Saint Seiya Omega

The show doesn't get any attention so I'd say it's deserving of a thread, no? Additionally it is a gorgeously spin-off sequel of the original.

How gorgeous? It got a second season green-lit.

Fav saints gotta be Soma and Haruto

"It got a second season green-lit."

this cant end well

So yeah, I've been watching this. For no-budget, formulaic shonen, it's pretty fun, and a good way to blow off steam on a Wednesday evening. Also, it's quite a bit less girl-unfriendly than is usual for shows of its ilk.

Now, I'll admit it's some way from perfect in that regard. Of eight important female characters, three are dead, one is kidnapped in the first episode and spends most of the rest of the show as an inanimate Living Battery, one got taken out of the running by a crippling De-power, and one is the single most evil character in the story. Two of the other three are an Ax-Crazy paedophile with a Split Personality and the victim of a crippling De-power respectively, but they at least have Spear Counterparts who are treated the exact same way, and the latter gets to help out the team in a small but important way later on. Despite all that, though, the women are written with rather more awareness and sensitivity than you might expect from a dirt-cheap eighties Fighting Series spin-off. It passes the Bechdel Test well, with the friendship between the two female team members being one of the more important relationships amongst the main cast. The female fighters can handle themselves just as well as the men, with heroines being competent allies with multiple big-name victories and villainesses being major, intimidating threats. Plus, it's littered with none-too-subtle digs at the franchise's more problematic aspects, like the whole Best Her to Bed Her thing the female Saints had going on.

It's no feminist masterpiece, but it does try, and its heart is in the right place. Compared to similar shows like Yu Gi Oh, Dragon Ball, and recent Gundam entries (hi, AGE!) that are dismissive, patronising, or outright hostile to women, that's a breath of fresh air.

@Laculus

If you've seen the original series then you'd know that Saori/Athena has been a perpetual damsel in distress.

Yes, but given that (a) it's 2013, and (b) the show seems to be putting some legwork into improving on its source material in these matters...

@Laculus

Saori/Athena was a prominent figure in the past battle with the Big Bad of the series so I'd say she isn't as useless as she was in the original series. So I say we can give her some kudos.

I've also found this series to be refreshingly progressive in its treatment of women for its genre. Yes, it could be better, but it's a quantum leap ahead of what the bare minimum I'd expected them to do. I'd actually rate Yuna higher as a positive female role model than Yuzuriah from Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas.

I've actually been fairly impressed with their writing so far. Quite a few surprise twists and unexpected deaths. I wasn't expecting it to veer so far off formula while keeping so many other shonen elements completely straight. Speaking of which, the only criticism I have is that they could let the other non-Soma saints do more of the heavy lifting, but even that feels less bad than how Seiya and Tenma tended to basically make all their allies unnecessary.

True, though Ryuuhou and Haruto do have a couple of important contributions under their belts, like against Tokisada and Paradox. For me, they qualify as useful enough for me to shrug off their relative lack of focus as 'eh, that's just their narrative role' rather than anything else.

In fact, I kind of like how much restraint they've shown with Haruto. 'Ninja Saint who can control three different elements and doesn't play by the rules' is a pretty heady recipe for a Mary Sue, so it's nice to have him as helpful but not overwhelming instead.

edited 7th Mar '13 2:16:49 PM by Iaculus

Yeah, I was worried they were trying to make him some kind of cash in for Naruto. But all things considered their use of him has been downright restrained.

lol "sues" and "stus"

edited 9th Mar '13 3:24:36 AM by SaintDeltora

'Character representing a major departure from the show's established rules and themes who completely overshadows the story and is perfect and awesome' doesn't exactly roll off the tongue in the same way, does it?

edited 9th Mar '13 3:33:27 AM by Iaculus

you could just call them "badly written characters" or something.

A Mary Sue is a specific type of badly written character, though, one who is perfect, overpowered, and doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the story. 'Badly written character' is too general to carry the same kind of information.

maybe according to your definition.

i have saw a lot of people call characters who were flawed, weak and fitted the world of the story quite well as sues.

Mary sue these days just means "character i do not like and therefore no one else should"

edited 9th Mar '13 3:46:17 AM by SaintDeltora

That a term is badly-used does not make it meaningless. Plus, definitions can be contextual. Welcome to the English language.

this is going nowhere and all it served was to derail the thread.

i am going to shut up now.

are you angry or what?

edited 9th Mar '13 4:01:24 AM by SaintDeltora

on-topic i really like their soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT3PNezHpm8 this one is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yciy02EQVo this one is pumping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4pfOFV0EAE and this one is simply beautifull

what are your favorite tracks?

I have a soft spot for Mime from the original series, though the music this time around is definetly stepping it up.

Thinking about the series, I'm actually surprised to admit I enjoy Souma's arc far more than Seiya or Tenma's. Usually I find the lead in a team based shonen a bit bland, but the reveal that his native element is Darkness added some much needed conflict for him to overcome.

Yeah, I know saving his mom/Saori is a pretty good motivation most of the time, but it felt a bit generic for me. = I dunno, having something for him to fight against as well as a different thing to fight for, along with the temptation to despair having a tangible benefit rather than be a sure ticket to defeat, makes his arc really appealing for me.

edited 9th Mar '13 5:11:38 PM by Earnest

"Souma"

Don`t you mean Kouga?

Oh blah. I keep mixing up their names for some reason.

Anyone else satisfied to hell and back about

Amor finally dying?

Definitely karma what hit that dude what with all the trolling he did to the bronze saints.

On another note here's some news on season II

edited 16th Mar '13 12:38:59 PM by Couchpotato20

"A rivalry between Seiya and Kouga"

I do not like the sound of that.

The idea of the Steel Saints returning is more cringe-worthy than a rivalry between Kouga and Seiya.

Is it wrong that I actually like the Steel Saints?

I'm imagining that the whole Kouga versus Seiya thing would be very much in the line of 'fuck you, (adoptive) Dad'.

edited 17th Mar '13 3:14:20 AM by Iaculus