Saint Seiya is a shonen manga classic, a trailblazer that codified so many of the tropes and themes the genre embraces to this day. Its influence looms large in the history of manga, inspiring generations of artists and storytellers, but despite being popular in most of the rest of the world it’s been criminally overlooked in the U.S. After a botched attempt by DiC to make it big in America in the early aughts, Netflix has recently reintroduced Saint Seiya to a new generation of fans by making a shiny new CGI remake and adding the old show to their service with a brand new english dub! Thanks to these new projects and Seven Seas’ ongoing release of the Saintia Sho spinoff series, things are looking bright for the future of Saint Seiya in the States! 

To celebrate Saint Seiya’s second coming, we’re taking a look back at Masami Kurumada’s original manga, and we’ve brought both the editor and translator of Viz’s editions of the series – Shaenon Garrity and Dr. Mari Morimoto – on to join us! Shaenon and Mari are huge Seiya fans and hugely responsible for the original Saint Seiya being released by Viz in the first place, and we dig deep into Seiya’s storytelling, themes, mythological influences, and impact in popular culture. They also share tons of insights into the english localization of the series, from name changes to translation challenges to cover art considerations, and so much more! So, Seiya fans, burn your Cosmos and listen up! To borrow a phrase from Shaenon, there’s only one word to describe this podcast – and that’s RAD-TASTIC!!! 

PODCAST BREAKDOWN:

00:00 – Intro

03:08 – How Mari Got Into Saint Seiya
09:45 – How Shaenon Got Into Saint Seiya
11:08 – Saint Seiya’s Cloths and Merch
15:30 – The Legacy of Saint Seiya
18:17 – The Violence in Saint Seiya
20:00 – The Setting and Inspirations
29:30 – The Premise and Publication History
40:30 – Lord Nobu is Creepy
42:15 – The Appeal of Saint Seiya
46:30 – Kurumada’sPacifistic Philosophy
50:05 – Why Saint Seiya Still Resonates
53:43 – Andromeda Shun and Phoenix Ikki Character Analysis
1:03:00 – Favorite Characters
1:07:44 – Favorite Cloths
1:08:53 – Favorite Fights
1:15:15 – The Hades Arc is the Best Arc
1:16:51 – Sequels and Spinoffs
1:21:40 – The Storytelling
1:29:06 – The Art
1:31:03 – Why You Should Read Saint Seiya
1:32:22 – Name Changes in the English Localization
1:43:47 – Sound Effects
1:48:37 – The Aurora Borealis Anecdote
1:53:03 – Why Didn’t Saint Seiya Find an Audience in N.A.?

Q&As:

1:58:16 – “Which Masami Kurumada Manga Would You Have Liked to Publish Next?”
2:01:02 – “Did Seiya Have a Low Print Run?”
2:02:37 – “What Inspiration Did Seiya Bring to the Future Generation of Shonen?”
2:05:25 – “What Do You Think it was That Led to its Cancellation?”
2:09:06 – “What Moments from Within the Series are Your Favorites?”
2:12:37 – “Who is Your Favorite of the Bronze Boys?”
2:15:45 – “Is There Anything We Can Do to Increase Saint Seiya’s Popularity in N.A.?”
2:17:37 – “What were the Sources of the Covers for the Viz Volumes?”
2:22:46 – “Did You Communicate with Kurumada Productions While Translating the Manga?”
2:30:04 – “If Starstorm had Been Fully Made, Would it Have Been Beneficial to Saint Seiya’s Popularity in the West?”

2:39:20 – Wrap-Up

Enjoy the show, and follow us on twitter at @manga_mavericks, on tumblr at mangamavericks.tumblr.com, and on Youtube! You can follow LumRanmaYasha on twitter at @LumRanmaYasha and special guest Shaenon Garrity at @shaenongarrity. If you’d like to help support the show financially you can pledge to our Patreon and receive some awesome rewards like our Patreon-exclusive Bonus pods! If one-time donations are more your speed you can donate to Colton’s Ko-fi here and LumRanmaYasha’s Ko-fi here, and if you want to support LumRanmaYasha’s art and other projects you can donate to their personal Patreon. Don’t forget to also like and subscribe to us on Youtube and iTunes and leave us reviews to help us curate the show and create better content!

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About The Author Siddharth Gupta

Siddharth Gupta is an illustrator, animator, and writer based in Minnesota. They graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Animation from the School of Visual Arts, and have worked on projects for the University of Minnesota and the Shreya R. Dixit Foundation. An avid animation and comics fan since childhood, they've turned their passion towards being both a creator and a critic. They credit their love for both mediums to Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball, which has also defined their artistic and comedic sensibilities. A frequent visitor to their local comic book shop, they are an avid reader and collector, particularly fond of manga. Their favorite comics include The Adventures of Tintin by Herge, Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed, and pretty much anything and everything by Rumiko Takahashi.

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