Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas - Meiou Shinwa

A Holy War, from ancient mythology, where the Goddess Athena and Hades have fought against each other while defending the earth repeatedly over the span of 200 years. The story takes place in 18th century Europe, 243 years prior to the original "Saint Seiya" Three small children, Tenma, Alone, and Sasha have all shared a very happy childhood together. Tenma who is quite aggressive but upstanding has moved to Sanctuary to become a saint. It is there that he is reunited with Sasha who is the sister of Alone and learns that she is the reincarnation of Goddess Athena. Alone, who is kind, gentle and loves painting was chosen for the body of enemy King Hades. Tenma eventually becomes a saint of Pegasus and engages in a fierce battle with his best friend Alone, the King of Hades. Pegasus Tenma, King Hades, and the Goddess Athena and through the twist of their 3 fates merge together which unfolds a prologue to the original Saint Seiya.

(Source: TMS Entertaiment)

Alone Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Sasha Main

Hirano, Aya Japanese

Pegasus, Tenma Main

Kakihara, Tetsuya Japanese

Crane, Yuzuriha Main

Kobayashi, Sanae Japanese

Unicorn, Yato Main

Abe, Atsushi Japanese

Cancer, Manigoldo Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Pisces, Albafica Supporting

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Libra, Douko Supporting

Miyake, Kenta Japanese

Aries, Shion Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Virgo, Asmita Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Nabeshima, Osamu Director, Storyboard

Harada, Nana Episode Director

Honda, Yasuyuki Episode Director, Storyboard

Suga, Yoshiyuki Script, Series Composition

Reviews

Feb 20, 2011

NekoMinSeo

Recommended

First of all I have to mention that I didn't watch the first Saint Seiya anime series, OVAs andr OADs merely because I wasn't interested in the style or plot, so I wasn't a fan of the series when I started Saint Seya: Lost Canvas.
Despite this, this anime made me enjoy myself pretty much.

Story - 9/10
Simple but catching. The War between Hades and Athena and some dramatic inserts of the two to make it even more enjoyable. Include Pegasus in all this and you get a perfect mix of fights, drama and betrayals.

Art - 9/10
What can I say about it? The art ... was one of the elements that made me watch this series so you can guess form that how much I enjoyed it xD The design of the characters were fitting and the panoramas were just gorgeous.

Sound - 8/10
I didn't really like the opening song. My inner self was just screaming "Japanese people! stay away from English please!". Besides that it felt way too ..errr...children-series type of song, thing that's wrong since SY - Lost Canvas is a pretty dark series overall.
I have nothing to complain about the ending though. It was pretty and moving.
The insert songs between the scenes were good enough to make the right atmosphere so again, nothing to complain about it.

Character - 9/10
This is one thing that surprised me about this anime. Some of the characters, like Pieces and Virgo Gold Saints, even if they appeared in only 2-3 episodes of the series, that was enough to make me fall in love with them. The character development of the characters in such a short amount of time was outstanding.
The same with Yato, which I only thought will be a secondary character that everybody will forget once he gets off screen. I was wrong! lol xDD
Another character that surprised me was Alone, that despite everything he continued to cherish his past memories with his friends, deep inside his heart, even in his condition. The relationship between Alone, Tenma and Sasha was also really moving thinking about their present roles. So thumbs up to it.

Enjoyment - 8/10
I just gave it an 8 because of some fighting scenes that seemed awkward to me.

Overall - 8/10
8 because of the same reason as above but overall I really, really enjoy it and I am looking forward to the next season.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Aug 8, 2022

ProudElitist

Mixed Feelings

So this was the first part of the Lost Canvas series, uh? what has been presented over and over and over to me as "Th3 BeZtEzt ThIng EvUr!11!!", and surprise surprise...it isn't. It is adequately fun and well presented (more than the crappy hades chapter saga, which I dropped by episode two for the shitty CGI art and the snooze-inducing action) if you consider the fact that this is CLEARLY intended as a fanservice thing more than anything else, meaning the writer adressed some of the things that happened in the original animes to give fans what they wanted. Nothing wrong with that (we're a ... talking of a series - Asgard arc excluded - based on repeating the Golden Saints arc at nauseam for fanservice) but it seems to me that the fanservice didn't get fully the appeal of these characters to the fans, with the main offender being Pisces. I get making him stronger, but as a fan of him what made him interesting originally was the difference between his feminine, gentle, bishonen beauty and the idea he was a certified SOB able to kick serious ass. This is the reason why they set him up against his equal, the gentle and kind yet stronger than an atomic bomb Andromeda Shun, they matched perfectly. Also the writer didn't seem to fully get the reason why the female saints wear masks, but whatever. That said, it's a fun watch overall but it's NO SOBSTITUTE for the original 80's series. Watch that before this one or really you won't get the appeal of the characters, not just the ones who are not here (all the main bronze saints except pegasus).

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 13, 2020

MrAndersonX

Not Recommended

I don't get why people voted so high for this anime...

The characters are bleak, at best, as well as the story. Stuff usually just...Happens, with like a brief explanation or 5 seconds of informing the viewer that it just happens, I guess?

It seemed interesting at first, with Hades + Athena's revival, but then the show just skips 2 years...Right off the bat? Now, I've seen this being done in Naruto, Fairy Tail, One Piece (the big 3) because, well, they have A LOT of episodes and time to explain characters/plots, etc., and they can (maybe) afford it (tho I still think it's one of ... the boldest and baddest moves generally made by anime/tv shows/movies), but to do it right off the bat in an anime like this...Well, there goes the character creation/struggle/progression part. And the "plot armor" employed more than a dozen times per episode really puts a strong emphasis on this.

All in all, 1/10, and it's more than this show deserves. This score is only based on the promise this show had at the beginning and the potential to make some very interesting and entertaining characters, but it failed miserably.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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