Today (April 29, 2023) I went to watch the newest production of the Saint Seiya franchise. My opinion may change after reviewing the film later, but my impressions of my experience today are here.
Much was said about the changes in relation to the original: the armor, the history, the nationality of the characters, etc. As I followed everything that was published, I already went to the cinema with a certain expectation: I expected to see a film with good action scenes, a good soundtrack, average special effects and a script that was very, very different from the original. And that’s exactly what I found. But I want to detail more about how this experience was.
1) Lots of noise
The strongest impression I got from this movie was… the noises. I’m not talking about sound noises, but noises in the sequence of events and in the script that were bothering me and affecting my immersion in the narrative.
At the beginning of the film, we have Seiya fighting in a ring in a cage, surrounded by a crowd made up of men eager for the scenes of violence to follow. And that’s when I saw someone in the audience holding a pompom. Yes, a cheerleader pompom, bright blue. I started to laugh at how ridiculous that was, while wondering: what makes a guy go to an underground wrestling ring with a pompom? It distracted me so much that I barely paid attention to Seiya’s fight against Jaki and then Cassios. This was the first question of many.
Then, when Seiya finds Alman Kido (or Mitsumasa Kido), we have a chase sequence, with action, vehicles and explosions that end up in a tunnel. As soon as the characters enter this tunnel, they stop the car as if they were no longer being chased and were safe. But they are still being pursued! Inside this tunnel, there is a secret passage. But how is it that the people of Guraad don’t look for them through that passage? After all, it’s obvious that they’re still in this tunnel, because no one is going to come out from the other side. It’s an unresolved chase scene. We have one more inconsistency.
At the same time, we see that Cassios is obsessed with Seiya. He hates Seiya. But this is an out-of-the-ordinary and… baseless hatred. Why does he hate Seiya so much? Is it just because of the dancing fighting style? Is it just because Seiya ripped the cigar out of his mouth? What is the reason?
We also see that Guraad is stealing cosmo from people to survive. The narrative suggests that there are people with cosmos and people without cosmo… something that contradicts the original. After all, the origin of the cosmo is the energy of the Big Bang, which gave rise to all things in the universe. In other words, cosmos is a force that is present in everything that exists – including all people. We know that not all people develop the ability to awaken the cosmo, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in them. Therefore, it makes no sense for someone to be hunting specific people with cosmo to suck that energy out of them. Guraad could do this to anyone she met on the street. Apparently, we have a change of concept of cosmo here. Or else there was a lack of further explanation of the conditions of how this process of sucking the cosmo out of a person occurs.
The relationship between Seiya and Sienna (Saori) is also poorly constructed. She’s poorly built in the original too, but that doesn’t justify her being poorly built in this movie. Sienna is the arrogant rich girl who thinks she’s superior, just like Saori in the original. (By the way, why does Sienna seem proud of being a goddess and then say she doesn’t want that fate? Isn’t that contradictory?) Afterwards, she and Seiya manage to understand each other and get closer, but we don’t see a real development of Sienna between a first moment, when she shows herself as this annoying girl, and a second, when she is nice to Seiya. Because of this, their relationship building feels forced. Why would Seiya like such a annoying girl who doesn’t show a maturing moment in front of him? Besides, this relationship is more forced than the one between Seiya and Saori in the 1986 anime. In the anime, we see that Saori changes her attitude towards the Bronze Saints, which makes them respect her more. We don’t see that development of hers in the movie. This is another noise that bothered me.
When Seiya discovers that Alman Kido was involved in his sister’s kidnapping and decides to take satisfaction with him, Guraad appears. Kido sacrifices himself in a strange way, as he throws a bomb at Guraad when she is already running, several meters away. The bomb was of no benefit at all and only endangered Alman Kido’s allies. It was a completely pointless and meaningless death.
I think it was at that moment when Seiya loses consciousness with a make-up and then wakes up with a very different one. One more noise.
By the way, if Sienna, after being kidnapped, is in danger, why doesn’t Marin, who should also protect Athena, save her? And why doesn’t she protect Sienna at any time, if she knows that she is Athena?
The armor also bothered me. As much as I had already seen them in the promotional material for the film, they bothered me a lot. I’m not the type of fan that cares too much about the design of the armor, but… they were ugly, especially the helmets. The helmet of the Phoenix armor was extremely disproportionate in relation to Nero’s (Ikki) head.
Nero, by the way, is a very poorly developed character, as well as Cassios. I saw not a shred of motivation for following Guraad’s orders. He’s just the bad guy. It’s a shame that such an important character was sidelined to give Guraad more time. It is true that there is planning for further development of this character, but the film needed to give at least an indication of the character’s real intentions or another layer in his personality, which would give him some depth. In the end, Nero, in this film, is a flat and bland character.
In the fight between Nero and Seiya, which drags itself outside the building, we have a completely random scene of the windows breaking outside. Well, if Seiya and Nero are fighting outside, what force is it that makes the windows break outside? This would only make sense if they were fighting inside the building, not outside. One more noise.
In the end, after we have Seiya shirtless (to the delight of the fans), he appears the next moment with a piece of clothing covering him. But, if the whole scenario is destroyed, I ask: where did this outfit come from? Usually the character appears with some accessory after receiving help from some kind of infrastructure (firefighters, police, etc.). Here we only have Sienna, Mylock and Seiya, in a place without any infrastructure. Another noise.
It was these and other noises throughout the film that, accumulated, disturbed my immersion in the narrative. Many of these annoyances, in fact, are not so much related to the comparison between derivative and original product, but rather to the production of the film itself. Instead of enjoying the film’s narrative, I was, the whole time, questioning myself about all these conflicting details. This caused me a great estrangement and distancing in relation to this film.
However, there’s something important to note about all the points I’ve noted here: these questions were asked by an adult. An inattentive child or teenager would not pay attention to these inconsistencies. This means that the target audience for this film is not the adult fan, but the young person who won’t care about these inconsistencies. It’s just that this is a movie that should also be targeting me, and that’s definitely a problem.
2) Yes, there are positive points, but they also need to be discussed
If, on the one hand, the film had many inconsistencies, on the other hand, it must be admitted: it is a fun film. It has good choreography and the soundtrack does its job, with a nod and homage to the iconic Pegasus Fantasy. In fact, the instrumental part of Pegasus Fantasy reminded me a lot of the version by the great Seiji Yokoyama, which was really cool and turned out really nice. There was indeed an effort to respect the original work and the film is not the same tragedy that was Dragon Ball Evolution.
What strikes me, however, is the type of fun we are talking about. I can understand the fans praising “Saint Seiya: the Beginning”, because even though it has many flaws, it still offers the viewer good fights and action scenes. But for me, this positive experience regarding the action was quite far from my experience with the original Saint Seiya. And this is another criticism I have of this film: it brings fundamental elements of Saint Seiya, but I disagree with those who say that the essence was preserved.
Hence, it is necessary to question: what do I understand by “essence of Saint Seiya”? I still intend to write a text detailing more about what this essence is for me. But I need to say that the essence of Saint Seiya is not an element that is included or removed from the narrative as if it were an object. It’s built into the narrative and it’s built by the narrative, because it’s not that simple.
Basically, “essence of Saint Seiya” is what makes Saint Seiya special and memorable. It has to do with otherness, it has to do with the feeling of love, it has to do with the idea of self-sacrifice, it has to do with the feeling of gratitude. But it is not enough to place these elements in the narrative as if they were objects: it is necessary to build them so that the spectator feels moved. The spectator must be moved by the honesty of the characters’ feelings. For this, there needs to be a good script – something this film lacks – and the technical conditions for this, that is, the absence of noise (in the case of anime, you need to have good animation quality). It is very important that the spectator is immersed in the narrative.
It is easier to explain what I mean by “essence” through examples. An episode from the saga of Poseidon always comes to mind, when Seiya is down and injured in front of Poseidon. Shiryu enters the scene and, seeing his friend in that pitiful state, with the pain of seeing him like this, says: “I won’t let you die alone”. It is observed that here the dominant feeling is not that of “not giving up”. What Shiryu is seeing in this situation is not the path to victory, but their likely defeat and subsequent death. Knowing that Seiya will be defeated, Shiryu decides to stay there and die with him. This is a proof of friendship, of otherness, of love, of self-sacrifice, of companionship, which was built by the set of script and immersion of the narrative by the viewer (remembering that I was a child at that time). The essence of Saint Seiya, for me, it is not simply in the idea of never giving up, but in the spectator’s contact with the honest feeling of the character. If the viewer is disturbed thinking about some inconsistency in the script or some technical problem in the film or anime, he will not be immersed enough in the narrative to feel Shiryu’s sadness at that moment.
When “Saint Seiya – Episode G” was released, I asked myself the question: does the first chapter of this manga have the essence of Saint Seiya? Although the line of this manga is strange, after a while the reader gets a bit of an immersion in it, because the line is the only noise in the narrative and the rest is well constructed. The story starts from a historical event, the accident at Three Mile Island, something that is consistent with the original, as saints interfere in historical events in secret. And there we have the story of the character John Black, a negotiator who tries to prevent a deserter from the Sanctuary from destroying the nuclear power plant and causing an even more serious accident. We see that Aiolia is a protagonist who decides who will and who will not protect, but John Black, who does not know Aiolia, sacrifices his own life to protect him, because he doesn’t need a reason to protect a person. John Black’s honesty is present in his sacrifice, even if it did not have a practical effect, as Aiolia does not need to be protected. But his death wasn’t useless, as it served to teach Aiolia that he doesn’t need to have a reason to protect people. When I saw how much John Black’s action showed altruism and love (for someone he doesn’t know) and Aiolia’s gratitude and consideration for him, I thought: the essence of Saint Seiya is preserved there. It is built between the characters in the narrative. But this narrative cannot be permeated with noise. The spectator cannot be distant from the story, he needs to be immersed. And, for me, “Saint Seiya: The Beginning” brought so much noise that it prevented me from immersing myself in its narrative.
I intend to deal more with the essence of Saint Seiya in a different text to explain it better, but it was important that I point out the following here: what I understand by “essence of Saint Seiya” is not so simple to be constructed in the narrative, and the age of the viewer also affects the experience. Children don’t care so much about inconsistencies; adults, yes.
Then we have Seiya’s development in the film, in his search for his sister Patricia (Seika), showing the affection he has for her. Even on that stretch, there are noises. Why does Seiya’s sister, so young, have the Pegasus armor? Why does she know they are in danger just before Guraad comes after her? Considering other inconsistencies in the film, I began to think that while the answers to these questions will come in possible sequels to this film, maybe these specific questions will go unanswered, even in sequels. During the film, instead of thinking about the affectionate relationship between Seiya and his sister, I was asking myself these questions, that is, I was not really immersed in the flow of events in the film, but I was thinking about the reason why the production of the film film have made certain choices. I was distant from the story being told.
This is not a problem unique to this film. The poor animation quality of the latest Saint Seiya productions also caused me discomfort and distance that prevented me from enjoying Saint Seiya the way I wanted. This, after occurring over and over again, made me a frustrated fan.
In this way, without being able to see what I mean by the essence of Saint Seiya in this film, I feel that “Saint Seiya: the Beginning” is fun, yes, but in a different way than the fun I have with the original Saint Seiya. They are different experiences.
When I want typical American movie superhero entertainment, I turn to Marvel and DC movies. They’re fun, they have good action sequences, they have a certain spirit. When I want something with a Japanese aesthetic, I go to see Rurouni Kenshin, which was very well executed live action. When I think about “Saint Seiya: the Beginning”, I feel that it provides me with entertainment closer to American films than the one I have with Japanese productions. This makes sense and is the intention of the production of this film, which is aimed at an American audience, but it is also a problem.
I think the character Mylock (Tatsumi) represents this difference in entertainment well. He is one of the positive points of the film, for sure. However, he is very different from the silly Tatsumi we know in the anime. He’s a lot of fun… but he’s also very far from Saint Seiya. I liked him, at the same time that the fact that I liked him is much more related to the pleasure I feel when I see an American action film, and not the pleasure of seeing Saint Seiya.
So without what I call the “essence of Saint Seiya”, this is a rather hollow experience. The movie is fun and even satisfies me as a consumer of American hero movies, but… it’s not enough to satisfy me as a Saint Seiya fan. So I ended up leaving the cinema with mixed feelings.
3) Conclusion
Finally, it is necessary to consider the target audience of this film. Saint Seiya is a franchise that seeks new audiences and needs these new audiences to continue. This is a fact. However, we have another fact: Saint Seiya also cannot lose its old audience, its old fans. I love Saint Seiya deeply and I want the franchise to continue. However, again and again, I don’t find in Toei Animation’s productions the pleasure that I had with Saint Seiya as a child. It is necessary that Toei rescue this adult fan as well.
Thus, the question arises: is it possible for me, who is an adult fan, to have that pleasure again? The answer is yes. I still have a lot of fun with the manga and I had a lot of fun with The Lost Canvas (which actually has a different aesthetic – I’ll cover that in another post). In “Saint Seiya: Episode G Assassin”, I felt that the essence of Saint Seiya was preserved in some moments. When Hyoga adopts Natassia, seeing what they did with the bodies of several children, I found myself there immersed in Hyoga’s honest feeling of solidarity and acceptance with his new daughter. There is pain, there is sadness and there is love in this scene. We can even make a parallel in the attempt to cause this effect in the film, when Seiya embraces his “child self” in a moment of introspection. Only this moment is not about him with someone else, but rather of him with himself in a rather cliché construction. I think this is a movie that unfortunately suffered because Seiya didn’t have at least one of his friends by his side – Shun, Shiryu and Hyoga.
In short, what do I think of “Saint Seiya: the Beginning”? I think it’s a film that failed to bring back the pleasure of Saint Seiya for me, who is an old fan, now an adult, due to several noises in the script and the way the film was produced. It is fun as an action movie, mainly for a younger and/or inattentive audience, but this fun is very different from the kind of entertainment that Saint Seiya offers me. Therefore, I remain a frustrated fan of Saint Seiya, even though this film does have its merits, with some very beautiful homages to the original, such as Pegasus Fantasy in the soundtrack and the moment when Seiya wears his armor.
This is also a movie I feel I need to see more often. Maybe, after calming down with so many questions about so many script and production inconsistencies, I might end up liking it more. But this is something that will take time and will certainly still be a rather hollow experience for me as a Saint Seiya fan. It’s really a pity.
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