THE ZODIAC KNIGHTS

Original title: Saint Seiya
Characters: Aquarius, Cancer, Capricorn, Fish, Gemini, Ioria, Kanon, Master of the Five Peaks (Doko), Mycenae of Sagitter, Mur, Scorpio, Shin, Toro, Virgo, Castalia, Tisifone, Eris, Babel, Moses, Asterione, Athena ( Lady Isabel), Neptune (Julian Kedives), Hades, Odin, Hypnos, Thanatos, Damian, Vesta of Cerberus, Agape of Auriga, Argor of Perseus, Argetti, Dedalus, Orione, Betelgeuse, Albione, Orpheo, Pegasus, Sirio the Dragon, Cristal the Swan, Andromeda, Phoenix, Asher, Aspides, Ban, Black the Wolf, Gerki, Nemes

Production: Toei Animation
Author: Masami Kurumada
Regia: Yasuhito Kikuchi, Kozo Morishita
Country: Japan
Year: October 11th 1986
Broadcast in Italy: March 26 1990
Gender: Fantasy / Action
Episodes: 114
Duration: 25 minutes
Recommended age: Children from 6 to 12 years old

The long and compelling saga of the cartoon The Zodiac Knights, was based on the hit comic series "Saint Seiya" by Japanese writer and illustrator Masami Kurumada. The animated TV series is the work of director Kozo Morishita and Toei Animation and is considered an authentic milestone in Japanese animation in recent years, think that the series consists of 114 episodes lasting about 20 minutes. They are divided into three series: The Zodiac Knights, The Knights of Asgard e the Knights of Neptune

The history of Knights of the Zodiac begins in Greece in a distant future year, when Ares, the god of war reincarnated in the Golden Knight of Gemini, wants to conquer the world and therefore kills the High Priest and seizes the throne. He also wants to kill the little Isabel, reincarnation of Athena, but the newborn is saved by the knight of Sagittarius and before dying he entrusts her to Alman of Thule.

A formation of knights called The Bronze Knights is deployed to guard the Isabel and a galactic tournament is held. The winner of the tournament will win the Sacred Golden Armor of the Sagittarius Knight. The tournament begins, but not all the knights are present at the race as Pegasus, Crystal, Phoenix and others; Lady Isabel, now a girl, wonders why she is absent. Meanwhile in Greece, the warrior Pegasus and Cassios fight for the sacred armor of Pegasus.

Pegasus prevails over Cassios and the Great Priest names him a Knight of the constellation of Pegasus, recommending that he use the precious armor only to defend justice and not for personal purposes. That same night Pegasus inaugurates the new armor to defend himself from the Priestess Tisifone, who lashes out against him to avenge the defeat of Cassios. But Pegasus by throwing the famous "Lightning of Pegasus" destroys the mask of the priestess, which reveals a beautiful girl's face of which Pegasus himself remains fascinated. The girl escapes swearing revenge against Pegasus.Pegasus is a boy who grew up in an orphanage with his sister Patricia. After having conquered the armor he goes to New Luxor to see his sister again, in fact Alman of Thule, grandfather of Lady Isabel promised Pegasus that after having conquered the precious armor of Pegasus in Greece, he could see his sister again. But Alman dies during Pegasus' stay in Greece and therefore cannot keep his promise. Despite Lady Isabel's pressure for Pegasus to sign up for the tournament, Pegasus sets off in search of his sister by going to the old orphanage where he grew up, but without having any useful information about the girl. Here he meets Lamia, a childhood friend, who advises him to register for the tournament in order to be tracked by Patricia, as the tournament will be broadcast on television. Pegasus then begins the tournament and clashes with Geki of the Ursa Minor, a very strong opponent who manages to defeat not without some difficulties, especially exploiting his intelligence.

Meanwhile, Crystal and Phoenix and other knights are still missing. Crystal is in Siberia near a ship that sank some time ago, where her mother's body lies and braving the frozen sea and ice, she manages to dive into the water and deposit a flower on her mother's hair. Soon after he is advised by his friend Jacob, to show up at the Knights Tournament in New Luxor. Crystal then goes to the glacier where the Swan Armor is kept and takes possession of it. Crystal then begins the battles in New Luxor against Aspides of the Hydra which she manages to defeat thanks to her power to give off freezing rays.

It is the turn of Pegasus who collides with the knight Sirius, the Dragon, a very confident and strong young man who is about to defeat Pegasus. But at a certain point a news communicated to him by his adoptive sister disturbs him deeply, his great teacher is about to die and he cannot be near him. Pegasus continues the fight and despite throwing Pegasus' lightning bolt at him, the shield of Sirius that protects him appears to be indestructible. But Pegasus remembers a secret blow and throws himself almost madly on the opponent, when Sirio throws his punch, Pegasus dodges him at the last moment making sure that he ends up against the same shield of Sirius. In this way Sirius destroys his own shield because legend has it that these weapons such as fist and shield are destroyed only when they are used against each other. But in the fight Pegasus loses his armor and Sirio, like a good loyal knight, also takes off his armor, so that the fight takes place on equal terms.

But despite a tough fight, Sirius, without the armor and his shield, leaves his weak point uncovered, loses the race and Pegasus is declared the winner, while Sirio is rescued as he is seriously injured, to the point that his heart stops beating, but with a desperate attempt Pegasus throwing his "Pegasus Lightning" behind his back, reactivates the heartbeat and saves Sirius' life. The hard battle with Sirius has severely tested Pegasus' resistance, therefore also due to various injuries, he is hospitalized. Here he receives the visit of Sirio and Fiore di Luna, who inform him about the new competitions of the tournament; the next round sees the clash between Andromeda and Asher. Pegasus intrigued by the race, despite his precarious physical condition, goes to attend the match. The clash seems to go in Andromeda's favor, but at a certain point Phoenix appears, one of the missing knights, brother of Andromeda and clashes with the latter. Asher tries to stop Phoenix from clashing with Andromeda, as that is his fight, but Phoenix hits him and knocks him out. Phoenix reminds Andromeda of their childhood, when he being the elder brother, defended and reassured him to the point that he took his place when he was sent on a mission to the island of the Black Queen, but this has taken possession of his mind transforming him into an evil being. Phoenix thanks to the faithful allies the Black Knights, the evil equivalent of the Bronze Knights, experts in teleportation, steals the sacred armor and then disappears.

He is chased by the four Bronze Horsemen (Pegasus, Crystal, Andromeda and Sirio). Pegasus finds Phoenix in the act of wearing the sacred armor, but manages to stop him, meanwhile the four Bronze Horsemen defeat the Black Phoenix, but are unable to capture Phoenix. During the search, Andromeda encounters Black Swan, the evil equivalent of Crystal, who attacks him with black ice, but to his rescue comes Crytal who collides with his rival and defeats him, but Andromeda Black also arrives. Phoenix openly challenges. the four bronze knights with his black knights, the victors will have the sacred armor of gold. The clash takes place in Central Asia, where the Bronze Knights have been teleported, Pegasus does not yet have his armor, but this is brought to him by Sirius. Pegasus collides with his alter ego, the Black Pegasus and beats him, but he nevertheless manages to hit him seriously. Meanwhile, Crystal beats the Black Swan and confronts Phoenix himself. Although Crystal attacks him with the "Northern Aurora" and with ice shots Phoenix seems to already know the secret weapons of the Swan, and counterattacks him blow for blow, with a violent punch to the chest, defeats Crystal and takes the armor of 'gold. Meanwhile, while Andromeda was helping Pegasus, he is attacked by Andromeda Black, but he is defeated. Then the duplicate of Sirius arrives, the Black Dragon and Sirius himself collides with him, defeating him. The Bronze Knights are thus able to recover the sacred golden armor and come to know the existence of the Great Temple and the great Priest, but at a certain point Docrates and his warriors arrive who manage to steal the precious golden armor again .

Given the failure of the Bronze Knights, for not being able to defend the armor, the High Priest (therefore Gemini with the spirit of Ares), instructs the Silver Knights to eliminate the Bronze Knights, in order to resume the helmet and sacred armor. The first fight takes place between Pegasus and Misty (Eris of the Lizard), but our hero wins. Numerous clashes follow between the Bronze Knights and the Silver Knights, but Pegasus, Crystal, Sirio and Andromeda seem to have the upper hand, joined by the Knights of Steel: Benam, Lear and Shadir. During the clashes and heated battles, Sirius becomes blind due to a violent battle against Argos the Knight of Perseus. In aid of the Silver Knights arrive the Gold Knights. Among these is Typhon of the constellation Ophiuchus, the one who was seen in the face by Pegasus. When someone sees the face of a warrior priestess, she has two possibilities either to kill him or to love him forever, so initially Tisifone fights against Pegasus, but when he is attacked by Ioria, the Golden Lion Knight, Tisipone offers his life to save him, shielding the death blow, thus revealing his love for Pegasus. Pegasus lashes out at the Knight to avenge Tisiphone, Ioria repentant of the gesture spares Tisiphone's life, but three other silver knights arrive and Pegasus seems to be doomed, when suddenly the same sacred armor of Sagittarius comes to life and dresses Pegasus who this way he can defeat his opponents. Meanwhile, Ioria realizes that he has been betrayed by the High Priest and lashes out at him, but is stopped by the Knight of the Virgin and in the end the High Priest (Gemini + Ares) also bends the rebellious mind of the Lion Knight, to his will and to fight against the Bronze Knights.

The Bronze Knights Pegasus, Phoenix, Crystal, Andomeda and Sirio finally arrive at the temple of Athena to save her and defeat the tyrant Gemini, but must fight against the twelve Gold Knights guarding the temple who guard 12 houses that precede the arrival to the Sacred Temple where there is the High Priest which Ares took possession of. But in the first house they find an ally; Mur repairing their bronze armor and explaining how they can defeat their opponents. In the second house Pegasus collides with the Knight of the Bull, but thanks to the fact that he has risen to a higher level of strength, he manages to defeat the powerful Golden Knight and goes to the third house to face the Knights of the Twins, they are confronted with Sirius in the fourth house of Cancer. Phoenix and Andromeda take care of defeating the twin knights, while Crystal is taken to the seventh house to face the Libra Knight. Meanwhile, Pegasus and Sirius are winners against the Cancer Knight and Sirius manages to recover his sight, but Pegasus is defeated by the Lion Knight Ioria in the fifth house. Sirius and Andromeda arrive to help Pegasus, but they are stopped by the mighty Cassios, the latter loves Tisifone madly and in fact as a gesture of love towards the woman he sacrifices his life to save that of the man loved by Tisiphone: Pegasus. Our heroes, Pegasus, Sirio and Andromeda must face the very strong knight of the sixth house, and this is the terrible knight of the Virgo, practically invincible, but he is confronted by Phoenix who has reached a higher level of strength and defeats him. Arriving at the seventh house they encounter Crystal who was defeated by his Aquarius master Camus and locked in a crystal coffin. not even Pegasus' lightning manages to break the coffin where Crystal is locked up.

Thanks to the Libra Knight's armor, Sirius manages to break Crystal's prison and Andromeda gives him back his life. Meanwhile, Pegasus and Sirio are attacked by Milo the Knight of the Scorpion, who manages to defeat them, but are saved by the revived Crystal who engages in a violent fight with the Knight of the Scorpion. The Knight of the Swan is also about to be defeated, but in the end The Knight of the Scorpio understands Gemini's evil and helps Crystal progress to the eleventh house. The Bronze Knights then head towards the home of the Knight of Capricorn who guards Excalibur, Athena's sword and is confronted by Sirius. Meanwhile, Crystal confronts her master the Aquarius Knight again, but this time she manages to defeat him. Andromeda instead has to deal with the knight of Pisces and manages to beat him. Finally Pegasus arrives in the presence of the Gemini High Priest and while trying to take the sacred shield, he discovers that he is possessed by Ares the god of war who knocks him down and takes on the terrible gold armor of the Gemini. When Pegasus is about to succumb, Phoenix arrives and defends him with his body acting as a shield. Pegasus then heads for Zeus' shield and manages to catch it. Phoenix falls to the ground and the Knight of Twins shatters the shield. Gemini proclaims herself the winner, but Athena awakens and all the golden knights of the Zodiac learn of Ares' deceptions. All the Bronze Knights Pegaus, Sirius, Andromeda, Phoenix and Crystal combine their powers and hurl them against Gemini who disappears into the sea of stars. But he is still alive as he prepares to fight against Athena. Gemini was struck by the curse of Nike, the goddess of victory who heals him before dying.

All characters and images of the Knights of the Zodiac are copyright Masami Kurumada / Toei Animation and the right holders. they are used here for cognitive and informative purposes.