Saint Seiya is a episode anime adaptation which closely follows the manga (Japanese comic book) of the same name across the span of over 100 episodes and three major story arcs; Sanctuary, Asgard (only told within the anime), and Poseidon. The series was produced by Toei Animation and was directed by Kozo Morishita and then by Kazuhito Kikuchi (during the 'Asgard' and 'Poseidon' story arcs later on).
The Sanctuary story arc involves a Japanese youth, named Seiya, tasked with obtaining the 'Pegasus Bronze Cloth' from Greece's Sanctuary. This cloth is actually a suit of body armor worn by the 88 warrior 'Saints' of the goddess, Athena. When Seiya obtains his cloth, it awakens his inner spiritual essence; a force hearkening back to the Big Bang. Seiya quickly assumes title of Pegasus Saint and enters into a tournament, known as the Galaxian Wars, where all Bronze Saints fight for the supremely powerful Sagittarius Gold Cloth. If Seiya wins the tournament, he will not only win the Cloth, but also be able to search for his missing sister.
While the Galaxian Wars seem to be the first major conflict, the actual trouble begins when the Phoenix Bronze Saint, named Ikki, appears. Ikki seeks to stop these contests of champions, where every contender is an orphan from a massive catastrophe prior to the series' beginning, by separating the Sagittarius Gold Cloth armor into pieces.
Seiya and a few other Saint friends take Ikki on in a dramatic battle. Eventually Seiya and his friends Hyoga, Shiryu, and Shun, defeat Ikki. Worried that other Saints might rebel against Sanctuary, the Sanctuary's Pope sends a squadron of Silver Saints to eliminate the Bronze Saints before they become too powerful. The Sanctuary arc concludes with Seiya and friends traveling across the globe to investigate twelve temples of the Zodiac, ultimately to save his still-living sister from Saga, the Gold Saint Gemini. When the series jumped to North American shores, under license by DIC Entertainment, it was renamed Knights of the Zodiac. Only the first 32 episodes made it to air, with all content, like blood, heavily edited. 3 decades ago Eventually, Athena Saori is revived.
The light from the Athena's Sheild reaches to her. The Gold Saint of Libra, the mentor of Dragon Shiryu tells the truth to the other Gold Saints what happened 13 years ago, and that Saori is the reincarnetion of Athena. Saori moves to the Athena's Shrine from the foot of the Sanctuary through the 12 rooms of the Gold Saints, saving other Bronze Saints, Shiryu, Hyoga and Shun by the miracle power of Cosmo. In Athena's Shrine, Seiya is about to death, beaten by Saga of Gemini, Seiya helped by Ikki. And other friends, Shiryu, Hyoga and Shun. Suddenly, the Gold Cloth of Gemini is removed automatically against Saga's intention. Finallly, Saga killed himself by sticking the Athena's Rod.
His personality of good regrets his sin. Thus, the battle comes to one end. The evil is disappeared from the Sanctuary. 3 decades ago The battle in Sanctuary is about to end after making a lot of sacrifices. In spite of losing his precious friend Shun, Seiya has managed to go through the twelve houses and broken into the Pope's room being helped by Marin. There he finds Pope regretting his sinful conducts with tears. Pope tells Seiya to head for Athena Shrine in order to save Athena but soon after that turns into the reincarnation of the evil.