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Saint Seiya - Legend Of Sanctuary
Ok, I need to rant a little bit about this. This movie, as amazing as it looked, could have been way better than it is.
And the worst thing is, it started off really well!
The opening scene with the fight between Aiolos, Shura and Saga was absolutely amazing, captivating even. A perfect way to introduce the story, instead of jumping straight to the present day like the Classic Series does.
Arles then appears, and the visuals of Athena’s colossus are stunning, but when the Bronze Saints are introduced... well, I have to say I was disappointed in how they decided to represent the Cloths. On their own, all the Cloths are amazing. But, if you ask me about them while keeping them in the Saint Seiya universe, I can only say they were wrong. Instead of, I don’t know, sacred and whatnot, the seemed technological, much more like the Steel Saints from the 80′s series. The same goes for the Gold Cloths, with the added damage of being so damn full of stuff it’s too much for one armor.
Looks aside, we then get to know their personalities, and to me they seemed a bit... off. I don’t know, but I had a hard time recognizing Seiya & co as the characters I loved in the original. They were weird. Seiya, especially, was a damn dumbass, and I hated him. I already don’t like his character a whole lot, being full of bullshit and protagonist luck more than actual skill, but this made everything worse for me.
Then, Phtolemy (listen, I don’t know how to call this excuse of a man, in Italy he has a different name so I hope I got it right) appeared out of nowhere with a friggin crossbow and shot Athena, who is fine?! I mean, yeah, we then learn it was a mean for Saga to get her cosmos (a bullshit on its own), but come on! Thank goodness for Ikki, the only character who I genuinely loved from start to finish (ok, maybe Shiryu gets the silver medal, but whatever).
And now, everyone off to the Sanctuary, that is some floating stuff coming straight from a crossover between Marvel’s Asgard, futuristic architecture, ancient architecture and egyptian references. What a mess. What a horrible mess. Again, on its own, the Sanctuary is amazing. The visuals are perfect, the idea fascinating, but my goodness it’s so wrong in this context!
You don’t understand how happy that scene with Shiryu talking and no one listening made me, a little bit of good humor in this movie after Seiya acting like an idiot.
And now, onto the 12 Temples. Aries, the first one, met my expectations. I didn’t like how they designed Mu, but I enjoyed every second of this part. They got his character right, they got Shiryu knowing him right, and that’s enough for me. Taurus, the second. I absolutely loved it. Aldebaran had an amazing personality, which they got right from the original series, and the fight scene was really good. I don’t like Seiya, but what’s there is there. They straight up avoided Gemini’s Temple, so... that’s a strike for me. Cancer. My god, Cancer. I don’t even know how I felt during that. They took one of the best bastards of the Sanctuary and turned him into... a singing diva with murderous tendencies? Yeah, no. Cool, but not for him. Moreover, the Italian dub of the movie added another pearl to the string of irony, with his voice actor being the same one who voices Mr. Crab (a crab, got it?). I cringed so much during that part, I was grateful for Shiryu to the point of tears. Aquarius, because for whatever damn reason, the order got completely ignored. But fine, this was the best of them all. The characters were perfect, the fight scene was cool, and I only felt bad for how little screen time Camus received. All in all, a good part. Leo started as a good one, but then got lost in whatever plot device they chose to have Shaka intervene instead of him being faithful to the Grand Pope’s orders like he should have been. Visuals and fight scene get a 10/10 from me, but that’s it. We didn’t get to see two Temples after this, so straight to the Scorpio Temple. Only for Seiya and Shun to be yeeted away to the next house, because apparently Milo (who for some reason is a woman but fine, at this point I don’t care, and besides she was good for being wrong) hates people ruining her Temple. I loved her fighting style, the Scarlett Needle was the best part of this movie I swear. But yeah, the Sagittarius Temple is perfect for Shura too, right? Another Temple we’re not going to see, since Capricorn decided to fight there. No reason explained. But, oh well, Excalibur wasn’t bad. Ikki’s entrance best arrival of the century? Hell yeah. Too bad he gets wrecked by Shura three seconds later.
And what happens during all this? Athena, who’s still able to use her cosmos, saves the situation and BOOM, everyone is happy and an ally after five seconds of talking. What a miracle.
And let me tell you, poor Aphrodite. He gets less than a minute of screentime (and how many? 16 words spoken in the Italian dub) before being sent to the Shadow Realm Another Dimension. That was the worst, for me. He deserved so much better than that crap and less than a pained word for him from Mu. So. Much. Better. He was one of the best designed Saints too!
At this point, the story only felt rushed. There was no logic anymore, no sense of plot, nothing. Arles revealed himself as Saga (oh what a surprise), and... what? I mean, up to him wrecking Seiya I followed, but after? What the hell was that? What the hell was everything that happened!? And, on top of that, why in the Seven Hells would the Sagittarius Cloth work like that on Seiya, but normally on Aiolos? It made no fucking sense! None!
But yeah, Seiya saves the day because why do you even need the other Saints when you’re the most bullshitted protagonist out there, and the movie ends with Athena giving a speech? And a hidden scene of her birthday party?
I was so done with this movie. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate it. Taken on its own, it’s good. The problem is, this movie cannot be taken on its own. You need background knowledge to understand what’s happening with the plot, and that background knowledge is what ruins everything. You can’t make a movie that requires you to know about the original series, only to take the original series and warp it in every which way possible.
Anyways, kudos to designers and animators, they’re the real heroes out there. Maybe I’ll rant more specifically on the Cloths on another day, maybe I won’t. But I needed to get this out of my system. Really needed to.
#saint seiya#legend of sanctuary#los#los caballeros del zodiaco#knights of the zodiac#i cavalieri dello zodiaco#pegasus seiya#dragon shiryu#andromeda shun#phoenix ikki#cygnus hyoga#gold saint#bronze saints#my rants#sorry for the rant#but i needed it#che il mio cosmo arda#o meglio di no#altrimenti faccio danno
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