Saint Seiya: The Heated Battle of the Gods (1988)

Let's be realistic.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

First of all, I'm going to say that I'm big fan of Saint Seiya. I grew up watching this series, and even today it is one of my favorite Japanese animations.Sadly, this movie shares the same problems that other anime movies based on television shows have: It is not only necessary to have seen the original series to understand the plot and the personality of the characters, but also, the plot of this short movie isn't very good anyway, following a repetitive pattern that became almost a routine in the other Saint Seiya movies (With the sole exception of fifth one, that was released in the 2004)Basically, the plot of this movie is pilot of what would be the Asgard sage in the anime series (One of my favorite parts) Since this is just a pilot, many things concept that later appeared in that part of the series feel here relatively undeveloped: For example, the new enemies and characters that were introduced in this movie are mostly "experimental" version of their series counterparts, being mostly one-dimensional villains (Instead of the complex and troubled antagonists of the Asgard saga in the series) The new setting, influenced by Norse mythology had many possibilities to explore, but instead of that we have a clichéd succession of battles that are well animated, but which take place in a shallow context of a uninspired good vs. evil battle.There is a very interesting element introduced here: In this short movie, Hyoga, one of the good guys, plays the role of a temporal enemy. This is completely unexpected, and could have been the chance for a great character exploration. Instead of that, it just serves as an excuse to make him another one of the good guys. It is never explained why Hyoga turned on "the dark side" (Was he hypnotized? This movie doesn't bother to answer that question. There are not even any kind of suggestion about what happened to him...It just happen.) Then, at the end, he turns good again (This doesn't have any explanation, either: Another missed opportunity to add some complex character development)The saddest part is that it could have been something really great and epic...But instead of that, this prefers to follow exactly the same formula used in the previous movie (The one where the goddess Eris was the villain) At least thanks to this we had the excellent Asgard saga.The good points: The great atmosphere, the voice acting, the superb music (Composed by Seiji Yokoyama),the beautiful and stylish designs by Shingo Araki, some very good action scenes. And also, the nostalgic value.

Hello this appears to be and ova a pretty common thing in japan where when some anime is skyrocketing in popularity with the fans and O.V.A might be made which it means that its not an series episode nor a full feature film with usually with about 90mim or so its just some sort of special treat for the fans sold in VHS or DVD nowadays its like a Micheal Scofield side adventure in DVD. Which in my opinion its pretty good so they don't have to rush the movie to be some summer blockbuster the is usually lame anyways- So don't be disappointed by the last opinion. If you are willing to see this you must be either a fan or someone interested in any way so i do recommend you have a go!I am from Brazil and we had the "knights of zodiac" as it is called over there and i think that the reason that the last user was upset is the way they show the series in TV in a manner that can only describe as abusive to the viewer making me wait for months on end while they repeated half a season over and over.So have fun but i recommend you see the series 1st otherwise will wont understand much this is not some batman movie that the origins of batman are explained every movie i used to watch this as a kid but this is most definitely not made for kids but fro teenagers and adults

I'm a Saint Seiya (or as we know the series in Mexico "Knights of the Zodiac") fan, but this has gone too far.I have yet to see the first Sain Seiya feature film (Saint Seiya Gekijoban, or The Legend of the Golden Apple, 1987), but regarding this movie, I hate to say that it's just plain old more of the same stuff! This movie is not only really, really short: 45 minutes (about the length of just two episodes of the series), but it also clearly non-canonical.Anything that happens in this movie, although it includes the characters of Saori, Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun & Ikki, has nothing to do with the series's continuity.Besides those two diminishing factors (its lack of real length and association with the canon), the base for the saints' conflict with the Kingdom of Asegard (sic) is barely something worth of suspense.There are no strong supporting characters, and the battles are short (really short) and meaningless. There's no reason behind the evil portrayed here.Now, I know how the Saint Seiya universe works, but this has gone too far. I REALLY hope the other Saint Seiya movie productions are better than this.Almost 20 years later, and not even nostalgia can save it from obligatory oblivion.