Knights of the Zodiac
Photo by Stage 6/Toei Animation Photo: David Lukacs/Stage 6 and Toei Animation Nothing in the ’80s anime is ever fed to the audience through such straightforward, clunky exposition, though. Viewers only get fragments of the story here and there, with some not coming into play until halfway through the series. The plot comes together over time into a fascinating whole. Mix that with brutal action and authentic character drama, and you have a show that was downright revolutionary when it first came out, and which still holds up nearly 40 years later. The 2023 Knights of the Zodiac, on the other hand, just has characters flatly explaining the plot and their motivations out loud. The defanged action sequences don’t leave an impact, and what was once an engaging story about Greek myths and destiny has been downgraded into a cliched “battle” between technology and faith/magic. To quickly sum it up: Knights of the Zodiac is about Sean Bean’s Alman Kido taking in Seiya, a young vagabond ...