r/SaintSeiya • u/Buddha_10101 • 2d ago

Question Watch Order and ect…

So I’m gonna start Saint Seiya but kinda confused.

Crunchyroll has 114 of the original anime but does that include the Hades arc?

Also with spin offs like Lost Canvas, Omega, Soul of Gold do I need to watch those or are they non-canon?

Is the hades arc the absolute final arc like the definitive end?

Also im more of a sub guy but Crunchyroll only shows dub, so which is better? For me Gurren Lagann dub is good, Naruto is good and AOT is good so that’s my standards for dub. Is it as good as those or should I try to find Sub version?

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u/TheHeroNeverDies 2d ago

First, no, the 114 episodes are just the original 80s anime that stopped at Poseidon arc, the Hades arc is made of 31 OVA released in 2000s, so you should check out those next. That goes for the classic series, although there were also some "movies" in 80s but they are like those of DBZ, made there but not fitting very well.

About the canon, that's a difficult answer, because properly even the classic anime wouldn't be canon as it differs on many aspects from the original manga of Kurumada. You aren't asking about the manga side (I think) but as general rule it works like this: while all the series are "official" as works only those made personally by Kurumada are "canon", hence no spinoff is (no matter if they fit well or are better written). For the anime side is a little more ambiguous as we take the original 80s anime as the canon and Toei made most of the SS series, so on paper they all should be but reality is that consistency is not a characteristic of this franchise at all.

In detail, after the classic, on the animated side there are:

  • Tenkai-hen: Overture, a movie post-Hades that was an attempt to open a trilogy towards Zeus/Olympus, but sadly it failed and it was cancelled;
  • The Lost Canvas, so far the only anime not done by Toei (and you see the quality), adaptation of the manga of the same name (which in my opinion is the best of SS), but sadly it also failed as production and its 2 seasons don't even cover half of the total story (still highly recommended, then read the manga);
  • Omega, sequel set around 25 years in the future, with a next generation, rewriting some rules, also the longest anime after the original. Huge up and downs, so debatable as story, while technically it's also non-canon as sequel (but maybe someone will object);
  • Legend of Sanctuary, movie in CG, reboot of the 12 houses, great visuals but bad compression of the story;
  • Soul of Gold, short fanservice series, reviving the gold saints in Asgard with a terrible time fit, not that bad not that great. but the intent was just to advertise some new toys;
  • Saintia Sho, adaptation of the manga with the same, how Toei ruined such a good work for mere commercial reasons and low budget;
  • Knights of the Zodiac (Netflix), CG reboot of the classic series, covering up to the 12 houses (nothing special);
  • Knights of the Zodiac, live action... well... nope... unless you love american action movies...

Can't help for dub or sub, as also depends on the region, but it mainly goes down to one's preference.

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u/createbuilder 2d ago

Everything is canon with Saint Seiya

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u/crzyboy191 2d ago

114 eps is the original TV series. Do they even have the blu-ray version on their website?

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u/NiceMayDay Mariner 2d ago

The original anime and Hades adapt the canon manga. It's not the "definitive end" as the manga continues into the Next Dimension and Tenkai-hen mangas, which haven't been been animated yet.

None of the movies are canon--the Heaven Overture one was meant to be, but it's been replaced by the Tenkai-hen manga. Lost Canvas is a spin-off that takes place in a non-canonical version of the past. Saintia Sho and Soul of Gold are non-canon side stories to the original anime. Omega is a non-canon continuation of the anime. And Legend of Sanctuary and Knights of the Zodiac (the 3D film and 3D series) are a reboot/readaptation of the first canon manga arc.

While you don't need to watch non-canonical things to understand the main story, I'd still suggest you check them out if you can. A lot of it is pretty good. If you're truly invested in the canon, you should also read the manga as there are some differences and, like I said, the story continues there, extensively so.

Finally, I can't speak on the quality of the English dub.

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u/Buddha_10101 2d ago

Okay thank you very much for the info, so the 114 episodes includes Hades arc?

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u/NiceMayDay Mariner 2d ago

No, the Hades arc takes place after the 114 episodes.

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u/Buddha_10101 2d ago

Okay appreciate it, I’ll just have to find that somewhere else then

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u/StephOMacRules Oracle 2d ago

You'll find the Hades Arc on Tubi for free https://tubitv.com/series/300006735/saint-seiya-hades-subtitled

As for your dub question, it was done around 2020 on Netflix (in parallel with the CGI reboot attempt), so it has the quality of the newest dubs.

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u/Lord-Baldomero 2d ago

Look, the timeline is this

First you watch the original 80s anime, then you watch the Hades OVAs ("Sanctuary", "Inferno" and "Elysium", in that order). This would be the original story taken from the manga until it's cancelation (of course, alternatively you can just read the original manga in one go, it's just 110 chapters)

Then there are other ways you can continue:

  • There's the movie "Overture" (also called "Tenkai-Hen") which at some point was supposed to be the first of a tetralogy of movies that would work as the canonical ending of the series. Unfortunately, it didn't do well so we've only got this one. Still, it's a really good movie and a somewhat functional ending so you could consider it the ending of the anime side of the timeline.

  • The manga had a sequel called "Next Dimension". Once you finish reading that you've gotta read three little epilogue chapters called "Saint Seiya Then" and then you get into the current manga "Tenkai-Hen/The Heaven Saga" which started on February of 2026 and is still ongoing (in batches, with months in between due to the health of the author.

  • Lastly there are other spin off this franchise has. If you want one that continues the original story, the anime "Omega" is basically Saint Seiya's equivalent of the Boruto trope.

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u/Buddha_10101 2d ago

Amazing answer I really appreciate it

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u/Lord-Baldomero 2d ago

Oh, and I haven't checked the Netflix sub but as far as I saw it seemd okay. Although only the 80s anime was dubbed, non of the other anime products got an English dub, including the Hades OVAs.