Saint Seiya: The Hades Chapter – Elysium

Here it is, the ending of the original Saint Seiya series with its final section of its final chapter. Elysium. It’s only six episodes in length and it’s full of lots of things. The Saints must defeat Hades and save the world or else. There is literally nothing else because it is do or die time. Elysium, land of the gods, is where this final showdown is happening. A nice green planet with some wonderful buildings and castles in the background. Quite a place to have this battle to happen. It’s familiar and yet not at the same time. Will the ultimate underdogs in the universe win? Well, I guess that answer is obvious but there are other surprises along the way.

Story wise, I don’t know what new things I can say happen in this segment. It really is just a fight by some gods of death outside of where Hades is to just fight Hades himself. It really is pure action and cool character designs clashing against each other. That’s not a bad thing at all. The tension and drama is still there in the middle of all the action. Seiya, Hyoga, Ikki, Shun, and Shiryu still are themselves with all the stakes they have into the series in those moments. At the same time they are still fighting for their lives against arrogant assholes like usual.

What changes things up in good and bad ways are the reveals that happen. For one thing, Seiya can hear what is going on Earth which means he knows that Marin, the person who trained him, found her at a village near the Sanctuary. She also lost her memories. While this didn’t come out of nowhere because I remember Marin trying to search for her, it feels like a massive surprise. It does help Seiya to be more motivated than ever before so he can meet her again, but it’s so strange you know? There are a lot of positives and negatives there and this is only the start.

One of the most important things in Saint Seiya is the gold saint armor. There is so much focus on them to make them special. Some have even come in to save the day in important moments where our heroes need them. Gold cloth came for our Saints in this chapter too. Except they didn’t work and suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere despite them being in this anime’s cover, the god cloth or Kamui cloth make an appearance and that happened in the last few episodes of this series and suddenly there is lore about them. Very complicated thoughts towards them.

So I am massively confused about my thoughts about this part because of all of these things. I do like these and the concept of these things. Also, Marin finding Seiya’s sister had some lead up and an entire arc between Sanctuary and this for that to happen. Let’s put that as good. The Kamui cloth? It feels like a massive convenience. That standard shonen power up is needed and Saint Seiya is full of those moments and other things there too. Pretty usual stuff. Still, I like having a finale where everything that has been on the table for so long and it just ends with everything there. Adding something to the end, even if it’s needed, feels really bad to me.

Which is something right? This is the end of all of Saint Seiya. Literally all of it. The journey is still completed and has carried so much momentum with character arcs that finally came to their own conclusion. Almost every person has found themselves to the highest levels they could. A couple elements in question of those are not going to ruin the entire experience because Saint Seiya has always been about the journey and that has been fulfilled for the most part there too. Some incredible work and thought has been put in this series to make it so special. This is not the best finale of a show I’ve seen. Still pretty solid over all. 

Then there is the power of the fight between Hades and our five saints that is just great and climatic. It is everything it needed to be and that made me so happy. Amazing there too. What really gives this series so much balls in its conclusion is the fate of certain characters themselves. It is not a happy ending as far as we know. Not everything is fulfilled for everyone and I am still wondering about the conclusion even if it feels right. It’s very heavy in a way that I have been thinking about it for a very long time. I think that is a fantastic way to end a series even if it’s unhappy. Sometimes people do not get everything they want. It’s realistic and heavy.

This was a good, not solid, conclusion to Saint Seiya. Not an amazing conclusion that will shake a series for generations on end, but it fits Saint Seiya to me. Seiya and the others have worked themselves to the bone to where they have stood up from attacks that should have killed them multiple times. No matter what, each of them have stood up once again to take on even more even when they are teenagers. The typical anime thing of teenagers risking their lives again. It’s a very powerful and emotional experience from beginning to end with all of these characters and I will miss them moving forward. But it’s time for more Saint Seiya. Watching Lost Canvas now.