Saint Seiya
1986
Original language: Japanese
- animation
- drama
- action & adventure
- sci-fi & fantasy
The story
Ages ago, the goddess Athena was served by fighters called Saints who channeled the power of the Cosmos within them. Now a youth named Seiya has trained to become a Saint himself by earning the mystical Cloth of Pegasus. He is joined by other Saints with Cloths of their own to fight for Athena.
What it’s like
Bright, saturated cel animation of the mid-1980s: flat primary colours, glowing gold armour that flares with light whenever a warrior's cosmos ignites, and dramatic backlit silhouettes against stormy skies, marble temples and night-blue sanctuaries. Fights are built on held poses, speed lines and bursts of white energy, scored by bombastic synth-orchestral themes with sudden swells of choir and power-chord stings. The vibe is earnest, sweeping and bold, a kind of heroic adventure with a warm, slightly old-fashioned sincerity. It suits a Saturday-morning rewatch, a nostalgic evening with friends, or background energy during a long train ride. Violence is frequent and stylised: fighters are battered, bloodied and sometimes shown dying, with a fair amount of dramatic punishment, but the carnage is cartoonish rather than graphic, and the tone stays earnest rather than grim. Pacing is episodic, with long stretches of training and gradual escalation, and the emotional core is loyalty, brotherhood and orphans finding each other. It is for viewers who love shounen adventure, mythic grandeur and underdogs who refuse to quit.
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