Netflix’s Saint Seiya Producer Eugene Son Explains Why He Gender-Swapped Popular Character Andromeda Shun!
Netflix recently announced a remake of the classic anime Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac that originally aired from 1986 to 1989. However, they will be making a significant change to the original series by gender swapping one of the main characters Andromeda Shun from a male to a female. And according to Saint Seiya’s producer it was done specifically to push an agenda.
The trailer which showcases the gender-swapped character has been roundly downvoted on YouTube with 8.1k people giving it a thumbs down compared to 5.3k giving it a thumbs up.
Eugene Son took to Twitter to defend his decision to gender-swap Andromeda explaining that there were already too many male characters in the Bronze Knights. But the gender-swapping isn’t the only thing Son admitted to. He also noted that a number of the characters also had their names changed.
“Why are some of the character names changed?”
That was done before I joined on. There was some question why characters from China, Europe, South America all have Japanese names. So between Toei and Kurumada, they chose to update a few of the character names.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Son admits he was the driving force behind gender-swapping Andromeda.
The big question: “Why change Andromeda?”
This one is all on me.
When we started developing this new updated series, we wanted to change very little. The core concepts of Saint Seiya that make it beloved are so strong. Most of it holds up well even thirty years later-
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
The only thing that concerned me: the Bronze Knights with Pegasus Seiya are all dudes.
Now the series has always had fantastic strong dynamic female characters, and it reflects in the tremendous number of women who are passionate about the Seiya manga and anime-
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
But thirty years ago, a group of guys battling to save the world with no girls around was no big deal. That was the default then.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Today the world has changed. Guys and girls working side-by-side is the default. We’re USED to seeing it. Right or wrong, the audience could interpret an all-male team as us trying to make a STATEMENT about something-
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Today the world has changed. Guys and girls working side-by-side is the default. We’re USED to seeing it. Right or wrong, the audience could interpret an all-male team as us trying to make a STATEMENT about something-
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
That’s a rather big admission. He thinks that by staying true to the roots of the original anime is a political statement, but doesn’t think specifically gender-swapping a character isn’t a political statement? This reads like he’s afraid of people, most likely in the media or possibly executives at Netflix, whining that they actually stayed true to the original anime and honored their fans. Instead, of honoring fans, what Son has done is slapped them in the face with a gender-swapped character that one can only assume is part of a much larger social justice agenda that seems to be leaking across much of Netflix’s original content and came to the forefront in She-Ra Princesses of Power.
Son continued to explain his politically motivated decision to gender-swap Andromeda by arguing he was just keeping up with the times. It’s a tired argument that executives and producers make when they have a bunch of failed ideas, but a popular IP and a hungry fanbase, and they try and combine the two. It never ends well.
And maybe 30 years ago seeing women punching and kicking each other wasn’t a thing. But today? Not the same. pic.twitter.com/RA46bJDeg8
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Okay, so what to do? We gave it a lot of thought.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Son would continue his defense of of the decision by pointing out the strong female characters already present in the anime. But in a shocking admission, he seems to point to either his own incompetence or at least the complete incompetence of the writing staff at Netflix when he explains they thought about creating a new character with a unique story, but just didn’t really know how to do it.
Instead of working on a new character, Son and Netflix found it easier to gender-swap a pre-existing one. Somehow they were concerned about the character feeling unnatural, which is rich considering one would have thought a gender-swap would have been worse.
There are plenty of female characters in the anime and manga. Marin and Shaina are both incredible. But they’re both powerful already – no one wants to see them turned into Bronze Knights-
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Do we take an existing character like Sienna (formerly named Saori) or Shunrei or Miho, give them powers, and turn them into our April O’Neil?
Or do we create a new female character and have her join the team?
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Maybe…?
But I didn’t want to create a new female character that would stick out and be obvious – especially if she was not created naturally and has no character/personality except “to be the girl.”
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Then we discussed Andromeda. Everyone agrees – an AWESOME character.
So what if the original was “Andromeda Shun” and our interpretation was “Andromeda Shaun”?
The more we developed it, the more we saw the potential. A great character with a great look.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Writing a new character isn’t something new in anime or manga for that matter. Depending on the story arc it might not be the easiest thing on the planet, but if you use it as a tool to push a story forward a new character won’t look like a prop. But it seems that fear kept Eugene Son from making a new character. Even more interesting is the fact that he thinks adding a girl for the sake of being a girl would make her be a token. However, he gender-swapped Andromeda into a girl for the sake of adding a girl. This doesn’t even make sense and certainly doesn’t pass a sniff test.
Eugene Son goes on to defend the swap by basically saying that the “core concepts of Andromeda won’t change” But as anyone would understand when it comes to people, your gender plays a major role in personality development. You cannot just swap out genitalia and expect the same result.
The core concepts of Andromeda wouldn’t change. She uses her chains to defend herself and her friends – which she learned from her protective brother who taught her how to fight.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
In fact, in another moment of hypocrisy Eugene Son even admits the story will change with Andromeda as a female.
And hardcore Seiya fans know what happens to Andromeda as the series progresses. What would that look like with a woman Andromeda? I thought it would be interesting to see.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
He continues to baffle in his defense as he begins to contradict himself with every new sentence.
But I knew this would be controversial. I don’t see it as changing the character. The original Andromeda Shun is still a great character.
But this is a new interpretation. A different take.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
I know some (many?) of you already hate it. Even in Toei, Andromeda was their favorite character and this feels like a slap in the face.
So if you hate it (and me) and say “This new series is NOT for me” – no problem. I understand. I appreciate your passion for Seiya.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
But this is what I am going for- pic.twitter.com/BkaOvsYA0v
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
When I was a kid, I dug the original Battlestar Galactica. When they changed Starbuck to a woman, I thought it was weird. But I watched and loved the new BSG. A terrific character and a new interpretation.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Anyways, that’s what I was thinking when I suggested it. That’s why we did it. And I think the new series will be a lot of fun once we talk about the change to Andromeda.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Hopefully you’ll check out the series when it comes to Netflix in 2019.
But again, if you aren’t interested and it’s just a big NOPE, then I totally understand.
— Eugene Son (@eugeneson) December 9, 2018
Saint Seyia is just the latest social justice controversy for Netflix as the streaming giant appears to make it their mission to radically change iconic properties and series in order to update them for a social justice audience that were never fans of the original series. We most recently saw this with She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as well as the casting for the upcoming Witcher TV series.
Because of Netflix’s history of attribute swapping (gender, race, etc) many people have been turned off by the streaming providers interest in playing the “diversity” game. It’s unfortunate because this could have been an opportunity to allow fans new and old to tune into a show with a new character without having to sacrifice an old one.
What do you think of what Eugene Son said about Andromeda’s new gender? It was refreshing to see him at least explain his reasoning, as illogical as it was, for gender swapping Andromeda.
Do you think this is a deep-seated trend in Netflix’s content decisions? Or do you think it’s an ongoing shift in the cultural landscape? Do you think there will be any kind of meaningful push back to these kind of changes? Let me know in the comments below!
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