Finally, he changed his manga title as well, to Saint Seiya, once he fully developed the concept of the Saints. First he spelled the name with the kanji that meant "Holy Arrow", to relate it to Seiya's condition as a Saint, but later decided to use the kanji that meant "Star Arrow", to emphasize the constellation and mythological motif. However, as Kurumada continued developing his manga, he decided to change the name to Seiya, which was more fitting. When Kurumada was in the process of creating Saint Seiya, he gave Seiya the name Rin at first, since Kurumada was going to title his manga "Ginga no Rin" (Rin of the Galaxy). Initially, he could not decide what type of armor it would be, considering even Buddhist kasaya based on the Greek motif, he designed the actual Saint Cloths.
Besides from fashion, the Cloths were created because Kurumada wanted characters to throw explosive sparks and the armors was a way to give them some protection. Although they look like European medieval armors, Kuramada said his main inspiration for the Cloths was Hajime Sorayama's 1983 illustration book Sexy Robot. After the quick cancellation of his previous work, Otoko Zaka, in 1984, this "fashion sense" was something Kuramada thought would be an aspect that would attract fans, making it different from his previous manga with simple high school uniforms. However, the basic concept of Saint Seiya was to be a nekketsu manga with a "fashion" touch added by the Saint Cloths. Since he thought simple sports like judo or karate would not be interesting enough, he added aspects from Greek mythology and constellations to make it innovative. He was initially inspired by The Karate Kid (1984) to conceive a story about a young karateka named Seiya found by a karate master and his female assistant however, his publishing department did not approve the idea. The tournament is interrupted by the Black Saintsand Phoenix Ikki.Īt first, Kurumada planned to create a wrestling-themed manga as he enjoys writing individual sports rather than collective sports. THe other participants are several other of the orphans that were taken and raised by the Graad foundation, such as Dragon Shiryu, Andromeda Shun and Cygnus Hyoga. He returns and is forced to participate in the Galaxian Wars by Saori Kido. He was raised by the Graad foundation, and prior to being sent to his training, he made a deal that if he obtained a Saint's Cloth, he would be helped in his search.
The young man Seiya becomes the Saint of Pegasus, one of the goddess Athena's 88 Saints in his search to find his missing sister.