Manga 54761 Saint Seiya Saintia Shou

Saint Seiya, brilliant shounen manga created by Masami Kurumada, has received over the years several spin-off series that varied among each other. Saintia Sho was no different, however as for this series, it holds special place in my heart when it comes to Saint Seiya spin-offs.

At first I need to tell you one thing. Years ago, before Saintia Sho began serialization, I heard many weird and quite unoptimistic rumors about it. Long story short, there were rumors saying that supposedly Saintia Sho was to be a spin-off presenting exactly the same events as Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya, just with genderbent characters. Recycled story, just with ... slightly different, lazy concept of just changing genders of original characters. It would have been truly a missed opportunity to create a decent and original story with female characters set in Saint Seiya universe if it had happened...

... but luckily, it was NOTHING FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Saintia Shou has appeared to be something completely opposite. It has brand new story intertwining (but without colliding) with story known from the original manga; it has brand new characters with their own unique designs, personalities, backstories and armors. It has also fresh ideas creatively enhancing the whole lore.

The story revolves around Shoko and Kyoko - two sisters that got involved in the war between deities in which goddess Athena fights for the sake of protecting the Earth and mankind from Eris, evil goddess of discord. I don't want to spoil anything, but eventually both of them became Saintias - female warriors serving directly under Athena.
Speaking about Saintias, there were more of them. Each Saintia had its own unique personality and interesting design. You could see some similarities between them and the original crew of Bronze Saints (known from Saint Seiya), but at the end of a day Mii, Katya, Xiaoling and Erda were and indeed felt as completely new and separate characters. Same goes with Shoko and Kyoko, of course. Not to forget that all of them were very likeable.

Both new and old characters, be it allies or enemies, were done well and were given role to play. What I liked the most was to see Gold Saints, characters known from the original manga, being present and serving purpose in Saintia Sho's plot. Just some of them received more attention, like Deathmask or Milo, resulting in those Gold Saints fleshed out more as characters (compated to their versions from Kurumada-sensei's manga), and some received less of it, like Aldebaran.

Some fans might be skeptical about putting Saintia Sho's plot in between arcs belonging to the original manga. However fear not - I dare to say that Saintia Sho is one of examples on how to make model spin-off series that blends into the original story without cotradicting any of its elements, but rather enhancing the existing ones.

As for art, this manga is beautifully illustrated. Kuori Chimaki proved to understand what kind of approach in terms of art is important in Saint Seiya and totally nailed the art style. Characters (both old and new) were drawn in detailed way. Their armors looked gorgeous, and very good paneling combined with poses drawn in such high quality enhanced the experience while reading this manga even further.

I highly recommend Saintia Sho for everyone. It's a must-read if you are Saint Seiya fan, but even if you are not - you might pick it up nevertheless. It's a solid manga that will surely entertain a lot of manga readers. It might seem to be a mahou shoujo series at first, but it combines the finest elements of shounen genre and mixes it with a little bit of shoujo vibes.

Short review:


Saintia Sho is another Saint Seiya’s spin off that is written by Chimaki Kuori. Despite having the appearance of a shojo series, it had the spark and spirit of a shonen.


This series has been ignored by certain fans who didn't like the idea of their precious nostalgic franchise having a female cast, and being adapted into shitty anime by Toei didn’t help either. Which is a true shame, because this is a good series. Sure, it may not be violent like Episode G and The Lost Canvas, but it still has that Saint Seiya vibe.


The art is very beautiful. I saw many fans ... saying that it has the best art in all Saint Seiya, but I would disagree. That's just my opinion though, the art is still beautiful. The idea of having a shojo art style while being a shonen manga is very cool to me.


The cast is great. Nothing special, but still great. I really liked some new characters (like Erda and Mii), but at the same time there were some characters that I found boring and some I even disliked.
There are also character executions that really didn’t sit right with me, one of things being related to Katya’s whole crush on certain characters.

As for gold saints, well I disliked Milo’s character. Now I really like Milo, he is one of my favorite gold saints in the original, but here he was just...bland. It’s very clear that Chimaki is a big Milo fangirl, but sadly she didn’t give him much personality. Well, it’s nothing new that someone wrote Milo with a different personality (looking at you Episode G).

But I have to give props to Chimaki for writing interesting Deathmask and Aphrodite. She made them much more interesting, that’s for sure.


The fights were nothing special. To say that I don’t care about fights when it comes to Saint Seiya would be a lie. While they are not the most important thing to me, I still wanna see epic fights. And sadly most fights in Saintia Sho were just okay. They were not epic like the Lost Canvas’ ones, nor were they violent and bloody like the ones in Episode G.


Overall this was a very solid read. It’s by no means the best Saint Seiya spin off, but it is a very solid read which I would recommend this to any Saint Seiya fan.

The first review of this manga, let's get it right.

Although it is a manga with protagonist girls, it is a work I particularly recommend to all Saint Seiya fans. This manga is a midquel, that is, the story fits together with the facts of the original manga, and sees a war against the goddess Eris.

The merit of this manga, in addition to excellent drawings, is the care with which it is made. The authoress has a phenomenal coherence, a profound respect for the original work, even greater than the creator himself, Masami Kurumada (who has little in the way of consistency). Kuori tries to make ... consistent joints, reproposes original tables with precise details (but with his style), and also takes on the classic characters, respecting their original characterization (unlike Okada who had to change them), but still managing to enrich them.

In addition, she also tried to solve the so-called "plot holes" left open by the original work. For example, the evil spirit that emerged from the body of Saga (of course, with Origin in 2019 came the canonical explanation, but for more than 30 years it was a mystery), or the redemption of Deathmask.

Overall the work is good, perhaps less epic than others (such as Episode G or Lost Canvas), more on normal levels, but as compared to the original work, it is excellence. And also in the field of quotation, to other works of SS, it is particularly rich.


TWO IMPORTANT THINGS, just to make you know, before you start.

1- obviously, being a spin-off strongly linked to the classic series, and with its characters, it should be read after seeing that one. And even better, after reading the ORIGINAL MANGA, as Sho relies on it.

Many will already know it, but the original manga and the historical anime present many differences, such as the ending of the 12 houses, and the link to the Poseidon saga. In the manga, the protagonist end up in a coma and spend a month of empty time, before Poseidon. And there the most of Sho's story take place (and that's why Seiya and the others aren't there to fight). In anime instead, things go differently, no coma and more, and there is the saga (filler) of Asgard.

2- if you've seen SHO ANIME first, and disappointed or discouraged you, forget it. Toei did a bad job, hurried and with different narrative changes, as well as inconsistent with any continuity (both that of the manga and of the classic anime). The manga is something else, don't exclude it because of this.



STORY: 8

Excellent consistency aside, the story itself is simple. The main character (Shoko) is destined to become the avatar of the goddess Eris, but her sister (Kyoko) sacrifices herself for her, taking her place. Shoko then decides to become a Saintia (personal handmaids of the goddess Athena, who do not have the obligation of the mask) to save her.

Of course, this is the premise of volume 1, then the story will evolve into a disputed war, against Eris and her dryads on one side, and on the other Athena, the 5 saintas, and the Gold Saints (who will, will be active and they will fight, not like in the original manga).

Only to specify the temporal setting, Saintia Sho, midquel, is set in 3 parts:

- the first 3 volumes take place just before the Galaxian Wars, the beginning of the original manga.
- the volumes 4-5 are transitional, tracing the facts from the Galaxian Wars to the 12 houses.
- from the sixth volume, the main story takes place in the month of empty time between the 12 houses and the saga of Poseidon


ART: 10

Excellent drawing from the start, and keeping better. And like I said, the revised manga tables from the original (but also Next Dimension and some SS movies) are really nice.

https://i.imgur.com/uF8UVgW.jpg


CHARACTERS: 9

There are classic characters like Saori Kido and the Gold Saints alive after the 12 houses, Scorpio Milo (who is the sixth protagonist), Leo Aiolia, Aries Mu, Virgo Shaka and Taurus Aldebaran, are active. Other historical characters make their appearance more or less briefly, the other Gold Saints, but also minor characters, like Marin and Shaina. There would be more, but it's spoiler.


For inedited characters, it depends. I would say 3 categories.

- the Saintias, the 5 protagonist girls. The authoress has tried to maintain a similarity with the classic protagonists. So Shoko is identical to Seiya (he also uses the same moves). Mii has a sense of duty similar to Shiryu. Katya is blonde, Russian and uses ice (like Hyoga). Xiao is the shy one but with potential, and pink dress, similar to Shun. Erda uses fire and is that badass (type Ikki). They are not bad, but they are valid only in advanced history, after the 8 volumes.

- the Silver Saints, the value of the work. Kuori presents us with 5 inedited silver knights, 3 of which are very strong (close to the gold level) and have an important role in history. We meet Mayura, the strongest woman in the Sanctuary, Rigel, a tragic knight, and Aeson, a mysterious type. The other 2, Georg and Juan, have a particular charisma, are more normal, but have little space for now.

- the Enemies. Eris is a very interesting character, who in history evolves thanks to Kyoko, becoming one of the best goddesses of the franchise. Also the other main antagonist (of which I don't name), is interesting, and a dream of many fans.

The subordinates are more or less interesting. Some stand out for a particular charisma, others are quite stereotyped, or become hateful. Certainly dryads don't shine too much, especially compared to saints, but they're not bad, and some have nice skills.


ENJOYMENT: 8

As I said before, the story is simple, but well-structured and cared for, as well as maniacally consistent with the original manga (although, due to the recent Saint Seiya Origin, Kurumada has put out of continuity also this series). Kuori has done an excellent job, and if you're a fan of Saint Seiya, you'll appreciate it.

However, as I said, the level is normal. The clashes are good, but they remain on normal levels, nothing too epic or too exaggerated, such as Episode G (where they fought with the titans) or the Lost Canvas (even here, high level enemies, sometimes gods).