Saint Seiya: Saintia Shō (聖闘士星矢・セインティア翔, Seinto Seiya Seintia Shō) is a spin-off manga of Saint Seiya, written and illustrated by Chimaki Kuori.
An interquel to the original Saint Seiya, Saintia Sho is set in the same time as the original story. While the original Bronze Saints were preparing to fight each other during the Sanctuary arc, Shoko, a young girl, meets Saori Kido who is the reincarnation of Athena. She discovers quickly that her sister Kyoko she believed to be trained in a private school has, in fact, become a Saintia, a female bodyguard to the goddess. But another evil goddess appears: Eris, goddess of strife and discord.
Eris wants to use Shoko as a future host, and to destroy the world but fails, using Kyoko instead. Shoko will have now to free her sister and protect Athena from whatever threat will appear.
There are five core cast members, including:
- Shoko: The Equuleus Saintia after inheriting her sister's cloth.
- Mii: The Delphinus Saintia and Athena's personal servant.
- Xiaoling: The Ursa Minor Saintia, a quite energic lady.
- Katya: The Corona Borealis Saintia, a very cold person.
- Erda: The Cassiopeia Saintia.
An anime produced in cooperation between Toei Animation and GONZO has been confirmed, and went on broadcast for 12 episodes in December 2018 on Prime Video via anime's official website
. Crunchyroll is streaming it in many western countries.
Saint Seiya: Saintia Shō provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Gives some very interesting insights in the thought process of some characters.
- We get to see what Aphrodite's thoughts in regards to Athena and justice are.
- Saori has a chat with Saga's good personality.
- Played With a bit in Deathmask's case: he keeps an ambiguous attitude of utter callousness and disregard for human life, but Erda seems to hint for one second that he might have done this because there was no other choice (debatable, though). Deathmask however is amused at Erda actually managing to burn three hairs on him, and then spares her just because of that.
- The anime adds more about Aiolia's feud with Saga regarding his older brother Aiolos being framed as a traitor and killed.
- Always Save the Girl: Rigel, former Orion silver Saint, has joined Eris to protect Kyoko, turned sides against Até to prevent her from stealing Kyoko's life, only to then fight Milo who saw Kyoko as a threat for humanity.
- Another Side, Another Story: The story takes place concurrently with the one from Saint Seiya, with many characters for the latter making appearances and referencing its events.
- Back from the Dead: Gemini Saga's evil half comes back to life as one of Eris' followers.
- The Corruption: Mayura warns Shoko about the poison she senses in her. If Shoko had failed to control her strong desire to save her sister, she would have become a puppet for Eris.
- This is what the Evil Seeds are ultimately.
- Then it turns out she is herself corrupted by one of Eris' Evil Seeds, allowing her access to Eris' temple in the first place... She suppressed her five senses to stave off the corruption, but it is a question of time before she succumbs.
- Demonic Possession: Shoko was supposed to become Eris's host, but the goddess failed. Twice. Eris therefore used her sister Kyoko instead.
- Demoted to Extra: The Saintias do not fight a lot, but the Gold Saints on the other hand...
- Disability Super Power: Mayura, the Pavo Saint, doesn't leave her wheelchair and suppressed her five senses in order to become more powerful.
- Distaff Counterpart: Besides the concept of the Saintias being similar to Athena's appointed bodyguards, each of the Saintias is one to Saint Seiya's principal cast:
- Shoko to Seiya, due to their main character status, inheriting a cloth from a elder sibling figure (Shoko from her actual sister, Seiya with the Saggitarius Cloth from Aiolos), and both having equine themed Cloths. She's also one to Subaru. Both are Equuleus Saints who inherit the cloth from their dying previous users, and both are Soul Jars to their respective Big Bad.
- Xioling to Shiryu, for being the Anime Chinese Girl and the Chinanote character respectively.
- Katya to Hyoga, for their similar power set and their Nordic heritage.
- Mii to Shun, as they're the most feminine of the group.
- Erda to Ikki, as she's one of the strongest in her group and has the more rebellious personality.
- Hell, even Kyoko seems to be one to Aiolos for their respective roles in the story.
- Dreaming the Truth: Shoko remembers having nearly been possessed by Eris, only to be saved by Milo, the Scorpio Saint.
- Dynamic Entry: Erda, storming into Eris' castle riding her motorcycle.
- Gendercide: The reason why we never see other Saintias? They were all murdered.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Kyoko did it twice to protect her little sister and Athena.
- I Did What I Had to Do:
- Milo's rationale for killing Eris/Kyoko. He doesn't like it, but leaving Eris loose is not a viable option either.
- Played With in one instance : Erda witnesses Deathmask kill everyone at the academy, and gets extremely angry at this. His rationale is that they were going to be turned into breeding grounds for more Dryads. Erda then wonders if Deathmask actually did this merely because he had no other choice, but he confirms that it was just the quickest way to be done with the mission.
- I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Shoko gets her cloth from her sister.
- Kidnapped by an Ally: Sort of. Athena is kidnapped by a Gold Saint, Aphrodite, and is transported to the Sanctuary where the fake Pope has a little chat with her and begs her to kill him, until his evil personality shows up and threatens Athena. The good personality then saved her by sending her in an inter-dimensional portal, where Aphrodite caught her and took the Goddess back to her mansion. Aphrodite makes it clear that since Athena passed an opportunity to end the conflict right there, he considers her to be weak-willed, which means she can't protect Earth and Humans, so he will continue to serve the Pope until proven wrong.
- Meanwhile, Back at the…: The Saintias evolve in parallel to the Saints of the original manga. They fight Eris and train while the latter fight each other and Silver Saints sent by the Sanctuary, then they are sent to Eris' temple to fight evil spirits while the Saints go the Sanctuary along with Athena.
- Military Academy: Shoko apart, the other Saintias were trained in a special academy which is not under the authority of the Sanctuary.
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: The dichotomy is emphasized between the Saintia - chaste, pure and virginal - and Eris' followers, depicted in sexy attitudes and poses along with her servants.
- Something about a Rose: Aphrodite uses roses to either weaken, put to sleep or kill enemies.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The Gold Saints, to the detriment of the Saintias.
- The Stinger: Following Eris’s defeat, her Golden Apple falls into hands of Ares, the God of War.
- Time to Unlock More True Potential: Athena can be impressive, but her body is still young and she can't use her full powers. She shows her huge cosmos to help the Saintias, but it leaves her almost powerless.
- Tomboy: Shoko. She has a big appetite, a headstrong personality, and practices karate in a dojo regularly.
- Virgin Power: The Saintias are chosen based on their purity, only becoming Saintias if they are among the purest of virgins or maidens. This becomes an actual plot point when they have a diplomatic mission with the Goddess Artemis.
- War for Fun and Profit: Eris has a thing for conflict between humans. And gods, if possible.
- When Trees Attack: Eris's army, the Dryads, is plant-themed.
