Anime 1253 Saint Seiya Meiou Hades Meikai-hen Reviews Filter Check 2

Alternative Titles

Japanese: 聖闘士星矢冥王ハーデス冥界編

Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Dec 17, 2005 to Feb 6, 2007

Producers: None found, add some

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Toei Animation

Source: Manga

Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Theme: Mythology

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 25 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.77¹ (scored by 31,419 users)

¹ indicates a .

Ranked: #1070²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #3096

Members: 50,894

Favorites: 168

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Oct 21, 2018

ChouEritto

Mixed Feelings

Funny

The middle act of the Hades Arc, Inferno, is a major step down from Sanctuary in almost every way.

Whilst quickly going through many of the battles and several Celestial Star Spectres quickly being disposed of allows it to stand out and be less repetitive when it comes to combat with its side villains than the Poseidon Arc was, it also makes them a major disappointment when Terrestrial Star Spectres such as Myu proved a genuine threat to the Gold Saints. Instead of being a true step up in power, only the Judges, Pharaoh and Rhadamanthys' underlings prove much of a genuine threat. The reveal ... of Shun's secret was an interesting twist that explained how he survived his fatal battle with Aphrodite, but it came without foreshadowing from previous arcs and Ikki's lack of knowledge on it was from as poor a plot device as amnesia. Beyond that, the plot was as typical of Saint Seiya Arcs.
It did have some interest in the setting with it being a mix of both the Greek Underworld and Hell as described in Dante's Divine Comedy, which led to some nice creative liberties in locations and the theme of life being finite and thus precious was a decent way of making the idea of holding onto hope less generic than usual. However, the regular lives of the Spectres weren't explored enough for the setting to be more than pretty backgrounds and the theme of hope and finite life weren't explored too deep, just being a reiteration of Shaka's words in the first act of this arc.

The characters at least make up for this somewhat. While most of the villains within the arc were bland loyal henchmen, Pharaoh at least had some goals beyond serving Hades that allowed him to at least be more engaging than most of the Marina from the previous arc. Hades also carried himself well in displaying the power of a God far better than Poseidon did in the previous arc where he was defeated twice by Gold Saints. As for the heroes, allowing Kanon and Orphe to have their moments to shine was a breath of fresh air after having two arcs of the Bronze Saints hogging all the glory and prevents it from becoming repetitive. Kanon VS Rhadamanthys also had some pretty good build up in the formation of a rivalry between them. Speaking of the Gold Saints such as Kanon, the ending of this 2nd act carries far more consequence and emotion than any of the previous arcs combined. That said, the character appeal is enough to even out the disappointing elements of the plot and make the writing for this arc average overall.

As for the more superficial elements, even these strong points for the series went a step below its predecessor. While the still pieces of art remain as good as prior, the animation became far more limited with many shots being reused constantly and character movement becoming far less fluid. Even the sound was a step down from before as while the soundtrack remains unchanged and as great as ever, the changes in several seiyuu such as all of the Bronze Saints was something that would be offputting for returning fans who had grown so accustomed to the iconic deliveries of Toru Furuya or Ryo Horikawa, especially when many of the seiyuu had yet to fully become accustomed to their roles.

That said, Inferno is a step down from Sanctuary, though still has it's moments to warrant continuing the series to it's climax.

Feb 12, 2021

EggheadLuna

Mixed Feelings

"Saint Seiya: Meiō Hades ～ Inferno" is the best "Hades" series and although the director and cast were — almost all — replaced, the spirit of Saint Seiya is stronger than ever before! One of the most interesting aspects of the Saint Seiya franchise, for me, has always been the mythos and the generations of characters that inherit the Cloths! So, a chapter that focuses on the underworld, a place that was only briefly alluded to during the original fight against Cancer Deathmask, is infinitely interesting! Ikki and Shun's brotherly love is also put to the test, when Hades selects Shun as a his host, ...

Jul 25, 2023

Jet_Suzuyaki

Mixed Feelings

In fact, this OVA is, like this anime, rather boring.

I completely understand that this universe and these characters can be so appreciated by the public, but personally I found this part rather slow and frankly the pace suffers quite a bit since the events take far too long to move forward for my taste, to the point where we quickly lose interest in what's going on.
Admittedly, there are some twists in the plot and some battles, but they're clearly not well-paced, animated or narrated enough to get me back into the story. From the very first episodes, I was hooked and never managed to get ...

Anime 1253 Saint Seiya Meiou Hades Meikai-hen Reviews Filter Check 2

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