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, also known as ''Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac'' or simply ''Knights of the Zodiac'' (translated from the French title ''Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque''), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada. It was serialized in
Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...
's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...
'' from 1985 to 1990, with its chapters collected in 28 ''
tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' volumes. The story follows five mystical warriors called the Saints who fight wearing sacred sets of armor named "Cloths", the designs of which derive from the various constellations the characters have adopted as their destined guardian symbols. The Saints have sworn to defend the reincarnation of the Olympian goddess
Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...
(in her fictional depiction specific to the series) in her battle against other gods who want to dominate Earth. In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by
Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
. Since 2006, Kurumada has been publishing a sequel manga titled '' Saint Seiya: Next Dimension''. Several spin-off manga by different authors have also been created. The manga was adapted by
Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...
into a 114-episode
anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
television series which was broadcast on
TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...
from 1986 to 1989. ''Saint Seiya'' was later continued with three original video animations released from 2002 to 2008. Four animated feature films premiered in Japanese theaters from 1987 to 1989, with a fifth in 2004 and a sixth in 2014. A live-action film adaptation premiered in April 2023. The ''Saint Seiya'' manga had over 50 million copies in circulation as of 2022, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. Both the original manga and the anime adaptation were successful internationally across Asia, Europe, and Latin America.


Plot

The story focuses on an orphan named Seiya who was forced to go to the Sanctuary in
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
to obtain one of the , the Bronze Cloth of the Pegasus constellation, a protective armor worn by the Greek goddess Athena's 88 warriors known as . Upon awakening his , Seiya acquires the ability to unleash the true power of a Saint through what is variously described as the "burning", "explosion", or "big bang" of his "Cosmo" (alluding to the Big Bang of the universe). He then quickly becomes the Pegasus Saint and returns to Japan to find his older sister. Because his sister disappeared the same day Seiya went to the Sanctuary, Saori Kido, the adopted granddaughter of Mitsumasa Kido (the person who sent all the orphans to train) makes a deal with him to go to fight in a tournament called the Galaxian Wars. In this tournament, all the orphans who survived and became Bronze Saints must fight to win the most powerful Cloth: The Sagittarius Gold Cloth. If Seiya goes to compete there and wins, Saori would start a search to find Seiya's sister. The tournament is interrupted by the vengeful Phoenix Bronze Saint, Ikki, who wishes to eliminate the people who forced him to undergo his especially harsh training. He steals parts from the Sagittarius Cloth and eventually fights against the remaining Bronze Saints: Seiya,
Shun Shun may refer to one of the following: *To shun, which means avoiding association with an individual or group * Shun (given name), a masculine Japanese given name *Seasonality in Japanese cuisine (''shun'', 旬) Emperor Shun * Emperor Shun ( ...
(Ikki's brother), Shiryū, and Hyōga. Upon Ikki's defeat, the Bronze Saints are attacked by the Silver Saints sent by the Sanctuary's corrupt Pope to eliminate them. When they prevail, the Bronze Saints learn that Saori is
Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...
's reincarnation and that the Pope once tried to kill her as a baby. The previous Sagittarius Gold Saint Aiolos saved Saori but was mortally wounded shortly after escaping and gave Saori to her adopted grandfather. Deciding to join forces with Saori, the Bronze Saints go to the Sanctuary to defeat the Pope, but upon their arrival, Saori is severely wounded by a gold arrow from a Silver Saint and will die at the end of the day. Believing the Pope may be able to heal her, the Bronze Saints go to find him. To do so, they must go through 12 temples, each one guarded by one Gold Saint (the most powerful Saints of Athena). Some of these Gold Saints are friendly, but others are just as corrupt as the Pope and take a sick pleasure in fighting the Bronze Saints. Following several battles, Seiya gets to the Pope's temple and learns that he is actually the Gold Saint Gemini Saga, who suffers from a split personality: one good and one evil. His evil side took over completely and had killed the real Pope to obtain more power. With help from his friends' Cosmos, Seiya is able to knock out Saga and use the shield from Athena's statue to heal Saori just in time. Shortly afterwards, Saga, his good side having regained control, commits suicide as a self-punishment. In the second story arc, the Greek god
Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...
reincarnates within the body of Julian Solo, the heir to a rich and powerful family, and plots to flood the Earth. Saori goes to his Temple, where Julian offers her to reduce the flooding by absorbing the water inside the Oceans' Central Pillar. Following Saori, Seiya, Hyōga, Shun and Shiryū go to Poseidon's underwater Temple and are confronted by his underlings, the Marines. As Seiya, Hyōga, and Shiryū make their way to Julian, Ikki learns that the mastermind behind this conflict is Saga's twin brother, Gemini Kanon, who is manipulating Poseidon. During the final battle, Poseidon's spirit awakes within Julian and manages to defeat his opponents. Saved by the Saints from the Pillar, Saori seals Poseidon's soul within her amphora. The third and last arc follows how Hades, the Underworld god, is freed from his seal and revives the deceased Gold Saints and the Pope Aries Shion, and alongside some of his 108 Specters, sends them to the Sanctuary to kill Athena. The remaining Gold Saints serving Athena are able to subdue the enemies, but Saori then commits suicide. This act is instead meant to directly send her to the Underworld to face Hades, and the Bronze Saints follow her. Shion reveals that the revived Gold Saints' true intentions were of giving Saori her own Cloth so she could fight alongside her knights, and gives it to Seiya's group before dying once again. In the Underworld, as the Saints fight Hades' Specters, Shun is possessed by Hades. Saori reaches Hades and expels his soul from Shun's body. Hades then takes Saori to Elysium, and the five Bronze Saints follow them. In the final fight against Hades and his two subordinates, the gods
Hypnos In Greek mythology, Hypnos (; Ancient Greek: means 'sleep') also spelled Hypnus is the personification of sleep; the Roman equivalent is known as Somnus. His name is the origin of the word hypnosis. Pausanias wrote that Hypnos was a dear ...
and
Thanatos In Greek mythology, Thanatos (; grc, Θάνατος, pronounced in "Death", from θνῄσκω ''thnēskō'' "(I) die, am dying") was the personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appea ...
, the Saints gain the all-powerful God Cloths and use them to aid Saori in defeating Hades. However, Seiya also sacrifices himself by receiving one of Hades' attacks, and the Saints return to Earth with his body.


Production

At first, Kurumada planned to create a
wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
-themed manga as he enjoys writing individual sports rather than collective sports. He was initially inspired by ''
The Karate Kid ''The Karate Kid'' is a 1984 American martial arts drama film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen. It is the first installment in the ''Karate Kid'' franchise, and stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue an ...
'' (1984) to conceive a story about a young
karateka (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian ...
named Seiya found by a karate master and his female assistant; however, his publishing department did not approve the idea. Since he thought simple sports like
judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
or karate would not be interesting enough, he added aspects from
Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...
and constellations to make it innovative. However, the basic concept of ''Saint Seiya'' was to be a ''nekketsu'' manga with a "fashion" touch added by the Saint Cloths. After the quick cancellation of his previous work, ''Otoko Zaka'', in 1984, this "fashion sense" was something Kurumada thought would be an aspect that would attract fans, making it different from his previous manga with simple high school uniforms. Although they look like European medieval armors, Kurumada said his main inspiration for the Cloths was
Hajime Sorayama is a Japanese illustrator known, along for his design work on the original Sony AIBO, for his precisely detailed, erotic portrayals of feminine robots. He describes his highly detailed style as "superrealism", which he says "deals with the te ...
's 1983 illustration book ''Sexy Robot''. Besides from fashion, the Cloths were created because Kurumada wanted characters to throw explosive sparks and the armors was a way to give them some protection. Initially, he could not decide what type of armor it would be, considering even Buddhist '' kasaya''; based on the Greek motif, he designed the actual Saint Cloths. When Kurumada was in the process of creating ''Saint Seiya'', he gave Seiya the name Rin at first, since Kurumada was going to title his manga "Ginga no Rin" (Rin of the Galaxy). However, as Kurumada continued developing his manga, he decided to change the name to Seiya, which was more fitting. First he spelled the name with the
kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
that meant "Holy Arrow", to relate it to Seiya's condition as a Saint, but later decided to use the kanji that meant "Star Arrow", to emphasize the constellation and mythological motif. Finally, he changed his manga title as well, to ''Saint Seiya'', once he fully developed the concept of the Saints. Also, Kurumada stated that one of the first ideas he conceived for ''Saint Seiya'' was the Pegasus Meteor Fist. Since his manga was going to use the constellations as a very important and ever-present theme, he wanted his protagonist to have a special move that would be like a shower of meteors. When Kurumada designed Seiya's likeness, he was inspired by his character Ryūji Takane, the protagonist of his hit manga ''
Ring ni Kakero is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada. It was published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' between January 1977 and October 1981. The individual chapters were compiled by Shueisha into twenty-five ''tankōbon'' volume ...
'', which he created 9 years before Seiya. Most protagonists of Kurumada's works bear a resemblance to Ryūji, as Kurumada subscribes to the revered Osamu Tezuka's Star System (a stable cast of characters) technique. The same process is done with almost all the other characters from the series. After creating Seiya as a ''nekketsu'' character, he decided to give different personality traits to each of other main characters: Shiryū is the "righteous and serious"; Hyoga is "posed and classy"; Shun is the "lovable boy"; and Ikki is the lone wolf.


Media


Manga

Written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, ''Saint Seiya'' debuted in
Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...
's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...
'' on December 3, 1985. It finished in the magazine's 49th issue of 1990 (with cover date November 19), and the last chapter was published in the first issue of ''
V Jump is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine, focusing on new manga as well as video games based on popular manga. The magazine's debut was in 1993 by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. History A prototype magazine called '' Hobby's Jump ...
'' (released as an extra edition of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', with cover date December 12, 1990). Shueisha collected its 110 individual chapters in twenty-eight ''
tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' volumes, released from September 10, 1986, to April 10, 1991. Shueisha has also released the series in other editions; fifteen '' aizōban'' volumes, from November 20, 1995, to January 20, 1997; fifteen '' bunkoban'' volumes, from January 18 to August 10, 2001; twenty-two '' kanzenban'' volumes, from December 2, 2005, to October 4, 2006.
Akita Shoten is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Teio Akita on 10 August 1948. As of 2020, the company's president is Shigeru Higuchi. Magazines Male-oriented manga magazines ''Shōnen'' magazines * – Bimo ...
is releasing the series in a '' shinsōban'' edition since June 8, 2021. As of June 8, 2023, nine volumes have been released. In North America, the series was licensed for English release by
Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
in 2003. Under the title ''Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac'', Viz Media released its twenty-eight volumes from January 21, 2004, to February 2, 2010. Kurumada published in Akita Shoten's ''
Champion Red is a monthly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine, published on the 19th each month by Akita Shoten since August 19, 2002 (cover date October 2002), initially published as a ''shōnen'' magazine. Since 2015, the magazine slogan is . was a sp ...
'' a series of special in-depth chapters of events from the manga; ''Saint Seiya: Episode Zero'', from December 19, 2017, to February 19, 2018. ''Saint Seiya Origin'', from December 19, 2018, to January 19, 2019; and ''Saint Seiya: Destiny'', on December 19, 2018. The three chapters of ''Episode Zero'' were included in the first volume of the series' ''shinsōban'' edition.


Other series

A spin-off series by Megumu Okada, titled ''Saint Seiya Episode.G'', was serialized in Akita Shoten's ''Champion Red'' from December 19, 2002, to June 19, 2013. Kurumada started a sequel to ''Saint Seiya'', titled ''Saint Seiya: Next Dimension'', in 2006. A prologue chapter was published in Akita Shoten's ''
Weekly Shōnen Champion is a Japanese ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Akita Shoten. History ''Shōnen Champion'' was first published on July 15, 1969. It has had numerous popular series by manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai, Shinji Mizushima, Masa ...
'' on April 27, 2006, and the series officially debuted in the magazine on August 23 of the same year. The collected volumes are published in full color. A second spin-off series by Shiori Teshirogi, titled ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'', was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Champion'' from August 24, 2006, to April 7, 2013. A third spin-off series by Chimaki Kuori ''Saint Seiya: Saintia Shō'', was serialized in ''Champion Red'' from August 19, 2013, to July 19, 2021. A fourth spin-off series by Kenji Saito and Shinshu Ueda, titled , started in ''Champion Red'' on December 19, 2020. Its first volume was released on June 18, 2021. A fifth spin-off manga series by Tsunakan Suda, titled , started serialization in ''Champion Red'' on September 16, 2022.


Anime


Overview

;TV and OVA series ;Animated movies


Release

An
anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
adaptation of ''Saint Seiya'' was first proposed in June 1986 three months before the first manga volume was published. After
Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...
started a partnership with
TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...
, they looked for sponsors.
Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Richmond ...
got interested in selling the Saint Cloths as merchandise so it began development. Masayoshi Kawata, producer of TV Asahi, thought ''Saint Seiya'' was the perfect fit for the "hero show" they were looking for. By July, scriptwriter Takao Koyama had written the first episode scheduled to be broadcast in October. Since an episode adapts several chapters the anime goes faster than the manga, which led the TV series staff to create some original stories to fill the gap. The anime adaptation was broadcast on TV Asahi from October 11, 1986, to April 1, 1989. It was directed first by Kōzō Morishita (episodes 1–73) and then by Kazuhito Kikuchi (episodes 74–114). The character designers and aestheticists were Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno, and
Seiji Yokoyama was a Japanese incidental music composer from Hiroshima. He graduated from the Kunitachi College of Music in 1957. Yokoyama is best known for his work on the anime series ''Saint Seiya'' and ''Space Pirate Captain Harlock'', and for his Symphon ...
composed the soundtracks. Following Kurumada's storylines from the manga closely, the chief scriptwriters were
Takao Koyama is a Japanese screenwriter and novelist focusing on anime productions. His name was written as until 1987. Career He graduated from Waseda University in 1972 and joined to Tatsunoko Production as a story creator and a screenwriter. He left from T ...
(1–73) and Yoshiyuki Suga (74–114). The series has three main parts: ''Sanctuary'' (episodes 1–73), ''
Asgard In Nordic mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ''Ásgarðr'' ; "enclosure of the Æsir") is a location associated with the gods. It appears in a multitude of Old Norse sagas and mythological texts. It is described as the fortified home of the Æsir ...
'', an anime original story arc (episodes 74–99), and ''
Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...
'' (episodes 100–114). The series was cancelled and left unfinished in 1989, leaving one arc of the manga not animated, until finally being adapted into a series of OVAs in 2002. The series one-hundred fourteen episodes was re-released in Japan on two
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
box sets on June 20 and September 24, 2014. The series was re-broadcast on TV Asahi in 2015. After Japan, ''Saint Seiya'' was first broadcast in France in 1988 on TF1's , under the title ''Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque'' (which inspired the title in other language versions), and the series became quickly popular. The series was broadcast throughout Asia, Europe and Latin America, where it was a success as well. In North America, the series was first licensed by
DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...
, under the title ''Knights of the Zodiac'', in 2003. The DIC version was edited for broadcast, cutting overly violent scenes, coloring the red blood to blue, adding in previously non-existent digital scene transitions, rewriting the scripts, renaming several characters and replacing the music themes and the original soundtrack. This version premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on August 30, 2003, and in Canada on YTV on September 5 of the same year. Unlike other territories, ''Saint Seiya'' did not succeed in North America, and DIC only dubbed forty episodes. ADV Films licensed the home video rights to the series. They released the DIC-edited version and an uncut version of the show with English subtitles, which also included a new dub (with a different voice cast than the one used by DIC). ADV Films released the first twenty-eight episodes of the edited version on seven (of the planned twelve) DVDs from January 27 to October 25, 2004, and released only sixty episodes of the uncut version on twelve DVDs from October 21, 2003, May 31, 2005. A box-set collection was released on January 13, 2009.
New Video New Video (stylized as NEWVIDEO) is an American entertainment distributor and collector of independent digital content. The company works with independent producers, filmmakers and television networks to curate content for many types of distrib ...
released the first seventy-three episodes on a subtitle-only DVD set, titled ''Saint Seiya: Sanctuary Classic Complete Collection'', on April 15, 2014. On October 15, 2019,
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
began streaming a third English dub, featuring the cast from '' Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya''; the first fifteen episodes premiered first and episodes 16–41 were added some days later; episodes 42 to 73 were added in January 2020; and episodes 74 to 114 were added in April 2020, in effect making the Netflix dub the only complete English dub of the entire original series. The series was removed from the platform in December 2021. Crunchyroll added the series in April 2023. A spin-off television series, ''
Saint Seiya Omega is an anime series produced by Toei Animation. It is a spin-off of the ''Saint Seiya'' anime series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, produced in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the franchise.
'', was broadcast for ninety-seven episodes on TV Asahi from April 1, 2012, to March 30, 2014.


Novels

On November 9, 1988, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' released a Jump Gold Selection Anime Special 2, written by Takao Koyama, with illustrations by the series' animation character designers Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno. This special is just a detailed flashback to
Gemini Saga The following list comprises the characters that form the three ranks of the army of the Greek goddess Athena, in the Japanese manga ''Saint Seiya'' and the canonical sequel and prequel ''Saint Seiya Next Dimension'', written and illustrated by Ma ...
's assassination attempt on the newborn Athena. There is also a series of two light novels by Tatsuya Hamazaki with the name of ''Saint Seiya: Gigantomachia'', which were published by Jump J-Books. The first novel was released in Japan on August 23, 2002, while the second was released on December 16, 2002.


Films

Four animated feature films were shown in Japanese theaters from 1987 to 1989. A fifth animated film came out in Japanese theaters in 2004, , which was supposed to follow the regular chronology right after the end of the manga (which finished being adapted on August 1, 2008) 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 wanted the film to be part of a trilogy.
Tōru Furuya is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator. As a child, he was a member of Gekidan Himawari, a children's acting troupe. He is currently employed by the talent management firm Aoni Production. Furuya is most known for the anime roles of Amu ...
revealed Kurumada's wishes for the series during a press conference. After Pegasus Seiya eventually defeats Zeus, he is to go on and face Chronos, the God of Time. Toru was not allowed to say anything more. With the serialization of ''Saint Seiya: Next Dimension'', Kurumada removed ''Overture'' from the canon of the ''Saint Seiya'' universe, although some elements that appeared in it remain in the continuity. Despite the first movie being released in 1987, none of the movies received an official English release in North America until it was announced by Discotek in 2012 that they had acquired the home video rights to the first four movies and intended to release them across two DVDs, each containing two movies. The DVDs contain Japanese audio with English subtitles. In 2003, the French magazine AnimeLand published an interview with Masami Kurumada where the author revealed that a company in Hollywood had approached him some years prior with a fifteen-minute pilot of a live-action movie of ''Saint Seiya''. The project was abandoned as Kurumada did not feel the essence of the series had been preserved. In a later interview published in 2005 the reporter was allowed to see the video and commented on how the names of the main characters were changed and noted that one of them,
Andromeda Shun is a protagonist in the ''Saint Seiya'' media franchise, which originated in the manga of the same name, written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, that subsequently inspired an anime series, soundtracks, OVAs, films, video games, and other c ...
had been changed from male to female. On June 21, 2014, '' Legend of Sanctuary'' was released. Animated in CGI, ''Legend of Sanctuary'' is based on the classic 1986 series. It was produced by Toei to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the franchise. In 2017, a collaboration between Toei Animation and Hong Kong-based production company A Really Good Film Company was announced. In the press conference, plans for a live-action ''Saint Seiya'' movie were detailed, and Polish director
Tomasz Bagiński Tomasz "Tomek" Bagiński (, born 10 January 1976 in Białystok) is a Polish illustrator, animator, producer and director. He is a self-taught artist. Education Bagiński studied architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. Works His fir ...
was announced as being in charge of filming, based on the classic 1986 series, which was supposed to take place in Summer 2019. The official title for the movie is and ''Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac'' in English. A live-action adaptation starred
Mackenyu is an American-born Japanese actor. He is the son of Japanese actor, producer, director, and martial artist Sonny Chiba. Mackenyu rose to fame after portraying Wataya Arata in the Chihayafuru live-action trilogy in 2016, which earned him the ...
as Seiya,
Madison Iseman Madison Iseman (born February 14, 1997) is an American actress. She is known for playing Charlotte in the CMT comedy television series '' Still the King'', She is also known for playing Rain Burroughs in '' Fear of Rain'', Bethany Walker in '' J ...
as Sienna,
Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...
as Alman Kido, Diego Tinoco as Nero,
Famke Janssen Famke Beumer Janssen (; born ) is a Dutch actress. She played Xenia Onatopp in '' GoldenEye'' (1995), Jean Grey / Phoenix in the ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2014), and Lenore Mills in the ''Taken'' film trilogy (2008–2014). In 2008, she ...
as Vander Guraad,
Nick Stahl Nicolas Kent Stahl (born December 5, 1979) is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film '' The Man Without a Face'', co-starring Mel Gibson. He later transitioned into his adul ...
as Cassios and
Mark Dacascos Mark Alan Dacascos (born February 26, 1964) is an American actor, martial artist and television personality. He won numerous karate and kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18. He is known for his roles as Wo Fat in '' Hawaii Five-0' ...
as Mylock. The film premiered in Japan on April 28, 2023. Sony Pictures distributed the film outside Japan, except in China and the Middle East.


Original video animations

These are a series of original video animations (OVAs) that cover the last arc of the manga, which was not previously adapted into anime. The first 13 episodes were broadcast on
Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...
(a Japanese pay-per-view channel) from November 9, 2002, to April 12, 2003, and then released on DVD during the year 2003. These 13 episodes were named and adapt volumes 19 to 22 of the manga. This OVA series was directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, still with animation character designs by Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno, while the scripts were adapted from the manga this time by
Michiko Yokote is a Japanese screenwriter. Screenwriting • head writer denoted in bold Anime television series *'' Patlabor: The TV Series'' (1990) *''Ranma ½'' (1990–1992) *''Rurouni Kenshin'' (1996) *'' Magical Project S '' (1996–1997) *'' You’re ...
, and the soundtrack was entirely taken from Yokoyama's work on the previous TV series. Two years after the first part of the Hades saga, Chapter Sanctuary, a second part was produced in 2005. This second chapter was named and consists of six episodes, adapting volumes 23 to 25 of the manga. However, most of the original voice actors did not reprise their roles, aside from
Hideyuki Tanaka is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo who is attached to Aoni Production. He is a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. He is most known for his roles in ''One Piece'' (as Donquixote Doflamingo), ''Dokaben'' (as Tarou Ya ...
as the narrator.
Hirotaka Suzuoki was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture who graduated from Tokyo Keizai University. His best known roles include '' Mobile Suit Gundam'' ( Bright Noa), '' Captain Tsubasa'' ( Kojirou Hyuga), '' Saint Seiya ...
, the original voice actor of Dragon Shiryū, died on August 6, 2006, due to lung cancer. On the same Animax channel, Toei Animation released 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, which lasted for 2 months, the episodes were released on DVD in 2006. This short OVA series was directed by
Tomoharu Katsumata is a Japanese film director best known for his work on various anime works. A leading director at the Toei Animation studio during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Katsumata worked as a director on several of Toei's anime television adaptations of ...
, but the other staff remained the same. Toei Animation officially announced the news on its website on July 18, 2006. Then, , which contains 6 episodes in total, was released, adapting volumes 25 to 26 of the manga. On June 28, Masami Kurumada announced on his personal blog that production on the OVAs had begun. It was thought that the release was to be in mid-December 2007, as of the last two years with the performance of the two Inferno chapters (Zenshō and Kōshō), but no preview or released images were available as of the end of October. In November 2007, Toei Animation announced that the official release of the Elysion Chapter would be in March 2008 and not December 2007 as originally planned The Elysion OVAs were released in March (episodes #26 and #27), May (#28 and #29), and August (#30 and #31), and adapted the final two volumes of the manga, 27 and 28. An
original net animation An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animati ...
(ONA) series titled '' Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold'' began streaming in 2015. Another ONA series, '' Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya'', premiered on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
, with six episodes, on July 19, 2019. Another six episodes premiered on January 23, 2020. The second season premiered on Crunchyroll on July 31, 2022.


Musicals

In August 1991, a musical, sponsored by Bandai, was performed at the Aoyama theater in Tokyo, Japan. The story retells the Sanctuary and Poseidon chapters. The cast included members of
SMAP SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six- ...
as the five Bronze Saints and Poseidon. The characters Aries Mu, Leo Aiolia, and Scorpio Milo were portrayed by members of another band, Tokio. As of May 2011, Masami Kurumada announced in his website that a new ''Saint Seiya'' musical was in the works. Debuting in late 2011, the stage play was titled ''Saint Seiya Super Musical'', and presented a live-action adaptation of the first ''Saint Seiya'' film, ''Evil Goddess Eris''.


Video games

Several video games have been released based on the series.


Discography

Seiji Yokoyama was a Japanese incidental music composer from Hiroshima. He graduated from the Kunitachi College of Music in 1957. Yokoyama is best known for his work on the anime series ''Saint Seiya'' and ''Space Pirate Captain Harlock'', and for his Symphon ...
was the main composer for the ''Saint Seiya'' original anime series 1986/90. A selection is listed below: *
Saint Seiya Original Soundtrack I–VIII The Saint Seiya Original Soundtrack I–VIII are eight CDs, released independently, containing the original soundtrack (OST) of the ''Saint Seiya'' anime. In addition to the music from the List of Saint Seiya media, anime, these CDs also in ...
(spanning 8 CDs) * Saint Seiya – 1996 Song Collection * Saint Seiya – 1997 Shonenki * Saint Seiya – Best Collection * Saint Seiya – Chikyūgi (Single Album) * Saint Seiya – Galaxian Wars * Saint Seiya – Memorial Box (spanning 5 CDs) * Saint Seiya – Gold Collection (spanning 5 CDs) * Saint Seiya – Hits (spanning 3 CDs) * Saint Seiya – King of the Underworld * Saint Seiya – Piano Fantasia * Saint Seiya – Tenkai Hen Josō Overture * Saint Seiya – Song Selection (commemorative CD for the 30th anniversary of the original series of Saint Seiya eighties)


Other media

In the early 1990s, Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment planned to produce an American animated version of the series titled ''Guardians of the Cosmos''. Only a pilot was made, and the intro was revealed at the end of YouTuber Ray Mona's documentary on the subject titled ''The Secret Stories of Saint Seiya'' in December 2022. The full pilot was showcased in the follow-up documentary ''The Secret Stories of Saint Seiya Part 2'' in April 2023. Many different events took place to celebrate the manga's 30th anniversary. In June 2016, there was a convention in Akihabara (Tokyo) commemorating the historic series, with numerous commemorative gadgets on sale. A second exhibition was held in Hong Kong in September 2016. ''Saint Seiya 30 Shunen Keny Gashu, Seiiki - Sanctuary'', an art book consisting of 130 pages illustrated by Masami Kurumada, was launched in Japan on October 21, 2016, by Takarajimash. A third exhibition was held in China (Hong Kong) in April 2018.


Reception

The ''Saint Seiya'' manga has sold over 25 million copies in Japan as of 2007. It had over 35 million copies in circulation as of 2017, and over 50 million copies in circulation as of 2022. The anime series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1987. In Animage's 2001 "Top-100 Anime" ranking, ''Saint Seiya'' was 53rd. In 2006,
TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...
conducted a nationwide survey for the one hundred most popular animated television series, where ''Saint Seiya'' came in 25th place. In
NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...
's "Best 100 Anime" online poll ranking, celebrating a century of Japanese Animation, ''Saint Seiya'' came in 123rd place. The series was considered one of the biggest phenomena of the 1980s. It would become the inspiration for future series, including several
Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''Mobile ...
series such as ''
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing ''Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'', also known in Japan as , is a 1995 Japanese mecha anime series directed by Masashi Ikeda and written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa. It is the sixth installment in the '' Gundam'' franchise, taking place in the "Af ...
'' and ''
Mobile Fighter G Gundam ''Mobile Fighter G Gundam'', also known in Japan as (and commonly referred to as simply ''G Gundam''), is a 1994 Japanese animated television series produced by Sunrise and the fifth installment in the long-running '' Gundam'' franch ...
'', ''
Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato is a Japanese manga created, written and illustrated by Hiroshi Kawamoto and later adapted to anime by Tatsunoko Productions. It ran 38 episodes on TV Tokyo from April 6, 1989 to January 18, 1990 and also received a 6-episode OVA followu ...
'', ''
Ronin Warriors ''Ronin Warriors'', known in Japan by its original title , is a Japanese anime series created by Hajime Yatate and animated by Sunrise. The television series, co-produced by Nagoya TV, aired across Japan on the All-Nippon News Network from ...
'', '' Wild Knights Gulkeeva'', and Kurumada's later work '' B't X''. In ''The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917'',
Jonathan Clements Jonathan Michael Clements (born 9 July 1971) is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shi Huang, as well as monthly opinion columns for ''Neo'' magazine. He is also the co-auth ...
and
Helen McCarthy Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such anime reference books as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and '' Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author o ...
praises the series' complex plot and felt that animation designers' Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno had worked "magic" with both the anime series and the films. They also praised the grand soundtrack and director Shigeyasu Yamauchi's ability to stretch out the tension and chose the perfect places to stop an episode to keep audiences waiting for the next one. Clements and McCarthy did, however, find the series disturbing in that its main emotional impact comes from the audience seeing "older boys and men fighting brave but naive teenagers" and through victories earning more weapons. Jason Thompson describes the series as being "almost pure battle".
Yaoi ''Yaoi'' (; ja, やおい ), also known by the '' wasei-eigo'' construction and its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created ...
dōjinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created ...
based on ''Saint Seiya'' popularized the term "yaoi" in 1987. ''Saint Seiya'' was particularly popular as a subject in yaoi as it had a large cast which was predominantly male. This allowed "an incredible number" of pairings, although
Andromeda Shun is a protagonist in the ''Saint Seiya'' media franchise, which originated in the manga of the same name, written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, that subsequently inspired an anime series, soundtracks, OVAs, films, video games, and other c ...
was one of the more popular characters to create yaoi for.
Tite Kubo , known professionally as , is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He is best known for his manga series '' Bleach'' (2001–2016), which had over 130 million copies in circulation as of 2022. Biography Kubo was born on June 26, 197 ...
, the author of the manga series '' Bleach'', named ''Saint Seiya'' as one of his biggest inspirations for the designs of the different types of weapons that his characters use in the story as well as the battle scenes. '' Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold'' (2015) drew a viewership worldwide by September 2015.


References


Further reading

*


External links

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