Saint Seiya: Los caballeros del zodiaco 1

聖闘士星矢 Saint Seiya #1

by Masami Kurumada

Las aventuras de los caballeros que tienen las armaduras más poderosas del universo conocido...

Genres: Manga, Comics, Fantasy, Mythology, Graphic Novels, Action, Comics Manga

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1985

About the author

Masami Kurumada ( 車田正美, Kurumada Masami, born December 6, 1953) is a Japanese and writer, known for specializing in fighting manga featuring bishōnen and/or mahō shōnen. He is famous as the creator/author of popular manga, such as Ring ni Kakero, Fūma no Kojirō, Saint Seiya and B't X. His male protagonists are a reflection of the classical and modern society's archetype of the true men. The male characters in his works often display very masculine qualities and traits, and pursue to achieve courage and manhood perfection through sacrifice, selflessness and true heroism. He has won the best success award with Saint Seiya and the best inspiration award with Ring ni Kakero.

Reviews

[Audrey Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started watching the anime, then my aunt bought me the manga books from the Poseidon and Hades arcs.

Even though this was a fighting manga written for teenage boys, I loved it as a 7-year-old girl. I loved how earnest the characters were about not giving up and doing the right thing when no one was watching. Haven’t revisited in a long time, but my first anime/manga is still my favorite.

I was inspired and yearned to burn my own little cosmos. Not that I thought I had the power to move at supersonic speed even when I was 7.

As it turns out, auras are very, very real. How lucky am I to have been exposed to this idea at a very young age. Rose Rosetree, my Enlightenment Teacher, has the skills to read auras as well as heal auras. These and her other skills have elevated my life from shades of gray. Saint Seiya introduced to me concepts that were preparing me to live a life in color all along.

As an aside, I do find it strange that the burden of saving the world is on the shoulders of teenage boys. Or teenage girls, as in Sailor Moon.

[John Bonilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Para ser mi primer manga no estuvo mal, aunque ya me se la historia por el anime y es de los pocos que me gustan. Fue lo único por lo que me anime a leerlo y leeré los demas.
Los caballeros del zodiaco molan y más Shura

[Lennon Motta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reading with a nostalgic feeling. This may have been one of the most popular animes in Latin America, and the Brazilian edition has an iconic opening.

The best part of reading the manga is realizing how much quality the artwork on these mangas had back then, amazing drawing and art in general.

Great manga for fans of the genre.

[Algert · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a very lighthearted story! The battles are quite well planned even though execution is laughable most of the time! There is very little plotting that is interesting in this manga, but the world building is really worth it.
Recommend to those looking for a night read after work.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much as I would love to read these physically, I should kick off this review by letting you all know that I'm reading, uh... *glances at writing on hand* 'totally legal scans' of them.
I was actually rather surprised to find that, for a series I recall being printed in English through the Viz Shonen Jump imprint when I was in high school, that this series is exceptionally difficult to try to find print volumes of, especially for one that I was under the impression was so well beloved in the weeb community. Just trying to find individual copies of the books is a nightmare, and there are a few sellers on eBay who are willing to sell the entire series in English...for close to $500. Between that and the option of trying to buy each volume as a Kindle download (which would still round out at close to $200 by the end of the venture,) I opted for the, ah, 'totally legal' option of reading online, as I've finally felt interested enough to give the series a try.

Let's not fool ourselves, I'm definitely interested in the recent revitalization of the franchise in the form of Saint Seiya: Saintia Shō, but I can tell you even just flipping through the pages of the first volume and skimming what I see, there's a lot of world-building, depth, history and lore that I'm not going to fully comprehend without reading the original series by Masami Kurumada. Thus, the hunt has been underway for me to find a way to read this without utterly breaking the bank, and it's high time I gave this series a chance anyway. Thus, until further notice, I'll continue reading the 'totally legal' scans of the 28 English volumes of Knights of the Zodiac. (Sheesh. Talk about your Westernization with that title.)

For starters, the art style is definitely indicative of when this was made, as it was originally published in Japan in the late 80s, and I think that shows in the art style itself. While I probably didn't think much of it back in high school, I definitely find it charming these days. That aside, we'll see how the rest of this series aged as I continue through it. The story starts off pretty intense even in this first volume, and so far that's about all I can really speak to at this point in time. Fair warning that from here, I'll be diving into spoiler territory, so be warned.

We meet our titular main character, Seiya, as he's training in Greece to earn a "cloth" (a set of mystic armor, best as I can tell) tied to the guardian constellation of Pegasus. By earning and donning the cloth, he will become a knight. We see him succeed in this in the first couple of chapters, surprising most of the people he trained with, before he returns back to his homeland of Japan. As it happens, he is one of many young men who was originally sent out by an orphanage in Japan to train around the world and earn a cloth. 90 boys were sent out, and only 10 have allegedly survived to earn a cloth and become a knight.

Thus far, they're all being forced by their benefactor (Saori, a young rich woman fulfilling her father's dream of seeing the knights' legendary feats,) to partake in a tournament of their strength and abilities, to see which one is ultimately deemed worthy to don a "golden cloth", tied to the zodiac constellation Sagittarius. (There are set numbers of saints who wear the cloths and most of the cloths are "bronze"-ranked, like Seiya's Pegasus cloth. Gold cloths indicate highest-ranked knights, or, saints.) Seiya doesn't want to compete; it turns out he's looking for his elder sister, whom he last saw years ago when he was removed from the orphanage to be shipped off, and ultimately he caves to Saori's desire to see him fight, as she extorts him a little and promises if he wins, she'll put some of her financial resources into helping him search for his sister. Around the time that she twists his arm with this promise, we also meet a rival saint/knight called Jab, who has the Unicorn cloth. We learn pretty solidly from the off that Seiya and Jab don't care for one another, as Seiya considers Jab to be Saori's personal dog and Jab considers Seiya to be utterly disrespectful to Saori (let's be real, he is,) and in need of having that personality flaw corrected.

Beyond this, we briefly see Seiya spend a moment at his old orphanage, where he asks about his sister, and is encouraged to participate in the tournament in hopes that if his sister is watching somehow, she'll see his victory and be the one to reach out to him. Afterward, we jump right into the start of the tournament, and as two of the participants have not yet arrived, Seiya is in the first match. This entire volume, we've essentially seen him cast as the underdog in his matches, only to pull off stunning victories that take everyone by surprise, and this initial fight of the tournament is no different.

Thus far, I have neutral-leaning-towards-positive feelings on the way this series has opened. I was definitely not expecting the Obligatory Tournament Arc to kick things off, but I don't mind that at all. I'm a big sucker for tournament arcs in anime and manga. As far as characters are concerned, most of them haven't really made a major impression on me with the exception of Jab. I feel like there's a lot more depth to his character that I've yet to see. Seiya is very...Basic Shonen Protagonist so far, at least in my opinion, and I'm hoping I'll warm up to him in time.

That's it for the moment; hopefully in the future I'll find a way to own these volumes for myself, if I get attached enough to decide they're worth owning.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd been meaning to get back into Bleach because the anime is finally aiming to finish it after so many years, but I wanted to finally fucking finish Saint Seiya, as the Gold Saints are often cited as an influence on the Gotei 13, and, by extension, the Arrancars, Vizards, Xcution, and Sternritter. I was somewhat familiar with the "Knights of the Zodiac" dub, the title of which VIZ chose to use for their localization of the manga, but I don't think I ever saw too much of it. I think I ended up reading more of the manga than watching the anime, but even then I just grabbed random volumes as were available from the public library, read things out of order, and ultimately didn't read a very large percentage of the total volume count.

I desperately wish Kurumada-sensei's earlier Ring ni Kakero had a more substantial/thorough English translation, as I would have liked to see the roots of "nekketsu" battle manga from much earlier. By the release of Saint Seiya in 1986, Weekly Shounen Jump would have already had Hokuto no Ken, and Dragon Ball would have started shifting more overtly into a martial arts focus. Kurumada might have helped pave the way with his earlier boxing manga, but the fantasy setting of Saint Seiya follows examples set by other manga-ka, and while this series will establish different tropes to in turn influence future authors (i.e., Tite Kubo of aforementioned Bleach) it's not yet "its own thing" - that is, the very first arc is a tournament, which could be seen as a reference to the Tenkaichi Budokai, or the many tournaments in Kinnikuman, godfather of Jump battle series.

I appreciate the gore we see in the first chapter, though it tapers off a bit afterward. That is, of the four chapters compiled here, only three feature battles, and it seems when Seiya fights he aims not to dismember his foes too much (beyond cutting off Cassios's ear...). The action isn't as well-choreographed as Dragon Ball, but I'm pretty sure HnK wasn't either, so... eh. There are sometimes gigantic sound-effects blocking the action, but I don't know who is to blame between Kurumada and VIZ, as they only seem to happen in bloodless fights, so it's not like they're censoring anything - I'm going to assume VIZ just got too excited in erasing Japanese sound-effects that they ended up removing too much of Kurumada's original art and had to fill the blanks with larger English text.

[Christopher Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I begin this review, I would like to point out that this is vastly different than what you have seen in the anime series. In Greek Mythology, Athena, the daughter of Zeus, was born in full armor. By birthright, she was the goddess of battle. She did not believe in conquest and only fought in defensive wars. Her battles with bloodthirsty gods and giants shook the very earth and seemed to have lasted forever. On the battlefield, there were a group of youths that surrounded and protected the goddess, The Knights of the Zodiac! Flash-Forward to Modern Day Greece and two Japanese tourists are shocked to see a man-sized meteor crash to Earth before them. It turned out to be a young boy named Seiya, who must train harder than ever if he is to survive the onslaught from the Brutal Cassio! Whoever wins will receive the greatest prize known to man, The Pegasus Cloth!

What I like about the Saint Seiya series is its detail in Greek Mythology and the use of constellations that serve a purpose to the story. Now, the first volume sets up the premise of what fans can expect in the upcoming volumes, fierce action, and the introduction of the Gold Saint (The Sagittarius Gold Cloth.)

As mentioned previously, Seiya was training to defeat the fierce fighter known as Cassio. Seiya was forced to go to Sanctuary in Greece for training in hopes of learning about what happened to his sister. He had won the Pegasus ‘Cloth’ and set to return to Japan until having to face one of his hardest tests, which was awakening his Cosmo and defeating Saint Shaina.

The Galaxian Wars is a tournament where 10 Bronze Knights compete in a tournament held by Saori Kido. It was one of my favorite arcs in the series, mainly because this showcased the bronze knights’ potential in combat and their abilities. In the first volume, we only had the chance to watch one fight and it was Seiya fighting Bear Geki, who witnessed firsthand how much the Pegasus Knight has improved.

Some moments differed from the anime series. It was a tad more violent but still worth reading in my opinion. The first volume collected the first four chapters of the Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac Series. There have been comparisons of it being similar to Dragon Ball, but I fail to see the similarity.

[Adriano Tiegs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Os Cavaleiros do Zodíaco me remetem à minha infância. Lembro de assistir o anime em TV aberta, e ficar atônito a cada episódio, de desenhar em um caderno cada cavaleiro, e de gastar cada moeda que ganhava para comprar chicletes com figurinhas do anime e colar em um álbum que existe até os dias de hoje, na casa da minha mãe. Acredito que eu ainda possua também algum volume aleatório do mangá, em uma edição da Conrad, e que meu pai comprou despretensiosamente em alguma rodoviária.
Assim, nunca ter terminado a série animada sempre me deixou frustrado. Nos dias atuais, com o pouco tempo disponível, o mangá se apresenta como uma opção mais viável, e por isso, alguns anos atrás adquiri todos os volumes em sebos virtuais. Agora, finalmente inicio a leitura da saga, e mesmo que demore um bom tempo, pretendo finalizá-la.
Nesse primeiro volume, totalmente introdutório, somos apresentados à conceitos básicos que nortearão o restante da série, e também visualizamos um pouco de ação, com o treinamento de Seiya, a conquista da armadura de Pégasus, e sua primeira batalha no torneio Guerra Galática.
O traço de Masami Kurumada me agrada de certo modo, ainda que seja visível que iremos nos deparar com personagens muito parecidos fisicamente ao longo dos volumes. É interessante ir notando também as diferenças da obra original para sua adaptação em anime.

[Regalia Lenzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seiya zdobywa w walce z Kasjuszem Zbroję Pegaza, ale jakoś mu nie idzie złączenie się z nią w jedno. Lejo go i lejo, ale przeżyje, przecież to główny bohater. O ile nie spieprzy turnieju.

Już zapomniało mi się, jak z przytupem zaczyna się saga Rycerzy Zodiaku. Oj, autor potrafi przyciągnąć uwagę i dozować napięcie, by później je zluzować. Ale żeby nie było totalnie za łatwo, w drugim rozdziale pojawiają się kolejne problemy.

Ciekawe jest to, że Marie jeszcze przed zdobyciem zbroi mówi o Seiyi jako o rycerzy Pegaza — zamierzone, niezamierzone, a może Marie ma szósty zmysł i wie, że opowieść o Rycerzach Zodiaku ma X tomów, więc w którymś tam nasz bohater tę zbroję zdobędzie? Hehe :-)

Ciekawe jest też to, że Panna Kaori, wspominając o konstelacjach przecinających Słońce, zapomina o Wężowniku. Więc nie mamy tutaj astronomii, ale jej ułomną siostrę, astrologię. Szkoda, ale może coś kiedyś... Swoja drogą Kaori jako dziecko to była okropna, taka rozkapryszona princessa. I nadal po części taka jest, niby tu stara obietnica, ale nieee, ja tam nic nie wiem, ale jak już chcesz, to proponuję ci interes... No, ciut legitne, ale jak rzutuje na dotrzymywanie ustaleń.

Nie no, fajnie się zapowiada, aż chce się od razu zabrać za kolejny tom.

[Juan Gallardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aunque termine el año leyendo este primer manga, sobre los caballeros del zodiaco, debo decir, q algunos fragmentos de este cómics se me hicieron casi intruibles en la historia de como nos comentaron.
La historia comienza con quienes le fueron dignos ante la casi muerte de la encarnación de la diosa atenea y solo uno la defendió, del gran sumo sacerdote, quien ese entonces no era defindo como gran patriarca, hasta que un caballero dorado se sacrifico por la diosa.
Con esto unos años despues, saori kido, nieta samutshi kido, prepara la gran batalla galáctica donde numerales de caballeros de distintos lugares se conforman con la gran batalla e ir por cada concursante pueda vestir la armadura dorada de sagitario, ante eso seiya ríete como propósito investigar, el paradero de su hermana, su ayuda será proporcionada por ella si es llega a eliminar a los 9 caballeros restantes en la batalla.
Una gran historia griega japonesa, amor a la infancia, del cual crecí, q más puedo pedir, si esté manga resumió todo lo q disfruto

[Sarzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primer tomo de Masami Kurumada como autor integral publicado en Argentina. No fue el primero de la franquicia Saint Seiya ya que Episode G. (en su formato de medios tomos) se comenzó a publicar cerca de medio años antes.
La serie se completaría exactamente dos años después con su tomo 28. Unos años después sería descatalogada y finalmente reeditada en 2021 en formato Kanzenban.

[Jeffrey Forbis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book but it did have a rough start. His fight to earn the cloth was amazing. Then he went back to Japan. To find his sister but some people demanded he fought in a tournament. Overall I think It was a good book.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of this epic has a big chunk of exposition in the second half which definitely weighs down the story. Although this helps explain some things the anime doesn't, it isn't very fun to read. However, when the fights do happen, they're awesome and A LOT of fun

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little primitive

[GLAUBER MOLEDO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um clássico que mudou o cenário para amantes de mangás e animes do Brasil!

[Alexandre Milouchev · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the whole 28 volumes. It's not great. I don't recommend it. Things just don't make any sense most of the time, and the story is bad. It helps pass the time but it's not a good manga.

[Ben Zimmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. It's a standard 80s shonen battle manga. Nothing here really stood out to me.

[FunttiDiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ma chronique ici.

[asiya | アセヤ (free palestine)]

YES, YES, SIGN ME UP.

[Zintulo Deyuno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saint Seiya - Los Caballeros del Zodíaco, #1: [faltante] (Saint Seiya #1; primera saga #1.).

[Timothy Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going back to another manga I read a long time ago and now have digitally on Kindle. This is a great series I recommend to any otaku, old or new.

[Ribrarian Not · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Primera edición argentina basada en la tankoubon original.

[Kapitol Tank]

Primera edición argentina en tankoubon sin sobrecubiertas. Recopilaba los primeros cuatro capítulos e incluía aclas.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable.

[El Templo]

"Con la publicación del primer volumen de Saint Seiya The lost Canvas: Hades Mithology y el duodécimo de Saint Seiya Ep. G. damos un repaso a la trayectoria de la saga más emblemática del maestro Kurumada. PASADO Fue en 1986 cuando Masami Kurumada comenzó a publicar una serie llamada Saint Seiya en Japón. La saga, que se exportó al mundo entero, llegando a los países de habla hispana bajo el título “Los caballeros del Zodíaco”, y que constaría finalmente de 28 tomos recibió una gran aceptación por parte de aficionados y críticos. Casi tan famosa como los mangas se hizo su versión en anime, que aun hoy en día sigue emitiéndose. La trama de Saint Seiya nos narraba la historia de unos guerreros, los caballeros de Atenea, capaces de desgarrar el cielo con sus puños y romper la tierra con sus patadas. Estos guerreros eran entrenados desde pequeños para entrar en armonía con sus constelaciones protectoras, de las que recibían el nombre, y dominar los misterios de sus cosmos interiores, con los que eran capaces de desarrollar técnicas de ataque y defensa inimaginables para un humano normal. Una vez terminada su formación, serían nombrados caballeros, se les entregaría una armadura y se les asignaría la protección de la diosa Atenea y de toda la humanidad. => Lee la reseña completa e http://www.eltemplodelasmilpuertas.com"

[Vitor Frazão · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desde que sei que a história vai muito além da série que via em miúdo tenho estado curioso para ler a manga original e os spin-offs. Finalmente decidi começar o que vai ser uma longa caminhada.
Para já é basicamente aquilo me lembro, sem grandes surpresas. O que é bom, porque na minha memória a série foi interessante até ao fim da Arc do Santuário. Claro que a nível de história há mangas muito superiores, mas como entretenimento funciona melhor que outras intelectualmente mais estimulantes. Escorrega bem. É algo bom para relaxar.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es recontraprobable que si nunca hubiera visto Los Caballeros del Zodíaco de chico este manga no me habría resultado igual de atrapante. Pero la realidad es que los vi. Y que me encantaban. Y que aunque el dibujo es bastante feo, sobre todo comparado con el del animé, este manga tiene muchas cualidades que lo vuelven el clásico que es. También defectos, claro, pero de ellos ya hablaré más adelante.

[Desire Manara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vieja edición argentina en tankoubon mucho antes de que se instauraran las sobrecubiertas. Años después se incluyó estos mismos capítulos en el tomo 1 de la edición kanzenban, ahora sin aclaraciones pero con diálogos mil veces mejor escritos.

[Primadonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer the anime than the manga. Shiryu, oh Shiryu... I still feel like drooling everytime I remember him, haha.

[Hasanuddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Komik yang bisa membuat ku berkhayal abis! Pegasus Fantasy!!