Saint Seiya: The Hades Chapter - Sanctuary Episode 9 Discussion

Rei366 said:
Not at all, they were sent in another dimension and Shaka even reached Mu in order to ask him for help (I could retrieve the scene for you in the books, since I'm home).

gfsdfgsdgsdfgs said:
WHAT A FREAKING PHENOMENAL EPISODE, MY GOD!!!! Every moment of it was wonderful! This arc has had Saint Seiya at its best with pure awesomeness like Dohko vs Shion, it's had its best with the pure will power and manly resolve of Kannon, the subtle depth of everyone from Gigant's sadness over his fallen men or the teary eyes of Saga before he strikes down Shaka or even Miro's compassion after testing Kannon, but now we have the utter tragedy that comes with war that we've seen time and time again. It sucks so bad to see these strong heroes fall. It reminds me of the very first Sanctuary battle. It's just good guys vs good guys, even Saga back then with his evil half had good intentions, yet it was simply a battle that had to come because of circumstance and competing values. The way we explored Shaka this episode and the way we saw the tears in Saga's eyes and their doubt over their mission before overcoming it as both sides put their goal above their own pride and lives, and attempted to kill respected friends. BRUTAL. My heart is broken, the characters we know and love are dropping like flies. If Miro was right and there is no survivors emulating the horrors of the last Holy War then I will bawl like a little baby. Like, what if even Athena dies??? Shion and Dohko knew the last Athena before Saori... It's possible, right?!?!? ; -- ;

gfsdfgsdgsdfgs said:
To speak on the lighter side of the episode, the start was excellent for reasons that weren't so tragic. I adored seeing the former gold saints interact with Shaka the way they did. Shaka knows they cannot be in this for an unfit reason and he tried his hardest to hear them out but for reasons so far unknown that was impossible. The way he cleared out the specters was so brutal and I loved it so much. I can't believe he rubbed it into Gigant's dying face that no one has eternal life, not only tying this into Buddha's words later in the episode, but also making a confident man fear death in his last moments! I'm very curious as to why they couldn't tell Shaka what was happening, earlier it made sense, they were being tailed but now it's not so clear. I wonder if Hades is omniscient in some way.

Then we got one of the most animated fights in the series with smooth dodges and counter attacks. We could see Shaka's skill at the start with complete dodges as he got overwhelmed and started trading blows instead and later lost track of Saga. It was nice.

gfsdfgsdgsdfgs said:
And for the sadder part of the episode, the moral dilemma of the former gold saints finally explicitly admitting that they are doing this for Athena's sake and Shaka's flashback and acceptance of death was some breathtaking stuff. We finally understand what it means for Shaka to be closest to God, ever since he was a child he had dialogue with Buddha. And I think he only finally came to accept those words that he'd forgotten now. For, if I recall correctly, back in the Sanctuary arc he wanted to kill people to take them out of their suffering. Yet here his peace comes from knowing that suffering allows joy to exist and that death isn't the end, that he will reincarnate again in another existence down the line. Maybe I'm wrong here but it seems that in facing his own death he found peace with it by looking back at Buddha's words. The imagery alone of taking his enemies to his final resting place is beautifully sad.

Sparkyon said:
It is also the reason why Shaka is my favorite character in Saint Seiya. Now you know ;))

Sparkyon said:
And this was the start of a discussion that last decades. Who is stronger? Saga or Shaka? It is a good topic and I can see good arguments in both sides.