# Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (2009)

> A prequel to the Saint Seiya franchise in which three childhood orphans, reunited as the gods Pegasus, Hades and Athena, are pulled into a sacred war between their divine factions.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/54734

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 26
- Episode runtime: 24 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, action, fantasy
- Cast: Tetsuya Kakihara, Hiro Shimono, Aya Hirano, Atsushi Abe, Sanae Kobayashi, Shin-ichiro Miki, Kenta Miyake, Nana Mizuki
- TMDB rating: 8.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2152368/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: graphic
- Tone: melancholic, sincere, tense, bittersweet

## What critics say

Audiences rate this prequel to the Saint Seiya franchise highly, praising its dark, emotional take on the original mythology and its strong character drama.

## Synopsis

Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (2009-2011) is a Japanese animated shounen action fantasy series produced by TMS Entertainment, a single-season prequel to the Saint Seiya franchise adapted from the manga. Tenma (voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara), Alone (Hiro Shimono) and Sasha (Aya Hirano) were orphans who protected one another in childhood and vowed to meet again. Years later they find themselves reconnected in roles they never expected: Pegasus, Hades and Athena. The engine of the story is the sacred war between the forces of Athena and Hades, a conflict that forces old friends and families to face one another across the battlefield. Each episode mixes sword-and-cosmos combat with flashback-tinged emotional scenes that tie the mythic warriors back to their shared past. Set in an ornate, 18th century Greek-myth world, the show is melancholic, sincere and bittersweet, with fierce fights and a tragic undercurrent. Across its 26 episodes it plays as one continuous war arc rather than standalone adventures. Fans of Saint Seiya, Fate/Zero and Attack on Titan will find resonance in its blend of mythic battle, loyalty and devastating personal stakes.

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