Which Saint Seiya Character Has The Best Armor Design?

Growing up with late-night VHS tapes of 'Saint Seiya', one character's story kept punching me in the gut long after the credits rolled: Ikki, the Phoenix. Watching him go from an angry, abandoned kid to a fierce protector felt like reading someone's life in quick cuts — abandonment, brutal training on Death Queen Island, being sold into the Phoenix's path, and then the kind of loneliness that never fully leaves you. He’s beaten, betrayed, and forced into solitude so many times that his moments of tenderness — toward Seiya, Shun, and the kids he saves — hit like a miracle. What seals the tragedy for me is how Ikki's suffering is both external and internal. He survives horrors that would have shattered anyone, then keeps coming back because he chooses to protect others at the cost of his own peace. Even his mythic rebirth as the Phoenix is bittersweet: it's a beautiful symbol, but it’s also a cycle of burning pain and loss. Compared to other tragic arcs in 'Saint Seiya' — like Hyoga searching for his mother's frozen body or Shun's endless emotional burden — Ikki’s pain is raw, lonely, and purposeful. He’s the kind of tragic hero who makes you cheer for him while dreading what the victory costs him, and that's why, whenever I rewatch the Sanctuary and Hades arcs, his scenes are the ones that make me pause and stare out the window for a minute.

The scene that always gets my hair standing up is Shaka calmly closing his eyes and making the sky feel like a living thing. I've been a fan of 'Saint Seiya' since I was a kid trading VHS tapes with friends, and to me the question of "who has the most powerful cosmos" is deliciously messy — it depends on whether you mean raw divine power, technical mastery, or the capacity to inspire/transform others. If we break it down, literal cosmic/top-tier power belongs to the gods: Hades, Poseidon, and any Olympian-type figures introduced in various continuities. Hades' cosmos as a god of death is written as fundamentally different and larger in scope than any human saint's; it can warp reality, resurrect, and smother existence. But among mortals, a few Gold Saints stand out as having near-godlike cosmos: Shaka (Virgo) for his spiritual/technique dominance, Saga (Gemini) for raw destructive capacity and mental warfare, and Dohko (Libra) or Mu (Aries) for longevity and refined control. Seiya and the other Bronze Saints can punch through limits via sheer heart and the God Cloth, which temporarily elevates their cosmos to divine levels — remember the moments in the Hades arc when Seiya's blood or pure conviction changes outcomes. So if someone asks me bluntly, "who has the most powerful cosmos?" I'd say a god-level entity like Hades or Zeus in the series' cosmology. But if you want the most potent human cosmos on consistent display, Shaka and Saga are top contenders, with Seiya's God Cloth as the wild card. I love arguing this at conventions and late-night message boards — it never gets old.

On the highest level of 'Saint Seiya' canon as I read it, you can't really escape the gods. If we stick strictly to Masami Kurumada's main continuity — the original manga and his continuation 'Next Dimension' — the top slot belongs to Hades as a godly force and the cosmic hierarchy he represents. He's not just a tough opponent; he's literally a divine presence whose domain, followers, and supernatural laws make him the single biggest threat the Bronze Saints face. That doesn't always translate to cinematic one-on-one showdowns, but in terms of raw narrative weight and cosmic authority, Hades sits at the top. That said, I love arguing the nuance. If you define "strongest" as outright destructive potential, a full-power god (Hades, or a prime Olympian if you want to include them) wins. If you mean the strongest fighter who actually engages in hand-to-hand combat and showcases technique and cosmos control, I'd point to people like Shaka or Saga — they have feats, calm dominance, and metaphysical attacks that change the battlefield. And then there's Seiya himself, whose God Cloth and sheer will let him punch above the usual mortal limit; narratively he becomes a god-tier protagonist even if, by canon hierarchy, gods outrank him. So my personal read: Hades as the strongest canonical entity, with Shaka/Saga as the strongest Saints in combat terms, and Seiya as the ultimate narrative wildcard who reaches godlike status through growth and plot. It's messy, wonderfully dramatic, and exactly what keeps me re-reading scenes and debating with friends over ramen and rewatching certain fights in slow motion.

Late-night rewatching binges are where my love for overlooked characters grows teeth, and if I had to pick the most underrated fighter in 'Saint Seiya', I'd shout Shaina's name from the rooftops. She gets boxed into this 'antagonist with a crush' trope way too often, but there's so much more under that silver mask: discipline, conflicted honor, and a rare look at what it means to be a woman in the Sanctuary's rigid world. Her early confrontations with Seiya aren't just brash fights; they're her trying to reconcile duty with a strange empathy that she rarely allows herself to show. I still smile thinking about the quiet scenes — the off-camera moments manga readers get more of — where her gestures say what words never do. The anime sidelines her too much, but when she does act, it's decisive. Fans tend to rank glory by screen time and flashy attacks, and Shaina loses out because her development is subtle. She grows from antagonist into a complicated ally while always keeping that sharp edge, and she sacrifices a lot emotionally. Also, her armor design and swordplay are underappreciated; in cosplay halls and small fan zines I've seen, Shaina's armor reads better in close-ups, and her stance says discipline over showmanship. If you haven't revisited the manga panels where she confronts her own contradictions, give them a look — it'll change how you see the Bronze Saints' interpersonal webs. I find her quietly brave in a way that sticks with me longer than some flashier battles, and every time I rewatch there’s a new nuance I missed before.

I get asked this kind of thing a lot when people and I end up comparing notes over coffee or in comment threads. The bluntest, most useful way to put it is: if you mean the very first death you actually see on-screen/page in 'Saint Seiya', it’s not one of the big-name Saints at all but a nameless henchman/background soldier — those grim little casualties that pop up during early skirmishes. That’s the sort of thing the original anime and manga both sprinkle in, and it’s easy to miss unless you’re rewatching frame-by-frame or reading closely. Now, if you’re asking about the first named or notable Saint who dies, things get fuzzier and fans split. Different adaptations (the 1980s anime, the manga, movies, and later reboots) sometimes shuffle events or give extra scenes, so the first recognizable Saint death can vary depending on what you’re counting. Most people who dive into this end up comparing the early Sanctuary/intro episodes and then the tournament-style fights to pin down whether a minor Bronze or an early foe is the first to go. So my practical tip: if you want a definitive pick, rewatch the first handful of episodes or read the opening chapters of the manga with an eye for background casualties and named fighters — you’ll see what I mean. It’s a neat little detail that turns into a fun debate at conventions and in comment threads, and it’s one of those tiny dark beats that shows how brutal the world of 'Saint Seiya' can be.

My shelves are full of battered VHS tapes and a couple of dog-eared manga volumes, so this question feels like asking which flavor of nostalgia I want today. The short truth is: lots of characters in 'Saint Seiya' are pulled straight from Greek myth or from the constellations born out of those myths. At the top of the list you've got Athena (Saori Kido) — literally the goddess figure around whom the whole series orbits — and then the big mythic gods who show up as antagonists or plot pillars: Poseidon and Hades. Those three are the clearest direct lifts from Greek mythology. Beyond the gods, Masami Kurumada built most of his heroes and villains around constellations, and many constellations come with Greek myths attached. So Pegasus Seiya is named for Pegasus (think Bellerophon), Andromeda Shun evokes Andromeda’s tragic chain-and-rescue story, and Cygnus Hyoga draws on the swan imagery tied to Zeus and other myths. Even Phoenix Ikki is borrowing an ancient mythic bird that appears in Mediterranean stories, and the Gold Saints map to zodiac legends — Leo Aiolia (the Nemean lion vibes), Sagittarius and its centaur associations, Pisces Aphrodite borrowing a goddess name, and so on. If you want one character to point to as ‘based on Greek myth,’ Athena is the clearest single pick. But honestly, the series is practically a Greek-myth remix: gods, heroic names, monsters, constellations — all stitched together into the armor-and-cosmic-power tapestry that made me—and a lot of friends—obsessively rewatch the 'Sanctuary', 'Poseidon', and 'Hades' arcs. If you’re curious, try rereading a chapter while looking up the original myths; it’s like finding little cross-references that make the fights even sweeter.

Honestly, if you mean a single standout character that Masami Kurumada created for 'Saint Seiya', the easiest pick is Pegasus Seiya — he’s the protagonist of the whole saga. Kurumada didn’t just sketch a lone hero though; he created the entire core cast around Seiya: Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun, Ikki, and the goddess Saori (Athena) are all his creations, as are the legendary Gold Saints and the many villains and side characters that populate the manga and its adaptations. I still get a little thrill thinking about seeing Seiya’s first big move on the page — there’s something visceral in Kurumada’s linework and how he mixes shonen energy with classical myth. I found an old tankoban at a used bookstore years ago and reading those early chapters felt like discovering a wild fusion of Greek myth and high-octane friendship drama. If you want to point to one character when someone asks who Masami Kurumada created, say Pegasus Seiya — but also mention that he’s the architect of the whole Bronze Saint crew and the world they fight in, which is where the real charm comes from.

Whenever the Sagittarius Cloth comes up in conversation, I get a little giddy — that golden bow-and-arrow motif is iconic. The canonical Sagittarius Gold Saint is Aiolos, the noble guardian who saved the infant Athena and paid for it with his life. In 'Saint Seiya' lore he's almost legendary: brave, misunderstood, and ultimately the reason Athena survived. His sacrifice is what sets a lot of the series' events in motion, and his Cloth is tied to that protective, sacrificial image. What makes the Sagittarius Cloth extra fun for fans is that it doesn't stay locked to just one body in the story. Seiya ends up using the Sagittarius Gold Cloth at several key moments, and the imagery of him with wings and the golden bow is one of my favorite mashups — underdog Pegasus wearing the regal Sagittarius armor. In different arcs like 'Hades' and later spinoffs you see the Cloth manifest or empower Seiya, often producing the famous golden arrow that can turn the tide of a fight. I've got a tiny shrine of figurines and the Sagittarius piece always draws my eye. There's something satisfying about the contrast between Aiolos' tragic backstory and Seiya's scrappy heroics when he dons that same Cloth. If you're diving into the series, check scenes featuring Aiolos' past, then watch Seiya use the Sagittarius armor later — it's a neat emotional throughline that shows how legacies pass on in 'Saint Seiya'.