I’ve been in love with the franchise since I was about 12- but the more I rewatch the show (which is what I’m currently doing for my semester break). Some things have not held up in retrospective…

I generally wish there was more lighthearted aspects to the show- like early on during the first batch of episodes we do get some genuine cute moments between the bronze saints. However, after sliver Saint arc starts- peace I guess to lightheartedness 🤷‍♀️. Like the only other time we kind of see any form of comedy is mostly in the Eris movie. Which kind of sucks because as the audience- we know the bronze saints are basically brothers and they do love each other but it’s more tell than show. I get that the storyline becomes more serious but for all that talk we don’t really see any genuine signs of their love or them just acting like normal teenagers.

2. The pacing of the show is NOT great- something I noticed while specifically watching later arcs of the show like in the middle of Sanctuary: it takes the show about 3 episodes to finish one battle. Then, after that one’s over the same pattern occurs which is extremely repetitive. For some episodes I genuinely do get it like episodes 56-58 (Shaka Vs Ikki) and episodes 48-50 (Shiryu vs Deathmask). They are really great episodes! However, for all that time which is spent on one battle it could be used to help further develop the story. 3. The Poseidon arc is really rushed- now I don’t blame the production team or the directors because the show was basically given a limited time to properly conclude before being cancelled. Though, most of the mariners aren’t given any development in the slightest- the formula is just GO GO GO!: WE’RE IN A HURRY!!! Which sucks because Poseidon arc in my opinion has the most consistent animation: I respect the crew for locking in on the final 14 episodes of the show and making it go out with a bang. However, most of the mariners are just static characters except for Kanon, Issac, and Sorrento- who were the saving graces of this arc battle wise and character wise. 4. The Hades Arc production issues- Originally Hades arc was planned to happen in OVA form in the early 90s-but that never occurred for some reason. So imagine being a fan of the show and waiting a decade and 3 years for the next piece of media to come out- most normal fans would just ditch the franchise. For the wait, Hades: Sanctuary is top tier of the franchise-without a doubt. But- for some reasons during production voice actors and animation changed and caused Inferno and Elysium to have a lower quality of animation- looking like colored in manga. Which many fans are really decisive about to this day. Tbh I wonder what could’ve happened if Hades arc got its original shot to happen in the 90s rather in the early 2000s (I’m still genuinely happy for what we got because it’s better than nothing, but I do wonder what it could’ve been like if Hades had just gotten its shot 😭😭😭😭).

5. Saori- The way Saori is treated in the show is honestly really annoying. It’s either- A) She gets kidnapped, B) She’s the damsel in distress, and C) She’s both! Like isn’t Saori supposed to be a literal god?! Can’t she just use some of her powers and get the job done and stop letting Seiya and the others come and get her. Like my god- I get you have saints to defend you but don’t you remember you are a goddess with powers.

What's LOVE?