(?? episodes)
What’s it about ?
Because someone demanded it : a new iteration of the decades-old Saint Seiya franchise. (Basically : Greek-mythology-inspired fighting shonen.) This is supposed to be newbie- (and kid-)friendly material, starring a new generation of protagonists.
Characters
Kouga, our brand new protagonist, and the new Pegasus Saint. He’s a bit of a whiny brat so far, but then he’s got a point : nobody really explains anything to him, and especially why they’re training him to fight mythical stuff for Athena’s sake.
Saori, his mother figure, is especially guilty of this. I mean, not telling him you’re Athena ? (But then, what little I remember from the original series rarely showed her as the brains of the outfit either…)
Seiya, the original Pegagus Saint (and protagonist of the original series), dies in a flashback to protect Saori and infant!Kouga from an attack by new Big Bad Mars. (Wait, a Roman god ?) Well, the flashback itself didn’t look that conclusive to me, but everyone in the present says he sacrificied himself to help seal Mars away. Anyway, being “dead” doesn’t prevent his astral voice from giving some guidance to Kouga now that Mars has resurfaced.
Shaina, the masked Amazon, also stayed around as Kouga’s trainer. And that’s it as far as characters from the original series are concerned. (What, did everyone else die in Hades or something ? No, don’t answer that, it’s not relevant anyway.)
Presumably Kouga is going to gather a new band of other Saints ; the next episode preview makes it looks like the new Cygnus is next.
Production Values
Well, you can see that the Heartcatch Precure crew is at the helm : stylised and colourful character designs, super-fluid animation, a good sense of lighting and colouring for dramatic effect… Frankly, if you’re going to reinvent such a franchise, you can hardly go wrong with them.
It’s been ages since I’ve seen any of the original series, but this strikes me as decidedly less bloody and violent.
Overall Impression
Well, this is definitely a competent, kid-friendly Saint Seiya revival. There’s nothing wrong with it : it looks quite good, this is a logical direction for the story to go for such a project…
But do I really want to watch such a thing ? I don’t have any nostalgia for the franchise, and I find it hard to summon any enthusiasm for this new series. I’ll give it a couple other episodes to see whether Kouga stops being such a wanker and the supporting cast is any fun, but I’m not holding my breath.