Phoenix Ikki

Phoenix Ikki (一輝, Shine) is a character from the manga Saint Seiya, authored by japanese mangaka Masami Kurumada, and later adapted to anime. Although he was introduced later than the other four main bronze saints, Ikki's role in the story is quite significant -- he serves as the first antagonist in the series that the other bronze saints must defeat, as well as a powerful ally later in the series.

Character Outline

The Saint of Phoenix

While Ikki is officially recognized as a bronze saint, his base power easily places him well above most silver saints, and his reputation as a powerhouse is common knowledge among his peers and fellow Bronze saints. Even as a child, Ikki was known as the toughest kid of the 100 orphans, and would often defend his delicate younger brother Andromeda Shun from the other children. He could easily be recognized as the strongest bronze saint when it comes to raw power.

Ikki's personality is drastically different than his fellow bronze saints. He is very unlike his younger brother - who is almost the opposite of him: Shun is calm, soft, caring and very emotional, whereas Ikki is harsh, cold, aggressive, and very much of a loner. Fellow bronze saint Wolf Nachi once pointed out that it was very hard to believe Ikki and Shun were related due to the extreme difference in their personalities.

As noted by Kanon in the Poseidon arc and by Pandora in the Hades chapter, Ikki's cosmos is unique to him -- it is a cosmos full of hate, anger, and incredible aggression and power, but guided by his love for his younger brother, his friends and Athena. Although he dislikes working in groups, he comes to battle whenever Athena's saints need his help, and is often seen coming in the nick of time to save his younger brother from certain death.This tactic has always been exploited to their advantage, since the enemies are caught by surprise upon meeting/fighting him. He is a noble character, mature, and that does not doubt whenever it's necessary to sacrifice his life for his friends. Ikki is a complex character, very rich in nuances.

Power and abilities

Ikki is hinted many times to be the most powerful Bronze Saint as he always fight against the most powerful enemies. His power increases every time he killed and brought back to life as the myth of the phoenix. During his fight against Virgo Shaka Ikki could awoke the 7th sense and he is the only confirmed Bronze Saint to have awaken the 8th sense as in the Hades Arc he could enter the Underworld without wearing a cloth that has blood of Athena. As a saint, Ikki uses two techniques to dispose of his enemies to damage pyshical and mentally the opponent.
His physical attack is , which gathers forces of wind and heat into a concentrated point, then unleashed as a single blow. It can be used also to fight against multiple enemies. It should be noted that this attack is not punch in the manga and that it is only performed with the palms, although in the anime adaptation has been depicted in the same way as in the manga in several occassions, as in the fight of the Bronze Saints against Ikki for the Gold Cloth.
His mentally attack is , which is infamous for destroying the minds of its victims -- the technique is dealt from either a single fist or a finger, and sends various nightmare illusions to the opponent's brain. The opponent is then trapped within an illusion that is almost indistinguishable from reality. Ikki's Phoenix Illusion Evil Punch usually spells doom for the victim, unless he/she has an unusually powerful mind or cosmos.
In some battles Ikki first uses the Phoenix Illusion Demon Fist to paralyze the opponent and then the Phoenix's Wings Rise to finish him/her.

Constellation and the immortal Phoenix Cloth

The Phoenix Cloth represents the constellation Phoenix, which is associated to the immortal bird that is reborn from its ashes, found in folkore and mythologies of diverse cultures.

Ikki is connected to his cloth and constellation in more ways than one. The Phoenix cloth has the uncanny ability to reform from atoms if pulverized -- an ability that not even gold cloths have. Ikki himself can never truly die for good; while he can be killed, the constellation of the Phoenix grants him the power of resurrection. It is implied in the series that Ikki also receives a boost in strength from every revival as sometimes the cloth evolves. Unlike every other cloths that require a massive amount of blood to repair, the Phoenix cloth can regenerate as many times as it is destroyed without the need of outside aid. But just as the other bronze cloths had, the phoenix cloth, too, would come to evolve its design with each regeneration. The Phoenix has changed form twice in the anime so far. Changes:

• Manga 1st change: When Shaka reforms it from dust after bringing Ikki back from an alternative plane.
• Anime 1st change: When Ikki attacked Zeta Syd in the beginning of the Asgard chapter, his Phoenix Cloth took a new form empowered by the blood of Virgo Shaka.
• 2nd change in both: When Ikki reappears in Hell to battle Garuda Aiacos during the Hades arc.
• Manga 3rd change: When Ikki accidentally touched Athena's blood in the Elysium Fields, and along with Ikki's already heightened cosmos, prompted the cloth to evolve into the Phoenix God Cloth.

The Gold Cloth of Leo

Being born in the month of Leo, Ikki is allowed a bit of power from that constellation. As a result, when the bronze saints are faced with a threat that requires the aid of a gold cloth, Ikki is given the option to don the Leo armor. This is seen when the gold cloth assembled itself on him during the fight with Thanatos, the God of Death.

Notable People & Events

Guilty

Ikki's master on Death Queen Island. He trained him to become the Phoenix Saint. Nothing much is known about him, Kurumada referred to him in his manga as "Gulity, the mysterious Saint", and he was one of the Black Saints. His constellation is unknown, as are his origins and real name. He trained Ikki with brutal methods, and wanted him to become a being fueled purely by hate, with no consideration toward his enemy or innocents. Guilty wanted to transform Ikki into a mere [...] machine, with no feelings. Guilty was responsible for the accidental death of Esmeralda, and used it to force Ikki to succumb before anger and hate. Enraged by Esmeralda's death and by Guilty's lack of humanity, Ikki killed his master in the last trial he faced before becoming the Phoenix Saint.

Guilty knew Mitsumasa Kido was hated by Ikki, and knew he was his father, so before dying he told Ikki the secret of his birth to solidify his hatred for all things alive.

Masami Kurumada based his concept for Guilty in the balinese legends of the Rangda, a female demon who is depicted almost identically to the mask Guilty wears. Also, Kurumada originated the concept for Death Queen Island in the Rangda myth, since she was known as the Queen of Death.

The Bronze Saints

Ikki's only true family is his brother Shun, with whom he shares the same father and mother with. Unlike Ikki, however, Shun was a weak, nimble child who often required the aid of his older brother to defend him from harm. Even as a saint, Shun would end up in predicaments that demanded Ikki's attention.

Ikki is also one of the first orphans to discover the true identity of his father -- Mitsumasa Kido (Cygnus Hyoga was another). Ikki and the other orphans have hated Kido for as long as they could remember, and when he was told of the truth, he promptly decided to go on a [...] mission to kill off every last trace of Kido. This began the war between Ikki and the bronze saints when he attacked his former friends at the Galaxian Wars. The dispute was only settled when Pegasus Seiya, Dragon Shiryu, Cygnus Hyoga, and his own brother Andromeda Shun combined enough power to knock the bitterness out of him. After his defeat, Ikki revealed to Seiya that he, too, was the son of Mitsumasa Kido. Hyoga later confirmed this fact.

When the true antagonist of the story, Pope Ares, finally decided to make his presence known, Ikki found himself aligning with the bronze saints in an effort to defeat the villain. It is at this point that Ikki returns to being the compassionate older brother that Shun admired as a child.

Esmeralda

Esmeralda was Ikki's original romantic interest; she had a striking resemblance to Shun, only that she was female and had blond hair instead of green. She was a pretty girl he met during his training days in Death Queen Island, and, in his own words, the only thing that kept him away from insanity.

Due to the harsh cicumstances on the Island, the inhabitants was extremely poor. Thus families sold their daughters to survive. Esmeralda was one of these, and she had been forced to marry the one who bought her. Yet she continued to see Ikki, even if it ment her husband would beat her.

Yet on a tragic day during Ikki's training, Ikki's master figure disposing of her would be the best way to ignite Ikki's hatred. To Ikki's disgust, Guilty felt nonchalant about [...] Esmeralda, and even endorsed his mistake because she "had gotten too close to the training grounds," also telling Ikki that had he taken the training seriously, Esmeralda would be still alive. Esmeralda's death, along with Guilty's indifference, was the spark that finally drove Ikki to become deranged enough to kill his master -- and obtain the Bronze Cloth of Phoenix.

In the anime, Esmeralda was Guilty's daughter.

Helen

In the anime, before joining the Bronze Saints and Saori in their fight against the Golden Saints, Ikki went to an island not too far from the Sanctuary itself where he knew there was a powerful volcano. He was allowed by the chieftain of a village at the feet of the volcano itself to go inside and remain there until it was time to fight, healing his body and his armor with the heat.

Helen was the chieftain's granddaughter and witnessed how her grandfather was murdered by Shiva and Agora, who had come to kill Ikki for his treason. She attempted to reason with them and help Ikki, saying that Saints were the hope of the world, but they threw her inside of the volcano to lure Ikki out saying that should Helen die, she'd become a guardian angel and be spared of the evils of the world.

Helen didn't die, though; managing to hold on the walls of the volcano, she climbed her way to the top and reached for an Ikki who was clearly overpowered Shiva and Agora. Grateful for her support, Ikki took Helen to a safe place and then finished his fight, defeating Shaka's pupils and freeing the village before going towards the Sanctuary.

Virgo Shaka

Ikki initially encounters the Gold Saint of Virgo days after [...] his master and taking over command of Death Queen Island. While Ikki was powerful at the time, he was no match for the power of a gold saint -- a fact that Shaka made him realize all too well. Fortunately, Shaka decided to spare Ikki's life when he sensed that there was good suppressed within him. He erased the memory of the encounter from Ikki's mind, and declared that pieces of this event shall forever remain hidden -- as long as they do not meet again as enemies. Unfortunately, the scene wasn't included in the anime.

Even though the encounter was erased, Ikki was left with the lasting impression that gold cloths grant immense power to its wearer -- this served as one of the reasons why he sought after the Sagittarius armor when he later invaded the Galaxian Wars.

A reunion between Ikki and Shaka was inevitable, and it took place when the bronze saint's comrades found themselves outmatched against Shaka -- even after combining all of their efforts. Luckily, Ikki was able to make the save before Shaka could end Shun's life. Upon recognizing the intruder, Shaka remarked that Ikki had grown stronger, and immediately unlocked the memory of their first meeting. Upon rediscovering the strength of a gold saint, Ikki became hesitant of the fight -- but by then, he had no choice in the matter, as Shaka unleashed one of his attacks on him.

Saori Kido

Saori Kido and Ikki share a somewhat interesting relationship. While he does not dispute the fact that she is the current reincarnation of Athena, he has been shown to readily reject her commands. At one point, the Phoenix Saint even decided to separate himself from his peers in order to pursue Pope Ares on his own. As Saori and the other bronze saints learned the hard way, Ikki is a lone wolf, but one that they can always count on.

In the battle against Virgo Shaka, Ikki's determination is guided by his relationship with Saori (Athena) and his friends. It is one of the crucial points where the connection between Saori and Ikki gives him the extra power and determination to achieve his goal and, thus, help her.

Pandora

Ikki met Pandora when Shun was a baby, and he himself was still a young orphan. A young Pandora mysteriously appeared and chased after the would-be Phoenix Saint, demanding that he hand over Shun on the claim that he was actually her little brother. Young Ikki became confused and furious, and Pandora explained that fate had chosen Shun to be the next avatar of Hades.

Of course, Ikki would have none of it, and held onto baby Shun with dear life as Pandora struggled to separate the two. Ikki's will refused to give up, and a mysterious cosmos intervened. With no other option, Pandora decided to temporarily leave Shun in Ikki's care, and left a pendant on the baby as a mark for Hades. Before Pandora left, she sealed away most of the memories of this event from Ikki's mind, and would not restore it until the two met again years later.

It is speculated that Pandora might have had romantic feelings towards Ikki.First, she is shown to be astonished by the phoenix's will, as he was attacked again and again by hades, he showed no intention of surrendering, even if the enemy was a god. After he was defeated by Hades, she is shown to be tenderly touching a stab wound she had inflicted upon him. Later on, as the bronze saints prepared to invade Elysium, it is Pandora who would free Ikki from Cocytus, the icy 8th prison and Thanks to him she recovered colorñ She was Daltonic due to the fact that she had been cursed by Hades but thanks to the Phoenix she regained normal sight. Pandora also helped him to get to elyssium and hugged asking him to exact revenge on Hades.

Various Deaths & Resurrections

During the series Ikki has been killed many times but was able to return to life as the myth of the phoenix:

• Lacerta Misty, a silver saint sent from Sanctuary to assassinate the bronze saints, made his presence known when he collapsed the mountain, [...] a battle-worn Ikki in the process.

In the anime, it is the giant Docrates who would accomplish this feat. Ikki would return soon after to aid Saori Kido and Seiya when the two found themselves ambushed by various silver saints.

• In the Anime, Ikki is believed to have been killed at least twice by Virgo Shaka.

First when he was hit by the Six Incarnations attack which was supposed to have sent his soul straight to one of the 6 Hells. Ikki revived, claiming that hell could not keep him, since he had been there before. In order to remove Virgo Shaka from the other bronze saints' path to the Pope, Ikki decided to sacrifice himself. Having been hit by Shaka's Tenbu Horin attack and left with only his cosmos to fight, Ikki attempted to explode himself by burning his cosmos to the limit taking Shaka with him. Oddly enough, the explosion did not kill either saint, but ejected both himself and Shaka to another plane. Although it isn't known if Ikki had actually died, this is worthy to note because the Phoenix cloth would gain a new form after Ikki were returned to Earth by Virgo Shaka with the help of Aries Mu.

• Ikki once again sacrificed himself when Saga unleashed the powerful Galaxian Explosion. While his body remained intact in the anime, it was completely disintegrated into atoms in the manga. This was also the only time when Ikki was actually seen to have been killed.

Ikki would stay down for a good while, and only resurfaced for revenge after Lyumnades Kaza, one of Poseidon's generals, had mentally tortured and humiliated Seiya, Hyoga, and Shun.

• Anime Asgard chapter only. In the manga, Ikki did not return until the bronze saints battled Poseidon and his Marine Generals. In the anime, the Phoenix lived on to battle the Asgard God Warriors with his fellow bronze saints.

Ikki was forced to abandon his cloth in order to break free from God Warrior Mime of the Benetnash (Eta) constellation's final attack. Seeing Ikki become unarmed, Mime himself removed his god robe and challenged the Phoenix Saint to one last hand-to-hand duel. Both men dropped to the ground after the dramatic confrontation, with Mime failing to survive the exchange. It is speculated that Ikki was killed as well, although he returned a short while later to aid Shun once more.

• Hades took it upon himself to finish off the bronze saint after he had attempted to defeat the god. Ikki's corpse was then sent to Coctyus, the 8th prison of Tartarus, where men who rose their fist at the gods suffered eternal punishment.

Of course, it would only be hours before Ikki was once again on the run to join his fellow saints in invading the Elysium Fields.

Other media

Ikki appears in all Saint Seiya movies, always helping Shun and using the same methods to defeat his opponents. In the Heaven Arc Prologue, Ikki would not be able to defeat the Angel of Artemis until he fights with his younger brother and perform a combination of techniques to kill him. Later he is seen with Shun going towards to the place where Pegasus Seiya is fighting against Apolo. He would also appear in a image of Leo Aiolia in Saint Seiya Episode G with the other Bronze Saints. Leo Aiolia and Scorpio Milo had in mind that those bronze saints will be the next generation and that they will be stronger than the gold saints.

It is also speculated that Ikki's previous Incarnation was called Kagaho Of Bennu, and appeared in the still non-canon sidestory Saint Seiya Lost Canvas. As Ikki, he show loneliness, rage in battle and determination. He even has a memory of a lost brother. In his confrontation with Aldebaran, He is overpowered but Aldebaran spares him since he doesn't sense true evil in him, In a similar fashion Ikki was spared by Shaka.

Since Saint Seiya Lost Canvas is not a work authored by Masami Kurumada, but only supervised by him, Kagaho still holds a status as a non-canonical character.

Notes

• In the manga, even though Virgo Shaka was responsible for reviving it from dust, the second version of Ikki's cloth did not receive the blood of a gold saint -- therefore, it was unable to become golden like the other bronze cloths. In the anime, however, it was empowered by Shaka's blood along with the other cloths.''

• The Phoenix Cloth is originally completely orange in the manga, but it is multicolored in the anime.

• As is common practice in the anime media, characters with black hair in the original manga receive dark Blue hair in the anime adaptation to avoid palette problems with the character's head outline, as confusion with the backgrounds could occur. Ikki is one more of many manga characters that have received this treatment in the anime adaptation.

• In contrast to the other Bronze Saints Ikki could run from the Virgo Temple to the Temple of the Pope in less than one hour, because he hadn't had to face the opposition from Gold Saint Milo, who by then, like his fellow Gold Saints that remained loyal to Athena, had become fully aware of Saga's true condition as the agent of evil in Athena's Sanctuary. The other Gold Saints past the Scorpio temple were, by the time he had reached them, all dead as well.

• In the anime Phoenix Illusion Demon Punch has the same name with the difference that the word Phoenix it is mentioned in romaji instead of kanji (also, this technique refers to a female phoenix as phoenix is written with another "ō").

es:Ikki fr:Ikki (Saint Seiya) it:Phoenix (Cavalieri dello zodiaco) ja:鳳凰星座の一輝 pt:Ikki de Fênix