Saint Seiya Plus

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Plus #11-20

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11. Seiya vs. Geki(Two Color)
12. Seiya vs. Ikki!![Two Color]
13. Bear, Hydra Cloth Diagrams, Father of 100[Manga-Only Scenes]
14. Bronze Burn Poster, Bronze+Black Teleport[Manga-Only Scene]
15. Jump TV Starts Cover, Silver Kills Bronze 4[Manga-Only Scene]
16. Seiya vs. Misty[2 Color]
17. Misty Defeated[2 Color]
18. Unicorn, Andromeda Diagrams, Trick Discovered[Manga Only]
19. LC Extra Chapter, 243 Years Later
20. Shiryu vs. Medusa[Full+2 Color]

Discussions #11-20

'Thunder' Claw?

In Japan the word for electricity is 電気：Denki. The kanji 電:Den is a flash of lighting. So why Shaina's move is not called 'Electric' Claw? In Japanese, there is the word いかずち for the useage of the words, a bolt of lightning or a lightning strike. And the kanji used for this word is 雷:Rai。This kanji actually means 'Thunder'. This is why not just in Saint Seiya, many electric moves are sometimes started with 'Thunder .....'

Niou

The first time we see Ikki, a Buddlist image is seen behind him. The image is Niou[仁王], namely, Agyou[阿形] and Kongourikishi[金剛力士] of Japanese culture. Agyou is a symbol for violence. Ikki's opponents can feel the violence from his Cosmo. The Kongourikishi carries the symbol for birth and death. The siginifance of this is to hint at the Phoenix and also Ikki's journey. Though Ikki did act firstly in the wrong way, he was able to rebirth himself and act for a force of good. The Kongourikishi is used in Japan to ward off evil.

Unicorn Safe

The horn of the unicorn is said to be able to heal but the bigger symbolizm of the unicorn is that it represents Jesus Christ. By no means does it mean that Jabu is the Savior but more hinting at Seiya and Saori. Saori as Athena is the protector and the savior of the people of the Earth and she is the virgin that tames the horned animal. After fighting with Jabu a little while, Saori says Seiya's battles has just begun. This is a hinting at the hard journey Christ has before his crucifixion.

Spooky Fuji

Mt. Fuji is a great tourist attraction but what Japan don't advertise is that lots of Japanese people go there to commit suicide. In B't X where characters got lost in the Forrest of Forgetfulness, that was inspired by the legends of the forrest around Mt. Fuji. The forrest and the caves are so vast, it is not an accident that it inspires writers and mangaka to imagine monsters or ghosts living there. The Fuji legends and the suicides also help to make Fuji one spooky place.

Cetus(Whale) Jaguar

Cetus is an interesting constellation. Many fans already realize it is no accident when the Saints, Perseus, Pegasus and Andromeda show up together in the story, thereby, connecting to the myth where Perseus rides Pegasus to kill the sea monster Cetus to save Andromeda. But what is most interesting about the Cetus constellation is that it is connected to death. The constellation itself also represents the gates of the Underworld. The indigenous people of Brazil saw the stars as Jaguar, the God of Thunder. It is not an accident when Whale Moses shows up in the manga, there is a fake death scene. And also, Masami creating a character of Ghost Saint, Orion Jaguar is also not an accident.

Mangas, END???

I originally planned to discuss another topic based on Saint Seiya manga but I think this week I have to discuss when Mangas are in trouble or end. First, many know this story: Saint Seiya ended in Shonen Jump Magazine with the issue where Seiya punches Hades and some comments. One final issue was released in V Jump Magazine with the Athena Cloth deal. Heaven chapter was never drawn and the planned side mangas for Gold Saints didn't even get a first issue. Masami's other manga, Fuma No Kojiro's third chapter was planned to be more epic but because Masami's father died, Masmai finished the manga in the quickest way possible. His heart wasn't in it.

Saint Seiya is not the only one that got cancelled before the mangaka wanted. City Hunter is one of them. The whole birth of Angel Heart grew from his frustration. So what other issues cause these things? Sales obviously, but we can't ignore the disagreements of the editors and publishers with the mangaka. Gunnm's 1st manga series planned a Space chapter. The mangaka got sick and a quick end was done. The 2nd Gunnm manga ignored the ending of the 1st and continued the story. However, because of disagreements with the editor who wanted the mangaka to censor the word "crazy", Gunnm is now published by a different publisher!! The 3rd Peacock King manga suffered the same fate as the 2nd Peacock King manga where it was cancelled before the actual end of the story! The mangaka actually asked the fans to voice their support to the continuation of the manga in Comic Book form.

So LC? What happened? Sales, Masami, Publisher, Editor, Tsunami? Which theory is best for your closure? My personal theory and I think other fans might have suspected: LC was never meant to be the definitive Previous Hades War story. As one fan joked, it's just a fanfic endorsed by Masami. I had a feeling that ND would have the last word and give a possible hint of why LC ever existed. I hoped that this wasn't the case. I hoped that LC wouldn't be limited by the powers that be, but looks like our suspisions turned out to be true. Whatever the case, another chapter in the ongoing Saint Seiya franchise is about to be closed. And, we are let down again...

Black Lizard Hands

The character of Misty may have been inspired by the 1968 Japanese movie, Black Lizard[黒蜥蝪]. It is a detective story and the title character is a man in drag, a criminal who values "beautiful things"[美しいもの]. The idea of Misty using his hands in his skills may have been inspired by two things. First, the constellation Lacerta was once named "the Hand of Justice" to honor French King Augustine Royer. This is maybe why Misty was chosen to lead the other Silvers to give justice to the Bronze Boys. The other idea comes from Chumash people, the native peoples of America in the now California. One of their creations myths in detailing the creation of mankind was that there was an argument between the Sky Coyote and Great Eagle about the hands of man. Sky Coyote wanted mankind to have hands like his. Sky Coyote was going to press his hand print on a white rock to make it so, but Lizard jump forward and press his own hands on the rock. Sky Coyote was furious but the Sun and the Eagle approved of the hand print, so that's why mankind's hands are like the Lizard's.

Centaur Confusion

If you read up on constellations, you might know that the constellation Centaurus represents the wise Centaur Chiron and Sagittiarus would represent the savage centaurs. Initially, we might think Masami just did a switch to fit his story of Aiolos guiding Seiya but this is not that simple. First, many anicent peoples confused the two constellations. Some Romans saw Sagittarius as Chiron. Other peoples saw Centarus as savages. So, it's not a real issue but this relates to the plot point of the Silvers confusing the Black Saints as Bronze Saints. Also Babel references the Tower of Babel where God created confusion by making the people who speak different languages so they can't build a tower that can reach Heaven. The other interesting thing about Sagittiarus is that Mesopotamians saw the constellation as Nergal, a God of fire which the Greeks assoicate that fire as Ares. Nergal is also considered a god of the underworld and the Greeks assoicate that quality as Hades! It is not an accident that in the Hypermyth tells that Ares and Hades is behind wars and conflicts related to Athena's Holy Wars!

19 None

Algol Gorgon Waves

The star Algol in Perseus constellation is one dark star. Some have named it, Demon Star. The name Algol actually comes from the Arabic name, ra's al-ghul which means Head of the Ghoul. In the constellation case, it is the head of Medusa. For the Chinese, the star is named, Tseih She[積尸] which means "Pile-up Corpses" . While the Cancer Constellation 積尸 is refering to the gathering of Ghosts or Corpses, the Perseus one has more to do with a mausoleum. As for Argor's skill, 'Gorgoneio' or Gorgoneion is the Medusa image used to on various objects to scare people away. In anicent times, the Gorgoneion was used to protect young girls and their chasity.

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