Saint Seiya: Meikai is coming.

[Steven]

Here's a little bit of news many Saint Seiya fans have been waiting for: two days ago Masami Kurumada announced on his personal website that the second part of the Hades storyline (the "Meikai" or "Netherworld" chapter) would be released as an anime series "soon". Little has been confirmed about the number of episodes or the staff involved. The only things which have been officially confirmed are the title of the first episode ("The River Acheron": Kurumada's website showed a photo of the approved script) and the band which will provide the theme song (Marina Del Rey: they also did the theme song for "Ring ni Kakero").

[doneagle]

some other interesting info but disturbing at the same time :

The original voice actores are replaced by new ones. Especially the change of Seiya has been discussed in forums all around the world. It's just won't be the same.

"The voices of the 5 bronze saints and Saori will change for the next part of Hades saga.
In fact, the new Seiya's voice will be the same seiyuu from Ryuuji in Ring ni Kakero, mr. Masakazu Morita.
The most recent and best work of this seiyuu is Ichigo from Bleach."

and :
Chapter Inferno
"A spokesman at TOEI studios confirmed that the long awaited arc for the Hades Chapter will premier this December"

[cyclonex]

sweet, I cant wait to see the rest (even though I read it already )

to us, non-japanese fans, other VA's wont matter much I think, but I can understand that there is commotion about it. was there any reason given for the change?

[Steven]

No clear objective reason has been given, just a lot of rumours and emotionally charged speculations. One version has it that Kurumada himself requested the change because he thought the original actors were getting too old to play teenage boys' voices. Another version has it that the agency representing the actors simply asked too much money this time round. Guess we'll never know for sure.
Anyway, I've heard a new audio clip of the new actors, and though it takes some getting used to, it's not as catastrophic as some make it out to be. To be honest, unless somebody had told me Shiryu and Hyoga were played by other guys, I probably would not have noticed it. The guy playing Shun has taken a lot of criticism for sounding too weak, but then Shun is supposed to be a 13-year old rather effeminate boy, so I wasn't exactly expecting John-Rhys Davis. The one I had the most problems with is Seiya, because his original voice actor, Tohru Furuya, had such a unique, energetic voice, that it's very hard to imagine the character without it once you've heard it. I haven't heard a clip featuring Ikki or Athena yet, so I can't judge their performances.

Anyway, the whole voice actor debate is eclipsing some of the more positive points of the new series:
-The music will again be by Seiyi Yokoyama.
-Shingo Araki and Michie Himeno will serve as art directors on the entire series this time around.
-The series director will be Tomoharu Katsumata, an old hand with an impressive record: he directed many classic series, such as Grendizer (Goldorak), Endless Road SSX (Albator '84) and Captain Future (Capitaine Flam). He also director many of the early Saint Seiya episodes (most of the Galaxian Wars and the Black Saints, in fact).

[doneagle]

to be honest, I'm kinda looking forward to hearing seiya with an Ichigo accent Bleach is my favorite show at the moment