Scans_Daily

Long time members of s_d will be aware of my particular fondness for the 1980' managa series "Saint Seiya", also a highly successful anime which was a huge hit in France, Brazil, Spain and Italy (to name but a few) under titles like "Les Chevaliers Du Zodiaque", "Los Caballeros Del Zodiaco" and briefly (and disappointingly) as "Knights of the Zodiac" in English.

The original series ended in the 1980's (But can, amongst other things, be credited with being at least partly involved in Sailor Moon's creation (since the powers that be were keen for a female version of the same concept), and since then has been revived and continued since the early 2000's.

It has also had at least four spin offs; "Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas" which is set 200 years before the original series, "Saint Seiya: Episode G", which is set 7 years before the original series and going into more detail about certain characters, "Saint Seiya: Next Dimension", and "Saint Seiya Omega", a sequel series about the NEXT group of Saints, including one who is the son of one of the core cast in the original, and who has taken over his Dad's armour.

One issue that has been directed at the series is that, as a bishounen manga, it's full of attractive young men, but a litttle light on the female characters.

That's not to say there aren't some notable ones; the main characters all serve the reincarnation of Athena (but she plays self-sacrificing "damsel in distress" rather a lot), and the Silver Saints Shaina of Ophichius and Marin of Aquila in the original series, Yuzuhira of Grus in Lost Canvas and Yuna of Aquila in Omega are all at impressively high levels of badass, but the imbalance is notable.

However a new manga series starting in August (and replacing the soon to conclude Episode G) hopefully seeks to at least redress the balance. And courtesy of SSpedia, we have had

Meet Sho, the new lead Saint in the forthcoming "Saintia Sho" series.. ("Saintia" is a new term to be introduced for female saints, as opposed to the more literal "Female Saints" )





But she's not just a pretty face.



Now, I like many, originally assumed she was would be the Pegasus Saint, but it seems not. Her attack is NOT the classci "Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken!" (Pegasus Meteor Fist!") but "Equuleus Ryu Sei Ken". Equellus (The Foal) is a small constellation in it's own right... so it would seem she's going to be the Equuleus Saintia. Her Cloth is VERY similar to the Pegasus one, but similar cloths have been seen before.

Apparently the series is set just after the original Sanctuaty Chapter, and the antagonist will be Eris and her own Saint equivalents, the Dryads. (Thanks to the SaintSeiyaFriends Facebook page for this translated info)

The writer for this series is Chimaki Kuori, a female writer (or perhaps I should say "Writeria" :) ) who has worked on Gundam Wing manga series. The series looks set to follow the traditional Saint Seiya path of saints defending Athena as she strives against an opposing deity, but details are a little sketchy at present, but this is the first image of the new Cloth and I thought it worth mentioning.