The original Saint Seya happens to be amongst the first fighting shounen ever made in the mid 80’s and even the one who established the formula of the genre. Even Dragonball took pointers from it. Along the years the franchise was kept alive through numerous non-canon follow-ups, the major ones being a sequel series between 2003 and 2008, and a prequel in 2009. The thing is, most of the original fanbase either grew out of it or went for newer and fancier shounen; it is by no means a franchise with tens of thousands of followers anymore. The reason being its formula remaining quite narrow; after a point became too simple and repetitive compared to later fighting shounen. So it must be made clear that it is a franchise maintained mostly for nostalgia purposes rather than sales or marketing. The latest addition is Omega, which is again non-cannon and takes place after the main series, with a new generation of Saint warriors. Don’t try to see it as a sequel to the Hades/Elysion arcs because they too are stand-alones compared to the main series. I have many bones to pick with it so I will address them in a numerical order. 1) Animation is done by Toei yet again, only this time they changed the style considerably. It’s not bad in overall, but, man, does it look girly or what? The original style was not exactly manly all the way, as it was made to appeal to fangirls by drawing all the men in a bishounen / slightly feminine way. But this new one is just… well, too stylized if I am to go easy with the description. Less details on the characters, simpler and cuter faces, much smoother animation, and MUCH, MUCH, MUCH BIGGER EYES. It has been made by the same guys who also did the Casshern Sins remake of the retro series and I can’t say I am a fan of their style. I don’t hate it but it sure feels way too weird if you were accustomed to the older way of the 80’s. Plus, while Casshern Sins actually turned the original concept to something far more dark and deep (and thus likable), Omega on the other hand is simplifying it to the point most see the new artwork as a turn to something more childish (and thus worse). The whole thing now looks like a damn mahou shoujo instead of a fighting shounen, which is very unappealing compared to the older style. 2) The armours all of a sudden are now stored in crystals and instead of carrying them in big heavy boxes, they just pop out of a tiny necklace. Instead of changing shape like a transformer before attaching themselves to you, now they just magically appear on you with lots of bright colours filing the screen. I was surprised the hero didn’t get naked first or pulled out a magic wand, or had a catchphrase close to “I will punish you in the name of the Moon.” That felt way off from the original concept and definitely NOT MANLY! So ok, modern anime are gayer, nobody denies that, but this is rather too much for an older fan to appreciate. And sure, I understand that it was weird to have huge heavy boxes that needed to be carried all over the place and which magically disappeared from the battle but reappeared after it was over. Yet that was exactly what made it cool; the fact that they were bulky and heavy and took up space. But these crystals have no weight, and fit inside your pocket; you are just not made to feel like they are important. A pitiful thief can pickpocket them and run away. It took a brute to just barely be able to lift the old boxes; having to carry them was an easy proof of how powerful the heroes were for managing to walk with those things as luggage. On the other hand, the new heroes feel like weak kids who can’t do anything without transforming first. 3) Then it’s the whole premise of the show I also didn’t like. It’s a lot sillier compared to the original, which was already silly to begin with.
- The new villain, Mars, is not a member of the Olympian pantheon. Despite sounding like the god of war, there already is such a guy and his name is Ares (the original Greek name and not the bastardised Roman one). So this Mars fellow is a filler villain and must not be grouped with the rest of the canon theology of the series because he is not one of the twelve Olympians. And sure, the original series also had the Scandinavian pantheon mixing in at some point but in case you don’t know that was also filler. So were all those extras from Judeo-Christian mythology in the OVAs and the movies. And anyways, this Mars guy doesn’t even look like he is from the same reality as the rest. I mean just look at his armour; all he wears is a galaxy. Seriously, instead of a cool armour full of spikes he wears a galaxy. How the heck does that work? - Even as filler, the scriptwriter screwed up the rules of engagement, since no god or saint warrior can just appear out of nowhere and start a one-man war like that. It originally was sort of what happens in Mortal Kombat games; the champions of each god battle, and the winners take over or defend a certain world. Yet look at this guy; acting almighty like he is more powerful than all the previous gods that messed with the heroes and just appears anywhere he feels like it without any problem at all. This is completely stupid since they had uber security before. Where is that weird barrier that kept worlds apart? Where are the other Gold Saints? Where are the other gods? - In a similar fashion WHERE IS THE REST OF THE WORLD? All we see in the beginning is three people and an island, and later on a school in the middle of nowhere. Man, the rich and lively alternative Greece of the original is now an empty planet; I bet they plan on making this barren like Casshern Sins. - So anyways, back to the story, Mars just walks inside the sanctuary without the slightest resistance and without using a single underling to somehow sabotage the defences. He kills Seiya before gets pushed back and for the next decade the Goddess Athena trains a new warrior to take the fallen hero’s place. In the meantime, while Mars is recovering he decides to get some underlings after all, most of which are in fact Athena apostates. How the hell did a weakened god manage to seduce so many followers and how the hell didn’t anyone notice it? - Anyways, a decade later he returns and gets in, again without any resistance at all. Dammit you guys; you had a decade to prepare and did nothing? At least build a wooden fence to give us the illusion you tried a bit. And seriously, this Mars guy is so overpowered it makes everything feel so easy to the point he doesn’t even need underlings. He manages to kill or corrupt most of the Gold Saints, kidnaps Athena, rules the world, takes over the sanctuary and the palestra all alone. Although it is cool to see for once the strongest villain going in from the very start instead of sending progressively stronger underlings against the progressively stronger heroes, it makes it look so easy that you just wonder why he lags so much in whatever he wants to do. There is absolutely no explanation for why he took his sweet time to do all that with so many months in between and not at once. - Probably just for the sake of new hero to get enough time to train and meet more Sailor Scouts… err, Saints to form a team and overthrow Mars. He has the typical protection syndrome of shounen protagonists and his resolve is what constantly gives him enough power to win when he most needs it. His willpower is enough to make one of those girly crystals to turn him into Sailor Moon… err, I mean Saint Pegasus and he goes to the rescue. And how polite of Mars to have underlings so the heroes can use them as punch bags and farm on exp points. See what I mean when I said he doesn’t need them?
4) What is even lamer is how all the new Saints now train in a school. A SCHOOL! They call it palestra but it is obviously a prestige place where teenagers study books and write tests. What the hell do all that have to do with getting super powerful and defending the world? What are they going to do, play twenty questions with cosmic horrors that plan to destroy the universe? They just need to smack the crap out of them! And am I supposed to believe that school is protected by a barrier that stops even Mars from going in? If so, how did he attack the Sanctuary in the first place? And even if we assume they improved it, why isn’t Athena there and instead spends a decade in a completely defenceless place? 5) Furthermore, now there is a girl in the main team of the heroes. It’s not like this is a bad thing but it makes it even less manly. We had some pretty powerful Silver level gals before (chauvinistically always hidden behind masks, hehe) but the top spots were always reserved for the dudes. Because it is a dude show, even if some were drawn in a totally gay style. Although the tradition keeps it up by having more of these masked chicks in the story, having one in the main team is stupid. She doesn’t even wear pants; SHE WEARS A TUTU! What is a ballerina doing in a manly team?6) As if that wasn’t enough, the whole show now stinks of Naruto. They added a silly elemental system, where fire Saints are weaker against water Saints, who are weaker against earth Saints, and so on until it makes a circle. What kind of crap is this, some sort of an attempt to add strategy to the battles? Well guess what, there is no bloody strategy even with them present; since it is still the same old shounen fuss. The heroes always get enough power to win when they need it, regardless of what their element is. The original was fun exactly because it was guts and willpower doing all the work; not because water beats fire. What the hell are they doing here, planning to teach kids the rules to some related videogame? And as if trying to cash in on the Naruto fans with elements wasn’t enough, they also included … a ninja Saint named Haruto! OMG, lamest thing ever! The thing that makes Saint Seiya what it is has to do with people in fancy armours kicking the crap out of each other and not exchanging places with a log! In all, it is too stupid and looks like Naruto dressed as Sailor Moon.
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