Saint Seiya: Encyclopedia II - Saint Seiya - History

Saint Seiya - History

The anime is based on the manga series of the same title by Masami Kurumada. The animation series by Toei Animation first premiered on Japan's TV Asahi on October 11, 1986.

Saint Seiya - Foreign releases

The series aired in North America on Cartoon Network every Saturday night as an edited-for-TV version called Knights of the Zodiac, but was later cancelled. An unedited subtitled and dubbed version is being released by ADV Films. VIZ Media's Shonen Jump titles the manga Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac for American audiences and it uses the English anime names.

The series was intermittently successful, attaining a cult series status. It had tremendous impact in Indonesia and the Philippines. In Brazil, for example (where it is known as Os Cavaleiros do Zodíaco), the debut of the series in 1994 was responsible for changing the face of animation in the country, truly popularizing Japanese animation for the first time. This was also true in other countries of Latin America, especially Panama, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina, although shows like Robotech and Mazinger Z had been shown in both nations during the previous decade. Both anime and manga were introduced into Mainland China as 圣斗士星矢 around 1990 and into Hong Kong and Taiwan as 聖闘士星矢 as early as 1987, and started the trend of Japanese manga and animation among those areas.

Saint Seiya began to be known in the West as Knights of the Zodiac after it became successful in France, where it was given the name of Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque. This was also the first foreign release of the series. In Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, it is named as Los Caballeros del Zodiaco, and in Italy it is known as I Cavalieri dello Zodiaco.

It may be said that Saint Seiya has special contributions in the development of Japanese manga and anime culture. It is the most early and important origin for dōjinshi, which has grown into a significant peripheral subculture of manga and anime. Dōjinshi groups in East Asia, South America and West Europe grew significantly around the time period that Saint Seiya was released.

Saint Seiya - Hades Chapter Inferno

Two years after the first part of the Hades saga, Chapter Sanctuary, a second part was produced in 2005. This second chapter - Meikai Ken Sensho - has been dubbed as "Chapter Inferno (Part 1)". Unfortunately, the producers had trouble getting most of the original seiyu to reprise their roles.

Toei Animation Studios has released the first two OVAS (2 of 6) on December 2005.

It is said that this part will end in the battle in Giudecca (The palace of Hades), that is, it will not include - SPOILER - the battle between Ikki and Shun Hades, the appearance of Athena or the great sacrifice made by the 12 gold saints. Perhaps a new part of the Chapter Inferno will be made in the near future.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki