So many moons ago I made this thread:
www.resetera.com
A couple of weeks ago I decided to knuckle down and start watching. Been sick home from work for the last couple of days so I cranked through these last few episodes.
So... uh, well, I really liked it! It's definitely easy to see why it's a classic shonen series. You watch it feeling like something really special is happening, something transformative. While most of its tropes will be familiar to anyone who's seen series since, for the most part the mix of action and drama is enough to keep you entertained.
Some quick and dirty thoughts:
-I started out thinking Shiryu was my favorite (his storyline with his blindness was really compelling and even got me to tear up at one point), but I came out landing on Shun being my #1. His struggle with pacifism and masculinity was really cool to see for an 80s shonen character, and being voiced by the legendary Ryo Horikawa certainly doesn't hurt (even if he's far from the only iconic voice actor in the series - I was quite surprised to see Ryusei Nakao play a minor villain, but I wouldn't mistake that evil laugh for anyone else's).
-Seiya was a character I mostly liked but felt he was a little lacking in that strong, vivid personality you usually want in a shonen series. Likeable but not especially a standout, with a few exceptions. Ikki was cool but definitely felt tertiary and just showed up to bail the boys out of trouble. Hyoga despite having cool powers and fights was definitely the least interesting Saint to me, I would struggle to describe his personality in ways outside of "really loves his mother," but yeah.
-The storytelling for the arcs was pretty formulaic, Saori is in trouble, the boys gather around and fight a group of bad guys who have very few distinctive personality traits besides "strong and proud," but the fights were cool and usually pretty well paced. The Sanctuary arc is obviously the highlight, but honestly I think the Silver Saints arc might have been my favorite. A really good mix of action, intrigue, and drama. Sanctuary arc just felt like a really, really long climax of 30+ episodes, even if it was what the show had been building up to, but it definitely held my attention throughout.
-Bouncing off of that, I think the biggest thing the series lacked was really attention-grabbing, iconic villains. When I think about characters like Freeza, Toguro, Dio Brando, etc., those really classic larger-than-life shonen villains, they just weren't here. The villains tended to blur together, although I liked where they were going with Poseidon at first, in the end he was as generic as the rest of them, sadly.
-Asgard arc was a nice change of pace in terms of setting and I enjoyed the boys' new armor, letting that 80s hair flow. It's also when Shun really came into his own for me, as I touched on before.
-Pegasus Fantasy is SUCH a banger OP. One of the all time greats. Got me hyped EVERY time. It's easy to see why it was so influential. Like, this was pre-Cha La. Although I liked the new one (by Mr. Cha La himself Hironobu Kageyama), it can't top this:
Anyway some of this might sound negative but I want to emphasize that overall I really enjoyed my time with it. I know it's not "finished," I still have Hades to watch, but I at least wanted to get these thoughts out. I'm gonna take a break and then watch Hades in a little while, and probably read the manga to compare and contrast. While it won't break my top 5 Shonen Jump series, I can see this placing at a respectable six. If you like 80s anime and shonen battle series, it's a definite must watch in my opinion.
Saint Seiya fans, help me get into this series. Can I just start with the 80s anime? Anime/Manga
Saint Seiya is one of those shows that's been on my to watch list for years and I think I might finally take the plunge. I know there's the anime, manga, OVAs, and other whatnots. I know there's filler but as a Dragon Ball fan I think I'm reasonably equipped to deal with 80s anime filler. Is the...
www.resetera.com
A couple of weeks ago I decided to knuckle down and start watching. Been sick home from work for the last couple of days so I cranked through these last few episodes.
So... uh, well, I really liked it! It's definitely easy to see why it's a classic shonen series. You watch it feeling like something really special is happening, something transformative. While most of its tropes will be familiar to anyone who's seen series since, for the most part the mix of action and drama is enough to keep you entertained.
Some quick and dirty thoughts:
-I started out thinking Shiryu was my favorite (his storyline with his blindness was really compelling and even got me to tear up at one point), but I came out landing on Shun being my #1. His struggle with pacifism and masculinity was really cool to see for an 80s shonen character, and being voiced by the legendary Ryo Horikawa certainly doesn't hurt (even if he's far from the only iconic voice actor in the series - I was quite surprised to see Ryusei Nakao play a minor villain, but I wouldn't mistake that evil laugh for anyone else's).
-Seiya was a character I mostly liked but felt he was a little lacking in that strong, vivid personality you usually want in a shonen series. Likeable but not especially a standout, with a few exceptions. Ikki was cool but definitely felt tertiary and just showed up to bail the boys out of trouble. Hyoga despite having cool powers and fights was definitely the least interesting Saint to me, I would struggle to describe his personality in ways outside of "really loves his mother," but yeah.
-The storytelling for the arcs was pretty formulaic, Saori is in trouble, the boys gather around and fight a group of bad guys who have very few distinctive personality traits besides "strong and proud," but the fights were cool and usually pretty well paced. The Sanctuary arc is obviously the highlight, but honestly I think the Silver Saints arc might have been my favorite. A really good mix of action, intrigue, and drama. Sanctuary arc just felt like a really, really long climax of 30+ episodes, even if it was what the show had been building up to, but it definitely held my attention throughout.
-Bouncing off of that, I think the biggest thing the series lacked was really attention-grabbing, iconic villains. When I think about characters like Freeza, Toguro, Dio Brando, etc., those really classic larger-than-life shonen villains, they just weren't here. The villains tended to blur together, although I liked where they were going with Poseidon at first, in the end he was as generic as the rest of them, sadly.
-Asgard arc was a nice change of pace in terms of setting and I enjoyed the boys' new armor, letting that 80s hair flow. It's also when Shun really came into his own for me, as I touched on before.
-Pegasus Fantasy is SUCH a banger OP. One of the all time greats. Got me hyped EVERY time. It's easy to see why it was so influential. Like, this was pre-Cha La. Although I liked the new one (by Mr. Cha La himself Hironobu Kageyama), it can't top this:
Anyway some of this might sound negative but I want to emphasize that overall I really enjoyed my time with it. I know it's not "finished," I still have Hades to watch, but I at least wanted to get these thoughts out. I'm gonna take a break and then watch Hades in a little while, and probably read the manga to compare and contrast. While it won't break my top 5 Shonen Jump series, I can see this placing at a respectable six. If you like 80s anime and shonen battle series, it's a definite must watch in my opinion.
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