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tokiro07 · 11 months

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Saw the live action Knights of the Zodiac (which I will be differentiating from the Netflix version by referring to it as The Beginning going forth), and while I had fun, it was bad in exactly the ways I expected

Which is to say, pretty much the same way that the source material is

While there was actual fight choreography, which was an immediate plus that almost made me forgive every other bad decision I knew was coming preemptively, the overall story was just as vapid and underdeveloped as every other adaptation of this story so far

I do think that for the sake of conveying the first arc in a two hour film, trimming everyone aside from Seiya, Ikki (Nero), Saori (Sienna), Mitsumasa (Alman) and Marin was the right play; dealing with Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun and whoever else on top of an already decently sized cast would have diluted an already watered down story. The problem, though, is that other characters were either added in (Vander Guraad, just like in the Netflix KotZ) or had a lot of extra attention given to them (Cassios, again just like in KotZ, and weirdly Tatsumi/Mylock, who was kind of the best character when he had no right to be), and in both cases used up screentime that should have been reserved for Seiya, Saori or Ikki

If they were going to put so much focus on Guraad, who this time is a woman despite being literally the same character as in KotZ, then I think it would have been prudent to use her as a device for developing Saori more. We’re told that when Saori was a baby, she was being cradled in Guraad’s arms and then randomly unleashed such a concentrated blast of Cosmo that it destroyed Guraad’s arms and necessitated Cosmo-life support to keep her alive. While I have no idea why such a thing was necessary even in context, it would have helped a lot to actually see this event happen, and see it early in the film. Seeing the transition from motherly figure to would-be executioner would have made for a much more compelling plot than seeing an evil businesswoman pursuing a young girl for nebulous reasons and only finding out later that the girl is her daughter who we’re told near mortally wounded her one time

It also would have built up Saori’s fears of losing herself to Athena much more effectively. When we’re formally introduced to Saori, Mitsumasa basically says “oh, by the way, Seiya, let me introduce you to my daughter, the reincarnation of Athena” and she’s just like “hi, I’m Athena or whatever” then flops down in a chair in the background as if she’s actively trying to leave the frame but knows she isn’t allowed to. It’s only in the next scene when she has a random Goddess Attack that Seiya even believes conceptually that magic is real, and then all at once accepts that Saori is Athena and that he’s a Saint, though he mopes about that for a little bit because he doesn’t like being tied down by destiny or whatever

Saori and Athena are usually pretty indistinguishable in most Saint Seiya media, unlike Julian or Shun who get outright possessed by Poseidon and Hades respectively, so seeing Saori worry about the possibility of having her personality subsumed by Athena is a pretty interesting angle. Even ignoring the possibility that she would be a threat to the world, which is kind of an odd decision for the writers to make anyway in my opinion but I’ll get to that later, analyzing that anxiety would do wonders for Saori as a character, as she usually comes off pretty flat. Seiya also tells her that she has the right to choose between being a goddess and a petty jerk in the climax of the film as she is losing herself to Athena, but the thing about that is that she’d never been a petty jerk to Seiya earlier in the movie. She was aloof in the very beginning, then tried to relate to Seiya and comfort him about destiny not being set in stone, packed him a lunch (that he lost before he got to eat it, which I think is devastating for whatever relationship the writers were going for) and then got kidnapped when he couldn’t use the Pegasus Cloth properly. That’s literally every interaction they had, and he never called her a petty jerk or made any value judgments on her whatsoever, at least not to my recollection. Seeing more of who Saori normally is and what she had to lose, and what she did lose because of her divine powers, would have done wonders for both her and the film, but alas the plot is more important than the people in it

Similarly, Seiya has very little personality, as usual, and even manages to have less than KotZ which at least showed him picking up litter after he misses a trash can to show that he’s carefree, but responsible and respectful. Here, he’s...determined, as shown by the fact that he never gives up during a fight, and he’s...skeptical of mysticism and fate. That’s...pretty much it. There is a little bit of overlap there I suppose when the only thing he gives up on in the film is breaking the rock during Marin’s training, thinking that it’s impossible, but honestly it came off as inconsistent with his usual blind determination than being a nuance in his two major character traits. I think I would have liked to see more casual interactions between Seiya and anyone else in the cast, whether it be with Seika/Patricia in the flashbacks or Saori or Marin in the present so that we can see again what kind of person he was vs. what kind of person he became, what he lost when Seika was taken and what he retained. They even try to play that angle too, with Marin asking Seiya who he’s trying to save and his vision cycling from Seika to Saori to ultimately his younger self cowering in the closet. The innocence of his youth or the powerlessness he felt as he watched Seika be ripped from him is potentially a strong motivator for him, but because we know effectively nothing about who he is as a person, we don’t feel the weight of the realization that he still feels like he’s that helpless kid, or how that motivates him to save Saori after he had been so badly beaten and even allowed Mitsumasa to die

Speaking of Mitsumasa, he had one scene where he comforted Saori after a nightmare vision of Athena killing Seiya, but that was the only real fatherly moment we got to see from him. The rest was just exposition, all tell and no show. We learn that he abducted countless children to feed their Cosmo to Guraad to keep her alive, which I guess is meant to be in place of him gathering orphans to become Saints, but again we don’t really feel a sense of betrayal or anything because he wasn’t established as being all that great of a guy in the first place. We didn’t have much reason to think he was bad or anything, aside from association with Guraad, but he went from neutral to dubious rather than endearing to nuanced. His argument with Guraad about how they should believe in their daughter was one thing, but again without seeing the threat she poses that made Guraad turn against the family, we don’t have a strong sense of what Mitsumasa is having his faith tested against. And then he kills himself pointlessly, failing to take out literally any of the opposition that hadn’t already been beaten by Iron Chef Tatsumi (who again, is usually supposed to be completely ineffectual, so while I had fun seeing him get to be cool for once, he really had no business being in the first place)

As I said earlier, Guraad also didn’t really feel like a mother to Saori, she just felt like a bad guy who had heard of her, whereas the Guraad of KotZ at least talked to her and Mitsumasa in a way that gave me the sense that they were at one point a family and that he regretted that their lives had come to this. Somehow Guraad is a much more believable gay man than straight woman, which I think is particularly funny since KotZ only hinted at Mitsumasa and Guraad having such a relationship whereas in this version he explicitly refers to her as his ex-wife. Again, seeing their happy life prior to the tragedy, the choices that they made and regretted afterwards, and their separation when compromise was no longer an option would have made their dynamic and Guraad’s presence as the villain (and ultimate decision to give up her plans because of her lingering affection for her daughter) much more believable and resonant as a story

Ikki, of course, also fails to resonate at all because we’re somehow told even less about him than anyone else. He uses the Phantom Demon Fist all of once, not even on Seiya, which would have been a good opportunity for analyzing his anxieties or even been a good way to reveal that Mitsumasa was involved in Seika’s disappearance, and we never learn his motivations for wanting the Sagittarius Cloth or killing Athena. He seems to believe that Athena is a threat to the world, but honestly the idea that Ikki is trying to save the world through unscrupulous means is extremely counter to the Ikki from any other iteration. Ikki is motivated by two things: vengeance and protecting those he cares about, and the interplay between those two ideas is probably the most interesting thing about early Saint Seiya (trying to get revenge on Mitsumasa by killing all of Mitsumasa’s children, including his own beloved brother Shun, who he believes he’s mercy killing because of their tainted blood at Mitsumasa’s hands). Without either of those motivations being clearly established here, he’s clearly trying to be a nuanced villain with noble goals, but he just comes off as a random mook who happens to be stronger than anyone else present. If we had either taken out Guraad’s failed parental storyline or Cassios’ desire for revenge against Seiya (for...leaving the ring during a fight?), then time could have been dedicated to developing Ikki’s personality and motivations, but instead we learn nothing of relevance about him aside from the fact that he is the Phoenix Saint

We also learn nothing helpful about the Saints, where the Cloths come from, what they do, how Sanctuary works, we just kind of vaguely learn about their existence and Cosmo, which is a personal point of umbrage for me. While the visual of Seiya and Ikki’s Cosmo spirits wearing the Cloths was really cool, the Cloths themselves clearly aren’t meant to be rearrangeable into statues, robbing them of a lot of their identity. The Phoenix Cloths feather trails were prehensile and able to shoot the feathers as projectiles, that was pretty inventive, but it only comes up when Ikki is attacking Guraad, not even during battle with Seiya, so it was also just kind of a waste. I wanted to see an interesting take on the Cloths and Cosmo or have the Saint Seiya world clearly established to show newcomers what’s cool about the franchise, but despite those things being my favorite part, they were sadly little more than footnotes and MacGuffins. I do think it was interesting that the Pegasus Cloth had two levels to it, covering just his chest and arm at first and then covering his full body, but man that was a drastic jump between two scenes without establishing that there was a way to...I don’t know, use the armor better?

I see why this movie isn’t performing super great, at least not stateside, but I can’t help but feel that part of it is because IT’S NOT PLAYING IN MOST THEATRES!!! AND THE ONES IT IS PLAYING AT IT ONLY HAS LIKE ONE SHOWING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GOD DAMN DAY PER DAY!!! I had to drive half an hour to a theater at the tail end of the hours of operation because that was the only time I would be able to make and use my AMC account rather than paying 30 bucks for me and my wife at the ritzy local theatre, and honestly I’m glad we did it that way cus if I actually paid for the tickets I’d probably be even harsher

To sum up, the action was fun, and some of the visuals were surprisingly inventive, but like every other adaptation, The Beginning fails to capitalize on the original work’s potential and instead acts as if the premise alone can carry it without actually putting in the work to properly develop the characters or setting. I wasn’t bored, which is a win, I’m just disappointed that I got what I was expecting: the original but worse (again)

#saint seiya #knights of the zodiac #saint seiya the beginning #toki watches saint seiya

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straykidsnerd255 · 1 year

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Hi ! Can i ask for the scenario when s/o is in the hospital nearly dying but with dohko please when he confess his love and all ? And also the part when she wakes up please ? I hope its not too much 🙏

You sure can and no it isn't too much! Sorry if its short and sorry that it came out so late! Enjoy!

Dohko pushed through the doctors and nurses. He had received a call not too long ago saying that you had been in a terrible accident and was currently in the hospital. He was scared and wouldn’t rest until he knew that you were ok. The doctors moved a bit and allowed him to see you for only a moment before they had to gently push him out of the room. They closed the door and turned the sign above the door on. Dohko paced back and forth as he waited for the light to go off. The rest of the saints and Athena arrived only to see Dohko on the verge of crying.

Shion walked towards his friend in hopes that he could calm him down enough to get him to sit on the bench. “She is a strong girl, Dohko. She will pull through.” Shion tried to reason with Dohko. The other Gold Saints and the few bronze that came were nervous that she wasn’t going to make it but they believed that you would. Moments passed before the sign above the door turned off and the main doctor walked out. Dohko stood from the bench and started talking with the doctor. “She is in stable condition right now, you and your friends are more than welcome to go and see her but she is asleep for the time being.

Dohko was the last to see you. He grabbed a chair and gently took your hand in his. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. I should have known they would have gone for you too. I was hoping to tell you something when you were awake but since you won’t be awake for a while, I will tell you now. I love you. I want you to be my girlfriend. I want you to be by my side forever. I can’t fathom the idea of you never being by my side.” Dohko had tears in his eyes but as he stood to leave, he felt your hand tighten around his.

He turned to see you looking at him with a smile on your face. “I love you too. I didn’t expect you to reciprocate my feelings but I guess it takes a near death experience to realize this.” you chuckled lightly before tears filled your eyes. Dohko moved closer to the bed before dipping his head down and pressing a kiss to your forehead. “Get better and I will take you on a date. The whole day. Just the two of us.” He said, gently letting go of her hand, a content smile on his face. You are ok now. You were alive and that was what mattered to Dohko. Now, to get the date planned for the day of your release.

#Saint Seiya #Dohko #fluff #angsty at the beginning for a second #cute #anon #requested #female reader

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