[Anime] Saint Seiya Omega - Talk Up!

[Lynxara]

The current arc is more about destroying the ruins that are killing the Earth, which is pretty much a copy of the Poseidon arc of the original. The get the crystals as a byproduct of destroying the ruins.

Saint Seiya Omega's head writer is Reiko Yoshida, who was also head writer for Digimon Adventure 02. While she would clearly like fans to make the connection you did, to the superior Poseidon arc, I... really don't see it. Poseidon was a tense arc where the stakes felt really high, and the battles were ugly and personal. It was about something.

Omega's current arc is basically a time-marking exercise, of the sort that 02 was brutally over-reliant upon. It's just a way to fill up a long episode order with a thin plot. As far as I'm concerned, the Omega kids right now are just on a World Tour or blowing up Black Spires. It's exactly the same sort of writing in the same sort of format.

This format can work, if you build up a sense of real danger or challenge to what your protagonists are doing. Omega shot itself in the foot in this regard early on, since the show had to engage in some truly ridiculous bullshit to explain why Mars hadn't killed them already. So I just don't ever feel like these kids are even in any real danger, their plot armor is already too thick.

I don't consider it a huge problem with the series, because I doubt the show is going to World Tour for the rest of its run. The plan is probably for them to collect their doohickies, power up, and then go back to do a run of one-on-one fights with some of the arc villains. I'm just afraid the show is going to get itself canceled before it gets to this arc's payoff.

 

[The Analyzer]

Saint Seiya Omega's head writer is Reiko Yoshida, who was also head writer for Digimon Adventure 02.

She was? I thought there were two dude head writers for 02, whose different writing preferences caused them to clash, and delay the story which was the source of many of the problems.

 

[Galaxian]

[HIDE]Saint Seiya Omega's head writer is Reiko Yoshida, who was also head writer for Digimon Adventure 02. While she would clearly like fans to make the connection you did, to the superior Poseidon arc, I... really don't see it. Poseidon was a tense arc where the stakes felt really high, and the battles were ugly and personal. It was about something.

Omega's current arc is basically a time-marking exercise, of the sort that 02 was brutally over-reliant upon. It's just a way to fill up a long episode order with a thin plot. As far as I'm concerned, the Omega kids right now are just on a World Tour or blowing up Black Spires. It's exactly the same sort of writing in the same sort of format.

This format can work, if you build up a sense of real danger or challenge to what your protagonists are doing. Omega shot itself in the foot in this regard early on, since the show had to engage in some truly ridiculous bullshit to explain why Mars hadn't killed them already. So I just don't ever feel like these kids are even in any real danger, their plot armor is already too thick.

I don't consider it a huge problem with the series, because I doubt the show is going to World Tour for the rest of its run. The plan is probably for them to collect their doohickies, power up, and then go back to do a run of one-on-one fights with some of the arc villains. I'm just afraid the show is going to get itself canceled before it gets to this arc's payoff.[/HIDE]

I don't see it like that.

Omega constantly shows the effects the ruins have on the world, giving a reason why they should do this, they reminding us that as the Bronze Saints are not strong enough to take on Mars at Babel yet (after the latest episode they have shown twice that a single Gold Saint is more than enough to take on 4 of them), they can make things tense when they need to be (ep8, 9, 10, 14, and 19), and they show that the Bronze Saint efforts is finally being taken seriously by Mars' forces.

 

[Painted_Outlaw]

She was? I thought there were two dude head writers for 02, whose different writing preferences caused them to clash, and delay the story which was the source of many of the problems.

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This shot from ep 2's ending has "Maekawa Atsushi" listed for script so maybe it was him and Reiko Yoshida you're thinking of? :hmm:

 

[Lynxara]

She was? I thought there were two dude head writers for 02, whose different writing preferences caused them to clash, and delay the story which was the source of many of the problems.

Ah, yes, it seems the credit list I was glancing at was incorrect. Yoshida writes a formidable amount of Digimon (including most of the early movies), but does not have the series composition credit for 02. She wrote six episodes of it, but no more than that. The actual series composition credit seems to be split among three different writers, though, so I doubt the scenario you're describing is a very likely one.

Omega constantly shows the effects the ruins have on the world,

So? I mean, 02 did that with the Black Spires, and people still mostly hated that storyline. A hunt for plot tokens is a hunt for plot tokens, no matter how much effort you put into making the plot tokens seem big and important. The only thing that elevates a storyline like that is really investing it with character conflict.

they reminding us that as the Bronze Saints are not strong enough to take on Mars at Babel yet (after the latest episode they have shown twice that a single Gold Saint is more than enough to take on 4 of them),

Yes, and this is genuinely stupid and bad writing. If they're not strong enough to take on Mars' forces yet, but Mars' forces acknowledge them as a legitimate threat, then why are they still alive? The show has established, over and over again, that Mars could kill them all very easily. So why the hell isn't he trying harder to actually do it? Can't he have a Gold Saint spare five minutes from his schedule to paste Kouga and his chump friends across the landscape? The show has no adequate answer to this objection, because even the script knows that Mars' behavior in this regard makes no sense. This is sort of plot element that's somewhat unavoidable in stories like this, but Omega stupidly continues to lampshade it instead of sweeping it under the rug, or simply writing Mars with a different attitude.

they can make things tense when they need to be (ep8, 9, 10, 14, and 19),

YMMV, but I thought most of these episodes were honestly pretty problematic. Episode 8 is the first of many times in the series (like Episode 10) where it's grossly implausible that the protagonists survived their encounter with the enemy. Any seriousness or tension in Episode 9 is undercut completely by the debut of Horuto, who is such a (delightfully) goofy character that I can't take anything seriously when he's around. Episodes 14 and 19 were a lot of fun, but ultimately just reminders of how Omega's world is full of people way more interesting than the main characters.

 

[NeonZ]

The show really needs to decide what it really wants to be about, before it's too late. Omega's ratings are getting into Time Hunters territory, and the show may be over before it can even hit its stride.

As far as Omega's ratings go, they only really started dropping after that one break. Most of the complaints you make there were valid since the beginning of the show. The current situation might feel somewhat "meandering", but it hasn't even lasted that long, it's clearly better than the school episodes, and it looks like it might be ending in the next episode already.

Also, I think partially it's also due to Asahi's entire Sunday morning block basically dying right now. Fourze and Go-Busters have done bad for a while, but then more recently Smile Pretty Cure went from almost reaching Fresh Precure's numbers to falling behind Heartcatch and now getting ratings lower than Suite's average since the last month or so (although the overall series average still is 0.1% above Suite's). All of Asahi's shows in that block are suffering ratings-wise and it got worse in the last two months, so it's not really surprising to see Omega falling alongside them.

Either way though, I don't think this will lead to a cancellation of the series or anything. Omega has no real toyline associated with it, nor a huge marketing focus. The timeslot it got is hardly a big ratings provider either way, even if it did better than it has ever done. Really, it comes off as something that Toei is doing just to attempt to sell anime to international markets again, especially considering the simultaneous reveal and preview screenings in other countries.

 

[Lynxara]

Most of the complaints you make there were valid since the beginning of the show.

I didn't mean to indicate a causal link between what I think is wrong with the show, and the poor ratings. I think ratings very rarely have anything to do with a show's content, save in a superficial sort of way that fans have a hard time understanding.

I don't know why Omega's ratings are falling, and beyond a certain point I don't actually care that much. What I'm worried about is an abrupt cancellation forcing an incoherent or rushed ending that leaves me wishing I'd never invested any time in the show in the first place.

Really, it comes off as something that Toei is doing just to attempt to sell anime to international markets again, especially considering the simultaneous reveal and preview screenings in other countries.

This is also a source of worry. As far as I know South American audiences have rejected Saint Seiya Omega as soundly as they rejected Shin Mazinger.

 

[Galaxian]

This is also a source of worry. As far as I know South American audiences have rejected Saint Seiya Omega as soundly as they rejected Shin Mazinger.

Not really. I've check in some Spanish, French, and Portuguese forums and while Omega reception has certainly been divisive, it's by no mean a total rejection.

 

[NeonZ]

Hm... I've checked Omega's ratings yesterday, and the last few episodes did better than I remember. They got two abnormally low ratings bellow 2%, but still got two 2.6% in the last few weeks.

This is also a source of worry. As far as I know South American audiences have rejected Saint Seiya Omega as soundly as they rejected Shin Mazinger.

I am Brazilian, don't forget that... Anyway, there are complaints about it in forums and such of course, but there's still a lot of people following the show and it's still receiving a lot of attention in various anime sites, rather than just being thrown aside like the North American anime fandom has mostly done.

 

[FlashNeko]

rather than just being thrown aside like the North American anime fandom has mostly done.

To be fair, that's probably because we don't really have the same nostalgic connection to Saint Seiya that South America does.

Remember, we only ever officially got the show in a confusingly butchered form on Cartoon Network that only lasted a few weeks and a DVD release that's notoriously hard to find because it was during the days ADV was going under.

We (eventually) got better treatment from DBZ so that tends to be where our loyalties lie.