Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas

Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas tells the story of the previous Holy War, taking place in the 18th century, 250 years before the original series, in the Saint Seiya universe. The story centers on the fight between Tenma, one of the 88 Saints following Athena, and Alone, the reincarnation of the God Hades.[4] While the two were close childhood friends in Italy alongside Alone's sister, Sasha, the trio separated. Sasha was sent first to the Sanctuary and then, a short time later, Tenma was sent to the Sanctuary too; while Tenma had the Cosmos, the Saints' energy, awaken, Sasha was revealed to be the reincarnation of Athena. As years passes, everything that Alone paints is destroyed, and he is convinced that death means salvation by the god Hypnos and his follower Pandora. Alone then gathers Hades' soldiers, the 108 Specters to start a war against Athena.

During the war, the Saints and the Specters face off. Tenma and Sasha have to deal with Alone who starts making the "Lost Canvas", a vast painting of the earth, in the sky, so that after he finishes it, the entire world will die. With Alone still not being fully controlled by the soul of Hades, Pandora, alongside Hypnos and his brother Thanatos lead the Specters. However, as the two Gods are sealed by the former Saints Pope Sage and his twin brother Altar Hakurei, Alone invites the few remaining Saints to the Demonic Temples located in the Lost Canvas. Once the Saints go through the Temples, it is revealed that Alone is not possessed by Hades and is instead using the god's powers for his own motives. Additionally, Tenma's parents, Mephistopheles Yōma and Owl Partita appear as Specters in the Temples to force their son to transform his protective Pegasus Bronze Cloth into the most powerful armour, God Cloth. With the God Cloth, Tenma and his future reincarnations will be able to fight the Gods and aid Athena in ending all wars.

Following several battles in the Temples, Tenma faces Alone one-on-one with the former managing to defeat the latter, causing the Lost Canvas' destruction. Shortly afterwards, Alone is possessed by Hades who aims to kill Athena. Hades is forced by the souls from the deceased Saints to escape to the last Demonic Temple, and Tenma, Sasha, and Alone decide to follow him. The three manage to defeat Hades but they never return to Earth. The two surviving Saints, Libra Dohko and Aries Shion, then prepare for a possible future war against Hades. Libra Dohko was assigned to permanently watch over the seal of Hades and 108 specters, while Aries Shion reconstructs and leads the Athena's Sanctuary.

Shiori Teshirogi met Masami Kurumada in a public event she once visited during the time she was a new manga author. In such event, Teshirogi sent Kurumada the first manga she made as well as a letter which made Kurumada ask her to write The Lost Canvas. Although she was happy with such proposal due to the fact Saint Seiya has always been her favourite manga, she found troubles writing it since she used to write shōjo and Lost Canvas was meant to be from the genre shōnen. In order to do that, Teshirogi had to change various things from her style such as the narration and getting used to how to draw fights. Before the manga started, Kurumada sent Teshirogi a general version of the manga's story, but as long as the series continued, she started changing some parts after discussing with people from Akita Shoten. Additionally, the characters designs and Cloths were based on the second season from the Saint Seiya anime adaptation (known as Asgard), but she combined them with her own style.[5] When Teshirogi was purposed to start The Lost Canvas she was informed that the series would last a few volumes. However, when the tenth volume was published, she was surprised by the series' length which she found amazing.[6]

In the making of the series, emotions are what Teshirogi pays attention the most when she is drawing which makes remake several of the illustrations she makes. In both Saint Seiya and Lost Canvas, her favorite character is the Pegasus Saint, who has become the one she likes drawing the most.[5] When creating Tenma, Lost Canvas's Pegasus Saint, Teshirogi checked if Tenma's words would be like the ones from Seiya, but she realized that both characters had different personalities.[7] The Cancer, Pisces and Taurus Gold Saints were developed with Teshirogi's idea of what she could do with the ones from the original series. When she received comments that these three Lost Canvas Gold Saints are more interesting than the ones from the original series, she answered that she did not mean to give them any special treatment. The characters' names are created according to their origins and constellation such as Pisces Albafica whose "Alba" portion of his name was developed when Teshirogi was thinking of roses' names.[5]

The Lost Canvas has spawned a few merchandise items. Three CDs have been released, one with the opening and ending theme songs called "Realm of Athena" and "Hana no Kusari" respectively. The other CD contains the original soundtrack for the first season of the anime adaptation, released on September 25, 2009. Two characters from the series, Pegasus Tenma and Bennu Kagaho, have been released as part of Bandai's Saint Seiya - Myth Cloth figure series. Other merchandise include a microfiber towel, a pocket mirror and two puzzles.[28]

During its first week, the volume 13 from the manga sold 25,238 copies in Japan.[32] All the Gaiden volumes of Lost Canvas did not enter the top 30 best-selling manga in Japan. During its first week, the Lost Canvas Gaiden 2 sold 21,000 copies in Japan and stood on the 30th place of most sold manga in December 2011.[33] During its first week, the Lost Canvas Gaiden 8 sold 24,000 copies in Japan and stood on the 44th place of most sold manga in August 2013.[34] During its first week, the Lost Canvas Gaiden 9 sold 19,100 copies in Japan and stood on the 48th place of most sold manga in December 2013.[35] During its first week, the Lost Canvas Gaiden 10 sold 22,000 copies in Japan and stood on the 47th place of most sold manga in June 2014.[36]

According to a booklet that came along with the fifth Anecdotes volume, the twenty-five volumes of The Lost Canvas has sold about 6.7 million copies only in Japan (by 2013).[37]

The anime series has received generally positive reviews by anime critics. It has been praised for it being accessible to viewers who have no knowledge of the original Saint Seiya despite being a prequel, and at the same time it allows fans from the original to view events from a different point of view.[38][39] While the use of characters was noted to be common within Japanese series in general, the delivery from various of them such as Tenma's and Alone's relationship was noted to be enjoyable.[39] The animation was noted for standing out "beautifully" mostly in fights.[40] Although the attacks performed by the character was found unintentionally funny by UK Anime Network as a result of its names, the notable display of violence made the reviewer wonder whether the show should be aimed towards a young audience.[39]

In the interview with Nelson Akira Sato, president of the audiovisual distributor Sato Company, official distributor of The Lost Canvas in Brasil, confirmed that the original author, Masami Kurumada did not renew the rights with TMS Entertainment to continue with the animated adaptation of the manga.[41]

• Shiori Teshirogi's Blog (in Japanese)
• Official OVAs website (in Japanese)
• Official OVAs News Blog Archived October 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
• Official VAP website Archived January 10, 2017, at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
• Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia