Saint Seiya

Saint Seiya is a popular 1986-1990 manga serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump. The manga is adapted into a 114 episode television series. It also has a manga sequel, called Saint Seiya: Next Dimension and several anime and manga spin-offs. It also inspired several films, videogames and OVAs.
==Canon==
===The English Dub(s)===
In English-speaking fandom, the Saint Seiya dub is among the most well-known examples of the reasons why some anime fans are so adamant about subbed anime versus dubbed anime. The show was first licensed by DiC Entertainment under the name Knights of the Zodiac. The original show is quite bloody, something that wasn't as acceptable for children in the US, so it was heavily censored with what the fandom has termed "blue blood."DiC's Knights of the Zodiac: I Just Ran, I Ran So Far Away, But I Couldn't Get Away... Posted 30 Aug 2018. Accessed 20 Feb 2022. The DiC dub is perhaps most famous for the fact that, for unknown reasons, the show removed the original opening and replaced it with Bowling for Soup's "I Ran."Knights of the Zodiac Opening english. Posted 10 Jun 2012. Accessed 20 Feb 2022. This dub was produced at the same time as ADV's uncensored dub. However, Saint Seiya comes in at 114 episodes and ADV only ever released 60. The remaining episodes of the anime were simply unavailable in English for almost two decades until Netflix dubbed the entire show in 2019.
==Fandom==
Outside of Japan, Saint Seiya is extremely popular in European and Latin American fannish communities. Countries like Brazil, France and Mexico have huge fanbases of devoted Saint Seiya fans, even for such an old franchise. This may make Saint Seiya the only example of an anime that's incredibly popular in both the European and Latin American market, but virtually unknown in the US due to the extremely poor marketing and heavily censored dub that most people were exposed to first. This is reflected in the fact that Saint Seiya is one of the few fandoms on AO3 that's primarily composed of fic in non-English languages. As of February 2022, out of 5229 works in the Saint Seiya tag on AO3, only 1508 have English listed as the work's language.Saint Seiya tag on AO3, sorted to only show works listed as being in English. Accessed 20 Feb 2022. The true number of fics in English is even lower than than, as several of the older fics that show up are clearly mistagged and in a different language, and even then many of the English language fics are written by authors from other countries who are writing in English for various reasons.
In 2002, Toei Animation decides to pick up the canceled Saint Seiya anime project and animate the last arc of the manga. This is how after so many years, the Hades Chapter was released in OVA format, directly on DVD. In the West, the series' first opening theme (Chikyūgi) was not well received by some demographics, particularly male fans, who found the song's slow, melancholy melody "too girly" and "shojo-like", not in line with the fighting spirit of the previous openings which they considered more appropriate for a shounen series.
On late June 2022, it was announced that there would be a third season of Netflix's Knights of the Zodiac and that it would premiere on Crunchyroll. The 3D image remake "Knights of the Zodiac", which originally aired on Netflix, had caused controversy for, among other things, genderbend Andromeda Shun. The new season would encompass the Twelve Houses arc. In one of the first images released, fans noticed that the Pope's robes had been changed from black to white and that he was wearing short sleeves, leading to several fanarts and memes. Fans were also struck by the size of the horns on Shura's helmet. The appearance of Chameleon June, Shun's childhood friend (renamed Shaun as female), and her more prominent role in the series, made the ship in its yuri version gain popularity.
On July 23, 2022, the pitch for the next live-action movie was presented at the SDCC. That same day, the first fanart based on the film's actors was posted, by equuxSTAR.
On September 15 2022, the first chapter of "Saint Seiya: Rerise of Poseidon", a spin-off centered in Poseidon and his army, was published in the Champion Red magazine. The first fanart was posted a day later by SSMythClothEXP. Manga author Tsunakan Suda responded with a drawing to a fan comment that pointed out an anachronism in one of the cartoons, showing buildings in Shanghai that shouldn't even have existed in the early 1990s.
=== Conventions ===
* Paradaisu Ginga
* Saint Seiya Only Shanghai (SSOS)
===Shipping===
As it is a series heavy on male characters, most of the ships are yaoi, to the point where on some fanfiction pages, authors feel compelled to specify "NOT YAOI" when writing a non-yaoi fanfic. 
Some yaoi ships are:
* Aquarius Camus/Scorpio Milo
* Cygnus Hyoga/Andromeda Shun
* Aries Mu/Virgo Shaka
* Libra Dohko/Aries Shion
* Aquarius Dégel/Scorpio Kardia
* Sagittarius Aiolos/Capricorn Shura
* Leo Aiolia/Capricorn Shura
Some het ships are:
* Radamanthys/Pandora
* Eagle Marin/Leo Aioria
* Pegasus Seiya/Saori
* Phoenix Ikki/Esmeralda
* Andromeda Shun/Chameleon June (yuri in KotZ)
==Controversy & Criticism==
=== Age-based gatekeeping ===
Many of the older straight male fans, particularly those who watched the series in the 1990s, often complain that new material does not capture "the essence" of the original Saint Seiya series. These fans also do not consider younger or newer members of the fandom to be "true fans," and often dismiss their opinions and preferences. It is not uncommon for these older fans to quiz newer fans in an attempt to determine their "fan status."
The premiere of the Saint Seiya live-action movie in 2023 served as an example of gatekeeping behavior. Many of the series' oldest fans criticized the movie for not preserving certain original details, such as the armor designs, and incorporating more updated designs with respect to the original times.The absence of some characters was also a point of contention. These fans attacked those who were looking forward to the film, accusing them of consuming products that do not have the "essence of Saint Seiya" and of not truly understanding it since they did not watch it on television when they were children.
===Misogyny-based gatekeeping===
Gatekeeping also often manifests in the form of gender discrimination. Straight male fans in the Saint Seiya fandom often belittle and exclude female fans and assume they do not have the same level of knowledge or appreciation for the series.
Moreover, they tend to dictate what counts as "true content" and what doesn't. News, character analysis, theories, gen fanart drawn in Shingo Araki's style, and epic fanfiction are deemed as "true content," while original characters (OCs), yaoi art, and headcanons are not. Straight male fans predominantly occupy Facebook groups, while female and queer fans tend to congregate on Twitter. Female fans frequently report being quizzed by male fans to prove their "true fan" status.
In December 2022, the discussion resurfaced when "Grupo Next Dimension," an information and news account, claimed that the majority of fans were male since their YouTube channel's statistics showed that 85% of their followers were male. When someone pointed out that these stats were not representative of the fandom as a whole, the admin started mansplaining and said that implying that women don't follow news and are only interested in yaoi is underestimating them.
=== Saga or Shaka: Who is the strongest one?===
This is probably one of the oldest fandom dramas from the Sts fandom. Fans joke about it being a neverending topic and it has turned heated more than once. In the Spanish fandom they call them "Saguistas" and "Shakistas".
Examples of comments in Saga's defence:
Examples of comments in Shaka's defence:
===Knights of the Zodiac Live Action Film (2023)===
In April 2023, the live action film adaptation of the franchise Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac was released, sparking a contentious debate within the fanbase. Some fans eagerly supported the film, while others vehemently despised it, leading to a heated discussion about the essence of the franchise and about who are "real fans" and who aren't. The supporters accused the detractors of hindering the success of the franchise with their negativity, while the critics accused the supporters of blindly consuming low-quality content produced by TOEI Animation. The debate also touched on the challenges faced by the franchise in gaining popularity among English-speaking audiences, with some fans from other parts of the world criticising the overly passionate and intense attitude of the Latin American fanbase.
Despite multiple attempts, the franchise has struggled to gain a foothold in the US market, leading some US fans to express skepticism about the film's potential success and why the franchise will never make it in the US if it hasn't done it already.
== Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
*Saint Seiya at Archive of Our Own
*Saint Seiya at FanFiction.Net
===Vids===
*Saint Seiya characters in their Native Languages
*AMV knights Saint Seiya by ST AMV. (Music: Mindless Self Indulgence - Ass Backwards)
*GTA San Andreas Saint Seiya Parody
*Athena and Gold Saints 3D models dancing
===Fan Films===
*Saint Seiya: Preludio de Pegaso
=== Fangames ===
* A Batalha de Eris - O Santo Guerreiro by Diego Raphael -- RPG made with RPG Maker in BR Portuguese
* A Batalha sem Fim! by Weskley Damasceno -- RPG
* A Guerra Galactica -- Fighting game made with Mugen
* A Saga de Poseidon by GustavoLC -- RPG Game based on the Poseidon Arc
* As Novas Lendas by GustavoLC -- RPG
* Batalha nas 12 casas -- RPG Author Unknown
* Cavaleiros do Zodiaco - Tactics by Levy World Games
* Falling in Love with Zodiac (恋爱的十二宫)
* Golden Aegean Sea (金色爱琴海) -- Otome but you date Lost Canvas gold saints.
* Hades by GustavoLC -- RPG Game based on the Hades Arc
* Hades 2K -- RPG Author Unknown
* Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque - Il faut sauver Athena by Loulou Martoni -- RPG
* Los Caballeros Del Zodiaco - El Regreso Del Fenix by ZeichiGames
* Lost Canvas by Vinicius Vincler --RPG Based on the spin-off Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas in BR Portuguese
* Os Cavaleiros do Zodiaco - A Batalha de Poseidon by Alegamers
* Os Guerreiros do Armageddon - A Batalha Final -- RPG Author Unknown
* Progetto CDZ: il Grande Tempio by SKT Snake -- RPG in Italian
* Saint Hikaru -- RPG
* Saint Seiya: Aventura de un Soldado -- RPG in Spanish
* Saint Seiya - Death & Rebirth by Baritono Marchetto -- Fighting game in Italian
* Saint Seiya Densetsu -- RPG in English and BR Portuguese
* Saint Seiya Destiny by InacioBR
* Saint Seiya Exclamation RPG by Renato Vianna
* Saint Seiya Oblivion -- Fighting game in English
* Saint Seiya RPG - Ataque dos Deuses -- RPG Author Unknown
* Saint Seiya RPG - Asgard Chapter -- RPG Author Unknown
* Soldiers' Darkness -- Daniele Spadoni -- Fighting game in Italian
* Summery Fancy (青空之想) -- An Otome game where you can date OG gold saints
* WONDERLAND - Gold Saint in Adventure by Rococo Game -- RPG
* Zodiac Knights - Eternity by Marcos Fortes
=== Meta ===
* Aesthetics thread for Saints by i_am_yukaro353
===Zines===
*Le Sanctuary Mag (2000s)
*Evolution Saint Seiya (2003)
*Saint Seiya B Gaiden (2012-15)
*Zodiac Zine (2021-22)
*Saint Seiya in Summer (2022)
*Jump for the Stars - cinematic-style zine featuring shounen anime series as movie posters (2022)
*Horny Zine (2023) 
*MS Paint Zine (2023)
===Doujinshi ===
*List of Saint Seiya 80's Doujinshi
*Saint Seiya Chaos Chapter by Sakamihara Iro
==Podcasts==
*La Doceava Casa (2021- Ongoing)
==Events and Challenges==
*Saint Seiya Secret Santa (from 2007)
*Milo Ship Fest (2017-2021)
*Saint Seiya Rarepair Week (2020)
*Saintober (from 2020)
*Hyoshun Week (2021)
*Saint Seiya Femslash Week (2023-2024)
==Links & Resources==
*I Cavalieri Dello Zodiaco Page in Italian with news, articles, reviews and fanworks.
*Graude Foundation Adoption Center (defunct)
*Kuri-Chan's Saint Seiya Archive
*Stayka's Saint Seiya Archive (archive link)
*Labrys fanfiction Archive by Ari (Archive link)
*Amusing Saint Seiya - A Twitter account that shares news and humorous screenshots and memes.
*Memorial Ferviente - Archive for Argentinian media material and merchandise
*Hope Kido's Merch archive - Archive for Saint Seiya vintage merchandise
*Saint Seiya Yaoi - Spanish Forum to discuss Saint Seiya yaoi
*Sol y Luna - Fanfics by Altair
*La Boite de Pandore (archive link) - Archive for French-language fanfiction
==References==
Category:Saint Seiya