Knights of the Zodiac is DIC's reworking of the anime series Saint Seiya (1986) for American television. Much of the violence has been excised: Seiya rips off an opponent's ear in Saint, and the audience sees it pulsati... more »ng on the arena floor; Knights deletes the entire sequence. During battles, DIC colors the blood blue or purple in an unsuccessful attempt to disguise it. The actors on the Knights dub sound stiff and not very bright. The mystical underpinnings of the martial arts combat have also been simplified. In the original, Seiya's mentor Marin explains how all matter and energy originated in the Big Bang; in Knights, she mentions, "that same power that caused the universe to begin with a bang." Knights of the Zodiac may please Cartoon Network viewers, but it will infuriate anime purists. (Unrated, suitable for ages 10 and older: violence) --Charles Solomon« less
"This version is downright disrespectful to the original series called "Saint Seiya", which is being released by ADV. This version is poorly scripted, poorly acted, and poorly edited. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE."
Horrible U.S edition of Saint Seiya.
gerenriq | 02/28/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)
"As a Saint Seiya fan, I am utterly disgusted with what DIC did to the Saint Seiya/Knights of the Zodiac series. Not only is the original music cut, but the English dubbing is simply horrible. The voice-actors are mediocre but the dubbed script was unacceptably bad. If DIC insist on a English dub, at least they can put more effort in making a decent script."
And You Ran. You Ran So Far Away.
Kit | New York, NY | 04/15/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)
""Saint Seiya" is a classic. "Knights of the Zodiac" is not. And that's unfortunate. The original materials had a lot of potential to be a hit. It could've been the next "Dragonball Z", or even the next "Pokemon". But, no. DIC's reckless butchering made this show terrible to watch, with its rewritten dialogue, heavily edited fights, and mediocore music. I hate to say this, because edited or not, this show is still "Saint Seiya" to me, but please -- stay away from this. The only thing that was remotely good about "Knights of the Zodiac" is the theme song, a cover of A Flock of Seagull's "I Ran (So Far Away)". If you are even slightly interested in "Knights of the Zodiac", then do yourself a favor and get the original "Saint Seiya" DVDs. You won't regret it."
This version sucks
pavo13 | Mexico City | 04/03/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I'm a costumer from mexico i grew up whith the knights of the zodiac that's the name in mexico the version i used to watch was ADV version this version from DIC is horrible this version doesn't represent the real soul of what anime is. please do no buy DIC's version"
An Abberation
Noelix | Phoenix, AZ USA | 02/24/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Knights of the Zodiac is the butchered version of the classic anime Saint Seiya, which originally came out in 1985 and was a worldwide hit (it did not hit US shores until August 2003). The cartoon itself is almost mind-numbing in that the feeling they want to convey through the music is that the action ever stops. The music, by the way, is not the original orchestrated work done for Saint Seiya, but new synth music without any major themes, only background noise. So, when you watch an episode, you're hit with characters talking in monotone over cheap synth music, and it's very grating to the ears because there is no break in that equation for the entire length of any episode. As for the translation itself, suprisingly they keep the term of "cloth" for the zodiac armor the "knights" wear. Other than that, there was a major change in the character of Saori, who is the heiress to the Garaude (sp?) Foundation, which is in charge of the Galaxian Tournament between the Saints. In KOTZ, Saori becomes Sienna the Princess. Princess of what we never find out, but that's the story. As noted in another review, the blood is turned blue, making you think this is an advertisement for Gatorade. It made me laugh watching it quite frankly. As for any physical contact between the characters during actual action, most of those scenes have been cut right out, so you'll see Seiya for example jump forward, then a flash, and then he's on the other side of the bad guy. You're wondering what the heck just happened because you didn't see anything, so the bad guy explains it to you: "One lucky punch and you think you can stop me???" (he is clearly grabbing where his ear used to be as it has been cut off, and the blood pouring out has been turned purple). Overall recommendation, if you buy it you're wasting your money. Get the Saint Seiya DVDs, which are excellent."