Saint Seiya: Next Dimension
Encyclopedia
, also known as simply Next Dimension, is an ongoing manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada
Masami Kurumada
is a Japanese manga artist and writer, known for specializing in fighting manga featuring bishōnen and/or mahō shōnen. He is famous as the creator/author of popular manga, such as Ring ni Kakero, Fūma no Kojirō, Saint Seiya and B't X. His male protagonists are a reflection of the classical and...

. It is a prequel and continuation to his manga series Saint Seiya
Saint Seiya
, also known as Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac or simply Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1991, and adapted into an anime TV series by Toei Animation from 1986 to 1989.The story follows...

; placed during the previous "Holy War" between the deities Hades and Athena and their respective minions; the Specters and the Saints, during the 18th century; in the franchise's fictional chronology. It is published by Akita Shoten
Akita Shoten
is a Japanese publishing company established on August 10, 1948 in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its main editorial target has always been teenagers , and it currently publishes mostly manga...

 in the weekly magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion
Weekly Shonen Champion
is a weekly shōnen manga magazine published by Akita Shoten.- History :Shōnen Champion was first published 15 July 1969. It has had numerous popular series by manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai, Shinji Mizushima, and Keisuke Itagaki...

at irregular dates. It is also known by its alternate subtitle , which is used during publication to refer to the segments of the storyline set in the 20th century, as opposed to the Myth of Hades subtitle, which refers to the segments set in the 18th century.

At the release of the first collected volume (tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

) of the series, Next Dimension was confirmed to be canonical within the universe and chronology conceived by Kurumada for Saint Seiya.

Plot

Saint Seiya Next Dimension was conceived by Masami Kurumada as a prequel to his Saint Seiya manga, parting from elements revealed in it but never further developed and explored then, hence, he started writing and drawing Next Dimension by opening the storyline in a prologue, with a flashback to the last battle of his original manga, contained in vol. 28. As Kurumada progressed in his work, he also decided to use Next Dimension as a vehicle to continue the story of his original manga, by means of the narrative of two simultaneous storylines, one set in the past, and one in the present.

In the year 1990, in Elysion
Elysium
Elysium is a conception of the afterlife that evolved over time and was maintained by certain Greek religious and philosophical sects, and cults. Initially separate from Hades, admission was initially reserved for mortals related to the gods and other heroes...

; the five Bronze Saints of Athena Seiya
Pegasus Seiya
, also known as Seiya, is a fictional character from the Saint Seiya universe created by Masami Kurumada as the main protagonist of the media franchise, which originated in the eponymous manga written and illustrated by Kurumada, later adapted to anime, and subsequently inspiring soundtracks, OVAs,...

, Hyōga, Shun
Andromeda Shun
, also known as Shun is a fictional character from the Saint Seiya universe created by Masami Kurumada as one of the main protagonists of the media franchise, which originated in the manga written and illustrated by Kurumada, later adapted to anime, and subsequently inspiring soundtracks, OVAs,...

, Shiryū
Dragon Shiryu
, also known as Shiryū, is a fictional character from the Saint Seiya universe created by Masami Kurumada as one of the protagonists of the media franchise, which originated in the manga written and illustrated by Kurumada, later adapted to anime, and subsequently inspiring soundtracks, OVAs,...

 and Ikki
Phoenix Ikki
is a character from Saint Seiya, a manga written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada which was later adapted to anime. Ikki is the Phoenix Bronze Saint and older brother of Andromeda Shun...

 are locked in deadly combat. Having wreaked havoc in the Underworld's army of Specters and succeeding in resurrecting their armors into "God Cloths", they engage the god Hades in a final duel to the death. During the battle, Hades remembers that he has seen Seiya's face before and comes to the conclusion that he faced him before. He thus starts reminiscing about his previous host body, and the story starts 247 years prior, in the 18th century. The protagonist, the Pegasus Saint of this era, is an orphan who is best friends with a boy named Alone, the host of Hades in this era. Former Bronze Saints Dohko and Shion, two prominent characters in Kurumada's original manga as the sole survivors of the holy war of that century, have just been promoted to Gold Saints and eventually the two duos share a meeting.

Production & Style

Masami Kurumada first announced the start of the follow-up to his famous Saint Seiya series in 2006. On April 21 he posted an image of Hades, Lord of the Underworld, on his blog.
Short chapters came to be published once or even trice per month due to its sporadic release until January 4, 2007 when the next chapter did not get released until August 2, 2007. The series have kept up sporadic releases, with brief intervals of week-to-week publication, but Masami Kurumada updates his blog after a longer interval to show the next upcoming chapters. In Volume 2, in his personal message, Masami Kurumada apologies for the delay of the second volume; revealing that he was sick for a long time in the spring of 2009.

Following Masami Kurumada's traditional writing and drawing style, the storyline unfolds in typical shōnen
Shonen
The term refers to manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 10 and up. The Kanji characters literally mean "few" and "year", respectively, where the characters generally mean "comic"...

 manga narrative. In addition each chapter is presented in full color. The first chapter was initially called Prologue ①, however, the "①" was removed in the collected first volume. During the first 14 chapters, the borderline of the pages was colored to look like a starlit night sky, this was changed to standard white in part 14 and further chapters as well as a standard in compiled volumes. Parts 15 and 16 were published in a black & white format complemented by one color image each. The following parts have continued being released in black & white accompanied by various colored pages. The parts published in black and white will be available in full color in their respective volume compilation. Certain objects and pieces of information that was previously published in the Saint Seiya Encyclopedia are used in the story such as one of Athena's 88 armors, the Crateris
Crater (constellation)
Crater is a constellation. Its name is Latin for cup, and in Greek mythology it is identified with the cup of the god Apollo. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations...

 Silver Cloth. The characters Artemis and Touma were introduced in the fifth Saint Seiya movie
Saint Seiya Heaven Chapter: Overture
is a 2004 animated film adaptation of the anime and manga series Saint Seiya. Directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and written by Michiko Yokote and Akatsuki Yamatoya, the film was first released in Japanese theaters on February 14, 2004....

 which would serve as a continuation for the story. But the movie did not receive a sequel and the characters have since been incorporated into Saint Seiya: Next Dimension, hence becoming the canonical incarnation of said characters.

Characters

Main article: List of Saint Seiya characters

The following are some of the characters that have a prominent role in the chapters released to date. As the story progresses, some more characters have been introduced, and are expected to be developed further in future chapters.
  • Pegasus Tenma: The 18th century incarnation of Pegasus Seiya
    Pegasus Seiya
    , also known as Seiya, is a fictional character from the Saint Seiya universe created by Masami Kurumada as the main protagonist of the media franchise, which originated in the eponymous manga written and illustrated by Kurumada, later adapted to anime, and subsequently inspiring soundtracks, OVAs,...

     and the main character of the story.

  • Alone: The purest soul in the 18th century and the previous human vessel for Hades, god of the Underworld. A young painter who is an orphan and a close friend to Tenma.

  • Aries Shion: A former Bronze Saint promoted to Gold Saint, future Pope of Sanctuary.

  • Libra Dohko: A former Bronze Saint promoted to Gold Saint, future master of Dragon Shiryū.

  • Crateris Suikyō: Formerly the Crateris Silver Saint, master of Tenma and a well-respected soldier of Athena's army. Unknown events have led him to switch his loyalty to Hades, forsaking his destiny as a Saint and embracing a new one as the Garuda Specter in Hades' army. He also trained with Shion and Dohko during their childhood.

  • Andromeda Shun
    Andromeda Shun
    , also known as Shun is a fictional character from the Saint Seiya universe created by Masami Kurumada as one of the main protagonists of the media franchise, which originated in the manga written and illustrated by Kurumada, later adapted to anime, and subsequently inspiring soundtracks, OVAs,...

    : One of the main characters, he travels back to the past with Saori and is later separated from her in the 18th century. In the same way as Alone was in the 18th century, Shun is the human with the purest soul in the present.

  • Phoenix Ikki
    Phoenix Ikki
    is a character from Saint Seiya, a manga written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada which was later adapted to anime. Ikki is the Phoenix Bronze Saint and older brother of Andromeda Shun...

    : Another of the protagonists and brother of the Andromeda Saint, he reappears fighting off LaScomoune before leaving and traveling to the past.

  • Saori Kido
    Athena (Saint Seiya)
    The Greek goddess is one of the main characters in the Saint Seiya series, a manga authored by Masami Kurumada, which was later adapted to anime and originated three other spin-off manga.Kurumada created her character based on the Greek goddess of the same name...

    : She is the current incarnation of Athena, the goddess of justice and heroic endeavor. She, along with Shun, travels back to the holy war against Hades in the 18th century to save Seiya, but was turned into an infant by Chronos, the god of time.

Chapters

A prologue plus 35 chapters have been released to date, and have also been published in tankōbon form. The second tankōbon compilation was released March 8, 2010. The third tankōbon compilation was released on December 8, 2010. The fourth tankōbon compilation has been announced for release on December 8th, 2011.

Volume list



Chapters not yet in tankōbon format

  • Part 27: (published on September 9, 2010)
  • Part 28: (published on September 16, 2010)
  • Part 29: (published on September 24, 2010)
  • Part 30: (published on December 9, 2010)
  • Part 31: (published on December 23, 2010)
  • Part 32: (published on January 6, 2011)
  • Part 33: (published on January 13, 2011)
  • Part 34: (published on January 19, 2011)
  • Part 35: (published on January 26, 2011)
  • Part 36: (published on December 1, 2011)

Reception

During its first week, the first volume of the manga sold 30,618 copies in Japan and stood on the 22nd place of most sold in February 2009. The following week it had sold 57,426 copies, but had gone down to 27th place of most sold that month. After its first week the second volume lay on 9th place of most bought manga volume of march in Japan. During its first week, the third volume of the manga sold 44,200 copies in Japan and stood on the 17nd place of most sold in December 2010

External links

Japanese
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