Title: Knights of The Zodiac Volume(s): 28 Author(s): Masami Kurumada Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: Viz Media MSRP: $7.95 Genre(s): Action/Martial Arts Rated: Teen (13+)

If it was up to me, dreck like "Knights of The Zodiac" would never ever see the light of day. Created in 1986 under the original title of "Saint Seiya," "Knights of The Zodiac" has 28 books in the series, a TV series that is over 100 episodes long (which is a great accomplishment for shows that are made in Japan), and worst of all, "Knights of The Zodiac" has a huge fan following (and I'm sure I'll be getting nasty e-mails from these hard-core fans for the simple fact that I'm referring to their precious "Saint Seiya" as "Knights of The Zodiac")! Viz has renamed "Saint Seiya" to "Knights of The Zodiac" because DiC Animation (the company that brought the hit anime "Sailor Moon" to America) is currently airing an edited version of "Saint Seiya" on TV under the title "Knights of The Zodiac," so Viz has decided to take the opportunity to cash in on the name. However name change or not, it doesn't stop "Knights of The Zodiac" from being pure crap. The series takes place in Ancient Greek mythology, where the daughter of Zeus, Athena, had the unfortunate curse to be born in full armor (which meant that she was destined to star in a martial arts manga like this one). However she didn't believe in fighting, and to prove her point she only fought defensive wars (as if that ever got anyone anywhere).

Surrounding Athena were the Knights of the Zodiac. These Knights were Athena's body guards (for lack of a better word), and they were her most trusted friends. Flash forward to modern day Greece, and we find that the Greek are holding a tournament for all the Knights to come to. The prize? The Golden Pegasus Cloth (which isn't even a cloth at all), the ultimate armor. The protagonist is a young man by the name of Seiya. Seiya and his sister were seperated from each other at the young age of six, and Seiya was told that the only way he was ever going to see his sister again was if he came back home with the cloth of the Pegasus (just for the record, there is both a golden Pegasus cloth and a regular Pegasus cloth. You following me so far?). What is the cloth of the Pegasus? In a nutshell, its some sort of powerful armor. So Seiya embarked on his long and nobel quest to get the Pegasus cloth and be reunited with his sister. At the age of sixteen, Seiya finally managed to get the cloth of the Pegasus. Carrying the heavy cloth on his back, Seiya goes home so that he and his sister can finally be reunited once again! However when he gets home he is told by Princess Sienna that she will not reunite him with his sister just for bringing back the Pegasus cloth.

You see, her grandfather was the one who made the deal with Seiya, not Sienna! As such, Sienna has no obligation to give Seiya's sister back. In fact she doesn't even know where Seiya's sister even is. However she will help him find her if he will compete in a competition of hers, where boys and girls in shiny, mythologically-inspired armor fight other boys and girls in shiny, mythologically-inspired armor...or something like that. Anyway this is the set-up for a story that will involve lots of battles, lots of cheesy lines about honor, and cheesy 80's artwork. No, I'm not bagging on this because it's an old series, far from it, I'm bagging on it because the story is just so overly stupid and cheesy that it's hard to read this without feeling insulted. You may have noticed that I've only mentioned two characters in my review of this title, and I have a reason for that. The reason for only mentioning those two characters is quite simple: The other characters have no real reason for being there except to fight. The character designs, personalities, and even their special cloths do little to separate them from each other.

They all love to fight, they all have their own (lame) reasons for fighting in this stupid tournament (which according to the book exists for the sole purpose of looking cool), and they are all your typical martial arts cast stereotypes. You've got the laid back guy, the buff guy who is strong in muscle but weak in heart *snicker*, and of course the rude guy who is....well, rude! I've read over twenty different manga's that have had this EXACT same cast of characters, only with different names, and the lack of originality becomes apparent real fast! I'll forgive the artwork (a little) for being outdated. After all, this WAS made in the 80's, and comic art in general has evolved GREATLY since the 60's, 70's, and 80's!! However I can not excuse the lack of detail in the characters. If all these people were bald, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between all of them. Heck, they HAVE hair you STILL can't really tell the difference between them! Yes folks, this is unoriginality at it's lowest (or at least is comes pretty darn close to becoming the pits).

Of course the story, the characters, and the artwork are just cover-ups for what this series is REALLY about: Selling toys! Yes folks, you can tell that Masami Kurumada had a TV show and merchandise in mind when he created this. After all, a good percentage of this series involves the knights putting on their armor (glowing "whoosh" and all), punching each other, and the oh-so-glorious speeches that makes you long for the less drawn out speeches in "Gods And Generals!" Seriously folks, while I was trying to read these overly-stylized battles in the book without breaking down and laughing, I kept thinking of those old "Power Rangers" shows I used to watch as a kid (which may possibly explain where the laughing was coming from). The battles WOULD be the worst thing about this book (next to the story and characters), but the thing about this book that really stumps me is the extensive use of Greek Mythology! To explain this in easy terms I will just say this: The Greek Mythology makes little to no sense at all. In fact, I've studied a fair amount of Greek Mythology, and I can confidently tell you that I don't understand why the author decided to focus his story on something he obviously knew nothing about.

Oh sure he may have gotten some of the symbols and looks down here and there, but on a whole you can tell that the author just didn't truly get what he was writing about. So what is saving this title from being a complete bomb? Not a whole lot to tell you the truth. I don't think that this is the absolute pits, and it does have its moments of inspiration to be found, but the whole thing just fails on many, many levels. The armor suits can look pretty cool at times, but the initial excitement over the new suits are over pretty quickly (that and the fact that the suits look similar to each other without color is another frustration). Despite how much I hated this book I can say that there will be people who fall in love with it...and when I say people I'm mainly talking about young boys. A few adults may love this book as it provides some nostalgia for anime fans of the 80's, but it's the kids who will get the most out of this since the title is non-stop action with little to no romance, and a very light story (the perfect combination for young boys). I'd whole heartedly recommend this title for kids, except there is the fact that the series has been rated T by Viz, which means that there may be content unsuitable for kids under 13 (and there is, see "Consumer's Advice" for more info), and with that goes my recommendation.

The high point of this book is the $7.95 price tag (Viz is printing this under the "Shonen Jump" logo, even though "Knights" only made a 20 page appearance in the actual magazine), which means that the series is at least reasonably priced (and good thing too, this series is just a couple volumes shy of being thirty books long). But still, the $7.95 you spend here could be better spent on a much better series (like "Hikaru no Go" and "Rurouni Kenshin"). My advice would be to simply avoid this series altogether, however I know there will be people out there who will want to check out this "classic" series from the 80's, so let me just leave you with these words of advice: Buyer beware!

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -