#aquarius camus did nothing wrong

[akatokuro]

if there is, against all odds, another sts movie, i sort of need aiolia lurking in the background throughout as a mild-mannered, friendly, helpful, soft-spoken, put-upon guy in clark kent glasses as an adaptation of his role in the series before he pulls loose the Rage Valve and reveals himself as the terminator. god bless the duality of his character

[straykidsnerd255]

I don’t know if you do parent head canon but I would ask for saint Seiya gold saint(classic + lost canvas) like how would they treat their children[ it’s okay if you don’t want to do them all]

Hello! I will gladly do them all! I am sorry this came out so freakin late! This is going to be a long one. I for sure do and I will do all of them because they need the love. 

Classic-

Ares Mu- He would be more of a strict but loving father. He would understand when you wanted to go hang out with your friends but also reminds you that you have a test you need to study for if you want to become a proper saint of Athena one day. You inherit the Ares cloth after your father. He would be so proud of you and show you off so the world and can see that you became the next ares saint.

Taurus Aldeberan- He honestly would be a father that made you laugh no matter what you did. Oh, you ditched practice to hang out with your friends? Don’t worry. I did the same thing too. Would 10/10 fight anyone that said you would never become a saint. Graduating and having the Taurus cloth become your cloth. He would be the most ecstatic parent there ever was. He would be screaming out, “THAT’S MY DAUGHTER!! THAT’S MY BABY GIRL”

Gemini Saga- You have your uncle Kannon’s personality and mischievous nature. Saga wouldn’t be too pleased but, you are his daughter and he loves you more than life itself. People have come to him and told him that you would never become a saint. He would just stare them down with a pissed off look. You would prove everyone wrong when you became the next Gemini saint. Saga and his brother would be so happy and impressed with you.

Cancer DeathMask- this man would give you his armor for you to try on. People would make fun of you everytime you two would go outside so he could teach you how to use your power while wearing the gold armor. He would most likely let you burn them alive. He would be so proud of you for becoming the next Cancer gold saint. He would be the one parent that throws a massive party for you becoming the gold saint.

Leo Aioloa-He would honest to goodness fight anyone that said you couldn’t become the next Gold Saint Leo. He would be pissed when they said that girls couldn’t be gold saints. You're his daughter and he was planning to train you to become the next Gold Saint Leo. He loved the idea of his old daughter becoming a great warrior to Athena. The day when the gold armor of Leo would choose the next saint was the greatest day of his life. When the armor opened and appeared on you, he couldn’t help but run over to you and wrap you in a hug with his brother. “I am so proud of my baby girl. You did it!” He said kissing your forehead. “Thanks dad.” 

Virgo Shaka- This man. ThIS man!! He would down right scare anyone if he found out that they were dissing on his daughter. He would at first, calmly tell them that you were to become the next Virgo saint, but they just laughed saying that girls couldn’t become saints. Next thing they knew, your father, and everyone at Sanctuary would be standing over them with furious looks. They would apologies and run away. Shaka had been caring for you since the minute his wife died while giving birth to you. He opened his eyes to watch you receive the Virgo cloth and shed a small tear as you smiled brightly.

Libra Dohko- He was the only one that could joke around with you. He was your father after all. He always wanted to see a bright smile on your face. Even if that meant he had to let you grow up. He would stand proud with the rest of the Gold Saints as Athena presented the Libra cloth to you. You excitedly reached your hand out towards the cloth. She smiled when it broke apart and was found on her body in the blink of an eye. Dohko was over by hugging you and laughing loudly as the cloth chose you.

Scorpio Milo- He would be very similar to Dohko. He would joke around with you and be the only one that could joke around. You knew that he was waiting to see who the Scorpio cloth would choose. He was proud and ecstatic when the cloth appeared on your body. He could help but jump around screaming and cheering and laughing when the cloth chose you. Athena smiled and knighted you the Scorpio knight in place of your father Milo.

Sagittarius Aiolos- This man. He would be the most humble. He would train you day in and day out. Helping you master the ways of the Gold Saints. He would teach you how to use a bow and arrow as that is the special weapon the Sagittarius saint uses in battle. Would be the most loving parents and would cherish the last moments of training the most. He would be waiting with the other saints as the Sagittarius cloth was awarded to you.

Capricorn Shura- He would be silent unless provoked. You were the only person, other than the Gold Saints and Athena that ever heard his voice. He would be very intimidating to the other contestants for the Capricorn Cloth. When you were declared the victor, he would sit there and smile. You were told that you could wear the cloth to show it off. When you did just that, you were happy when the armor was fit to your body.

Aquarius Camus- Like Shura, he didn’t really show any emotion. He would silently judge and watch you as you trained. He would point out the small things that you missed and would show you the correct way of doing that said thing. The day came when the pope chose the person to succeed the Gold Saint Aquarius and Camus was practically praying that you were the person to win his cloth. When the pope announced your name and read off the Aquarius Cloth Camus was brought to tears. You, his baby daughter, was going to follow in his footsteps.

Pisces Aphrodite- Sparkle. That’s all he wants you to do. With your cosmos, he has no doubt that you will get his cloth. When he’s in the middle of training you, a group of kids walk by laughing and saying that you would never get the Pisces cloth, Aphrodite sends a wave of flowers and roses around them. He tells them that if they ever say that again, he won’t hesitate to give them a nightmare for the rest of their life. You ended up gaining the Pisces Cloth.

Lost Canvas-

Ares Shion- There is nothing more that he wants then to see you carry on his legacy. He has trained you and has given you so much knowledge. He was a good father, but he sometimes got carried away when it came to training. You never complained as you wanted to succeed your father as well. The day when you became the new Ares Gold Saint was the best day for both you and your dad.

Taurus Rasgado- Much like Aldeberan, he would be cheering and chanting and screaming your name when you were listed as the new Taurus saint. He would stand up clapping loudly and cheering your name making you become embarrassed, but nonetheless happy. You wore his cloth like he did. You wear it with pride and dignity. The helmet sat on your head and the sun shone off it like a mirror. You smiled brightly and threw your fist in the air.

Gemini Defteros- You loved your father. There was no doubting that. He even promised to train you to inherit the cloth of Gemini. “Your foot is a little off. Make sure it points towards your enemy or to the side of your enemy.” Everything that he taught you, you took to heart and practiced non stop. He would watch you practice everyday to make sure the footing and punches were right. “Congrats. You are the new Gemini Gold Saint, Y/n.” The pope said as the cloth found its way onto her. Defteros couldn’t have been any happier then he was then.

Cancer Manigoldo- Jokes everywhere. He would be training you and when things got too serious, he would crack a joke and cause both of you to collapse in a fit of laughter. When it was time for the world to choose the next Cancer saint, he would be by your side holding your hand and waiting for your name to be said. He wanted his daughter to be the next Cancer saint. He wanted to pass down that power to you.

Leo Regulus-  He has a heart of gold. It was already proven that you were going to be the next Leo Saint and everyone knew this. He was such a pure man and it transferred to you when you were born. Athena and the pope knew just from looking at you that you would be the next Gold Saint Leo. When the day came to announce the new saints, your name was called for the leo cloth. Regulus had never screamed as loud as he did in his life.

Virgo Asmita- He was a schedule oriented man. He had you on a training schedule and you always followed that. When the day of the trials began, he hugged you and pressed a kiss to your forehead. “Do your best. Do everything that we trained during those ten months. Show them who you are the daughter of.” He said. He opened his eyes to get a good look at his daughter before grinning. “You got this honey.” He said. A grin crossed his face when your name was called for the Virgo cloth.

Libra Dohko-He was the only one that could joke around with you. He was your father after all. He always wanted to see a bright smile on your face. Even if that meant he had to let you grow up. He would stand proud with the rest of the Gold Saints as Athena presented the Libra cloth to you. You excitedly reached your hand out towards the cloth. She smiled when it broke apart and was found on her body in the blink of an eye. Dohko was over by hugging you and laughing loudly as the cloth chose you.

Scorpio Kardia- He. Would. Hurt. Everyone. He is very protective over you and he loves you to pieces. She is his baby. She was the only person that he  had left and he was bound to keep her by him. He trained her and taught her everything he knew. This was the only real time the other saints ever saw him. When the day finally came to see who would take over the Scorpio Gold Saint cloth and house. When her name was said, he was practically screaming happily.

Sagittarius Sisyphus- You were trying on his armor when he walked in. “Y/n. What are you doing?” He asked. You had always believed that you would be like your dad when you got older and had a lot of training. “I just wanted to try on your armor dad.” you said. The day came when you were announced as the new Sagittarius saint. A bright smile covered her face when the armor was fitted to her figure. Sisyphus was a ball of sunshine when his daughter became the next Sagittarius saint. 

Capricorn El Cid- He was proud. He was honestly proud. He had a daughter that he was training to be the next Capricorn saint and all that El Cid could do was hope that you would be the one chosen to be the next saint. He stood at the front of his house and a smile covered his face when he saw you master everything that he had taught you. When the day came, El Cid wasn’t able to calm down. Athena walked towards Y/n and gave her a bright smile. “You are the next Capricorn Gold Saint.” She said. El Cid couldn’t help but scream and cheer for his daughter.

Aquarius Degel- This man is all about teaching you the proper way of training and things. You had wanted to make your dad happy by becoming the next Aquarius Gold Saint. You trained and trained all day and every day. When the day came to announce the next gold saints to be announced, you waited anxiously when Athena got to Aquarius. “The new Aquarius saint will be, Y/n, Daughter of Aquarius Degel.” Athena said smiling at her. You couldn’t help but sit excitedly. Degel was watching and smiled softly when his daughter was called to be the new Aquarius saint.

Pisces Albafica-  He was a silent man to begin with. You however were loud, outgoing and super kind. Albafica never admitted to it, but he loved it when you would go and annoy all the other saints. Granted, Manigold and Regulus were always on the same page with you. You three would annoy anyone you could find. When you were announced as the next Pisces saint, you couldn’t help but tell your dad everything. He was honestly the proudest dad that he was ever.

Hope you enjoyed this! It took so long to figure everything out!

#Saint Seiya  #Lost Canvas  #Original  #Requested

[akatokuro]

i fucking love saint seiya wtf

[akatokuro]

the do not steal bestest oc andromeda shaun power hour continues to be an extremely painful trainwreck overall, even though i am still watching it because terminal sts brain poisoning. on the other hand, camus is still the worst, and therefore is still the best. i am actually the only one allowed to either like or dislike aquarius camus. no one else gets a say. them’s the breaks

[akatokuro]

Hi, are you still interested in Saint Seiya? I'm looking for other fans to discuss about the franchise :)

i'm doomed to love saint seiya for the rest of my life, tragically, but i'm probably not a good person to look for as a discussion partner because a) i'm a jerk and b) i have the approximate energy of someone who is seven-eighths zombie at any given point

still, saint seiya is love. horrible, horrible brainworm love.

[akatokuro]

Are you still doing the STS Rewatch series, kuro? I recently got into your summaries and thoughts, and they're really good!

Hmm, I might! I rewatched the series in full with a friend I was also determined to plunge into hell, but the rewatch posts per se took a fair amount of time (the actual watching got way ahead of the posts) and there didn’t seem to be a lot of interest, but I always not-so-secretly love the chance to rant about Saint Seiya!

[akatokuro]

for what it’s worth i am, in fact, still in saint seiya hell

kido saori still a best

aquarius camus also still a best (while simultaneously being a worst)

[akatokuro]

The Inevitable StS Rewatch, Episode 36

One of the most truly pressing issues in Saint Seiya canon: why the fuck is Milo like this?

- I SEE THAT SAGA SENSED THAT AIOLOS WAS TAKING A BATH, SO HE FELT THE NEED TO JUMP IN TOO! and thus a meme was born

- Uhhhh, Saga? I know you probably had a crush on Aiolos at all, but... really, dude? ????????

- AND HEEEERE HEEEEE ISSSSSSSS

- Milo's ridiculous ego is on full display the second he opens his fucking mouth. No "what's going on, Pope?" or "How may I serve you?" but "WOW, POPE, FOR YOU TO SUMMON A GOLD SAINT! (DID I MENTION I'M A GOLD SAINT, BECAUSE I AM.)

- MILO. ALL HE FUCKING DID WAS ASK IF YOU KNEW ABOUT THE SITUATION. What is the need for you to add "heh, not that I care, since I'm so awesome, just so you know!" Yes, a lot of Gold Saints have pretty overinflated egos - yume and I actually thought about it, and we're pretty sure Camus is just about the ONLY one who doesn't pull some form of smug "heh, a Bronze trying to fight a Gold? lmao, and also, rofl" but Scorpio Milo is... something else.

- Ikki working for Sanctuary at first still feels really weird and ill-fitting. Well, fortunately, it's not really dwelled on that much, so it's easily ignored! That's one of the good things about there being no real Saint Seiya canon... <_<

- In a way, though, it is certainly fitting that Milo's scene here is our first proper introduction to a "Gold Saint", because Milo certainly thinks he is THE Gold Saint in a lot of ways. It drips from the way he responds to everything. "Measly Bronze Saints, they must be crazy, lol!" It's actually really interesting to think he was originally planned to be Hyouga's master. Like, in some ways that really fits - Smugswan had to get the smug and the overinflated sense of ego from somewhere, and it sure as hell wasn't Camus!

- It's also sort of interesting because Kurumada pulled the switcheroo on the basis of "oooh, ice/water themed signs, oooh!" But even at this stage, Milo definitely has a very, very different personality than Marshmallow Saint Camus. What would he and Hyouga's hypothetical encounter have looked like, really...?

- I'm not trying to imply, by the way, that Milo's sense of egotism is solely about straightforwardly boosting himself up - because it's not. It's intertwined with his perception of Saint honor and what it means to him to embody that, which becomes clear in how he deals with Camus, Hyouga, and Kanon respectively later on. It's also intertwined with a negative five thousand debuff to his intelligence stat, but, you know.

- I love Saga just sort of ignoring Milo going WHAT? A BRONZE BEATING A SILVER? RIDICULOUS, I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING! and continuing to exposit. Saga, why the fuck did you summon Milo of all people here to deal with this in the first place? I mean, not only would leaning on Aphrodite, Deathmask, or even Shura make infinitely more sense, but... it's fucking Milo. Did your bath-bonding with Aiolos rattle your judgment temporarily?  

- And right back at him, Milo basically brushes aside poor Saga's exposition to go "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY BOTHERING THE GREAT KONO MILO WITH THIS BULLSHIT, POPE? REALLY??? KONO MILO, THE GOLD SAINT???"

- Saga begins to realize his terrible, terrible mistake and cuts off Milo in the middle of his bitching, but Milo ignores him to continue whining.

- See, it'd be one thing if Milo suggested that the situation bore more investigation, or perhaps these Bronze Saints were being misled so they shouldn't be so fast to jump to the execution option, but no. It's all about his fucking pride.

- Saga is getting so edgy and short at this point and oh my god I cannot believe Milo is still fucking trying to argue with him THIS IS THE FUCKING POPE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

- Like, yume and I utterly lost our fucking minds at Milo blowing off Athena to haze Kanon when we were re-watching the Hades OAVs, but oh god it is extremely fucking consistent with this characterization here

- Poor Saga. "LOOK, THEY HAVE A FUCKING GOLD CLOTH, OKAY!?!? JESUS CHRIST WHY THE FUCK DID I NOT GET APHRODITE TO DO THIS"

- okay okay i know it's because lol seat of the pants kurumada making shit up as he went along and was promptly retconned out because it makes no sense but i will never stop laughing at milo being shocked that there are twelve gold saints. WHAT??? NOT JUST SCORPIO AND SAGITTARIUS???? WHO WOULD HAVE EVER GUESSED???? THEY COME IN, LIKE, A SET????

- Kanon pretending he's Sea Dragon is the funniest moment in Saint Seiya, but Milo's spectacular intelligence debuff is also a consistent point of hilarity.

- Shaina's crush on Seiya might be, like, one of my least favorite things in StS seriously. It's so unnecessary and it IS basically a pitch-perfect example of that "behind the ruthless, frightening female warrior lies ~the soft heart of a woman~ that only the dreamy male protagonist can truly uncover!" trope that I fucking despise with all my being.

- yume and I were cracking the fuck up to discover that the Tencent version of this sequence has Seiya bringing up the Saintias when Shaina explains the mask issue. Like, my issues with Saintia Sho as a series aside, that's just really adorable.

- The mask issue in general... there are really interesting things that you could do with it, both for Sainthood in general and for Shaina as an individual (the vibe I get is that Shaina takes it unusually seriously, even though it is accepted as a general rule) since it feels like sort of a mark of sexism that would be a part of an old, traditional, religious order - but I can't say I'm a fan of any attempts so far in the series to "address" it. Omega was a thing, and that thing was Bad.

- "Kill or love" is pretty bullshit, though. How about "kill or be expelled from Sanctuary"? I also don't really like Seiya being all "what, is that the only reason?" when he thinks it's about humiliation/pride - like, what's wrong with that? It makes sense with how Shaina has been characterized...

- this flashback is so fucking stupid

- OH NO, SEIYA, YOU SAW ME PET A RABBIT WHEN YOU WERE A LITTLE KID AND I WAS A TEENAGER AND THUS YOU HAVE UNLOCKED MY SOFT WOMAN'S HEART! I bet Seiya fucking tried to jump a high bar, too, as every single woman from the Fate franchise happened to be strolling by?

- Like, Shaina, did you fall in love with this little kid who talked down to you then or... because uhhh...

- Also, like, yeah, it's Saint Seiya, and "pulled things out of my ass" and "retconned" are the name of the game, but come on, there was no indication of this kind of past in all the screentime Shaina has had up until this point. Wasn't her grudge against him regarding Marin and Cassios and being defeated by him in battle enough? Do we really have to enforce her ~femininity~ that Seiya ~exposed~ too? Ugh ugh ugh.

- Whatever, I really do like Shaina, this garbage aside. It's just a shame we fell back on this dumb trope of all things to justify her transition into one of the good guys when it was wholly unneeded.

- Aaaand we're back to Milo and Saga. I love how the framing of this episode implies that Saga has been sitting there having to explain things very slowly to Milo all fucking day. Gonna need another bath to unwind after this shit, Gemini.

- HAVE I MENTIONED, POPE, THAT I AM A GOLD SAINT, AND THUS I AM AMAZING? I'M NOT SURE YOU KNEW. LET ME MENTION IT AGAIN. I'M A GOLD SAINT, BY THE WAY.

- And Lia enters the scene!

- Okada made this an explicit issue in Episode G, but the contrast between fully-decked-out-in-his-Cloth "have I mentioned in the last five minutes that I am a Gold Saint, preen preen" Milo and Lia--who strolls in WITHOUT his Cloth, just his regular training clothes - is really striking.

- Milo's face when Lia comes in... hmmm...

- I don't think Saga, like, actively made a point of or went out of his way to play ~mind games~ with Aiolia or anything, but this is definitely a deliberate passive-aggressive diss. The kind you would give when it's like, ah yes, I ruined this kid's life, let me just innocuously twist the knife a little here...

- You really can understand why Aiolia is as fucking mad and as fucking repressed as he is, from the dressed-up hostility coming from both sides in this whole amazing shitstorm.

- This is... an amazing moment. "What if I still wanted Milo to go?" "Eh, I'd kick his fucking ass." And Milo's EXCUSE ME!?!?! reaction lmfaooooo

- You can just sense the stony bitterness coming off of Lia here, though? This is a dangerous game to play, considering the whole rule about "no duels between Saints." Just the sheer dismissiveness of it, too. Just as Saga gets in his passive-aggressive digs against Aiolia, Lia gets his in against... Milo, lol?

- And Milo starts trying to argue with the Pope AGAIN and Saga finally just tells him to shut the hell up. Saga confirmed for legitimately impressive patience honestly.

- God, and Lia just leaves once he gets the confirmation. I LOVE that Aiolia went through this whole thing since coming in without saying a single fucking word to Milo or sparing him more than a glance. Please, just ask this man about his opinion of Scorpio Milo, I’m begging you.

- MILO FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

- And Saga is the one who points out that, BECAUSE of his history and his relation to Aiolos, he has a compelling reason to work on this case in particular. Milo just stops at HOW COULD YOU RELY ON HIM HE HAS TRAITOR'S BLOOD. The intelligence debuff is real.

- But, yeah, you can tell Lia has cause to be as cold, dismissive, and passive-aggressive towards Milo as he was. They... they do not have a good relationship.  

- It legitimately boggles my mind how there is a weird semi-common fanon about Milo and Lia being close friends, or Milo being this great guy who was so supportive of him. I've run across it multiple times in my hunts for cute fanart or interesting discussion, and I feel like I'm staring at an incomprehensible alien entity every time. Like. Where did you get that. How did. The characterization we get from both of them indicates the exact opposite. I would not be remotely surprised if Aiolia, as bitter and angry as he truly is, is going to hold a grudge against Milo until the end of time, long after Milo has forgotten about it.

- Rather than being his friend, Milo is literally the ONLY Gold Saint we see actually giving Aiolia shit for being a traitor's brother. Like I mentioned back in the Silver Saint scene with Aiolia, yume and I actually talked about this - since she is a raving Aiolia fan and all - about the possible sources of Lia's torment from his peers. The shitty Silver Saints, yes, and Deathmask, yes, because he's actively malicious in general, but he wouldn't be rubbing it in because he actually cares or thinks Lia having "traitor blood" actually means something. MILO sure does, though!

- Milo is prideful, often in shallow ways, and incredibly overbearing about that pride, thinking he has the right to lecture and judge and override others, including Athena herself. There is like literally no question in my mind that he is friends with Camus because Camus is basically the only person who knows him who will actually tolerate him.

- Milo: "Hmm, lots of people don't trust the Pope, and no one has seen his face. WHAT COULD IT MEAN??? welp back to my temple wonder what camus is up to"

- "Brother, I will make up for your sin, even if I have to sacrifice my life!" with a thousand-yard stare. Aiolia, you really, really need some therapy, badly...

- Man, I was gonna cover more episodes with this writeup, but it ends up I had a lot of ranting bottled up about GOD MILO WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. Oh well. Next time, Aiolia continues to have serious, serious psychological problems! A good time is had by all!

[akatokuro]

If Aquarius Camus is the one who did nothing wrong, who do you think amounts to "did everything wrong"? Or who are the ones largely in the wrong?

Ahahaha, “Aquarius Camus did nothing wrong” is largely a joke because Camus is such a fuck-up and he did the vast majority of things wrong - I could (have?) written pages about his shortcomings as a parent, as a Saint, as a person, and why I find them interesting. Even when I sympathize with his feelings, he sure has a tendency to choose to handle/express them in basically the worst possible way.

But as a Camus fan, I found it a little frustrating (in a very low stakes way, because lol @ StS being remotely serious business) because while I’d love to talk/read about those aspects and how Camus’s dilemmas and weaknesses reflect on both him and the situation he is in as a Saint, what I found when I was browsing around for content and discussion, no matter how old - because I do love reading discussion! - was mostly a lot of criticism that he wasn’t a good enough friend to Milo.

Which. I. No.

Yes, if you trace through everything in the franchise, it really gives the distinct impression that Milo is more emotionally invested in their friendship than Camus is. Milo talks about, thinks about, and refers to Camus all the time in one way or another, and Camus does not really do the same thing in return.

That’s okay. Sometimes things turn out that way. And it’s okay. Camus has more going on in his life - he’s basically a parent - so the counterpoint to all those scraps where Milo is thinking about Camus, Camus is usually thinking about his kids. It doesn’t mean Camus is a bad friend - I think he’s actually remarkably patient and understanding of Milo, considering he’s fucking Milo, on the whole, and the bottom line is that he does not owe Milo shit. 

Even in Soul of Gold, where Camus is obviously deeply in the wrong as a Saint, I legitimately don’t think he was the one who came off as the asshole in the conflict between he and Milo. Soul of Gold is purestrain garbage and the filler backstory it gave Camus is LMAO, but when you strip down how ridiculous the technical content is, what you still have is the very reserved Camus fully explaining his feelings and something extremely traumatic to Milo, when Milo asks, and basically getting “I don’t give a fuck, what about me?” in response.

So yeah, I guess the real meaning of the tag is “Aquarius Camus Did Everything Wrong, except in regards to Milo, where he Legit Did Nothing Wrong”

Therefore I guess the answer is… the one who actually did everything wrong is, uh, Milo? Hmmm.

[akatokuro]

The Inevitable StS Rewatch, Episodes 37-38

Aiolia, are you like... okay? (HE IS NOT, IN FACT, OKAY.)

- Last time, I meant to write about these eps but I got hard-derailed with the need to scream at the walls about Milo. This seems to happen to me pretty often. It might be a problem.

- This whole Shaina-->Seiya subplot is still stupid as hell, and the way Seiya treats Shaina here is condescending as hell, but to be very very generous Seiya is at least perceptive enough to not fight back seriously because he understands Shaina essentially has a death wish. Sanctuary will fuck you up hard, dude. The mask issue is yet another way to approach the fundamental ways the entire institution of Sanctuary will break people over its knee.

- Hahaha, I love the way Aiolia enters the scene here, so ominous and terrifying! It's a great contrast to the very mellow, normal dude in the back Aiolia is framed as in his earlier cameos. HEY, SHAINA, DID YOU AND THE OTHER SILVERS REALLY FORGET I WAS A GOLD FUCKING SAINT WELL GUESS WHAT HERE'S A REMINDER

- Lia, are you... having fun sloooowly lifting Shaina into the air first - totally not to terrify her or anything, nope, no grudge here, what are you talking about, hahaha!

- I'm going to be repeatedly gushing about this through the next couple eps, but holy shit, Aiolia's Japanese VA is SO FUCKING GOOD.

- The way he's animated here is so good too! The combination of his flat tone as he introduces himself, his flat expression, and the way only his eyes move when he greets Seiya specifically - it really conveys a sense of tension and Lia being in very, very forced, tight control of himself right now.

- "lmao not even the gold saints knew that there were TWELVE ZODIAC-THEMED CLOTHS! like! twelve zodiacs! god! not just leo and sagittarius! who would ever have guessed!" yeah this is the most obvious thing for the broader lore to instantly fucking throw out the window because no.

- It's a semi-common fanon thing to regard Aiolia as "stupid", but honestly, he's never struck me as such - I like this moment where he's sizing up Seiya's answer re: Sagittarius, and comes to the conclusion that he's telling the truth. But still, murder mission means murder gon happen!

- Aiolia has problems with self-control--his emotions sometimes get the better of him and he can't help himself when he really needs to punch something because he's just SO FUCKING ANGRY--but that's a different thing altogether than just being stupid, especially since I think Lia is pretty self-aware about that aspect of himself.

- I love how Aiolia TOTALLY came here to murder the shit out of these kids, too. Like, think about the contrast with Milo later, when Milo offers to spare Hyouga for Camus's sake - Lia is apparently close friends with Marin, but does he extend the same courtesy? No. That Seiya is Marin's student doesn't fucking matter. He's here to perform a very baggage-ridden mission for Sanctuary, and that is what he is going to do, because Aiolia would really like to turn himself into a Good Saint Robot.

- And again, even as he's warning Shaina, Aiolia comes across as very tightly controlled and very short, played up as frightening and intimidating. His expression and tone doesn't change as Shaina pleads and he points out her emotional shortcomings. Aiolia can run very hot, but he can also turn himself very cold, and the combination of the two feeding into each other is what can make him potentially scary as hell, especially when you remove his inhibitions via a bit of brainwashing!

- That little detail of Lia clenching his fist and his fist shaking as Seiya accuses him of being another assassin from Sanctuary is really good. It should be clear from Lia's VA taking a BEEP BOOP BOP approach to his lines here, but Lia is internally struggling a lot already, and trying to press it down.

- Not struggling with internal conflict about his orders per se, mind you. Moreso struggling with not losing his shit over how fucking mad he is.

- And when Seiya tries to explain the situation to Aiolia, he gets this.

- Aiolia isn't actually stupid, but this is why he's interesting. He dumbs himself down because he feels he can't trust himself - both his actual thoughts and instincts, as what happened with his brother proved to him, and his ability to restrain himself. So what can he do but commit himself to his orders and the rules, especially knowing that he's already walking on a very thin tightrope compared to most people because of his TRAITOR'S BLOOD? (lmao, thanks Milo! Clearly the best friend Aiolia could ever hope for!) There might be a temptation to write off Lia as the "good boy" of the Gold Saints, since he's pushed as the protagonist figure amongst them, but he's really not. He's pretty complex.

- Lol considering how hard Shaina was shitting on and disrespecting Aiolia in earlier episodes... is seeing her so frantic and then flattening her effortlessly a little bit cathartic for you, Lia...? Just a little...?

- Lia's expression still not changing as he turns his FLATTEN BEAM onto Seiya. Truly the TermiLia right now.

- I love Aiolia's response to Seiya bleating off about his brother and why Lia is so loyal to Sanctuary. He is obviously trying to appeal to Lia emotionally by hitting what he knows are emotional weak spots and Lia is not having any of that shit. you are literally just making him madder seiya

- These sure are the words and expression of a very, very bitter man!

- Aiolos isn't exactly an interesting character to me as he is, because the series is by and large mostly interested in him as a straightforward admirable martyr figure - but he could be if you re-interpret him under a more critical lens. His treatment of Aiolia is kind of... something. I don't actually remember him ever offering a truly kind word to his little brother. Like, ever.

- There's even a fun ambiguity if you want to his line in this flashback about "You should be able to do this, because you have the same Cosmos I do - because we're brothers." Yes, it could be read as encouragement - as Baby Lia is obviously doing here - but it's also setting forth an expectation.

- Oh shit, this is some of the stuff I was planning on going through in my upcoming EIGHTEEN PAGE AIOLIA META. Uhhhh....... man, this situation sure sucks for Lia, being left behind like that! Aiolos! Issues! Probably! Yeah!

- Fucking Silvers!

- I'm glad Lia states that he hated Los and used that for fuel in terms of becoming a strong Saint, and also vaguely suicidal. You can totally see it. Leo Aiolia is a cold and hateful person in a lot of ways! It rules!

- Okay Seiya you deserve to be punched for this one

- lol Lia narrowing his eyes in response too hoo boy

- seiya why are you stripping that's shiryuu's deal

- ahhhh shit aiolia's va is SO GOOD! he was already pulling the "flat, controlled tone" before but after seiya hit him with THAT garbage he goes extremely low and dangerous and outright monotone, very audibly you're on thin fucking ice you little shit

- One of the little things that I like about Lia and how he subverts your first impression of "oh, this is the nice, protagonist-y Gold, right?" is that when you piss him off, he gets vicious and downright venomous verbally. Aiolia is capable of outright dripping with contempt for people in a way that's totally "oh, this is what he's been thinking the whole time, he was just holding it back." Like here, when he's practically sneering about "Oh, so this is all you've got after six years training with Marin, huh? You fucking scrub loser."

- Damn, I like Seiya crying as he attacks Aiolia again, knowing that it's hopeless! That's a nice touch. A LITTLE SCARED, HUH SEIYA?

- Lia, you totally should have been able to see Shaina moving and jumping in front of Seiya like that in time to pull back. You really should have. Is your mad getting the better of you? I know Seiya kicked it up several notches, but damn, man.

- yeah i do not think this is the face of someone who is actually going to be losing that much sleep over """"accidentally"""" punching the shit out of shaina

- And Seiya calls out Aiolia for not stopping his attack when he totally had the capability to do so, lmao

- Hahaha, so Lia lets Seiya punch him to let off some steam and goes: "Yeahhhh, my bad. Eh."

- I also like the detail that Lia can heal with his Cosmos! (And lol that Lia was originally going to just leave her there before Seiya called him out.) It's not an ability you actually see a lot of Saints have, including the Golds.

- Lia asks Seiya why he's doing this. Seiya starts to explain, but then Lia immediately cuts him off with THE POPE'S ORDERS ARE ABSOLUTE. aiolia are you like.... okay... i mean you asked him and he was answering y... all righty then. i mean i know that's what you've convinced yourself to cope but

- Then the shitty Silvers show up, and even these guys continue to shit on Lia for his TRAITOR'S BLOOD. Lia gets visibly mad and reiterates his determination to fulfill his mission and murder these damn kids. The Silvers ignore him, and obviously enjoy twisting the knife about being able to ignore him!

- Aiolos decides he's had enough of his bath and decides to give Seiya a hand! Wow!

- okay seiya really rocks the sagittarius cloth though. better looking than aiolos in it. sagittarius seiya is the best looking gold saint tbh. shiryuu is really hideous in libra unfortunately

- And this is Aiolia's face when Seiya puts on the Sagittarius Cloth. WHAT COULD HE BE THINKING? HMMMM.

- I love Aiolia, but he definitely has that smug Gold Saint arrogance running through his being as much as anyone else. "FOR THE GOLD CLOTH TO CHOOSE THE LIKES OF YOU..."

- But this whole thing is great, too. He was willing to let Seiya go - for the day - out of respect for Shaina and okay yeah he did feel a little bad about that, but now that Seiya's put on a Gold Cloth? Nah, you little shit. Sorry Shaina, looks like it's right back to murder o'clock for Leo Aiolia!

- Seiya, with Aiolos's help, manages to land a punch on Lia. He is very cute in his excitemement about this! AIOLIA IS NOT.

- THE TERMILIA HAS UPGRADED TO A NEW, MADDER MODEL. You'll note the feel of this whole thing is REALLY CLOSE to the intimidation of vicious, brainwashed Aiolia later on. All of that was legit in him. That's why it's still interesting as a facet of his character.

- Lia throwing out the "kono Aiolias" left and right. Considering his earlier talk about how much he hated his brother and wanted to surpass him, are we projecting a little bit onto this new kid wearing his Cloth, Lia? Maybe... maybe a little?

- "Aiolia, why are you so loyal to the Pope!?" "BECAUSE I AM DEEPLY TRAUMATIZED--I MEAN, BECAUSE, UH, HE'S A GREAT MAN! YEAH! FUCK YOU!"

- Lia's face when Hyouga and Shun arrive on the scene. YIKES.

- And here when he effortlessly blocks Hyouga and Shun's attacks, with a "lol, you're really going to try to fight KONO AIOLIA, the gold saint?" Again, the contempt and sneering just drips off of him - he's actively mocking them - in a way that is totally, one hundred percent consistent with the way he acts when he is brainwashed, and against Hades's mooks much later. Again, holy shit, I would LOVE to get actual insight into Lia's brain re: his opinion of Milo and the Silvers.

- It is sort of sad, though, as the more pissed off and frustrated Aiolia is obviously getting - jesus christ he just came here to murder some kids out of self-loathing, and then this bullshit with Shaina, and then that bullshit with the Silver Saints, and then the MEGA FUCKING BULLSHIT of Seiya putting on his brother's Cloth and actually hitting him, and now THESE little shits show up and complicate things even more - it feels like he more forcefully repeats those rote robot-lines about "as a saint, for justice, in the name of Athena, pope is like a GOD." Aiolia has issues, man.

- As the Bronzies keep challenging him, we get another shot of Aiolia's shaking, clenched fist. Once again I must emphasize that his VA is doing a fucking amazing job of continuing to escalate Lia's various shades of mad and the various levels of "I am seriously point two seconds away from ripping you little shits apart"

- Yes, Aiolia is refusing to listen and obviously repeating lines he's been "fed" - but once again, I don't think it's stupidity, per se. It's thirteen years of trauma where he had to crush out any personal doubts in order to survive in the environment he was in. But god these kids are making it HARD and reviving OLD FEELINGS and that's PISSING HIM OFF so they GOTTA FUCKING DIE because SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP.

- Hi Saori! Thanks for showing before everyone died!

- Leo "Fuck you I don't have time for this bullshit" Aiolia vs Kido "Fuck YOU I don't have time for this bullshit" Saori, go!

- I like how Lia refers to Aiolos by his name here, and as "the traitor Aiolos", though we see how in private, in his head, he still called him "nii-san" and he reverts to "nii-san" fully once he knows the truth. Aiolia had a hard life.

- thanks for the unnecessary flashback, episode, this writeup is already getting too long doot doot doot

- It's very hard to be told that "welp, I coped and doubted myself and twisted my thoughts and sense of self for thirteen years for nothing huh!" And I appreciate that Lia doesn't instantly believe her - he needs hard proof, because otherwise it means pretty much his whole life and everything he "worked" for just falls apart. He wouldn't be a bad fit as an Umineko character, really! <_<

- Saori selectively leaving out that Mitsumasa was also a horrible person but okay BABY SAORI IS CUTE AS FUUUUUUCKKKKKKKK

- God I love that Aiolia was totally willing to murder this young girl, too, to test if she was bullshitting him about being Athena. He was really going to try to punch her fucking head off. Aiolia owns.

- I LOVE SAORI FOR CALMLY AGREEING IT TOO HAVE I MENTIONED I FUCKING LOVE HER AND THAT SHE IS THE COOLEST?

- Lia's response to Seiya's outrage at the way he demands "proof." Even though it's brief, you really do get a sense of the weight of what Lia has been struggling with since Aiolos was framed, and how hard it is for him to just throw it all aside. And his "I need it!" re: proof.

- The ghost of Aiolos finally shows up, after all this time - exclusively to shit on his little brother. Hoo boy.

- It REALLY feels like twisting the knife for Aiolos to shoot him with basically "You're not only unworthy of being a Saint, you're unworthy of being my brother! You fuckup! You moron!" Like, again, if this is an indication of Aiolos's parenting methods with training Lia, uh... no wonder Lia has such deep-set issues...

- Like, Aiolia has legitimately suffered a LOT because of Aiolos's actions all this time, so to not have a single shred of compassion and only a very stony "you fucking failure" is pretty. Uh.

- Not that Lia challenges this himself, of course, as he cries over the fact that Los wasn't a traitor and "still fights for justice." Fully indoctrinated, after all!

- "I'm not suicidal over these developments or anything. Nope. Totally not running off here to get myself killed in atonement, encouraged by my brother's ghost who was yelling at me over what a sin I've committed. Not at all. Pay no attention to the sad lion behind the curtain!"

- Doesn't escape Saori's notice, either, as she quietly asks Lia not to die as he heads off.

- And Leo Aiolia exits the episode just as he entered it: in desperate, desperate, desperate need of some serious fucking therapy.

[akatokuro]

i get unreasonably excited/happy when i'm casually backreading my dashboard and see you made another saint seiya rewatch post, aha ^__^;; the first time i watched it myself was in 2016, but reading your posts makes me feel like i'm experiencing the feelings i had watching it for the first time as a teenager and slowly grasping the character's complexes/relationships to each other (and yakno devouring all the spinoffs after to fill in the blanks, whew kurumada!) i hope you're enjoying it too!

Hahaha, that actually makes me really, really happy to hear! I know that, uh, most people on here don’t exactly follow me for Saint Seiya content and thus most of my recent posting is not relevant to their interests - but I’ve really been having so much fun with it that I can’t help myself. So it’s super nice and rewarding to hear that there is someone who is actually reading some of my blah blah blah about it!

Going through Saint Seiya is sort of hilariously the polar opposite and yet weirdly surprisingly similar to the “fun” of Umineko - unlike the Seacats there is, like, zero intentionality behind it and a lot of the potentially interesting stuff happened completely by accident by an author who really, really does not care. But the scattered sparks of characterization that you can put together often feel weirdly cohesive, and it’s actually a blast sort of approaching it as a weird puzzle for yourself? Like, since falling into Saint Seiya hell because of LOL NETFLIX, on top of revisiting the original material, I’ve consumed like every spinoff and beyond that’s available to me - and it’s REALLY FUCKING FUN going “aha, you can compile all these tiny scraps between the original, the spinoffs, the other spinoffs, the other other spinoffs, and the adaptations, and the pachinko additions, and Tencent’s additions, and the fighting game cutscenes and banter, and the encyclopedias and the website profiles, and once you’ve done all of that I totally have material for a TWENTY PAGE ESSAY about Leo Aiolia’s characterization and what fuels his fucking bottomless rage, how he expresses it, and how he deals with it!” And it probably has nothing to do with whatever little thought Kurumada put into things when he was designing him to begin with. It actually rules.

Like, it was actually hilarious because, for example, yume and I were discussing Camus’s character and how he’s a terrible fucking Saint, and sort of slowly teasing out that we got the feeling he’s not that invested in Sainthood or Athena in and of itself like many of the Saints are, based on his signals in the original, SoG, and some of the other material - and I think it was yume who said “I think Camus is someone who performs Sainthood because his independent values just happen to align with Athena’s?” And that same fucking night I dove into Episode G and, lo and behold, there’s Okada’s version of Camus, spouting on and on about the only reason he cares about gods is based on how they support humanity and HUMANISM FTW. Just that sense of building and “Aha! Someone who publishes/contributes to the material observed the same things we did for this character who had ten minutes of screentime!? That’s so awesome!” is a super unique thrill that feels uniquely possible because of StS’s bizarre, flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants structure where everything weirdly feeds into everything and There Is No True Canon.

[akatokuro]

saint seiya episode 36, the tl;dr version

[akatokuro]

it’s been months since the news broke and i can’t believe i’m actually still this angry about shun. god help me when netflix actually releases the series

[akatokuro]

The Inevitable StS Rewatch, Episodes 20-22

AH YES, AFTER TWENTY EPISODES, MY TRUE ANIME STS NEMESIS HAS ARRIVED....... THE ANTI-CAMUS.............

- When I first watched Saint Seiya a million (or six) years ago, I didn't really have a strong opinion on the Crystal Saint. Like, yumetabibito made sure to inform me what was actually up with the "Hyouga's master" situation, and it was obvious at a glance that Camus was the superior option for drama and Hyouga's development, but... he seemed okay for what he was?

- But on rewatch, phew, the Crystal Saint comparatively is... really, really bad!

- And it's not like Camus got much more screentime or anything versus the Crystal Saint. Camus is literally featured in like two episodes total out of 114. I don't even really count Camus as being present in the majority of the Hades arc, because he's there as part of a blob with a Saga-shaped head so Saga can dramatically Athena Exclamation at people. But even so, Camus is so much a better character in like every way possible holy cow.

- Before delving into that, though, I do want to note that a) Marin is super cool! and b) these early Aiolia cameos continue to be charming and also hilarious. I really seriously doubt Toei knew Aiolia was a Gold Saint at the time of writing these appearances, and only had his cameo in the first chapter of the manga to go off of. This leads to some really weird but ultimately interesting depictions, like the Silvers repeatedly disrespecting poor Aiolia hard. It was an accident, but it really works for his character and his endless, endless rage.

- Also, Shun and Saori's friendship is cute as fuck. See, this is why even though the filler is ridiculous, I do like some of the feelings of the dynamics we get out of it before the Bronzies get trapped by eternal stairs.

- I LOVE that Seiya repeatedly loses against Shaina early on and keeps having to be rescued from her by others. I really do like Shaina, but I think her having a crush on Seiya is super unnecessary and a total shame - I love her as ruthless and effective, but not necessarily evil.

- Marin throwing shade at Shaina and trolling her is fantastic. Shaina, fall in love with Marin, not Seiya, goddammit! She is objectively the superior option even putting aside Seiya's brain eventually going full broke for Saori!

- My Camusfamily-loving heart did eeeee to get a quick peek at the village I'm sure they had to go to to buy supplies and such. Please give me a filler episode of nothing but Camus terrifying the grocers as he simply tries to purchase carrots for his kids. Look, he doesn't mean to be scary, guys, he's really just figuring out which carrots to buy, it's just his face...

- I always wonder what's up with Camus (and his kids) wearing, like, the sleeveless shirts but also legwarmers? okay guys.jpg

- Okay okay okay. Crystal Saint time.

- It's really funny to think that the Crystal Saint actually probably preceded Camus as a character concept, since we know Kurumada literally pulled Camus straight from his ass ten seconds before introducing him. What makes it kind of a fun thought exercise to compare both of Hyouga's mentors is that they're really the same character concept and "type."  In some ways CS almost feels like a rough draft for Camus, honestly: Hyouga's kind-hearted master who loves him, and really wants the best for him, but whom Hyouga is tragically forced to fight and kill. 

- Crystal Saint, however, plays this absolutely straight with zero nuance or deviation from the script. He is a Good Guy (slaughtering the poor Sanctuary guards and snapping that one dude's neck aside) who objects to Sanctuary's brutality and evil. He smiles and laughs and pats Hyouga on the head and openly encourages him. The only reason he and Hyouga are forced to fight is because he is literally brainwashed.

- Aquarius Camus, on the other hand, needs no fucking outside influence or brainwashing to make a giant fucking trainwreck out of the situation involving the student he loves. HE DOES IT ALL ON HIS OWN, BABY.

- That instantly makes him a better character, because Camus - again, with pretty much the same amount of screentime - manages an interiority and an agency because he's conflicted about what he's doing and does not know the right or best thing to do, and his priorities are a complete tangled mess. He doesn't have it in him to just turn against Sanctuary on a whim. But he doesn't want Hyouga to die. But he doesn't go out of his way to find out what Hyouga is trying to do and if it's right or not, because oh my god Hyouga is going to fucking die aaaa aaaa aaaaaaaaaaa oh god aaaaaaaaaaa

- Part of what makes me like Camus so much is that he feels really interesting and unique for a "good shounen anime mentor" in what an utter fucking mess he is. Most characters in his type, like the Crystal Saint, essentially have their shit together to be very stable and solid figures for the protagonist to fall back on. They might put up a certain harsh facade in order to push their students forward, but ultimately they are in control of themselves and are deliberately orchestrating how they present and such for their students' benefit. I'm thinking of, like, figures like Hiko from Kenshin, or Izumi from FMA, those sorts. But not Camus. He is held in extremely high regard as a beloved mentor by the text - "not a day goes by that I haven't thought of you!" cries Hyouga (lol), and there's no questioning his love for his student, but he is a legitimate panicky fuckup who makes an assload of genuine, unnecessary mistakes in how he handles things.

- I should probably save some of my Camusramblings for when Camus, like, actually shows up though huh. OR I COULD JUST REPEAT MYSELF WHEN THE TIME COMES. YEAH. I'LL PROBABLY DO THAT.

- I also want to note that it's fucking hilarious that, like, Yakov tells Hyouga "oh no the Crystal Saint is evil now" and Hyouga is like "sounds legit" and fights him; meanwhile against the, er, "master of his master", Camus, Hyouga cries and breaks down and can't bring himself to punch him. I... hmm. HMMMMM

- But that's what makes Hyouga and Camus's relationship great and fun. The love between them is what gets emphasized, more than anything else - because their duty as Saints gets very entangled in the doubt that that love brings them.

- ANYWAY. MOVING ON. tl;dr, Camus is so obviously a superior option for "Hyouga's tragic mentor" in every way - as an individual character, and in his relationship with Hyouga, and how events play out - it's obvious why the franchise as a whole sort of innocently whistled and nonchalantly kicked Crystal Saint down a cliff.

- Shunrei and Shiryuu are cute as fuck! I don't give a fuck! They're sort of fun and unique in this setting as Shunrei is a "normal person" who is forced to just sort of deal with what it means for her beloved person to be a Saint.

- W-why do soldiers from Sanctuary have guns...?

- WHY BUILD A COMPLETELY RANDOM ICE PYRAMID?

- I like how they even ask the filler villain "why the fuck are you building a random ice pyramid" and it's like "IT'S A MONUMENT OKAY. FOR REASONS."

- I do like Hyouga being well-known and beloved by the villagers, though! I could totally see that! Playing interference for his extremely socially awkward master when they need to buy carrots...

- Camusfamily is forever my favorite, but Dohkofamily can be pretty fucking cute too...

- Boy, how many times is Saori's house gonna get blown up...

- Saori's reactions continue to feel really fluid and fun if you pay attention to her. I really like her panicking at first at her house getting blown up (AGAIN), but then forcing herself to hold it together and do the rationally correct thing, with obvious difficulty.

- Tatsumi you useless FUCK

- oh my god tatsumi giving in instantly and giving them information. why didn't you  guys let ikki kill him. jesus fuck

- It's a small thing, but I appreciate Saori remaining focused on her worry for Shun in this situation instead of, like, falling back on crying for Seiya or something. It's a bunch of little things like that that make me able to like them as a shounen hero/heroine pairing. Saori has a lot of different things on her plate, not just Seiya.

- Chains aren't the best weapon to fight against a fire-based Saint, huh, Shun? Try hard! If only your boyfriend was here!

- PHOENIX IKKI TRIUMPHANTLY REAPPEARS IN THE ANIME EARLY TO DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING UNTIL HIS MANGA REAPPEARANCE EXCEPT BE REALLY CREEPILY OOC. THANKS, IKKI!

- i know it's a meme but i still can't deal with that bit ikki waving shun's tears in his face what the fuck

[akatokuro]

i would like to record for posterity that tumblr user @yumetabibito is on the record for promising that if i write an 18-page leo aiolia meta she will match me and write an 18-page camus meta and i am HOLDING HER TO IT BABY

YOU THINK I CAN'T MANAGE 18 PAGES OF AIOLIA META? I HAVE A MASTER'S DEGREE IN LITERATURE. MY FUCKING SPECIALTY IS BLOVIATING AND ARTIFICALLY BOOSTING PAGE COUNT

[akatokuro]

The Inevitable STS Rewatch, Episodes 1-6

seiya and saori do in fact own and are the best, both separately and together

- finally started rewatching saint seiya proper, because i am locked in an endless hell. it's actually really interesting to see what a strong, cheeky, "normal" personality seiya had before falling in love with saori utterly broke his brain

- he’s such a smug fucking brat it’s amazing. i’m pretty sure half our comments during the first couple of episodes amounted to “SEIYA YOU LITTLE SHIT”

- i legitimately half forgot that seiya’s entire motivation at the beginning of the series was reuniting with his lost sister, which tells you something about how seiya’s priorities completely transform as his brain melts from his growing obsession with saori

- that's not to say that seiya’s personality went away or anything, more that it, along with everything else, winds up flying out the window for seiya where saori gets concerned. dude is gonna stab those fucking babies for her

- god i also love saori so much. saori is the fucking BEST. i'm really, really compelled by seeing how legit cold and even hateful she was at the beginning. utterly ruthless and doesn’t give a single fuck. she's going to regret that so much but by the time it hits her how fucked up this all is, it's too late

- it’s sort of fascinating how well camoflauged seiya/saori is in terms of it being the hero/heroine pairing. a first time reader/watcher really wouldn’t be sure what to make of saori. it feels plausible she could turn out to be the villainess at the beginning, because oh man she is awful and it rules

- as mentioned before, there Is No Saint Seiya Canon, so i will be mixing and matching from versions of the anime and the manga both as i please as far as what appeals to me or makes more sense to me. sorry, crystal saint, you don’t fucking exist, but also the bronzies are not related. deal with it

- i prefer the anime version of saori only discovering she's athena later in life, honestly, but that makes me curious about her exact mindset in that scenario about carrying out her shitty, horrible grandfather's will in torturing these kids and making them fight in a tournament

- SEIYA/SAORI IS THE BEST god i love them so much they're so fucked up

-  also, i would really love to see a revised version of saint seiya where camus existed from the beginning (as opposed to being pulled from kurumada's ass literally the same week he was introduced). all i could think about in the bits with hyouga (asides from laughing at failswan)  was "oh, i bet camus taught hyouga about the hydra lore! aaaah i bet that was so cute!" "uh, shouldn't camus be here when hyouga is getting his cloth...?" "CAMUS WHY DIDN'T YOU FUCKING CUT OFF HYOUGA FROM HIS MOM, JESUS YOU STUPID SOFTIE ASSHOLE" netflix you better step up

- and yes, the first thing that came out of my mouth when hyouga showed up was “FAILSWAN!!!!!”

- also legit started screaming when shun first showed up. SHUNNNNNNNN i also honestly love him to pieces. good luck with your stupid, stupid boyfriend for the rest of your life, shun!!!!! 

- GODDAMMIT LADY SHIRYUU WOULD HAVE BEEN SO AWESOME AND PERFECT. FUCKING NETFLIX YOU FUCKED IT UP SO BAD 

- GIVE ME MY LADY SHIRYUU/SHUNREI YURIS AND LADY SHIRYUU THROWING HER CLOTH ASIDE LIKE A FUCKING BADASS YOU ASSHOLES

- shiryuu and shunrei are so fucking sweet. they do a great job selling how much they care about each other. shiryuu is very attentive to her even throughout his dumb shounen deathmatch

-  i'm just going to keep imagining shiryuu as lady shiryuu this entire fucking hundred+ episode rewatch and fume endlessly about being denied this and the adorable as FUCK yuris opportunity

- GOD A MATCH LIKE THE ONE BETWEEN SEIYA AND SHIRYUU BUT BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN WOULD BE SO RAD, THOUGH. TANTRUM TANTRUM TANTRUM!

-  i may or may not have shrieked with laughter with ikki showed up

- seiya's PUNCHING method of saving shiryuu's life is the goddamn funniest most ridiculous shit ever but i also legit liked the character moments for shun and hyouga it created, okay

- seriously would have been the COOLEST fucking lady aaaRRRRGHHHHHH

-  SHUNNNNNNNNN SHUNSHUNSHUNSHUNSHUN

- i am surprised but pleased to see that the hyouga/shun train actually kicks off this early on. there’s a ton of details i legitimately forgot or didn’t pick up on way back when when i watched the show for the first time

- saori’s facial expressions and reactions as this all played out are amazing and fascinating. both her being stone cold as even fucking tatsumi is like “uh, maybe we should stop this before someone gets killed?” but her later reactions in this set of episodes where we do see her melting into concern and relief when things turn out okay. 

- saori is legitimately horrible to the others at this stage in the story but it’s something she’s convinced herself, or rather has been raised all her life to believe, is necessary and a sign of legitimate strength. she’ll unlearn that slowly but it will be extremely painful for her the rest of her life, sadly

- PHOENIX IKKI IS HERE MOTHERFUCKERS AND HE'S SERIOUS FUCKING BUSINESS

- ah yes. let's make this one the girl. what an incredible, progressive choice

- although that whole sequence was pretty fun in its way because shun legit felt like the protagonist. lol at him not being able to recognize ikki at first because ikki was wearing the funniest sunglasses in the world, though

-  between shun and his babby crush on camus though hyouga Definitely Has a Type as far as guys are concerned

- (that type being: beautiful, strong, kind-hearted... deeply depressed? hmm.)