Saint Seiya

Took me about 15 years after Saint Seiya: Lost Canvas before finally diving into the original classic, but I’m proud to announce that I’ve completed my run of the Saint Seiya manga! One of the great late-80s manga classics by Kurumada-sensei, it shaped the Japanese shonen industry with its iconic armor-clad Zodiac knights, the Saints.

Being a millennial, my exposure to Saint Seiya was mostly through the anime with fragmented memories of arcs and battles. Finishing the manga finally gave me the complete picture. The storyline is actually quite simple, structured around four major arcs. My earliest memories are tied to the Sanctuary arc, and I never expected the earlier arcs to last as long as they did.

By today’s standards, Saint Seiya may not have aged perfectly. But for its time, it was innovative, with mystical armor and special tropes that inspired later works like Shurato and Yoroiden.

Beyond its novel concepts, Saint Seiya stood out for delivering a laser-focused shonen experience. It follows the adventures of the five Bronze Saints as they fight to save the world and protect their patron Goddess, Athena. This clear, action-driven structure made it a household name in Japan. That said, in the original series, other characters like the Gold Saints and Hades Specters often ended up as fodder for the Bronze Saints’ battles. At least later spin-offs, like Lost Canvas, attempted to address this flaw.

For me, the biggest issue was the breakneck pacing in the final arc. The climactic showdown against Thanatos, Hypnos, and Hades is squeezed into less than two volumes, giving the Bronze Saints’ God Cloth forms very little screen time.

Despite these flaws, I still admire Saint Seiya for its innovation and impact on shonen manga. Its anime adaptations have also played a huge role in popularizing the series, and I might explore that massive library someday.