
Saint Seiya: The Knights of the Zodiac
In this article I will be covering, once again, "Saint Seiya: The Knights of the Zodiac". I have been going into sites of all sorts and checking out people's thoughts and opinions. We will see this in some detail in the following paragraphs, but, in general, people did not like the first airing of the show but they are still looking forward to see what comes next. You may be wondering what the reason behind such a change in opinion is and it's quite simple: the show began with many changes that separate it from the original anime. An older audience (30 years old and above) has watched the original anime dating back to 1985 and has followed it up until the 2000's. I am part of that audience and some changes were just too much. Nevertheless, if we are critical about this, the changes actually do seem logical and they do make sense. The problem is just getting used to the new production; there is nothing else to it.
One of the best things of all is that younger audiences, given that they have not (yet) watched the original anime, will not see these changes as "changes" but as simply things that make up the story. If you look at it this way, it is a very positive thing; this gives the opportunity for us "old people" to watch the show again seeing it as something like a blend between a remake, a new story and a spin-off while younger audiences will be engaged in the story. The magnificent thing of "Saint Seiya: The Knights of the Zodiac" is that there is evolution in the plot, in the characters, their relationships with one another; it's almost as if you are watching real people with real problems and real moments of joy interacting in a real world.
In 2019 we had the opportunity to see the return of Seiya and company through a CGI remake made by Netflix (Saint Seiya: The Knights of the Zodiac); unfortunately it was not what everyone expected, as it lacked the things that made the original anime great. Some of the important points were the music, the action, dubbing and a stumbled story that made the first part not to the liking of many. Given this, it was logical that they did not have high hopes around their second installment of episodes, because, although it seems unreal, the season improves a little episode after episode. This may probably arouse curiosity to see what will come in the future.
The story begins exactly where it left off: the bronze knights are trapped after an explosion in a cave and the arrival of the silver knights with the intention of murdering them. From here, the beginning can be said to be in good shape because during the first four episodes the action does not stop. The action is not something tremendously impressive but there is an improvement and an intention for his followers to awaken that nostalgia of having the Saints of Athena back through this remake and, probably, in search of a younger litter of followers. It is referenced to the Masami Kurumada manga and it is nice to see some of the silver knights back.
Credits to each and every direct and indirect owner of the anime, manga, remake and to all those owners regarding this image
"Saint Seiya: The Knights of the Zodiac" comes to have good times to introduce characters and provide moments between its protagonists to give a break, in the same way we have the presentation of old acquaintances such as The Great Pope or Leo's Aiolia, the latter one can see some differences with respect to the personality he had in the classic anime, but nothing to be scared about, it is not a radical change with which you will have problems. Another positive aspect is that it leaves a good base for its next season, it will be interesting to know how they will adapt the arc of the battle of the 12 houses; the director of this adaptation, Yosiharu Ashino, recently declared through his social networks that he is working on the next season of this anime. Another point in favor that these episodes have is the relationship Seiya and Saori (Sienna in the remake): the confidence and trust that they have of each other and the way in which it develops in both characters. On the other hand, now you have the original dub from the beginning, which is very supportive.
Credits to each and every direct and indirect owner of the anime, manga, remake and to all those owners regarding this image
The strength of this second part of "Saint Seiya: The Knights of the Zodiac" lies in its first four episodes. Although there are no magnificent or perhaps epic features or emotion in two specific moments, these episodes and those that follow succeed in being good and incredibly more interesting; episodes do their job - which is to entertain. There is a time when this version of Seiya now perfectly represents that of the classic anime.
Despite these positive things, we must say that he falls into the setbacks he had previously, for example, with the accelerated plot. Indeed, there are moments when it nearly stops to see the characters interact, but these moments are not enough in quantity. Having decided to reduce the Silver Knights arc to just 6 episodes, there is no room to fully enjoy of Shiryu, Hyōga, Shun and Ikki (Long, Magnus, Shaun and Nero in the remake). Phoenix Nero for his part has a very brief appearance, but nothing exciting. In the classic anime there is a moment with Shiryu quite emotional, but again, wanting to make everything work too fast, this situation goes overlooked.
On the other hand, their weakest point in terms of plot are their two final episodes and this is because they return to conclude the cycle of the villain presented at the beginning of the season, General Vander Graad and his black knights. It also continues to move forward with the abuse of the protagonists launching cosmos balls, which seems quite inconsequential; this type of action does not help the animation and only reminds us how short this remake remains to fulfill its objective.
In conclusion, Netflix's big mistake lies in dividing this season into two installments, otherwise the reception would probably have been more positive, but, literally, they preferred to launch the bad first and then give you a product from which nothing was expected, but it manages to improve a little and leaves you curious to see more. With such an important story within the Saint Seiya canon (such as the battle against the Golden Knights), we can only hope that Netflix corrects the way they approach this because what is coming is not "just another part of the story", it is the Battle of the Twelve Temples and from this it depends whether the streaming platform wins the fans of this anime with "Saint Seiya: The Knights of the Zodiac" or not.
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