Saint Seiya

Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya gave anime one of its most enduring templates: young warriors clad in mythological armor, the Cloths, fighting through ascending tiers of opponents in service of the goddess Athena. The 1986 series and its run of late-1980s feature films fused Greek myth with shonen tournament structure, and the sheer iconography of the Gold Saints shaped a generation of battle anime that followed.

The franchise has aged unusually well by reinventing its own canon. The 2002 "Hades Chapter" finally animated the manga's climax, while spin-offs like "The Lost Canvas," "Omega," "Soul of Gold," and the CG reboot "Knights of the Zodiac" explore new eras and characters. It also reaches into games via "Soldiers' Soul" and "Jump Force." Few 1980s properties remain this actively, and this variously, in production.

The Saint Seiya franchise spans 7 series, 1 games, 6 films in the CrossBinge catalog.