Saint Seiya

Saint Seiya (聖闘士星矢(セイントセイヤ), Seinto Seiya), also known as Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac or simply Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1990, with the chapters collected into 28 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. The story follows five mystical warriors called the ""Saints"" (聖闘士(セイント), Seinto, or ""Knights"" in some adaptations) who fight wearing sacred armors named ""Cloths"" (聖衣(クロス), Kurosu), the designs of which derive from the various constellations the characters have adopted as their destined guardian symbols, and empowered by a mystical energy called ""Cosmo"" (小宇宙(コスモ), Kosumo). The Saints have sworn to defend the reincarnation of the Greek goddess Athena in her battle against other Olympian gods who want to dominate Earth.The manga was adapted into an anime television series by Toei Animation that ran from 1986 to 1989, before being continued in the form of three original video animation series between 2002 and 2008. Four animated feature films were shown in Japanese theaters from 1987 to 1989, with a fifth in 2004 and a sixth in 2014. Since 2006, creator Kurumada has been publishing a sequel manga titled Saint Seiya: Next Dimension. Several spin-off manga by different authors have also been created, as well as a standalone anime and original net animation.Saint Seiya has been very successful, with over 34 million copies sold in Japan alone. The series began to be known in the West as Knights of the Zodiac after it became popular in France in 1988, where it was given the name of Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque; this was also the first foreign release of the series. Both the original manga and the anime adaptation were also successful in other Asian, European and Latin American countries however, none of them were translated into English until 2003. In North America the manga is licensed by Viz Media, the anime has been released by both DIC Entertainment and ADV Films, and the first four films were released by Discotek Media.