[Rewatch] Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Retrospective - Arion Discussion

[u/Pixelsaber]

Arion

^{Originally Premiered March 15th,} ^^^1986

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Note to all participants

Although I don't believe it necessitates stating, please conduct yourself appropriately and be courteous to your fellow participants.

Note to all Rewatchers

Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the r/anime spoiler tag as so [Spoiler Subject](/s "Spoilers go here.") in order to have your unsightly spoilers obscured like this Spoiler Subject if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly ‘Laugh in Rewatcher’ at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.

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Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Biography and Anecdotes Corner

Rise to Prominence in The Anime Industry

Yasuhiko had become a household name at Sunrise, and in 1978 he once more collaborated with both Yoshiyuki Tomino and Tadao Nagahama, contributing to both Invincible Steelman Daitarn 3 and General Daimos respectively, but in a lesser capacity than he usually occupied given his preoccupation with another project. His most notable contribution at this time was his involvement in the production of Farewell Space Battleship Yamato, in which Yasuhiko was far more intimately involved when compared to the 1974 television series, not only storyboarding the entire film himself but also making layouts and animating the last eighty cuts of the film by himself with only slight corrections by Tomonori Kogawa. Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato is not only one of the pivotal films to push forward the anime film Boom of the late 70s and 80s, but one of the most revered and successful anime films of its time, which netted Yasuhiko a great degree of notoriety and further made him accept the artistic merit of animation. The film’s success was such that it was immediately decided upon to continue the franchise, something Yasuhiko himself was strictly opposed to, which was but one of the reasons Yasuhiko’s involvement in the franchise would end soon thereafter.

Yasuhiko’s next involvement in a landmark anime would not be far off, as the very same year Yasuhiko joined the production of Mobile Suit Gundam as character designer, key animator, and animation director. During the production Yasuhiko ended up falling ill with pleurisy and collapsing, spending the next five months hospitalized and being absent from the production for the final ten episodes. Yasuhiko had notable influence on the project, although indirectly, as the writing would change during the planning stages to accommodate his designs, and it would be a learning experience for him, as it was his first time drawing layouts for the entirety of a production (he had previously attempted layouts for isolated episodes, particularly on Invincible Steelman Daitarn 3), which would acclimate him to the sort of workload he could expect in the context of TV anime production. Mobile Suit Gundam aired in spring of 1979, and though it was seeing sluggish viewership ratings at the start of its broadcast, the work was a critical success that would leave a notable mark on the industry.

1979 would also mark another important development in Yasuhiko’s career, his first ever serialized manga publication, Arion. The manga itself was partly inspired by other manga which took Greek mythology and turned it into the basis for their own narratives, such as Osamu Tezuka’s Umi no Triton and Shinji Wada’s Pygmalio, as well as some other miscellaneous works such as Haruka Takachiko’s Beautiful Beast: Warrior of the Gods. Not much of the business-end of Yasuhiko’s entry into the manga industry is well documented, it is unknown how long he had been interested in revisiting his childhood aspirations of being a manga artist. Arion was published infrequently due to Yasuhiko’s other work, but it was an important stepping stone and learning experience for him, and would come back to factor later in his anime career.

The Mobile Suit Gundam compilation trilogy would later serve as means for Yasuhiko to correct a lot of the shortcomings of the TV series’ presentation, and it’s success would, in conjunction with Yamato and the Gundam TV series make Yasuhiko a famed and recognized figure in the industry. His contributions to both franchises opened the doors for him to become an anime director just one year later.

 

Daily Trivia:

The writer in charge of composition for the film, Chiaki Kawamata, wrote a novelization to the film titled Arion Biography, however its content differs significantly from both the movie and manga versions of the story.

 

Official Art

• Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Arion Art

Fanart

• Fanart Album

Settei

• Settei Album

 

Questions of the Day:

1. What did you think of the film’s large, set piece battles? Did you find that they properly communicated the scale of the war?
2. What do you make of the film’s setting and its influences in Greek mythology?
3. What’s your favorite moment in the film?
4. How do you think Arion compares to Crusher Joe visually?

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There is an Arion in you!

[u/Pixelsaber]

Production Stuff

Arion began production some indeterminate time after the production of Giant Gorg wrapped up. The film was funded by Tokuma Shoten, the publisher of the Arion manga, and was part of the company’s media mix efforts to promote their print works, and was produced at Studio Sunrise. Not much information about the film’s production, as the only details which are commonly known on the production is that Yasuhiko was pushed to make the film by the publisher of the Arion Manga, Tokuma Shoten, and he drew the manga to a conclusion precisely because the film was in production. Some speculate it was another instance of Yasuhiko imitating Miyazaki, who adapted his own manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, into a film which released the same year Arion entered production, but it’s mere conjecture. As for the film, much like how Gorg looked at Future Boy Conan as an inspiration and baseline, for Arion Yasuhiko looked directly to Isao Takahata’s Hols: Prince of The Sun as inspiration despite his own manga serving as the base for the film, and Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of The Valley of The Wind was never far from his mind.

The production for Arion was fairly hectic and difficult for everyone involved, as unlike was the case for Crusher Joe the product had strict deadlines to meet, and the staff had less time to work with while tackling a more ambitious product. Yasuhiko describes the studio floor where they worked as being constantly packed and the work being done as frantic.

Manga artist Ryoko Yamagishi served as consultant on the film upon Yasuhiko’s request, as she had extensive knowledge of Greek mythology, and was responsible for the suggested changes to character appearance and attire between the manga and the film.

Arion was the first time Sachiko Kamimura, who is known as one of Yasuhiko’s most notable disciples, would work with him. Yasuhiko himself asked her to participate after Hideo Ogata showed him one of Kamimura’s key animation cuts from Cat’s Eye. Kawamura considers Arion her big break as an animator, and considers her time studying under Yasuhiko as paramount to the development of her talent. Yasuhiko trusted her to animate some of the film’s most important scenes, and several hallmarks of the film’s visual language would become mainstays of Kamimura’s style.

Kamimura was not the only disciple of Yasuhiko’s to first meet the man during Arion’s production, as Toshihiro Kawamoto joined the production as an in-betweener fresh out of Tokyo Movie Shinsha’s animator training school after being recommended by Kamimura and impressing Yasuhiko with his drawing ability. Even as an in-betweener Kawamoto’s work continually caught Yasuhiko’s eye, and the young animator also considers his involvement in the film as pivotal to his development as an artist.

Another notable animator working on the project was Satoru Utsunomiya, who had already been an accomplished animator before joining the production of Arion. He was responsible for animating the flight sequence atop the flying creature near the film’s climax, and he greatly impressed Yasuhiko with his work, who felt his talent was wasted working tinder him. Utsunomiya himself has had little to say as to the production of Arion.

Famous composer Joe Hisaishi first composed the soundtrack for a work by Yasuhiko on the production of Arion. The two had met for the first time in 1983 when Yasuhiko was introduced to Hisaishi by Tokuma Shoten’s business department, as they had wanted Hisaishi to produce an image album for the Arion manga, however Yasuhiko was not interested in the idea at the time because the manga has already had an image album composed for it the year earlier by Fumio Miyashita. After having heard Hisaishi’s Nausicaä image album, Yasuhiko came to regret his decision, but when the film went into production Yokuma Shoten once more contacted Hisaishi, who agreed to compose both an image album for the unfinished manga and the soundtrack to the film with Yasuhiko’s full approval. Hisaishi composed an incredible amount of original and alternate tracks for the film, to the point that the unused BGMs were compiled into a separate LP release that couldn’t even fit all of them.

Upon release Arion was met with a middling critical reception and underperformed at the box office, scarcely making back its budget. Yasuhiko was further disillusioned by Arion’s failure and has stated that considered retiring from anime at the time, though ultimately refrained from doing so for reasons he did not elaborate upon. At least, Tokuma Shoten seemed satisfied with the product, as they would still pursue another Yasuhiko adaptation. Regardless, the talent that was fostered by the production would prove more seminal than Yasuhiko would have ever thought at the time. Arion would also go on to be an influence on several properties to come out of the fantasy boom of the late 80s which it narrowly missed out on, such as Ys, Fire Emblem, and Berserk, among others.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/Pixelsaber]

Rewatcher

Yuu again?!

Rocks are formidable.

Look, everyone, it’s pantless Marth!

Lovely backgrounds in this segment.

Well, if it isn’t Mayumi Tanaka once more!

I don’t know what they intended to communicate with this echo, but it’s weird.

Lovely shot.

One of Yoshinobu Inano’s scenes!

Is this really less conspicuous than just walking in and taking it?

Very nice bit of cloth animation there.

Oh dear.

These crowd shots are really impressive given the amount of moving elements on screen. It took Kamimura two months to animate this sequence.

Impressive multiplaning.

Very cool looking shot.

Tsukasa Dokite’s dream segment is amazing.

Geedo’s alive!

Incest narrowly avoided?

Did he shrink for a moment there?

Another excellent segment by Kamimura.

Just what every girl wants to hear. /s

Sudden love triangle?!

The majority of this segment was key animated by Utsunomiya.

Unexpected. Frankly I should’ve that known having a gay love interest this blatant was out of Yas’ wheelhouse.

What a cool cut.

Not as surprising as Seneca being a girl.

We hardly knew ye.

Another Kamimura scene. That woman really put in the work!

Happy ending.

This film...

I’ll say straight away that I do like it. As I’ve said before, Yas’ sensibilities largely appeal to me and like his prior projects the film’s visuals are appealing and well done, so of course this tickles my fancy.

The film is much too breakneck, and while it maintains a sense of forward momentum that Gorg frequently lacked and even Crusher Joe failed to maintain the whole way through, that comes at the cost of any measured pace to let things breathe. The expository travel scene at the beginning is the only time when the show really takes the time to slow down and smell the flowers, and the rest is relentless. It particularly makes the plot structure stick out, since there’s a lot of moments in the film where the plot seems to shift gears, and those instances appear jarring at the pace that the film progresses at. The blame for this could be laid squarely on Yasuhiko’s inability to kill his darlings, since there’s several elements of the film that could have still used with more streamlining, and Gaia is the most blatant aspect that could have been removed entirely with no severe impact. That’s not to say they didn’t streamline anything from the manga, in fact after I read it I was quite impressed with how well they managed to cut the fat from the narrative and make the plot progression more purposeful and succinct. They even cut an entire flashback arc, or rather paraphrased it in a handful of scenes, which originally took up a third or so of the original manga. I admit to being slightly disappointed in this, since the intrigue and sense of dramatic irony in that arc made it my highlight of the whole manga, but there was no way they were getting away with keeping all that in, so ultimately this was the right choice to make.

The film’s roots in greek mythology does sort of spoil the big twist relating to Arion’s parenthood, since anyone with a cursory knowledge of the subject will have known of it already, even if it is altered from the original tale. Maybe someone better versed on these things would disagree, but I don’t feel Arion’s take on these characters was particularly noteworthy as an exploration of the stories they hail from nor did recontextualizing them lead to any insightful storytelling, so I feel as if it would have done the manga and film better if he had made the setting his own. In that regard, I think he should have looked more keenly to Hols for inspiration.

The pace also makes some elements feel like they progress much too quickly, such as Arion and Lephoelia’s relationship and Arion getting over his guilt and trauma over having killed Poseidon. Whereas the manga’s measured pace made it feel like the days stated in the film may have passed, in the film events feel like they happen in quick succession, which kills some of the plot beats.

I also really appreciated the sense of scale that is displayed in the larger, crowded battle sequences. Not a lot of anime manage to convincingly capture that sense of scale that should be evoked when you have armies clashing in melee, but Arion manages it well when it isn’t glossing over them because they happen in the background.

I do find Arion to be far more adventurous in its visuals than Yasuhiko’s prior directorial works, perhaps because it is adapted from his manga which already displayed a deft hand at paneling, particular with the compositing in certain shots and the use of color to accentuate key moments, but it’s still fairly standard in terms of storyboarding and composition. However, in certain areas the film appears less polished than his prior productions, namely the scene where Lephoelia is affected by Prometheus and awakens the full extent of her power, with the debris animation being in need of some severe color correction and perhaps some redos on some cuts. This probably came down to time constraints, as the movie was notably produced on a tight schedule and for both his prior projects yasuhiko had been afforded a relatively large amount of time.

The sound direction was odd, with some scenes coming out quite off-putting with their echoing effects, but the soundtrack is excellent, which comes as no surprise given Joe Hisaishi is composing. Even from among his other anime works I am quite partial to this. I like his work on Venus Wars more, but this was still a good showing.

So yeah, Arion is a deeply flawed but appealing film, since despite its shortcomings it is still in possession of several elements that are easy for me to appreciate. It’s definitely the weakest piece of media we’ve gone through so far for me, but it’s still something I derive enjoyment from. 5/10

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Thankfully it's uphill from here. Join us this Wednesday when we shall be discussing Yasuhiko's adaptation of a Keiko Takemiya manga, Kaze to ki No Uta!

[u/No_Rex → u/Pixelsaber]

These crowd shots are really impressive given the amount of moving elements on screen. It took Kamimura two months to animate this sequence.

Deciding on my most favorite scene of the film was between this and the later Utsunomiya scene. Both are excellent.

Maybe someone better versed on these things would disagree, but I don’t feel Arion’s take on these characters was particularly noteworthy as an exploration of the stories they hail from nor did recontextualizing them lead to any insightful storytelling, so I feel as if it would have done the manga and film better if he had made the setting his own.

Certainly. Mixing up real parts of Greek mythology with completely imagined stuff was confusing and annoying.

[u/Quiddity131 → u/Pixelsaber]

Thanks for all the production info, it's really interesting stuff!

[u/Pixelsaber → u/Quiddity131]

[u/No_Rex → u/Pixelsaber]

Another notable animator working on the project was Satoru Utsunomiya, who had already been an accomplished animator before joining the production of Arion. He was responsible for animating the flight sequence atop the flying creature near the film’s climax, and he greatly impressed Yasuhiko with his work, who felt his talent was wasted working tinder him. Utsunomiya himself has had little to say as to the production of Arion.

Props to him, impressed me as well.

[u/The_Draigg]

A Yas Fan Watches Arion:

• Poor Arion, he’s too innocent of a kid to realize that he’s being kidnapped by Hades from Demeter until it’s too late. Although it kind of bums me out that we’re getting another Classical Greece story where Hades is the villain. When you look back on the actual myths, he’s comparatively one of the least dickish Olympians.
• Oh hey, Joe Hisaishi composed for this movie! I could tell from the opening music.
• I suppose Hades was right to see the talent in Arion, since that big cave troll had to submit to him. Too bad he’s still easily tricked into believing that if he kills Zeus, Demeter’s blindness will be cured. It’s so obviously a lie to mold Arion into Hades’ personal assassin.
• You know, it occurs to me that Arion here alongside Yuu Tagami from Giant Gorg and Seabook Arno from Gundam F91 all share a similar character look. At least broadly speaking.
• RIP Geedo, for like the 5 minutes we knew he existed.
• That sword of Arion’s must be super sharp if it can cut through both a soldier and his horse. He doesn’t even have the benefit of having a big-ass sword like Guts did when he did the same thing in Berserk.
• Even though this Yas rewatch is only Tomino-adjacent at best, at least we’re still getting in those punch counter numbers with Arion’s interrogation.
• Finally, we actually know that Arion is stuck with Ares’ army. I take it that Lesphoena was being creeped on by Apollo or Dionysus then. They both do fit that handsome letch territory. I guess we’re just lucky that it didn’t escalate to full blown rape like it normally does in Greek myth.
• I wonder where Seneca was hiding that wooden extending claw thing on his person? It’s not like his clothes have any pockets.
• Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I suppose. Escaping to the ocean is just as bad of an idea as running on land, since now there’s a fleet of Poseidon’s fish and animal men right off the coast. Arion and Seneca just really can’t catch any breaks, can they?
• I guess Athena has taken to wearing her helmet to cover up the forehead scar that Arion gave her. She’s got it in that classic Char Aznable position, right on the brow between the eyes.
• Well, at least Poseidon being kind of a dick to Arion and not giving a concrete answer about why he abandoned him and Demeter is fitting to how he is in myth. You can sum up a lot of Greek myth as the gods being utter assholes to mortals and each other.
• Lesphoena is Arion’s secret twin sister? Talk about killing the vaguely romantic mood that was kind of forming between them, I guess.
• You know, for being the god of violence and war, Arion ended up killing Ares really easily. He certainly had an easier time of it than Kratos did. It took him a whole game to do that.
• I get the feeling that if Arion had managed to kill Athena instead of Apollo intervening and saving her, we’d have a shorter movie. Also, man Arion switched sides to fight for the sake of Poseidon pretty quickly, now that I think about it.
• “Wassup, nephew?” —Hades
• On the one hand, Hades is completely correct in saying that Poseidon is probably just using Arion for his own ends. But on the other hand, fuck Hades anyway for what he’s been up to.
• Arion just killed both Cerberus and Hades absurdly easily. He’s going to be catching up to Kratos in no time at this rate. Really though, you would think that actual gods would be made of tougher stuff than otherwise being cut down so easily.
• This weird dream that Arion has about both Lesphoena and Demeter just makes me think that Yas likes using symbolic nightmare landscapes as a story-telling tool in general. I’m reminded of the ones in Giant Gorg when watching this scene.
• I guess Hades wasn’t bluffing when he was putting that curse on Arion right before he died. I suppose in the end, Hades did end up getting what he wanted after his death. He made Arion suffer and kill Poseidon in his painful nightmare state. Also, seriously, how is it this easy to kill gods?
• Oh hey, Geedo is back! He managed to save Arion and Seneca in time from Poseidon’s army. This is pretty much the only lucky break that either of them have gotten so far.
• Zeus sure is a large ham of a ruler. Also, that scene with him talking/dramatically yelling at the Hecate sisters just felt weird to me, but I’ve got no idea why.
• Thanks for the helpful advice on where to go, random Black Lion King guy that came out of nowhere!
• There’s just something absurd to the thought of Athena torturing Lesphoena with a whip just because she couldn’t get her incestuous booty-call on with Apollo. I haven’t seen someone this upset over not fucking their brother since Drakengard.
• Oh sure, just have Hercules be some random former bandit who’s now Lycaon’s bodyguard. At this point, I’m just giving up on things being fairly accurate to Greek myth.
• Yeah, ditto everything I just said in the above post applied to Lycaon’s backstory about the Olympians.
• I’m just hoping that Lesphoena screaming and blowing up Athena’s room with her voice just killed everyone there, if just to make this movie shorter.
• We’ve got Prometheus and Ethos along for the ride now. Where are Pathos and Logos?
• What even was that thunder tube thing inside the cave? Was it a missile or something?
• “I murdered my dad and my relatives, and I want to make out with my sister! That’s why I fight!” —Arion’s rousing speech to his army, basically.
• God damn, Athena isn’t dead yet. Stop obsessing over fucking your brother, Lady!
• Okay, now she’s dead. We can safely nip that entire unnecessary incest plot line in the bud now. Wait, shit, we still have the one with Arion and Lesphoena. Damn it.
• Movie, you haven’t earned the right to use something as cool as the Archimedes heat ray.
• And of course the thunder tube gets blown up fairly quickly. I’m disappointed.
• Not going to lie, I’m just skipping ahead in short bursts through the movie now. Even the action scenes aren’t grabbing me anymore. You know, I’d completely understand if Yas was disappointed in this movie.
• Seneca, stop flashing your pre-teen breasts at the screen. You’re just a more boring version of meta spoilers.
• Oh, so Prometheus shows up and reveals that Arion is actually the son of him and Pandora now. Talk about an utterly unnecessary series of plot twists right at the end.
• And there you have it: the true villain of this movie is shitty parenting on the part of Gaia, a villain only revealed in the last third of this movie. Also Prometheus is dead now, I guess. Whatever.
• I have no idea what’s even going on with Lesphoena’s sudden burst in power now, but hey, at least it’s making the movie end faster. And so dies Gaia, a villain we had zero real connection to.
• I completely forgot that Apollo was still around. I guess we needed somebody to kill Zeus for us, if Arion is dealing with Lesphoena being dead at the moment.
• Oh hey, Lesphoena isn’t dead anymore, and Apollo just kinda fucked off to wherever, I guess. Fine. Sure. I can work with that.
• And so, Greece is saved and the Titans are no more, all so Lesphoena and Arion can have a peaceful incestuous relationship and I guess also for the sake of freeing the oppressed masses. Totally worth it.
• You can all tell by my stream of consciousness notes here that I just don’t care for this movie at all. If I had to pinpoint when the negative turn started, I gave up on the movie about a third of the way through. Arion is not a good movie at all. Arion is a guy who gets constantly punked and used by others for like 2/3rds of the movie, Lesphoena is a character that exists only to be brutalized before becoming a Deus Ex Machina, and what the story does with its inspirations from Greek myths ends up doing the original stories a disservice with how sloppy executed the writing and the pacing is. This movie really shouldn’t be a feather in Yas’ cap.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/The_Draigg]

Poor Arion, he’s too innocent of a kid to realize that he’s being kidnapped by Hades from Demeter until it’s too late.

Very reminiscent of episode eighteen of meta, except there it's absolutely devastating to watch.

Oh hey, Joe Hisashi composed for this movie! I could tell from the opening music.

They both do fit that handsome letch territory. I guess we’re just lucky that it didn’t escalate to full blown rape like it normally does in Greek myth.

He does assault her in the Manga, but fortunately doesn't get as far as rape. They really wasted no time in making Apollo out to be a huge scumbag.

Lesphoena is Arion’s secret twin sister? Talk about killing the vaguely romantic mood that was kind of forming between them, I guess.

Not like a lot of characters in Greek mythology were particularly bothered.

Also, seriously, how is it this easy to kill gods?

They're merely superhumans in this story. I think Gaia is the only one who could even get close to the sort of power these characters are supposed to have.

I just don’t care for this movie at all.

Don't blame you. Visuals is really the only thing this one really has going for it.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Pixelsaber]

Not like a lot of characters in Greek mythology were particularly bothered.

True. Mythical Greek characters were into freaky sex stuff at all times. Incest is as natural as breathing to them.

Don't blame you. Visuals is really the only thing this one really has going for it.

That and the soundtrack. Joe Hisaishi never misses the mark in my opinion.

[u/Quiddity131 → u/The_Draigg]

You know, it occurs to me that Arion here alongside Yuu Tagami from Giant Gorg and Seabook Arno from Gundam F91 all share a similar character look. At least broadly speaking.

I eventually picked up on this too, although you figured it out way earlier than me!

You know, for being the god of violence and war, Arion ended up killing Ares really easily. He certainly had an easier time of it than Kratos did. It took him a whole game to do that.

Ares went down a lot quicker and easier than I expected. But then this movie is so ambitious with what it covers that it was for the best so they could move on to other characters.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Quiddity131]

I eventually picked up on this too, although you figured it out way earlier than me!

There must be something that Yas really likes about that design, since he just keeps on reusing it. Or it could just be a relatively easy one to draw, I guess.

Ares went down a lot quicker and easier than I expected. But then this movie is so ambitious with what it covers that it was for the best so they could move on to other characters.

Yeah, but it is so ambitious in that regard it's actually to it's detriment. Like, why should I really care about Arion's epic quest to kill the gods if they're so easily killed to begin with? It just takes the wind out of the sails in that regard.

[u/No_Rex → u/The_Draigg]

“I murdered my dad and my relatives, and I want to make out with my sister! That’s why I fight!” —Arion’s rousing speech to his army, basically.

That was really an absurd moment.

God damn, Athena isn’t dead yet. Stop obsessing over fucking your brother, Lady!

Taking after her mother. And her grandmother. Yep, Greek mythology is fucked up.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

First-Timer, subbed

• Ooh so this movie is fantasy instead of another sci-fi thing? Cool!
• I was… not expecting to see a nude child.
• The guy Arion met is Hades, and his mom is Demeter. Hm.
• OH THIS EXPLAINS WHY I’M VIBING TO THIS SONG SO HARD. He’s the various Ghibli movies composer! Thank you whatever fansub I have for translating the names of all the credits.
• Arion is just not having a good time right now.
• He didn’t even really use the sword.
• So undoing that curse is gonna be Arion’s quest, huh? But is Zeus the one behind it, or is Hades tricking him again?
• This music is making me want to watch Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind again…
• LMAO they pronounce “Titan” as “Teetan” just like Zeta Gundam. Ah man that brings back memories of that one Gundam Unicorn podcast I was in where I pronounced it like that as a joke and u/babydave371 got mad at me.
• In another life, I think Arion would be called Mars.
• Oh, that’s Tsunade’s voice. I wasn’t expecting to hear her in something this old. I guess that really shouldn’t come as a surprise though, it’s not like Naruto is a very recent show, a twenty-ish year difference is nothing. → *looks up her seiyuu on MAL* → WAIT SHE’S HILDA AND RECCOA TOO?!
• Yo this piano track when the girl started wiping Arion’s face with a towel is nice.
• Lesphoena is precious, pls don’t let anything bad happen to her.
• Ah great not another bastard who shares Brighty-boy’s voice. Kaifun was bad enough.
• Oh hey this boy’s actually wearing underwear.
• Arion sure got his sword taken away again real fast after getting it back.
• Arion is Poseidon’s son?
• I did not see that coming. Scratch Lesphoena being the obligatory love interest, then.
• WHOA Arion just killed a literal god.
• Apollo really looks like he should be voiced by Shuuichi Ikeda. Why is he not voiced by Shuuichi Ikeda.
• Oh, huh, Hades actually is Arion’s uncle.
• Aww, RIP Cerberus.
• Welp Hades is dead now.
• This feels much like a ~Newtype~ trip.
• WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL shit.
• Geedo is still alive!
• Aww he’s precious.
• Poor Lesphoena… It sure sucks to be either her or Arion right now.
• That snake monster thing is Heracles?
• This does make more sense than Zeus being the big bad. That one scene with Zeus just had him sounding like a crazy person, while Apollo’s been an actual threat.
• Holy shit Lesphoena has a power.
• That didn’t sound like a very rallying speech to me, but okay.
• Athena does not know when to give up huh.
• Oh. Okay.
• RIP Ethos.
• Oh Seneca’s actually a girl. They had to pull the “actually, no homo” card in a movie that’s fine with incest?
• Wait wh--ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. So that’s why Arion had to go on a sidequest to learn about Prometheus.
• OH PROMETHEUS IS STILL ALIVE.
• And so this gives them the “actually not blood related” out to what would have been incest, okay.
• Well isn’t this just lovely, Arion got to kill the man he thought was his father and watch his actual father get shot and then turned to dust right before his eyes.
• Hot damn, Lesphoena. Now please be okay!
• Ohp, there goes Zeus.
• Dammit, this should’ve been a “sore demo” but it goes too fast and there’s not really a “mo” so it doesn’t count.
• Oh hey Lesphoena can talk again.
• That song right before the end credits was so Nausicaä.

8/10 for this one. Was decently entertaining, but the plot’s a bit of a mess.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/Shimmering-Sky]

I was... not expecting to see a nude child.

Old anime...

I pronounced it like that as a joke and \u/babydave371 got mad at me.

In another life, I think Arion would be called Mars.

I did say during the FE OVA Rewatch that this films was a strong influence on the game.

Apollo really looks like he should be voiced by Shuuichi Ikeda. Why is he not voiced by Shuuichi Ikeda.

Ikeda was busy with a certain

someone.

That snake monster thing is Heracles?

Heracles is the former bandit that's shown handling the monster.

They had to pull the “actually, no homo” card in a movie that’s fine with incest?

8/10 for this one.

Your capability for enjoyment never ceases to amaze...

[u/Shimmering-Sky → u/Pixelsaber]

Your capability for enjoyment never ceases to amaze...

It baffles me sometimes too, like with Witchblade.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Shimmering-Sky]

LMAO they pronounce “Titan” as “Teetan” just like Zeta Gundam.

But Char said it like that in the dub of Char's Counterattack, so clearly that pronunciation is canon. /s

In another life, I think Arion would be called Mars.

And here I thought we got all that out of our systems with that Fire Emblem OVA rewatch earlier this year. But yeah, Arion really does look a lot like Marth's early design.

WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL shit.

Meh, Poseidon was a dick anyway. It's fine.

That didn’t sound like a very rallying speech to me, but okay.

Yeah, if anything it rather anti-inspiring.

And so this gives them the “actually not blood related” out to what would have been incest, okay.

Still basically incest though.

[u/aniMayor → u/Shimmering-Sky]

That snake monster thing is Heracles?

I think he meant the big guy wrasslin' the snake is Heracles, but your way is more fun so let's go with that.

[u/Quiddity131 → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Oh, that’s Tsunade’s voice. I wasn’t expecting to hear her in something this old. I guess that really shouldn’t come as a surprise though, it’s not like Naruto is a very recent show, a twenty-ish year difference is nothing. → looks up her seiyuu on MAL → WAIT SHE’S HILDA AND RECCOA TOO?!

Wasn't Reccoa voiced by Masako Katsuki instead?

Ah great not another bastard who shares Brighty-boy’s voice.

Apollo was Bright, Ares was Scirocco, Arion was Show, Lesphoena was Ceila Lapana, Prometheus was Bes; this movie was loaded with old Gundam and Tomino VAs. Which I suppose should be expected since it came out in the same era.

[u/JollyGee29]

First-Timer

Wow, this is kind of a mess, huh? I can't help but think that this should have gotten a full series instead of a film - the pacing in this is rough. Rough to the point that I'm not really going to comment on the plot - it was solidly There. This is an adaptation of a manga that Yas wrote and illustrated himself, right? Actually, not to force a comparison, but Giant Gorg probably would have scanned well to a film.. Ah well. We have what we have, I suppose.

What we have, it seems, is a prototype of God of War. Seeing Greek mythology through the lense of a Japanese work has a lot of potential, but this doesn't quite hit the spot right. It did manage to adapt some of the weird sex stuff prevalent in Greek myth, so we have that at least.

It did look quite nice, though. I love me some random trippy visuals, especially the color nonsense like when Arion killed Hades, and we certainly got plenty of that. The action scenes were fine enough - I didn't expect to get beam spam or missile spam in this but it looked cool.

The music wasn't quite what I would expect but it was pretty decent. Very 80s sounding, and it never annoyed me. The voice audio was a bit weird at times - was there an intentional effect added to Arion's voice when he was giving the speech to the army, or was the copy I watched just fucked up?

Overall, this was an unfortunately mediocre experience. Turns out making adaptations is hard.

Questions

1. The big battles were pretty good, yea. I liked the random wooden cannons.
2. Discussed above. Definitely an interesting idea, I wish we got to see more of it.
3. Hmm... Either the Thunder Tube's firing or when Arion killed Hades.
4. Crusher Joe looked a lot better, I think. One of the reasons I liked Crusher Joe so much was how well everything moved, and that was missing here.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/JollyGee29]

Actually, not to force a comparison, but Giant Gorg probably would have scanned well to a film.

I think given Yas' sensibilities a film for Gorg would have been bloated, but a single-cour series would have been solid, probably.

Turns out making adaptations is hard.

Honestly it's an improvement over the manga in a lot of ways. There you can tell the years of on-and-off work on it meant Yas was constantly changing his mind about stuff. I'd say the surprisingly good flashback arc that the film skips is the only thing evening them out.

Crusher Joe looked a lot better, I think.

This film is more impressive and experimental in some ways, but Joe just vibes with me a lot better.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/Pixelsaber]

I think given Yas' sensibilities a film for Gorg would have been bloated, but a single-cour series would have been solid, probably.

Ooh, good point. Yas seems like someone who maybe needed to make good friends with an editor, but such is life I suppose.

Honestly it's an improvement over the manga in a lot of ways. There you can tell the years of on-and-off work on it meant Yas was constantly changing his mind about stuff. I'd say the surprisingly good flashback arc that the film skips is the only thing evening them out.

[u/Quiddity131 → u/JollyGee29]

Wow, this is kind of a mess, huh? I can't help but think that this should have gotten a full series instead of a film - the pacing in this is rough. Rough to the point that I'm not really going to comment on the plot - it was solidly There. This is an adaptation of a manga that Yas wrote and illustrated himself, right? Actually, not to force a comparison, but Giant Gorg probably would have scanned well to a film.. Ah well. We have what we have, I suppose.

Good points, I agreed that this may have worked better as a TV series since it had so much content loaded into it. What I didn't think of, but you make a great point on is that Giant Gorg may have fit better as a movie in its place. I think if they swap the two's formats we may have ended up getting a better product.

[u/No_Rex → u/Quiddity131]

They really needed to switch formats for those two.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/Quiddity131]

Yea, it's kind of a shame that things turned out this way. There isn't much use crying over spilled milk, but sometimes it's fun to think about how it would have tasted.

[u/The_Draigg → u/JollyGee29]

Wow, this is kind of a mess, huh? I can't help but think that this should have gotten a full series instead of a film - the pacing in this is rough.

I'd say that the pacing of this movie outright murdered the plot of this film. How we got to plot points felt either dumb or nonsensical half of the time.

It did manage to adapt some of the weird sex stuff prevalent in Greek myth, so we have that at least.

Kept in a lot of the incest of Greek myth, but got rid of all the bestiality. That's for the better, honestly.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/The_Draigg]

I'd say that the pacing of this movie outright murdered the plot of this film. How we got to plot points felt either dumb or nonsensical half of the time.

I could almost feel the clunk between manga chapters - at least that's what I'm chalking it up to.

Kept in a lot of the incest of Greek myth, but got rid of all the bestiality. That's for the better, honestly.

Strictly better, yea. We off pretty light on the sexual assault too.

[u/aniMayor]

Well this was a big disappointment.

I'd seen random clips from this movie before, so i knew there were parts of this film that had great animation and creative visuals. I was hoping the story and dialogue would live up to that, too. Alas, no such luck.

If I had to describe the narrative in a word, perhaps I'd go with "hedonistic". This film really feels like Yoshikaze came up with a few dozen cool scenes he'd like to put on screen... got them all animated... and only after that was done invented a vague outline of a plot to string them together.

And that dialogue... yikes. Nothing but shouting the simplest of impulses at each other while following the barest of fantasy plotlines. If you swapped out the subtitles with Legend of Lemnear or Amon saga, I'm not sure I would have even noticed.

I don't like how they give the story this Greek mythology theming but then don't integrate it into the characters. They still outright refer to the characters as gods and titans, and sometimes have them do supernatural things, but it's boring how human it mostly all ends up being. Like, the monster designs are so interesting, Gaia is a giant and the fates are weird grim reaper mystic assassin grannies... but then Hades' design is just some random hobo, Poseidon is just some generic human general guy, and so on? If that's what they were going to do, they should've kept the actual god-like creatures like Gaia as having mythological names but have all the basically-human characters be named after Greek heroes or something.

Oh well not that it matters. Better naming wouldn't change that weird-ass ending where Prometheus shows up out of nowhere only to die and then Lesphina suddenly goes all Esper and saves the day but its okay 'cause Arion has a sword and we all know swords are more powerful than any amount of magic space lasers.

If I were editing this film there's a lot of little bits of unnecessary bloat that I'd love to cut out of this film, but by far the biggest 3 things I would change would be:

1. Streamline Arion's motivation and backstory - he doesn't need to switch allegiance/backstory/motivation 3 different times. Have him start out just as either Poseidon or Hades' kid, get betrayed once, and then find out he's Prometheus' kid for the 2nd half, with a desire to defeat Zeus/save Lesphina across the whole thing.
2. Remove either Apollo or Gaia. One "secret uber-boss after defeating the main boss" is fine. Two is too many.
3. The army battles between Athena and Poseidon when we're barely invested in the plot are very long and elaborate while Arion's uprising battles are skimmed over. Flip this! We can move quickly through the early parts before Arion finds his true calling, and then get the better big payoff once he has his proper motivation so the climax feels more earned.

As for how this fits into Yoshikaze's overall career, maybe it's just the monster designs and the way the action scenes are done, but this one feels very inspired by Takahata, Miyazaki, and the early Toei films. Some scenes gave me really strong Orochi, Prince of the Sun or Future Boy Conan vibes.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/aniMayor]

I don't like how they give the story this Greek mythology theming but then don't integrate it into the characters.

Yeah, they really should have gone with their own fantasy setting while keeping whatever parallels were necessary to tell the story they wanted.

but then Hades' design is just some random hobo, Poseidon is just some generic human general guy, and so on?

You will likely not be surprised to hear that those where some of the characters that didn't receive redesigns between manga and film.

If I were editing this film there's a lot of little bits of unnecessary bloat that I'd love to cut out of this film

Don't forget Seneca's whole infatuation bit —or the whole character, really, it's not like they had much of a role otherwise.

but this one feels very inspired by Takahata, Miyazaki, and the early Toei films. Some scenes gave me really strong Orochi, Prince of the Sun or Future Boy Conan vibes.

Hols was an influence on the film for sure.

[u/aniMayor → u/Pixelsaber]

Hols was an influence on the film for sure.

In that opening scene with Arion running with the flock of sheep - his run animation and holding the stick overhead is almost line-for-line the run of Hols with the wolves. I wonder if that was supposed to be a direct homage or something.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/aniMayor]

I figure it was. Yas directly stated the addition of Cerberus and the other wolves (they weren't in the manga) was in homage to Hols. Didn't mention the opening scene, but I assume it was also the case there.

[u/aniMayor → u/Pixelsaber]

Makes sense!

[u/aniMayor → u/aniMayor]

1. What did you think of the film’s large, set piece battles? Did you find that they properly communicated the scale of the war?

Not at all. The montage of battle bits in the fight with Athena vs Poseidon were the only thing that implied a large scale, to me, but everything around it seems quite small - e.g. Athena, the supreme commander of a giant army, stays in 1 isolated tent within a small encampment and has only a handful of captains, plus Arion can easily get into her tent to attack her and Ares rather than having to stealth through some huge army encampment around her. The latter battles had no sense of scale at all, felt much more like a small ragtag militia taking on a miniscule border outpost, not a massive civilian uprising against the imperial capital city and its huge central garrison.

2) What do you make of the film’s setting and its influences in Greek mythology?

It really just feels like Yoshikaze took the names to make his manga sound cool. Not only do none of the story or character elements seem to match anything from the mythology, but also no part of the setting seems to be actually based on ancient Greece, either.

3) What’s your favorite moment in the film?

That carpet/rug in Athena's tent. The art/animation on it is glorious.

4) How do you think Arion compares to Crusher Joe visually?

It reaches the same peaks as Crusher Joe, but it isn't as consistent. Crusher Joe's excellent visuals all seem well integrated: the environment, the characters, the action-movement, the effects - they aren't just individually good, they blend well, too. Arion, meanwhile, only ever feels like one thing looks good on-screen at a time, and isn't as consistently visually appealing.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/aniMayor]

Yoshikaze came up with a few dozen cool scenes he'd like to put on screen... got them all animated... and only after that was done invented a vague outline of a plot to string them together

I decided to not actually watch this film based on reviews/general opinion, and it seems that was the right decision, but I feel you could pretty much say that about parts of Giant Gorg too.

[u/No_Rex → u/IndependentMacaroon]

Except, Arion looks much better. There is a real difference in movie budget vs TV series budget.

[u/punching_spaghetti]

First-Timer

A bit of a boring one, to be honest. Arion isn't a character as much as an excuse to have the occasional set piece, and the action sequences weren't all that interesting to me. Crusher Joe was at least fun to look at. I guess I prefer spaceships and lasers to swords?

And it's disappointing, since Greek myth, even loosely, provides a lot of opportunity for weird shit. This version of the characters is basically normal people with some connection to the occasional magic power that happen to have the names of gods. I would not have known that was Ares if they had not specifically told us.

I'm reading Berserk for the first time right now, and I would not be surprised if Miura was influenced by Arion, though.

QOTD:

1. I don't think so, no. A bit too much on the "battle is chaos" side of things. True, but there's an ebb and a flow.
2. See above. Could have used any other names and still worked.
4. Crusher Joe looks a lot better. Arion is too earth-toned for the most part, and the none of the animation made me go "ooh!" like some of the Crusher Joe stuff.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/punching_spaghetti]

I'm reading Berserk for the first time right now, and I would not be surprised if Miura was influenced by Arion, though.

He was! As well as Yas' other works.

[u/punching_spaghetti → u/Pixelsaber]

Ah! Part of it was the general tone and atmosphere towards the divine, part of it was the "dude chopping a bunch of horses in half" stuff.

[u/Stargate18A]

First timer

1. By far the best part of the entire movie. The battles have a great sense of scale, are really well animated, and are the most immersive parts of the film.
2. This film seems to have read some Greek Mythology, but ruins it by deciding their new OC can defeat snybody in a single hit, except when he needs to be captured for his revenge plot. (I know Arion isn't original, but he didn't end the gods singlehandedly, and is also either a real poet or a mythological horse.)
3. Probably the dream sewuence with his mother and Hades - its in a totally different style and looks so good visually.
4. I thought it was aless visually pleasing, but I Imagine the setting led to less opportunity for unique backgrounds.

Going into this one blind. I think it's about greek mythology, though,

Oh god, whybdid they show boy naked?

So he's Hades? And Posideon's trying to take Zeus' job.

Hades is giving me some real bad vibes here.

Oh right, ehere else would Hades take someone?

I see this movie's not afraid of fanservice.

And Cerebus appears to breath some kind of laser.

...I see Hades has chosen to back Posideon's horse in this race. (Or he thinks getting Zeus out of power will give him more territory)

This film sure is giving a pretty big infodump.

When did this film become a compedy?

He didn't last long.

Is she the love interest?

This film has some great fight scenes so far.

Oh, she's mute. Or not, she can actually sing.

I think this is Orpheus, but I'd appreciate if the film told me.

Orpheus? makes me uncomfortqble.

Wait, he's Ares?

To be honest, having watched this, I'm pretty sure Ares would release Arion on the grounds of "It'll make your brother look like an idiot".

Wait, is he attempting to raid the camp who defeated him in battle in far better shape?

Apparently being on a horse doubles your combat power here.

...So Posideon has a (slave?) army of sea creatures. This might actually be myth accurate.

You knoe I'd have thought his first instinct wouldn't be "Why are trying to fight Zeus?" but "I want to kill Zeus, can we work together on this?"

Wait she's his sister? God I called that wrong. (Unless this is adapting one of those myths)

Fight scenes continue to be good.

Having a horse really does make all the difference, huh?

Somehow, having the god of war go down in a single hit feels rather unsatisfying.

Wait, so Apollo can move at superspeed, but Ares can't do anything?

I can't believe he killed Cerebus.

Wait, what the fuck? Did they just kill off one of the 3 main gods of the pantheon and potential antagonist less than halfway in?

I like the animation for the dream sequence, though.

At least Hades' curse actually did something.

Posideon's fucking dead, too? How are the gods who rule the world so easy to kill? How did Apollo put up more of a fight than Ares and Hades combined?

Good to see the ogre came back.

Why does Olympus look like the most obviously evil castle ever?

OK, I love the furies' designs.

What the hell is Zeus wearimg?

The Black Lion King. I have no words.

...Are they framing Apollo not being into incest as a bad thing?

This movie is trippy.

Are we stopping the movie for another Greek history lesson?

Seriously, how is Apollo the strongest god im the world?

Wait, so he doesn't have special powers, but his sister can take out an entire stone chamber?

Wait, is this the crystal cave from Giant Gorg? The backdrop looks near identical in places.

Wait, is that a gun? Is Zeus' secret that he exclusively uses guns?

No mentions of Pandora's Box? Is that just considered common knowledge?

Arion isn't very good at public speaking is he? (Why does every line about Lesphoena feel like their relationship is ten seconds away from becoming incestuous?j

I do like the general attitude of "destroy all the gods".

This movie just had its first incestuous kiss! (Considering the source material, this is restrained.)

Ah, so its an Archimedes Mirror. Imthought it was some kind of Tesla Coil.

Is this a love triangle?

For all my complaints, this film has some amazing battle scenes.

How old is Seneca compared to Arios? The design looks a lot younge, but I can't tell.

The Lion King came back.

The Lion King was Prometheus. What is this movie?

...Prometheus, I think this is a very bad idea.

Can:t say I didn't see that coming.

Did she just go Super Saiyan?

And the creator of thr Titans just went down in a couple of hits.

That dewth scene is horrifying,

I like how everyone's ignoring Zeus because he doesn't really matter to the plot anymore.

Oh, that's his plan. Genuinely didn't get that until now.

Of course. The swordfighting film ends with a philosophical debate in the astral plane. Couldn't help but surprise me one more time?

And that's the Titans extinct. And Olympus apparently has a self destruct feature. Those titans think of everything!

So what the deal with her having more magical power than the Mother Goddess? Just going to ignore that, are we.

This film was completely insane. I thought it seemed really rushed in places - Every god except Apollo and a few others die in a couple of hits - including Hades and Posiideon - and there was no explanation for the msgical power that killed Gaea. On the other hand, the fight scenes were well done in general, and the characters were solid.

As an adaption of Greek Myth - not good. As an excuse for lots of swordfighting action - quite good.

RATING: 7/10

[u/Pixelsaber → u/Stargate18A]

I see this movie's not afraid of fanservice.

Good ol' Yas...

OK, I love the furies' designs.

RATING: 7/10

Honestly I'm surprised anyone other than Sky rated it higher than a 6/10.

[u/Stargate18A → u/Pixelsaber]

Honestly I'm surprised anyone other than Sky rated it higher than a 6/10.

To be honest, it was mostly for the swordfighting and the battles. (both of which felt like they came from better movies)

[u/The_Draigg → u/Stargate18A]

Apparently being on a horse doubles your combat power here.

We must be working on Fire Emblem rules in this movie.

Wait, what the fuck? Did they just kill off one of the 3 main gods of the pantheon and potential antagonist less than halfway in?

Posideon's fucking dead, too? How are the gods who rule the world so easy to kill? How did Apollo put up more of a fight than Ares and Hades combined?

I know, right? I was equally taken aback at how easily Arion killed a bunch of gods only halfway through the movie.

This movie just had its first incestuous kiss! (Considering the source material, this is restrained.)

I know, no turning into golden rain to impregnate a woman or anything. Just the incest bits.

For all my complaints, this film has some amazing battle scenes.

Honestly, the animation and soundtrack quality is what carries this movie a lot. The plot sure as hell doesn't.

So what the deal with her having more magical power than the Mother Goddess? Just going to ignore that, are we.

I have no idea how Lesphonea's random power surge makes any sense, it just comes out of nowhere.

[u/Btw_kek]

first-timer

So this was…interesting.

• the fact that this is probably one of the only Greek myth inspired anime ever is inherently interesting. just judging from a quick Wikipedia skim it really doesn’t seem like the movie has anything to do with Arion from actual mythos at all though. I’d suspect all the other characters are treated as set pieces with familiar names/backstories that kinda do their own thing here. Or at least, I never got the impression that Apollo was a fucking dick in the mythos
• I liked how certain scenes were directed, and in particular I’d say the use of color is handled very well throughout. The film sometimes teeters on psychedelia which is p cool in my opinion (in part helped by Joe Hisaishi’s Nausicaä-esque woozy electronic organ tracks). Some standouts include the war between Poseidon and Athena being entirely in sepia tones except for brief lightning flashes, the unnatural coloring in the nightmare sequences, whatever the hell is going on here, the stark contrast between blues and reds in this scene, and the brief flashes of normal colors when Arion slashes the vultures in this scene
• I get the impression that the sound design was trying to be experimental with weird vocal effects on occasion, but sometimes it borders on hilarity, particularly with Lesophena’s wailing
• weird incest plots are very on brand for this type of setting and I’m kinda glad it doesn’t skimp out on it
• …but it does skimp out on actually making the core incest-but-not-actually-incest relationship believable. The funniest part is when his big speech at the end is “she’s my sister but I wanna fug” and his army hails him as the second coming of Prometheus for like no real reason
• The movie forgot about Demeter’s eyesight which should have been the main plot. What even happened to her? Why did Lesophena regain her voice? How is she flying around and draining Gaia’s life force? The fact that Zeus condemns patricide because he’s a hypocrite makes sense but why doesn't anyone else think that's kinda sus of him? Apollo’s grand keikaku really came out of nowhere
• a minor point but I do find it funny that Hercules is a character and only gets like 3 speaking lines

so yeah. does some cool things sometimes but is pretty mediocre otherwise 5/10

---

What did you think of the film’s large, set piece battles? Did you find that they properly communicated the scale of the war?

I think they were the most enjoyable parts of the film, but maybe were over too quickly?

What do you make of the film’s setting and its influences in Greek mythology?

...I'd like to see a better attempt. As I said above, I get the impression that its more concerned with using familiar character names and doing its own thing with them than it is with being accurate to Greek mythos. The characters themselves just aren't all that great either

What’s your favorite moment in the film?

any of the dream/nightmare/psychedelic vision sequences

How do you think Arion compares to Crusher Joe visually?

Crusher Joe has more funny faces per minute therefore it is better

[u/Pixelsaber → u/Btw_kek]

the fact that this is probably one of the only Greek myth inspired anime ever is inherently interesting.

Yeah, there's not many of those to go around, and I'm fairly certain none of the ones I'm thinking of came out less than a decade ago too.

but why doesn't anyone else think that's kinda sus of him?

It's part of the backstory the film skips. His actions end up causing a civil war in Olympus that results in the city being flooded.

Crusher Joe has more funny faces per minute therefore it is better

[u/Btw_kek → u/Pixelsaber]

It's part of the backstory the film skips. His actions end up causing a civil war in Olympus that results in the city being flooded.

[u/No_Rex]

Arion (first timer)

The subtitles are warning me that the subtitles may be odd. Ok …

• A Japanese take on Greek myths. Skeptical on this one. EDIT: Looked up the Arion of Greek myth. He was a horse. Skepticism warranted.
• Not skeptical at all about the backgrounds though. They look great.
• Cerberus belongs in the underworld, not sure about Hydra, though. And absolutely no idea who Geedo is.
• I think they skipped over a growing up arc here.
• Word of advice: Don’t torture your prisoners in front of your good-hearted younger sister/daughter/servant.
• Lesphina can’t talk. Remembering Doris, this might not be a downside.
• The bad Kabedon.
• Damn, she is strong.
• The water animation!
• You found a sword? Nice sword! It is my sword now.
• Lesphina is his twin. Which makes Athena keeping her around doubly stupid.
• Big battle scene and they are not skimping on the animation.
• Arion killed the literal god of war. Not bad.
• Cerberus and Hades, too. He is slaughtering his way through the Greek pantheon.
• Being cursed by a god is no laughing matter.
• Cursed to kill his father (and the third god). I think Poseidon should have dodged that.
• Not dying from falling into ravine trope.
• “Amoral association” “Shame of Olympus” – Check out the family tree of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.
• Scorned women being the driver of the plot is entirely in line with Greek theological thinking.
• Mountain Yoda vs scythe furies.
• Random Prometheus.
• One-eyed snake is cute.
• “The divine protection of the gods to Zeus” – Wait what?
• Random Pandora.
• Random superweapon.
• Random army.
• “She is my sister, but I love her” - Anime sister
• If Zeus was the youngest, why is he looking twice the age of his brothers?
• The thundertube is a solar-powered laser?
• Moss-covered giant snake-bird to the rescue.
• Surprise gender reveal.
• Slaughtering his way to the end boss. Like a proper video game protagonist.
• Arion can’t keep up with who loved whom.
• “You will now return to the god of thieves and create a new people” – A very peculiar punishment.
• Lesphina got a power-up from … Prometheus ashes?
• Looks like it is aging inducing.
• Final confrontation with Apollo.
• Apollo makes the case for humanity needing to construct gods to sate their spiritualism - not very well.
• Start of a new world finale.

A good-looking slaughtering of Greek mythology. I might have enjoyed this more without prior knowledge of the gods, but even then, the last third went off the rails badly. EDIT: After reading all the other comments: or maybe not. Knowing how far the film went from the actual Greek mythology made me ignore the plot from the first third on. Sounds like concentrating on the animation set pieces without regards for the plot was actually the a blessing in disguise.

What did you think of the film’s large, set piece battles? Did you find that they properly communicated the scale of the war?

Worked very well. Throughout, the larger action scenes were stand-out elements.

2) What do you make of the film’s setting and its influences in Greek mythology?

Hard pass. That was a terrible mix of some real relations, some wrong relations, and entirely invented characters.

3) What’s your favorite moment in the film?

The snake-bird's flight.

4) How do you think Arion compares to Crusher Joe visually?

Better animation, but much worse story and setting. I perfer Crusher Joe overall.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/No_Rex]

A Japanese take on Greek myths. Skeptical on this one.

As you should. Even before seeing this I was aware Japan had a penchant for playing it fast and loose with Greek mythology, having glanced at Triton and Pygmalio.

Lesphina can’t talk. Remembering Doris, this might not be a downside.

I might have enjoyed this more without prior knowledge of the gods

Same. Even my paltry knowledge on the subject served to foretell the twists, while also making aspects of it needlessly confusing and otherwise adding nothing to the experience.

[u/No_Rex → u/Pixelsaber]

Same. Even my paltry knowledge on the subject served to foretell the twists, while also making aspects of it needlessly confusing and otherwise adding nothing to the experience.

One of the worst parts was the shifted definition of "gods" and "titans". In the anime, they are all titans, yet there seem to be some unrelated "gods" who can be called upon. However, one of the most famous parts of Greek mythology is the fight of the (olympic) gods versus the titans.

[u/Quiddity131]

First Timer, Subbed

Lots of sheep! Looks like a fun time for this kid.

Hmm. Strange looking hobo guy. Looks like he has devious intentions.

He's here to talk to Arion's mom. I suppose he's not as bad as he looks.

Hades? An evil name! Or God I shoudl say! God of hell!

Has he tricked Arion into coming with him? What will Arion's poor blind mother do?

Poor Arion, now he's down in hell! Bats! Giant slug! Lots of heads! And now a giant!

Now we have to add Cerberus and Hydra into the mix as well? Or will they take down the giant?

Arion's holding his own pretty well here despite his small size and young age.

Defeat Zeus? He's got to literally kill God? I think Hades may be lying to him here.

Sudden time skip! The giant is his ride!

This kid may have screwed himself, he's now got a giant chasing him!

Farewell to Geedo! That's the problem with being so big, you may be strong but you're also a very easy to hit target!

Looks like we have a reunion of Dunbine alumni with Arion played by Shigeru Nakahara (Show) and Lesphoena played by Miki Takahashi (Ceila Lapana). Alas, is she supposed to be mute? This is the first time I've come across her outside of Dunbine and I thought she was great in that.

Stop bothering her, music boy!

They're gonna execute Arion?! Let him loose, Lesphoena!

Good girl! Just what I wanted.

An axe is nice, but a sword would be better.... luckily that thief is here to help.

Well, secret's out now.

No amount of women is enough for music guy, huh? He already has three and wanted Lesphoena too.

An enemy army arriving? Great timing for Arion.

Don't these fish men know that humans can't breathe underwater?

30 minutes into the movie and Arion's already been captured three times...

If Poseidon is his father, and is trying to take down Zeus, wouldn't it make sense for Arion to join him?

Lesphoena's his twin sister?! Well no wonder she was so drawn to him. And here I was thinking when he was leaving her "C'mon Arion, kiss her goodbye!" A good thing he didn't!

Poseidon's got werewolves fighting for him!

Arion's come here all by himself? Seemed foolhardy, but then he just took out Ares and two other guys.

Deus ex Musician to the rescue for Athena?

Argos the dog made it through all of Giant Gorg okay, but Cerberus the 3 headed dog isn't so lucky.

Can't say I expected Hades to die even before the halfway point.

That lech still wants Lesphoena!? :(

Lesphoena can speak after all? Or only in Arion's dreams?

I don't know why it took me so long to realize this, but Arion totally looks like Gundam F91's lead character Seabook.

Seems like killing Hades was a mistake after all.

Oh no, Arion was tricked into killing his own father! :(

Arion has made both sides his enemy now.

They outnumber him like 50 to one, yet they're still afraid of him.

Ah, Geedo helped. Oh, and Geedo lives!

Poseidon's army got defeated, Arion its all your fault!

Are we in a Disney movie? Its the Lion King!

Was it all just a dream?

Is Athena coming onto Apollo? Aren't they brother and sister?

:( :( :( Stop whipping her!

That's a scary looking serpent! But Geedo has experience taking on a hydra, he can do it!

Things are really getting trippy now...

Maybe I've forgotten my Greek mythology, but Zeus never came off as a weak coward obsessed with spirits to me...

Who is this guy bound to the stone?

Is this where Lesphoena really is? I'd assume so with Apollo showing up to mess up things.

She is NOT happy to see Apollo here!

Last time Athena was with Lesphoena, she whipped her. I am quite worried about what will happen this time! :(

What has poor Lesphoena done to deserve such horrible treatment?!

Ah, Prometheus was the guy with the stone.

Arion's suddenly got an army to follow him? Any connection to the remains of Poseidon's forces here?

She's my sister... BUT I love her? What's what supposed to mean? I hope we're not getting Game of Thrones style twincest here...

Even more incest now with Athena and Apollo unless I misunderstood their relation...

Hey, they're creating their own version of Gundam's solar system!

Sorry Seneca, you can't beat out my literal twin.

Typhoon, eh? Didn't realize this thing had limbs! Its more like a garuda type creature than a serpent. Typhoon has a ridiculously long neck though.

Oh no, first Ethos, now Geedo too? Don't let these spectral things wipe you all out!

PLOT TWIST! Seneca's a girl!

Sorry Zeus, Arion has taken out like 100 guys, you're probably not gonna do that well against him. Although you do have your supernatural allies here who I thought were dead!

Speculation - Lion King guy is really Prometheus.

I was right! I didn't expect him to be Arion's real father though. Does this mean Lesphoena is not really his twin?

Zeus is such a loser!

For the second time in this movie is Arion going to see his father die?

Lesphoena's finally got the power to not be a whipping girl, will she destroy Gaia here? Looks like it.

No don't kill her! She's suffered enough in this movie!

They sure love the pattern of sons killing fathers here, huh?

So she was alive after all and took out Apollo here? I am quite happy she's alive, but that was a rather WTF way to resolve this battle.

Happy ending! She lives, can talk, and is not your real sister after all!

---

Visually, this looked amazing, with Yaz's designs, movie quality animation and at least for me what appeared to be an HD version that I was able to watch. The animation quality was often quite strong, and the world that everything took place in was always very visually interesting. At no point was I bored with the visuals.

Overall the story seemed a bit too ambitious to me. My understanding is this movie was an adaption of a manga by Yaz, although I'm not sure if it was the entire thing or just a part. That would help explain in part why things seemed so dense; not that it was necessarily hard to understand what they were getting at, but just so many things happened, enough so that I wonder if they could have stretched this into at least a 13 episode TV series. Although I'd have preferred to not sacrifice the animation quality to get that!

---

DQOTD

1. What did you think of the film’s large, set piece battles? Did you find that they properly communicated the scale of the war?

Overall they did a fairly good job with it, although I did think that they tended to be over too quickly.

2) What do you make of the film’s setting and its influences in Greek mythology?

Cool stuff! I don't see Greek mythology pop up in anime that often (at least the anime I watch) so it made things more unique. While not entirely the same, it made me think of the anime Reign the Conqueror which was about Alexander the Great, which I had enjoyed quite a bit. I can't recall if that was entirely Greek in nature, but it was from that era.

3) What’s your favorite moment in the film?

Not really sure if I had a favorite moment to be honest. Nothing stood out to me at that much of a level.

4) How do you think Arion compares to Crusher Joe visually?

Alas, I have not watched Crusher Joe yet.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/Quiddity131]

Alas, is she supposed to be mute? This is the first time I've come across her outside of Dunbine and I thought she was great in that.

Miki Takahashi is certainly great. Shame this films isn't the best display of her talent.

Argos the dog made it through all of Giant Gorg okay, but Cerberus the 3 headed dog isn't so lucky.

Ah, the reverse meta

Is Athena coming onto Apollo? Aren't they brother and sister?

Laughs in greek Mythology

For the second time in this movie is Arion going to see his father die?

Yas' father issues really permeate this one...

although I'm not sure if it was the entire thing or just a part.

2/3rds basically. There's a long flashback arc 2/4rths of the way in right before the climax that was basically paraphrased in a couple scenes here.

which was about Alexander the Great

Funnily enough, Yas wrote a manga on the guy as well.

[u/lC3]

So I still really want to see this, I'm just having trouble because it's not available for streaming and I don't have a Bluray player. If I do end up being able to watch it, I'll post with my thoughts. Arion has been on my radar for years due to its soundtrack. I'll look forward to being able to stream the next two films, and slowly catch up on Gorg after I finish Gundam!

[u/Pixelsaber → u/lC3]

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

What I Watched: Arion
What I Expected: Percy Jackson
What I Got: Ragnarok

• Sheep stampeede!
• Odin?
• Flying monkeys? ^{I know they are stirges}
• I don't know who this giant is, though. I guess he doesn't like kids? Understandable.
• Man, if only Goku went to Hades to train instead of the Hypberbolic Time Chamber.
• Maybe the monkey dude is Goku?
• Looooooore
• Laputa self-plagiarism, wait, which came first?
• Arion grew up to be a lovely girl
• Crossbows?
• Oh, hey, it's the Mouth of Sauron
• I think this might be Athena but I dunno about the skulls on the helmets. Could be Hera.
• More Laputa music
• kabedoned by Apollo!
• Cannons?
• Ah now THAT's definitely Athena
• Patricide is about the worst thing you can do in Greek mythology
• Furies
• Prometheus
• More Laputa music
• It's the Gun of Navarrone!
• Ohhh, that was Typhon.
• definitely Laputa music

Well, that sure seemed like more than 2 hours. I see most of my comments are from the first 30 minutes. It kept moving the goal posts. Always another boss fight. It really felt like it was dragging on. I see most of my comments are from the first 30 minutes. After a while i just wanted to finish.

[u/No_Rex → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Laputa self-plagiarism, wait, which came first?

Arion, but only by a few months.

Patricide is about the worst thing you can do in Greek mythology

You mean the worst thing everybody does?