( SPOILERS WARNING , don't read if you don't want spoilers , the movie itself is one big spoiler. ) Also don't expect Shakespeare or Ernest Hemingway here , this is a review for a brief anime film for an old school shonen series.

OK I have a few things both good and bad to say about this move. The problem is where to begin? Well for starters my major complaint with this movie is Abel. Here we all of a sudden have this brother for Saori ( Athena ) and we are just out of the blue supposed to be like oh OK he's her brother but that alone is not a real issue. My issue with Abel is his characterization.

When we first see him he is the very affectionate gentle brother doting on Saori and showering her with affection every second they are together.

Seems lovely right? I mean it's like a picture perfect vision of what brothers and sisters should be like right? It's almost too perfect isn't it? Sadly yes , there's one very big problem , Abel wants to destroy mankind and the earth because he thinks we are evil and because in the past he was forgotten by humans when he had a falling out with his father Zeus and rebelled against him. So Abel wants to kill us all and Saori being the gentle loving incarnation of Athena will not have this.

Abel resurrects some of the fallen gold saints from the sanctuary arc including Gemini Saga and the pure monster born evil salt of the earth Death Mask Cancer lol. They are now loyal to him and plan to help him achieve his goals. Once Saori finds out Abel's real intentions she goes with him but is secretly planning to stop him herself. Saori attempts to kill her brother and in retaliation he kills her instead but tries to guide her soul to Elysium ( Supposed paradise for " righteous " souls in Saint Seiya. )

Now , unaware of what Saori has been trying to do Seiya and his friends go to save her and beat Abel only to learn her cosmo's ( energy ) has disappeared meaning she is " dead. " Seiya spends most the rest of the film getting his ass kicked ( which happens a lot ) because he's so grief stricken. ( Yeah the film is really heavy on the Seiya X Saori ship despite the anime and manga heavily going for the Seiya X Shaina Ship which is imo a far superior ship. Sorry for this it's just my opinion , I mean i wouldn't care if Seiya just got with all his love interests in a lovely polygamous harem but I digress.

There's some really good fights like Seeing Shiryu hand Death Mask his ass once again and seeing my boy Ikki absolutely wreck Pisces Aphrodite. Also Seiya has a really great battle with Saga again and Saga helps him gain his fighting spirit and Hyoga has a great moment beating his opponent and talking about how his mother taught him love and how that's god. Sadly and this is a trend I've noticed with the Saint Seiya movies once again Shun gets the short end of the stick and doesn't get any wins this time around. He once again is demoted to carrying a wounded Ikki up the stairs and looking pretty. It's a crying shame because I really like Shun and the movies keep dumping on him.

So we eventually get to the final battle with Seiya vs Abel and it's the same old song and dance of Seiya just barely beating able to magically pull a win out of his ass at the last second and the power of friendship and love. ( I actually really liked this movies unique take on that though. ) Again they had the ideal that only those with compassion and deep love can have " god " in their hearts and I found that to be a genuinely nice moral actually. So Abel dies and laments about how he was " god " and how he shouldn't have lost. After he perishes the statue of him breaks and reveals a statue of him and Saori together but neither her nor anyone else acknowledges this and she just holds Seiya and thanks him ect ect ect shipping shipping shippy time. Ruining what could have been a touching send off and redemption for Abel for a non canon ship. It fades to the credits which is even more ship tease of Saori with Seiya as they hold hands and a sappy song plays.

I actually did genuinely enjoy this movie though. Mostly what I enjoyed was the fights and the moral of the movie. i just wish they had given more time to Abel x Saori then to Seiya x Saori and had at least acknowledged he did love her in his own way. I mean that whole thing got crapped on just so they could ship her with Seiya and honestly Seiya has two other love interest already so why not idk let the bro and sis have their moments? It's not that I even dislike Seiya x Saori it's just I wanted more from Abel since I'm a brother. Like I said I enjoyed it but I didn't enjoy aspects of it and really this kind of sums up my overall feelings for Saint Seiya as a whole.