Well, that was awesome. I want to say some things. While some people say that Deathmask and Aphrodite are acting totally out of character, I remind you about Hades arc, when all of them sacrificed their lives for Athena. They already acted totally out of character. I mean, who expected Aphrodite and Deathmask to sacrifice their lives for the greater good, moreover for Athena, who they never seemed to be loyal to? In the anime version Aphrodite even gave some parting words to Shun, which was like... totally out of character. The point is, they changed. They are not the same characters as they were before. This is the whole point of Hades arc, after fighting with their respecting opponents, gaining defeat and dying, they learned something, and changed. All this stuff in the beginning of Hades OVA was an act. In the manga it is downright stated, and in the anime it is hinted (or stated as well, don't remember for sure). Now they died once again... after just being revived. So it makes sense why Deathmask acts like he did. We never really learned anything about him, nor his backstory, nor the reasons for his acts, not even the circumstances under which he killed all these people. All we learnt was that he was cruel and sadistic and killed those who pope (Saga, I guess) ordered him to kill. This could happen, that most of his victims were enemies during the war, not necessarily bad people, but enemies, and enemies must be annihilated, this is how Sanctuary, and Saint Seiya works in general. What I speak about is that even if Deathmask's victims were good people, they were not necessarily the civilians, they could be warriors, like the ones who were destroyed by Aphrodite. I am not trying to justify his actions, I am just trying to say that we barely know anything about Deathmask, Aiolia tried to kill Seiya, even though he was supposedly a good guy, because Seiya was his enemy. And given how twisted was Deathmask, it is not a wonder, that he was even more fine with killing his enemies, being it children or women.
Now about Aphrodite. He was shown attacking only his enemies, the island which was destroyed by him, (in anime it was Milo mostly, and Aphrodite killed only Shun's master) consisted only of saints in training. They were said to be enemies and traitors , so he killed them, yes, he fought unfair, and was pretty twisted as well, but he never was said to attack civilians, as far as I remember.
It is worth nothing that we never even got to see what they acted like in the normal life, we saw them only in the battlefield. I mean, just compare, how different is Aiolia while he actually fights, and when he is just in Sanctuary, not actually doing anything. And he is supposed to be the kindest of them all.
Now all of this is not that important, I just tried to give a clarification. What is really important is that they changed. They are not the same people as they were before. It was clearly shown in Hades saga, of course Kurumada's view on their personalities and their changes may differ from Toei's one, but it isn't the point, the point is that some time passed since Sanctuary arc before Hades saga, and even since their death near the Wailing Wall. There was enough time for them to rethink their ideals, and to change. In fact Capricorn Shura did it in amount of moments, after which he sacrificed his cloth for Shiryu's sake. It would have been out of character, if they acted like that in Sanctuary saga, when they were downright evil , but now they are not, they've changed in Hades saga, and any new personality for them will not be out of character, as people grow and change. Like did anyone expect Cassios to do what he did, after he was shown to be a generic bad guy, who abused Seiya? Yet he made one of the most selfless sacrifices, in order to help the woman he loved and admired. Why Deathmask and Aphrodite, who are Gold Saints, can't be the same?
Now about their personalities themselves, while I may not agree with some changes to Deathmask's personality, and find the way to change it not very good (though I find it pretty good now after rewatching), I admire the sole factor of effort, they did. I mean, seriously, Deathmask is viewed to be just a pathetic, weak and evil guy in the fandom. Yet Toei actually tried to do something with this character, and develope him more from his defeat by Shiryu's hands. I mean, I absolutely love this reference to him losing cloth. Like he seriously started thinking about why all of this happened. Why he lost to some simple bronze saint? Why did his cloth abandon him? This just shows plenty of character development for him. I had some doubt, but after rewatching an episode, I absolutely love it, and it makes sense. Now this scene with Helena was very ironic, and has shown the most character development for Deathmasque. I mean, he was stated to kill women, and children, probably even siblings. Yet, when he was given a chance to see the real life, outside of the war. He noticed, that those people who he killed actually had their beliefs, their strengths (despite being physically weak). That they could struggle hard to protect those they love, even without big amounts of cosmo, cool shining armor, and while being ill to top it off. He noticed it, and then I guess, he understood, he was wrong. He found those people as nothing more than pathetic toys for his amusement, but he was wrong, it wasn't like that. And that is why he felt such an attachment to Helene, because she represented everything which he was hating and destroying all these years, while he understood that his thoughts were wrong He wanted to protect her for all needs to compensate for everything he did earlier, to wash it away, to destroy all his bad deeds. Or, at least it is how I see it now, after rewatching an episode. But he failed. And that was why he cried. I also absolutely love the fact that they didn't make a copy of Manigoldo of him. I mean, I love a guy, but Deathmask isn't Maingoldo. It is good that they let him to be his own character.
It is worth noting that he is shown to be the same as he was in Sanctuary saga and for the most Hades saga in the opening of Soul of Gold, so he will probably return to the same way as he was before, or will act like he did, but fighting for the greater good. Nothing definite, just my thoughts.
Aphrodite. Now his demeanor makes more sense, and doesn't requre much words, yes, he acts much more like Misty now, but why not? Were we shown him actually outside of the war? I believe, not, to top it off, he is kinda looking like a complete opposite of Shun, while being handsome (and even wearing similar clothes to Shun in latest episodes), but actually stating it, unlike Shun, who doesn't seem to care much about it. He is also very harsh, as was shown while he attacked a God Warrior a couple of times, even after him being already weakened because of his roses, because he didn't answer his question. While Shun is an absolute opposite of it, who won't hurt a fly, unless there is a certain need. He fights for people now, but why not? These people are not his enemies, they are victims, who are attacked and abducted by God Warriors, those who he killed during his time in Sanctuary were his enemies, they could be completely good people, yet they were stated to be enemies by a pope, and he got an order, which he performed. Here he doesn't have any orders, those guys are civilians, and they are not his enemies, so he saves them. Makes sense. |