Saint Seiya

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Saint Seiya
聖闘士星矢 <セイントセイヤ> (Saint Seiya)
Genre	Mythology, Shōnen, Fantasy,
Manga
Authored by	Masami Kurumada
Publisher	Shueisha
Other publishers: Kana Conrad SIC Star Comics VIZ Media Glénat Vid Ivrea Televen Caracol TV
Serialized in	Shonen Jump
Original run	January 1986 – December 1990
No. of volumes	28
Manga: Saint Seiya – Next Dimension
Authored by	Masami Kurumada
Publisher	Akita Shoten
Serialized in	Shonen Champion
Original run	August 2006 –
No. of volumes	Unknown
Manga: Saint Seiya – The Lost Canvas
Authored by	Shiori Teshirogi]]
Publisher	Akita Shoten
Serialized in	Shonen Champion
Original run	August 2006 –
No. of volumes	Unknown
TV anime
Directed by	Kōzō Morishita (ep. 1 - 73) Kazuhito Kikuchi (ep. 74 - 114)
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	TV Asahi
Other networks: Cartoon Network TF1,Mangas,AB1,NT1 TV Azteca Rede Manchete, Cartoon Network, Rede Bandeirantes, PlayTV Chilevisión, Etc...TV Televen AmericaTV TTV Caracol TV TVB
Original run	11 October 1986 – 1 April 1989
No. of episodes	114
Movie: Legend of the Golden Apple
Directed by	Kozo Morishita
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	18 July 1987
Runtime	45 minutes
Movie: The Heated Battle of the Gods
Directed by	Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	12 March 1988
Runtime	45 minutes
Movie: Legend of Crimson Youth
Directed by	Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	23 July 1988
Runtime	71 minutes
Movie: Warriors of the Final Holy Battle
Directed by	Masayuki Akehi
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	18 March 1989
Runtime	44 minutes
OVA: Hades - Chapter Sanctuary
Directed by	Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Studio	Toei Animation
No. of episodes	13
Released	2003 on DVD
Movie: Heaven Chapter ~ Overture
Directed by	Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	14 February 2004
Runtime	80 minutes
OVA: Hades - Chapter Inferno - 1st part
Directed by	Tomoharu Katsumata
Studio	Toei Animation
No. of episodes	6
Released	2006 on DVD
Novel: Saint Seiya – Gigantomachia
Authored by	Tatsuya Hamazaki
Publisher	Jump J Books Conrad
Publish date	August 2002 – December 2002
No. of volumes	2

Saint Seiya (聖闘士星矢, Seinto Seiya^?), also known as Knights of the Zodiac, is a manga and anime series about a group of five mystical warriors called the "Saints" (or "Knights") who have adopted various constellations as their guardian symbols.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Manga series 1.1.1 Manga titles 1.1.2 Saint Seiya Episode G 1.1.3 Saint Seiya - Next Dimension 1.1.4 Saint Seiya - The Lost Canvas 1.2 TV series in Japan 1.2.1 Hades Saga 1.2.1.1 Chapter Sanctuary 1.2.1.2 Chapter Inferno 1.2.2 Heaven Prologue 1.3 Foreign releases 2 Story summary 2.1 The Saints' Mission 2.1.1 Cosmo, power source of a Saint 2.1.2 Mission 2.1.3 Weapons 2.2 TV story arcs 3 Characters of Saint Seiya 4 Body Armors 4.1 Athena's Cloths 4.2 Odin's Robes 4.3 Poseidon's Scales 4.4 Hades' Surplices 4.5 Titans's Somas 4.6 Pontus's Ars Magna 4.7 Giant's Adamas 4.8 12 Olympian Gods's Kamui 5 Movies 6 Musical 7 Themes songs 8 Saint Seiya Video Games 9 Saint Seiya Action Figures 10 References 11 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Manga series

The Saint Seiya manga is authored by Masami Kurumada and was first published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from January 1986 to December 1990. It was later collected into 28 tankōbon volumes starting in September 1986. The series has three main parts: Sanctuary (volumes 1 to 13), Poseidon (14 to 18), and Hades (19 to 28). The 13th volume also contains a separate short story called Blue Warriors.

In December, 2002, serialization began in Champion Red magazine of a new manga called Saint Seiya Episode G. This new work is written by Masami Kurumada and drawn by Megumu Okada. The story happens years before the Galactic Tournament, and focuses on the Gold Saints and the Sanctuary, particularly on Leo Aiolia, all against Cronos and his Titans.

On April 27, 2006, Masami Kurumada, after 16 years of interruption, begins his new work: Saint Seiya - Next Dimension - Meiō Shinwa ("The Knights of The Zodiac - Next Dimension - The Lord of the Underworld Myth") on Weekly Shonen Champion. The relationship between former Pegasus saint and Hades during the holy war 243 years ago is expected to be revealed in the new serial. The first installment of the serial, which is published on Weekly Shonen Champion, has been released on August 3, 2006.

[edit] Manga titles

1. Holy Warriors
2. Axia!
3. Mu's Palace
4. Remembering the Rage
5. Burn Phoenix!
6. Fight for Athena
7. For a Wonderful Future
8. The 12 Houses (of the Zodiac)
9. For My Goddess
10. The Nearest Man by God
11. The Absolute Zero
12. Man with Two Faces
13. The Cygnus Story
14. Temple under the Sea
15. Deadly Battle
16. The Heart Hunter
17. The Athena's Prayer
18. Only Blue Waves
19. Hades' Rebirth
20. The Death Land
21. 108 (Evil) Stars
22. The Eighth Sense
23. The Acheron Crossing
24. The Sixth Ring
25. Dire Battle
26. The Pursuit of Hades
27. Thanatos & Hypnos
28. Towards a Lightful World...

• Tenkai Hen: Overture - Prologue

[edit] Saint Seiya Episode G

Main article: Saint Seiya Episode G

[edit] Saint Seiya - Next Dimension

A new manga series, this time made by Kurumada, has been released. The first chapters (each being 8 pages long) were published between August and September, 2006 (first chapter published on August 3). This manga introduction relates the part just after Seiya and the other Bronze Saints attack god Hades in Elysion, all Bronze Saints have their God Cloth. Then, Athena will be seen fighting with Hades.

But the main part is where we see from Hades' memories, where he seems to be a friend of the previous Pegasus Saint. This is part of the ancient times of the 1740s, the previous Holy War. Here, we also see a young Shion of Aries and Dohko of Libra who were revealed to be originally Bronze Saints, before being promoted to Gold.

Kurumada has announced that after the success of the first three chapters he will continue to publish them weekly for some time after the fourth chapter has been published. At the same time, a new Saint Seiya manga, The Lost Canvas, has been announced.

[edit] Saint Seiya - The Lost Canvas

Main article: Saint Seiya Lost Canvas

This is a new manga series, written and drawn by Shiori Teshirogi.

It has started prepublication in the Shonen Champion magazine on August 24, 2006, running in parallel with Next Dimension manga. The first chapter was 36 pages long. As of March 2007, 28 chapters (each being between 36 and 20 pages long) have been published.

The story is set in 18th century Europe, and focuses on the links between the previous incarnation of Hades, named Aroon (misspelled Alone for some people), and the Pegasus Saint of that time, named Tenma.

It starts with the events prior to the Holy War engaged between Shaska Saori and Aroon Hades. Between it, many saints and specters are introduced. Libra Dohko and Aries Shion have a major role as Gold Saints and also Gryphon Minos as one of Hades Judges (Kyotos). Most of the warriors are similar (in appearance only, neither in names nor in power) to those who appeared on modern times where Pegasus Seiya is the protagonist. Some new specters are introduced such as Mandrake and Bennu.

As of chapter 27 and 28, Pegasus Tenma has gone to the Underworld together with Unicorn Yato and a Lemurian female called Yurihiza.

Since Next Dimension and Lost Canvas directly contradict each other on several major plot points, there is debate as to which of them is to be considered canon (that is, part of the original story published in 1986). There is currently no indication from Kurumada or Teshirogi in this respect.

[edit] TV series in Japan

See also: List of Saint Seiya episodes

The anime is based on the manga series of the same title (above). The animation series by Toei Animation first premiered on Japan's TV Asahi on October 11, 1986. Masami Kurumada said that he doesn't like the anime, but agreed to transfer the manga to anime because of a tradition of make an anime from every manga.

The first anime series was produced by Toei Animation from 1986 to 1989. It was directed first by Kōzō Morishita (episodes 1 to 73) and then by Kazuhito Kikuchi (episodes 74 to 114). The character designers were Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno, and Seiji Yokoyama composed the soundtracks. The chief script writers were Takao Koyama and Yoshiyuki Suga.

It has three main parts: Sanctuary (episodes 1 to 73), Asgard (74 to 99), and Poseidon (100 to 114). The Asgard arc does not exist on the manga and was made directly for the anime. There have also been four theatrical releases (three short movies and a full-length one), which do not belong to the regular chronology, as they contain several story line contradictions. The movies are Saint Seiya (Saint Seiya Gekijōban), The Great Battle of the gods (Kamigami no Atsuki Tatakai), The Legend of the Hot Blooded Boys (Shinku no Shonen Densetsu), and Warriors of the Last Holy War (Saishūseisen no senshitachi).

[edit] Hades Saga

[edit] Chapter Sanctuary

The first 13 episodes of an OVA series corresponding to the Hades saga were broadcasted on Animax (a Japanese pay-per-view channel) from November, 2002 to April, 2003, and then released on DVD during the year 2003. Before that, the Hades saga could only be seen in the manga. These 13 episodes were named Hades - Chapter Sanctuary (Meiō Hades Jūni-Kyū Hen).

This OVA series was directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, still with character designs by Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno, and with scripts written this time by Michiko Yokote, and soundtracks entirely taken from Yokoyama's work on the previous TV series.

[edit] Chapter Inferno

Two years after the first part of the Hades saga, Chapter Sanctuary, a second part was produced in 2005. This second chapter was named Hades - Chapter Inferno Part 1 (Meiō Hades Meikai Hen Zenshō) and consists of six episodes. However, most of the original seiyu have not reprised their roles. For example, Masakazu Morita replaced Toru Furuya as the voice of Pegasus Seiya, Yuta Kasuya replaced Ryo Horikawa as the voice of Andromeda Shun, Hiroaki Miura replaced Koichi Hashimoto as the voice of Cygnus Hyoga, Katsuyuki Konishi replaced Hideyuki Hori as Phoenix Ikki, Takahiro Sakurai replaced Hirotaka Suzuoki as the voice of Dragon Shiryu and Fumiko Orikasa replaced Keiko Han as the voice of Saori Kido/Athena. Hideyuki Tanaka, however, reprises his role as the narrator. Hirotaka Suzuoki, the original voice actor of Dragon Shiryu, passed away on August 6, 2006 due to lung cancer.

Toei Animation released on the same Animax channel the first two OVAs on December 17, 2005, followed by the next two on January 21, 2006. The last pair were released on February 18, 2006. Shortly after their TV broadcasting, (for 2 months) they were released on DVD in 2006.

This short OVA series was directed by Tomoharu Katsumata, again with character designs by Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno, with scripts by Yosuke Kuroda and soundtracks still taken from Yokoyama's previous works on the TV series of 1986 (but Yokoyama composed 2 new tracks for this OVA).

On July 4, 2006, the newly released Saint Seiya Vol. 15 manga (Japan Complete Version) brings a news: Hades - Chapter Inferno Part 2 (Meiō Hades Meikai Hen Kōshō) anime has been started on July. Toei Animation officially announces the news on its website on July 18, 2006. It has been decided that Hades - Chapter Inferno Part 2, which contains 6 episodes in total, will be released from December, just like the first Meikai OVA series. The first two episodes of Inferno Part 2 will be shown on Japan's Sky Perfect TV from December 15, 2006 to January 4, 2007, with the next two episodes on Sky Perfect from January 19, 2007 to February 1, 2007 and the last two from February 16, 2007 to March 1, 2007.^[1] The Hades saga will not end in Chapter Inferno Part 2, perhaps there will be a Chapter Elysion. There is a pre-production poster where the 12 Gold Saints appear to launch their attacks on the Sighing Wall, the entrance to Elysion.

[edit] Heaven Prologue

A fifth movie came out in Japanese theatres in 2004, Heaven Chapter - Overture (Tenkai-hen Josō), which is supposed to follow the regular chronology right after the end of the manga (which has not been entirely adapted to anime yet) as a prologue to a new chapter. Toei Animation first announced that this new chapter would be a new animated series, but later Kurumada stated that he wants the movie to be part of a trilogy, but unfortunately, nothing has been confirmed yet, and it will be difficult to conclude in the near future, as Toei has been investing less money for the Saint Seiya Anime Franchise, as it is not a so-popular anime in Japan (however, it is more popular in other countries).

[edit] Foreign releases

• Saint Seiya began to be known in the West as Knights of the Zodiac after it became successful in France at the end of the 1980s, where it was given the name of Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque. This was also the very first release of the series outside Asia, in 1988. Indeed, France is known to be the first country, outside Japan and Asia, which has a "manga culture" for a long time, since the end of the 1970s.

• The series was also broadcast starting from 1989 in Italy, under the title of "I Cavalieri dello Zodiaco" (following the French renaming). This edition is known to differ substantially from other foreign editions of Saint Seiya, not only because many names of characters, places, and fighting techniques were changed, but also because the whole tone of the dialogues was modified to become more aulic and ceremonious, with occasional quotations from various pieces of poetry and classical literature; the main characters were also given adult voices in the dubbing, instead of teenage voices.

• The series was also released in Spanish-speaking countries, under the title of "Los Caballeros del Zodiaco" (again, following the French renaming), enjoying great success in both Spain and Latin America. Currently, the old episodes (Sanctuary, Odin and Poseidon saga´s) and the new one´s (Hades Saga, with new dubbing) are being aired again on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block

• The series was released in Portuguese-speaking countries too, like Portugal and Brazil, "Os Cavaleiros do Zodíaco" following the French renaming, like in Italy and Spain), the series was and still is very famous in both countries.

• The series aired in North America starting only on August 30, 2003, on Cartoon Network at 7:00 P.M. on a Saturday. Called Knights of the Zodiac, the series was heavily edited for television. The censorship issues were partly due to the fact that the US rights were held jointly by DiC and ADV Films, with DiC owning the TV rights to the series and ADV Films holding the DVD rights.

The US "Knights of the Zodiac" version was heavily panned by fans of the series, due to the extensive amount of editing used to remove the violence, bloodshed, and religious themes (blood was colored blue and called sweat; fans have joked that characters "bleed Gatorade", characters were imprisoned rather than being killed, and in a particularly infamous change among fans, when Shiryu let his blood flow to repair the damaged cloths it was called his "mystic energy"). While the characters retained their names and the bulk of their back stories (only Phoenix Ikki's back story was changed for the US dub, with his evil mentor Guilty and his daughter not dying, simply being separated), Saori Kido was turned from wealthy corporation owner to a princess named Sienna in the US dub. The US dub also featured all new music, most notably a cover of the A Flock of Seagulls' song "I Ran" as its theme song performed by the punkrock band Bowling For Soup.

Also, the characteristics for some characters (especially Hyoga, who talks like a stereotypical surfer) are diverse from the original version, that is one of the reason of the panning.

Another factor in the show's failing was low ratings, which led to Cartoon Network moving the show to 12:30 a.m. late Saturday/early Sunday morning timeslot. The series was pulled after 32 episodes.

ADV Films, sensing the backlash, quickly rushed out an uncensored DVD release of the series with the original music restored and the US voice actors providing a more serious accurate dub. The DVDs were successful and appealed to the hardcore fans of the show and quickly went up until episode 60 of the series before ADV Films stopped production of the series. According to ADV Films, they originally only bought the US rights to 60 episodes and that Toei, for unknown reasons, decided to not renew their contract with ADV Films to allow them to dub and release the remaining 54 episodes. As it stands, ADV Films has implied that they will at least attempt to get Toei to allow them to release the remaining 13 episodes of the Sanctuary Saga (which makes up the first 73 episodes of the series) and have re-released the single disc sets of Saint Seiya into two 30 episode/6 disc box sets to drum up interest in the series, but no move has been made yet.

It is unknown whether or not The Hades Chapter OVA or any of the other following soon after titles will ever be licensed in the US, but some speculate that since the 2003 Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) OVA series Shin Hokuto no Ken (New Fist of the North Star) was given a full US release, despite the fact that the original series went unlicensed past episode 36, it may still be possible, especially since the R2 release contains a 23-minute recap episode, explaining everything you need to know about the series before watching the Hades Chapter, making the original license slightly unnecessary. .

VIZ Media's English language adaptation of the manga (titled: Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac) has been extremely successful and has recently seen the release of volume 18 (completing sancturary and poseidon) out of the 28 volumes in total of the manga series. The US Manga version uses the DiC dub names for the main characters, but for the most part remains extremely accurate in terms of story presentation.

• The series was intermittently successful in other countries, attaining a cult series status outside Japan, France and the US. It had tremendous impact in Indonesia and the Philippines. In Brazil, for example (where it is known as Os Cavaleiros do Zodíaco), the debut of the series in September 1994 was responsible for changing the face of animation in the country, truly popularizing Japanese animation for the first time. This was also true in other countries of Latin America, especially Panama, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador,Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, although shows like Robotech and Mazinger Z had been shown in many of these nations during the previous decade.

• Both anime and manga were introduced into Hong Kong and Taiwan as 聖闘士星矢 as early as 1987, and started the trend of Japanese manga and animation among those areas. It was introduced into Mainland China as 圣斗士星矢 (anime) and 女神的圣斗士 (manga) around 1990. For example, the anime TV episodes were first broadcasted in Shanghai, the largest city in China, in late January, 1992. Although Japanese animation was no stranger to Chinese audience at that time, Saint Seiya gained a certain popularity.^{[citation needed]}

• The Spanish Version in Latin America was dub in Mexico with a HUGE success, Saint Seiya opened the door to new anime series like Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon, it was bradcasted in open television, since 1993 with episodes on Saturday at 7am, turning it into a two episode on Saturday at morning, and other one episode per day repetition from Monday to Friday on the evening, that lasted for years.

• The series was hugely successful in Brazil and the Brazilian audience saw it aired in open television, with episodes running in the morning and reprising in the afternoon from Monday to Saturday. After the conclusion of the Sanctuary part, it was reprised on a two episodes per day basis and then Asgard and Poseidon followed with the ordinary one episode per day broadcasting. All of the episodes were broadcasted in this manner and were then reprised. In 2006 the full 114 episodes were released on DVD and VHS with the original Japanese and Portuguese dubs, as 21 volumes, each with 3 to 4 episodes. It was followed by the release of Hades also in DVD, as a 4 volume, again with 3 to 4 episodes each. Volume 1 and 2 were released in June, 2006 and volumes 3 and 4 were released in August of the same year. With the 2003 comeback of the series on Brazilian television, the Japanese soundtrack received a Portuguese language version which maintained the original instrumentation with new versions for the lyrics only. The opening and closing themes (Pegasus Fantasy and Blue Forever respectively) were recorded by famous heavy metal singer Eduardo Falaschi from Brazilian metal band Angra, coincidentally a huge success, platinum artist in Japan.

• The series was also aired in Belgium and Portugal (where it was known as Os Cavaleiros do Zodíaco) and in Poland as well (with polish lector on french version, it was known as Rycerze Zodiaku - The Knights of the Zodiac).

• In Portugal the show was 6 years canceled, since 1992 to 1993 and just aired 36 episodes alleging violent content, returning in 19th September 1999 in SIC without transmitting the episode 37 of 1st Season.

• The series suffered a long delay before it finally gained entry into the United States market more than a decade later. Saint Seiya has a combination of realistic human characters and violent/death scenes, which explains why it had more trouble with censorship than animes that are far more violent, but less realistic in appearance.

• It may be said that Saint Seiya has special contributions in the development of Japanese manga and anime culture by laying the groundwork for the "God Warriors" genre of manga/anime and has been cited as having considerable influence on the series Ronin Warriors. A number of anime fans believe the possibility that the anime may have had some influence on the popular anime Sailor Moon. And there are also some similarities with Tokyo Mew Mew and a striking resemblance between sanctuary arc and characters (gold saints) and Soul society arc and Captains of Bleach.

[edit] Story summary

[edit] The Saints' Mission

[edit] Cosmo, power source of a Saint

Saints' power originated from the understanding of the "Cosmo". Everything in the universe is made up of matter (atoms). The Saints take this knowledge to another level: humans are made of atoms, thus humans should be able to use the mysterious forces behind the atoms.

Each atom within a human body resembles a small solar system, and since the human body consists of billions of atoms, the totality forms a "small Cosmo" or a "small Universe". Each person's Cosmo has its own unique signature. If permission is granted, one can also draw another's Cosmo to amplify one's own Cosmo. The power of the Cosmo can also be channeled through the Saints' Cloths, armors given by gods to mortals.

[edit] Mission

Athena's Saints' were specifically selected as kids and trained while growing up, to become Saints. Their primary mission is to protect and aid Saori Kido, the reincarnation of Pallas Athena (the Greek patron goddess of wisdom, art, and military strategy), and fighting to defend her in the Sacred Wars. Athena normally resides in her sanctuary, a protected physical location just outside of Athens, Greece. In the Sanctuary, a hierarchical command structure is followed, with the goddess as the supreme commander, followed by the Pope (second in command) who can command the 88 Saints, the core of Athena's "army", composed of : 12 Gold Saints, 24 Silver Saints, and 48 Bronze Saints.

[edit] Weapons

Athena dislikes weapons, believing intelligence and bodily strength to be the strongest weapons of all. Thus, she only allows a few Saints to carry arms. The most famous Saint to carry arms is the Gold Saint Libra Dohko (12 weapons; 6 kinds of weapons, 2 of each kind). Other Saints who bear arms include Andromeda Shun, and other Saints from the Andromeda Island who wield offensive and defensive chains, Sagittarius Aiolos (a bow and arrow), and others.

Additionally, Dragon Shiryu and Perseus Algol are noted for using a shield in combat; Phoenix Ikki sometimes uses phoenix feathers as projectiles. The goddess also forbids unauthorized duels among her Saints in the Sanctuary.

[edit] TV story arcs

Main article: List of Saint Seiya story arcs

[edit] Characters of Saint Seiya

Main article: List of characters in Saint Seiya

[edit] Body Armors

In Saint Seiya, most characters are warriors who wear different types of "cloth" (armor). The different cloths are fashioned by smiths working for the competing Gods, to be used by their own warriors to defend themselves or attempt to conquer the domain of other gods (more frequently, a god will attempt to seize the human world, which is the possession of Athena). Of note is the fact that none of the actual makers of cloth is ever depicted, although it is explained that Mū (and by inference, Shion and Kiki) are descendants of the tribe who forged Athena's Saints' cloth. It is said that only Mu is capable of repairing cloth.

Despite the fact that each type of cloth has different characteristics, these are usually ignored in the main story, and each receive a different name. However, the main attributes of all cloth are highly similar: they are stronger than normal cloth made of regular metals, and, if the wearer has awakened their cosmos, it serves to amplify the wearers' defense, several times over. Below, the main cloth types and their particulars:

[edit] Athena's Cloths

Characteristics: Athena's Cloths were fashioned by a lost tribe of smiths, and were actually the second group of Cloths created (as far as it is presently known). They were created to protect Athena's Saints in her first confrontation with Poseidon. Each of Athena's Cloth represents a constellation. Also, Athena represents justice and righteousness, and as such, if a Saint acts in a severely undignified manner, his Cloth will abandon him (as the Cancer Gold Cloth abandoned Deathmask due to his behavior).

Many Cloths lie "dead" in the "Cloth Cemetery" which is located in the mountains of Jamir. These dead Clothes were left there by perished Saints who wanted to reach the Aries Saint, Mu, so that he could repair their Cloths. The harsh journey before reaching Mu proved dangerous, or even fatal, for most Saints.

In the Saint Seiya universe, there are 88 Cloths, each representing one of the 88 constellations. They are divided into 3 categories, from the weakest to the strongest : 48 Bronze Cloths, 24 Silver Cloths, and 12 Gold Cloths. The databook named "Cosmo Special" explains that there are also 4 Cloths which are still unaccounted for. However, in the Episode G manga and on some action-figures packaging, it is said that there are 52 Bronze Cloths. The theory is that 4 cloths became god cloths, in according to Hypnos statement that there havn't been any since mythological times. Vol. 24 of the manga positions Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga and Shun under the Argo Navis constellation, which may indicate that the 4 missing cloths are of the four Argo Navis constellations. Vela, Pyxis, Carina and Puppis. In the Saint Seiya Encyclopedia, it says that the Graad foundation started piecing together some of the Cloths from the "Cloth Graveyard". And thus we got to see the Bronze Sculptor cloth which owner has the duty of repairing cloths with. The Silver Cup(Crater) Cloth which owner has the duty of medic. And lastly the Silver Altar(Ara) Cloth, which owner has the duty of following the Pope around like a shadow and be his bodyguard.

• Bronze Cloths: Granted to the Bronze Saints, the lowest class of Athena's Saints. They are of various colors, and are the weakest in terms of protectiveness. They freeze at minus 150ºC. 12 bronze cloths have been confirmed with around 30 unconfirmed demised cloths.

• Silver Cloths: Granted to the Silver Saints, the middle class of Athena's Saints. They are usually very conservatively colored, appearing in tones of gray for the most part. Many Silver Cloths have similar designs when worn by the Saints. They freeze at minus 200ºC. 21 Silver cloths has been confirmed so far.

• Gold Cloths: Granted to the highest class of Athena's Saints, the 12 Gold Saints, said to be the most powerful warriors of all the Sanctuary. They represent the 12 Zodiac constellations. Distinctive features include the fact that they protect most of the body (unlike many Silver and most Bronze Cloths), and that they are practically indestructible, except when facing the power of a god. They freeze at absolute zero (−273.15 °C).

• God Cloths: The most powerful Cloths. They only appeared in the last chapters of the manga. They aren't commonly used by Saints, and appear only seldom and in certain conditions. In this particular case, they were Bronze Cloths, enhanced by a great amount of Athena's blood and Cosmo. Thus they became God Cloths, nearly as powerful as the armors of the gods (Kamui) themselves.

All cloths wear off as a result of battles, and must be repaired by a master smith like Mu (who is the only Cloth smith of his generation). It is possible for a Cloth to slowly restore itself, unless it "dies", that is, if it is completely destroyed or receives too much damage. If that happens, it is impossible to repair unless restored using a great amount of the Saint's blood. However Ikki's Phoenix Cloth can revive itself at a much greater rate, even if it has been reduced to dust (a power that comes from the Phoenix, a mythical bird that could revive from its own ashes).

A Cloth can evolve when the Saint's cosmo increases or under other circumstances. The Bronze Cloths of Seiya, Shun, Ikki, Shiryu and Hyoga were almost destroyed during the Sanctuary arc, but were revived with the blood of the Gold Saints still alive after the battles. However, these Bronze Cloths, due to the "golden" blood with which they were regenerated, acquired different characteristics, becoming as powerful as Gold Cloths, provided a better protection, and even exhibited the shine of a Gold Cloth when the wearer's Cosmo was increased. Indeed, during the Poseidon Saga, the 5 Bronze Cloths actually "became" Gold Cloths temporarily; this effect is seen again at the start of the Hades conflict in the Hades Chapter OVA. In the Hades arc, the Bronze Cloths became even more powerful upon receiving a drop of Athena's Blood (in the case of Pegasus and Cygnus, they spawned wings later on) and at the end of the story they became almost divine (named God Cloths), thanks to a great amount of Athena's blood and Cosmo.

• Black Cloths

They are only found in the Death Queen Island. This island is what is left of the Mu continent. There were rebellious alchemists who decided to go against Athena by creating these Cloths, but since they were not skilled enough they could only manage to create copies of already existing Cloths. Saints who had received training and had obtained a saints strength, but misused it. They where sent to Death Queen Island where they would use the Black cloths. An unknown saint by the name of Guilty was sent to the island to create a barrier that would hold the black saints captive. The mask he wore was the seal of Death Queen Island, once broken, the Black Saints were freed from the Island.

• Shadow Cloth

In the first Saint Seiya videogame to the NES, as a special boss you could meet a person in a Shadow Cloth. This special character was the result of a design contest held by Shûeisha among the fans (Not surprise, many of the official Cloths we see in the manga, such as Virgo and Aquarius, were designed by fans for contests the publisher used to hold).

• Steel Cloths

Anime-only. The Sky Cloth, Sea Cloth and Land Cloth are three high-tecnology cloths made by a scientist (Dr. Asamori) of the Grado Foundation by order of Mitsumasa Kido. Even though these Cloths were not real so to speak, they were inspired by existing constellations. They and their owner vanished from the series when the Bronze Saints arrived at the Sanctuary at the beginning of the 12 Temples saga.

[edit] Odin's Robes

The God Robes represent the seven (or eight, to be more precise) stars of the Ursa Major constellation. They were created to protect Odin's legendary God Warriors. Each Robe also represents a mythological creature or object originating from Norse Mythology (such as the serpent of Midgard Jormungandr and Sleipnir, Odin's Horse). Some of the helmets have retractable parts.

Another characteristic of the God Robes is that each Robe has an Odin sapphire (except for Zeta Alcor). When Asgard is in need, the God Warriors can then take all seven sapphires and put them at the feet of Odin's statue, which then unlocks Odin's very own God Robe. Odin's Robe also comes with the Balmung sword.

[edit] Poseidon's Scales

Poseidon is the first god known to have created armors to protect his group of warriors, the Mariners. The Scales are made of Orichalcum, a rare metal which is said to have existed in the meteorite which sunk the lost city of Atlantis, which is now where Poseidon's Underwater Temple is located. The Scales are similar to the Gold Cloths, with a larger predominance of the color Orange, but are otherwise just as protective and imposing. But according to Seiya, who defeated Baian, these Scales are far from being as powerful as Gold Cloths. The Scales represent seven (or eight, if one is to include the non-Sea General Scales) mythological creatures, and it is said that the myths relating to those creatures actually originated from the Scales (within the Saint Seiya universe).

[edit] Hades' Surplices

Endlessly referred to by fans as "Sapuris", due to the Japanese pronunciation of the term, these are the protective armors created by Hades, God of the Underworld, to protect his warriors, the 108 Spectres. The common characteristic of the surplices is their highly ornate yet terrifying design, which is rather fitting considering who they were created for. The Surplices represent nightmarish creatures for the most part, or beings related to the Hades (such as the boatman, Charon). Besides these Surplices, nine more were created. One for Hypnos and Thanatos each (who are gods, not Spectres), one for Hades himself, and one each for the six revived Gold Saints: Capricorn Shura, Aquarius Camus, Gemini Saga, Pisces Aphrodite, Cancer Death Mask and Aries Shion (the later six are Surplice-like remakes of each Saint's original Cloth).

It must be noted that although the deceased Gold Saints joined Hades, their ultimate loyalty stayed true to Athena. They only accepted Hades' offer so that they could return from death and retrieve Athena's cloth, by using her own blood.

[edit] Titans's Somas

Seen only in the Episode G manga. To fight the tyrant god Uranos, Gaia gave to her 12 children a different weapon. These weapons had the ability to transform into very powerful armors called Soma (σώμα, "body" in Greek). As seen in the Episode G manga they are extremely strong, and almost impossible to break. During a battle between Gold Saint Leo Aiolia and one of the Titans, Hyperion of Ebony, after a direct attack by Aiolia the gold cloth was broken along with Aiolia's left arm. The Gold Saint needed a Miracle to damage the Titan's armor. The most notable of this weapons is the MEGAS DREPANON (Great Scythe), which belongs to the leader of the Titan Gods, Chronos, was the weapon that killed Uranos. The initial part of Episode G story revolves around this weapon.

[edit] Pontus's Ars Magna

Seen only in the Episode G manga, the Ars Magna (Latin for Great Art) is Pontus's armor. An armor shining like stars, with light emaning continuously from it, it seems even better than the Somas.

[edit] Giant's Adamas

Their armors are called Adamas, a Greek word that means "invincible". Adamas are made by precious minerals (opal, topaz, sapphire...) and thus have the respective colors. According to mythology (not cited in the two novels of Gigantomachia) every gem is characterized by a particular feature.

Note: the armor used by the Giants in the Episode G manga is unknown.

[edit] 12 Olympian Gods's Kamui

Armors of the 12 Olympian gods. These are believed to be the most powerful of the armors. Not much is known about them and they never appeared in Saint Seiya. Each god depicted in the manga wore only the armor of his own conception (Athena wore her Cloth, Poseidon wore his Scale, and Hades wore his Surplice).

[edit] Movies

Main article: Saint Seiya (films)

[edit] Musical

In August 1991 a musical theatre sponsored by Bandai, was shown in the Aoyama theater in Tokyo, Japan. The story recalls the Sanctuary and Poseidon chapter, starring the members of SMAP as the 5 bronze saints and Poseidon. Mu, Aiolia and Milo was played by members from another band called Tokio. However the play wasn't a success and didn't stay in people's memory.

[edit] Themes songs

1. TV-series ~ Sanctuary chapter (1 - 73)
   • Opening :"Pegasus Fantasy" (Make Up)
   • Ending : "Blue Forever" (Make Up)
2. TV-series ~ Asgard and Poseidon chapters (74 - 114)
   • Opening:"Soldier Dream" (Hironobu Kageyama & Broadway)
   • Ending: "Blue Dream" (Hironobu Kageyama & Broadway)
3. OVA Hades ~ Sanctuary chapter : (1 - 13)
   • Opening: "Chikyuugi" (Yumi Matsuzawa)
   • Ending: "Kimi to Onaji Aozora" (Yumi Matsuzawa)
4. OVA Hades ~ Inferno chapter : (1 - 6)
   • Opening: "Megami no Senshi ~Pegasus Forever~" (Marina Del Ray)
   • Ending: "Takusu mono he ~My Dear~" (Yumi Matsuzawa)

When running in Canada and the United States as "Knights of the Zodiac", the theme song was Bowling For Soup's "I Ran" - A cover of the hit 80's song by Flock of Seagulls

[edit] Saint Seiya Video Games

Several games have been made based on the Saint Seiya Franchise. The most notable one is the Saint Seiya PS2 game entitled Saint Seiya Chapter Sanctuary released in 2005. A review of which can be found here. On September 29, 2006 a new game based on the Saint Seiya Franchise was released in Europe on PS2, named Saint Seiya: The Hades. The game goes through the story of Saint Seiya: The Hades - Chapter Sanctuary and ends right after the final chapter in Saint Seiya: The Hades - Chapter Inferno Part.1 It is possible that a new game will be released after Chapter Inferno Part.2 comes out in December thus telling the rest of the story. Other than that, there are two NES and one Game Boy action-RPG games released only on Japan, telling the story up to the battle against the Gold Saints, but these are disliked by many fans for their awkward and sometimes confusing gameplay. Characters from Saint Seiya will appear in Jump Ultimate Stars.

[edit] Saint Seiya Action Figures

In the mid-80's a line of Saint Seiya Action figures were issued by Bandai, including most of the series' characters. The line was a huge success inside of Japan but also in some other countries like Hong-Kong, France, Spain, Brazil and Mexico. Those figures have now acquired collector status and the Japanese originals are very sought for, some like Odin's God Cloth or Kraken Isaac having a very high value.

In 2003, Bandai created a new line of figures called Cloth Myth, who also sell very well internationally. As for October 2006, there are 36 figures available and Bandai continues releasing one figure per month.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Japanese

• Masami Kurumada's Official Website
• Saint Seiya website
• Toei Animation's Saint Seiya website
• Saint Seiya OVA
• 2004 Saint Seiya
• Toei Seiya SP

English

• Knights of Zodiac In Cartoon Network U.S
• Saint Seiya at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Saint Seiya (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Saint Seiya at the Internet Movie Database