Monday, April 2, 2012

Saint Seiya Omega Premier Pilot

So, I had the pleasure of watching the first episode of Saint Seiya Omega. Now, I had to watch it raw, and half ass'ed translated everything in my head as I watched, so I didn't totally get what was going on. However, there are some things I did notice that they added that is a bit from the norm of what we know as Saint Seiya. Keep in mind that I'm not the biggest Saint Seiya follower, and my knowledge of its universe is pretty general, but hey, I'm trying.
I seem to grasp the story like this: Kouga is a baby in the beginning. He is the new chosen Pegasus saint (probably born under the Pegasus constellation or semething) and is held by Kido Saori (Athena). Athena is then attacked by a new anatgonist (in ehich I cant even begin to guess who it may be) who is seemingly a mass of walking cosmo clad in armor, a cape, and a helmet a bit reminiscent of the Pope of the Sanctuary with a flame coming from the top spike.
This antagonist's attack is halted by the legendary saint, Seiya, who is clad in a newly designed Sagittarius Gold Cloth. Baby Kouga witnesses Seiya's counter attack to the new antagonist, and eventually defeats/seals him...fulfilling his duty to preotect Athena.
Years later, Kouga is in his teens training to be a saint. he is trained by none other than Ophiuchus Shaina. He doesnt exactly take to the training, and borderline denies the message Shaina is trying to send to him about feeling and using his cosmo. He even had a busrt of cosmo launched at her, slightly damaging her cloth, but ran away from her.
Saori is shown to have some kind of disease-like sypmtom. her body is fading away, to the likes of the main antagonist. Reminds me a bit of Advent Children's "Geostigma". Later on in the day, Kouga is talking to Saori, and she gives him a necklace with a crystal. As soon as its in his posession, our antagonist returns to take Saori. It was then revealed to Kouga that Saori is indeed Athena, the goddess. The old man butler, and Shaina come to her aid, but are easily fended off. Shaina, with seemingly dying words, tells Kouga to protect Athena. Kouga finally snaps out of his "punk" side, and does what is right, however, he cant seem to get through the wall of flames warding him off from Athena. Try and try again to gt through the flames, but he only burns himself, and collapses from the pain. It was then, that the crystal necklace was reacting to him, shaking on the ground until it manifested itself in Kouga, and revealed the Bronze Cloth of Pegasus. While donning the cloth, Kouga is visited by the spirit of Seiya, who privides him with words of wisdom (mostly about the use and manifestation of his cosmo). Kouga finally "gets right", and being influenced by Seiya's spirit/words, and the legacy of the Pegasus Cloth, he fires his first ever "Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken" at the flame barrier, destroying it. He is last seen rushing to Athena to free her from evil's grasp.

First thing I point out: No more "Cloth Cubes". No more backpacks that house the object of the cloth to be donned. It all seems to be in the crystal on the necklace, which is about the size of a smartphone. Next, the design of the cloths. I watched this to see where they take the story, as well as the new look for the Saints. The jewel that houses the cloth seems to be an integral part of the overall design. Seiya even had a large lue crystal in the center of his Sagittarius Cloth. Also, the cloths hardly seem to be suits of armor anymore, like I liked them. They almost look like clothing, I guess to seem more like a "cloth". Kouga's legs kind of remind me of women's stockings and arms look like sleeves, rather than layered protective armor like his predecessors. Not that I mind, since I really want to see how they make this work. Third thing, the Gold Cloth of Sagittarius has this simple, yet AWESOME scarf design going on. It's just beautiful. it makes me happy as a figure collector to see what they could release for this if and when a toyline is announced. However, that being said...I borderline hate the wing design. I'm a stickler for wings (which is how I started collecting Saint Seiya figures in the first place) and I think that they got lazy with them. I cannot accept that, especially when that particular cloth is so special to the series. Moreso, if you watch the first blow of Seiya's that is caught by the antagonist, they animated him WITHOUT the wings entirely. I don't know whether the did it on purpose or not, but for a primier episode, I'm not down with that.
Last thing I'm gonna hit up, is the voice acting. I can't help but notice that the antagonist is an old man I have certainly heard before in anime. In fact, he sounds a lot like Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen to me. Shaina's voice isn't doing it for me...for now. Like all things, with enough time, it will grow on me, but I'm not a fan of it for now. Seiya's voice doesn't sound like the orignial guy, but I honestly can't tell. Really, it would be nice homage to bring him in, but it's not necessary, I guess.
I love that scarf. Such a subtle, but nice touch.

It leaves us off with a preview to the next episode introducing another character. I will have to watch the pilot again to get everything out of it, since I watched it raw the first time. I had a good impression of it. The animation is new for Saint Seiya, and a bit less serious than say, the likes of "Lost Canvas", in which I'm sad they dropped that project. Here's to hoping that this series keeps the action good, as well as character development, but most of all, I want to see the designs for all the Gold Saints, and even if they changed Athena's Kamui...that would be nice.
Happy Hobbying, everyone!

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