The first was 2003's Saint Seiya: Episode.G by Megumu Okada, of Shadow Skill fame, which was a prequel starring Leo Aiolia & has since become a massive franchise of its own, with two sequels (Assassin & Requiem) totaling 43 volumes across all three parts (as of this review, at least) & even a couple of drama CDs. Then in 2006 came Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas by Shiori Teshirogi, a former assistant for Kozue Amano during Aria's serialization, which detailed an alternate universe version of the Holy War between Athena & Hades' forces in the 1700s (due to Saint Seiya: Next Dimension telling its own story in that same time period that supersedes LC) & would become the most recognizable of the Seiya spin-offs, running until 2011 for 25 volumes before immediately getting a side-story Gaiden series of its own that'd run until 2016 for another 16 volumes (41, in total), & from 2009 to 2011 would even get a 24-episode OVA adaptation by TMS that adapted up to just shy of the halfway point. There was also a short-lived manga version of Saint Seiya Omega by Bau in 2013 that only made it to one volume before the magazine it ran in (Kerokero Ace) got canned. Then there's 2020's Saint Seiya: Dark Wing by Kenji Saito (writer) & Shinsu Ueda (artist), which is an isekai story where a high school student & his classmates & teachers get reincarnated as the forces of Athena & Hades in a completely original plot from the OG series. Most recent of them all is the 2022 duo of Saint Seiya: Rerise of Poseidon by Tsunakan Suda, a midquel taking place during the Hades Chapter's latter half & sees Poseidon & his revived Mariners needing to protect the world from the forces of Nemesis, & Saint Seiya: Time Odyssey by Jérôme Alquié (writer/artist) & Arnaud Dollen (co-writer), which sees the OG cast take on the forces of Chronos. However, there's one spin-off manga that I didn't mention here, and that's because it's the only one to have received a complete official English release (since Ablaze is still currently releasing Time Odyssey, which itself it still ongoing).
Debuting in the pages of Akita Shoten's Champion Red magazine in mid-2013 (specifically two issues after Episode.G had ended), Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho was done by Chimaki Kuori, who at the time was known primarily for being the illustrator for a variety of light novels (Parsley Legend, Rumble Fish, Ambition Waltz, Mobile Suit Gundam: High Streamer, etc.) & for making the manga Gundam Seed Destiny: The Edge, which retold the events of the 2004 anime from the perspective of Athrun Zala. Not just that, but Saintia Sho itself was notably different from other Seiya spin-off manga of the time because it actively took place during the main plot of the original manga, instead of taking place either before the OG manga or in its own separate timeline; again, Rerise of Poseidon & Time Odyssey came later on. Not just that, but this was also a female-focused series, introducing the concept of Saintia, which acted as Athena's personal guard of handmaidens. Finally, though admittedly the most minor of all, the title itself (& the name of the main character) was a direct reference to Silent Knight Sho (right down the literal kanji for "翔/Sho"), the short-lived failure of a 1992 manga Kurumada made after Saint Seiya. Saintia Sho would run until mid-2021 & total 16 volumes (as well as receive a 10-episode ONA adaptation in late 2018 that was generally not liked by fans), but in 2017 Seven Seas announced that it had licensed the manga, the first time a manga with Masami Kurumada's name on it would receive an official English release since Viz & TokyoPop both finished their releases of Saint Seiya & B't X, respectively, in 2010.
Unfortunately, despite trying to initially market it to fans of Sailor Moon, Seven Seas' release of Saintia Sho seemed to bomb just as hard as Viz & TokyoPop's attempts at releasing Kurumada manga in English did back in the 00s. While there are no sales numbers to reflect this, it is telling that Seven Seas stopped printing the opening splash pages in color after Volume 9's release (i.e. it was no longer worth the extra cost to do that, though these pages were actually B&W in the original Japanese tankouban), the release schedule was admittedly never all that consistent to begin with (even when there was no worry about catching up to Japan early on), and Volume 15's physical release kept getting delayed after its digital release that once it finally came out the final volume would come out literally just a week later(!); also Seven Seas doesn't even bother to sell it on their own webstore, which I think says it all. Regardless, Seven Seas still managed to release all of Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho, releasing the final volume in January of 2023 (five years, faster than Viz or TokyoPop!), so as part of this blog's year-long celebration of Masami Kurumada's 50th Anniversary let's see if this spin-off was truly the right one to release in English for newcomers and if it's a good series, in & of itself.
Shoko is your normal high school girl who's been having a weird recurring dream lately, one where she's wrapped up in vines & about to be forced to eat a golden apple that starts bleeding, only to be rescued by a man in golden armor. Shoko is also saddened by the fact that her big sister, Kyoko, still hasn't returned home after being offered an opportunity by the mysterious Graude Foundation five years ago to enter some super-exclusive higher education, and is planning to talk with the Foundation's Saori Kido later that day about her sister, during one of Saori's rare personal appearances at the high school they both go to. However, Shoko's dream was in reality more of a premonition, as the "Dryad" forces of Eris, Greek goddess of discord, are actually on the hunt for her as the comet Repulse that Eris was sealed in by Athena back in the Age of Myth is now close to Earth, which means that it's time for Eris to once again take physical form... and Shoko is the destined human vessel for her. Saori, though, is actually the reincarnation of Athena, & with her personal warrior handmaidens known as Saintia will fight to protect Shoko & prevent Eris' revival. One of Athena's Saintia is in fact Equuleus Kyoko, and in the ultimate sacrifice she shields Shoko from Eris' possession attempt, though since they're sisters Kyoko's body is just as perfect a human vessel for Eris to use. Now Shoko wishes to train to be the new Equuleus Saintia so that she can not only protect the world from Eris' plans, but also save Kyoko.
Similar to Kurumada's own B't X, the entire Saintia Sho manga is technically one giant story arc but can be split up into three "acts", if you will, each of which essentially acting as a proper mini-arc, though this is much more pronounced here than in B't X. Act 1 (Volumes 1-5) takes place primarily during early part of the Sanctuary Chapter of the original Saint Seiya & introduces the main cast, while also showcasing the Saintia's first battles against Eris & her Dryad forces. Act 2 (6-10), which begins immediately after the end of the Sanctuary Chapter (but before the Poseidon Chapter happens), sees Eris (now having fully merged with Kyoko) send her floating temple towards Sanctuary so that she can simply crash into it & destroy Athena's home base, resulting in the Saintia & some of the remaining Gold Saints needing to assault the temple & prevent that from happening. However, Eris has also revived Gemini Saga (or, at least, his evil side), the Gold Saint who instigated the events of the Sanctuary Chapter, to fight on her side. Finally, Act 3 (10-16) has the Saintia needing to rescue Athena, who's been captured by Eris & trapped within the Great Tree Uterus in the Eden of the Heavens, all while the remaining Gold Saints are protecting the Earth from meteorites Eris & Saga made fall by destroying the comet Repulse; Act 3 happens directly off of Act 2, so it also occurs before the Poseidon Chapter begins.
Due to it being connected with the events of the original Saint Seiya manga to some extent, Saintia Sho can have a bit of a large cast, but I'll mainly focus on the characters introduced here primarily when going over the cast. Equuleus Shoko is an impetuous young girl who, after being introduced to the events at hand, is willing to push herself & do anything to not just save Kyoko but also fight back against the seeming destiny of her being the originally intended human vessel for Eris. In comparison, Dolphin Alicia "Mii" Benethol (though almost everyone just uses her nickname) is the exact opposite of Shoko, i.e. a prim & proper girl who thinks before she leaps, but quickly comes to respect & befriend Shoko because of her indominable will, which in turn makes her want to help Shoko out however she can. The remaining main Saintia actually don't start getting introduced until Volume 4, with the first of the later debuts being Ursa Minor Xing Xiaoling, who is probably best described as essentially being the Dragon Shiryu equivalent of the team, only with replacing the penchant for bleeding on command with an eternally cheerful & bubbly demeanor. Meanwhile, Northern Crown Katya is more or less the Phoenix Ikki of the group, i.e. first introduced as a cold-hearted villain (in this case working for Saga in Act 1) before eventually becoming a stalwart ally; also, she has ice-based powers instead of Ikki's fire. Finally, the last of the five main Saintia is Cassiopeia Elda, a free-wheeling, motorcycle-riding fighter with obsessions of becoming stronger for the sake of justice; she's first seen in Volume 5, but isn't really given much to work with until a few volumes later. Naturally, each of the Saintia have their own personal flaws/demons that they have to deal with, namely Shoko's inner conflict on wanting to both defeat Eris yet also save Kyoko, Mii's wish to better relate to Saori despite her godhood, Xiaoling's insecurity about her ability to help her friends out (she literally doesn't get into a single fight for most of the manga), Katya's guilt over her initial betrayal & siding with Saga (though it's eventually revealed that it was all with good intentions), & Elda's anger that an evil man like Cancer Deathmask was able to become a Gold Saint... yet she wasn't able to deal with him herself.
Helping the Saintia out is a group of original characters, as well. Scutum Ewan & Southern Cross Georg are two Silver Saints who initially try to take out Saori under orders from Saga but manage to stick around & become reliable allies, though they do admittedly become more like the "Secondary Bronzes" from the original manga, i.e. playing more a supporting role but never really getting directly involved with fights; in fact, they barely appear after Act 2. Pavo Mayura acts as this manga's equivalent to "Master/Roshi" Libra Dohko in the original, i.e. a powerful warrior who helps teach the Saintia but only rarely gets physical, due to her past injuries confining her to a wheelchair, for the most part; she's also like Aries Mu in that she has two students, Mirai & Shinato, who contribute in small ways themselves, similar to Mu's student Kiki. Beyond that you have OG Seiya cast members who play varying amounts of importance, from more important players like Scorpio Milo & Leo Aiolia to smaller importance roles (usually just to help establish some character development or backstory) like Unicorn Jabu or Eagle Marin. Saintia Sho also manages to take advantage of characters Masami Kurumada first introduced in Saint Seiya: Next Dimension, namely the Greek goddess Artemis & her Satellites, lead by Callisto, who reside on the Moon & are visited by Katya & Elda in Act 2 in an attempt to get assistance to fight against Eris; Volume 15 even features Hecate, who in Next Dimension is the entire reason for the time travel shenanigans.
As for our villains, Saintia Sho is notable in that while Eris does have quite a number of forces on her side, only a small handful actually get notable focus, even reviving once or twice to appear throughout the manga. At the top are the Dryads, which are led by Ruin Atë, a bit of a vivacious woman who has no qualms about getting her own hands dirty in battle; there's also an element of vanity & obsession with power to her, but it's not focused on too much. Then there's Malice Emony (pretty much the only Dryad whose name isn't a reference to a Greek deity), a gothic lolita girl who actually ages up every time she revives & becomes more powerful, so first she's a little girl in Act 1, followed by being a teenager in Act 2. Despite this spin-off being mainly about female warriors, there are a handful of male Dryads, with the most notable being Murder Phonos, a spider-themed villain who admittedly is treated a little like a bit of a gag; all ego, but not the toughest of the Dryads, by any means. Lawless Dysnomia is first seen in Act 2 but doesn't get focused on until Act 3, when she's shown to essentially be the thematic opposite of Gold Saint Virgo Shaka, i.e. the representation of disorder & chaos to Shaka's representation of order & harmony. Madness Mania is an interesting one-off Dryad seen in Volume 7 who takes the form of an evil Shoko, complete with a dark-colored Equuleus Cloth, due to her own identity crisis relating to how she became a Dryad, as she wants the sisterly love & affection of Eris/Kyoko... but that spot is taken up by Shoko; she plays an overall small role but handles the old "Hero must fight themselves" concept very well.
Later on, Volume 9 introduces Famine Limos, a childhood friend of Xiaoling's named Yufa who later tragically died after Xiao left to train to be a Saintia & found salvation via Eris; she initially thought to kill her old friend upon reuniting, but felt that Xiao wasn't strong enough to satisfy her. Beyond the Dryads, though, there are also "Ghosts", the souls of deceased Saints who have decided to join Eris' side; this is a reference to the first Seiya movie from 1987, which featured Eris as the villain. This would include Saga's evil side (to an extent, at least), but the most notable Ghost here would be Orion Rigel, a powerful Silver Saint who can stand toe-to-toe with even a Gold Saint, and as the manga moves on it becomes more obvious that Rigel isn't purely fighting for Eris, but rather has feelings for Kyoko herself. Then there's Crateris Aeson, a Silver Saint of equally Gold Saint-level power who has a past with Mayura, namely in regards to the events from 13 years ago regarding Sagittarius Aiolos whisking baby Athena away from Sanctuary, which Saintia Sho adds to by eventually explaining what happened to the prior generation of Saintia & their leader, Olivia; the Crateris Saint is another concept taken from Next Dimension, as well. There are other Dryads introduced all the way up through the last volume, so I won't go over each one, but most of them are at least named after the "Children of Eris", which is cool.
Finally, Act 3 eventually introduces one last group of warriors, the Phantoms of Ares, made up of Defeat Phobos, Fear Deimos, & Harmony Harmonia (which Seven Seas tries to avoid the redundancy of by calling her "Harmonia of Order"). They're naturally rather powerful enemies who get their major battles all in Volume 15, so I'll refrain from going into any real detail with them, though they are a highlight in the late game.
When it comes to the pacing, Saintia Sho actually both learns from & (inadvertently?) adheres a little too closely to the original Saint Seiya. For example, Volume 1 of Saintia Sho is honestly really damn good, being completely all about setting up the main plot by featuring Shoko as a normal high school girl who knows absolutely nothing about Athena, Saints/Saintia, Cosmo, Eris, & the like, so you get a cool, "normal person" perspective for this volume, while the climax of Kyoko sacrificing herself to Eris in order to save Shoko making for a great lead into Shoko wanting to become a Saintia to close out the book. Unfortunately, while the first volume is great & fully focused in ways that the original Seiya manga's first volume wasn't always, the following four volumes of Saintia Sho suffer greatly because of one simple thing: The time in Saint Seiya that they take place in. As mentioned, the first five volumes of this spin-off, roughly the first third of the entire manga, happens mostly during the very beginning of Saint Seiya, i.e. the Galaxian Wars. While this doesn't really interfere with the story too much during the first three volumes, since they happen before Seiya & the others arrive for the tournament (only Unicorn Jabu is seen in Vol 2), as the story continues on you start to notice this spin-off needing to tip toe certain events around stuff that has to happen in the original manga, if not straight up teeter on the edge of contradicting the story Kurumada originally told.
For example, Saori is introduced in Saintia Sho 100% as the benevolent & caring woman that she would eventually become in Saint Seiya, but in that manga Kurumada didn't quite introduce Saori as that originally, so the end result is a bit of a feeling that Saori is putting on two faces at this point, which doesn't really feel right for Athena, overall. Also, the idea that Saori somehow has Saintia already on her side, when she's not properly acknowledged as Athena by Sanctuary this early on, makes one initially wonder how exactly people like Mii & Kyoko even became Saintia in the first place; their entire existence even comes as a shock to Milo in Volume 3. In fact, Milo is heavily involved in Volume 3, which includes Athena communicating with him via her Cosmo, which then kind of makes his entire resistance against the Bronze Saints in the OG manga feel a bit contradictory. Milo's the man who saved Shoko back in the day, hence her dream, so it makes sense for him to get involved this early on, but it's definitely a bit of a double-edged sword, in this case. Volume 4 even introduces the idea of "Saint Academy", which is where Mii, Xiao, Kyoko, Katya, & Elda all trained... a place where Saori is 100% acknowledged as Athena, which feels a bit much to accept this early on in the overall Saint Seiya timeline. Yeah, it's a school established by Mitsumasa Kido & the Graude Foundation, but it still feels a bit too much too soon and even kind of questions why Seiya & the others went through Saint training the "traditional" way; why are only Saintia trained at the Academy, & not also traditional Saints?
As Val Kilmer's Bruce Wayne said in Batman Forever, "It just raises too many questions".
Also, as Act 1 moves on it has to start acknowledging the events of the original manga, like showing Kyoko be in attendance for Seiya's fight against Shiryu during the Galaxian Wars (& being inspired by his undying will to get back up), but Kuori also has Saori be teleported by Pisces Aphrodite to meet face to face with Saga in Volume 5... which feels like a big misstep, personally. I get its inclusion here, as Saga does play a major role for the rest of Saintia Sho & Kuori wanted to showcase Saga's inner conflict that was in the original manga before his more direct involvement in this manga, since this should still be friendly to newcomers. At the same time, though, doing this literally contradicts Kurumada's original manga, as Saori asks Saga who he is when she comes face to face with him at the very end of the Sanctuary Chapter; whoops! Now, to be fair, Saga doesn't actually state his name to Saori during this bit in Saintia Sho, but you now get the idea that Saori just isn't good at remembering faces, because it's not like he's wearing his helmet & mask during this bit. Still, Volumes 4 & 5 suffer the most from this tip toeing around the OG manga's plot, as the stuff with Eris gets put on the back burner to deal with ancillary things stemming from the Sanctuary Chapter going into full gear. However, since this spin-off isn't about Seiya & the Bronze Saints, Kuori has to figure out ways to keep Shoko & company occupied in ways that prevent them from actually helping out Seiya & Co., while also needing to return some things back to the status quo of the original manga. Stuff like Deathmask literally destroying Saint Academy & killing all of the trainees there, because Saori didn't have a gigantic army of Saintia with her after the Sanctuary Chapter ended, with Elda seeing the result of this massacre, creating her hatred of the Gold Saint. In fact, the final chapter of Volume 5 is primarily a quick overview of the Bronze Saints' battles with the Gold Saints from the original manga, which in turn kind of makes the Saintia feel like supporting characters in their own manga; at least it's only a single chapter.
Thankfully, once Saintia Sho moves into Acts 2 & 3, which take place during the period where Seiya & his buds are literally unconscious & hospitalized from their injuries, this spin-off is finally allowed to spread its wings & be its own thing. It really doesn't wait one bit, either, with Volume 6 starting directly off of Volume 5's ending, so Saori goes from having just won the trust & dedication of everyone in Sanctuary to instantly needing to head over to Eris' temple & erect a barrier in order to prevent her "Evil Seeds" from making their way across the planet & spread conflict. Meanwhile, the Saintia & some Gold Saints fight off the Dryads & Ghosts, & the remaining forces defend Sanctuary from attempts at reviving dead Saints into new Ghosts; talk about not wasting any time in establishing your own story after being hamstrung for the first third! Act 2 does an interesting job with its "arc", in a sense, as while there are still the natural fights to be seen between the Dryads & the Saintia there's also the subplot of Aiolia & Milo needing to deal with Saga in the temple's core, as well as lots of little character development bits interspersed throughout, usually in relation to a fight that's currently going on. This is where we get stuff like Mii's inner turmoil regarding wanting to understand what Saori goes through mentally (i.e. a mortal trying to understand a goddess' side of things), the subtle reveal of why Mania wants so deeply to replace Shoko as Eris/Kyoko's sister, & of course Shoko's staunch dedication in trying to overcome Eris without needing to kill her, so as to save Kyoko... even if it means potentially finding herself in tough situations with the likes of Rigel & Aeson, and their own reasons for siding with Eris.
Act 2 is also notable in that it kind of operates in the inverse fashion of a traditional Saint Seiya story arc. By that I mean that it goes straight into the action at the start for Volumes 6 & 7, but then the conflict of Eris crashing her temple into Sanctuary ends halfway into Volume 8, resulting in the remainder of Act 2 being all about character development, advancing the overall plot forward through interpersonal drama & major reveals, & setting things up for Act 3, which is where the manga becomes the most like its source material by seeing the Saintia head into enemy territory to take on seemingly insurmountable odds in order to rescue Athena. This also ties into the pace in which the main cast are introduced because it's the exact opposite of Saint Seiya. The OG manga was notorious for its "throw stuff at the wall & see what sticks" beginning, where Kurumada introduced a ton of Bronze Saints all at once via the Galaxian Wars, before figuring out which characters he'd stick with as the main characters alongside Seiya & then slowly establishing a proper plot path for the story to travel on. Meanwhile, Saintia Sho takes its dear sweet time introducing our five lead characters... arguably too long. Shoko & Mii (plus Kyoko) first appear in Volume 1, but then both Xiaoling & Katya aren't introduced until Volume 4, while Elda's initial appearance in Volume 5 is so short that she's effectively given a re-introduction in Volume 7 when she saves Shoko while on her motorcycle, Terminator-style (the text in the link was a joke by me). Even by the end of Volume 8, the literal halfway point of the entire manga, Xiaoling has barely done anything (which admittedly plays into her own inner turmoil, but still), while Elda only now finally starts contributing in some notable fashion by accompanying Katya in what leads them both to attempt a meeting with Artemis.
However, Chimaki Kuori does make up for this somewhat by the simple fact that Saintia Sho knows exactly the story it's meant to be right from the very first chapter, unlike how Masami Kurumada was with the original Saint Seiya. This is, above all else, Shoko's story & while it's not hers alone the manga does tend to prioritize her perspective, her inner conflict, & her bravery over anyone else's. That's why it takes so long for Xiaolong, Katya, & Elda to even start appearing in Act 1, because the focus is on setting up & establishing Shoko's story during that time. Luckily, Shoko is an enjoyable lead character, and her story is a good one to see advance, but for the entire first half of Saintia Sho it does result in her supporting cast sometimes feeling like they only get bits & pieces of moments to establish themselves with; Mii &, to a lesser extent, Katya fare the best in the first half, but it's still only so much. Luckily, the second half of the manga makes sure to rectify this situation ASAP by dedicating all of Volume 9 to Elda, Katya, & Xiaoling, fully establishing who they are in concrete terms & showing what they have to deal with in the future, namely Elda's hatred of Deathmask resulting in him being "revived" & seemingly siding with Eris, Katya learning to move past her idolatry of Saga when she came to understand his inner conflict, & Xiaoling knowing that she'll have to take on & defeat Yufa sometime in the future. Kuori also includes analogues to aspects of the original manga as Act 2 comes to its end in Volume 10, namely by having Olivia being the Saintia's equivalent to Aiolos, right down to saying "I entrust Athena to you", while Artemis' assistance winds up being goddess-infused accessories that allow the Saintia to cross hyper-dimensional space in order to reach Eris' home base to rescue Athena, a la how the Bronze Saints made their way to Elysium in the Hades Chapter via their Cloths being repaired using Athena's blood.
This leads us into Act 3, which is easily the closest Saintia Sho gets to being 100% like Saint Seiya. At this point it's mostly down to just our five heroines, who have made their way into enemy territory & have to take on foes while aiming to free Athena from her deadly situation. Fittingly, after some initial Dryad foes, the Saintia have to take on enemies who are not only powerful in their own right but also may have some personal connection to each of them, like Elda taking on Deathmask, Xiao needing to face Limos/Yufa, or Katya getting some more backstory when she comes across her dead sister... which is something I won't get into in detail because it is, quite simply, A LOT. The Gold Saints, meanwhile, act mainly as support, protecting the planet from destruction, fighting off the last remaining Dryads that landed, & dealing with Saga in the final volume. However, it is with these last major battles for the Saintia that Chimaki Kuori does give Saintia Sho the strongest shojo influence, as while there are attacks thrown about between both sides it's often more of a psychological conflict. Mii's fight against Oath Horkos is good example, since it focuses more on Mii needing to come to terms with why she decided to dedicate her life to Athena as a Saintia, instead of accepting Saori's offer of letting her live a normal life with a boy she was fond of & even promised to marry long ago; it makes for memorable & unique scenarios rather than the traditional fights the franchise is known for. That said, though, this is still an action series focused on dramatic conflicts between sides putting their all into everything they've got, and Act 3 follows through on that spectacularly. As for the finale, while I'll obviously avoid spoiling it I will say that it makes sense for both the story that was being told, as well as for explaining why the Saintia aren't a thing for the rest of the main Saint Seiya story, though there are still some characters introduced here remaining that, in theory, should have assisted in the Poseidon & Hades Chapters; in true Kurumada fashion, however, it's a fittingly bittersweet ending.
As for Chimaki Kuori's artwork, there's no simpler way to put it other than it is absolutely excellent. Her artwork is 100% her own unique style, but at the same time you can notice all the little touches that showcase how she was influenced by Masami Kurumada, as well as Shingo Araki & Michi Himeno's interpretations of his style for Toei's anime adaptations of Kurumada's works. One could call this a more "shojo-influenced" take on Saint Seiya, which wouldn't be wholly incorrect, but at the same time Kuori also knows how to make action look impactful, with all manner of two-page spreads (or, at least, 1.5 page spreads) for special attacks that emphasize both the character delivering the move & the visual accentuation to help sell the force & power of it all. Kuori also makes sure to include the standard "Kurumada Launch" & "Kurumada Fall" during many fights, giving those familiar with Kurumada's works a welcoming feeling of familiarity, even if the art style itself is different. To be honest, when I saw that Toei & Gonzo's anime adaptation of Saintia Sho went with character designs that more replicate Araki & Himeno's style I was both unsurprised & a little disappointed. On the one hand, Keiichi Ichikawa was involved & he had worked directly with the two on designs for Ring ni Kakero 1: Sekai Taikai-hen in 2011 (the last anime Araki ever did designs for, before passing away later that same year), & then did the designs for Saint Seiya Omega's second half, making him a true successor to replicating Araki's style when it comes to Kurumada's works. On the other hand, though, it showed that Toei was still relying on nostalgia for an older style, despite Saintia Sho already having an excellent visual style all its own that I think would have worked really well for animation. Sure, Kuori's art definitely has touches of Araki & Himeno influence, but to replace it wholesale for a replication of their style for the anime, instead of letting her own style be adapted, felt a little callous.
As for the translation by Seven Seas, the overall work done is very good & matches the general style & tone of a Saint Seiya manga... but has two major problems: Ignoring over a decade of established official English translation & some early, to put it bluntly, "weebiness". By the latter I mean that the initial volumes see the Dryads refer to Eris as "Okaa-sama", despite also including some lines where they would refer to her simply as "Mother", while Shoko would refer to Kyoko as "Onee-chan", despite also referring to her as her "Sister" in other places. Personally, I'm fine with maintaining honorifics like "-san" & even "-sama" when used in the right context (though using both "Athena-sama" & "Lady Athena", & making it dependent on the character saying it, is rather silly), but keeping "Onee-chan" & "Okaa-sama" as though they were official titles just comes off as immensely amateur hour & well below what you'd expect from Seven Seas; this is seriously stuff you'd see in a fan translation, not a professional product. Thankfully, "Okaa-sama" gets dropped like a bad habit after Volume 2 (it manages to squeak in one last time in Volume 6, & I can't tell if that was intentional or not), though "Onee-chan" sticks around to the very end, which admittedly is the lesser of the two & is only used by Shoko. However, the bigger problem comes down to a specific translation choice regarding characters & their titles as Saints. Now, yes, Kurumada's usage of the actual constellation names in the original Saint Seiya was always inconsistent, as while some would use the literal name ("Cygnus Hyoga", for example) most simply went with the animal or object's more general name, while Gold Saints used astrological names over astronomical. Still, that's what was kept fully intact ever since DiC's Knights of the Zodiac debuted in mid-2003 ("Swan Hyoga", notwithstanding), and all other official English translations of Saint Seiya & its spin-offs maintained fealty to what the original Japanese used via katakana, though some characters' names had their own quirks for understandable reasons (i.e. "Miro vs. Milo", "Kaasa vs. Caça", etc.). Seven Seas, however, initially decided to ignore all of that.
For whatever reason, & I would have to imagine this came down to the editorial staff, it was decided that the Saints & their respective Cloths had to be scientifically accurate to their actual constellation names, even if they were going against the literal name they were using in the original Japanese. "Dolphin Mii" became "Delphinus Mii", "Unicorn Jabu" became "Monoceros Jabu" (despite his special move still being "Unicorn Gallop"), "Scorpio Milo" became "Scorpius Milo", "Northern Crown Katya" became "Corona Borealis Katya" (despite her Cloth still using the "Northern Crown" name), "Dragon Shiryu" became "Draco Shiryuu", "Eagle Marin" became "Aquila Marin", "Southern Cross Georg" became "Crux Australis Georg" (despite the constellation only being called "Crux", officially, since the Northern Cross is an asterism found within Cygnus), & so on. Unfortunately, this also gives off the feeling that the Seven Seas staff thought that they knew better than the literal 15 years of official English translation work that had been established, even if it was unintentional; hell, even "Goroho" became "Wulaofeng", which while accurate still goes against established standards. While the fanbase for Saint Seiya in "North of Mexico" isn't a notable one, by any means, they seemingly didn't care if they might potentially piss those very people off by going against what they had known to be true for so long, and it's never a good idea to piss off what should be a pre-established group of buyers, even if small. Now, to be fair, I highly doubt any of this was willfully done, instead more than likely just being a case of the editorial staff for Saintia Sho possibly not being familiar with Saint Seiya's prior history of official English localization, and simply deciding to go in this direction.
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| Even if unintentional, Seven Seas' editorial staff for Saintia Sho's release essentially became its own Saga & Eris. |
However, in that case, you do your research &, if need be, ask those who DID work on Seiya for advice, simple as that!! Mari Morimoto is still translating manga to this day & Shaenon Garrity has never shied away from talking about her time editing Saint Seiya for Viz, not to mention the various people who have translated the various anime. In fact, Seven Seas even has on staff someone who previously worked with Kurumada manga before in Lianne Sentar, who's now Publisher at the company, though she was the editor for TokyoPop's release of B't X & had no involvement with Saintia Sho's release, let alone any prior Seiya experience. Still, it's not like Seven Seas' staff had no one to talk to in order to keep consistency with past releases, while Viz's release of Saint Seiya was already long available digitally to reference, by this point. While they likely didn't mean to crap all over the work everyone before had done, their decision to go in this wildly different direction with the Saints' titles, even more so than DiC ever did, definitely had the effect of making it look like they knew better. I'm sure it was especially awkward when the Saintia Sho anime finally debuted in late 2018 & its official English translation didn't match what Seven Seas was doing for the four volumes it had already released by that point. There have been complaints before about major franchises not having style guides to maintain continuity between English releases across multiple mediums & various publishers, and Saintia Sho (& Saint Seiya, in general, to be fair) is a perfect example of why this concept really should be a regular thing. I'm honestly amazed that Kurumada & Kuori even approved this idea of changing the titles in the first place, since I highly doubt Seven Seas "went rogue" by doing this without approval from Japan, especially in this day & age.
Unfortunately, this entire kind of problem sticks around for a long time, & while these alterations do eventually revert back to their "proper" ones over time, as you read throughout the entire run it honestly comes off as a bit sloppy because now there's no consistency between specific runs of volumes. I imagine Seven Seas was planning to "fix" earlier volumes with later print runs... but that didn't happen, at least to my knowledge, since Saintia Sho bombed hard. While I don't necessarily agree with the direction Seven Seas went with for the character titles, if that's what the editorial staff wanted to go with then they should have stuck with it & not gradually walked it back, regardless of how long time fans like myself felt as the volumes were coming out; Viz's release of One Piece could easily switch "Zolo" back to "Zoro", but they don't in order to maintain consistency. The amount of inconsistencies seen throughout Seven Seas' release of Saintia Sho don't necessarily ruin the translation itself originally done by Kumar Sivasubramanian (Dandadan, Keep Your Hands off Eizouken!), which is overall very well done, but it does come off as shockingly sloppy for a publisher like Seven Seas, who's generally known for solid work, in this regard; they aren't perfect, but they're better than this. In fact, Volumes 12 & 14 even changed the order of some newly introduced Dryads, Ghosts, & Phantoms' titles with "[Name] of [Title]" order, despite everyone else already introduced still using the traditional "[Title] [Name]" order, i.e. "Harmony of Order" isn't alone; it just reinforces the sloppiness, unfortunately.
And, to emphasize, none of this "ruins" the reading experience of the manga itself. In the grand scheme of things this is really just a massive nitpick that only someone who's been a fan of Saint Seiya for nearly 20+ years, like myself, wouldn't honestly care about, in the long run. It's just disappointing, more than anything.
While I haven't fully experienced all of the various manga spin-offs of Saint Seiya (I love this franchise, but I'm not that obsessed over it), I have at least checked out a little bit of Episode.G & read about half of The Lost Canvas (& seen the entire OVA adaptation of it), so I can at least compare Saintia Sho to those. Simply put, I feel Saintia Sho is the strongest of the Saint Seiya manga spin-offs (or at least the ones that are actually complete, to some fashion), and I feel it's best explained by mentioning what I feel hold the other two mentioned back, for me at least. Episode.G, while very interesting in how it focuses on showcasing the sheer power of the Gold Saints, is almost instantly very overwhelming to actually read, simply because Megumu Okada's artwork, while amazing to look at, is also just so utterly detailed that it can often feel tiring to read through, not to mention sometimes create a little bit of visual confusion. Meanwhile, The Lost Canvas has an excellent cast of characters that are (for the most part) wholly unique from Next Dimension, with some fans even preferring the LC cast to the OG cast, & Shiori Teshirogi's artwork is excellent in ways that are similar to Chimaki Kuori's. However, as the manga continues on it slowly becomes more & more obvious that Teshirogi prefers showcasing the Gold Saints & how awesome & amazing they are, performing feats that the actual main characters can never hope to do & even outright just become the focus of the series at points; the OVA adaptation shows some early signs of this, but stops just before it becomes egregious. I dropped LC halfway through because I felt that it had become a "Gold Saint fanfic" but my friends eventually finished it, and they both told me the focus on making the Gold Saints look awesome only gets even more heavy handed later on; there's good reason why Lost Canvas Gaiden is dedicated to nothing but the Gold Saints.
In comparison to those two, Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho is the perfect balance & exactly what I wanted out of it. Chimaki Kuori's artwork can be detailed when needed, but is never so much so that it makes it tough to instantly parse what's going on. Meanwhile, though some Gold Saints do get major roles at points all throughout, it never feels as though they start overtaking the actual main characters in terms of importance, instead acting as major supporting cast, or are essential to helping develop some of the main cast as characters; they get awesome moments, but it never felt like they overshadowed the Saintia. Yes, Act 1 gives Saintia Sho an unfortunately slow start, eventually needing to put the brakes on its own plot so as to not interfere with the plot of the main manga it's a spin-off of, but luckily the story that is told there is still solid stuff. Make no mistake, it's still leagues better than how Saint Seiya began, though I would have preferred to introduce all of the Saintia a little bit earlier. Thankfully, the remaining 11 volumes of Saintia Sho are just hands down great stuff, now free to tell its own plot without needing to worry about interfering with the OG plot & allowing its cast to start to shine, even if it does admittedly take a while for characters like Elda & Xiaoling to really be given their own solo moments. As for the ONA adaptation, while I haven't watched it myself I do know that it somehow crunches about eight volumes of content into just 10 normal-length episodes... that just sounds rough, and the apparently lackluster animation by Gonzo also didn't help.
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| A drawing from Chimaki Kuori shortly after Volume 16's release in Japan. |
Would I necessarily recommend Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho for newcomers who are interested in Saint Seiya, though? That is honestly a tricky question, because while Act 1 does a good enough job establishing things for newcomers, Acts 2 & 3 still occasionally do call back to events & character bits from the OG manga, enough so that newcomers may not be able to fully appreciate those moments when they do get referenced; it doesn't ruin the manga by any means, but it's something to think about. Also, much like the OG manga, Saintia Sho itself still suffers from that same adage: "Just stick with it; it gets better!". In the end, Saintia Sho really was the "best" choice for Seven Seas to make in deciding which Saint Seiya spin-off manga to bring over for English release, as it was both the (at the time) newest one & even at the point when licensing talks began (i.e. likely in 2016) it was plain to see that it wouldn't run for anywhere near as long as Episode.G or Lost Canvas. However, as much as I absolutely enjoy this spin-off & heartily recommend reading (& supporting) it officially, it still showcases the inherent & stubborn flaw in English manga publishers' knowledge of Masami Kurumada: They still think only Saint Seiya matters.
Sure, it's Kurumada's most popular & recognizable work, but when it has a history of failing over & over & over again in English, especially by the time Seven Seas decided to license Saintia Sho, maybe you should try something else for once, if you really want to see if Kurumada can sell. Even TokyoPop licensing the B't X manga in the 00s was seemingly only done because TokyoPop found out about DiC's Knights of the Zodiac being in production & wanted to try to leech off of it, which blew up in their faces. In comparison, Anime Midstream gave the B't X anime a go in the late 2010s, promoting it solely off of its own strengths & never mentioning Saint Seiya a single time... and from all indications did better than anyone expected; obviously not "major" sales, but maybe better than most of Discotek's Saint Seiya releases. For Pete's sake, Ai no Jidai was right there for Seven Seas to license, from the same exact publisher as Saintia Sho (Akita Shoten), was Kurumada's newest manga at the time (from 2015, so age wasn't a factor), is notably different from Saint Seiya by being a piece of autobiographical fiction (so it could have potentially caught the interest of other people)... & is literally only one volume long! It was the perfect way to see if Kurumada manga could potentially sell in English, and not to have to risk losing a ton of money in the long term by being stuck with a bunch of volumes to release for a manga that barely anyone wants to buy. At this point, I figure Masami Kurumada is now well & truly considered kryptonite when it comes to official English release, at least physically, because modern anime simulcasting means that any potential new anime based on his work will at least get streamed... and even that I guarantee would pretty much be Saint Seiya related. It's scenarios like this that honestly make me think that I'm an idiot for caring about this kind of stuff, because it's obvious that "no one" else does... but, then again, that's always how it's been for me, so this isn't anything new; my tastes are essentially wholly incompatible with anyone else's, it seems.
Hey, at least Chimaki Kuori got some extra money from the whole ordeal (I mean, she better have gotten something, alongside Masami Kurumada), so good for her!
Manga © Masami Kurumada/Chimaki Kuori
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