You just know this page is about something special to me. All the cels on this site are placed together into galleries and for some strange reason, this series gets its own page. Why? Just read on.  

Not impressed by the plethora of reruns? Okay. How about this? During its initial first few runs, Saint Seiya managed to rival the popularity of another little anime you may just have heard of called "Dragon Ball Z" ! Why would you want to be a yellow haired alien monkey if you could wear a mystical armour fashioned after a constellation? At some point, my friends and I were very close on dropping out of high school and becoming Saints ourselves. Who needs math if you are able to throw punches at the speed of sound?

Instead of Cops & Robbers, everyone started playing Saints & ...more Saints. Everyone wanted to play Seiya Pegasus, Shiryu Dragon, Hyoga Cygnus, Ikki Phoenix or (if you drew the short straw) Shun Andromeda. Or as they got respectively named by someone who only knows them from cels : Comma Head, Nekkid Lad, Duck Boy, Ikki-Wikki and Pinky Dick.

A : Uh..

A :Honest answer? Great idea but poorly executed.

Admittedly, the story's kick-off, the Galaxian Tournament, will have you guessing frantically who will win and you will inevetably be wrong. Whenever "SS" comes up in conversation, my friends and I will immediately recall the battle between Seiya and Shiryu as the best one of the entire series (the top cel is from that battle).

But the middle part with the Silver Knights drags on. Every new revelation brings the protagonists back to a, albeit slightly different, status quo. If the "side stories" in this story arc are meant to add depth to the characters, they fail miserably and can easily be viewed as filler.

The Sanctuary part against the Gold Knights does have its merit because of its "race against the clock"-setting but also suffers from serious pace problems. (i.e. the pace being terribly slow at some points).

All this aside, the so-called "Phoenix-Silver-Sanctuary"-episodes are the best of the series. 

Q : The series doesn't end there, does it ?

A : To me, it does.

The two arcs that follow, "Asgard" and "Poseidon", are nothing more than dopplegangers of the Sanctuary arc, following the exactly same recipe to the letter :

I also understand that from a strictly artistic and commercial point of view, you would want to give your main characters a new look. But I hate the "new" armours. You are going to fight people whose punches feel like you get hit by the space shuttle. Who in is right mind would then change a helmet for a frickin' tiara? o_O Seiya looks like he's wearing cheap Mr. Spock-ears.

And those new armours don't even have a cup, which makes no sense at all. Call me overly cautious but if I were to go into battle wearing an armour, I would insist it had 1) head proctection, 2) heart protection and 3) crotch protection. Heck, if in a pinch I would even drop the head protection. (It's not like I often use that part.) Of course, after checking their age, it may be they don't have the protection because their balls haven't dropped yet.

Although I don't exactly know how the OVAs or movies turned out, needless to say I'm certainly not a post-Sanctuary Seiya fan.

Q : But its good thing is a solid story than?

A : Not quite.

Saint Seiya has a storyline with more holes in it than a Michael Bay script. The story about Seiya's missing sister is a chronological nightmare. Where does Andromeda keep those immensly long chains of his? Does Shiryu really have to get naked that much? (Fangirls everywhere screaming "Yes, he does! Now shut the eff up." ^_^) How does Phoenix know when and where to show up? What happens to Sagitarius' helmet? How come depending on the situation, armours are either diamond hard of have the density of a crumble cake? And I'm sure I am forgetting a few more.

A : No it's not.

The characters in Saint Seiya are about as deep as a kiddy pool,... when dry. All the main characters basicly fight because "it is the right thing to do", which isn't exactly an exciting reason to do anything.

They all start off as regular @$$holes which makes for some great tension and interaction but when facing a common threat they become buddy-buddy in seconds, setting aside any rivalry or personal quests. Although this is an example of knightly behaviour, it dulls down our protagonists.

I've never been one for overly mushy series but a little more romance wouldn't have hurt "Knights of the Zodiac". I understand saving the world is important and spending your childhood training doesn't improve your social skills. But if becoming a Saint means holding hands is considered "getting lucky", I'm not even going to apply for the position. Seiya has got three women gunning for him! He should be doing the horizontal monkey dance 24/7. (Which would make for a completely different kind of series, but you catch my drift.)

Q : Uh, I was under the impression you like the series.

A : I don't like the series, I love the series. All my ranting  has no other intention but to emphasize how much I love this series, despite its shortcomings.

The original desgins are surprisingly bold, veering away from the mecha look yet losing no power whatsoever.

The series still heirs from an era where the good guys were good and the bad guys bad. A bit black and white maybe compared to today's standards but it didn't dim the immense popularity of the characters.

And I saved the best reason for last : Hands down, Saint Seiya has the best "transformation scene" in anime history ever. Visually utterly beautiful, the armour of Pegasus finding its way onto Seiya's body while the camera angle keeps making 360 degrees cirkels around him before zooming out to reveal the hero in full armour makes for a stunning 30 seconds which should have every true hearted fanboy and girl reeling. The beautiful and heroic theme music combined with the "clanging" sounds as the armour connects with the body parts and itself will hopefullly once get released in surround sound so the viewer will also, albeit from a very brief time, be able to witness what it feels like to be a Saint.

In conclusion, Saint Seiya is about aesthetics, ethics, courage and nostalgia.

I don't know if those who will see it today for the first will get it, but it's their loss.

I am willing to admit it : I am a closet Shun Andromeda-fan. Don't ask me why, don't ask me how. It 's just a fact. It's also the reason why I keep this picture on this page. You see, this is the best cel I've ever seen of the character ! (It's very hard to find a Shun cel that fits the following parameters : 1) First armour, 2) Nicely drawn and  the hardest one 3) Not in a strange pose or crying like a baby.)

So why is this cel in such a "strange" picture that doesn't look a thing like my other scans?

Well, you see. I don't own this cel. =_= It came up for auction on Ebay when I was just starting out collecting cels. And I made a double mistake. First, I made a calculating error when converting from dollars to euros and came up with a amount I did not want to pay for the cel. And that was also the second mistake because I now realise I would have paid that amount if I knew then what I know now : the amount of Saint Seiya cels is limited, very limited... 

So I keep this image around just to remind me of this little debacle. =_= 

EDIT : But as you can see above. I finally managed to get one !!!