Knights of the Zodiac – Saint Seiya (Netflix) first impressions

I’d have enjoyed it if I was ten years younger.

So I just watched episode 1 of Knights of the Zodiac and as a long-time Saint Seiya fan (by long time I mean since I was 5. I’m 19.) I don’t think it’s that bad but it’s not good either.

(As a side note, for every post I’ll be using a mix of original Japanese names and Netflix names, since the dub I’m watching uses original names for old characters and English names for new ones.)

What happened with this version of Saint Seiya is that the authors decided to ‘make it modern’, introducing cell phones and an army into the story. One good thing that came with it was that it closed up a hole that was in the original story: if Saints are really so powerful, what is ‘the rest of the world’s’ reaction of them? I appreciate Knights of the Zodiac adding that part in the form of… what the heck is his name again? Gerard? It’s some kind of myth vs radicalism stuff Saint Seiya never had and it’s kinda interesting.

Also, short hair Saori. Love it.

What went horribly wrong (in my humble opinion) is that it’s so damn cliched. The original Saint Seiya was a bit dumb but it was so very emotional, but this one just threw the emotional sacrifice (Aiolos scenes) out the window and just went on and on and on about ‘yo Seiya you da chosen one’. And they even included a little infodump session. Moreover, this version of Seiya tries to be funny but he’s so damn annoying. Seiya, as I remember him, was a hot-headed lad and not the brightest one, but he has all the determination and loyalty befitting of a protagonist, and what’s this one? Hot-headed but lacks what differentiated the original Seiya from the rest of the shounen protagonist in the first place, plus being really whiny. I’m trying not to compare, but among all the changes made, this is the single one that I seriously do not like.

Also, I’m going to need a popcorn while I read over ‘why the heck is Shun a female’ rage. Aside from rage from the original fans, they’re going to get some rage from the feminists because Shun is bit of a crybaby with his legendary line: ‘Brother I know you’d come’. (Shun is actually a very good fighter and his opening scene is him kicking Jabu’s ass around.) And them making the female main character someone with such a personality is going to get some rage, if they don’t change his personality around completely. Which will then change who the original Shun is. Shun is that one person in the story that shows you can be feminine and sensitive and loving and nice (and a crybaby), but you can still kick villain’s arses and protect the world. (This guy actually faced off one of the gods in Elysion arc of the original series, and that scene where he got a weapon upgrade was so badass.) If they want some representation of strong, female characters, well duh Lady Saori is right in front of you with her cool armor and there’s still Shaina and Marin who regularly manages to kick everyone’s behinds.

Moving on to other aspects, Knights of the Zodiac looks like an animated JRPG. The animation looks like video game models. Or Pixar. I don’t know. One really great thing was that big bro Ikki looks so damn badass in this version OMG. Can’t wait until he comes out.

The music didn’t really stand out at this point, but the original opening theme used sounds alright. The ending theme wasn’t bad. Sounds a bit out of place but wasn’t bad.

I’m looking forward to see how they’re going to bring the diversity of Saint Seiya’s cast into the story. Although the original didn’t make it immediately obvious where each Saint came from (and it barely even mattered) if Knights of the Zodiac wants to try making Saint Seiya ‘modern’ this is one thing they can tap into. Mu is from Tibet (I think), Shaka is from India, and Shiryu trained in China. It would be interesting if they could integrate some culture aspects into the plot as well.

That’s pretty much everything I have to say about the first episode. The changes won’t stop me from watching, and I’ll try my best to not compare this with the original (emphasize on try).