Volume 27 of Knights of the Zodiac takes place as the final battle with Hades, God of the Underworld, draws near. Pandora, as her final act, betrays Hades and aids Phoenix in crossing the boundary to Elysium while the others have already gone on ahead. However, Thanatos, God of Death, and Hypnos, God of Sleep, await them. Thanatos begins to take the knights down one by one with relative ease. Even their strongest attacks seem to do nothing. However, just as Phoenix, the last to arrive, is defeated, their golden cloths are sent by Poseidian, God of the Sea, their former adversary, to aid them. Even then, things don't look to be easy.

Highlights

While I have heard of Knights of the Zodiac under its other famous title, Saint Seiya, I didn't know too much about it. I knew it was a shonen action title based around Greek mythology, but not to what extent. After reading volume 27 it appears Masami Kurumada appears to be more knowledgable than I thought about Greek mythos. Of course the series does deviate wildly from it as it just takes the basic ideas.

At first, when reading the volume, I wasn't too interested in it. By the time Pandora started telling her backstory though I got a bit more into it and by the time the battle with Thanatos came I found it more interesting. Considering this is a volume set late in the series for me to pick it up and still find it interesting and being able pick up on some of the relationships is a testament to Kurumada's strength as a mangaka.

Overview:
The volume is really more of a setup. The last major battle had just been won on their way to fight Hades and the five Bronze Knights were being given aid to help them. Their battle with Thanatos has just begun as he is easily thrashing all five of them at once in a one-sided battle and they have yet to face his powerful twin, Hypnos, let alone their final battle. So we really get to see the Knights learn that their current powers are no match and they'll have to dig deeper into their inner selves to find the strength to survive.

Knights of the Zodiac, like all of Kurumada's other works, is drawn in a very old-school style dating back to the 1960s-70s, akin to the style of classics like Speed Racer, and I am not particularly a fan of it. Also, at times there can be so much going on in one panel it's hard to follow. However Kurumada does exemplify the qualities of that particular form quite well and some of the scenes, such as Pandora's flashback, I completely forgot my discomfort with the style.

In spite of my objections with the artwork, Kurumada is able to take and adapt legends from antiquity from another region into a compelling tale of adventure. For those who reminisce about the older days of manga and anime, this series can hearkens back to it while adapting to a more modern Japan that younger readers will be more familiar with. Knights of the Zodiac is a classic adventure tale that really exemplifies virtues of manhood.

ComicsOnline gives Knights of the Zodiac – Volume 27 a 3.5 out of 5 Bronze Knights.