Saint Seiya Hades Inferno Chapter Discussion

[Thanatos]

(Just a note to the mods, this is a seperate and ongoing story arc from the Hades Sanctuary Chapter, for which there is already a thread, based more or less around the R3 DVD release. However since one must watch Sanctuary Chapter before watching Inferno and because I don't want this to be an anything related to Saint Seiya discussion, I've created a new topic.)

So, um, wow. Who else watched the first two Inferno Chapter OVAs?


THEY SUCKED.

I mean, I'm very happy more Saint Seiya is getting animated, but the production values just dropped to shit. Most of the episodes consist of slow zooms and sudden cuts, and there wasn't much actual motion at all. Whereas the Hades Sanctuary Chapter sported extremely detailed background and unnecessary but pretty CG sequences as if to flaunt its high budget, Inferno seems so minimalistic and poorly animated it feels it was done on a shoestring budget. You'd think that the opening would have totally sweet animation to reward and attract viewers, but it's mostly a collection of passionate stillshots and the ending animation is just clips from the episode.

What the hell happened?! Ring ni Kakero 1 TV feels like it has better animation than this OVA SERIES!

The new opening theme song feels horribly out of place. Saint Seiya requires hair metal, and Marina de ray is certainly not.

I'm sure everyone wants to know about the new voice actors. Well, they aren't bad, but having been with the original seiyuu for 127 episodes and 5 movies, the replacements don't have the iconic-sounding tone to them yet. Seiya's new seiyuu sounds passable but I just don't feel that Furuya PASSSION. Shun does not please me. Original Shun sounded gay. That's okay, because Shun's supposed to sound kinda gay. New Shun sounds so high pitched and gay he could not be gayer if he had a thousand penises pentrating every office of his body.

My last bitch is that there was a brief scene in the first episode that's not in the manga which spoils an event that will occur much later in the series.

Overall, I'm disappointed with the first two episodes. I'm hoping that the animation will improve, but I'm not expecting it to. It just doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense to me to follow up the wave of old school Saint Seiya renewal interest with a re-envisioning of the series, when "re-envisioning" means taking a high quality existing OVA franchaise and turning it into a low quality Ring ni Kakero 1 clone.

::manly tears::

[ohtori_akio]

I have not seen it yet because I just don't know where to get a source from. But from what i've heard people are fairly divided about 1. the opening song and 2. the episodes. Same as you, I will be enchanted to see more Saint Seiya and I HOPE that it keeps the standard in some ways or others. If it's a big failure though, it could mean the end of the franchise... SO I think that this will need a lot of support!

In happier news, the Pisces Myth Cloth is finally getting a release and it's divine [img]/images/graemlins/happy.gif[/img] Here's proof:

http://pas2.free.fr/diamondust/2bgal/img/news/aphro.jpg

[musouka]

Hmm, I'm not sure it's as bad as you're making it out to be. Sure, I wish the animation was nicer, but if I can watch the original (and RnK, which I'm not sure why you're bashing on so much) and still enjoy it, I can do the same for these OAVs. My biggest problem, RE: animation is that the attacks just don't look flashy enough. <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Kanon taking out a bunch of guys</span> should be awesome, not "meh".

The new seiyuu are better than I expected. Shun definitely grates--which is a pity, since he's my favorite Bronzie--but the others range from decent to downright surprisingly good.

To be honest, my biggest problem isn't the drop in animation quality, but the fact that there's no new music. I reaally don't want to be thinking "Poseidon" or "Asgard" when I watch these OAVs, but it looks like I don't really have a choice.

And I love the new opening. The first Hades OAVs had a slow song with female vocals, surely you must admit that suits Saint Seiya even less...

[Dragon_Shiryu]

I have my gripes, but I certainly don't dislike it either. I'll break down my points:
My gripes:
1. I do agree sort of with the animation (but it looks far better than RnK, mind you). After getting used to the magnificent Galaxian Explosion shown during the previous 13 episodes, it gets replaced by that crappy thing, that looks exactly like the Galaxian Explosion from the Poseidon arc (and that was from 16 years ago).
2. Shun's voice. I hate it. With the previous one you could at least tell he was a guy because of his voice. Now it's too girly, even for Shun standards. The other voices are nice, I just need to get used to them.
3. The violence and dark mood is toned down. That did happen with the previous 13 episodes as well, but this time it's even more noticeable. In this case, the mood is important, since it's taking place in hell.
4. No new music. Yes, the StS music is godly, but it needs new ones.

Pros:
1. I love the OP. It starts with the unholy music, very fitting, and then turns hotblooded.
2. The art and coloring is fantastic.
3. Content wise, it's Saint Seiya, so it's awesome [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] (OK, first episode was a little boring, but the second one is awesome)
4. The new seiyuu do a good job. I especially like Hyoga's new seiyuu. It'll take some more time to get used for the new seiyuu for Seiya and Shiryu (which sound really good anyway). Shun I'll probably never get used to.

[Thanatos]

I don't recall Hades Sanctuary having new background music, so I wasn't expecting this series to have new music either.

While Hades Sanctuary had the slow, B&amp;R female vocals OP/END, it also had the original MAKEUP OP/END as well. It sounds weird, the Sanctuary OP/END tried to be so unlike a MAKEUP or Broadway Saint Seiya song, they totally fitted Saint Seiya because they were something new. The Marina del ray opening seems like an imitation of the original hair metal Saint Seiya songs, so I'm not very impressed with it. I want to be reminded of Saint Seiya, not Ring ni Kakero 1 TV.

Woah, now that I think about it, Dragon Shiryu, you're completely right: the Galaxian Explosion was exactly like the one used in 1989 instead of the one in 2003.

I also agree that the coloring is appropriate, but I'm dismayed at the relatively low quality animation because this is a pay-per-view OVA series and that implies a higher degree of animation quality than regular broadcast.

The Hades manga for these corresponding episodes have their moments of humor as well, so I think the anime version did its job in having the comedic moments with Charron and Lune. Perhaps they feel out of place because of the long and anticipated wait between Sanctuary episode 13 and Inferno episode 1?

The official SS website currently lists a schedule for 6 episodes. Doesn't this arc have to cover 4 volumes of manga? [img]/images/graemlins/stunned1.gif[/img]

[Dragon_Shiryu]

It won't finish the arc. I do agree with the animation, though I don't think it's bad. But I couldn't shake the feeling that these new ovas feel rushed. Hopefully the DVD version has extra scenes and some improvements. (Was it the version I saw, or did you all see how Charon's boat suddenly skipped a long distance when he was sent back by Seiya?)

As for the music, the reason they gave for the initial 13 ova episodes was that there wasn't enought time to create a new OST, thus a new OST was set in place for Tenkai Hen. But time certainly wasn't a restriction for this round (well, theoretically, it feels like they decided to create the rest like 3 or 4 months ago). Actually, Seiji Yokoyama said that there's no new music because Toei didn't approve a budget for it (except for Orpheus and Pharao, they're getting new music for their harp concerts).

[Dragon_Shiryu]

A short interview was done to one of the working staff for this new set of ova episodes. He answered why the quality is lower.


1. Toei reduced the budget, so many of the people working there are freelance animators. The staff is different altogether (T_T....) and they're even using some of the One Piece animators (the stiff animation does show a resemblance).
2. They were rushed into it. They just weren't given enough time to release a polished product, and he admitted they didn't have the time to implement CG scenes (Galaxian Explosion anyone? T_T), or to polish the drawings.

BTW, episodes 3 &amp; 4 were already released. I just heard a small clip of the new music for Orpheus and Pharao. Great music altogether (Seiji Yokoyama hasn't lost his touch).

[ohtori_akio]

I was also wondering about this you see. I bought a dvd of the first 2 OVAs (they were probably bootlegs) because I really wanted to see it and the result is kinda disappointing for a Saint Seiya anime. It looks very kiddish compared with the first lot of Hades. [img]/images/graemlins/sad.gif[/img] I definitely want to see the rest though so I'll be hanging around for more...

[Dragon_Shiryu]

I always got a rushed feeling from them, and I was right. The budget thing doesn't surprise me, since it's Toei.

Though I find it unjustifiable, since the previous episodes became best sellers, and sold more than 250,000 copies. They even did a press release stating them to be a hit. This part particularly would have benefitted from the same, or even better treatment.

[Thanatos]

Where is this staff interview?