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[Bragi]

I got acquainted with SS when I was about 15, and I have very strong kid memories of seeing the scenes in the twelve temples (Sanctuary chapter). However, it is the Asgard chapter that, in some way, made a special impression on me that I haven't gotten from any other part of the SS saga. The atmosphere of that part of the saga is a little different, I guess.

I do like the other chapters too, but I'd be curious to know how some of you feel about the Asgard chapter :
- do you like it less than other chapters (say : Hades, Sanctuary, or the new series)
- do you like it just as much as the other chapters
- do you have a 'thing' for it ?

Yours truly -- Bragi, inhabitant of the cold lands

[Mewzard]

I have absolutely no memory of this arc eitherr positive or negative. When I watched the anime, only the first 52 episodes were subbed with any real quality. After that, I couldn't go on, being too neurotic about subtitle quality. I later watched up to episode 60, since I bought the official DVDs in the US (which never went passed that). Aside from that, and the Fourth and Fifth movies, I've never watched more of the classic series' adaptation.

The reason the Asgard chapter is so different, though, is that it wasn't written by series creator Masami Kurumada. It was one of the anime's bits of filler (incredibly long filler at that, given that they made it longer than the Poseidon Arc). But yeah, can't say much about it. Read all of the Classic Manga (plus most of The Lost Canvas, caught up with Next Dimension, and read some of Episode G), and I've watched all of the animated material of The Lost Canvas and Omega, but the classic series' later anime bits are among what I've missed out on.

Though, I can say it's a bit off putting to suddenly shift from dealing with Greek Gods to Norse Gods. Sorry I couldn't be more inclusive, besides some background details. Still, nice to meet you.

[Bragi]

I have absolutely no memory of this arc eitherr positive or negative. When I watched the anime, only the first 52 episodes were subbed with any real quality. (...) Though, I can say it's a bit off putting to suddenly shift from dealing with Greek Gods to Norse Gods. Sorry I couldn't be more inclusive, besides some background details. Still, nice to meet you.

Why, thanks for for such an exhaustive comment. Nice to meet you too, Mewzard ! I can totally relate to getting neurotic about subtitle quality, I am a language purist (the sort of type who mentally corrects subtitles when watching stuff, though not out loud - otherwise I'd lose all my friends !) I am 'sorry' you never go to know the Asgard chapter, but my opinion is one of many, I have a special liking for it

You're double right - it's quite a big jump from Greek Gods to Norse Gods - and the Asgard series never had Kurumada behind it (except if you count the Blue warrior arc at the end of the sanctuary chapter - Natassia's story in the manga).

Me, in comparison, I haven't seen/read any Lost Canvas, Next Dimension, Omega - so it's exactly the inverse : it's the modern series I missed out on . (I guess I can still correct that).

I guess that if two people were needed for a SS Quiz, you and I would complement each other perfectly - together having everythign in our heads

[Mewzard]

I guess we do fill in one another's blanks, lol.

And you're in luck, English translations of both most of The Lost Canvas, and most of what's currently out of Next Dimension are scanlated in English, so you can find that pretty easily (or I can just post a link in the chat at the bottom of the site, which you're welcome to join and chat with us).

Well, the Blue Warriors never really connected to another god to me so much as they were just ancient warriors who fought for their own homelands. Though, perhaps, they were inspired by the original movie that had the Asgardians.

As for getting to know them, maybe in the future. With the first four movies coming to DVD here soon, I have hope. If those sell well, the anime would come next.

[topaz989]

I liked the Asgard arc for the most part. Their cloth designs were super cool and they put a lot of character into the villains with their back stories. I love mythology and I liked all the mythical connections they infused in it. They weren't just characters with a mythical name slapped on, they felt like there was some connections between them and their myth.

The one weakness of the arc, is that there was a lot of unnecessary padding. The best example would be that each episode started off with a really long scene of all the Asgardians kneeling before Hilda as well as the "last time on Saint Seiya scenes". The thing that bugged me about that was not only was it a bit long, but they would show all of them even if they were dead (the map of Sanctuary at the beginning of each episode in the last arc was brief and showed where they were at). Then there were some subtle ones, like the one where Shun slowly took off his armor or Seiya randomly falling off a cliff for no reason other than to have a flashback. If you want a comparison in length, the 12 Houses battle lasted 32 episodes that featured confrontations/friendly encounters with 12 Gold Saints, one being a second encounter (Gemini), the Asgard arc was 23 episodes against 7 Warriors. I think they could have easily turned it into a 12-15 episode arc and still have all the character developments and still give the characters two episodes worth of fighting each.

In short, it was good, but if they would've made it more focused, it would be a lot better.

I can't really compare how it ranks, because I really liked most of them.
If there was any arc to hate, it would be the "Pope Ares Minons" arc. While the Asgard arc filler was done right, this one was the exact opposite. Crappy Cloth designs (Ghost Saints, Docrates, The Flame Saint), dumb plots involving pirate ships, the brother of Cassios and the supposed sister of Shaina, both never mentioned again. Then there was the ultimate plot buster of the Crystal Saint being Hyoga's Master. While I did like the Crystal Saint and his design, unfortunately, it did make the confrontation of Camus and Hyoga strange in the anime.
 

[Cadraire]

Asgard is the best filler I've ever seen in an anime. The characters were likable with pleasing designs, some usually tragic back-story and their connection to Hilda. In comparison the black saints and some of the other pre-sanctuary stuff felt kinda cheap...

 I especially liked Hyoga vs Hagen and the twins vs Shun and Ikki... and I like Mime too...

I always skip those kind of "this is what was going on" scenes. Can't stand it. XD

Its true, I've seen Seiya fall off cliffs enough times. ahaha

I don't mind mixing it up with Norse mythology, its interesting. And the northern landscape is kinda pretty...

[Bragi]

The one weakness of the arc, is that there was a lot of unnecessary padding (...) the Asgard arc was 23 episodes against 7 Warriors. I think they could have easily turned it into a 12-15 episode arc and still have all the character developments and still give the characters two episodes worth of fighting each. (...) If there was any arc to hate, it would be the "Pope Ares Minons" arc. While the Asgard arc filler was done right, this one was the exact opposite. Crappy Cloth designs (Ghost Saints, Docrates, The Flame Saint), dumb plots involving pirate ships, the brother of Cassios and the supposed sister of Shaina, both never mentioned again. Then there was the ultimate plot buster of the Crystal Saint being Hyoga's Master. While I did like the Crystal Saint and his design, unfortunately, it did make the confrontation of Camus and Hyoga strange in the anime.
 

Hi Topaz ! I really liked reading your reply. I think I'm going to have to agree with you tht the Asgard arc has a lot of unnecessary "padding" (interesting word - not a word I knew - because I'm European ?) But I really had to smile with your comments on the the "fillers" in the Sanctuary chapters ! I wonder if you remember the whole subplot with the general of the Pope (the guy had a gem in place of an eye) and he was supposed to be the master of the Flame Saint. Actually, I really liked the Flame Saints cloth. I wonder : did you like the addittion with Shaka's disciples : the Lotus saint and the Peacock saint ? I guess you thought that was plain awful, right

Asgard is the best filler I've ever seen in an anime. The characters were likable with pleasing designs, some usually tragic back-story and their connection to Hilda. In comparison the black saints and some of the other pre-sanctuary stuff felt kinda cheap...
I don't mind mixing it up with Norse mythology, its interesting. And the northern landscape is kinda pretty...

Hi Cadraire ! I find myself agreeing with you on the whole scale. For one, I was glad that Seiya didn't get the Saggitarius cloth as a 'deus ex machina' but this time he goth the Odin cloth. Another nice change

[Tetsu Aero]

I haven't seen all of the arc completely yet, because the cd with the Hagen episodes didn't work. But one day i will watch through it all in order.

Nevertheless there is a couple of things i have gripes with, firstly the nibelung ring is not from nordic mythology, but the opera by Wagner.
Secondly, they really got it wrong how people look and act up here, plus there is no place with everlasting ice <.<

[Bragi]

I haven't seen all of the arc completely yet, because the cd with the Hagen episodes didn't work. But one day i will watch through it all in order.

Nevertheless there is a couple of things i have gripes with, firstly the nibelung ring is not from nordic mythology, but the opera by Wagner.
Secondly, they really got it wrong how people look and act up here, plus there is no place with everlasting ice <.<

Tetsu, are you aware that the nibelung ring idea has a strong basis in original Norse stories ? There's the story about how Loki, Thor and Odin kill an otter with a stone, and he turns out to be the shape-shifting son of a strong man with his two sons (Fafnir and Regin). To pay for the death of Otter, Loki attacks the dwarf Andvari and steals all his gold, including Andvari's ring that has a special power, to attract gold. Therefore Andvari curses the ring and this leads to Fafnir and Regin killing their father, Fafnir becoming a dragon, Siegfried killing Fafnir and being cursed by the ring himself - here is a little reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andvari

I don't want to give the impression that I want to know better. I just really like Norse mythology.

I agree with you that they did not portray always well how Vikings/Northerners behaved : let's start with the beards, for instance !

Cordially, Bragi

[topaz989]

Hi Topaz ! I really liked reading your reply. I think I'm going to have to agree with you tht the Asgard arc has a lot of unnecessary "padding" (interesting word - not a word I knew - because I'm European ?) But I really had to smile with your comments on the the "fillers" in the Sanctuary chapters ! I wonder if you remember the whole subplot with the general of the Pope (the guy had a gem in place of an eye) and he was supposed to be the master of the Flame Saint. Actually, I really liked the Flame Saints cloth. I wonder : did you like the addittion with Shaka's disciples : the Lotus saint and the Peacock saint ? I guess you thought that was plain awful, right

Lotus Agora and Peacock Shiva weren't too bad. In fact, considering Ikki is quite the badass, it was pretty smart to send others out to take care of him. I liked their outfits. They had just enough covering to where you could believe that they would fit in with the Silver Ranks and the robes were a nice touch to make them feel like they were students of Shaka. The only thing that turned me off was that the writers went overboard with making them look evil. Did they really need to kill an old man and throw a girl into a volcano? I would've rather have them just go there to take care of the Phoenix then terrorizing a village to pull heart strings.



 

 

[Bragi]

Lotus Agora and Peacock Shiva weren't too bad. (...) Did they really need to kill an old man and throw a girl into a volcano? I would've rather have them just go there to take care of the Phoenix then terrorizing a village to pull heart strings.

Yes, I didn't think the Lotus and Peacock Saints weren't too bad either... I liked their cloth designs. Indeed, they were cruel characters, but I guess that was just to make it black/white, so that the Phoenix Saint would have no moral issues with killing them (not that he has so many moral issues -_-; ) That's why I liked the Asgard chapter and the battes with the gold saints, morality was more gray there ...

[Tetsu Aero]

True about the ring, but the Andvarinaut was more about that fact that it was cursed to bring destruction to its wearer

there's also odin's draupnir ring

[Bragi]

True about the ring, but the Andvarinaut was more about that fact that it was cursed to bring destruction to its wearer

there's also odin's draupnir ring

You're true and right I had forgotten for a moment Odin's draupnir ring. Thanks for refreshing my memory

[leorio]

Asgard arc: I like most of the characters (they have depth and background stories, and though I don't like Alberich, I appreciate the traitor-in-our-midst element), the story, not so much. The plot is so thin it wears itself out halfway through the arc, but the guys keep on fighting anyway and Saori keeps exerting her Cosmo because Toei hopes to sell more DVDs (or VHS, in those days?). And like topaz989 says, the padding can drive you nuts.

I like it that the arc has two women both of whom are strong in different ways. Yes, Freya is strong too, or she wouldn't have defied the ruler of Asgard.