Series Background
SAINT SEIYA started out in 1986 as a manga by Masami Kurumada and published in SHONEN JUMP (my copies are from the weekly comic), and have been reprinted in book form by Shonen as well. In October of 1986 SEIYA showed up on Japanese TV as an animated series produced by Toei Doga (a subsidary of Toei Animation -- Toei Doga, from what I understand, is the company actually responsible for producing the TV series; and the parent company is responsible for all the various anime- related goods). Originally intended to have a run of 52 or so episodes, it proved so popular that it went to 73 episodes before ending -- and was immediately followed by a second season of the series, which as I write this is still running. (Yes, I hope to eventually do an article on the second SEIYA series as well.) In addition, two short features and one longer one based on the series have been finished, and from what I hear more are in the works. It seems to have become something of a favorite among American fans of Japanese animation, too.
This series review is intended to give you some background on the show and its characters, as well as providing episode synopses and comments on the storyline. Also included in this review is some basic background in Greek mythology, a look at the manga which originated this series, a brief lesson in the constellations, hopefully a section on how to use SEIYA characters in role-playing games, and a "SEIYA SCORECARD OF SAINTS" to help you quickly identify any of the Saints you see in the show. Warning: If you haven't seen the show yet, and want to be surprised, DON'T read this review until AFTER you've watched what you want to watch. This review definitely contains "Spoilers"!!
Approximately 16 years prior to the beginning of the show, a girl-child was born in Sanctuary, training camp for the Saints of Athena. She was identified as the current reincarnation of the Goddess of Wisdom. Unfortunately, unknown to anyone at the time, the Master of Sanctuary, her guardian and the one charged with running Sanctuary until Athena grew into her power, was killed by his twin brother, Gold Saint Gemini Saga. Saga had been possessed by the reincarnated spirit of Ares, who cheated this time by taking over an adult instead of a baby. Saga/Ares then attempted to kill the infant Athena. Sagittarius Aioros, another of Athena's Gold Saints, interferes and saves the child, escaping from Sanctuary with her. He makes his way to the ruins outside Sanctuary, where he and the child are found by Mitsumasa Kiddo, head of the Graude Foundation. Aioros tells him the child is Athena, and gives him his Gold Cloth to be given to his successor.
Exhausted and injured by the previous battle with both Saga/Ares and then another of the Gold Saints, Aioros dies. Kiddo adopts the girl. A long-time martial arts enthusiast, he decides to train warriors and sponsor the Galaxian Wars as a means to decide who is worthy to become the new Sagittarius, and become Athena's bodyguard. Meanwhile, Ares, now disguised as the Master of Sanctuary, tells her Saints that Aioros has kidnapped Athena and that both Sagittarius and Athena have died.
(Later he'll tell the Saints that Saori is an imposter and not really Athena). At this point Ares controls 10 of the 12 gold cloth; Saori has the Sagittarius cloth and the Libra Saint, who swore fealty directly to Athena in her previous incarnation, suspects what has happened and refuses to obey the Master.
Six (some sources say ten) years prior to the competition, the Foundation basically kidnapped 100 youngsters from various orphanages around the world and started training them as martial arts warriors. After winnowing them down to around 25, the remaining young warriors were sent to various training camps throughout the world. The training was very hard and difficult, and in many cases the trainers or others in the training camps were very cruel and brutal toward the youngsters. About a dozen (that the Foundation knows of) survived the camps, and won their "Bronze Clothes". (75% of the Saints, and the lowest ranking, are "Bronze Saints". Perhaps 20% are "Silver Saints", and there are 12 "Gold Saints" -- each one associated with one of the Zodiacal constellations. In the series, the majority of the Saints our characters run across are Silver. All the main characters start out as Bronze Saints. Oh -- just because they're called "Bronze Saints" doesn't mean their armor is bronze in color, although the "Gold Saints" DO have armor that is all gold colored.) Whomever of the Bronze Saints wins the competition will become the newest Gold Saint. There's much more to becoming a Saint than just being a martial arts expert, though.
Unknown to the contestants or the rest of the world, these Saints are actually only a few of the combatants in a major battle between the forces of the Greek gods Athena and Ares. Our Bronze Saints are all champions of Athena, and the opposition consists of Ares' servants. As the story opens and we begin meeting the characters, the Galaxian Wars have started. Several of the Saints -- Seiya, Hyoga, and Ikki -- have not yet arrived...
He spends much of his spare time searching for her in the beginning, before things begin happening too fast for him to look! He has a very short temper and is very impulsive, which tends to get him into trouble. His armor is basically silver and red. He has brown hair and eyes. Seems to be the youngest of the Saints at approximately age 13.
DRAGON -- (Constellation is that of Draco, the Dragon) AKA Shiryu ("Lavender Dragon"), Dragon
is Chinese. His sensei is Rochi, a creature who looks like nothing so much as a purple Yoda wearing
a cone hat. He was trained in an area of central China, where he had to learn to control the
power of the "Sky Dragon Tear" ("Tear" as in rip or shred, not cry, and I've seen it also translated
as "Ascending Dragon Strike") in order to earn his Cloth. He had to reverse the course of a
waterfall to do so, as his Cloth was at the bottom of the fall. When he uses his ultimate power
it manifests itself as a great spirit dragon. He appears to be very calm and collected, but
inside is the fiery nature of a great fighting spirit. His 'weak spot' is a small area over his
heart; a solid blow there (especially when he isn't wearing his armor) can kill him. He has an
intricate dragon tatoo on his back, which reflects the damage done to him -- if he's bleeding from
his mouth, blood appears on its mouth, and so on -- and if he's dying, it begins to fade and
most likely would disappear altogether if he were to die. Very few Saints can damage the shield
he wears on his left arm. (In the series, Aries Mu cracks it, and later Capricorn Shiera breaks
it in two. In the first SEIYA movie Tazeta Yan, one of Eris' Ghost Saints, destroys it.) In
many ways Shiryu is the most mature of the Bronze Saints. He usually appears very self-confident,
which tends to drive his foes up the wall. Some see that self-confidence as conceit, but this
is not the case. He is also the one who seems to keep getting beat up the most. Speculation is
that he unconsciously tends to pull his punches because deep down inside he really doesn't want to
hurt anyone or anything. His armor is green-blue and lavender. Long (like down to his knees!)
black hair and dark grey eyes. He is one of the oldest Saints, and is perhaps 17 or 18
years of age.
CYGNUS -- Hyoga (Literally "Ice River", it means "Glacier") is the son of a Russian mother and
a Japanese father. He was sent to Siberia for his final training, where he was tutored by the
Crystal Saint, one of Sanctuary's roving Silver Saints. His mother is also 'buried' in Siberia
-- lying on her bed in a sunken ship at the bottom of an ice-cold lake/ocean fiord. Cygnus is somewhat
obsessed with his mother. His ultimate power is to freeze ANYTHING to absolute zero, encasing them
in ice, and he is powerful enough to create a snowstorm in full summer. His armor was frozen in
the center of a glacier, and Hyoga had to break apart the ice to win his Cloth -- which he did
with a single punch. His special attacks are the "Diamond Dust" and "Aurora Thunder Attack", both
of which generate varying degrees of cold, snow, ice, and wind. Cygnus' armor is shades of blue and
silver. Blonde hair, blue eyes.
ANDROMEDA -- Shun ("A Twinkling of Stars") is the younger of two brothers trained as Saints. His
ultimate power, unlike the rest of the Saints, rests in his armor instead of within himself. The
"Nebula Chains" which are part of his armor have what appear to be almost a life of their own.
The chains are said to be the actual ones used to bind the "real" Andromeda (see notes on Greek
mythology elsewhere in this article) to a rock for a sea monster to devour her.
They can sense danger to their owner and will often react automatically to it. They will point to
the direction danger is coming from, and Andromeda can control them like extensions of himself.
He is potentially capable of wrapping an enemy tightly enough to kill them, and one of his chains
ends in a rather sharp arrow-head shaped weight, but Shun as the show starts out is psychologically
unable to kill another person except in direst need.
He is very quiet, almost effeminate, but he fights extremely well and, if he ever uses his power
to full effect, could well be one of the most powerful of the Bronze Saints.
As the series goes on he matures quite a bit and becomes much less unwilling to kill when it's necessary. His main attack is the "Nebula Chain!" in which his weapons multiply and strike his enemies; latera he learns to use the "Thunder Wave" which increases the power behind his attack. (Most American fans, upon first viewing drawings of him in the Japanese animation magazines, assumed he was a girl.) He was trained on Andromeda Island. The colors of his armor are pink with blue and silver trim. Green hair and eyes.
PHOENIX -- AKA Ikki ("A Single Point of Brilliance", or "First Glimmer"), he is Shun's brother, and oldest of the surviving Bronze Saints. When Shun drew Death Queen Island as a training camp, Ikki volunteered to take his place. He never returned and was assumed to he dead. Unknown to the others, his experiences on the Island had changed him greatly, and not for the better. He seems to have been affected by Ares as well as the brutal training he received at Death Queen Island. When the rest of his companions see him again, his experiences seem to have also driven him more than somewhat insane.
Ikki is currently the most powerful of the Saints. In addition to the firestorm power evident from the name, he can turn an opponent's attack back on them, he teleports, and can launch a psychic attack which creates in an enemy's mind the worst nightmares imaginable.
(This is called the "Phoenix Demon Fist" -- "Phoenix Genma Ken!") Even after he is turned away from Ares, he remains a nasty and uncompromising fighter, completely opposite his younger brother's temperament. Instead of gaining power from his totem constellation, Ikki absorbs energy from fire and heat. (Witness his ability to pull in power from volcanoes and such). The Phoenix Cloth itself compounds Ikki's mental problems at it literally works through death and destruction. (Keep in mind that each time the Phoenix is reborn, the old persona must "die" to give birth to the new.) His armor is blue and pink. Blue-black hair, dark blue eyes.
UNICORN -- Jabu ("Wicked Chivalry") was Seiya's chief rival during the years of initial training the youngsters went through under the Graude Foundation. He is totally devoted to Saori. He won his Cloth in Algeria, and the armor is said to contain a weapon of power in its horn. We haven't seen him use it yet. He is devoted to Saori. He dropped out of the plotline shortly after being trounced in the ring by Andromeda Shun, not to reappear until nearly 60 episodes later. Brown hair, blue eyes.
HYDRA -- Real name is Ichi, his power includes poisoned talons and amazing speed. He is defeated in an early episodes by Cygnus and his armor destroyed. Armor mostly white. Hair white, eyes totally black.
WOLF -- Real name is Nachi, we never get a chance to see his power -- Phoenix Ikki hits him with his psionic attack and renders him catatonic before he gets a chance to show it. Armor is blue and green. Brown hair, brown eyes.
BEAR -- (Constellation is actually Ursa Major) Real name is Geki, he is largest of the Bronze Saints. He trained in northern Canada, where his opponents included real grizzly bears! He is defeated by Pegasus Seiya and his armor destroyed. Light brown hair.
LIONET -- His Cloth is named after Leo Minor. Lionet's real name is Ban. He was defeated by Unicorn Jabu in the second episode, his Cloth destroyed. Of all the Bronze Saints, after the first seven episodes we only see five of them again -- Pegasus, Dragon, Cygnus, Andromeda, and Phoenix. The others disappear until episode 61, when they arrive to defend Saori from enemies.
TATSUMI -- Saori's butler/bodyguard, he is something of a bully. He was stupid enough to terrorize most of the youngsters in the first part of their training, which has earned him their eminity now that they're older -- and much better at martial arts than he is! Tatsumi is a master in the martial arts discipline of kendo, but his training was no where near as intense of that of our Saints. However, after Mitsumasa's death he is the only one who knows Saori is Athena; even she wasn't told the truth about her origin.
MASTER OF SANCTUARY -- Originally Gold Saint Gemini Saga's twin brother. When Ares possesses Saga, the first thing he forces Saga to do is to kill his brother and take his place as the Master. With the face mask the Master wears and the voice change initiated by Are's possession, no one notices the change except Gold Saint Sagittarius Aioros, who shortly ends up rather dead...
MARIN -- (Name translates as "Demon Bell") Pegasus Seiya's sensei in Greece, who taught him to harness the "power of the microcosm" in the Pegasus Meteor Punch. She wears black and red and has a silver face mask. She hides a secret that is not revealed until later on in the series, and is Silver Saint Aquila (the Eagle).
AIORIA -- We first meet Aioria as a friend of Aquila Marin's at Sanctuary. He is actually Leo Aioria, and his brother Aioros was the former Sagittarius. See listing under "Gold Saints".
SHAINA -- Aquila Marin's long-time rival, and now one of Pegasus Seiya's most violent enemies. It seems that she fell in love with him in Sanctuary, and he never even noticed her... She wants to become the best female fighter in Sanctuary, and comes to believe that her feelings for Pegasus Seiya is a weakness -- a weakness she must destroy. Her pupil, Cassios, was defeated by Seiya in battle to win the Pegasus bronze Cloth. Facing Pegasus Seiya herself, she almost defeated him. She spends a great deal of her time throughout the series hunting down and trying to destroy Seiya. She is Silver Saint Ophiuchus (Serpent Holder). The name of her special attack is the "Thunder Claw". Geist (the Ghost Saint) is Shaina's sister; when Seiya kills Geist it gives Shaina another reason for vengeance.
ROSHI -- (Some of the characters pronounce it "Lochi". The word means "Aged Teacher") -- Shiryu's sensei, he is extremely powerful. He is actually Gold Saint Libra (and Dragon Shiryu is the only one of our Bronze Saints trained by a Gold Saint, though Dragon and the others seem unaware of this at the beginning. Roshi also seems to have become surrogate father to the boy as well as tutor.) Roshi lives an almost hermit-like existence in the mountains of Central China. Shunrei is his adopted daughter.
CRYSTAL SAINT -- A Silver Saint, he was trained by Gold Saint Aquarius Camus. Hyoga's sensei, he returns to Sanctuary and gets a welcome he isn't quite prepared for...Lives in the cold wilderness of Siberia.
MU -- A healer and telekinetic. He is the only known person who can 'heal' damaged Cloth, and he can heal living creatures as well. He has long purple-white hair, and his eyebrows are of the "period mark" type painted on Noh masks. Mu is extremely powerful, and far more than apparent at first, as we'll learn later on in the series. See listing under "Gold Saints".
KIKI -- (Name means "Strange One" or "Something very strange") Mu's side-kick (possibly little brother?), also a telekinetic and possessing two period-mark eyebrows. He is an obnoxious brat, but becomes devoted to the Bronze Saints, particularly Dragon Shiryu, as the series goes on.
MIHO -- Pegasus Seiya's old friend from the orphanage. He used to tease her unmercifully when they were both kids, and his older sister used to settle their disputes. She is still at the orphanage, although now as a worker instead of a resident. She is very sensitive and already knows, even before Seiya does, that his chosen path may will remove him far from normal humanity.
SHUNREI -- A Chinese girl, she's Dragon Shiryu's foster sister and Roshi's adopted daughter. She takes care of Shiryu on several occasions when he's been injured. She appears to be rather fragile, but has proven on several occasions to have great inner strength. Perhaps because of Roshi's training, she also has a fairly strong and sensitive "cosmo" for a non-Saint.
ESMERALDA -- The daughter of Phoenix Ikki's sensei, and Ikki's love interest, she is killed by her father accidentally during a duel with his student before Ikki won his Cloth.
OKHO ("King Tiger") -- A student of Roshi at the same time Shiryu was, and Shiryu's chief rival. His tendency to be a bully forces Roshi to drop him as a student. Ever since, Okho has felt cheated out of his chance to win the Dragon Cloth. He continues to learn and practice his martial arts, eventually manifesting his power in the form of a tiger.
He returns to challenge Dragon Shiryu at a time when Shiryu has been badly injured. While not technically a Saint, his power and ability places him at the same level of accomplishment as most Bronze Saints. (As a side note, dragon and tiger are traditional enemies in Chinese mythology, and -- at least to me! -- the character looks an awful lot like Bruce Lee.)
GIGAS -- Not really a Saint, Gigas is Ares' aide-de-camp and chief lieutenant as the series opens. After the Saints he sends on missions to steal the Gold Sagittarius Cloth fail, Ares grows tired of the old man and replaces him with:
PHAETON -- Ares' second aide-de-camp, it is he who dispatched Shaina, Perseus Algol, and Spartan on their mission to killed Pegasus Seiya and his fellow Bronze Saints.
GHOST SAINT GEIST -- Ophiuchus Shaina's sister, she has the ability to cast realistic illusions. She is killed by Pegasus Seiya when he recovers the Sagittarius helmet she and her proteges have stolen. Technically equivalent to a Silver Saint, she has her own disciples -- Eel, Kraken, and Dolphin. (I also have one source that says Geist was Shaina's sensei and "like a sister" to her, rather than an actual blood relation.) Possible constellations for the Cloth worn by her proteges are -- DELPHINS the Dolphin for "Dolphin" (Although his Cloth's colors more resembles that of the Orca or Killer Whale than the dolphins we are more familiar with), SERPENS for "Kraken" (his Cloth has snake-like appendenges he can use like tentacles), and HYDRUS (the Sea Snake) for "Eel" (Eel's powers include a nasty electrical discharge, and some sea snakes have the same ability -- similar to electric eels). These are all speculation and should not be taken as gospel.
LACERTA MISTY -- Usually called "The Silver Saint" or "Misty", Lacerta is one of Ares' most skilled assassins. He looks like a woman -- even to wearing makeup -- but is actually male. From the responses of the other Silver saints after his death, I find myself wondering if he didn't just DRESS like a "bishonen"...
INCENDIARY SAINT -- Real name not revealed, he is probably more of a fire elemental than a Saint. He follows the orders of Ares. His Cloth may be that of Fornax, the Furnace constellation, but it isn't stated in the series.
CANES VENATICI (Greyhound) ASTERION -- One of two Silver Saints to be sent to check on Lacerta Misty's progress, he has the ability to cast illusions as well as being an excellent fighter.
CETUS (Whale) MOSES -- The other Silver Saint sent along with Canes Ventici to check on Aquila Marin and Lacerta Misty's mission to kill Pegasus Seiya.
CENTARUS BABEL -- Another fire elemental Saint, he might have been successful in his attack on Athena/Saori and her Saints if not for the intervention of the Steel Saints. He is also the first of the Saints currently serving the Master of Sanctuary who acknowledges Saori is Athena and not an imposter.
PERSEUS ALGOL -- A silver saint who has a functional Medusa shield. Algol is even more cruel than the majority of his brethren in Sanctuary.
CORVUS JAMIAN -- A Silver Saint serving Saga/Ares, he is named after the "Raven" constellation. He appears to be somewhat insane. Can call crows and ravens and have them do his bidding. He is involved in a scheme to kidnap Saori.
TARANTULA ARACHNE -- A Silver Saint, he is sent against Pegasus Seiya and is defeated. (It should be noted that in early 1987 a supernova appeared in the Tarantula Nebula.)
SPARTAN -- He is a strong psychic, using his telekinetic and energy powers far more in his battles than physical blows or strength. His telekinetic power is strong enough to pull an aircraft out of its flight path and force it to land. He is one of Ophiuchus Shaina's companions. Equivalent to a Silver Saint, it isn't stated what constellation his Cloth represents.
AURIGA CAPELLA -- Auriga is the constellation of the Charioteer. Capella's special weapons are throwing disks resembling (take your choice) razor-edged frisbees or hubcaps. Silver Saint Auriga is sent to back-up Ophiuchus Shaina and Corvus Jamian in their mission to capture Saori and bring her back to Sanctuary.
CEREBERUS DANTE -- Cereberus is the "Hound of Hell" belonging to Hades, God of the Underworld. There was at one time a constellation named Cereberus near Hercules, but it was dropped from the official listing of constellations a while back. Silver Saint Cereberus accompanies Auriga Capella in their mission to insure that Saori is brought back to Ares in Sanctuary before she can fully manifest and begin to use her powers. Cereberus uses chains ending in maces as his weapons.
CANIS MAJOR SIRIUS -- One of the three Silver Saints sent to back up Leo Aioria in an attempt to return the Sagittarius Cloth to Sanctuary and kill Pegasus Seiya. Canis Major is the constellation of the "Big Dog".
MUSCA (Fly) DIOS -- One of the three Silver Saints sent to back up Leo Aioria's attempt to regain the Sagittarius Cloth for the Master of Sanctuary.
HERCULES ALGETHI -- The constellation of Hercules is named after one of the strongest -- and certainly not one of the most brilliant -- mortals in Greek mythology. Algethi, one of three Silver Saints sent to back up Leo Aioria's attempt to regain the Sagittarius Cloth, proves he is certainly no smarter than the original Hercules was.
SAGITTA PTOLEMY -- Sagitta is the constellation of the arrow. (And technically is a sub-constellation of Hercules). Ptolemy uses his power to create and shoot poisoned arrows to eliminate what Ares/Saga sees as the greatest danger to his rule of Sanctuary and eventual conquest of the world...not to be confused with Ghost Saint Sagitta Maya, who serves Eris.
CAMELEON JUNE -- One of Andromeda Shun's contemporaries on Andromeda Island. She is one of the Saints sent after Shun as a result of Scorpio's "blackmail", in an attempt to keep Andromeda from accompanying his friends in their attempt to retake Sanctuary. She is a Bronze Saint, and may be Albireo's younger sister.
CEPHUS ALBIREO -- Andromeda Shun's sensei on Andromeda Island. In the manga, Shun's sensei is Cephus Daledeos, a different man although both are Cephus Saint. We see him briefly during Scorpio's attack on Andromeda Island; Albireo is the only one who tries to counterattack, and is badly injured by Miro as a result. In an even shorter view, he shows up during one of Andromeda Shun's memory flashbacks in episode 60. During Andromeda's encounter with Pisces, it is revealed that that Gold Saint had a hand in the defeat of Albireo as well. "Albireo" is the name of the second brightest star in the constellation Cygnus.
LEDA -- One of Andromeda Shun's contemporaries from Andromeda Island, he and his partner Spica nearly kill Andromeda in their attempt to prevent him from going to Sanctuary. One of the "pretty punk saints" (as they're called by some of us in Seiya fandom!). I don't know if "Leda" is his real name, or his Saint title. (Leda, in Greek mythology, was visited by Zeus in the form of a swan and gave birth to Castor and Pollux, the twins identified with the constellation Gemini.)
SPICA -- The third of Andromeda Shun's old companions from Andromeda Island. The second "pretty punk saint". Again, I don't know if "Spica" is his real name or what he's Saint of...(Spica is a star in the constellation Virgo.)
LOTUS ARGORA -- One of Virgo Shaka's disciples and a Silver Saint, he is part of the team sent by Virgo Shaka and the Master in an attempt to defeat Phoenix Ikki in episodes 54 -- 55. And, no, there isn't a "Lotus" (or any flower, for that matter) constellation.
PAVO (Peacock) SHIVA -- Another Silver Saint who is a disciple of Virgo Shaka, he is partner of Lotus Argora in their attempt to terminate the danger Ikki presents to the Master's plans.
ARIES MU -- As mentioned above, we first meet Mu in the depths of the Chinese mountains, when Dragon Shiryu brings the damaged Dragon and Pegasus Cloths to him for repair. Mu is very aloft and almost unworldly; it is only Shiryu's obvious dedication to his comrades that persuades him to heal the Cloths. His personal power (in addition to healing) seems to be mostly telekinetic. His healing powers need a catalyst to work most times. Therefore, he could not have "healed" the Pegasus and Dragon Cloth without the power of Shiryu's willing sacrifice. When the Bronze Saints come to take on Sanctuary, he could not have repaired their Cloth and strengthened them without both their permission and trust in him.
TAURUS ALDEBARAN -- Taurus is a huge man, but seems to have a basically peaceful nature. Pegasus Seiya fights him to a standstill, and Taurus sits down, laughs, and tells him to go on -- he's earned the right to go to the next station. When Andromeda Shun, Cygnus Hyoga, and Dragon Shiryu combine their talents to fight him, they freeze his hands -- and, laughing again, he tells them to follow Seiya. Part of his reaction may be due to the fact he had a vision of Athena (Saori) rising over Pegasus Seiya just before Pegasus delivered a punch only a Gold Saint should be capable of. His main power seems to be pure strength. He is essentially neutral in the conflict.
GEMINI SAGA -- When it came time for the two Greek Gods, Athena and Ares, to manifest, Ares seems to have cheated and chose to manifest in an adult rather than a baby. He took over Gemini Saga and in his first moved killed Saga's twin brother, the Master of Sanctuary. Then Ares tried to kill the baby Athena. One of the reasons he had to have Aioros killed is that Sagittarius saw his face that night, and therefore knew that Ares had taken over Saga. However, as Saga was an adult with a fully formed personality, Ares could not totally destroy Saga's own persona. Therefore, for many years the inner battle between the two continued, until (shortly after Seiya departed Sanctuary) Saga finally fell to Ares' power. That's why Gemini displays two sides to his personality -- he IS two people inside one body. The change is also marked by a change in hair color -- when he is Saga, his hair is dark blue, while when Ares has taken over the body the hair is a light purple. Also, when Ares is in control the whites of Saga's eyes turn dark purple. Even after Ares gains full control, Saga occasionally manifests, but by this time is unable to go against the War God's will. Saga's -- and thus Ares' -- Gold Saint power is centered around his control of time and space -- he can twist the fabric of space/time with ease, including opening a hole into another dimension and sweeping his opponents into it. (He cries "Another -- Dimension!" as he does so, and the eyes on the sculpted faces on either side of his helmet light up as well.) When Andromeda Shun defeats Gemini, the armor collapses, revealing it is empty -- Ares has been controlling it from the throne room. Ares also possesses a power similar to Phoenix's "genma ken" which enables him to control those he strikes with it.
CANCER DEATHMASK -- While the name transliterates as "Desumasuka", the characters in the show pronounce it "Deathmask", so I've used "Deathmask" in this review for the character's real name. It seems appropriate, considering the fact he's decorated his "House" in Sanctuary with rather gruesome death masks representing all the people he's either hurt or killed. He is sent by Ares after the Libra Cloth, but his attempt to take it forcibly from Rochi is stopped by the combined actions of Dragon Shiryu and Aries Mu. His personal power is to create a mini- blackhole that he can draw his opponents into, and he also seems to have the ability to transport both himself and any opponent to Hades, either just in spirit or also in body.
LEO AIORIA -- Aioria was trained by his brother Aioros, and was very close to his older brother. When Aioros was accused of kidnapping Athena, his younger brother was persecuted, and as a result can be very bitter at times. He went directly from being a trainee to Gold Saint. Leo Aioria has spent his entire life in Sanctuary, and does not particularly like what the Master he has sworn to serve has done to it. However, without Athena, there is no other he will acknowledge as leader, so he does nothing to stop the evil that results. He was very fond of his brother and reacts badly when Pegasus Seiya first wears the Sagittarius armor, but Athena intervenes. Once convinced Saori IS Athena rather than an imposter, Leo Aioria switches loyalties and pledges his service to her. When he returns to Sanctuary with the injured Shaina, he then goes to confront Ares and ends up fighting Virgo Shaka -- and then is possessed by Ares. Aioria's personal power seems to be the creation of a small ball of energy that he can throw at opponents, which he calls his "Lightning Bolt" attack. (His name may actually be "AEolia", which in Greek mythology is the island of the winds and home to AEolus, chief god of the Winds.)
VIRGO SHAKA -- Shaka is of Indian/Buddhist origin, despite his blonde hair. He is the only Gold Saint who seems to have put together his own considerable following of trainees, and seems to exert a great deal of control over them. Shaka doesn't really care whether Ares or Athena wins the battle; all he cares about is being on the winning side. He fights Leo Aioria and the two manage to blow each other away. While he does keep his eyes closed most of the time like Dragon Shiryu does while he's blinded, Shaka is NOT blind. It is said he fears destroying whatever he happens to be looking at... A large part of his power is involved with illusion- casting as well as more physical manifestations. (Without his helmet he looks a lot like a blond Shiryu!)
ROSHI LIBRA -- As mentioned above, Roshi is Dragon Shiryu's mentor as well as a Gold Saint. He is perhaps one of the strongest of the Gold Saints, although he strictly avoids the more showy displays of power some of the other Gold Saints seem to favor. He suspects what has happened to the Master of Sanctuary, but has no proof so says nothing of his suspicions to the others. Roshi seems to be fully retired; when Cancer Deathmask arrives to forcibly take the Libra Cloth from him, Roshi does nothing to fight him.
SCORPIO MIRO -- Miro completely believes the Master's story that Athena is dead and Saori is an imposter. When the Master decides that it is pointless to send more Silver Saints after our Bronze Saints, it is Miro who is sent to Andromeda Island to blackmail Andromeda Shun into leaving Athena by destroying the training camp there and injuring many of the people on the Island, including Shun's sensei. While intended to convince Shun not to accompany his friends in retaking Sanctuary and to dishearten him, the effect is the reverse -- it seems to give Shun the incentive to fight as hard as he can in the following battles. Later Miro fights Hyoga, and begins to have doubts about the veracity of the Master's story of Athena and Saori. His power is that of the "Scarlet Needle", which punches small but deadly holes in his opponents. The holes are made in a specific pattern -- that of the stars in the constellation Scorpio. The last punch is placed in the "Scorpion's Heart", Antares, and is normally the final, fatal blow.
SAGITTARIUS AIOROS -- Upon learning that Ares has secretly become the Master of Sanctuary and intends to kill Athena, Aioros prevents one murder attempt and escapes Sanctuary with the baby, who is as yet too young for her power and full memories to manifest. While he is successful in getting her away from the danger and gives her to a new guardian, Aioros dies as a result of his wounds (received from bot Ares' attack and a later battle with Capricorn Shiera) on top of having to evade capture and getting out of Sanctuary to the outside world with the baby Saori/Athena. (His name may actually be AEolus, which was the name of the chief god of the winds in Greek mythology.)
SAGITTARIUS SEIYA -- About half-way through the series, Pegasus Seiya gets to put on the Sagittarius Cloth, though he is not at that point in time a true Gold Saint. That's when the real fun begins, although the Cloth leaves him shortly after he first gets to wear it..
CAPRICORN SHURA -- Capricorn's special power is the "Excalibur Blow", in which he can use the power of his cosmo, focused through his hands, like a sharp sword. When Aioros escaped from Sanctuary, he first encountered Shura, who inflicted even more damage than Ares had. Shura believed Aioros dead, but could not bring himself to kill the infant Athena. When he faces Dragon Shiryu, Capricorn's "Excalibur Blow" destroys the Dragon Cloth, including its nearly unbreakable shield.
AQUARIUS CAMUS -- (The name is French, and is pronounced "Kam-yeu"; the katakana can also be transliterated as "Kamyu"). He was sensei to the Crystal Saint, and therefore something of an object of hero-worship for the young Hyoga before he became Cygnus. He may have at one time been Cygnus Saint prior to earning Gold Cloth; one of his attacks is manifested as a dark- colored swan similar to that used by Hyoga. His primary attack is that of the "Aurora Execution", in which the Water Bearer appears above him, and energy seems to shoot out of the "water pitcher" she bears. Camus seems to be on Athena's side, but due to his oaths of loyalty to the leader of Sanctuary cannot act openly in her behalf. (It should be noted that the French philosopher Camus, who was also a member of the French Resistance in WWII, is the one who said that when dealing with a force as corrupt and evil as Hitler's Germany that there was no middle ground -- to be "neutral" in that type of conflict was to in fact support the side of Hitler's Reich.)
PISCES APHRODITE -- The last of the Gold Saints our folks will have to defeat prior to taking on Ares himself, Aphrodite is male, despite his deceptive appearance. While he shares names with the Greek Goddess of Love, I don't think he's the manifestation of the goddess. Aphrodite uses roses as weapons -- red roses are poisonous, black are explosive, and white ones drain an enemy's life force. Aphrodite seems to fully supports the Master, and may be aware of his true nature.
Gold Saints are the most powerful of all the Saints. Not only are they the most skilled and strongest in the martial arts of the Saints, but each usually has at least one personal power that eclipses any of their more physical skills. Both Aries Mu and Taurus Aldebaran describe it as being able to fully use and control their "seventh sense", which enables them to draw on the power of the macrocosm (not just their personal "microcosm") at any time they wish, usually through the mystic link they have with their totem Zodiacal constellation. Our five Bronze Saints must learn to properly control their "seventh senses" before they can defeat the Gold Saints and win Sanctuary back for Saori/Athena.
CLOTH -- The special armor worn by the Saints. Literally, it would translate as "sacred kimono". Each set of Cloth is connected mystically with the constellation it represents (or, in the case of some of the Silver Saints, the element, spirit, or Earth force it is connected to), and when someone 'wins' a set of Cloth then some of that power is transferred to the individual. In addition, the Saints do not have to put on the armor as a normal person puts on clothes; they summon the armor (perhaps through a form of pseudo- telepathy) and it appears, snapping into place around its chosen wearer.
Personally, I think the Cloths have a type of pseudo-life of their own. Perhaps that's why damaged armor has to be taken to a healer like Mu rather than to the equivalent of the local blacksmith. Gold armor, the most powerful, manifests this attribute the most strongly. Gold cloth even seems to have some choice in deciding who will wear it. In several episodes the Sagittarius armor protects Seiya of its own volition. While the armor can be damaged, usually it takes another Saint to do so. There is very little that will damage Gold Cloth; it is nearly impregnable. Gold Cloths belong to Athena, although their wearers may be subverted by Ares. If a Gold Cloth decides its wearer has diverted too far from the ideals of Athena (such as when the wearer tries to attack the goddess), that Cloth may choose to "desert" its wearer.
GALAXIAN WARS -- Ostensively a prime-time contest between various martial arts experts to win the Gold Cloth, old Kiddo had some idea of what was going on and arranged the games as a reason to train the Bronze Saints in support of Athena -- for ulterior motives we'll learn about later in the series. If events had transpired as he'd planned, the winner of the Gold Cloth would have been one of 'his' Bronze Saints, and thus devoted to Saori's protection.
STEEL SAINTS -- Three young men selected and trained by the Graude Foundation to wear technologically developed Cloth. Wearing non-traditional armor, Kiddo intended them to be a 'wild card' factor injected into the war on the side of Athena. They are the Air Saint Sho, whose sign is that of the Toucan, the Water Saint Ushio, whose token is that of Dorado, and Earth Saint Daichi, whose Cloth is that of Vulpecula, the Fox. Because the "Steel Cloth" are man-made machines, not "real" Cloth, there may well be Saints bearing Cloth of those constellations we have not yet met.
BLACK SAINTS -- For every "good" set of Cloth, bronze or silver, there is the potential for an evil counterpart serving Ares. Their armor is completely black in color. It seems that only the Gold Cloth are not so replicated. The Dark Saints, including the evil dopplegangers of Pegasus Seiya, Andromeda Shun, Dragon Shiryu, and Cygnus Hyoga are wearers of Ares' Cloth. The four who are the equivalent to the four Bronze Saints have also had their own abilities enhanced by Phoenix Ikki's own energy. Their powers are perverse opposites of their counterparts. Thus, while Pegasus Seiya actually imparts a part of his lifeforce in each Pegasus Punch, Black Pegasus' "Ankoku Pegasus Meteor Fist" punches creates illness and leeches away the victim's life force. Black Andromeda's chains turn into vipers which bite his opponents. The Japanese term is actually "Ankoku Saint" which can be translated as either "Dark" or "Black" Saint. The Ankoku Cloth itself tends to affect its wearer, further tainting them and making them succeptable to Ares' will. In the original manga, we are shown thar there are many Ankoku Saints on Death Queen Island, not just the five dopplegangers of the five main characters that we see in the TV series.
GHOST SAINTS -- For the most part, Ghost Saints are the spirits of former Saints who have died, revived and given physical form by the power of one of the gods. Technically, Geist is not such a Ghost Saint even though her title is that of "the Ghost Saint"; as far as we're told in the series she's still alive -- until after her final battle with Pegasus Seiya, anyway! The Ghost Saints who serve Eris in the first SEIYA feature are. Ghost Saints normally wear the same Cloth they wore while alive. (Ghost Saints exist only in the series and not in the manga; and I couldn't find much in print that cleared the subject up to my satisfaction.)
SANCTUARY -- An island off the coast of Greece where one of the training camps for martial artists is located. It has existed there in secret for centuries, and is Athena's main place of power. Many of the other Saints were trained there. Truly the core of Athena's "self", she cannot fully realize her memories and full power until enthroned there. Sanctuary has its own source of mystic power and is only partly connected to the real world, with most of it actually existing in another dimension. The area where Pegasus Seiya trained -- and where most of the battles take place -- is only the "gateway" into what is really Sanctuary. (It is doubtful if Ares can enter the "true" Sanctuary, but if he can keep Saori/Athena from reaching the center of her power, he basically has won the battle by default.)
DEATH QUEEN ISLAND -- Ares' counterpart to Sanctuary, it is a training camp for many of the war god's forces. It is as ugly to the eye as it is to the spirit, with many volcanoes, mud pots, sulfur springs, and so on dotting its surface. NOT a nice place to visit, let alone live! Even trainees who arrive fairly pure in spirit will eventually be tainted by the Island's evil miasma, which helps bend its' inhabitants to Ares' will.
COSMO -- A little more information on what the "cosmo" is seems to be in order here. The "cosmo" is similar to, but not identical with, what psychics and parapsychologists call the "aura". A combination of aura and power field, each cosmo is as individual as fingerprints, and reflects the condition of the person projecting it. A well-trained Saint can use his/her cosmo to sense another's strengths, weaknesses, and condition. The closer the relationship between two Saints, the more sensitive they are to each other. (For example, Pegasus Seiya and Dragon Shiryu's close friendship at the beginning of the series allows Seiya to know when something was wrong with Shiryu in episode 10 while the other two sense nothing. Later in the series they have all become good friends and thus can sense when each other is in trouble.) They can also tell when one of their number is dead, or so close to death it doesn't matter, when the 'feel' of a cosmo is lost. The more experienced and powerful a Saint is, the more he/she can sense of other's cosmos. In episode 10 Dragon Shiryu doesn't "see" or "feel" anything unusual about Mu's aura, despite the fact the healer is later revealed to be a Gold Saint. By episode 39 he senses a huge energy field around Cancer Deathmask -- so much so that the psychic power from the Gold Saint literally lights up the whole area to Shiryu's "inner eye". As a Saint learns how to control his/her cosmo better, he/she no longer needs his/her armor to channel the inner power generated by the cosmo. In other words, the armor is a tool but the pure power actually rests within the Saint him/herself. It is also through the power of the inner cosmo -- the "microcosm" - - that a Gold Saint draws directly on the power of the macrocosm. It is this ability that marks a true Gold Saint, whether or not he/she actually wears Gold Cloth. (Silvers have learned -- even if they aren't fully aware of what they're doing -- to draw on the macrocosm occasionally, usually in moments of great stress; a true Gold Saint can call on the macrocosm at will. Bronze Saints have only the power of their own microcosm to support them.) The ability to sense and draw on the macrocosm at will is known as a Gold Saint's "Seventh Sense".
aldebaran@technologist.com
(03/Abr/1997)
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