History Awesome / SaintSeiya

** The final moment of the fight where Seiya proceeds to unleash the Golden Arrow on Abel. He faces a lot of mixed emotions, and is visibly torn between confusion, anger, yet a desire to acknowledge Seiya. This last emotion jolts him into deciding he has to put down Seiya for trying to surpass him. Extra points for Seiya actually SUCCEEDING!

* Seiya, {{Determinator}} extraordinaire, has his five senses removed. Saga then gloats he is just a living lump of meat with a dead brain, but then Seiya gets up for more, and manages several attacks on Saga in this state. He eventually manages to crawl all the way to Athena's shield, and to save Athena in the nick of time.

* Athena has her moments, too. When Shaka is given the order to kill Athena with Pandora's trident, he takes the opportunity to chuck it back at him, and Athena (who hadn't previously been able to do this) '''catches it''' in midair. When the trident is given back to Hades and he tries to take off her head as per agreement, she stops it again, with her bare hands touching the blades, and tells him to take her life ''only after'' the lives of everyone else on Earth have been ensured. LadyOfWar, thy name is Saori Kido.
* Seiya has legions of {{Determinator}} moments, but some mention has to be made for the moment he gets up and a God Cloth materializes on him. Both PhysicalGods Thanatos and Hypnos are [[ThisCannotBe visibly destabilized]]. The accompanying music is also awesome, and the lull in the music before the low chorus sells the OhCrap moment for Thanatos as it exactly dawns upon him WHAT they are dealing with.

** Milo outright admits if he had not been wearing a Gold Cloth, he would have been killed, since Hyoga hit all of his vital points in the split second he received a lethal blow. In his own words, he won the battle of life and death, but lost the fight proper.

** The most awesome moment is Shiryu's counterattack as he pulls a successful BarehandedBladeBlock against Shura's AbsurdlySharpBlade, that had just destroyed his shield and Cloth; and lands a hit on Shura that has him reconsider his opponent's power level, and realizing he has to get serious.
** Also a very nice callback to Shiryu's fight against Seiya, showing Shiryu was now fully willing to use his weak point as bait to cripple his opponent, having conquered his fear of death and understood fully what a HeroicSacrifice entails.

** In the manga, Saga outright states a [[WizardDuel psychic fight]] between both would end up in a One Thousand War. Saga acknowledged Ikki as his equal as far as illusions were concerned.

* Seiya, Determinator extraordinaire, has his five senses removed. Saga then gloats he is just a living lump of meat with a dead brain, but then Seiya gets up for more, and manages several attacks on Saga in this state. He eventually manages to crawl all the way to Athena's shield, and to save Athena in the nick of time.

** His battle with Camus' best friend, [[ToThePain Scorpio]] Milo isn't bad either. This is the battle Hyoga turned into a Seiya level determinator by surviving everything Milo throws at him including [[OneHitKill Antares]].

* Hyoga deserves mention for his fight against Milo where he overcomes his FatalFlaw, and thanks to ThePowerOfFriendship, finally achieves what he failed to do against Camus: the Seventh Sense.

** Hyoga took the 15th blow of Scarlet Needle, Antares, and lived. The sheer determination pushed Milo to heal Hyoga, because he started doubting his own cause, and because he wanted to see how far Hyoga would go.

** Shaina lets her soldier finish off Seiya after she softened him up. Except Seiya is ''still'' a Bronze Saint ''and'' has figured out how to properly use his Cloth during the beating. Cue the soldiers being casually defeated... And Shaina getting her mask broken by an attack ''too fast for her to follow''. That's when Shaina relents and lets him go, with a warning that next time she'll be wearing her Cloth too.

** A more subtle one, overlapping with CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: when after she and Seiya [[spoiler: take a SuicidalGotcha to escape Shaina and another Silver Saint anf gain time]], she faces a ''very'' upset [[spoiler: [[{{Yandere}} and jealous]] ]] Shaina with all the tranquility of the world, ignoring her insults and pretty much telling her "I cannot fight, yes, but no way I'm abandoning Seiya after [[spoiler: he got himself almost killed for me]]". This is a sweet girl without ''any'' fighting skills, who is facing a very arrogant and strong DarkActionGirl without even batting an eyelid, in a situation where almost any other girl would faint out of fear. That proves that [[PluckyGirl Saori]]'s got huge balls, erm, BoobsOfSteel, dammit.

* A Meta example: The ''Legend of the Crimson Youth'' is a crowner for animated movies for its time. It has absolutely gorgeous SceneryPorn, CrowningMusicOfAwesome all over the place, and a level of animation quality that involved an insane budget for the time. It is to this day remembered very fondly, as it even surpasses the 200x Hades {{OVA}}s and the 2004 Tenkai-hen movie in quality.

* The entire fight between Shaka and the three Spectres and ex-Gold Saints, Saga, Camus and Shura. Shaka nearly defeated all three with his most powerful attack, Tenbu Hōrin, to the point that they have to use a forbidden technique, the Athena Exclamation (its power is equal to the Big Bang) to kill him. [[spoiler: Turns out that Shaka had planned all this since he already had the Eighth Sense (The very reason why he's called the closest man to God) and goes in to Hell alive.]]

* Shiryu winning his fight against Alberich through wits and strategy. He had the right equipment to deal with "Amethyst Sealed" that Alberich kept on spamming, and mental discipline to avoid falling prey to Nature Unity, while still unable to make a proper counterattack, locking the both of them in a stalemate. His answer? Remove his cloth, pulling a ISurrenderSuckers to taunt Alberich into using "Amethyst Sealed" [[AwesomenessByAnalysis one too many times now he knows the technique in and out]], taking the blow safely enough withotu his shield, while dealing the killing blow.

*** Even more meaninful when you recall that one of Shaina's insults was [[spoiler: asking Saori "Where did you learn to do ''that''?!" when she caught her leaning on Seiya to kiss him.]] Yeah, Shaina basically ''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar slut]][[SlutShaming shamed]]'' Saori. And yet Saori didn't take the bait.

* In spite of [[OneSceneWonder his small screentime]], Sagitta Ptolemy has one: he [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu mortally wounded Saori after she awoke her divine Cosmo]], and ''under four opposing Saints' noses to boot''. [[SmallRoleBigImpact Thus started the Twelve Temples Arc: to save Saori from what he had done her]].

** When Seiya tries to match powers with [[PhysicalGod Abel]], being hit by his own attacks, yet powering through and coming back for more. Abel has the mother of [[ThisCannotBe]] moments as he realizes how fearless Seiya is, thinking he can overpower a God, and doubting he MIGHT just succeed!

* When Ikki is at the mercy of Thanatos [[spoiler: after both the Leo Cloth and the Phoenix Cloth have been stripped away from him]], who comes to his aid? ''Shun'', who has regained the Andromeda Chain and subdues Thanatos' arm. Ikki [[BigBrotherInstinct has saved Shun]] many times over the course of the series, and now Shun's able to return the favor for his beloved elder brother.

* A Meta example: The ''Legend of the Crimson Youth'' is a crowner for animated movies for its time. It has absolutely gorgeous SceneryPorn, CrowningMusicOfAwesome all over the place, and a level of animation quality that involved an insane budget for the time. It is to this day remembered very fondly, as it even surpasses the 200x Hades {{OVA}}s and the 2004 Tenkai-hen movie in quality.

** Don't forget that this is the same boy that was willing to put his Cosmos on the line in order to help Hyoga revive after his fight with Camus. A boy this caring and gentle doesn't need to be on this team, but damn if he isn't a great asset anyway.

* [[TheLancer Dragon Shiryu]] gets his Moment of Awesome during his second fight with [[PsychoForHire Gold Saint]] [[AxCrazy Cancer]] [[BloodKnight Deathmask]]. [[spoiler: After he uses his telekinetic powers to grab Shiryu's adoptive sister and possible love interest [[NaiveEverygirl Shunrei]] and [[DeathByFallingOver throw her into the Rozan cascade]], a near dead Shiryu that has been reduced to a soul and drained of fighting spirit makes [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya the biggest come-back]] ever from the ''literal'' gaping mouth of Hell, [[BattleAura glowing cosmos]] and ''furious'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech included as he beats the freaking crap out of Deathmask, while at the same time asking him ''why'' he tried so hard to push his ONLY BerserkButton. Then, as Deathmask tries to go to the counterattack, he finds out that ''his own armor'' is so ashamed of his owner's evil actions that ''it refuses to protect his body'', which lets Shiryu kill him.]]

* A couple more at the beginning of the Asgard filler arc. [[spoiler:The BrainwashedAndCrazy Polaris Hilda attacks with a a lightning powered silver bolt. Cue all the Bronze Saint jumping out of the way, and when it seems that Saori is going to be hit she calmly unleashes her own golden bolt attack to protect herself.]] A little later, [[spoiler:while Saori is acting again as a [[BarrierMaiden Barrier Maiden]] to prevent the northern ice cap to melt due to Hilda neglecting her duties, the God Warrior Thor attacks her with his Mjolnir (which is basically [[AnAxeToGrind a double axe]] that works as a boomerang). The blade comes a hair width from Saori's throat, and then gets pushed back to the sender by her cosmos. [[WorthyOpponent Thor himself]] is impressed and says "she ''really'' deserves being named Athena".]] And in both moments, [[PluckyGirl Saori]] does this [[DissonantSerenity without even]] [[NervesOfSteel batting an eyelid.]]

** After surviving the above beating, Shiryu comes back for the second round wearing his Cloth (something that catches Deathmask completely by surprise, as he thought Shiryu had either been killed by his attack or drowned), and, thanks to his fury after overhearing Deathmask explain his SocialDarwinist ideology, inflicts him a Rozan Shoryuha that actually ''moves back'' the Gold Saint... And [[LetsGetDangerous enrages him enough to get half-serious]], at which this point he starts to use his technique the Sekishiki. Had Mu not arrived there, Shiryu would have died there, ''messily''. But as he would have to fight two Gold Saints to finish him off, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Deathmask decides to retreat]]... And starts walking away in ''mid-air'', before ''disappearing somewhere else through the waterfall''.

** Speaking of which, Shun and Hyoga face her in that occasion, with Shun launching his Nebula Chain at a charging Shaina. Shaina ''jumps on the chain and runs on it to kick Shun in the face'', and then starts inflicting a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to Hyoga. The only reason they manage to turn the tables on her is that she kicked Shun only once, so he recovered enough to provide a distraction just long enough for Hyoga to hit her with the Diamond Dust and throw her down the same cliff where Corvus Jamian had fallen to his death. The two Bronze Saints were happy for having ''finally'' gotten rid of Shaina... Except she survived (hinted when the bottom of cliff is shown and [[NeverFoundTheBody Jamian's body can be seen, but Shaina is nowhere to be found]].

** After surviving the above beating, Shiryu comes back for the second round wearing his Cloth (something that catches Deathmask completely by surprise, as he thought Shiryu had either been killed by his attack or drowned), and, thanks to his fury after overhearing Deathmask explain his SocialDarwinist ideology, inflicts him a Rozan Shoryuha that actually ''moves back'' the Gold Saint... And [[LetsGetDangerous enrages him enough to get half-serious]], at which point he starts creating a ''black hole''. Had Mu not arrived there, Shiryu would have died there, ''messily''. But as he would have to fight two Gold Saints to finish him off, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Deathmask decides to retreat]]... And starts walking away in ''mid-air'', before ''disappearing somewhere else''.
*** The black hole [[OhCrap terrified Dohko]]. ''Deathmask scared a Gold Saint far stronger than he was, one who survived the war against Hades''.

* [[TheLancer Dragon Shiryu]] gets his Moment of Awesome during his second fight with [[PsychoForHire Gold Saint]] [[AxCrazy Cancer]] [[BloodKnight Deathmask]]. [[spoiler: After he uses his telekinetic powers to grab Shiryu's adoptive sister and possible love interest [[NaiveEverygirl Shunrei]] and [[DeathByFallingOver throw her into the Rozan cascade]], a near death Shiryu that has been reduced to a soul and drained of fighting spirit makes [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya the biggest come-back]] ever from the ''literal'' gaping mouth of Hell, [[BattleAura glowing cosmos]] and ''furious'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech included as he beats the freaking crap out of Deathmask, while at the same time asking him ''why'' he tried so hard to push his ONLY BerserkButton. Then, as Deathmask tries to go to the counterattack, he finds out that ''his own armor'' is so ashamed of his owner's evil actions that ''it refuses to protect his body'', which lets Shiryu kill him.]]

* One of the most famous example in the saga: Douhko's old body starts to crack like a shell, and a younger body emerges from the old one. The young Libra Dohko has returned!.
* The entire fight between Shaka and the three Spectres and ex-Gold Saints, Saga, Camus and Shura. Shaka nearly defeated all three with his most powerful attack, Tenbu Hōrin, to the point that they have to use a forbidden technique, the Athena Exclamation (its power is equal to the Big Bang) to kill him. [[spoiler: Turn out that Shaka has planned all this since he already had the Eighth Sense (The very reason why he's called the closest man to God) and go in the Hell alive.]]

** Athena's Pope detaling what Seiya and Cassios got through for the right to a mere Bronze Cloth;

** The flashback of Seiya learning about Cosmo: at his third year of training Seiya chops a rock but fails to even scratch it, Marin chastises him for being at his third year and failing such a basic task as she grabs the rock and ''pulverizes it with a '''squeeze''''', then she gives her iconic explanation about Cosmo and has Seiya repeat the exercise. He punches a rock on the ground-and makes a ''crater''.

** Let's not forgot Ikki taking on Seiya, Hyoga, Shun and Shiryu at the same time in the 1st arc of the manga. It takes Seiya being protected by The Sagittarius Gold Cloth, Shun's Chains, Shiryu's shield and Hyoga's ice to bring him down.

* While in the Anime Marin is considered a FauxActionGirl, [[PluckyGirl this doesn't stop her at all]] from curbstomping the Psychic Silver Saint Canes Venatici Asterion. Note that Asterion effortlessly defeated Seiya with his PsychicPower and Million Ghost Attack. Marin, who had been knocked out by the physically stronger Silver Saint Cetus Moses regains consciousness, proceeds to save ''herself'' from the inverted crucifix she's put in, and then proceeds to NoSell Asterion's mind-reading, along with the same Million Ghost Attack that Canes used on Seiya. She then unleashes her own original technique, Eagle Toe Flash to near effortlessly defeat Asterion, who couldn't read Marin's mind the second time around, since she managed to make her mind completely empty and impervious to his powers, cue OhCrap reaction. Still a crowner because she could pull that after having taken a beating from Moses and being in aforementioned inverted crucifix.

* Ikki as he unleashes a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Lymnades Kasa in an epic PunctuatedPounding CurbStompBattle. The most awesome part is that Ikki is jut in TranquilFury the whole time, moving leisurely, and punching the guy for every single of his TrueCompanions that he dared MindRape. He even scores a near FlawlessVictory, if only for the fact Kasa figured his weak point but was already dying and could not actually turn it against him. If anything, it makes Ikki even more awesome since it shows he still has a human side deep down.

* A couple more at the beginning of the Asgard filler arc. [[spoiler: The BrainwashedAndCrazy Polaris Hilda attacks with a a lightning powered silver bolt. Cue all the Bronze Saint jumping out of the way, and when it seems that Saori is going to be hit she calmly unleashes her own golden bolt attack to protect herself.]] A little later, [[spoiler: while Saori is acting again as a [[BarrierMaiden Barrier Maiden]] to prevent the northern ice cap to melt due to Hilda neglecting her duties, the God Warrior Thor attacks her with his Mjolnir (which is basically [[AnAxeToGrind a double axe]] that works as a boomerang). The blade comes a hair width from Saori's throat, and then gets pushed back to the sender by her cosmos. [[WorthyOpponent Thor himself]] is impressed and says "she ''really'' deserves being named Athena".]] And in both moments, [[PluckyGirl Saori]] does this [[DissonantSerenity without even]] [[NervesOfSteel batting an eyelid.]]

* Shun's third CMOA comes in the Poseidon arc. [[spoiler: When facing Scylla Io, the Mariner general used an attack that was actually six in one on a "low" setting to taunt him. However, since ItOnlyWorksOnce and Shun's chains are stated as early as the first tournament arc as being hyper adaptive to enemy attacks, Shun proceeds to ''counter each of his attacks'' differently, destroy his armor, and bind him in chains.]]

* Episode 20 of the anime has the one fight that should have been in the manga but never was: Ophiuchus Shaina versus Pegasus Seiya, both wearing their Cloths and going all-out. And, at the sound of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHcJ9jiNhD0 Final Soldier]], the battle provides awesome for both fighters:

* The third and final battle between Seiya and Shaina is again one for both: for Seiya because, after nearly dying in the first two encounters, he finally ''defeats Shaina'' with the Pegasus Suiseiken-Pegasus Rolling Crash that had defeated Misty; for Shaina because not only she had the upper hand until the Suiseiken (and even parried the Ryuseiken with ease once again), but, differently from Misty, she ''survived''-and later came back for a new attempt on Seiya's life, with Seiya actually being scared for his life.

* Seiya vs. Misty in the manga because the closest Seiya gets to a deus ex machina finale is merely that his cloth is brought to him just at the start of his first fight with Misty. The second fight features him throwing a 'Comet' punch, actually damaging a hefty chunk of Misty's Cloth, followed by throwing back Misty's signature move, then finally grabbing him and torpedoing him to the bottom of the sea and finally wining.

* Episode 20 of the anime has the one fight that should have been in the manga but never was: Ophiuchus Shaina versus Pegasus Seiya, both wearing their Cloths and going all-out, and it's made of awesome for both fighters:
** For Seiya, because he went against a Silver Saint out for his blood, and actually gave her a run for her money.
** For Shaina, because she ''mauled'' Seiya, and by the time they're finished she's a bit winded while her opponent is bleeding and defenseless.