If you look around online, the general rumor is that after putting the kibosh on Saint Seiya Shueisha told Masami Kurumada to simply recreate Saint Seiya's success by making something like it, despite having just cancelled the series the publisher seemingly wanted Kurumada to replicate. However, that's generally worded as though Kurumada's next manga came right after Seiya, ignoring Aoi Tori no Shinwa's two-off existence & instead wanting to portray Shueisha as being incompetent. But, like any good rumor, there may still be a nugget of truth behind it, because Kurumada's next serialized manga would very much look immensely similar to his biggest hit. Therefore, it is entirely possible that Shueisha (or, at least, his editor at Jump) did request that Kurumada try to create a "new Saint Seiya", but instead of coming off like pure incompetence it likely would have been due to the fact that Kurumada was nearing a solid 1.75 years without any real/proper serialization, which would surpass his prior record of just slightly over a full year, that being the gap between Sukeban Arashi & Ring ni Kakero. This was close to the roughly two whole years between the end of Fuma no Kojirou (late 1983) & the start of Saint Seiya (early 1986), so it's entirely possible that Shueisha was thinking that a new generation of Jump readers would be around to enjoy a new take on what Kurumada had hit big with previously & make it their own, similar to how Kurumada had Saint Seiya reuse ideas, names, & terminology from his older works for that then-new generation. I mean, by mid-1992 Shonen Jump was filled with a new breed of manga that didn't even exist when Saint Seiya's final weekly chapter first appeared, with the only remnants of the 80s & earlier being Kochikame, Dragon Ball, Rokudenashi Blues, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, & Magical Taruruuto-kun, and that last one was only five weeks from ending; Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai did debut in the tail end of 1989, but that's more a technicality. To be perfectly honest, if "Just make a new Saint Seiya for the 90s" truly was Shueisha's idea for Kurumada by mid-1992, I can actually see the logic in it.
The end result was the manga Silent Knight Sho, which debuted in Issue #35 of 1992... and a mere 12 issues later it was summarily canned by Shueisha in Issue #48, resulting in the shortest serialization Masami Kurumada ever had in Shonen Jump, with even Sukeban Arashi's eventual weekly run in 1975 beating it in length, 20 chapters vs. 13 chapters; when collected across two volumes, Sho's 13 weekly chapters were fused into eight tankouban chapters. Needless to say, Kurumada was seemingly pissed, as this was now the third serialized manga in a row he made for Shonen Jump that wound up getting cancelled, and this one in record time. The afterword for the second & final volume for Silent Knight Sho simply read "To you who, even for a moment, stopped to listen to Sho as time passed.......Thank you", before ending it all with a simple "Good Bye" written in English. This marked the end of Masami Kurumada's time with Weekly Shonen Jump, ending an 18-year run that saw him completely change the way action manga was made with Ring ni Kakero, help lead the shift from sports-based action to general action with Fuma no Kojirou, and created a world-inspiring series with Saint Seiya, before seemingly being told to just repeat what worked previously, only for it all to end as though he was the same as any newbie mangaka who was trying to get their name out via Jump. While Kurumada would make a seinen manga in the pages of Super Jump with Akane-Iro no Kaze in 1993, he'd wind up leaving Shueisha completely for the remainder of the 90s to make B't X with Kadokawa Shoten (& Evil Crusher Maya with Enix), not fully returning until 2000 with Ring ni Kakero 2. It wouldn't be until the revival of Otoko Zaka in 2014 that Kurumada would have anything to with the "Jump Comics" label again, & it wouldn't be until the Otoko Zaka revival moved over to Shonen Jump+ in 2017, 25 years after Silent Knight Sho's cancellation, that Kurumada was serializing a manga under the "Shonen Jump" banner again, in some form.
Similar to how Otoko Zaka infamously "ended" back in 1985, though, Silent Knight Sho would see Kurumada do something similarly legendary for that manga's final page, but we'll get to that in due time. So, as part of this blog's year-long celebration of Masami Kurumada's 50th Anniversary, let's see what there is to his Weekly Shonen Jump swan song.
Sho is an orphan who lives at the local church & has lately been having a recurring dream where he turns into a falcon, like his pet Piitan, & flies into the air. After beating up a biker gang who hurt Piitan with a slingshot Sho thinks he hears the voice of a girl asking for his help, before his chest starts feeling like its burning up & something that looks like a spread-winged bird emblem appears briefly in that region of his body. Later that day Sho hears the voice again so he leaves school early to look for the mystery girl... only to see a giant T-rex on the roof of his school, before it quickly disappears, followed by him finding a literal fairy in the nearby bushes. The fairy, Shirin, reveals to Sho that the reason he can hear her & see the T-rex is because he is just like them: Someone who is capable of "Evolution", or the ability for a human to access the "Root" of the creature that they carry on the genetic legacy of. Those who have achieved Evolution can then change into forms befitting their Roots, like a giant T-rex or a small fairy. Despite not fully getting what Shirin's saying Sho still tries to protect her from their dinosaur-like opponent, but it's not until Piitan flies in & sacrifices his life to protect Sho that he realizes that his Root is that of a falcon, & that his life with Piitan was all due to their shared link. Now, as a "Silent Knight", Sho will fight alongside Shirin against Neo Society, an organization which feels that "Old Humanity", which is incapable of Evolution, should be eliminated in order to save the planet from destruction.
Right away from the first chapter of Silent Knight Sho there's a surprising amount of info to take in, specifically about the very concept behind this manga. In the author's note of Volume 1 Kurumada talks about researching things like Einstein's theory of relativity, evolution, genetic engineering, etc., and in explaining the utterly wild concept of "Evolution" & "Roots" we get mention of stuff like the archicortex & paleocortex of the human brain, as well as the concept of the introns & spacers that are found within both DNA & RNA (& even today seemingly aren't fully understood, like the manga states). So, to put it in simpler terms, Kurumada seemingly took the triune brain model of evolution, which is best described here as the evolution from the "lizard brain" of the archicortex to the "mammalian brain" of the paleocortex & finally the current neocortex that humans have, and came up with the idea that since the human brain is literally built on top of the "simpler" brains of the lizards & "lower" mammals that came before them, deep down each & every human also has within themselves the genetic inheritance of the creature that came before them, whether that be an aves (i.e. bird), a dinosaur, an arthropod, a suid, a felid, a bovine... or even mythical and/or fictional creatures, like a griffon, slime, or fairy! Oh, and I can't forget the ever-so-convenient fact that humans capable of Evolution can make themselves 100% invisible to "normal" humans, since "Old Humanity" isn't "Evolved" enough for their eyes to process them, or something like that. Japanese Hamburg steak expert, current Chairman of the Japan Hamburg Association, & self-proclaimed "Nostalgic Entertainment Writer" Bergman Tagata once wrote in 2017 that Silent Knight Sho's concept of "Evolution" is "true to the chuunibyou heart"... and you can't really argue with that logic, now can you?
But what about our cast? Even with only two volumes is there at least something about these characters to make one care about them? While the first volume tries to avoid this, by Volume 2 Kurumada just starts naming characters similar as in Saint Seiya, in this case [Root, Name], so I'll just go with that for everyone. Falcon Sho is more or less your standard Kurumada lead at the time, so he's a bit of a "hit first, never give up" kind of guy, though at least Sho is shown right away as caring for others & being willing to fight on behalf of the weak; better than Seiya's admittedly selfish initial attitude at the start of his series. Fairy Shirin is a former member of Neo Society & one of the last remaining members of the resistance that she was originally a part of, and despite her miniature size when Evolved she can still fight back via her rhythmic gymnastics ribbons, which can either eviscerate or heal depending on the color of said ribbon; unfortunately, though, Shirin is literally comatose for the entire second half of this manga. In Volume 2 we're introduced to two new allies, first being Tiger Ohko, a Dragon Shiryu-looking guy who wields a sword called the Shichiseiken/Seven Star Sword, but in the final pages of the manga shows a bit of an "at any cost" mentality towards his dedication to stopping Neo Society; it's minor, but it's something to make note of. Peacock Ryo, in turn, is very much an Andromeda Shun-esque character, though he's much more willing to fight back, using a baton-like item called the "Tact of Life" to conduct music that can make his foe do whatever he wants them to. Finally, for our heroes there's the mysterious "Sister", who used to help lead Neo Society as one of its higher ups before betraying the organization & forming the resistance that Shirin was a part of, and now she's wanted by her former allies as a traitor. She's never physically seen in what was made of the manga, but Sho reveals early on that she appeared at the church after the priest had passed away & took over, becoming a mother figure to Sho for a number of years, though in reality it was because she sensed Sho's potential to achieve Evolution, even gifting him the egg Piitan hatched from.
When it comes to Neo Society, most of the warriors from there seen in this manga don't actually have proper names, instead simply being named after their respective Roots, though there are a handful of properly named ones to bring up. Eagle Arthur is the man in charge of Neo Society's Japan branch, a Knight who actually killed his own parents when he was just 10 because he had already been recruited after first Evolving at age 7. Arthur even waited exactly until his sister Maria turned 18 before killing her, as he believes anyone younger than that still has the potential to Evolve, though after initially trying to barge into Sho's church & sensing a massive power he wonders if Maria had somehow managed to actually survive & in reality is Sister. However, Arthur truly believes in his heart that what Neo Society is doing is for the protection of the Earth, even believing that if "Old Humanity" is left to its own devices it'll destroy the planet by the 2030s. Buffalo Kreuger is Arthur's second-in-command & is much more impetuous in comparison, not wanting to give Sho & Shirin a proper chance to recover & become proper threats to Neo Society, though by the end of his time in the manga even he shows a bit of proper humanity to Sho. Black Hawk Giacobini, Spider Talan, & Lamia Nake are three "Midknights" (the next rank up from Silent Knight; Arthur is also a Midknight), and they don't really get to do much as characters beyond Talan & Nake having fights against Ohko & Ryo, respectively. Griffon Alfa Romero is a "Bishop" within Neo Society, and while his face isn't even fully shown off he does at least get one moment where he starts to question some of the actions of his immediate superior, though it's really only relegated to a single page. That "immediate superior" would be Wild Boar "Rook", who's one of the strongest members of Neo Society, with a power level of over 9,000 (*cue the Vegeta & Nappa meme*), that shows no mercy when it comes to keeping secrets, even killing off one of his subordinates ("Bat") when he feels the lackey found out too much; since his actual name is never given he's known only via his rank.
As for the story itself, since it's only two volumes I can give a basic overview of what each book contains across it's eight collected chapters. Volume 1 starts with Memories of Wings, introducing Sho, Piitan, Shirin, the concept of Evolution, Roots, & Neo Society, and the fight against Tyranno. Shelter, The Armor of Life sees Shirin explain the idea of Shelters, the armor that "Demigods" (as Neo Society's members call themselves) naturally form when they activate Evolution (& then literally shed after they're done, so I guess all Demigods are kind of snake-like?), before she & Sho take on Pterano & Slime at the church. The Scan of Death properly introduces Kreuger (who's first seen in Chapter 2) & Arthur as they encounter Sho & Shirin, as well as establish Sister as a character, at least conceptually. Finally, Volume 1 ends with The Terrifying Proof of Loyalty, which focuses on Arthur's backstory via a flashback, as well as Shirin using her life energy to help heal Sho from the near-mortal wounds he suffered against Arthur. The technique Shirin uses is called "Charge", and Kurumada knew exactly what he was doing by making it look like Shirin's banging Sho; since Bastard!! was running the Seasonal Specials by this point I guess Kurumada took up the mantle of "sexual imagery in Jump".
Volume 2 begins with The Potential is Infinite!, which sees Sho take on Kreuger once & for all after Sho fully recovers from his injuries via Shirin's Charge, though Charging leaves Shirin incapacitated & Arthur kidnaps her for his own purposes. The Earth is Crying introduces Alfa Romeo as he reports to Rook about the happenings over in Japan & that it might be where Neo Society's greatest treasure, "The Arrow of the Demigods", is currently located; Sister had stolen it when she escaped Neo Society & formed the resistance. Meanwhile, Sho breaks into Neo Society's Japan branch to both save Kreuger's life via Charging & rescue Shirin, followed by Arthur explaining to Sho Neo Society's goal of exterminating "Old Humanity". Before anything can go further, though, Talan, Giacobini, & Nake arrive... to kill Arthur, under orders of Rook, as they feel Arthur might be withholding information from the rest of Neo Society regarding Sister & the Arrow. Reinforcements Incoming!! has Sho try to protect Arthur from being killed by Giacobini, only for the two of them to be suddenly teleported away by Ohko & Ryo, two Silent Knights from Sister's resistance who managed to survive in secret. Finally, the manga ends with For the Sake of Life, which features Ohko vs. Talan & Ryo vs. Nake, as well as the reveal that the Arrow of the Demigods was hidden in the church Sho has lived in the whole time. After Ohko retrieves the Arrow Giacobini arrives at the church with Shirin held hostage, though Ohko doesn't care & is willing to sacrifice her to protect the Arrow & deliver it to Sister, who's on her way to Neo Society's home base of "The Tower". Sho, though, despises Ohko's callous attitude, declaring that he & Ryo are no allies of his, & tells Giacobini that he will continue to fight to protect life, even if it's just for a single person, like Shirin's.
Without a doubt, you get the feeling that Kurumada was rushing a bit in Volume 2, likely in an attempt to simply introduce the rest of his main cast before cancellation happened. This results in Ohko & Ryo literally just appearing from out of nowhere so that they can be introduced, and Neo Society turning against Arthur, while having some sense of logic behind it, also happens rather suddenly. I imagine Kurumada was planning to have Sho, Shirin, Ohko, Ryo, & likely Arthur be the "Five-Man Band", so to speak, that stands against Neo Society, and the little bits of conflicting ideals we do get by the end (Sho wanting to protect all life, Ohko's willingness to sacrifice others, Arthur wanting to protect the planet itself at any expense) could have been an interesting twist in the formula Kurumada had with Saint Seiya's primary Bronze Saints.
Speaking of which, the comparisons between Silent Knight Sho & Saint Seiya are obvious. Both focus on armor-clad warriors from opposing sides who wage battle with the Earth itself at stake, and warriors from both manga rely on a special power that's technically found within all humans but can only be accessed by a scant few. Shelters are essentially Cloths/Scales/Surplices, Evolution & Roots are just a new take on Cosmo, Neo Society isn't too far removed from the (initially) corrupted Sanctuary, and while Kurumada is a devout follower of the Tezuka Star System for his character designs Sho himself really does look exactly like Seiya, with only his hairdo being ever-so-slightly different; while people joke about Kurumada's leads there are visual quirks between them, but Sho is literally just Seiya. Sure, there are subtle differences, like Shelters being sheddable & regrown removing the need to repair them (a la Cloths), or Evolution being more of a "chosen one" thing while Cosmo usage is something that can be taught, but it's immensely easy to see why Silent Knight Sho found itself being considered a cheap knock-off of Saint Seiya, seemingly enough so that it was quickly killed off in Shonen Jump; even the idea of Demigods being able to change their size is abandoned after Chapter 2. Volume 2 even ends off with a series of "Figure of Metamorphose" spreads for 12 of the Shelters that were shown in the manga, similar in style to the "Cloth Breakdown & Fitting" charts seen in each volume of Saint Seiya. The only difference is that it's done in reverse here, with Birth, Ecdysis (so I guess Demigods are more like insects, I take it?), Metamorphosis, Embodiment, & Weathering showing the path of a Shelter from instantly donning as armor to its formation as the creature it represents after being shed to finally disintegration into nothingness.
Also seen at the end of Volume 2 is a chart of Neo Society's hierarchy, revealing that the nameless foes seen in Volume 1 were just six of 999 "Pawns", we were only shown six of the 99 "Silent Knights" (Sho, Shirin, Kreuger, "Bat", Ohko, & Ryo), & there are only nine Midknights (meaning there were still five more to be seen beyond Arthur, Giacobini, Talan, & Nake). Beyond them are two "Holy Knights" who were never even hinted at or alluded to in what was made of the manga, followed by "Sister", "Bishop" Alfa Romeo, & "Rook" (each of which are alone in their respective ranks), revealing the obvious chess-theme that Kurumada was giving Neo Society; definitely reminds one of the massive hierarchy seen in Sanctuary or with Hades' forces. If given more time to tell this story, Kurumada would have likely later introduced the "Queen" & "King" that were above Rook, but at the same time I do wonder how long Silent Knight Sho really would have gone, had it been allowed to continue. As mentioned, there are apparently only nine Midknights, and close to half of them were shown off by the end of Volume 2 (though this was likely Kurumada accelerating the story to showcase them), and while other Pawns & Silent Knights could obviously be introduced they would really be pointless as enemies, since Ohko & Ryo are showcased as being capable of taking out the rank above themselves already. Therefore, there really would only be 11 more foes for our heroes to take on (the remaining five Midknights, the two Holy Knights, Alfa Romeo, Rook, & then the Queen & King of Neo Society), 12 if you include Sister as a surprise opponent, as a twist. It does make one wonder what plans Kurumada had in mind for Silent Knight Sho, but none of that really matters in the year 2024, now does it? After all, this manga got killed off.
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| Credit to "Mister Grem" on Twitter for recreating "NEVER END" on the higher quality tankouban version of the page. |
Speaking of being killed off... there's the matter of Silent Knight Sho's final weekly chapter, To My Beloved Ones..., as it's where the manga gets its notoriety & does differ slightly when compared to its tankouban version, where it comprises the second half of For the Sake of Life. Namely, the final page of Sho's final weekly chapter sees Sho himself stand defiant against Giacobini & promise to continue fighting on, even if it's for the sake of a single life, with images of the Earth & Piitan symbolically behind him... while on the very same page, right over Sho's hips, are giant block letters that read "NEVER END". It's an absolute piece of pure sarcasm from Kurumada & a perfect showcase of just how done he was with Weekly Shonen Jump, by that point. While it's natural to compare Silent Knight Sho's "NEVER END" to Otoko Zaka's infamous "未完", as both showcase just how big a name Kurumada was to the magazine (few other mangaka would ever be allowed to do something similar, both before & since), there's definitely a major difference in the message being sent with each non-ending. Otoko Zaka was Masami Kurumada standing defiant, unwilling to allow what he considered his magnum opus to be "finished", and while it took him nearly 30 years he eventually did return to Otoko Zaka &, just in time for his 50th Anniversary, told the story he had intended to its completion.
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| Yeah, I don't think Kurumada has any plans to bring this manga back... |
Silent Knight Sho, on the other hand, was Masami Kurumada standing indignant, annoyed at the fact that his manga was forced to end after only three months of serialization, and that this was how his 18-year run with Shonen Jump was coming to its end; unlike Otoko Zaka, Kurumada was showing no interest in ever reviving Silent Knight Sho. Meanwhile, Sho's rousing speech about continuing to fight on, even if only for the sake of a single life, can likely be taken as Kurumada letting the readers (& editors at Jump) know that this won't be the end of his career as a mangaka, and that while Silent Knight Sho will "never end" he will continue to make manga, even if it's only for a smaller audience of hardcore fans; even the title of the weekly chapter itself reads like it's the start of a letter from Kurumada to his devoted fans. I did mention that the tankouban version differs somewhat, and that's simply because the infamous "NEVER END" block letters are removed from the page they originally were seen on. Instead, Kurumada added a pair of new two-page splashes following the final serialized page that first show Piitan flying toward the Earth, followed by the second splash plastering "NEVER END" in even bigger block letters over the entire planet across both pages, as seen above. To be fair, the tankouban's version is highly effective & powerful in its own right, but I'd argue that the original serialized version is stronger in its message, if only because of the inherent sarcasm of it. While not quite as legendarily infamous as Otoko Zaka's "未完", Silent Knight Sho's "NEVER END" is still remembered to this day & did at least get referenced in 2012's Nyaruko: Another Crawling Chaos, a reference I'm positive nearly every English-speaking viewer absolutely didn't recognize when it was simulcasted; I doubt this is literally the only reference another work made to Sho's non-ending, but it's the only one I could find online.
As for the artwork in Silent Knight Sho, it's essentially Kurumada drawing in the style that people still most associate his artwork with to this day, and there's no real sign of his later, "modern" style, as that wouldn't really be first seen until the latter part of B't X, at the earliest. As mentioned, the Tezuka Star System is in full effect here, with Sho being "played" by Kurumada's standard Ryuji Takane template, Ohko looking very much like Shiryu, & Ryo looking like Shun/Kirikaze, though Arthur honestly looks like the precursor to B't X's Kotaro Takamiya. Shirin, in comparison, is a bit more unique due to her Chinese double bun hairstyle, & the various members of Neo Society utilize lesser seen "actors" from Kurumada, which is nice. I've seen it argued that the Shelter designs seen here may be more detailed than the various armors seen in Saint Seiya, and after seeing all of the designs here it's a bit of "Yes" & "No". Some Shelters, like Nake's Lamia or Talan's Spider, are indeed a bit more intricate in some ways, and the various "Figure of Metamorphose" spreads seen in Volume 2 show an interestingly straightforward way the Shelters can go from being donned to looking like their namesakes, so Kurumada definitely designed them in a notably different fashion than what he did in Saint Seiya. However, when actually worn the Shelters mostly just look like a slightly different variant of the Cloths, Scales, & Surplices seen in Saint Seiya, so it kind of evens out. Overall, Silent Knight Sho is a solidly drawn series from Kurumada, and arguably is one of the stronger aspects of the manga, as a whole.
Judging a cancelled manga can be tough, especially when its something like this. I mean, at just two volumes (when it was obviously meant to be longer) there's only so much plot & characterization that one can gleam from Silent Knight Sho, but that's not to say that there isn't anything that seemed promising about what Masami Kurumada got to make of it. Yes, its similarities to Saint Seiya are undeniable & plain to see, but at the same time there are elements here that do help make it unique, to an extent. While the concept of "Evolution" & "Roots" are definitely very chuunibyou in many ways, it also shows some element of ingenuity from Kurumada, as he tried to implement more of a scientific & naturalistic bend to a concept that was initially very mystical & spiritual in Saint Seiya. Kurumada would go on to utilize scientific concepts in a much more cohesive & cool fashion a couple of years later with B't X, so Sho at least acted as a good test bed for him, in that regard. Also, and this is admittedly nothing but theorizing, but I think the idea of our leads being a bit of a fractured group with differing ideals but facing off against a shared enemy would have certainly helped give this manga more of a unique identity when compared to Saint Seiya; again, Kurumada would be able to actually implement this concept later on with B't X.
However, there's no denying that Silent Knight Sho is really nothing more than a Jump manga that got killed off early on, one of literal hundreds of others over the magazine's ~56 years of existence (so far). Not just that, but it also pales in comparison to other early cancellations that both predate & postdate it, like Zombie.Powder, Gun Blaze West, Hareluya, Butsu Zone, The Hunter's Guild: Red Hood, Ayashimon, & even Otoko Zaka, all of which are either just better/more promising titles or wound up having more notoriety to them, as time moved on. Even in terms of Kurumada's catalog I'd still put Ai no Jidai, Evil Crusher Maya, & even Raimei no Zaji above Silent Knight Sho, as the first two are easily Kurumada's best short works (that I've read, at least), while the last one at least has a great hook to it via its pulp-like feel & mystery. In comparison, while I think there was some potential in Silent Knight Sho that simply wasn't given the chance to be realized, it really is a series that today is most notable simply because of "NEVER END", and while it's not an indictment towards the manga itself I honestly do hope that Masami Kurumada stays true to those two words & never revives it. It'd be the perfect inverse to how he eventually stayed true to Otoko Zaka's "未完" & returned to it so that it could be "Incomplete" no more... and next month we'll go over how that manga finally came to an end, nearly 40 years after it first debuted.
As for Silent Knight Sho... at least it will always have Nyaruko-chan.
Manga © Masami Kurumada
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