Saint Seiya: Encyclopedia II - Saint Seiya - Story summary

Saint Seiya - Story summary

Saint Seiya - The Saints' Mission

Saints believe each atom within a human body resembles a small solar system, and since the human body consists of billions of atoms, the totality forms a "small cosmos" or a "small universe". Each person's cosmos has its own unique signature. The cosmos is the source of power for the saints and can be endowed or given to others. If permission is granted, one can also draw other's cosmos to amplify one's own cosmos.

The power of the cosmos can be channeled through Saint armor, Saints are tasked with protecting Saori Kido (Sienna in the TV dub and the English manga), the reincarnation of Pallas Athena (the Greek patron goddess of wisdom, art, and military strategy), and fighting against evil forces. Athena normally resides in her sanctuary, a protected physical location just outside of Athens, Greece. In the sanctuary, a hierarchical command structure is followed, with the goddess as the supreme commander, followed by the Pope, and then by a few other gold saints. Athena dislikes weapons, believing intelligence and bodily strength to be the strongest weapons of all. Thus, she only allows a few saints to carry arms. The most famous saint to carry arms is Libra Dohko. The goddess also forbids unauthorized duels among her saints in the sanctuary. Lastly, Athena bans her Gold Saints from using the technique "Athena Exclamation", which is considered to be too destructive.

Athena is not the only female in her domain - females are allowed to become saints, though they are in the minority. Some of the famous female saints include Aquila Marin and Ophiuchus Shaina.

Saint Seiya - Story arcs

The story arc in the anime TV series consists of 114 episodes, basically divided into seven main parts:

• The Galactic Tournament (In which the Saints battle for the golden Sagittarius cloth): Introduction of the main bronze characters.
• The search for the stolen pieces of the golden armor of Sagittarius: The 4 Bronze saints battle with Phoenix Ikki and his black warriors and after that battle with other evil saints.
• The battle against the Sanctuary's Silver Saints "and other close encounters": The pope sends several silver saints to destroy the saints. Steel Saints appear. Shiryu gets blinded. The Sagittarius gold cloth disappears. Ikki battles with Jango and the black saints. First Appearance of some Gold Saints.
• The battle against the Gold Saints in the Sanctuary: The five bronze saints have heated battles in the 12 Zodiac temples, finally emerging victorious. Shiryu recovers his sight. Gemini Saga was the pope.
• The fight against Hilda's God Warriors in Asgard, home of the Norse (this story arc is only in the anime): Seiya uses the Odin Robe to destroy the nibelung ring, thus destroying Poseidon's grip over Hilda.
• The battle against the Marinas in Poseidon's kingdom: Poseidon was manipulating Polaris Hilda. Saints go to the Undersea Temple. Gemini Kanon was the enemy who awakened Poseidon's soul. The power/soul of Poseidon was possessed within the body of Julian Solo, the son of a wealthy sea merchant. Seiya, Shiryu and Hyoga use the Golden cloths, and with the help of Athena, seal Poseidon's soul, thus returning Julian Solo back to his normal self.
• The Hades Sanctuary saga - battle against the fallen gold saints and Hades' Specters (13 OVA episodes - this arc concludes in the manga, but the anime ends partway through): All battles are held within the Sanctuary. The Pope who Gemini Saga killed in the original Sanctuary series, was revealed as Aries Shion. He and the other five fallen gold saints (Gemini Saga, Cancer DeathMask, Capricornus Shura, Aquarius Camus and Pisces Aphrodite) were revived by Hades. Shaka dies during the battle between Shura, Camus and Saga. Both team of Gold Saints (Saga, Camus and Shura vs Mu, Aiolia and Milo) use the forbidden move, Athena Exclamation on each other. Athena sacrifices herself (for a reason: Arayashiki). Shion gives the divine cloth to the four Bronze Saints and restores their cloths to their ultimate level (he also revealed their true intentions). Battle continues in Hades' Castle and the Underworld.
  • The Hades Inferno saga - battle against the Specters, the 3 Judges of Inferno, and the God of the Underworld himself. (6 OVA's to appear December 2005 to March 2006): Battle with all the Specters and the 3 judges. Appearance of the legendary silver saint, Orpheus. Shun becomes Hades (very similar to Poseidon/Julian Solo).
• The Heaven saga - Tenkai Hen Josō (started with the latest Saint Seiya movie, battle with Olympian Gods Apollo and Artemis, unfinished in anime and doesn't exist in the original manga).

The story in the manga series consists of 28 volumes.

The first 13 episodes of an OVA series set in Hades' realm were released from November 2002 to 2003. Before that, the Hades saga could only be seen in the manga. There have also been four theatrical releases (three short movies and a full-length one), which do not belong to the regular chronology, as they contain several story line contradictions. A fifth movie came out in Japanese theatres in 2004, Heaven chapter - Overture (Tenkai-hen Josō), which is supposed to follow the regular chronology right after the end of the manga (which has not been entirely adapted to anime yet) as a prologue to a new chapter.

On December 2002, serialization began in Champion RED magazine of a new manga called Saint Seiya Episode G. This new work is written by Saint Seiya creator, Masami Kurumada, but drawn by artist Megumi Okada. The story happens years before the Galactic Tournament, and focuses on the Gold Saints and the Sanctuary, particularly on Leo Aiolia, all against Chronos and his Titans.

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