Anime Review: Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac: Sanctuary Arc
Quick recap: The Greek gods are real, in that they are energy beings that periodically reincarnate inside human beings. Most of them appear to be hostile to regular humans, with the notable exception of Athena, who defends humanity against her more destructive brethren. This go-round, however, there’s a prophecy that the current incarnation of Athena, Saori/Sienna Kiddo, will fail and bring humanity to ruin.
As a result, the Pope/Master of Sanctuary decreed that she should be killed to restart the incarnation process. This split her servants, the Saints of Athena/Zodiac Knights, into warring factions. The ones who disagreed, the “Right Ones”, were defeated and their leaders killed, but not before they hid Saori on Earth.
Saori’s adoptive father arranged for the training of new Saints, and a tournament to pick the best of them to be her servants. Five of these, low-level Bronze Saints, have formed a bond. They are Pegasus Seiya, Dragon Shiryuu/Shenlong, Cygnus Hyouga/Magnus, Andromeda Shun/Shaun, and Phoenix Ikki/Nero.
Mr. Kiddo’s former partner, Vander Gaard, decided that humanity should not be beholden to gods to protect/destroy them, and tried to create a mechanized equivalent of the Saints to replace them. This involved trying to kill Saori and the Bronze Boys, so they had to overcome this threat.
It’s finally time to reinstall Athena to her true place as leader of Sanctuary and the Saints. So naturally, now is the time for her to be struck down by a mystical god-killing arrow that will finish the job in twelve hours. The only way to stop it is to get to the top of Sanctuary, following a path that takes the heroes through the twelve temples of the Gold Saints, each of whom wields the power of one of the Zodiac signs.
That’s not going to be easy. The Gold Saints are the most elite forces of Sanctuary, with a power level far beyond what an ordinary Bronze Saint could attain. (Good thing our heroes aren’t ordinary.) Even the Gold Saints who are nominally on Athena’s side, mysteriously missing, or dead present challenges that must be mastered before the team can move on.
This second major plot arc is far more focused than the first season, with a clear goal and visible progress being made. That said, it’s also much more “on rails”, without interesting side trips.
Good: Seiya doesn’t over-dominate the action as much as in the first season, so the other Bronze Saints get much-needed spotlight episodes and character development. He’s still very much the title character, though, so I hope you like him. Minor characters in general get more to do than they did in the manga, with special attention paid to female characters other than Saori. (There’s even a new important female character just for this version of the story!) Some of the fights that were skipped over in the first season are moved here and redistributed to give minor characters a chance to shine.
The Gold Saints have varied personalities and powersets, making each challenge memorable in its own way. But there’s not as much stalling as in previous versions, moving the story along briskly rather than spending a full two, three episodes per fight.
Less Good: Due to the nature of the plot, Saori spends most of the season flat on her back unconscious. She gets almost no characterization, and the little we see of her personality is dismal.
Our heroes still haven’t quite grasped the concept of teamwork–most of the fights boil down to one Bronze Saint going solo against a Gold Saint while their companions move to the next challenge, and then having to catch up.
Content note: fantasy violence, torture, some blood, a few deaths, not always temporary. (There are several scenes set in the Underworld.) Dubious presentation of mental illness.
The doll-like character designs help with the limitations of the CGI animation, though there is some improvement of that since the previous season. And there’s a sequel hook indicating that the Poseidon Arc will be the next season if this continues.
Overall, this is an improvement over the first season, recommended for fans of shounen battle series.
