| Alt Name: | Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya – Battle for Sanctuary |
| Story: | Eugene Son |
| Creator: | Masami Kurumada |
| Director: | Yoshiharu Ashino |
| Editor: | Mutsumi Takemiya |
| Composer: | Yoshihiro Ike |
| Opentheme: | "Pegasus Seiya" by The Struts |
| Endtheme: | "Somebody New" by The Struts |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 36 |
| List Episodes: |
|
| Runtime: | 23 minutes |
| Company: | Toei Animation Toei Animation USA Sentai Studios |
is a Japanese-American original net animation (ONA) series based on the manga series Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada.
Seiya, a young teen, is recruited by Alman Kiddo to become a fabled . The series follows the Bronze Knights as they fight prolific warriors in the quest of becoming Goddess Athena warriors, while Seiya at the same time is looking for his missing sister.[1] [2]
| Character | Cast | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| English[3] | Japanese[4] | ||
| Sienna Kiddo / Athena | Emily Neves | Fumiko Orikasa | |
| Pegasus Seiya | Bryson Baugus (Original) Crocket Groves (Child) | Masakazu Morita (Original) Yukiko Morishito (Child) | |
| Cygnus Magnus | Patrick Poole | Hiroaki Miura | |
| Dragon Long | Blake Shepard | Takahiro Sakurai | |
| Andromeda Shaun | Luci Christian | Satomi Satō | |
| Phoenix Nero | Adam Gibbs | Katsuyuki Konishi | |
| Chameleon Genet | Chaney Moore | Aya Hisakawa | |
| Unicorn Jab | Leraldo Anzaldua | Hideo Ishikawa | |
| Bear Geki | Adam Noble | Kohei Fukuhara | |
| Wolf Nach | Cameron Bautsch | Takeshi Kusao | |
| Hydra Ichi | Justin Doran | Masaya Onosaka | |
| Lionet Ban | John Swasey | Naoki Imamura | |
| Eagle Marin | Maggie Flecknoe | Fumiko Inoue | |
| Ophiuchus Shaina | Katelyn Barr | Yuka Komatsu | |
| Lizard Misty | Corey Hartzog | Hisafumi Oda | |
| Whale Morris | Courtland Johnson | Tetsu Inada | |
| Hound Asterion | Nathan Wilson | Ryohei Arai | |
| Crow Jamian | Justin Doran | Junji Kitajima | |
| Kerberos Dante | Joe Daniels | Eiji Hanawa | |
| Perseus Argol | Austin Tindle | Ryosuke Kanemoto | |
| Sagitta Tremy | Michael Wronski | Ryōhei Arai | |
| Cepheus Daedalus | Mark Mendelsohn | Keiichi Noda | |
| Aries Mu | John Gremillion | Takumi Yamazaki | |
| Taurus Aldebaran | Josh Morrison | Tesshō Genda | |
| Cancer Deathmask | Jay Hickman | Ryōichi Tanaka | |
| Leo Aiolia | Greg Cote | Hideyuki Tanaka | |
| Sagittarius Aiolos | Yusaku Yara | ||
| Virgo Shaka | Scott Gibbs | Yūji Mitsuya | |
| Libra Dohko | John Swasey | Hiroshi Iwasaki | |
| Scorpio Milo | Alejandro Saab | Toshihiko Seki | |
| Capricorn Shura | Jovan Jackson | Takeshi Kusao | |
| Aquarius Camus | Kregg Dailey | Nobutoshi Canna | |
| Pisces Aphrodite | Ry McKeand | Keiichi Nanba | |
| The Grandmaster | David Matranga | Ryotaro Okiayu | |
| Gemini Saga | |||
| Cleo | Christine Auten | Mie Sonozaki | |
| Cassios | Andrew Love | Toshitsugu Takashina | |
| Guilty | David Harbold | Masafumi Kimura | |
| Esmeralda | Juliet Simmons | Shino Shimoji | |
| Kiki | Kira Vincent-Davis | Umeka Shoji | |
| Shunrei | Hilary Haag | Haruka Terui | |
| Patricia | Lillian Jones | Yukiko Motoyoshi | |
| Mylock | Ty Mahany | Hisao Egawa | |
| Alman Kiddo | Axel Lutter | Katsuhisa Hōki | |
| Vander Guraad | James Belcher | Hideaki Tezuka | |
| Narrator | Marty Fleck | Hideyuki Tanaka | |
The series was first revealed to be in the works in December 2016 at CCXP in Brazil.[5] On August 2, 2017, Cinematoday.jp published an article which revealed that the project was a collaboration with Netflix to make a new adaptation of the manga and anime classic series. Yoshiharu Ashino was announced as the director, and Eugene Son among others as the writers. The first six episodes were released on Netflix on July 19, 2019, and loosely adapts the "Galaxian Wars" and the "Black Knights" arcs from the manga.[6] [7] Another six episodes that loosely adapt the "Silver Knights" arc were released on January 23, 2020.[8] [9]
A second season, titled, was announced on June 29, 2022. It premiered on July 31, 2022.[10] [11] Crunchyroll licensed the sequel outside of Asia.[12] Part 2 of the second season was announced on December 3, 2022 and premiered on April 1, 2024.[13] [14]
Initial backlash to the series began before it aired, when it was revealed that Shun, a male in the original manga and series, had been swapped to a female character. The writer of the series, Eugene Son, justified this change after thinking the Knights needed more female representation. He explained that while the original show had some excellent core concepts, the one thing that bothered him about it was that “the Bronze Knights with Pegasus Seiya are all dudes”. However, this decision received backlash from fans of the original series for a multitude of reasons. One example includes the complete erasure of explanation for Shaina's mask. The gender swap of Shun, who was the only main male character of the original series who did not fit in the stereotype of the male hero - slightly effeminate, sensitive and opposed to fighting - was seen as special interest pandering by some and reinforcing gender stereotypes by others.[15]
The Review Geek rated the series 3.5 out of 10.[16] Ready Steady Cut gave a 2.5 out of 5 rating and called the show "dull and uninspiring".[17]