Apollo (Saint Seiya)

Infobox animanga character
name = Apollon
series = Saint Seiya


created by = Masami Kurumada(車田正美)
caption = Apollon, in a screenshot from the TenKaiHen movie
voiced by = Yamaji Kazuhiro (山路和弘)
creator = Masami Kurumada
gender = Male
nationality = Greece
class = Deity
paux1 = TenKai (The Realm of Heavens)
paux1 name = Domain
aux4 =
Saint Seiya TenKaiHen Josou Overture movie
aux4 name = First appearanceThe Greek god nihongo|Apollo|アポロン|Aporon|In japanese transliterated from the original greek name "Apollon" is he is a bonehaed one of the antagonist deities featured in the universe of the Manga Saint Seiya, authored by Masami Kurumada, that was later adapted to Anime. He was created by Kurumada based on the mythologic persona of the same name.

It is implied that, as in Greek mythology, he is the god of the sun, archery, healing, truth, light and bringer of plague, and brother of Artemis, goddess of the moon. In Kurumada's mythos, he is also brother to the goddess of Earth Athena.

To date, he has only appeared in the only one out of the five Saint Seiya teathrical releases that holds a canonical status: Saint Seiya TenKaiHen Josou Overture, as it follows the author Masami Kurumada's true chronology and manga plot. Not much has been revealed about Apollo, and even though he is a canonical character, he has never appeared in Kurumada's manga.

In early interviews about the eventual Heaven chapter of his manga, Kurumada stated that he wanted the Olympic Pantheon from Greek mythology to make an appearance, once he had finished the Hades arc. He wanted to introduce 12 divinities, to use both as antagonist or allies to Athena's Saints. Apollo was one of the gods he wanted to use, as well as Zeus, king of the Greek gods, whom he drew in an early conceptual sketch published in the Saint Seiya Encyclopedia.

At first, Kurumada wanted to publish the Heaven Chapter in manga form, written and drawn by him, as the fourth act of his popular comic Saint Seiya, but later, he decided to present the project in OVA format, beginning with a movie that would serve as opening for the Chapter(hence the name Overture), and continue the story with the progressive release of OVAs. He authored the script that was used for the fifth Saint Seiya movie, TenKaiHen Josou Overture, that would be the start of the Heaven Chapter, thus, it became the only one of the theatrical releases of the series to be granted a canonical status. In Overture, Apollo plays an important role, although he appears only at the final moments of the movie.

Unfortunately, Kurumada and Toei Animation (producer company of the anime adaptation and the movies of Saint Seiya) had discrepancies regarding the script, because the Heaven Chapter started right after the death of Hades, and those critical points of Kurumada's manga (the Hades arc of the manga was still unfinished in the anime, the finding of Seiya's sister Seika, the death of Hades, to name a few) had yet to be reached by the anime adaptation, and thus Toei thought changes to the script were needed to be made, to make the movie understandable to audiences familiarized more with the anime adaptation than Kurumada's published manga. Kurumada was unhappy with the results and the Heaven Chapter project fell apart, so Apollo's participation in the Saint Seiya universe was cut short, until Kurumada decides to retake the project of publishing his Heaven Chapter, this time, in manga form, as he afterward realized it to be the best choice.

The mighty brother of Athena

Apollo is a character created by Masami Kurumada, and as such, holds a canonical status, despite the obstacles the publishing of the Heaven Chapter encountered. He was the seventh Greek deity introduced by Kurumada in the universe of his manga Saint Seiya, and so far one of the most powerful, as stated by Athena herself. As his Greek mythology counterpart, Apollo is a tall, extremely beautiful young man, whose hair represents the flames of the sun, who seems serene as well as intimidating, and speaks with a deep voice.

Apollo appears in the final moments of the TenKaiHen Josou Overture movie, as Pegasus Saint Seiya desperately tries to save
Athena from being killed by her sister Artemis, who wanted to seize the domain of Earth, and kill her younger sister, for considering her weak and unworthy of being a deity, for her deeds on favor of the humans, who had gone as far as challenging and defeating the gods.

Apollo appears as Seiya launches his attack on Artemis. His arrival at the scene is received with horror by Athena, who immediately warns Seiya to refrain from attacking him, since his human abilities, and even hers, were dwarfed in an immeasurable way next to Apollo's, and thus, the only result of daring to attack him would be certain death.

Apollo then approaches his younger sister Athena and considering the fact tha she and her Saints have opposed fellow Olympian deities in the past, and defeated them, namely Poseidon and Hades, decides, in the same way as his sister Artemis, that Athena is no longer worthy of being a deity, and passes judgment on her and her Saints, sentencing them to death, for the unspeakable crime of raising their hands against the gods.

In the moment Apollo was about to consummate his sentence, he is stopped by Seiya. Apollo then states that humans have no right to existence, because of their rebellion against the gods, and have to be eradicated. Never hesitating to risk his life for the goddess he so devotedly serves, the Pegasus Saint states that maybe humans have done wrong, but there is still hope for them, gods have to tolerate them with tenderness, and give them guidance, for that is the reason why gods were granted immeasurable power. Noticing that Apollo disagrees, and is determined to begin human eradication with his death and Saori's, Seiya makes his Cosmo ablaze up to the limit, and stops Apollo's energy blast. With his full power, Seiya then launches a powerful attack on the seemingly invincibly deity.

Afterward, in a rather confusing twist of the movie plot, Seiya and Saori are returned to the starting point of the movie, with seemingly no memories of the events occurred, and apparently having never known each other. Kurumada explained that Seiya and Saori lost their memories, because of Apollo's doing, who, although at first he seemed like a cruel antagonist deity was, in truth, a benevolent and caring superior being, who moved by Athena's love for mankind, and Seiya's words and courage, decided that it would be best for him to forget everything related to his life as a Saint, and free him of his loyalty to Athena, and after all the battles he has fought during millennia in his subsequent incarnations, allow him to live a normal life, at long last. Kurumada also stated these events would have been explained in detail in the following OVAs had the project been successful, though it is unclear if Seiya's memory loss was contained in Kurumada's original script, or it was one of the changes Toei Animation made.

Because of the cancellation of the Heaven Chapter animated project, the aftermath of Seiya's and Apollo's encounter, and the events taking place after it, have yet to be revealed by Masami Kurumada.

Notes

*Masami Kurumada always used the original Greek form of the name Apollo, "Apollon", (Greek : Ἀπόλλων — Apóllōn) for his character.

*Although the Heaven Chapter animated project wasn't completed due to conflicts, the characters that first appeared in TenKaiHen Josou Overture, still hold a status as canonical characters, since they were created by the author Masami Kurumada.

*Kurumada still intends to publish the Heaven Chapter of his manga Saint Seiya, but it is unknown at this point if he will continue to use Apollo and the other characters he introduced in the TenKaiHen Josou Overture movie, or rework his script from scratch to accurately portray the ideas he had first envisioned for the Heaven (Zeus) Chapter.

*Though it is never mentioned during the movie, it is implied that Kurumada's Apollo possesses all the traits and attributes of his mythologic counterpart.

*Along Poseidon and Hades, Apollon and his sister Artemis are the only deities of the Olympic Pantheon that Kurumada has fully revealed in his manga, although Ares is mentioned in vol.1 and Zeus is mentioned in the TenKaiHen introductory manga.

*At the end of the TenKaiHen Josou Overture movie credits, Apollo appears briefly fighting Seiya, who wears a new form of the Pegasus Cloth. This new Cloth is one more of the loose ends from the movie that remain unexplained.

References

*Saint Seiya : TenKaiHen Josou Overture movie. Script written by Masami Kurumada.

*Saint Seiya TenKaiHen Josou Overture prologue manga appendix, by Masami Kurumada.