy the confrontations themselves.

Then of course you have the prequel stuff with Tenma. Again, Lost Canvass did that better but this series tries its best. We get to see Tenma get a lot of fights and Hades gets his moments but there’s just way less time for them to do anything. Episode G, Lost Canvass, and the Saint Seiya Heaven Overture movie all handled their plots better because they had the time for it. This is trying to adapt parts from all 3 at the same time and ends up failing completely as an adaption there. My recommendation is to treat this title as not being canon and then you’re in a good space.

Well in the prequel timeline, Tenma is still a fun character. He may effectively be a watered down Seiya most of the time but he still has ambitions and tries to get stronger to fulfill them. I give him credit for standing up to every villain in his way and never giving up. The previous Hades is a lot more weak willed since he can’t resist the dark powers at all. I suppose it’s good that he at least had the powers so he wasn’t just getting destroyed the whole time.

Dohko and Shion get the biggest roles out of the old Gold Saints to mirror how that was the case in Lost Canvass as well. They’re not bad but do tend to follow the rules a bit too strictly instead of making their own decisions. Shion talks tough but will usually just go along with what Dohko says. Dohko may try to be the rebel but at the end of the day he goes for all of the traditions so I don’t quite buy into that image they were going for. He certainly does look more impressive than the others from a power perspective though and actually fights more than 1 big battle. I like Dohko so seeing him get a big role is always cool.

On the villains side, most of them don’t actually get to have a big role. The various specters are around but they tend to be discarded quickly. The biggest villain is definitely Suikyo who gets to do quite a lot. He used to be a hero and then he went over to the dark side which shocked everybody. His power levels are immense and he has his own very convoluted reasons for working with the villains. You may understand them but good luck on agreeing with them. He’s the kind of character that you just shake your head at because he created the situation that he is now trying to stop.

The most interesting plot is in the present so that’s why it’s a shame that almost the whole series is in the past. Lets take a look at Artemis, she’s Athena’s older sister and someone with a lot of power in her own respect. We could get some interesting dynamics and banter here but unfortunately Athena herself prevents that from happening with how passive she is. She spends the whole series letting every character tell her what an awful person she is, then she has to die again, and finally the other gods bad mouth her in the climax.

I’d like Athena to just get tough and start fighting back by this point. It’s clear that nobody is going to agree with her or help her out at least from the gods so she should try to take them out. If she loses then they’ll end up murdering her but that’s what they’re going to do anyway. I dare say that Athena is probably one of the worst leaders that you can possibly ask for. I can’t think of a more annoying figure to have to serve in a situation like this.

Then we have Apollo who has a cool design and everything but it’s not like he’s any more reasonable. He’s another villain who thinks that humans are pests. No matter how he tries to frame this, the guy is a complete villain. He wants to murder everyone on the Earth so you can’t really get out of that. In this series it feels to me like Athena is the only god who is on the heroes’ side. That’s yet another reason why she should be trying to take them down instead of listening to their whims.

At least Chronos is being helpful in the series even though you know that he absolutely has an angle. At least he’s going to wait and betray the heroes later on so we’ll take what we can get. Marin and Shaina look good in the present even if it doesn’t make sense that they can do anything against fighters of this level. It’s definitely more than a little cheesy and I would have advised the author to not even include them to be honest. At least not in any of the fights.

Seiya really only gets to actually do stuff for about a chapter but it was still nostalgic seeing him around. As always he is one of the only characters who will actually get up and start making some noise while the gods are attacking. A lot of the characters will look the other way or try to buy time but Seiya just does what he has to and I appreciate that. It’s why he is still known as such a legendary main character. Any future story needs to make sure to involve him a lot earlier this time. Like the chapter where the angel shows up to take him out was excellent and then from there the series couldn’t capitalize on this.

Ultimately a big reason for this is because the Seiya plot was actually new content. It wasn’t just the same story beats once more but this time it was a completely original story. Keeping up with more of that would have done a world of good for the story. Like Phoenix Ikki’s first appearance is incredibly awesome because of how it felt different. He shows up talking tough that he would beat the specter and the gold saint. That was really good and as always Ikki is a top tier character. Nobody was able to match that kind of aura.

Andromeda fans can be happy that he appears a lot here but it’s a double edged sword. On one hand, for a decent chunk of the series it’s just him and Tenma running through the temples while the other Saints are still in the present. However, Andromeda tends to lose a lot and doesn’t look even remotely impressive. The fact that Gold Saints are literally one shotting him is absolutely embarrassing. That should not be happening to any of the main characters. He has gone up against gods, why is he falling backwards like this? Like I said before, power levels are thrown out here.

Hyoga and Shiryu don’t get huge roles here compared to the others but you can still be assured that they get their big fights. They struggle at first and then they mount the comeback in exactly the way you would imagine that they would. It may not be original but at least in this way you know exactly what to expect ahead of time. That should be a load off at least although we would all take a new story any day. Hyoga’s entrance wins from the two though as he at least gets to scare off one of the angels which looks real impressive on his end.

Then we have Ophiuchus who shows up as the 13th Gold Saint. I’m not totally sure what the point of him was when we already had Suiryu but this guy gets a ton of hype. He’s the nicest guy out there but also has a super dark side like the Gemini saint. He’s really all over the place and works as a true wild card in a lot of respects because absolutely nobody can trust him. He’ll be fighting at your side one second and then suddenly he will be stabbing you from the back. What can you even do in that kind of circumstance right? I didn’t like him as a character because of how he lacked will power but he makes for a good villain.

I will say that the art is still solid as always. The series really nails the condescending look that the series is known for. Characters will diss each other with their eyes closed which I think is the absolute ultimate level of this. It shows that they are absolutely not messing around and will go to any lengths to mess with the other characters. The fights are also good when they happen although now they tend to be more like one shot fights towards the end of the series. Gone are the days of the longer fights which were always more fun.

Okay so with all of this bashing you may be wondering how this can possibly get a positive score. Well, it all comes down to the source material being that good. Think of it like playing a color swapped version of your favorite video game that promises a secret level at the end of it. Almost everything is old and done already but you’re still having a good time because the old levels are still fun. That’s how this one goes, it may be the same plot developments that you have seen already, but they are good plots.

At this point I’ve watched the first arc of the Saint Seiya series so many times with all of the remakes and adaptions. What’s doing it one more time right? At least in this case there are some slight differences as well which is important to recognize. So it’s not completely old even if in the large scheme of things that is what’s effectively happening here. You do wish that the series would do more but hey it’s still a blast. One thing that really helps is that I didn’t get caught up until later on so I didn’t have to wait nearly as long as the fans who were around since day 1. I know for those guys the wait was certainly more brutal so I get it.

The ending can also make the whole series feel like a waste of time. I’d say it helps that I can just look at Lost Canvass and the Saint Seiya movie to make those canon instead of this series. The hardcore fans may say that is impossible and in a sense it is, but I don’t get tied down quite as tightly by that kind of logic. So if I had a better time with the other story then I’ll still keep it as the real continuation.

Then this series avoided fanservice, any real big holes, and kept up a lot of action. So once again I say if you look at this series objectively without taking the other titles into account, I would call it a great series. It’s hard to look at it in a vacuum since of course this series is a sequel and is intended as such but that’s the best way to look at it. Or as a crazy AU and then you’re able to have more fun with it.

Overall, I tend to be rather desperate for more Saint Seiya content. It’s a franchise that is just way too awesome and interesting to put down. There’s always something cool happening here and the power levels go absolutely crazy. It’s just a lot of fun but this series really squandered all kinds of opportunities. This should have been an extremely easy 9/10 with just the bare minimum amount of effort. It’s clear that the writer just isn’t as engaged with the series at this point though and I have doubts that it can continue with the final 2 arcs. If this is the end of the series…well it definitely ended on a whimper that’s for sure. This will always be known as the series that fell short even if I did have a great time with it overall. Hopefully it can get a really high budget anime adaption which can take some of the spotlight away from the story.

Overall 8/10

Knights of the Zodiac Review

Posted on May 20, 2023 by dreager1

Saint Seiya has had many films and series over the years but we hadn’t really gotten the live action version before now. Well, that was all to change with this one. Interestingly it decided to go with the American name for the franchise but that one’s always worked well so it’s a reasonable move. Unfortunately the movie isn’t doing so great at the box office so the chances of a sequel are beginning to dim. It’s definitely a shame since this one sets the seeds very well but I guess it’s going to be back to the drawing board for the franchise.

The film kicks off with two fighters battling it out in the night sky. The hero manages to protect the baby Athena before he is ultimately destroyed in the process. We then cut to the present where Seiya is a street fighter who takes on all challengers although he does a lot more dodging than actual fighting. After a particularly tricky fight Seiya is attacked by mysterious warriors and so a mysterious old guy tells him that they have to hurry out of there. Next thing Seiya knows he’s in a castle where a girl named Sienna is said to be the reincarnation of Athena and Seiya has to protect her since Seiya is the Pegasus incarnation from the knights. Does he have the power to pull this off…and why should he?

A lot of the story here is about following your destiny or trying to break past it if need be. Fortunately Seiya is a hero through and through so while it may not make a whole lot of sense at first, he does get with the program and help out as needed. He doesn’t get along with Sienna very well at first but in large part this is due to her being rude the whole time so you don’t really blame him. I’d say that Seiya is a likable main character who is told to believe a whole lot of things at face value right off the bat so it makes sense that he would be skeptical.

He went from being an ordinary fighter to having to fight world ending threats over night so I cut him a lot of slack. I’d say the movie also did a good job of including a little humor to his character as well. The original show may not have had too much time for it but Seiya did have a sense of humor that would show up once in a while. Here he gets some clever one liners and insults spread throughout the film and they help to make him feel much more like a complete character.

He still has his confidence and willingness to jump into battle as well. Definitely a solid lead all around. Now as you may have heard, the rest of the bronze saints don’t appear here which is definitely an odd choice. Instead we jump right to Phoenix Ikki…who has been renamed Nero for the movie and this time he’s working for a human named Guraad. This part is more inspired by the TV show and it’s an interesting angle. Basically she believes that Athena has to die in order to save the world from a dark prophecy and Nero is helping out. You have to be careful who you trust as a villain though.

Nero easily steals the show here with his constant sarcastic wit. The guy has an answer for everything and of course he has the power to back it up. If not for all the trailers showing that Nero would get in on the action you may start to get a little nervous halfway through the film though as you hope he will get to fight here. I can tell you that skipping his fight would have really hurt the film. As it stands we get to see exactly why he is so confident. His abilities really speak for themselves.

I also thought the movie went all out with making the effects for his costume and attacks good. One of the movie’s few weaknesses is that Seiya’s suit looks really bad. It’s nothing like his classic attire and looks like something out of Mortal Kombat instead. I like Mortal Kombat as much as the next guy but it doesn’t make sense to change this when Seiya is so popular and world renown for the outfit. His Pegasus Fist was also ruined here unfortunately. It just looks like smoke to an extent and not a rapid blow of fists. So the effects could have been a lot better but Nero’s looked good.

The fight scenes were all really solid though. I knew I was in for a treat right away when I saw the shockwaves behind every hit during the Seiya vs Cassios fight. Super satisfying all the way. I dare say it may have been the best fight in the film with the only competition being Nero vs Seiya. Both very good fights but in general all the hand to hand and beam battles were good. If you’re looking for action then this film delivered.

Guraad also made for a good villain. She wants to save the world even if it means destroying all of her bonds. She even knows how to fight with her technology and aura in a pinch. She doesn’t finish very well though as this kind of villain only really works when she is determined and ready to see her goals through to the end. When you’re a super evil villain like this then that’s what you really need to do but the instant you waver then that’s no good. It’s way too late for the victims at that point and so I much rather see a villain who sees the plan through than one who has doubts.

That’s why I wasn’t thrilled about parts of her character arc here but ultimatelys he is still good. I actually prefer her by a large margin to Alman who feels more wishy washy and the guy went too far. He caused just about as much damage as Guraad and while he ultimately did stop, he certainly took his time in the past. Princess Sienna is a good character though. She’s your classic “I’m really tough” character who comes in strong with the insults and doesn’t want to let anyone get too close.

She can’t control her powers yet though so don’t expect a lot of actual wins but at least she can talk tough which is always appreciated. Seiya knows that he can’t let his guard down around her or she’ll insult him again. By the end of the film I’d say that she has finally balanced her attitude along with being a little nicer though. If the films end up turning her into a real fighter that would be great.

I also have to give the film credit for how it handled Cassios. He’s considerably better here than in any other Saint Seiya media that I’ve seen. The guy was a full character and a strong fighter even before getting powers. The guy actually dealt damage to the automatic cosmo soldiers at one point and he also has a lot of confidence. Ultimately he might let himself get manipulated a little too easily and don’t expect him to actually come out on top but he’s a villain who is very entertaining to see. I was glad that he wasn’t just a one shot joke character.

The movie does have a good fakeout involving this with Alman’s bodyguard. When the first guy shows up to get one shotted by the villains you figure that the film did him dirty but then we see the true bodyguard after that and he looks good. It’s a bit cheesy that anyone could beat a bunch of these dark knights with a sword and gun combo. I’m not really sure that I buy it at all but it did make for a fun action scene.

The story, characters, and fights were definitely good all around. The only other issue is the pacing did get a little slow during the training by Marin. I felt like the desert didn’t make for the most interesting backdrop and the training itself was a little more on the plain side. There wasn’t much to it so it wasn’t super interesting. You were just waiting for Seiya to get back already to help out Sienna and stop the villains. Eventually Marin saw reason there but she definitely delayed him. It would be nice to see Marin more in the sequel because she can fight so she should be really useful there.

Overall, It was probably a mistake to change so many things from the manga. Having the rest of the Saints show up here would have been the better decision rather than saving them for a sequel that may or may not happen. I don’t think it would have been a whole lot to juggle. Either way I am looking forward to the sequel for this film if it arrives. As far as live action adaptions of a manga go I thought this was a fairly strong one. I was entertained the whole time and while it was a different adventure, I thought it captured the spirit of the adventure. Next time lets get more of the classic music tracks in here though instead of remixes playing very silently in the background.

Overall 8/10

Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya – Battle for Sanctuary Review

Posted on April 1, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time to jump back into the world of Saint Seiya. It’s definitely impressive how many times we get to see the classic arc of the Bronze Saints running through the temples. This one does a good job of redoing the saga. Ultimately while the CG will always have its limits against the classic hand drawn style, it does a good job with the colors and action. It’s also setting up some original storylines for this version which is a good way to differentiate itself from the original story. All in all, whether you’re a fan of Saint Seiya or not you should still have a great time here.

Well last time things ended on a rather intense note as Athena was stabbed with an arrow. Basically this was no ordinary arrow and any attempt to pull it out of her would destroy the goddess immediately. The only one who can take this out is the Pope but he is the one trying to murder Athena. Seiya and friends have no choice but to go and invade the 12 castles and reach the Pope in Sanctuary. To do this they will have to defeat the 12 Gold Saints, the strongest fighters in history. Can they pull this off or are they already doomed? They won’t know until they try and as they are true heroes they won’t back down until they have made this a reality. It is time for their ultimate battle.

One of the fun things about this arc is how it’s basically nonstop action. The heroes go from one fight to the next without much in the way of breaks. It’s also what makes their victories even more impressive because they are fighting the strongest foes in existence and they are doing this without stopping to catch their breath or anything like that. Of course you know that Seiya is ready for such a challenge but what about the others? They haven’t had a chance to do much of anything in the Netflix version up to now. Well, you will be glad to know that they look better here even if Seiya is still the one doing most of the work.

One of the original storylines I mentioned involves Genet who didn’t just get written out of the story this time. Instead she continues to act as a knight and has been added to the Marin subplot. She gets an original scene involving confronting her master and at the rate we’re going she may get even more screen time in season 3. This change works pretty well as it’s a very natural way of expanding the cast and I think she has a lot of potential here. Hopefully she really gets to show her stuff and even takes down a strong opponent. I’m not asking for a gold saint in particular but beating a silver saint for example would be great.

One addition that didn’t work as well was Virgo Shaka’s skeleton minions. I didn’t really see the point of these guys. I suppose they were there to temporarily split up the saints again but it felt more like the show was stalling for time than anything. Like they were just here so that the season could end at a specific point. Perhaps that is exactly the case but they weren’t very interesting villains and of course one turned huge. That’s the CG dream after all, to throw in a giant boss. Even the movie did that but there was just no point for these guys and I couldn’t take them seriously. Since it didn’t come at the expense of the main story though I was okay with this.

Tauros looks impressive here as he takes out all of the saints aside from Seiya in one shot. Those guys were definitely found lacking when it counted but they did a good job of showing Seiya overcoming the odds. One thing I’ve really liked here is how he grows wings of energy when he powers up. It’s a really nice touch as the Pegasus saint and also makes him stand out. So I thought that was a really good idea right off the bat. I also like the way the cosmos is portrayed visually. When Seiya powers up you can really tell if he’s burning the cosmos at a higher level or if he can go even further based on if it’s just blue or blue and red. So the fight was satisfying.

The show also gave a better reason for why he and Mu aren’t helping out more. Because in this show they actually are helping out but then they get taken out by the Pope. It’s little details like this which the show executes well. It’s effectively looking at some of the criticisms of the arc and making changes to make things work a little better. Even the whole prophecy angle about how Athena will cause everyone to die is better than them blindly following the Pope. Not by a large margin mind you since I still blame them a whole lot but it’s still something. Every bit counts here.

Then we have the Gemini armor who crushed Hyoga rather quickly (This is a really bad season for Hyoga I have to say. He got wrecked by Aldebaran, then he got wrecked by Gemini, and then he got destroyed by Camus. The guy could not catch a break here) and then we get the good fight with Andromeda. It was certainly Andromeda’s stand out moment in the season so far as she made the most of her chain. I may not be the biggest fan of the chain in general but it still does turn up when it counts. The Gemini armor is also fun with how he makes the illusions and changes the fights up. You can’t approach him the way you would an ordinary foe.

Not much to say about Camus since he shows up and takes care of business immediately but I like how cold and calculating he is. The guy may not be heroic but you can imagine him protecting his temple with ease. Deathmask is still the biggest disgrace to the Saints. I can’t believe this guy was ever allowed to be a Gold Saint because you’d expect them not to employ actual mass murderers right? It would have been nice if they threw in a line about how the Pope only recently brought him in as a gold saint. That would have done wonders for the saints in general. Of course it was nice to see Shiryu crush him either way.

Then we got the really big fight with Aiolia which was always a standout battle. This guy’s light speed punches are incredible and he just keeps making them faster and faster. It’s a fight where Seiya has to keep on getting stronger and it’s fair to say that Aiolia has to be one of the most powerful Gold Saints. He at least does his brother proud in deciding to finally question the Pope and seek out answers. Unfortunately it doesn’t go great but the attempt was nice. He’s one of the few Gold Saints who is actually likable as a person rather than just as a villain to be defeated. We also get to see Aiolia take on Milo and considering how weakened Aiolia is, it was impressive to see him going toe to toe like that. I doubt many other Saints could have pulled that off.

Of course then we get to Virgo Shaka who is always very impressive with his power level. Many consider him to be the most powerful Golden Saint and those who don’t say he is second to Gemini Saga. You can make good arguments either way although I always do give Gemini Saga the edge here. His raw power is just so incredible but Virgo Shaka is clearly giving everyone a good fight. Fortunately Phoenix Ikki shows up for his big fight in the season. (Yeah I’m not going to call him Nero) Definitely one of the standout fights in the whole season with a lot of back and forth as we see exactly why Phoenix’s cloth is so legendary. No other cloth can regenerate like his and Ikki is basically immortal due to being the Phoenix saint. It’s a very potent combo to be sure and keeps him in the fight at all times.

Then we end with Seiya taking on Milo which was a cool way to end the season. Basically once again Seiya is the last one able to fight and you can bet that he won’t be going down easy. His dedication has earned him a spot as one of Jump’s top heroes. Meanwhile the other old bronze saints get to show up to protect Athena but in general that subplot does feel a bit out of place. The randoms of Sanctuary are treated as pure comic relief and it was a bit off putting just how extreme they were. It was like the show was trying a little too hard to be funny. I think Saint Seiya can certainly inject some humor into the mix if they want to but you have to be a little more subtle than this. You’re more likely to roll your eyes than actually chuckle at the characters. They are also insultingly weak so there is no salvaging them there.

Now with the animation the CG here is pretty good as I mentioned above. The colors are sharp and so the fights work well. There is more actual choreography and movement here than last time so the fights feel like they have a lot more substance. The theme song is still great here and so the show flows well on a technical level. The 12 episodes really fly by and I don’t really have any big negatives for the show. It adapts the source material pretty well and for the most part the additions only serve to enhance the story. The one exception would be the skull knights under Virgo Shaka and the comic relief soldiers who attack Athena. Those still aren’t bad enough to really hurt the series either.

It’s only natural that this beats season 1 also because it’s adapting source material that’s a lot more hype. 1 had a lot of great content to be sure but the Gold Saint fights are legendary for good reason. There are so many engaging moments here so each episode is a blast and a half. The cliffhanger here is also super effective and really works well to end things off. You can already recognize the formula to the fights so you sort of know how it’ll play out but that doesn’t take away from it being an emotional moment. Saint Seiya pretty much invented the classic format of being knocked down but getting back up again. It’s all about determination and these characters have that in spades.

Throughout the show all of the bronze saints are great. Andromeda can fight when she needs to, Hyoga always has his confidence even if he gets stomped a lot, and Shiryu is always fighting at a high level. He probably starts on a higher base level than Seiya. The difference is that Seiya has the best durability and continues to get stronger as the fight goes on so by the end he is always super powerful. His confidence feels the most earned from the group and he also takes this the most personally in protecting Athena so he just refuses to go down. Of course we saw a lot of that in season 1 already so I’m focusing more on Ikki here.

This is the first time we get to see Ikki as a hero and it’s really an incredible moment. Ikki can always be trusted to show up and protect Andromeda when it counts. He may have lost his way for a while there but now he is back to being the very dependable big brother that he always was. His fighting style is also noticeably different from the other Saints which helps him stand out. He’s all about outlasting the opponent and trading blows while Seiya tries to go for speed. Ikki just knows that the longer the fight goes on the more the advantage is on his side and it’s a smart strategy considering his abilities.

Overall, Saint Seiya is a franchise that keeps on expanding and you love to see it. I definitely won’t be forgetting this series anytime soon. Hopefully season 3 doesn’t take too much longer to come out but in the meantime you should definitely check this one out either way. It’s got a lot of top tier fights and a solid story so there is no reason to miss out on it. The show has no weaknesses which is rare to say about a show and the only sad thing is that it’s only 12 episodes. They cover a lot of ground here though. Hard to say what my next Saint Seiya review will be at this point but stay tuned as there is always something else on the horizon!

Overall 8/10

Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary Review

Posted on March 21, 2023 by dreager1

It’s time to return to the world of Pegasus Seiya and friends. This CGI movie is certainly one that never got big but always sounded interesting. Whenever a movie tries to adapt an entire saga in one shot it gets my attention because that is incredibly ambitious. I don’t think many movies can effectively match an anime or manga because of how much you have to cut out. On the other hand the movie should in theory still be great because that means they will have to be squeezing in a ton of fights into a short amount of time and shouldn’t that be a recipe for a great movie? Well this one ends up being pretty good although I wouldn’t be able to call it great per say.

The movie starts off with mysterious beings battling it out in the skies. Two of them end up being shot down. Some local excavators come into contact with one of them who dies but not before showing them what happened through telepathy and then entrusting the baby Athena over to humanity. 16 years pass and she has been raised to be known as a lady named Saori. Her car driver starts to explain this to her but he was at least a day late because they are attacked by enemy saints sent by the Grand Pope. Fortunately Seiya and friends save her. They explain that Sanctuary has marked her as a fake and will be sending everyone to murder her so they have to head to Sanctuary and explain the situation quickly. This is a whole lot for Saori to take in all at once but it’s not like she has much of a choice in saying no to the adventure since the assassins will keep on coming. So the heroes head high into the sky in order to take down Sanctuary once and for all.

Now this probably does sound a bit crazy and that’s one of the things about doing this so fast. There’s a whole lot of convenience in the air like the Saints attacking right after the guy explained everything to Saori. Then you also have the power levels to worry about since the Bronze Saints shouldn’t be any match for the Gold Saints without a lot of dramatic power-ups in order to unlock their cosmos. Well the film has an interesting way of dealing with that which is to have some of the Gold Saints help out. This is actually a change that makes sense because some of the Gold Knights look way more reasonable as a result.

Virgo Shakka is a big one. Here he realizes that the Pope is evil pretty quickly and steps in to help the heroes. Mu and Taurus can also be counted on and so just like that you have 3 Gold Saints who are back to being heroes. Aphrodite definitely gets the shaft as he’s one shotted and Libra doesn’t get to appear while the rest mainly get their usual roles, even if they are really condensed. Of course the problem of Virgo Shakka being a good guy is that he doesn’t get to fight Ikki. So Ikki’s only role here is to destroy the archer saint and then to lose to the Shura saint. It was too bad that Phoenix couldn’t have looked better because in this version you would definitely assume that he is all talk at all times.

I still like what they were trying to do with Phoenix’s personality but you know that it only works because you knew him previously. To anyone going into this film fresh you would be wondering what to think of him. I would only put Seiya above him from the main cast but usually even Seiya would fall before this guy. Ikki is just way too awesome. Hyoga, Shiryu, and Andromeda look good here but of course there isn’t much time for their personalities. Shiryu is in a way one of the more comedic characters as he likes rambling and wearing his armor which the others poke fun at. Andromeda is not averse to fighting this time around so he gets his hits in and Hyoga is generally confident. He flat-out took down Camus with a draw where his opponent fell first and didn’t need any help which was impressive. Shiryu also took down his opponent.

Deathmask was an odd fellow in this version as we get a really random musical number during his fight. I was definitely not expecting that at all since it really came from out of nowhere. I guess the movie wanted to have some singing in here but it was still not quite what I had expected and the song went a bit longer than I thought. The movie made him appear to not be quite as evil since he said the faces were all people who challenged the temple as opposed to murdering civilians but even so he still comes across as super petty like when he tries to stab Shiryu in the back. So this guy just can’t win in any setting.

Seiya is of course the stand-out character. He’s always willing to put his very life on the line to save his friends and is the first to jump into battle. He never hesitates and continues to get even stronger. He uses a pretty cool attack to end his fight with as well. His determination is unmatched and he’s also just a fun guy who has a good time throughout the movie. So the adaption definitely did him justice.

In general the humor could be on the weaker side for the film but on the whole the writing was pretty solid. The story is good and a lot of the decisions the film made you could understand in terms of the pacing. It may have been an abridged version but in the end we did adapt the arc which is definitely impressive. The film cut out the fluff and even a lot of main events and focused on getting to the end. Not all of the choices were winning ones but I appreciate the boldness of it all. This was a movie that was not going to do anything halfheartedly.

In terms of animation, this one’s CGI so you shouldn’t expect it to look as good as the original anime but the colors are sharp here. I liked the style of CGI here better than in the CG show. The main drawback is that the armors don’t look quite as good. They remind me a lot of the Mortal Kombat suits but then mix in the colors that blend together like in Transformers. At least each character has a light that glows when they power up their armors but those aren’t color coded the way you would expect. Seiya gets red so Andromeda gets green and I think Shiryu’s may have been blue or purple. The colors don’t match the armors. Maybe this was to make them stand out more but it’s just a bit odd because the whole time you’re expecting the armor and the color to match.

The actual fights are on point and this is where it passes the show in that I felt like we got a lot more actual movement here. Each fight really showed off the speed of the Saints. It’s also all played in real time so there are no video game type cinematics for the super moves. The characters just use them. If the live action movie were to follow this template I think it would work fairly well. The Saints already have their training and meet up with Saori who would be the general audience in this case. It’s a fine script, you just need to touch things up and preferably keep this as a two part movie and you don’t have to sacrifice as much.

One thing I would cut out entirely is the climax though. As seems to be movie tradition we get a giant CG creature which shows up so he’s basically a damage sponge as everyone attacks. That just about never makes for a very thrilling fight scene. Only Fate Grand Order pulled that off for the TV show and even then it was because all of the heroes were so OP so it was intense to see a monster just take all of that and keep it going. Gemini Saga should still be the main villain and just have him be dominating the heroes the whole time until they start fusing powers. It would also make sense since he’s so strong.

This film has serious power level issues that can’t be ignored so you would probably want to clean that up as well. Maybe add some kind of rule that you absorb the cosmos of the opponents you defeat so they get stronger after each battle and begin to approach the gold saints. I think that would work as a quick (albeit a little convenient) solution to taking on Gold Saints so quickly. I did like how they remodeled the temples though. It’s clear that the movie took a lot of inspiration from Final Fantasy in terms of the layouts and character designs that worked really well.

The soundtrack could also use some work. A lot of the tunes sounded like something out of Tiger & Bunny which is a reasonable soundtrack but a bit more generic and public domain type than what you expect to see in Saint Seiya. We need more thrilling tunes for battles between Saints to really get you involved and so you can appreciate all of the hype feats. Also, the movie completely ditched the fake Athena plot which was odd. Where did she even go? I have to assume there was a scene cut out where the Pope destroyed her or something because otherwise it’s odd to just have a subplot vanish like that with no resolution. Based on the mask she was wearing it was likely Shaina or Marin but we need confirmation.

Overall, It was pretty cool to see what this arc would look like abridged. At the end of the day there is certainly no reason to watch it this way as opposed to the whole show but it’s worth checking out as a fun experiment. It’s too bad they couldn’t continue and try out the Poseidon arc next. The most important thing is if you know that you can’t possibly beat the original format, then you should absolutely re-tool things so that you deliver a different experience. The movie completely changed the context around the arc and altered a number of things which was smart to avoid a direct comparison. It could have still done things better but in the end this is a movie that I’d be able to re-watch because the replay value is there and it’s still a pretty good movie.

Overall 7/10

Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya Review

Posted on February 18, 2023 by dreager1

Saint Seiya is one of those franchises that just keeps getting better and better with age. The fights are always incredible and the characters are timeless. It is really like the original DBZ from back in the day. When Netflix announced a CG series I would say the two reactions I had was “Not CG!!!!” and “Glad we’re getting Seiya back”. At the end of the day I would have preferred some top level animation for a fun reboot but I’ll still take this so we have more content in the franchise. The show actually changes quite a few things up which is why I would call it an alternate retelling. The names are different, some attacks aren’t translated and the government gets involved this time. I actually think the show should continue to change things rather than being a totally straight adaption. It allows the series to really duck the usual comparisons that it would get right away and helps it to stand on its own as a stand alone show. That said I would have liked it if the names had stayed the same since they take a lot of getting used to.

So the series starts off with a Gold Saint appearing in Seiya’s home and kidnapping his sister after taking down some government workers. Seiya and his sister Patricia have the ability of the cosmos which allows them to perform superhuman feats that should be next to impossible. Unfortunately that was not enough to take down a Gold Saint warrior. Those fighters are way too powerful. Years pass by and Seiya figures his sister is dead as he has been unable to get any leads on her or on the mysterious gold saint. That’s when he is taken in by Sienna and her grand father who explain the lore about powerful Saints which will save the goddess Athena from the evil gods. Seiya doesn’t buy any of this hogwash for a second but they explain that it is the only lead to his sister so he’s in. Basically he first has to earn a bronze armor of his own and then he must compete in a tournament with other Saints. The difficult part here is that there is a guy named Vander who wants the power of the Saints for himself to save the world. Seiya and friends will have to watch out for this guy or be crushed in the process.

The season is pretty quick so we don’t really get to the Gold Saints much as this is mainly pre arc. At times it can feel like the series is going a bit fast to tackle everything but it goes at a good speed for the fights which is the important part. I mentioned that there were some changes here so lets look at the biggest one. It’s the inclusion of Vander who believes he is trying to save the world from utter destruction. He’s one of those villains who has some good ideas but unfortunately the heroes don’t really get to talk to him much initially and the guy goes off the deep end very quickly so he can’t be reasoned with.

I understand why he is skeptical to just let the Saints handle everything because what if they lose? In fact the prophecy claims that the Saints will lose this time and Earth will be destroyed so maybe taking matters into his own hands wouldn’t be such a bad idea. In fact he has done quite well so far in building a whole army of Saints which can even overpower Bronze Knights. He did this by himself with a small group so imagine if he had a bunch of real resources at his disposal? The bio engineered Saints have a great supply of cosmos and incredible defenses. They can draw on more power from the generator as needed too. If only Vander could have played ball and tried to meet the Knights in the middle then Earth would have been in great shape for the fights to come. Instead Earth is more defenseless than ever before now.

I also liked seeing the government show up to get some fights although the show could have done better with the power levels. There is one moment where the government shows up in a helicopter/plane and the Saints start talking about how they’ve got no shot and are going to be obliterated..only to destroy it in one shot as always. I don’t care what guns they have on those planes, one good hit from a Saint will break it every time so there is nothing to be afraid of. The characters always seem to think that a vehicle is safe only for a Saint to break it in the next scene. You’re better off on the ground at that rate.

I’ll never be able to take the government or any other human faction seriously against the Saints because they are so outmatched but at the same time it is nice to see them. I do think with the world going into danger soon it makes sense to show the real life impacts f that and that’s something that the show did pretty well. I hope to see this continue more. Also as a side note, I like how Seiya grows actual wings when he powers up his cosmo like a real Pegasus. It is a fun visual that makes a lot of sense if you ask me.

The soundtrack here is pretty solid. The opening is a lot of fun and works as a great remix. It gets you pumped for what’s about to happen. Within the actual show the osts are good too but my only issue so far is that there isn’t a lot of variety. You’re going to be hearing the same songs playing quite a few times the more you go through the episodes. I think just adding a handful of other themes would have helped prevent it from feeling like they were cycling through the same tunes all the time.

As for the graphics, well I would say the CG here is pretty good. It definitely looks like a video game and what enhances this even further is how each character jumps into a pre set animation cycle whenever they go into their final smash. Remember playing Marvel vs Capcom and activating your final smash only for someone to activate theirs a second later so yours does no damage while they get all the hits in. That’s basically what happens here on a number of occasions. Where the animation struggles a bit is during the actual combat. Often times the projectile attacks will look cool but the show doesn’t have a whole lot of choreography for most of the fights. This results in faster battles than you would expect. Battles are very important in Saint Seiya so I’m hoping we can get this upgraded a bit in the second season. Having animation that looks good is really important but having great fights is equally critical.

As always Seiya is a great main character. He is determined to save his sister and fights off all kinds of odds in order to do so. He’s the kind of guy you want to have on your side because he will never give up and he will continue to fight to the last man. He always surpasses his limits and gets a lot of great character development even over the course of these first episodes. He was always willing to defend those in trouble but by the end he has really begun to understand what it means to be a knight of Athena. Can’t wait to see more of him soon.

Meanwhile Andromeda is a girl in this version which was a pretty big deal back in the day. Ultimately her personality isn’t much different though. Perhaps she is a little bolder but that’s about it. Although by default I actually prefer her to the usual version for that reason since Andromeda was never my favorite Saint. She gets her whole plot with Phoenix here but for the most part isn’t winning many big battles outside of that. I should mention right now that Seiya easily steals the show and gets the most to do here, the rest of the Saints aren’t able to do much of anything. I mean they’re strong and we see them do cool things during their debut appearances but Seiya gets almost all of the fights to himself. He’s the guy you call in to fight all the real enemies and it shows what a gap there is between him and everyone else.

Cygnus is extra confident and mean in this one which is nice. He’s got an edge to his fighting style and even comes close to murdering Athena at one point. He does mellow out super quickly though. I think it would have been more effective if he had lost to Phoenix or something which caused him to really change his ways. Alternately I would have just kept him as being really gruff for the whole season and think that would have worked well. Regardless he’s a quality character and a good addition to the team. Definitely someone you don’t want to mess with and he is supposed to be one of the more powerful Saints with how he could keep up with Dragon and Seiya while the others couldn’t.

Dragon has always been one of the most consistent Saints. He has a lot of power as well as great discipline which allows him to attack and defend at the right times. He has his unbreakable shield and unstoppable fist which makes for a tough combo. He gets his big fight here while blind which was always impressive and gave Seiya a good match. Dragon is probably the most honorable member of the Saints and is always determined to fight for justice. He doesn’t like cheap tricks or winning in any way that isn’t 100% fair so it’s easy to like him.

Then we have Phoenix as one of the big bosses for the show. He had a very intense backstory so you can really see how he cracked. The guy was put through the wringer back during his childhood and really never caught a break. The show doesn’t hold back with the ordeals he had to go through and so now he just isn’t the hero that he once was. Of course in part due to the hellish training he had to go through, Phoenix is considerably more powerful than the other bronze saints. It’s always impressive just how strong he is and he never ceases to amaze during the battles. His fights are always cool and he has the best looking attacks. His fire techniques don’t stop and he’s easy to root for even when he isn’t the most heroic out there. That’s just how he rolls.

Meanwhile Sienna makes for a good Athena. She has the most powerful warriors on the planet trying to murder her and yet she doesn’t live her life in fear. She’s doing her best to hang in there and continue to fight the good fight which is admirable. She even gets to use her magic powers to block opponent attacks at times. I still wish she could fight more since Hades and Poseidon have no problem shattering worlds and firing off big energy blasts. You can’t tell me that Athena doesn’t have that kind of power within her somewhere right? Like it wouldn’t make sense that she couldn’t fight because in theory she has more cosmo than almost every other character in the series.

This is where I have to throw in that as always Aiolos is the best Knight here. He understood that murdering a literal baby was wrong and made sure to save her life even though he paid the ultimate price for it. That’s absolutely what you have to do if you consider yourself to be a true hero. I don’t see any of the other Gold Saints doing that to be honest. The Bronze Saints would but you still would expect the Golds to be better. One change this series did to try and make this not feel as bad is there’s a prophecy ~~that the pope made up~~ which says that Athena will lose the war. So he tells them that they should just murder her and fight the war on their own. This plan doesn’t make much sense though because you are just making your side even weaker and will lose by a greater amount now. Cmon that’s just easy match but the Gold Saint have about as much integrity as your average pickpocket so they are easily taken in.

It’s good that we have future arcs where they look good because this is why they always make me just shake my head at how villainous and unreasonable they are the whole time. I’ll at least give Aiolia some props because he is able to listen to reason after Seiya messes him up a bit. He also did seem to save Seiya’s sister although he’s intentionally vague about the whole thing. He really should have at least tried to tell him something about her instead of being cryptic. Would have made things easier later on I would expect. The rest of the Gold Saints are total sellouts as you’d expect.

Same with the Silver Saints to be honest. They show up to get absolutely devastated the whole times. The one who can read minds was fun though because that’s always such a good ability. I always like seeing how the heroes can get around that. Do they have to shut their mind off or just move really quickly? To date Yusuke Urameshi had the absolute best way of dealing with that. Man that series has so many good moments and Seiya is on that level which is why this series is so great. Even the weaker villains like Misty are able to see through basic traps and give the heroes trouble. I do like that because even if they aren’t the nicest folks, they had to go through a lot of diligent training to get to silver rank so it makes sense that they could do this much.

Then you have Shaina who really wants to beat Seiya up. Ultimately her character arc feels a bit rushed as the show gets through her scenes quickly but she’s fun as always. I liked her rivalry with Seiya even if it ends up being one sided very quickly. Seiya just improves too fast for anyone to keep up with him. There is also Marin who trains Seiya but I never liked her quite as much. I think she could have been better at assisting Seiya and giving him backup when needed. She is always using trickery and just overthinking everything though. Just team up with him already and the heroes can have another fighter in their group.

Finally we get to two of the other bronze saints who get a role. First up is Cassios who has a lot of raw strength but that’s all that he has going for him. It’s naturally not going to be enough against someone like Seiya whose punches break the speed barrier and will eventually go faster than light. That’s not the kind of power that you can really hope to deal with easily. He just isn’t that kind of fighter. Then there is Unicorn who has his little rivalry with Seiya as always but unfortunately he doesn’t get a ton of screen time. See I would have liked to have seen him absolutely giving Seiya the work or one quick fight between them. I always thought he was a lot of fun at least but he’s more of a comic relief character here and doesn’t get a big role.

The season ends with a massive cliffhanger that gets you hyped up for what will be coming next. That’s always a good way to end things off so I’m pretty psyched for what will be happening soon. At the end of the day this was a very fun show with a lot of action and quality visuals. Perhaps it isn’t the remake that people had been waiting for but if it had to be CG then doing this alternate version was absolutely the way to go. It keeps you on your toes and takes some interesting approaches to modernizing the story. I just think they should keep doing that in the next seasons too as you then have to keep your guard up to see what will really be happening next.

Overall, Whether you call this series Knights of the Zodiac or Saint Seiya, it will always be a really big franchise. The names can be hard to keep track of so just think of them by the names of their cloth/armors since those never end up changing. The show has no real weak points which is the main reason why I rank it so highly. The story is very engaging and I never got bored while watching this. If anything it just ends way too quickly so you wish there were more episodes right off the bat. Still the series did continue and will keep on going so at least there is nothing to worry about there. It’s certainly one of the upsides about starting a series once it has already been going on for a while. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out, it’s pretty nostalgic to see Seiya’s first fights again and the show isn’t lost in the shadow of the original.

Overall 8/10

Saint Seiya: Meiou Iden – Dark Wing

Posted on September 18, 2022 by dreager1

A pretty solid take on the classic Saint Seiya mythos. I like that it’s a very different look at the series while already being a lot of fun. I’ve got high hopes for this series so we’ll see if it can live up to this. I’ll have a review up for the series as soon as it ends.

Overall 8/10

Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas – Gaiden

Posted on July 24, 2022 by dreager1

The Lost Canvas is still one of the best manga titles of all time so reading into one of the spinoffs definitely sounds like fun. It’s off to a good start to far with each Saint getting a volume to themselves. It’s going to be tough to keep giving them big fights without making them look too weak though since there should be few who can challenge them. I’ll have review for it once the series is over.

Overall 8/10

Saint Seiya: Next Dimension

Posted on June 5, 2022 by dreager1

I definitely have my share of issues with this series like the power levels making no sense and formally making Lost Canvas not canon but it’s still a great Saint Seiya story. It’s got all the action and fights you could want after all. I’ll have a review up for this series when it finishes someday.

Overall 8/10

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Saint Seiya: Episode G Assassin Review

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Saint Seiya: Meiou Iden – Dark Wing

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