Saint Seiya (Anime)

**Saint Seiya** also known as **Saint Seiya: Knights of The Zodiac** or Simply just **Knights of The Zodiac**, is a Japanese Anime, Produced by Toei Animation, Based on the Japanese Manga of the Same name by **Masami Kurumada**, The story follows the orphan Seiya that has been send to Greece to obtain the Pegasus Bronze Cloth, to participate in a tournament named Galaxian Wars, in hope to see his sister again on earth, the anime ran from 1986 to 1989.

## Saint Seiya (聖闘士星矢)

### Network

TV Aashi (Japan) Cartoon Network (Australia) YTV (Canada)Cartoon Network, Anime Network (North America)

### Written by

Takao Koyama (Episodes 1–73)Yoshiyuki Suga (Episodes 74–114)

### Directed by

Kōzō Morishita (Episodes 1–73)Kazuhito Kikuchi (Episodes 74–114)

### Producer

Chiaki ImadaHiroshi TakedaKazuo YokoyamaMasayoshi KawataYoshifumi Hatano

## Plot

The story focuses on an orphan named Seiya who was forced to go to the Sanctuary in Greece to obtain one of the "Cloths", the Bronze Cloth of the Pegasus constellation, a protective armor worn by the Greek goddess Athena's 88 warriors known as "Saints", Upon awakening his "Cosmo", he power of the Saints which is an inner spiritual essence originated in the Big Bang, Seiya 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 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 revengeful Phoenix Bronze Saint, Ikki, who wishes to eliminate track from the people who forced him to undergo his training. He steals parts from the Sagittarius Cloth and eventually fights against the remaining Bronze Saints: Seiya, 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 Pope to eliminate them. When they remain victorious, the Bronze Saints learn that Saori is Athena's reincarnation and that the Pope once tried to kill her as a baby. The Sagittarius Gold Saint Aiolos saved Saori but was killed shortly afterwards and gave Saori to her adopted grandfather, Mitsumasa Kido. 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. Believing the Pope may be able to heal her, the Bronze Saints go to find him. To do so, they have to go through 12 temples, each one guarded by one Gold Saint (the most powerful Saints of Athena). Following several battles, Seiya gets to the Pope's temple and learns that he is the Gold Saint Gemini Saga, who in his madness 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. Shortly afterwards, Saga, having come to his senses, commits suicide as a self-punishment.

In the second story arc, the Greek god Poseidon reincarnates within the body of Julian Solo, the heir to a rich and powerful family, who follows his will of flooding 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 war is Saga's twin, 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, 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 followers, Hypnos and Thanatos, the Saints gain the strongest 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.

## Productions

At first, Kurumada planned to create a wrestling-themed manga as he enjoys writing individual sports rather than collective sports. He was initially inspired by The Karate Kid (1984) to conceive a story about a young karateka 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 or karate would not be interesting enough, he added aspects from Greek mythology 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'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.

## Characters who Appear in the Persona Record Series

* **Pegasus Seiya**
* **Andromeda Shun**
* **Cygnus Hyoga**
* **Dragon Shiryu**
* **Phoenix Ikki**
* **Sea Serpent Saint**
* **Dolphin Saint**
* **Jellyfish Saint**
* **Geist**
* **Saori Kito**
* **Tatsumi**
* **Aries Mu**
* **Kiki**
* **Unicorn Jabu**
* **Sagittarius Aiolos**

## Trivia

* In Persona Record: Generations Memory's Mirror, Episodes 3 & 4 of the Netflix English Dub for Season 2 of the Series, were used as inspiration to make Chapters, 6 and 7 all dedicated to Saint Seiya
* While the **Writer** was working on making the the Story, Netflix was going to remove the anime from the Service so she recorded clips of the episodes she wanted to use for the Fanfiction.
* The Writer also has seen that Saint Seiya is Very popular in Spanish Speaking Countries.