Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya live action film)

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

One of the novelties of Saint Seiya is watching guys in shiny metal constellation armors spamming their techniques. The "shiny metal armor part" is something that even LoS & the Netflix show delivered well. But now we have a guy in a brown leather(?) armor that looks far from the iconic image of the source material.

So, just from the visual alone, it already feels like a lost cause for me. I watch Saint Seiya to see dudes with shiny & fancy metal armors duking it out. So what's the point of a Saint Seiya movie where the armors of the protag looks like a grunt from Hollywood's "sword & sandal" movies?

How can Wonder Woman looks more Saint Seiya than the actual Saint Seiya movie?

[Frontier]

Spoiler:

Apparently Seiya gets an upgraded cloth during the climax though I haven't seen that corroborated.

The Gold Saint armors look about right even if we only see them briefly.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Ok, let's just rip off the band-aid here and face the reality of what the normies say about the movie:

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https://youtu.be/5vbnDGc7WDQ

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https://youtu.be/RtxRkbDNu34

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Big OOF

[Mad Pierrot]

I checked the CinemaSnob's review... and I never saw that guy so angry in his entire life despite using his real self

[Mad Pierrot]

Seems things escalated. Still, rather than blaming the film, I wonder if Saint Seiya just didn't age well. Omega divided everybody. Next Dimension takes forever to be made. Toei barely cared about Saintia and Episode G will never be adapted. The only spinoff that attracted new fans seems to be Lost Canvas but we never got to see it fully adapted. Let's not even mention the Netflix show and Shun's gender.

I wonder if it's just the formula that doesn't work anymore. Next Dimension is also recycling the 12 temples style.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Mad Pierrot

Seems things escalated. Still, rather than blaming the film, I wonder if Saint Seiya just didn't age well.

I wonder if it's just the formula that doesn't work anymore. Next Dimension is also recycling the 12 temples style.

The LA movie doesn't even know how to pull off the armors (Saint Cloth), the one thing that Saint Seiya is famous for. The #1 eye-catching reason why people even interested in checking out Saint Seiya. The movie's armor is like someone's bad cosplay take. If you strip the fancy armors from Saint Seiya then you'll be left with Percy Jackson with martial arts and no Greek monsters. So it's already DOA & doesn't feel like Saint Seiya.

Also, if people can make a good movie outta LEGO, there's no excuse to not make a good movie outta Saint Seiya that is rich with great concept & ideas. Does Saint Seiya need a plot makeover to make a good LA movie? Absolutely. Just like what I said before:

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Also, I really don't know how anyone can properly pull this off without a good amount of budget and somebody who actually knows the inside-out of the source material and also knows how to change and adapt it for a live-action film. I mean, there are so many stupid things in Saint Seiya that they shouldn't just put them in live-action movie. Bring out the good stuffs and leave the bad stuffs for the anime/manga only.

They need to make it different from the manga's plot to fit a movie's runtime but still contains the core & spirit of Saint Seiya. How do they do it? Well, that's for the writers to figure out. After all, they are paid thousands of dollars to come up with a good script.

One thing's for sure: rushing & cramming the story like what LoS CG movie did was never a good choice. If you only have 2 hours to tell a Saint Seiya story (and the title of your movie is Knights of the Zodiac, with no mention of Seiya) than maybe make it more about Aiolos, the Sagittarius Saint/Knight? Tell the story of his life all the way until his sacrifice to save baby Athena and make it good. And then tease future Saints (Seiya & co) at the end of the movie or in midcredit scene. That might actually interest some normies to know more

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

The LA movie doesn't even know how to pull off the armors (Saint Cloth), the one thing that Saint Seiya is famous for. The #1 eye-catching reason why people even interested in checking out Saint Seiya. The movie's armor is like someone's bad cosplay take. If you strip the fancy armors from Saint Seiya then you'll be left with Percy Jackson with martial arts and no Greek monsters. So it's already DOA & doesn't feel like Saint Seiya.

Also, if people can make a good movie outta LEGO, there's no excuse to not make a good movie outta Saint Seiya that is rich with great concept & ideas. Does Saint Seiya need a plot makeover to make a good LA movie? Absolutely. Just like what I said before:

They need to make it different from the manga's plot to fit a movie's runtime but still contains the core & spirit of Saint Seiya. How do they do it? Well, that's for the writers to figure out. After all, they are paid thousands of dollars to come up with a good script.

One thing's for sure: rushing & cramming the story like what LoS CG movie did was never a good choice. If you only have 2 hours to tell a Saint Seiya story (and the title of your movie is Knights of the Zodiac, with no mention of Seiya) than maybe make it more about Aiolos, the Sagittarius Saint/Knight? Tell the story of his life all the way until his sacrifice to save baby Athena and make it good. And then tease future Saints (Seiya & co) at the end of the movie or in midcredit scene. That might actually interest some normies to know more

I can kind of see what they were going for here with the plot I just think the problem was execution and taking influence from the Netflix adaption of all things.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I can kind of see what they were going for here with the plot I just think the problem was execution and taking influence from the Netflix adaption of all things.

Nah, KOTZ movie is nothing like Netflix show. Netflix show was 10x more faithful to Saint Seiya anime aside from turning Shun into a girl and them using the "international naming". Even Netflix title still has "Saint Seiya" in the title, and they get the armors look right.

[Mad Pierrot]

I didn't watch the movie but according a reviewer I often watch, if you have no idea what's the source material a bit you are lost too.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Nah, KOTZ movie is nothing like Netflix show. Netflix show was 10x more faithful to Saint Seiya anime aside from turning Shun into a girl and them using the "international naming". Even Netflix title still has "Saint Seiya" in the title, and they get the armors look right.

Well there's the OC character trying to kill Athena as the initial antagonist.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Well there's the OC character trying to kill Athena as the initial antagonist.

The old anime also had a bunch of OC characters trying to kill Athena.

Remember Gigas and his Minions?


How about Geist & her Minions?

[Tactics]

Originally Posted by Mad Pierrot

I wonder if it's just the formula that doesn't work anymore. Next Dimension is also recycling the 12 temples style.

I think it simply because all adaptation wanted to get into Sanctuary Arc ASAP, thinking it just shonen manga without need of build-up.

Its not the formula didn't work but they ignore, if not unaware Sanctuary Arc is popular because of appreciation to armor built by previous arc.
Don't you feel in awe to see Pegasus statue meticulously transform into battle suit, then you learned that what Seiya and friends wear is lower tier armor; then you see empty Gemini and Libra Cloth, or how as Ikki defeated Shaka, Virgo Cloth arranged itself to female statue.

I enjoyed Poseidon arc through curiosity about how Kurumada transform aquatic creatures into armor; then he went extra with Three Judges' Surplice. LOL.

Honestly they can do it easy way with trilogy. First movie is some kind of origin story with Phoenix Ikki as antagonist, something like Captain America: The First Avenger, where it allowed to reintroduce Cloth and limit the party members without introducing Jabu, etc; built Ikki and Pope before entering a two-part Sanctuary arc movies that end with fighting Gemini Saga as intended.

[Mad Pierrot]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

The old anime also had a bunch of OC characters trying to kill Athena.

Remember Gigas and his Minions?


How about Geist & her Minions?

They sure were catching up to the manga with Geist considering Seiya kills her and then we have the canon storyline where Seiya refuses to fight a woman, Shaina, because it goes against all his prinsciples. What what was his actual training with Marin.

[Mad Pierrot]

Animenewsnetwork gave us the most obvious spoiler

Spoiler for wanna see?:

Sean Bean dies

[grecefar]

Originally Posted by Tactics

Honestly they can do it easy way with trilogy. First movie is some kind of origin story with Phoenix Ikki as antagonist, something like Captain America: The First Avenger, where it allowed to reintroduce Cloth and limit the party members without introducing Jabu, etc; built Ikki and Pope before entering a two-part Sanctuary arc movies that end with fighting Gemini Saga as intended.

I always thought about a first movie of saint seiya to be the galactic tournament and the ikki fight and in the end tease the sanctuary or do a post credit scene with aioria hospital visit to seiya, they can skip the silver saints.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

The old anime also had a bunch of OC characters trying to kill Athena.

Remember Gigas and his Minions?


How about Geist & her Minions?

Yeah, but the one in the movie comes directly from the Netflix series.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Yeah, but the one in the movie comes directly from the Netflix series.

That part is actually not such a big deal compared to stacks of other more glaring problems in the story & execution of KOTZ.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

That part is actually not such a big deal compared to stacks of other more glaring problems in the story & execution of KOTZ.

Maybe, I just thought the character was a dumb idea even in the Netflix show .