Remember ‘Saint Seiya’? It’s Back as ‘Knights of the Zodiac’!
Saint Seiya is coming to the big screen with Knights of the Zodiac. But what is this classic anime and will a live-action remake be worth it?
Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac is a classic manga. It ran from 1986 through 1990 with a whopping 28 volumes. And that’s not even counting the 315-episode-long anime run or the six movies. Well, Saint Seiya is coming back as a big-budget, live-action, theatrical-release film. And after watching the trailer, I bet most people who don’t already know will know.
Saint Seiya
Written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, Saint Seiya is a shonen manga. The story follows the five ‘Saints’ who each have special armor and powers derived from various constellations and a magic source known as ‘Cosmos.’ The five saints are sworn to protect the reincarnation of the Greek goddess, Athena against other Olympian gods who wish to take over Earth.
Like I said, it’s a classic anime and manga premise and probably sounds at least a little similar to a few other titles that came out at a similar time or even just a few years later.
Seiya, the title character and main character of the upcoming movie, takes on the mantle of the Pegasus Saint. But in the manga, we also meet Andromeda Shun, the Andromeda Saint, Dragon Shiryu, the Saint of Draco the Dragon, Gygunus Hyoga, the Saint of Cygnus, and Phoenix Ikki, the Saint of the Phoenix Constipation. But it looks like we won’t get around to meeting most of these characters this time around.
Knights of the Zodiac
It’s hard to say for sure without seeing it for myself, but it looks like the overriding plot from the manga will more or less appear in Knights of the Zodiac. Seiya is listed as the Pegasus Knight, and Sienna is still the reincarnation of the goddess Athena. Though, in the manga and anime she was called Saori, Sienna being a translation used in some English versions.
Seiya is being played by the Japanese actor, Mackenyu (Pacific Rim: Uprising and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar) and Sienna is portrayed by Madison Iseman (American Horror Stories). The movie will also feature Famke Janssen (The X-Men Movies) as Guraad and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as Alman Kiddo.
It’s fair to say that the armor looks different. But it’s easy to see where the costume designers drew their inspiration and attempted to pay homage to the source material. And in general, the trailer visually looks like it could be a lot of fun.
But Saint Seiya is a series with hundreds of episodes, and live-action adaptations of popular anime are a notoriously tricky genre to get into. Will Knights of the Zodiac do the Seiya justice while being an enjoyable movie in its own right? Only time will tell.
Did you read or watch Saint Seiya? Are you excited about Knights of the Zodiac, or do you have little hope for this film? Who would you cast as the remaining saints? Let us know in the comments!
Ja ne, adventurers!
