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Saint Seiya (聖闘士星矢 Seinto Seiya), also known as Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac, is a 1986 Japanese fantasy and martial arts action manga series created, written and illustrated by Kurumada Masami.
It was serialized first in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1990, with the chapters collected into 28 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha.
The story follows five mystical warriors called the "Saints" (聖闘士 Seinto, or "Knights" in some adaptations) who fight wearing sacred armors named "Cloths" (聖衣 Kurosu), the designs of which derive from the various constellations the characters have adopted as their destined guardian symbols, and empowered by a mystical energy called "Cosmo" (小宇宙 Kosumo). The Saints have sworn to defend the reincarnation of the benevolent Greek goddess Athena in her battle against other evil Olympian and Norse mythology gods who want to dominate Earth.
The manga was adapted into an anime television series by Touei Animation with character designs and art by Araki Shingo that ran from 1986 to 1989, before being continued in the form of three original video animation series between 2002 and 2008.
Four animated feature films were shown in Japanese theaters from 1987 to 1989, with a fifth in 2004 and a sixth in 2014.
Since 2006, creator Kurumada has been publishing a sequel manga titled Saint Seiya: Next Dimension. Several spin-off manga by different authors have also been created, as well as a standalone anime and original net animation.
Saint Seiya has been very successful, with over 34 million copies sold in Japan alone. The series began to be known in the west after it became popular in France in 1988, where it was given the French name of Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque; this was also the first foreign release of the series.
Both the original manga and the anime adaptation were also successful in other Asian, European and American countries, being very popular in Spain, Mexico and other Latin American countries during the 90s, where the series was called Los Caballeros del Zodiaco in Spanish.
The original 80s anime series continues to be broadcast regularly in Mexico up to this day.
However, none of them were translated into English until 2003. In North America the manga is licensed by Viz Media, the anime has been released by both DIC Entertainment and ADV Films, and the first four films were released by Discotek Media.
Because of its popularity many RPG, action and fighting video games based on the series have been released in the last decades.
Main characters - Bronze Saints
Main Characters- Other
Silver Saints
Gold Saints
- Aries Muu
- Aries Shion
- Taurus Aldebaran
- Gemini Saga
- Leo Aiolia
- Virgo Shaka
- Libra Douko
- Scorpio Milo
- Sagittarius Aioros
- Capricorn Shura
- Aquarius Camus
- Pisces Aphrodite
Odin's God Warriors
- Dubhe Alpha Siegfried
- Merak Beta Hagen
- Phecda Gamma Thor
- Megrez Delta Alberich
- Alioth Epsilon Fenrir
- Mizar Zeta Syd
- Alcor Zeta Bud
- Benetnasch Eta Mime
Other Characters
Spin-off Series
- Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas
- Saint Seiya: Next Dimension
- Saint Seiya Omega
- Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold
- Saint Seiya Saintia Sho
- Saint Seiya (Netflix)