1/10
Saint Sei.. what?!
11 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Alright, I am part of this 89 generation in France who grew up watching Saint Seiya on TV. Loved it when I was a kid, adored it when I became a teen and still admire it as a grown-up.

Both the anime and the manga convey values of friendship, faith, true strength, love, justice, overcoming your own limits, etc. They would transport you into a unique dimension in which Greek mythology serves as background. In short, a fair genuine and creative world. Even the language was particularly beautiful: the cues / lines were using elevated / formal registers with a classy lexicon. In addition, this epic shounen depicted a lot of wonderful fights which were far from being repetitive. The characters would spray out such charisma that you would take a liking into identifying yourself as one or several of them (we all have a zodiacal sign, haven't we?!). As for the anime, the soundtrack composed by Seiji Yokoyama is still considered as a reference, a unique genre and a jewel for your ears (and cosmos).

SPOILER ALERT

Therefore, when I heard of the movie about 'Saint Seiya', I was quite thrilled. Later on, when I saw the first pictures of it, I started to fear the worst. Although one might like the character-design, I personally find it awful. It is so childish... The Clothes are no longer contained in boxes but in medals (?!), our Bronze Saints and Saori Kido look like Asian Teenage Idols, Tatsumi is no longer bald, Mû wears glasses, Milo is a woman... We don't get to see the clothes in their unworn forms (i.e., as the mythical Pegasus) and even attacks are just made of poor-tasted FX.

Regarding the plot, I get the fact that they had to condense 73 episodes into 90 min. But hell, if you're a Saint Seiya neophyte, how are you supposed to appreciate it? For example, Camus will die teaching Hyôga the 7th sense. Right, who cares - we just saw him for two minutes. In the original works, you'd be crying out loud. Even as a hardcore fan, I was not even slightly moved by the sequence. And what's up with the scenery? What happened to Greek mythology? Why could the guys go there through a... Stargate?! What's up with the main villain - Saga - who has just one personality here and who became a monster like in 'POWER RANGERS'?

I won't even comment on the soundtrack - we just happen to be in a lame video game here.

So yeah, I am very disappointed that Kurumada actually gave his permission for this shameful adaptation of his masterpiece. Well, you still might appreciate it if you happen to be 3 years old (hence the one star) but trust me - this has really NOTHING to do with the original 'Saint Seiya' which is this time genuinely - LEGENDARY.
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