Saint Seiya: Shinku no shônen densetsu (1988)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Shigeyasu Yamauchi

Writers:

Masami Kurumada (comic)
Yoshiyuki Suga (written by)

Release Date:

23 July 1988 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Fantasy

Plot:

Abel the resurrected Sun-God has come to take her sister Athena with him and rule the world together...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Comic | Manga | Character Name In Title

Cast

Tôru Furuya	...	Seiya (voice)
Hirotaka Suzuoki	...	Shiryû (voice)
Hideyuki Hori	...	Ikki (voice)
Ryô Horikawa	...	Shun (voice)
Kôichi Hashimoto	...	Hyôga (voice)
Keiko Han	...	Saori (voice)
Rokurô Naya	...	Camus (voice)
Kazuyuki Sogabe	...	Saga (voice)
Kôji Totani	...	Shura (voice)
Keiichi Nanba	...	Aphrodite (voice)
Ryôichi Tanaka	...	Deathmask (voice)
Yumiko Shibata	...	Shunrei (voice)
Kôji Yada	...	Rôshi (voice)
Akira Kamiya	...	Atlas (voice)
Katsuji Mori	...	Jaow (voice)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Toei Doga

Movie Connections:

Follows "Saint Seiya" (1986)

Soundtrack:

YOU ARE MY REASON TO BE (Ai wa hitomi no naka ni)

Disappointing and predictable

This is the only Saint Seiya movie I've watched so far. It's basically the classic "Saori/Athena is the damsel in distress, race against time" plot condensed in a single movie. Fights that would usually last at least two episodes only last five minutes in this movie.

What sparked my interest in this movie, and I bet there are other fans who felt the same, was the return of the dead gold saints. Will they fight different opponents? Will they have their revenge against the bronze saints who killed them? My interest was crushed during the movie. Shura and Camus have almost cameo-like appearances. Deathmask looks more like the kind of villain I expect to see in American cartoons.

Aphrodite actually shows he learned with his death and was quite ready for Shun. Unfortunately, just like in the Hades saga, Aphrodite is demoted from one of the strongest gold saints to a second class villain.

I would recommend this movie to Gemini Saga's fans, however. Nevertheless, it seems that these five saints were put in the movie simply to make people watch it.

What annoys me the most is this: if you watched the Poseidon saga, the last 20 minutes of the movie will be boring for you. In fact, they will make you feel like you wasted your time by watching it.

Some positives. The animation is clearly better than in the series. Very good acting from Taichirô Hirokawa, Keiko Han and Tôru Furuya (although I bet he didn't like saying "Saori-San!" so many times). Overall, you can live without this movie. And maybe you should watch this before the Poseidon saga. At least you'll have Shaina in the series to make it better.