When an imaginary becomes too enriched with spin-offs or works inspired by the original, it becomes difficult to separate between them and discern the truly canonical. Saint Seiya: The Knights of the Zodiac rightly belongs to those titles saturated with parallel stories, but which of them are official?
The story of Saint Seiya revolves around at least two centuries, a varied storyline shaped by characters who helped create the name of. close Masami Kurumada within the manga culture. In any case, it is not an easy task to understand which works can actually be considered canonical, as it is important to find the interviews with the authors with all the necessary clarifications. Anyway, in summary, here is the actually canonical manga:
- The classic series from Saint Seiya;
- The official sequel to Saint Seiya: Next Dimension is still ongoing;
- Saint Seiya: Episode G and Episode G: Assassin: In a 2003 interview, Kurumada stated that he had this story on his mind for a long time and that he wanted to do this prequel just like George Lucas. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 1999. In the same year, in an interview with Megumi Okada, it was confirmed that the Sensei was heavily involved in the project and was overseeing the work;
- The Knights of the Zodiac: Saintia Sho: In a 2016 interview with the author Chimaki Kuori, the master explained that the original idea, namely warriors loyal to Athena, came from Kurumada during a hospital stay and he himself guaranteed freedom to the teacher, even if he contributed the script. supervised each new narrative arc. In order to dispel any doubts, a sentence by Kuori appears which reads: “[…]Of course, the male characters reappear because the series is set in the same world as the original.“;
- Saint Seiya: Lost Canvas: While the presence of this series in this section may sound particularly strange to you, it is important to note that the manga was announced a few weeks after the launch of Saint Seiya: Next Dimension, and both series as two different and separate, but always still valid versions of the same story. Shiori Teshigori also stated in an interview in 2013 that he initially limited himself to giving form and history to a list that Kurumada had sent him himself. Only then did he give him complete freedom, once he finished the last point. Ultimately, we can say that Lost Canvas is nothing more than a parallel universe of the Saint Seiya franchise;
After all, at Saint Seiya we talk about the concept of the “multiverse” several times and it is not impossible that Kurumada Sensei wanted to play with this topic in the supervision of some spin-off manga.
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