The Knights of the Zodiac it is a truly global phenomenon. Although the anime has been much more successful in Brazil than in other parts of the world, it is not possible to deny the fact that the simple fact that the story of the Defenders of Athena is still alive after decades already shows the strength and relevance of the franchise. . For this very reason, it makes perfect sense to see how many times heroes have left manga and TV to move towards cinema as well.
Over these more than 30 years, Seiya, Shiryu and company have starred in films and specials a few times. They are very different productions, which sometimes raised the power of the drawing to a new level, sometimes tried to reformulate or even reintroduce the anime to a new audience and a new generation — but which, in all cases, bet a lot on charisma and character. series’ popularity.
Although not all of these initiatives were successful, they are interesting productions that show both the different possibilities of exploring the mythological theme and reinventing this story that is already so well known to us. Thinking about it, the Canaltech listed the 6 best movies of the Knights of the Zodiac
6. The Legend of the Sanctuary
Let’s start our list with the most recent film in the franchise. Launched in 2014, Knights of the Zodiac: Legend of the Sanctuary was part of an initiative that tried to renew the franchise and bring the saga of the heroes in armor to a new audience – which included the sequels Saint Seiya: Omega e Saint Seiya: Golden Soul.
And let’s agree that the feature film that hit theaters was really quite daring in that sense. Not only because it changed the classic design for a more realistic computer animation, but because it updated different concepts, including the dynamics of how the armor works.
The story of the film is a great summary of the initial phase of the anime, showing the emergence of the Bronze Saints in defense of Athena and the threat of the Sanctuary. Basically, it’s the part that everyone likes the most about the original cartoon.
The big problem is that it condenses the equivalent of 73 episodes into an hour and a half. This causes The Legend of the Sanctuary have a very fast-paced story where nothing has any weight.
Still, it is a very interesting film thanks to the new concepts it presents, such as Sanctuary being a much more metaphysical and divine place than an ordinary place. Not to mention the return of the original voice actors, which is always a hit.
5. The Warriors of Armageddon
Older fans might know the movie The Warriors of Armageddon by another name. When it was released in Brazil for the first time, it arrived with the title The final battlewhich is actually a pretty generic option.
Originally released in 1989 in Japan direct to home video, the story brings the Defenders of Athena facing a well-known threat from Western culture: Lucifer. Yes, the film brings the heroes beating the devil and, as expected, it generated a lot of controversy when it arrived here.
The plot is very simple and brings Lucifer being freed with his Fallen Angels – Beelzebub of Seraphim, Érigor of Virtue, Moa of Throne and Ashtaroth of Cherubim – and putting into practice his plan to destroy the world. Thus, it is up to Athena and her knights to stop the capiroto.
The point is that the film begins by telling the story of Lucifer and brings, right from the beginning, a scene with a burning Bible. It was enough to be a national scandal, forcing the snippet to be removed for quite some time.
For the rest, it’s a very simple adventure that repeats the classic structure of the anime: Saori tries to sacrifice herself for the good of the Earth and the heroes throw the punches at the villains to prevent that from happening. Still, it’s fun to juggle creatively to fit the Christian tradition within the logic of Knights of the Zodiac.
4. The Great Battle of the Gods
There wasn’t a child in the 1990s who wasn’t confused by watching The Great Battle of the Gods. The film had a story about the Warriors of Asgard very different from the one that existed in the anime, with the hero Hyoga himself fighting alongside the villains. In a time without the internet, it was difficult to understand that the medium length did not fit into the chronology of the cartoon.
Leaving this initial mess aside, the film is very interesting for bringing a structure a little different from other productions for cinema and home video from the saga. Furthermore, it is curious to note how many concepts and designs presented here were reused in the Asgard Phase of the anime.
The story centers on Hyoga’s journey to Siberia, where he encounters a dying warrior who warns of the inevitable Battle of the Gods. After that, the Swan Knight disappears, which makes his friends and the goddess Athena travel to the frozen kingdom of Asgard in search of information.
And that’s where the main point of The Great Battle of the Gods pops up. Instead of being just a new torture for Saori – who is imprisoned as usual –, the script builds a great conspiracy plot involving the villain Durval, representative of the Norse gods on Earth, to overthrow the Sanctuary.
Even if it’s not a Game of Thrones of struggle, it’s worth it for the simple effort of tinkering with the formula and bringing some small twists.
3. Heaven’s Prologue
The beginning of the 2000s promised to be the great comeback of The Knights of the Zodiac. Coinciding with the 30-year career of its creator, Masami Kurumada. The Hades Saga had finally been adapted for anime and Toei Animation hurried to make a movie that would serve as a hook for the inevitable sequel to the classic cartoon. Thats how Heaven’s Prologue hit theaters.
As its name makes clear, the film is a prologue to what would be the definitive saga of the Defenders of Athena — the fight against Olympus in the dreamed Saga of Heaven. And the feature gives good doses of what this story would be, bringing other gods and planting the tension that would reverberate in this future story.
Thus, we have Apollo and Artemis coming to Earth and presenting Seiya as a great threat to Olympus, in the same way that they explain that Athena is no longer considered a deity, since she would have corrupted herself with the rest of humanity.
It’s a very interesting premise, but it’s been abandoned. The Sky Saga never happened and the idea of presenting this arc in a trilogy was discarded, meaning that the fight against Olympus never left its prologue. Still, it is interesting to see this little demonstration of the gods’ power in Knights of the Zodiac.
2. Saint Seiya: The Holy Warrior
The Holy Warrior is the first film by The Knights of the Zodiac produced in Japan, although for home video. Originally released in 1987, it comes on the heels of anime on Japanese TV and reproduces the spirit of the Twelve Houses Saga very well — so much so that some of the situations end up being very similar.
The point is that, just as The Great Battle of the Gods, The Holy Warrior it also does not belong to the original anime chronology. Thus, it functions as a kind of isolated special episode in which the heroes need to save Athena from a new threat.
In this case, this danger is represented in the figure of Eris, the Greek goddess of discord, who kidnaps Saori to steal her powers and dominate the world once and for all. Thus, Seiya and company need to defeat the Ghost Riders before Athena’s vital energy is sucked by a mythological golden apple.
And the villain Eris is one of the highlights of the medium-length film, serving very well as a counterpoint to Saori. In addition, the idea of the Phantom Knights is another curious detail, mainly because it brings alternative versions of characters that will appear later in the chronology, such as Orfeu de Lira.
1. Legend of the Defenders of Athena
While Heaven’s Prologue e The Legend of the Sanctuary were films that tried to surf in the nostalgia of The Knights of the Zodiac, The Legend of Athena’s Defenders hit theaters at the height of the franchise — both in Japan and Brazil.
Originally released in 1988 – and here in 1995 –, this is the first real feature film in the series to hit the big screen and it showed that the franchise had the stamina to fill theaters. It is also known by the names of Knights of the Zodiac: The Movie e The Battle of Abel.
However, the main highlight of the film is the fact that we have the first great divine threat to Athena and her knights, in addition to the return of characters very dear to the public. The arrival of the god Abel, presented as Saori’s brother, was a blow to fans at the time.
Of course, the story goes the same way as usual, with Abel wanting to destroy corrupt humanity and Athena sets out to stop him, which means that Seiya and the other Bronze Saints have to face divine warriors in the process.
The highlight here, however, is the resurrection of some Gold Saints who had been defeated in the Twelve Houses Saga. In addition, it is the first time that we see Hyoga and Shiryu using the Aquarius and Libra armors – something that, in the anime, would only happen in the Poseidon Saga.
