Saint Seiya: The Heated Battle of the Gods

Athena and the Bronze Saints are not in Greece this time but in Asgard, covered in ice in the north. Dolbar, who rules the region, claims to be Odin's representative and takes Athena prisoner. Seven warriors protect him, each carrying one of Odin's rubies, and the saints have to defeat all of them. Shigeyasu Yamauchi directs. It is the second feature in the series, made at Toei Animation. The source is Masami Kurumada's manga, but this story is not in it; the Asgard section, drawn from Norse mythology, was written directly for animation. The television series later handled a similar Asgard strand, and the two are separate. The series works the same way here: each saint meets one opponent, the fight ends with the name of a technique being shouted, and the next one begins. The structure is repetitive on purpose. What distinguishes it is the look. Snow, ice and northern lights give a palette entirely unlike the Mediterranean colours the series usually works in. It runs about forty five minutes, at medium length rather than feature scale. Who it is for: viewers of Saint Seiya and anyone who likes eighties Japanese action anime. Who it is not for: there is no context at all for a newcomer, the fights repeat in sequence, and the story does not affect the main narrative.