Spoilers included.

For starters, I haven’t watched Saint Seiya before, so I wont treat this OVA from the perspective of the other Saint Seiya series cause I cant compare it. This is supposed to be the beginning of the story thou, so my lack of knowledge regarding Saint Seiya wont matter too much. The anime draws inspiration from the manga with the same name, by Shiori Teshirogi, which also is based on the original Saint Seiya manga by Masami Kurumada. The story from The Lost Canvas takes place 250 years before the events from the original Saint Seiya anime, in the 18th century Europe. We are shown the early years of Tenma and Alone, who later become Pegasus Seiya (or Pegasus Saint if you want) and Hades.

In this first OVA we are presented some aspects of the friendship between Tenma and Alone. They have totally opposite characters, with the black haired Tenma being the strong and always ready to fight, he’s strong and bold, and Alone, the blonde kid, who is gentle and kind, likes to paint and prefers to solve every conflict with words. We can also see that Alone has a sister, Sasha.

But Alone finds out that he is destined to become the impersonation of Lord Hades, ruler of the Underworld. Later, we see Tenma finding his own destiny, as he saves the village from the furious waters of an overflowing mountain river. He meets Libra Dohko, one of the Golden Saints of Athena, who happens to be around. The Saint sees the potential in Tanma and his loves for justice, so he invites him to join The Sanctuary, a first step into becoming of of the Saints of Athena.

The story develops at a good pace, and I couldn’t ask for more from this first part. Two kids, surprised by destiny, one totally happy with his fate, the other one… with a dark destiny that is imposed upon him, with no chance of escaping. I cannot make any comments on it either, since not much happens, and I guess nothing will shock you if you watched Saint Seiya before.

The inspiration from Greek Mythology is evident, and we have yet to see how far that goes. The music is there, fitting I guess, since I didn’t even noticed it. Good fluent animation, with a lot of movement, reminding me of Full Metal Alchemist. Some nice backgrounds and scenery, but nothing pokes you in the eye. I wait for the second part, for a more in-depth and longer article.

First Squad: The Moment of Truth made its debut at the Moscow International Film Festival, who took place between 19.06 to 28.06.2009. The movie made its run in the Perspective Competition and it won the Kommersant award. No idea what award is that, but it seems that the Russian audience was in awe. The movie will be released to the general public on October the 15th. To quote from a previous article on First Squad…

“is an anime film born from the cooperation of Studio 4°C and the Canadian/Russian animation company Molot Entertainment. Set on the Eastern Front of World War II, First Squad features the story of a group of teenagers with super powers who fight against the invading Wehrmacht (the German Army). The Germans are trying to gain victory by raising an undead army formed of  Crusaders from the 12th century”

As there is a poster for it, you can find it bellow.

Spoilers included.

I got a little behind with the review of this anime, and episode 12 arrived as well. Well, as not much happens in episode 11, I will review episode 12 as well.

Starting with episode 11, the story moves on from the Nospherus conflict, and starts to point to some internal affairs of the Mongaul, as we are shown a little of the backstage of the Empire, some new characters and some subplots. Plus, some new developments for the twins.

Following the crushing defeat of the Mongaul at the hands of the Lagon, Amnelis is called to answer for her defeat in front of the Archduke  only to find out that she is going to be marry Aldo Naris, the Prince of Crystal. It is a marriage made possible only for political reasons, since the father of Naris belongs to the Royal Family of Parros. I guess the archduke thought that she is more useful like a wife than on the battlefield, which is right. Back in Nospherus, Guin refuses to be the King, and although he cares for the people of the desert, he feels he must continue searching for his identity and destiny.

Meanwhile, we are introduced with some new and intriguing characters. Skarl and Beck, the leaders nomad tribes who resemble the ancient Mongols (do not mix with the Mongaul). We are about to see in the next episodes what roles they will play, but they seem they want to help Aldonaris, The prince of Crystal. Another tribe, Kaulos, has joined the Moingaul instead.

Aldo Naris, manages to infiltrate Crystal (which is the castle I guess), now ruled by the Mongaul. But The Mongaul find about him, and he is taken prisoner.

One freaky scene of episode 12 is when Astrias finds out that Amnelis will get married. He reacts like a mad man, banging his head on the fact that she may be “possessed” by another man than him. His obsession with Amnelis is so deep, that I cannot see this ending good for him. He plans to steal her, as he is sure she has the same feelings about him. Poor stalker. But his plans end up bad, as he stumbles upon a boy who proves to be Aldeen, the young brother of Naris.

And at least, something interesting happens with Remus, who seems to connect his mind with a mysterious man, solely with the power of mind. Some dark thoughts start to haunt him, as he experiences a possible total destruction of Parros. He sees in his visions a destiny installed for him, destiny that is different from the one of his sister. Excellent, because him and Linda (Rinda) weren’t doing anything interesting since the beginning of the anime. In good or bad, this will lead to some nice developments for the twins.

As Aldo Naris is meant to marry Amnelis, the two of them meet at a masquerade banquet, where Amnelis acts like a  little girl at her first crush, blushing all over and barely beeing able to speak. She falls in love with Naris at  first sight. Naris, who is a very inteligent and determined character, sees the opportunity and I think he will use Amnelis to reach his goals.

The animation looks good in this episodes, but again there were no fights in which we could see some possible weaknesses.  Great landscapes and backgrounds as ussual, as this proves to be the strong point of the art. For two episodes that started a new important story, I declare myself pleased. May Jarn’s guidance be with you.