A Saint Seiya post - A moment of Shiryu badassness, and a moment of pure fanservice...

[icon_uk]

I keep meaning to post samples from Saint Seiya, a 1980's manga/anime/toyline which I'm a big fan of and which was one of the spurs behind the creation of Sailor Moon (they wanted a marketable manga/anime/toyline on a similar theme, but using girls rather than boys), so here is one I've been pondering about posting for a while.... (28 and a bit pages from the 171 page long Volume 10 of Saint Seiya)



To summarise - The five heroes shown above are five of the Bronze Saints of Athena. Saints wear armours (or "Cloths") patterned after the constellations, and empowered by their "Cosmo" (a fraction of the power of the Big Bang, found inside all people, but used by very rare individuals, and channelled through their armours to produce spectacular effects.

Starting at the top left and working left to right, back to front, these guys are

Draco Shiryu - The best martial artist of the group. Somewhat aloof and reserved, and perhaps the most serious of the team. Principle ability - knows moves so strong they can make waterfalls flow UPhill.

Cygus Hyoga - Our most tragic hero, still affected by the loss of his mother in an accident years before (though they are all orphans, he at least knew his mother longer and was more affected by her loss). Tends to be cold and unemotional. Principle ability - Generates intense blasts of freezing cold.

Andromeda Shun - The youngest and apparently the weakest of the Saints, certainly the least suited to being a warrior, but as this post shows, he's actually got more power than the rest of them put together, but refuses to use it because he genuinely loathes fighting. Principle ability - Wields the chains of Andromeda, which can multiply and extend to near infinite lengths.

Phoenix Ikki - The brooding loner of the group. Shun's overprotective older brother, and the most ruthless of the Bronze Saints. Has one hell of a temper, and no patience, but at least he's on their side! Principle ability - Uses his power to trigger madness inducing nightmares that will send his opponents screaming into insanity then, most likely, death.

Pegasus Seiya - Our titular "everyman" Saint, nice guy, not the brightest perhaps, but the most committed to the cause of Athena, and the most determined to never give up on his mission to protect her. Principle ability - Speed, his Cloth allows him to punch at Mach 2.

Political machination mean that most Saints believe that our heroes are blasphemous renegades who need to be stopped. Our heroes are racing through the 12 Temples of the Gold Saints (based on the traditional 12 sign Zodiac) to seek a cure for Saori, a young woman they know to be the current mortal reincarnation of Athena but who the other Saints, conned by the evil "Pope" Arles, believe is either deluded or evil and who has been poisoned on Arles orders.

In their mission so far, Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga and Shun have, against overwhelming odds, passed through the Temples of; Aries (actually a nice guy who stays neutral where he can and actually repairs the battered Cloths because he believes they are right), Taurus (Tried to stop them, but plays fair, when they beat the challenge he sets them, he allows them to pass), Gemini (not present, but his empty Cloth caused them problems and teleported Hyoga to parts unknown), Cancer (Sadistic bastard), Leo (Noble, but dull), Virgo (Godlike power levels, even by Gold Saint standards, last seen being held back by Phoenix Ikki to give the others time to get through) and have arrived in the Temple of the Scales (Libra). They don't expect to have much of a problem there, since the Libra Saint is Shiryu's Sensei, and they know he lives thousands of miles away in China, where he sits endless watch over a waterfall for reasons that are eventually revealed but aren't relevant here.

So our Bronze heroes are shocked to find THIS waiting for them...



Well, he's not actually, he's been put in suspended animation by HIS old Sensei (The Gold Aquarius Saint as it turns out) to prevent him from getting himself killed with the others.

Our heroes aren't keen on this, and neither is the owner of the Temple, who, though he is in China, can still control his Cloth from afar, and orders it to unfold from the chest it normally stays inside.

Remember, read from Right to Left here... (and forgive the scans, the manga edition isn't really geared for a flatbed scanner.







The Libra Cloth is one kickass bit of kit!! Eventually, after this bit of showing off, Shiruyu selects the swords and proceeds to slice at the ice prison.



For those who like a more... animated take on such things, here's the same scene from the anime (the dub is in Spanish I think), which shows the different armour styles the anime went for (and which I personally prefer)







Now for the slashy part, which follows straight on....

As noted, Shun is not a natural warrior, but that doesn't mean he lacks either courage, or commitment.



and he will do ANYTHING to save a friend....



And again, for those who like the animation... which is, if anything, even MORE suggestive.


As they leave him behind, Seiya and Shiryu feel the power of Shun's cosmo flaring....





D'awwww.... this touching, if tragic, little fable is interrupted by the appearance of one of the COOLEST of the Gold Saints... Miro of Scorpio...





All hope is surely lost.... but...



Cue power ballad or Top Gun theme playing in the background as the blurred figure resolves into...



As mentioned, Hyoga is the most reserved and emotionless of the Saints, until now....



"I'll take him with me, even if I have to carry him...." Again I say. "D'awwwwww!"



And so, not only is Hyoga brought back to health, he's already backtalking to hostile Gold Saints!

And so their battles continue..

Comments

[thatnickguy]

Prepare to be bombarded with message from people to....


CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!!

[drmcninja]

For real. Beat me to the punch for sure.

[mommy]

Yes, please.

[icon_uk]

Rassafrassing bloody randomising posting format.... I'd swear it was fine before I posted it and went to bed. Sorry all.

[autumn_lily]

Miro of Scorpio's crotch plate always seems to be slightly shifting to the side...as if to tease the audience with a glimpse of the goods...

I don't know how I feel about that...

[icon_uk]

"Scarlet needle" isn't just the name of his signature attack you know! :)

[whitesycamore]

...Ew.

[icon_uk]

Well, he is basing his entire look off of the concept of "Scorpio", the subtext is already there.

[whitesycamore]

The subtext that his penis is scarlet and needle-like (in dimensions or pointiness, I wonder) is already there?

Idk, that sounds like fan disservice to me. Unless I'm just interpreting all this in an unnecessarily dirty manner. I've been up since 5:00 am, I blame that.

[autumn_lily]

So, if he doesn't get to use it, does the 'Scarlet Needle' attack become the 'Sapphire Balls' attack?

[salinea]

*obligatory Saint Seiya squee*

Oh, Saint Seiya, you were so stupid, yet stupid in that MELODRAMATIC full of pretty boys, slashiness, crackfulness, chains, and tortured mythology way, I couldn't not love you anyway. ♥

[icon_uk]

I've never found it that stupid, a mite repetitive at times perhaps, and lord knows the battles can last weeks, but at least it's not another harem "comedy" full of annoyingly shrieking characters we're apparently supposed to find amusingly ditzy and adorable.

[salinea]

Back when I watched Saint Seiya, there were no harem comedies (unless you count Urusai Yotsuba, Ranma or Kimagure Orange Road that; but I think they're more polygonal romcom than harem romcom), so the comparison sounds a bit weird to me. XD

I thought it was stupid, even as a kid, because it was melodrama usually played very straight despite being very.... crackful in content. The characters weren't that smart either XD But it's the appeal what gave it heart.

[icon_uk]

I didn't mean at the same time, just what was abvailable as anime in the shops at the time, Urusei Yatsura wasn't really one on the list, but something like Tenchi Muuyo or Oh My Goddess were (The art style of the latter was beautiful, but the series grated on me)

[salinea]

Yeah, I also hate harem comedies like Tenchi Muuyo or Oh My Goddess (or Hina Love *shudder of disgust). But anime isn't divided between battle shounen and harem comedy shounen (thankfully).

[sigmund_droid]

Needs to be behind a cut mon ami!

[perletwo]

HOLY SAMOLEONS, this needs a CUT!!!!

[cypherfdp]

Fucking fuck yes, Saint Seiya, one of two shows that got me into Anime, the other being FIST OF THE NORTH STAR.

And the theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBvpZSsovPs

[icon_uk]

Even the one they replaced it with for the seond season was awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Looi8ytOVU

[brooms]

goodness, the hyoga/shun thing flew waaaay over my head when i was 10.

hyoga and camus were my faves.

[valismedsen]

thank you very much for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've never seen the manga for Saint Seiya, just the anime. Wow, the art is bad on the manga.
The cloths are indeed better on the anime, even the second season which introduced the same cloths from the manga had a better design on the anime.
And...
Oh Shun, how odd it was for me to understand your feminine masculinity, even if I A LOT of empathy for you...
Talk about Internet and the possibility of learning all about Yaoi, Semes and Ukes at last...
Not that not knowing anything about it made Shun/Hyoga any less interesting at the time. I had blushes watching this episode!!!!!

[icon_uk]

I'd say the art is basic rather than bad. Certainly not up there with the greats (Akira Toriyama), but it has a certain simplistic style I quite like, and indeed actually prefer to, say, the rather cluttered fussiness that Naoko Takeuchi brings to Sailor Moon.

Certainly the anime gained immeasurably from the input of Shingo Araki, who designed the new-look Cloths.

[icon_uk]

Oops, hit return before I could mention the importance of animation director Michi Himeno who worked with Araki a LOT

[wizardru]

Agreed. Saint Seiya is one of the rare cases where I think the anime surpasses the manga, generally.

Of course, what Saint Seiya REALLY needs is a 'Kai' version. The anime kept running up against the manga and so we got a TON of filler and lots of drawn-out fight scenes that was just two characters standing around, soliloquizing at each other. That and the introduced filler didn't follow continuity all that well, which always bugged me.

[chocochuy]

IMHO, I think the Asgard Filler Arc was better than the Canon Poseidon Arc. Heck, they even managed to link those two arcs.

I may get killed for saying this but I never liked the Hades Arc. In mine mind the Movies were done with more love than Hades. Just sharing mine opinion.

[icon_uk]

I like the sweeping tragedy of the Asgard story, and I'll forgive the Poseidon arc a lot for the designs and spectacular score.

I find the movies, to be fairly painful as they backtrack the characters so much. So Hyoga is STILL emotionally crippled about his mother, and Shun is ALWAYS yelling for Ikki. The Cloth designs tend to be nice though.

Loking forward to the upcoming CGI movie.

[chocochuy]

Wryyy!!! A Saint Seiya CGI Movie?!?!?!?!

I wonder what will be the main story for this one. I will be happy if it's a less longer version of the Sanctuary Arc. Knowing Kurumada, this "Coming Soon" would probably be on the next Ice Age but I am not going to lose any hope.

[icon_uk]

Oh, also new PS3 Saint Seiya online game is being rolled out.

http://www.bandaigames.channel.or.jp/list/seiya_senki/index.html

http://www.bandaigames.channel.or.jp/list/seiya_senki/movie/index.html

[proteus_lives]

Cut man! Cut!

[chocochuy]

Excellent post, Icon-UK, because it truly made travel towards Memory Lane and remember the good times when I used to watch this Anime (back in 1992 or 1993).

By the way, it seems that you forgot to hide some pictures under the cut.

[eyz]

With that big Saint Seiya anniversary around the corner, some of my buddies keep spamming me with Sain Seiya material...videos.. scans...

Though for some reason I've never been a big fan of it.

But I like the concept behind it. (the whole Astrological mythos)

[icon_uk]

Yeah, it's a great hook, and the toy line is addictive, the original 1980's toys were great, but the more recent Myth Cloth line from Japan is stunning

http://www.mythclothes.com/saintseiya.php

http://www.saintseiyagallery.com/

[ladydouji]

I like the concept and was watching it on one of of the steaming sites. Until I got hit with Arc fatigue somewhere around ep 50. I keep meaning to go back, but other shows catch my attention so I watch them instead.

[leoboiko]

Shun was a very important character to my childhood. He was the first role model I have who said it was ok for boys not to be macho, and right when I needed it most.

[icon_uk]

Cool! (and yes, the difference between "strong" and "macho" is an important one for any child to realise)

[liara_shadowsong]

*obligatory Saint Seiya squee*