I’m arriving late to the party but since yesterday I jumped right into the “tren del mame” (our term in Spanish for this, it’s something like the ‘whining wagon’)
-First, the Saint Seiya fandom oscilates between extremes: the dude bros who want the same story from the 80s, and the progressive troop waiting for changes; which opens the door to a world of different readings and meanings aaaand makes it extremely difficult to please everyone at the same time.
-Second, there is no point in denying it, these are different times, society has changed and entertainment has changed with it. And 80s product with its 80s tropes has little chance of being successful.
-Also, no matter what, our beloved 80s show will not suddenly dissapear or be replaced. And the new project is not necessarily about us (the old fandom).
-Yesterday, I was ok with the news about the remake, my expectactions were something like the Voltron remake so girl Shun was a possibility; until the writer started explainind his vision...
-The reason: yes, I agree with him, the original source was a sausage fest, full 80s style and it needed to be changed, the main team needed women.
-They couldn’t add new characters (and I get it). But, wait, if you’re going to play the smurfette card, there is a bronze girl: June! I asked him about that and:
-Was that a case of lazy writing? Tbh I don’t know, because that character was almost a clean slate for a writer to develop it. Then, it seems they felt like they had only one option...
-Why Shun? I guess they went for the least-outrage-option. As someone wrote, with every change there would have been a massive shitstorm, but Shun seemed like the easiest, safest path in commercial terms. But not really in terms of the statement that they were trying to make explicit.
-The result: they pissed people on of both parts of the fandom, for the fanboys it was unforgivable to change him for the sake of pushing “an agenda”; for others, Shun as a non toxic masculinity character in a shonen, was a more powerful statement than just filling a gender quota, and making him a girl will erase those more subtle aspects of representation.
-Anyway, am I gonna watch the remake? I guess so, i’m not into a static view of cultural products, therefore I have more in common with a new interpretation (even if I don’t fully agree in the details) than with the ones who want an 80s show done forever and ever. Also, as @sanctuarycolumn wrote, there are reasons to be optimistic about it.
-Finally, the consequences: the fandom came back to life. Even if the remake flops it will bring new fans who will share the love for the franchise. And that’s a good thing.
