Seinto Seiya: The Lost Canvas - Meio Shinwa (2009–2011) User Reviews

Refreshing update to the classic

[PiranianRose · 9/10 · 21 February 2013]

I'm a big fan of the original Saint Seiya anime from the 80s as well as the 2000s Hades arc. This story is a solid addition to the legacy. Like the Hades arc, it's more modern than the original, but what sets it apart is the superior characterization. Characters here are deeper and more complex; I found myself caring about even those who appeared only briefly. My favorites, as with before, are the gold saints. Here they bear resemblance to their 20th century incarnations, nearly everyone more fleshed out, but there will be some pleasant surprises. For example, I was glad to see a dignified Cancer, while the Pisces saint is beyond cool.

One of the problems with SS was it started getting repetitive after a while. I'm happy to say not so with this story. It does draw many parallels to Kurumada's SS, making old fans feel warm and fuzzy. Yet, the story here is refreshing and unpredictable. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen for all 26 episodes.

The 2 minor imperfections are one, the series ends before the manga, leaving you hungry for more, and two, it does get just a little repetitive and formulaic with the way gold saints are introduced and their fate. All things considered, the solid story and execution are quite possibly the best we've seen in SS thus far.

Best successor of Saint Seiya

[kotomo-00895 · 9/10 · 22 September 2023]

The best successor to the Saint Seiya myth. This is an OVA series.

Incredible graphics and animation. A beautiful soundtrack. The series remains dynamic with no downtime and a plot that unfolds with each episode.

I can't help but draw a parallel with the Netflix series Knights of the Zodiac, one of the worst series on this theme ever made.

The story fits perfectly with the rest of the mythology.

Ambitious animation that would have deserved a sequel.

This series only covers 1/3 of the original manga, which was unfortunately halted by studio TMS Entertainment for lack of revenue.

What a shame! Proof that money doesn't always go hand in hand with art!

One amazing prequel series

[Rectangular_businessman · 10/10 · 10 September 2012]

At first I was somewhat reluctant to see this animation since the designs and the artistic style were considerably different to those from the original "Saint Seiya" anime, but after I decided to give "The Lost Canvas" a chance, I was pleasantly surprised by it.

Not only this new story finally gives Saint Seiya the epic treatment that it deserved, but also I would dare to say that, in some aspects at least, "The Lost Canvas" is even better than the original series.

The new characters introduced in this animation were fascinating and complex, and the story (Which takes place 250 years before the original series) moves in a completely unpredictable manner, being something completely different which at the same time keeps the essence of the original Saint Seiya.

The animation and the designs were simply excellent, having a great quality in all the episodes.

There is also a great character development for the main character and the Golden Saints from the past, some of which were even more likable than their counterparts from the original series.

The plot of "The Lost Canvas" was something very beautiful and captivating, being also exciting and mysterious.

It is a shame that this only had 26 episodes (Which unfortunately doesn't cover the whole story of the manga in which it was inspired) In my opinion, "The Lost Canvas" is the best animation based on Saint Seiya that has been ever made, and it is shame that this didn't have the success that It deserved.

10/10

Best Anime ever

[stermix501 · 10/10 · 3 May 2013]

If you like the Golds Saints, you will love the Lost Canvas series. I have seen all the other series (even the newest) entirely, but I would never consider myself entirely a fan due to the simplistic set up of most stories: 5 non-masculine friends will win against anyone after tear dropping thinking of their friendship. The Gold Saints and Gods who were more interesting as characters would simply play the role of punching bags.

In the Lost Canvas all this changes. The main characters are only 2 bronze guys and a silver gal who are not really friends but fight together for different reasons. The Gold Saints are really as impressive as they should be and each one of them plays a deep, memorable, heroic and protagonist's role for a few episodes. As another review said, you find yourself really caring about every character no matter how secondary. The plot holds really well and the development between fast and slow paced action is so well done that you are not bored from either one.

Although some nice licitly manga traits are still there, all the faces are much more human like and all details and rough story development make you think you are watching an anime movie for adults and not just some TV series for adolescents.

In addition, you get nice references from Greek mythology that make you do related research. Great!

One major problem!!! They stopped it after 26 episodes before even having shown all the gold saints in their full intervention. What a shame! I have never been so upset for cancellation of a show before. It's probably somehow linked to rights and the apparition of mediocre Saint seiya Omega immediately after. What a mess

Greatest manga/anime story of all time

[keeelvy · 29 July 2016]

I've always been a great fan of Saint Seiya and I loved the classic series but honestly it's nothing compared to The Lost Canvas.

The plot is focused on the gold saints, the most powerful saints of the 88 constellations and unlike the classic series there's just one bronze saint who's fundamental to the story, Pegasus Tenma and that's probably the reason why it's so great, because just as I previously wrote, the gold saints are on the spotlight and I can say they're really cool and mature and it makes for great dialogues. What's more their true power is fully depicted in The Lost Canvas and their personalities and values are shown as well thus it's possible to really identify with them and root for their victory and success.

The plot is also focused on the relationship between the Pegasus Saint and his best friend Alone who turns out to be Hades' vessel and as a result the themes of friendship, brotherhood and loyalty are all well exploited.

Regarding Tenma, he's pretty different from his successor, Pegasus Seiya, because he's clearly more mature and focused. As He's the only bronze saint (There're more but just as i said they're not so important) his development and growth aren't so hasty like the bronze saints of the current era as a result his rise from a wannabe saint to the legendary Pegasus saint makes sense.

Besides that, the dark/gray tone used is fascinating as well because it kind of shows the reality of the Holy war and conveys the feelings of the ones involved in it and also gives a more serious tone since it's not so colorful and lively.

Summing up, I do recommend it and I think it's a must-watch for everybody regardless of age or taste because it's not just action but also drama, comedy and thriller.

Incredible Series!

[FoxtrotWhiskey0 · 10/10 · 28 July 2019]

By far the best story line of all Knights of the zodiac, it fufills my nostalgia from the original 80s. Strong characters personality, engages you in every aspect through out the series. Grate graphics and extra thumbs up for keeping the original audio in Japanese.

I'm obsessed!!

[tcyad · 10/10 · 3 August 2020]

The graphics, the music, the characters are all great. It's ashamed that the show was cancelled :( I've rewatched TLC sooo many times and wish the show would be continued on...

Absolutely Beautiful

[cristina-46402 · 10/10 · 8 July 2021]

It's such a shame that TMS didn't continue this series because the art and animation was captivating. The fights were so fun to watch and this anime kept me on the edge of my seat. I also read the manga. I wish the anime was continued so we can see epic fights between the saints like Regulus and Radamanthys.

Not finished

[liooizki · 6/10 · 6 April 2020]

The anime is not finished due to cancellation. It has a really good plot, animation, OST, characters and art work; but it all went away when they didn't finish the anime

The Last Jedi: Saint Seiya edition

[TooKakkoiiforYou_321 · 3/10 · 8 July 2022]

And with that I mean one specific aspect: the fact that this series is clearly an attempt to give to the fans of the original '80 Toei classic a copious amount of fanservice by showing the version they wanted of certain characters...without understanding practically nothing of them, or at least what made them interesting to their fans in the first place. The absolute main offender being Albafica of pisces, who is what the non-fans of the poet warrior Aphrodite Pisces from Saint Seiya and the Youth of The Crimson Blood movie wanted without understanding what made him compelling to me and other people to begin with. Other gold cloths are not treated differently, in particular the other favourite of mine Virgo, and there are also copious amounts of continuity errors such as athena female saints removing their masks because reasens. On a side note, the OST is barely fit for a Saint Seiya product IMHO, reeking too much of bog-standard medieval fantasy tones and not enough of greek-inspired tunes. Better than the snooze-inducing, CGI infested Hades Chapter because of its fluid animation but still not really worthy of appreciation overall.

All The Elements of a Good Anime if it Werent Trying & Failing as a Saint Seiya

[tesswysko · 3/10 · 22 May 2020]

I HAD to give this series 3 stars, and give up watching 10 episodes in, because I just couldn't stand the hypocrisy anymore. This anime is beautifully drawn, the characters and actions are smooth; the voice actors are very good and quite famous ones; the story is an interesting one - to an extent, but boy did they screw the pooch...

In this series, the storyline is set back in the 1800's in Italy long before Seiya and the rest were born, during Athena's last incarnation. I hate spoilers, so I won't get into too much, but I'll say this, the story revolves around 3 orphans who grew up together, 1 a boy who becomes the Pegasus Saint, 2 &3 are a brother and sister, the sister gets adopted to Greece and becomes the new Athena, and the brother who is supposed to be the purest of souls ever born becomes the next Hades incarnation. In this series, the whole band of brothers with Andromeda, Dragon, & Cygnus doesn't exist! NO ONE, even Master of the Gold Libra Cloth, who we KNOW to have been over 500 years old, is NOT the master of the Libra Gold cloth!!! NONE of the characters from Saint Seiya even make a flash forward in the series!!! A lot of the "rules" of the cloths and Cosmo AREN' T followed, they just rewrote things to please themselves while capitalizing on the Saint Seiya franchise!!! The whole thing just feels rushed, false, cheap, and contrived. I FEEL CHEATED!!!

In a day and age where a LOT of the anime I grew up with, like Cyborg 009, Ultraman, & Robotech are being remade to look and feel shiny and new, THIS ONE went off the rails!! BIG NOPE for me!!!

it doesn't live up to the original anime

[erminahotmail · 5/10 · 22 March 2024]

Then this anime series is the prequel to Saint Seiya this is set in the year 1800 So I didn't like this series but it's not much worse than the others So for me the plot isn't done very well and the mini characters So I don't understand why there is in this seriesthere are only three Knights who defend Athena in the original there were five and then against the bad guys they are not interesting at all The only positive thing about this anime is the animation This is the only thing that saves but one thing that I really can't to understand How come in the original seriesAthena said that this was her incarnation of a human being But in this she was already deceived some time ago in a human being you would like to say that Athena incarnates every century and then what concerns the golden knights I really can't understand some things like the knights of Aries and theLibra They shouldn't have been the only survivors of the great war Because the knights of the lion can only be seen in these seconds and do nothing because the knight of the scorpion is the one from aquarius The only thing they do is chat and above all because there is no 'and theknight of the twins this anime was just useless for me and also in this anime there should have been another story but the authors really decided to stop right here Yes yes because the manga was still continuing I didn't like this anime but it's better than other worse ones souls that concernSaint seiya to conclude vote 5.