I'm joking...or maybe I'm not.
I was always familiar with the Saint Seiya, but I was not aware of The Lost Canvas (or any Saint Seiya spin-offs). Honestly, I have no idea how I discover this manga, or what made me want to read it, but looking back, I'm so glad I did it.
Side note: No you don't have to read the original before reading this, but at the same time, if you read it, you gonna appreciate The Lost Canvas way more.
STORY/PLOT: 9/10
The plot is simple, almost cliche. I mean, it's your typical Saint Seiya plot where some pretty kid gets possessed by God, so nothing new. But unlike any other Saint Seiya works, this is by far more well written, more deep and philosophical. Also, the fights were so amazing, making this story even more epic.
ART: 10/10
The art, oh God, it's so gorgeous. Probably the best art style I have ever seen. Seriously, I wish more shonen had shojo art style, the world would be much better place, that's for sure. The art even gets better in the latest chapters.
CHARACTERS: 10/10
The characters are the best part about this. They are all lovely, especially the gold saints. The gold saints are obviously based on the original golden saints, but here they are way better and have more depth (keep in the mind, this is more of gold saint wank, so it's more focused on them than the main characters). Same goes for the bad guys, the specters.
Main character Tenma is not bad. He is your typical shonen protagonist, but hey, at least he doesn't take all glory like most shonen protagonists do. Alone as villain is great, he is my favorite character in this story. As for Sasha, she is the best Athena in the Saint Seiya universe.
ENJOYMENT: 10/10
The Lost Canvas is just so charming, but also tragic and overwhelming. My heart was always burning with the desire the more I read. It always left me wondering what would happen next. The more you read it, the better it gets.
I did not expect this beautiful story to affect me so emotionally. It was a nice journey while reading this.
OVERALL:
I know some Saint Seiya fans gonna kill me, but in my opinion, this is far superior than any Saint Seiya work (yes, even including original).
Obviously it's not perfect, and is far from masterpiece. There were some moments I wasn't really fond of, that I would personally change. But even then, it's still the great manga and I had great time reading it.
So, what did I learn from this? That the fate can be cruel. It shows that sometimes life is doomed to be a tragedy, but with the opportunity for grand and noble heroism along the way. But even in the death, all is not lost.
But what if this is no that deep and it's all in my head? Oh well, I'm sorry for fooling you into reading this.
So yeah, that's it. This manga is hidden gem and I wish more people would read it. I could talk about it all day, but I will stop here. Hope you enjoyed my review!
Tfw still crying over anime getting cancelled
