u/cannothinkanickname

The whole speech she gives when facing Saga in the sanctuary is SO relevant these days. My forever fave Athena ☮️ “What meaning is there in living in a world like that? However, I still have faith. As long as the people of Earth continue to love one another and strive for peace, no matter what challenges we face, our love will never be destroyed. This is what we have been fighting for all this time, and we shall continue to fight for the future.”

(I made this assessment only for the anime TV show and from a cultural standpoint that helped me understand a question I’ve had for years.)

For the first time, I watched the pilot created for the American version of Saint Seiya, and if you’re from the U.S., you can immediately understand why this “silly” version actually makes so much sense as a proper reimagining of the show for the era when cartoons were peaking in America.

The U.S. characters have distinct personalities, the voice acting is strong, the pacing is phenomenal, and the story is simple enough for parents to comfortably let children get into it. Most importantly, the characters are very clearly instructed to work together as a TEAM, which is fundamental in American storytelling if you want a show to succeed with mainstream audiences. Even the ancient mythology elements are simplified enough to keep the plot light, grounded, and aligned with massive American cartoon hits of the time like X-Men: The Animated Series and Spider-Man.

Saint Seiya is simply far more intellectual, symbolic, and slow-paced than what American audiences traditionally expected from after-school action cartoons, and I’ve always wondered if that was part of the reason why it never truly took off in the U.S., along with the notoriously rough English dubbing and awkward voice acting.

Watching this pilot finally made it click for me: the original series lacks clear narrative guidance for American viewers. There’s also very little comedy compared to successful U.S. cartoons of the era, and comedy was almost essential for mainstream American animation at the time. On top of that, the Japanese script is so rooted in its own tone, mythology, and dramatic structure that there’s only so much you can adapt before the story starts feeling inaccessible or tonally strange to American audiences.

I was honestly flabbergasted by the decision to turn the Pope into Apollo, Athena’s brother. The moment that happened, the entire adaptation immediately sold itself to me because it actually clarified a plot point that feels incredibly vague and messy in the original series. It simplified the mythology without completely betraying the spirit of the story, which is probably exactly what an American adaptation needed in order to work commercially.

Unlike Sailor Moon, where the comedy is genuinely gold, the story follows a more day-to-day structure, and the characters and voice acting naturally connect with audiences, Saint Seiya never fully managed to translate those elements into American culture in a way that felt accessible to mainstream viewers. And lastly, I’m actually glad they ultimately kept the same voice actress used in this plot for Saori/Athena in the English dub of Saint Seiya, because that explains so much. Her character was always the only one that flowed naturally in the English dub and there’s a reason she was always my favorite.

After years of wondering why one of the biggest anime phenomena in Asia, Latin America and Europe, never fully connected with U.S. audiences, now suddenly everything has clicked.

I have this idea of collecting the three gods, but I honestly prefer them wearing their gowns instead of their armor. Their wings in particular feel so overused. While researching, I found out there’s an action figure of black hair Hades wearing his gown, which looks awesome. Julian’s outfit is probably my favorite, but that figure seems impossible to find anywhere. Any leads? As for Saori, she always looks stunning sitting on her throne in plain clothes instead of full armor. Help me find Poseidon pls!