Knights of the Zodiac
Saint Seiya, better known as the "Knights of the Zodiac". The animated version was the highlight of the Dorothy Club in the 1990s. The manga, well known to the millennial generation, was written and drawn by Masami Kuramada, published in Japan in 1985, and published by Kana in 1997
The world of the Knights of the Zodiac
The Knights of the Zodiac is a whole universe built by the author, successfully mixing beliefs and myths from all over the world, mainly Greek mythology, but also Buddhist, European or Asian mythology... Thanks to all these elements in Masami Kurumada's work, we get an incredibly rich and exciting work!
The number of knights composing the Order of Athena amounts to 88 of which 12 are gold, 24 silver, 48 bronze and 4 unknown properties, all of which are under the protection of the constellation and its legend. In addition, there are many enemies in armour. In spite of the many characters, we mainly follow the adventures of five bronze knights, Seiya, Shiryu, Bingga, Jun and Ikki, thus being in the lowest rank, and their fight to reconquer and protect the throne of Athena and the rest of the world.
In this universe, we find epic battles, the constant surpassing of oneself of the characters, their friendships, but also their sacrifices... all the codes of the shônen manga appear! The five knights all have very different personalities, so everyone can easily identify with one of the characters and get strongly involved in the stories taking place in the series. There are also many outstanding secondary characters.
The history of the Knights of the Zodiac
It is said that in Greek mythology, little boys protect Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war. These children, called the Sacred Knights of Athena, split the sky with their hands and the earth with their feet.
Today, the Japanese boy Seiya, after painful training, has obtained the armour of Pegasus and has returned to his homeland to find his sister. With his sister missing, Seiya agrees to take part in the Galaxian Wars, a tournament where several knights compete against each other, the winner of which will be honoured and offered the golden armour of Sagittarius as a reward. For Seiya, the most important thing is to have the chance to get information to find his sister, that's why he decides to participate in the tournament.
The anime
The first series of the Knights of the Zodiac universe has definitively established itself in Japan and in French-speaking countries, notably thanks to the anime adaptation by Shingo Araki and his studio. The advantage of the anime is that, not only does it follow the plot of the manga quite faithfully, which you can discover in our manga shop, but on top of that, it is visually pleasant to follow. Indeed, one could even admit that the anime's graphics are more detailed than the manga's if one were to find a single flaw in it.
It is also for this reason that from 1987 onwards, the anime became a success and was permanently installed in our country. Moreover, many people became interested in manga after discovering animation. The anime aspect also offers the Asgard part, which is missing from the comics since this new section was created because the anime has outgrown the manga publication.
For almost thirty years, the Knights of the Zodiac has become a cult in pop culture with numerous adaptations and spin-offs or spin-off series and movies. Not forgetting the numerous bonus episodes, video games or the famous figurines from the history of the Knights of the Zodiac called "Myth Cloth". Discover all our goodies in our figurine shop as well as our geek clothes and caps in our geek shop!