InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "RAWR!"

icon_uk (icon_uk) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-24 23:24:00

Entry tags:

char: cypher/doug ramsey, char: poison ivy/pamela isley, char: robin/nightwing/dick grayson, char: warlock, creator: masami kurumada, in-joke: bondage, title: saint seiya

Continuing my "Reprints from the old S_D, just for the heck of it"
To prove that my life does not revolve completely around finding new images of Dick Grayson in assorted bondage peril*, I present this manga selection for you...

I've always been a sucker for Masami Kurumada's "Saint Seiya" series from the 1980's.

Predating Ronin Warriors, and Sailor Moon, it has a neat concept combining some of my favourite things; astronomy (and astrology), mythology, a terrific soundtrack and a fabulous line in action figures (Which thanks to geeks growing up, have been being released in new ranges even now)

For those unfamiliar with the concept, essentially the Greek goddess Athena is periodically reincarnated into the world to help defend Mankind from the less pleasant Gods who also reincarnate at various times; Poseidon, Eris, Hades and even Odin (sort of, his warriors are tricked into attacking by Poseidon)

Serving her are the Saints of Athena, who each wear armour patterned after a constellation. The 12 Gold Saints of the Zodiac, 24 Silver Saints, and 48 Bronze Saints (and 4 unrevealed, possibly elemental Saints).

Our hero is Seiya, the lowly Bronze Pegasus Saint, and one of the few to believe that the young girl Saori Kido is really Athena. There are forces in the Greek Sanctuary of Athena which would find it inconvenient if this turned out to be true, but that's a long story.

He is accompanied by four other Bronze Saints, who are looked down upon by all other Saints (for starters they are Bronze Saints, and secondly, they are mostly Japanese, which is unheard of for Saints); Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun and Ikki. One of the most fun elements was the transformation of the armour (always called "Cloths" for Athena's Saints), and the manga went out of it's way to try and work through the logic of the armour folding up, hinging and rearranging....

Pegasus Seiya

Draco Shiryu

Cygnus Hyoga

Andromeda Shun, and yes, Shun here is a boy

Phoenix Ikki, Shuns big brother and the major bad ass of the base team.

Libra Dohko - I'm only posting one Gold Saint, and that's only because I'm a Libra, and I like the design of the armour

Silver Saint Ophichius Shaina (Minor trivia, Ophichius has moved over the centuries and is now in the plane of the ecliptic, so should really be included in the zodiac, but try telling an astrologer that)

Chameleonis June (The use for the eyepieces was perhaps inevitable)

Later in the series we meet some of Poseidon's General's who each wear their own armours, the Mariner Scales

Thetis the Mermaid

Sorento the Siren (It's nice that they actually remembered that in the original Greek myths, the Siren's weren't mermaids, they were bird like creatures.

Io of Scylla - One of the neater designs, and Scylla is composed of six different beasts; bat, wasp, wolf, serpent, eagle and bear

* Oh, okay, you twisted my arm! :) And these are the other reasons for re-posting this particular post....

These are my latest sketchcards, courtesy of a British based Japanese artist who specialises in manga art.. Her name is Sanna U, and whilst she often makes cards available on e-bay (Id kame-urashima) she very, very rarely takes customer commissions. So when I saw she had an auction up for just that, to celebrate her first batch of personal sketchcards I couldn't resist....

I managed to indulge most of my likes in short order... I asked for Warlock and Cypher, and then had the notion that since Warlock often formed armour around Doug, why not go for something a little different from their usual Macross/Robotech style armour and assume that Doug (Who I can easily imagine being an anime fan would have read or seen Saint Seiya at some point) and Warlock obliging.

It's not patterned after any extant Cloth, but I think it's rather cute!

My second card is... something else! :) I asked for "Robin... in some form of restraint, possibly with a slightly distressed costume". To say I could hear the "SQUEEEE!" in her reply when I asked for it is an understatement, and boy howdy did she put her heart and soul into THIS piece. Remember that the original for this is sketchcard sized

So I got not only a beautifully entangled Robin (Sanna U actually apologised for not putting a gag in, I told her not to worry, as I don't think Robin would be making coherent sounds at this point anyway) but also Ivy AND Batman blowing a head-gasket in the background. Even a Teen Wonder can only resist someone like Ivy (and all those twining and probing vines) for so long

(Post a new comment)

	suzene 2009-03-24 07:07 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, YUM! On both counts. (Reply to this)

	smirnoffmule 2009-03-24 07:49 pm UTC (link)
	My. That costume is distressed. Have we had much bondage Robin post-apocalypse? If we have I've missed the posts. If we haven't, I must respectfully clamour for more. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-03-24 07:52 pm UTC (link)
	Not a whole lot, not from me at any rate, I'll see what I can do about that before too long. We've only been here for a month, but we don't want to start getting a reputation for being wholesome or anything! (Reply to this) (Parent)

sailorlibra
2009-03-24 08:28 pm UTC (link)

Libra Dohko - I'm only posting one Gold Saint, and that's only because I'm a Libra, and I like the design of the armour

While I hate to hate on Libras, that is possibly the least functional thing to transform into ever. At least most of the other characters have legs and arms--though Andromeda seems to be lacking legs also, something I don't remember from the myth. Of course, none of the outfits seem particularly functional, so that may be a moot point.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-03-24 08:39 pm UTC (link)
	I think you're getting it the wrong way round; the armours "at rest" state is in the representational form of the constellation or mythical beast. It only becomes functional when it breaks apart and forms around the saint when they wish to fight. When it's in it's representational form it's like a statue or icon, it has no ability to influence things. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ulf_boehnke 2009-03-25 05:05 am UTC (link)
	I admit I thought they were some kind of Transformers at first, too. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-03-25 05:16 am UTC (link)
	I should perhaps have posted this link to show how they work! (And Shun has never looked more like a girl than in this clip!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK-ufuPbaNI (Reply to this) (Parent)

	parsimonia 2009-03-24 09:24 pm UTC (link)
	I just feel the need to point out how Robin's panties are torn as well. That is all. =) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-03-25 03:12 am UTC (link)
	Heavens! How dreadful... I will have to return it to the artist to make sure that they're fixed! Thank you so much for noticing, otherwise I might have let this... laviciousness remain indefinitely! (Reply to this) (Parent)

ceru
2009-03-24 09:33 pm UTC (link)

You know what's kind of sad and embarrassing? I've been reading manga for years, including tons of shoujo manga and even some yaoi, which gives me more than enough exposure to delicate male character designs to recognize the signs--and when I first read Saint Seiya, I still couldn't believe Shun was male, even with the manga-ka's clearly articulated female characters hanging around to compare against. I am so lame.

(Reply to this)

	gwalla.livejournal.com 2009-03-24 11:49 pm UTC (link)
	I thought Scylla just had the upper body of a woman and a lower body composed of a pack of hungry wolves? This version looks like a cross between Scylla and the chimera. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-03-25 02:43 am UTC (link)
	Most versions of the Scylla and Charybdis have her with multiple heads on long necks to snatch sailors from the ships, this alters the multiple wolves into a bunch of animals for variety. (Reply to this) (Parent)

janegray
2009-03-25 03:08 pm UTC (link)

I remember as I kid I was always quite perplexed that Shun was much girlier than any girl I had ever met. Even if you ignore the pink armour (seriously, a pink armour?) and the name (in the adaptation I watched, he wasn't named Shun, he was actually named Andromeda; nearly all the knights were renamed so that their battle name became their real name), his looks, voice, attitude, poses, and the ability to get constantly carried in the arms of other men (usually his brother) were pretty unusual even among bishounens.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-04-02 05:42 pm UTC (link)
	Some of the most masculine men I know wear pink, and wear it well. Shun... well, he was only supposed to be about 14, so I'll cut him some slack! :) And it was quite common to refer to the Saint's by their constellation, the same way you'd call a soldier "Sergeant" or "Lieutenant" even if that's not their given name. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

janegray
2009-04-02 05:59 pm UTC (link)

Oh, I don't have a problem with men wearing pink. All men in my country, including my own father, regularly wear pink: it's considered perfectly masculine here.

But a pink armour? That's too much, it was ridiculous even on Wonder Girl (yeah, I know it was supposed to be bronze, but it looked pink to me).

And while Saints are often referred to by their constellation, in Shun's case it was really a matter of "straw that broke the camel's back": you already look, sound, pose, act and dress like a stereotypical girl, and then you name yourself Andromeda too?

(Reply to this) (Parent)

liarashadowsong
2009-03-26 10:56 pm UTC (link)

Squee! You posted some Cloth sketches from the backs of the Saint Seiya manga volumes! I love this series! ...If anyone is considering collecting this series and wants slightly more preview before special ordering the books (I don't know about your local shops, but I always have to special order my copies of this series, which is why I don't have volumes 24 or 25 yet), I'd be happy to post a few scan selections (once I have a chance to get to my copies, most of which are at home whereas I'm at my dorm).

Also, that second card is seriously yummy.

(Reply to this)

	ex_menagerie993 2009-03-27 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	Hrmmm. I watched Saint Seiya in Japan as a child. I adored it, even had a few toys. I think the Andromeda armor might explain a few of my naughtier bits. Mmmmm bound up Robin. (Reply to this)