Getting less and less convinced this is actually a “spinoff”
What They Say:
After dying during the battle against the Underworld, Gold Leo Saint, Aiolos, finds himself mysteriously resurrected in Asgard. He encounters a woman named Lyfia who asks him to fight on Asgard’s behalf against a man named Andreas who seeks to take over it with the help of the sacred tree Yggdrasil. Now Aiolos must battle against Andreas’s warriors as he seeks out Yggdrasil and tries to discover the truth behind his revival.
The Review:
Content (warning as portions of this review may contain spoilers):
something that claims to be a spinoff, Soul of Gold sure doesn’t feel like one. As I mentioned in my previous review this feels a lot more like a filler arc, and the more this goes on the more I’m convinced this probably was one Toei had back in the day and resurrected because they needed another project to work on. The confusion only gets worse here as this episode is more like two, and neither is very interesting.
On one end of things when Aiolos is injured after his battle in the previous episode, Lyfia goes to get him help and ends up running into another Gold Saint named Mu. Mu’s investigating the disappearance of some villagers and discovers the one responsible may be a God Warrior called Fafnir. Mu goes to fight him and ends up getting defeated and subjected to torture. However it turns out his real purpose was to learn more about Yggdrasil and once he gets the information he wants, he and a recovered Aiolos take Fafnir. It’s pretty straightforward and kind of boring, but it’s somewhat simple to follow along with given what the first episode (barely) established.
On the other, much more awkward side of things though we have the introduction of two other Saints named Dohko and Aldebarn. Unlike with Mu, who while not really introduced well was at least given enough to follow what was happening, these two are thrown in under the complete impression that the viewer is supposed to already know exactly who they are. They too are confused as to their resurrection though Aldebarn moreso than Dohko. They get challenged to a battle by another God Warrior called Heracles, and Dohko decides to let Aldebarn fight him. Aldebarn doesn’t feel like fighting at first since he’s much more interested in learning why he’s in Asgard but he eventually decides to do so and Heracles retreats.
Putting aside the episode’s dual focus, it’s really all over the place, much like the show itself. Switching back and forth between the two sides constantly makes it hard to get invested in either, and all the more so when the characters are barely established. The production values are still exceedingly poor as the fights continue to barely animated, and show stretched so thin that the opening credits reuse some of the footage from the first episode. Even the music which is usually one of the better highlights even in the lesser Saint Seiya stuff isn’t up to par with one of the battles in the episode having what’s potentially the most boring fight music I’ve heard in any anime. This show’s really struggling to have any appeal outside of the most hardcore fans of the franchise and even on that end it could do a whole lot better since neither the action or the story is worthwhile so far.
In Summary:
Soul of Gold’s episode struggles even more than it’s first thanks to it’s decision to have a dual focused episode when it’s barely even established much of anything about itself. Newcomers will find themselves even more lost than before, and the poor production is a spit in the face to the hardcore crowd it’s trying to appeal to. Really hoping it finds some ground soon because I’m not sure how much more good faith I can give it just on account of being an established fan
Grade: D
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, Daisuki
Agree mostly. Animation is poor but in par with Saint Seiya the Hades Chapter and if you watched the show, like i did, a few weeks back to prepare for Soul of Gold, it isn’t that shocking. Character wise, it looks like you do not know who is Mu or Aldebaran or even worse… Dohko. Not surprised you are getting confused. Watch the Pope arc to get familiar to the gold saints., the Hades Chapter to understand what happened to then.go watch the Hasgard arc (i think it s the second season of the original Saint Seiya) and while you are at it, finish up with the Poseidon arc just for fun. At the time, Poseidon arc was really well animated AND it was fun.