Saint Seiya: Episode Zero

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THIS AWFUL MANGA.

Who, in the name of Jesus Christ, can like THIS aberration against the Saint Seiya franchise? Look, I've seen and read ALL about Saint Seiya, it is my childhood's iconic series. Masami Kurumada made, in 1986, one of the most famous Shonen series of all time. He created the Gold Saints, characters everybody love. He made epic fights, taking advantage of the Greek mythology. Of course, in the manga, he left plotholes he couldn't fill or he forgot to. One of the most iconic plotholes in Saint Seiya, is when Sagittarius Aiolos saved Athena from Gemini Saga. Episode Zero covers that part of the story.

The story is atrociously bad. All the Gold Saints have recently received their armor, so they need to train in order to be stronger. Gemini Saga kills Aries Shion and tries to kill Athena too, but Aiolos saves her. Well, we all know this part of the story. Aiolos arrives to the Pisces temple. There, he fights Pisces Aphrodite. Here, is revealed that the sacred Sagittarius technique is an arrow that don't allow movement. Of course, in the original Saint Seiya anime, Shura and Aiolos had a fight where he showed his terrifying Atomic Thunderbolt, an amazing technique. Here, we have..., an arrow, and a shadow. He leaves Aphrodite alive and he gets to fight Shura in the Capricorn temple. And then, Deathmask, blablabla.

Kurumada's art is always the same. We saw 1986's Saint Seiya, and we saw 2006's Next Dimension. Well, of course, Episode Zero looks like it was drawn in 1972. All pages are colored, but, who cares?

The characters are the DUMBEST IN HISTORY. First, we have Pisces Aphrodite and Cancer Deathmask. They are selfish and quite stupid too. At least, Deathmask has some type of personality, but Aphrodite is like a blank sheet of paper, totally different to the 1986's version. We have, of course, legendary hero Sagittarius Aiolos. He bravely fights his companions and get to the Sagittarius temple to take his armor. But he does not use it even when he is close to die! No excuses. He could have used the cloth to easily defeat Deathmask and protect himself in the end, but he prefered to carry it in his back. Finally, we have Capricorn FUCKING STUPID Shura. Shura was always represented as the most loyal defender of Athena. Well, at first he looks like that, but in the end he prefers to kill Athena in order to kill Aiolos! WTF?!?!?!?! You were supposed to protect your goddess, you dumbass!

I am so severe with Episode Zero because the main story was really good to tell a great story. Some people has been waiting for years to see Aiolos in a real fight, with great techniques and fights. Instead, Kurumada prefered to draw some random shit with a mediocre story and stupid characters.