Knights of the Zodiac, Vol. 3: Out of the Arena (1986)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Written by Masami Kurumada and Takao Koyama
Directed by Chris Hawley, David Del Rio, and Tadao Kubota
Character Designs by Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Plotless
• 1980s character design
• More sibling rivalry
• More whining from Andromeda
• Mild violence

Released by: ADV
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33: format.

My Advice: Skip it unless you love group shows like The Power Rangers or Thundercats.

In Knights of the Zodiac's third volume, we are still on the trail of Phoenix and his Black Knights, thieves of the Golden Cloth of Sagittarius. Finally, however, a deal is struck, and the rest of the episodes on this disc have Seiya, Andromeda, and Dragon fighting evil twins of themselves, complete with special moves. Will they be able to defeat themselves to recover the Golden Cloth for Princess Sienna?

The plot heats up a tiny bit here in Episode 9, as the idea of the doppelganger battle appears, but then instead of being some kind of soul-searching, rite of passage exercise, the show just becomes picaresque again, with battle after battle drawn out to death and little plot connecting them in any way. We don't even learn anything about the Knights as they battle, which would have been a great way to develop character. Really, it's fun enough for those days when you've worked your brain right out of your head and just want to watch some pretty colors for a while, but how many discs do you really need to keep around for days like that?

The sound continues to be rather good, given the mediocre to poor quality of the voice acting. Much has been said (all that needs to be said and all bad) about Sienna's oddly Scottish butler. Would that we had a language option here, but then, at least without the Japanese track as proof, we can always hold out hope that the original was better than the dub.

The visuals are good, especially compared to the sound of that awful dub, and the Black Knights make a nice accent to the colorful Knights of the Zodiac. Kudos to character/armor designers Araki and Himeno. Phoenix still needs a new hairstyle to make him look less the git, but then he is the villain. One might suspect he was meant to look a wee on the silly, churlish side.

There are no features on this disc. This would have been a prime chance to get kids interested in astronomy via the constellations tie-in, but of course DiC and ADV aren't in the educational market. Parents will just have to (gasp) take that responsibility on for themselves.

Maybe I'm just mad because we haven't seen a "Scorpio" yet, but I still just can't reconcile myself to this series. It looks okay, but the depth and interest just aren't there, when they really could have been. This could have been a cool show about constellation-inspired warriors, but instead, it's "just" a kid's show--nothing more, nothing less--and not even one of the better ones in that genre. If you have kids who like the constant, if pointless, action of DBZ, Power Rangers, and their clones, then get this for them. If you're older than ten or so, or just don't like action without a reason, then maybe view the first disc and see if you like it; otherwise, give it a miss and check out some of ADV's other, much better offerings.