Greek mythology has been a huge influence in my life for as long as I can remember. I have read every Greek mythology book I have come across and watched every series or movie I could get my hands on. So when Netflix announced their new animated series Blood of Zeus, I was ecstatic! More mythology content and it’s animated?! Woah! It’s something that I have been wanting for years! The trailer looked fascinating and the animation was beautiful, so I kinda had big expectations about it. Now without further ado, here’s my honest review!
Warning: some spoilers ahead!
First of all, I wanna rant about my positive takes. The art is breathtaking. It’s full of clean lines and stunning colors. It is truly a sight to see! It’s probably the most beautiful animation that I have seen in a long time. Even the scenes where people lose heads and the screen is full of gore are breathtaking! How they manage to make spilling guts look good will forever remain a mystery to me. They certainly make the gods look, well, godly (I can gush about how good Apollo looks for hours!ーYour Honor, he is the sun!ー). The best part of the animation is its consistency throughout every episode. After all, there isn’t a single flaw in terms of the animation quality.
But what about the show is even more beautiful than its animation style? All the strong women in it, of course!
Let’s start with Alexia, the Amazonian warrior. Her job is hunting down demons and stopping their plans. She’s a big part of the series and Heron wouldn’t have reached his destiny without her. I’m a big fan of hers since we don’t always get strong females in series. Also, she did a great job in the being-a-badass-department.
Speaking of baddies, Hera is the queen of them. This goddess’ jealousy is something to fear without question. Even if I’m not that big of a fan of the creative choice to make her the villain of the story, we can safely say that she was a good one. Her powers are something to admire, and I had never seen Hera be depicted with so much of it. Heron’s mother, Electra, is also a character to admire. She did everything she could for her sons, even when it led to her downfall.
Sadly, not everything about the series was as perfect. As a fan of mythology, I’m a little picky about it, so when demons (part of the Judeo-Christian tradition) got involved, I was a little worried. The truth is that the mythology behind Blood of Zeus isn’t the most loyal to the source material. From Hera’s reaction, (who yes, is petty and jealous, but never enough to kill Zeus) to small details of how immortals bleed red, the facts are a little off. Sure, I understand that it’s part of the adaptation process and I get the creators’ goal to create dramatic tension, but I felt like it took something away from the series.
Another thing that I didn’t enjoy is that I felt some of its potential was wasted. Sure, they gave us beautiful art for the gods of the Pantheonーbut not a lot of action from them. Goddesses like Artemis and Athena should have had bigger roles if war was brewing. After all, they’re both warriors and strategists. The same goes for Aphrodite; who, without a doubt, wouldn’t have kept her nose out of Hera’s marital and romantic problems with Zeus, being the goddess of love and all that. I just feel that we could have more involvement from the Pantheon instead of silently trying to guess who is who as they each side with Hera or Zeus.
While I did find it predictable and expected more from the mythology angle, I think this show is worth watching. The art deserves to be admired. So go watch Blood of Zeus so you can form your own opinion and gush with me about how pretty the art (and Apollo) is and how much we all want Hermes’ cape!