Entry tags:

creator: masami kurumada, series: one perfect moment, title: saint seiya

I've long had a soft spot for the manga (plus anime and toyline) Saint Seiya... The armour designs were nifty and the mythological references were great fun.

Possibly my favourite character was the Andromeda Saint, Shun.

A quick check on tvtropes indicates that he falls into the category of the dude who looks like a chick, the chick (I don't know if that's ironic or not), the reluctant warrior and best of all a prime example of beware the nice Ones

Case in point from Volume 12 of the English translation of Saint Seiya.

For the last six years, Shun has been on Andromeda Island with the mission to win one of the legendary Cloths of the Saints of Athena (or Armours of the Knights of Athena, as this translation has it), and awaken the cosmo (internal power) within him.

However, it hasn't worked out like that, and instead he's been having the shit kicked out of him by all and sundry for that entire time. He's been a dreadful pupil as a warrior, being far too gentle to enjoy or desire combat, and refusing to fight at every opportunity. It's only because the sensei of the Island, Silver Cepheus Saint, Didaros (eg Daedalus) has always stepped in to break things up that Shun hasn't been killed. In short, as a potential Saint, he's a disaster... and yet...

When, at the age of 14, Shun requests the chance to take the test of the Andromeda Sacrifice, Didaros allows him to do so, even knowing that it is certain death for him. The Sacrifice involves being chained to a rock with the tide rising, and if you can't manage to trigger the cosmo energy within you (or "Burn your cosmo" as the series has it) then you will simply drown unpleasantly.

No one expects Shun to survive, not Daidaros, not his only friend Juné, but against all odds, his cosmo burns with unprecedented strength and he wins the rigth to wear the Cloth and return to Japan (for plot purposes we won't dwell on here).

Before he goes he has a final talk with his mentor and sensei..

This should be read right page to left page, right to left....



That last panel is an energy manifestation, honest!



As the series progresses, Shun gets many chances to prove his essentially reluctant badassery, but never initiates a fight, and never provokes a foe, only acting in the cause of justice, or to defend others...

And that is why, in life as in anime, you should NEVER provoke the nice ones. Just because they don't LIKE to fight, doesn't mean they're not bloody GOOD at it!

Oh and for those who can speak French, here's the scene from Chevaliers Du Zodiaque, which has a different looking Cepheus Saint; Albior.