Saint Seiya #1-19

Saint Seiya #1-19

Originally released in 1985

Written by Masami Kurumada

Art by Masami Kurumada

I read the first volume of Saint Seiya back in high school, but that was about the extent of my background with the series, so I decided to give it another chance.  Right from the start, it's clear that this is going to be an action-heavy manga - it starts off with Seiya fighting a huge opponent ripped straight out of Fist Of The North Star for the Pegasus Cloth armour that gives him strength, and then fighting that opponent's mentor when he tries to leave, and that is almost immediately followed by the announcement of a fighting tournament.

My problem is that, in these first 19 chapters or so, the series doesn't take a chance to let things breathe between fights.  The main things that we learn about Seiya as a person are that he's compassionate, determined to find his sister (who went missing after he was sent off to train), and he's a strong believer in the power of friendship.  He comes across as a flat character in these chapters, with the series not really taking time to flesh him out or let him interact with many people outside of fights. (I get that, thanks at least in part to Dragon Ball, the fighting tournament is a go-to shonen manga arc, but other series tend to build up to it more)

Over time, the rest of the cast (users of Bronze Cloths, the lowest rank of armour) come together as the tournament progresses.  Jab, the Unicorn Cloth user, is built up as Seiya's main rival, but he quickly falls by the wayside.  Instead, Shiryu (the Dragon Cloth user) is Seiya's first major opponent, Shun (the Andromeda Cloth user, who uses chains that seem to have a life of their own) is a kind-hearted and reluctant warrior, and Hyoga (the Swan Cloth user) is a cold and devout fighter who feels tempted to kill the other Bronze Cloth users for using their powers to fight in a tournament for the amusement of others.

The tournament is interrupted by the arrival of Ikki, the user of the Phoenix Cloth and Shun's older brother, who seeks to use the tournament's prize (a Gold Cloth that would make its wearer seemingly invincible) to take over the world.  Each prospective Bronze Cloth user was sent to a different location to train, and the training that Ikki went through turned him harsh, cruel, and hateful (and also gave him the ability to force others to view graphic illusions).

Ikki is also backed up in his plots by the Black Knights, who are determined to make it so none shall pass by them and make it to Ikki.  As far as villains go, the Black Knights don't have the most original designs, basically being palette swaps of the four heroes, along with having slight variations on the same abilities.  The Black Dragon is the most original and interesting, fighting in complete darkness. (Shiryu thinks darkness is his ally, but he merely adopted the dark)

Despite only being thirteen years old or so, the characters are explicitly superhuman, throwing over a hundred punches in a second or surviving blows that would kill an ordinary man. (Shiryu is on death's door at least twice in these first nineteen chapters, so I have a gut feeling that he won't survive the manga)

The action is good, though I wasn't a fan of the writing - despite the chapters being at least twice as long as a regular manga (normal manga chapters tend to be about 15-19 pages; these were 35-45), the characters feel paper-thin for the most part, with major reveals getting brought up and not amounting to anything. (though maybe the characters didn't have time to process them)

Ultimately, I thought Saint Seiya was okay - it might work well as someone's introduction to action manga, though even if we're limiting it to 1980s action manga, I'd recommend Dragon Ball or Fist Of The North Star over it. (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is great, but as the name indicates, it's a bit too weird to serve as a starting point)