One Perfect Moment - Shun, Bronze Andromeda Saint

[icon_uk]

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.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[hyperactivator]

I love this trope.

[silverzeo]

Ah, Young Spinach Head, Mister Pretty in Pink...

[icon_uk]

And therein lies the folly of most of the people who decide to attack him... "Look at the wimpy pretty boy in the pink armour. He'll be no threat...." after which, death is pretty much instantaneous, or at least inevitable.

[minyandu.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, Shun~~~~XD
Come on, he controls a bloody MULTIFUNCTIONAL CHAIN!!! He doesn't have stunning battle record only because he has an overprotective big brother! XD

[minyandu.livejournal.com]

And I did mistake him as a girl for a long time. But hey, I'm in kindergarden that time. I thought girls own everything beautiful thing in the world!

[icon_uk]

Note that in the French translation shown Pisces Aphrodite is voiced as female despite being a male, as was Lacerta Misty and even, in his first cameo appearance in the series, Shun himself, though once introduced as a character in the next episode he was male throughout.

[aeolos_sakya]

Shun is, until now, my favorite Saint.
I mean, he wasn't when I was a child, but now I've come to realize how cool this guy is.
And yeah, this moment, both in the anime and manga, show that if he wanted, he could own most of his opponents. He only choses not to.
Thanks for posting.

PS: First time I got to use my Shun icon. Cool!

[icon_uk]

No problem, that's what "One Perfect Moment" is all about.

Interesting that you make Shun a Green Lantern, I thought he might have been more Violet, with Shiryu as the Green, Seiya as the Blue, Ikki as Red Lantern and Hyoga as... hmmm, tough choice there, another Green perhaps?

[aeolos_sakya]

Actually, I think Green would fit Shun, he is really powerful, and he could have defeated so many people in the series, but he had the will to not to.
In fact, I believe he would fit Indigo rather than Violet.
Seiya and Shiryu definetly would be green, but Seiya could also fit Blue.
Ikki would also fit as Yellow (he even has a technique that makes you have a nightmare), but Red would be the most obvios.
Hyoga is always the hardest, Violet would be good for him, he cares a lot for his deceased mother and for his teachers.

[levyrasputin]

awwwww this really brought me back to nice memories... oh Shun, your gracefull strenght always get me =))))

thanks for sharing

[liara_shadowsong]

*dramatic sigh* Shun has always been my favorite character from this series. He's sweet and gentle, but he can pretty much kick the butt of anybody if he wants to do so (not that he often does). In fact, that one revelation late in the series (I'm not going to spoil it if you don't know what I'm referring to) ended up making me like him even more. *grins* Such a great character! (That reminds me, I should update my fanfiction account username to match this one, instead of leaving it a homage to him which doesn't match my username anywhere else on the entire internet, LOL. Also, I really should get a Shun icon.)

[liara_shadowsong]

Ah! I had a Shun icon on my computer; it just wasn't uploaded. Well, I had two slots left... and now I have one.