"Saint Seiya in 28mm?" Topic

Does any manuacturer make any models that would be suitable for Saint Seiya/Knights of the Zodiac characters?
(It may be not so popular in the US but in Italy the anime is considered a classic, and the manga sells well).

Some wiki info here: link

piccies here (Italian fan site): officiante.net/ssit/gallery

Great show. I used to watch it back in the day in Japan. Now I have the box sets. But I doubt there is anything close to the armor designs in minis. And I'm not sure they ever did trading figures from that show either. I know they do/did make like 3 inch action figure/model kits of alot of the characters. HLJ.com had alot of them on sale not too long ago.

Wolvermonkey
yes I know about those but the smallest I could find are 3 inches gashapons, way too big for gaming (unless it's kaiju).
I watched the show when it aired in Italy and I am now reading the "perfect edition" Italian translation of the tankobon (sp.?) trade paperbacks (22 volumes out so far in Italy)

The only maker of true anime-style metal figures for gaming I know of is FM Kikaku in Japan, and they don't have Saint Seiya figures.

Are you planning on doing an anime supplement for SBH?

- Eric

Momoiro
do you have a link? I continue to pester all gashapon/figure importers I know. I simply can't believe that something as gameable as most action anime series is not translated into minis.

No supplement plans for the moment, just reading SS and realizing it could make for cool gaming. On related news, the kaiju game is being written.. slowly.. as I re-watch my Godzilla and Ultraman DVDs…

ganeshagames.blogspot.com

Not to talk about how much I would like an Hokuto no Ken miniature series.

You can look for FM Kikaku at: homepage1.nifty.com/fmkikaku

The sculptor is a hobbyist, so many of his [older?] works are a bit crude. His figures are of the SD variety, and those from actual anime series were created for Wonderfest, so they are no longer produced. He does not seem to list prices for the lines that he does produce though.

The only other Japanese maker of metal miniatures that I am familiar with is:
aurora-model.jp/e-index.html

Their miniscule fantasy line is on par with typical N. American and European miniatures. The sculptor's technique is very interesting, as it seems he creates the figures out of a block of putty, rather than building a figure up out of an armature.

- Eric

(It may be not so popular in the US but in Italy the anime is considered a classic, and the manga sells well).

I think the original series hit Japan a bit too early to attract the attention of one of the few (at the time)professional translation studios, and by the time those studios were numerous and looking for material the series was "old and corny". It did finally get professional translation a few years ago, but "old and corny" still applies from what I've seen.

For miniatures you may be stuck with tightly dressed martial artists and green stuff. A couple of the Anime Tactics minis have a similar vibe (animal themed armor) but nothing quite like Saint Seiya.

Seiya was adapted well into Italian (they changed a few of the names to make them easier to spell to Italians). It was on air 10 years ago and it still is now (reruns, on demand TV channels).

In comics, I like old and corny stuff :-) I am having a blast reading stuff like 60's and 70's Lee/Kirby (thanks Marvel for Marvel essentials) and from Japan the Tezuka, Nagai and Ishinomori stuff that is having a "second youth" in Italy thanks to the nostalgia effect.

These read like "comics" to me, while the modern productions feel too much like "this is how they will shoot the movie when they will do it".