Andromeda Shun

Andromeda Shun (アンドロメダの瞬), also known as Shun, literally meaning 'twinkle, instant', is one of the Bronze Saints. He is arguably one of the strongest in the series, although his gentle disposition and kind nature tend to prevent him from using his true power, unless he is forced to do so.

Shun is also the younger brother of Phoenix Ikki, a fellow Bronze Saint. Shun has the purest soul in his era and is the "Chosen One". Whether or not he is a reincarnation of a previous vessel of Hades is unknown, but Tenma implied that Shun and Alone are similar in Next Dimension.

Appearance
Shun is considered to be a very handsome young man. During the Galaxian Wars in the coliseum, the female spectators cheered for Shun during his match against Unicorn Jabu, saying that he was beautiful. Various of Shun's opponents have also made remarks about his appearance: Perseus Algol calling him "handsome little boy" and Pisces Aphrodite later referring to him as a "pretty boy." It is evident that his features are inspired by his guardian constellation, Andromeda, who was praised for her beauty in Greek Mythology.

In the manga, Shun's hair is brown with slightly reddish tone and his eyes are blue. When he is possessed by Hades, his hair turns black, his skin becomes paler, and the eyes change to a lighter shade. In the anime adaptation, his hair and eyes color were modified to green to generate a better color balance. While he was possessed by Hades, his hair turns to a reddish shade instead of black.

When is not wearing his armor, Shun wears a green T-shirt and white overalls pants with suspenders and black shoes. During his training, he is seen wearing an attire similar to Seiya's training gear in Greece except Shun's has blue tones and darker blue shoulder pads with classic Greek sandals, matching the same dark hue. In Omega, Shun has red suspenders on his usual overalls pants and wears a long-sleeved black shirt underneath.

In Next Dimension, Tenma, the Pegasus Saint of the XVIII century, states that Shun looks similar to Alone— the reincarnation of Hades of that century.

Personality
Shun is a pacifist, and the most reluctant of the Bronze Saints when a situation must be resolved by violence. He is a merciful soul by nature, and a firm believer in solving problems without causing bloodshed. This creates a sharp contrast between himself and the rest of the Saints: Whereas the others will not hesitate to battle when the situation demands it, Shun only allows himself to fight if it's an absolute necessity, or when his almost endless patience wears out. When this is the case, Shun can become an extremely skilled and deadly fighter

His kindness also lets Charon abandon the attack and his sorrow distracts Lune unintentionally so Kanon can mind control Lune. Shun is shown as a competent and tough, if unwilling, fighter and opponent. In 'Sanctuary', he manages to hold his own against Gemini Saga, and even manages to kill Pisces Aphrodite, both of them Gold Saints.

He is the second of the Bronze Saints to achieve his God Cloth. Though he may be adverse to fighting, he will fight when he is required to, and is just as powerful or skilled as any of the other main Bronze Saints.

Early years
Shun and his brother Ikki, are two of the many children of the billionaire Mitsumasa Kido whose children he gathered in an attempt to turn them into Saints of Athena. (In the anime, this familial relation with Mitsumasa is omitted). As a child, Shun avoided fighting and seemed much more sensitive than the other boys brought by Kido, being protected by his brother whenever necessary.

At the beginning of his training, Shun repeatedly faltered, but with the help of June, his training partner, he was able to find the strength to overcome his brother's lack. In order to participate in the "Sacrifice of Andromeda," the final challenge to conquer the sacred Cloth, Shun defeated his opponent, showing that he learned correctly the teachings of his master.

Later, Shun was chained to a few cliffs at the edge of the sea. He would have to concentrate and free himself before the tide rose completely and drowned him. Unlike the other saints, in order to conquer his Cloth, Shun did not use the force, but the affection he held for his estranged brother. After passing through the Andromeda Sacrifice, Shun gets his Cloth and leaves for Japan hoping to find his brother.

Galaxian Wars
In the Galaxian Wars, Shun confronts Unicorn Jabu. Initially, Jabu underestimates the power of Shun's chain and attacks him on all sides, but Andromeda's chains hit him at all times, leaving the Unicorn Cloth badly damaged. The only reason for Shun's involvement was the desire to find his brother again. After this, he encounters a diabolical side of Phoenix Ikki, and joins Pegasus Seiya, Dragon Shiryu and Cygnus Hyoga in search of the Sagittarius Gold Cloth stolen by Ikki. Later, they recover the human side of Ikki.

After discovering that Saori is Athena and deciding to rebel against the corrupted Sanctuary, while Shun was preparing to go to the airport where he expected his friends and is interrupted by Chameleon June, who appears at the Kido mansion with the intention of stopping him. She talks about the destruction of the island of Andromeda, and after frustrated attempts in attacking Shun, she decides to take off the mask showing her face, crying, saying that she did not want Shun to die, but Shun replied that it was his duty as a Saint to go to the Sanctuary and risk his own life.

Sanctuary
Aldebaran knocks Shun, Shiryu and Hyoga unconscious. Seiya awakens his Seventh Sense for a second, being able to overcome the defense of Taurus Aldebaran and break the right horn of the Taurus Cloth, a challenge offered by the Gold Saint to let him pass. After Seiya's fight against Aldebaran came to an end, Shun, Hyoga and Shiryu woke up, but only Seiya was allowed to pass through the Bull Temple, as Seiya managed to break one of the Taurus Armor's horns. Then Shun, Shiryu and Hyoga attack together Aldebaran leaving his arm frozen. After that, Aldebaran lets the other Saints pass by his temple. By distrusting the true intentions of the Grand Pope, Aldebaran does not take his fight to the last consequences, making it a training for the Bronze Saints. Aldebaran, however, warned them not to underestimate the power of the Gold Saints, for their differences in powers are great.

In the Temple of Gemini, the Bronze Saints are perplexed by the illusions of the Gemini Saga and so Hyoga and Shun went one way, while Seiya and Shiryu followed each other. Andromeda wakes his Seventh Sense for few seconds, escaping of the Another Dimension again and managing to reach Gemini Saga that controlled the armor in a very distant hall, making the illusion disappear. When Shun retracts his Nebula Chain, he finds it tangled with a beaded rosary-like necklace. Shun notices the positive and negative energy of the cosmos emanating from the temple and says that this can be the source of all the evil behind this battle. After leaving the third temple, Shun realizes that Hyoga's cosmos has disappeared completely in one of the temples ahead.

After Seiya and Shiryu attempt to attack Virgo Shaka, without success, Shun attempts to attack Shaka with his Andromeda Chain. However, the chain was immobilized and repelled by the cosmos of Shaka and Shun almost lost his head when being hanged by its own chain. Soon after, Shaka knocks them out easily with his secret Divine Surrender blow. Shun, Shiryu and Seiya just wake up in time to witness Phoenix Ikki's sacrifice. Despite mourning the supposed death of his brother, Shun promises to Ikki that he will continue to fight like a man to the end. After Ikki's sacrifice at the Virgo temple, Shun, Seiya, and Shiryu arrive at the Temple of Libra and encounter Hyoga's body imprisoned in the Freezing Coffin from Aquarius Camus, but his hearts still beat. After Shiryu releases Cygnus Hyoga from the Freezing Coffin with the Sword of Libra (sent by the Elder Master), Shun says he will save Hyoga, and asks Shiryu and Seiya to move on. Shun raises his cosmo-energy to the maximum, warming the Cygnus Saint's body that was frozen and his heart about to stop beating, but the great effort of his cosmos ended up making the Andromeda Saint faint.

Shun and Seiya are the only survivors. In the stairwells between the temples of Aquarius and Pisces, Shun tells Seiya that he would like to face the Gold Saint of the last temple alone, regardless of who it was. At that moment, Pisces Aphrodite appears and introduces himself to Seiya and Shun. Pegasus follows in the direction of the room of the Grand Pope passing by Aphrodite without any difficulties, however, ends up being knocked down by the Royal Demon Roses in the way. Shun fights Aphrodite, and after an extensive fight, defeats him with his most powerful blow, the Nebula Storm, revealing his true power and avenging the death of his master, Cepheus Albiore. Shun, however, ends up succumbing to Aphrodite's Bloody Rose and has no more strength to reach Seiya, fainting soon after, and apologizes to Pegasus for not being able to help him.Later his cloth is repaired by Shaka's blood and along with the other bronze saints, Shun is taken to recover from the fight at Saori's hospital of the foundation.

Poseidon
Shun confronts Marina General Io of Scylla, where he shows the various possibilities of defending his current, from which he simply created six new forms of defense on the basis of an "improvisation" and killing him unintentionally.

.Further on, he faces Siren Sorento, defeating him, but instead of killing Sorento he can give up fighting by imprisoning him with his most powerful technique, Nebulous Storm, because Shun believed that Sorento had a good heart. Later, Shun helps Athena and the other Bronze Saints against Poseidon, even with its exhausted body and cosmos.

Hades
In one of the biggest plot twists of the series, Shun is revealed to be the human incarnation of Hades, God of the Underworld, in the same way Saori Kido is Athena, Goddess of War and Wisdom, and Julian Solo is Poseidon, Lord of the Seas. Although Shun himself was initially unaware of this fact, the soul of Hades became dominant once Shun lost the childhood pendant that bound his body with the god's, and Hades' soul was united with Shun's body during the close encounter in Hades' throne room after the death of the Lyra Saint.

Not long after, Hades (in possession of Shun's body) is confronted by Shun's older brother, Phoenix Ikki. Ikki believed that Shun's soul was still inside somewhere, and he was soon proven correct. With one hand strangling his own body (and thus, Hades'), Shun urged Ikki to mercilessly destroy him while the opportunity was fresh. Ikki was moved by Shun's willingness to sacrifice himself, as it proved that he truly was born to be the Saint of Andromeda.

However, Ikki hesitated at the last second and was unable to follow through. Shun lost his grip, and Hades quickly regained the upper hand. Hades reclaimed the Saint's body once more and the Phoenix was swiftly dealt with.

Eventually, it took the boiling blood of Athena herself and the goddess' encouragement to give Shun the strength to separate Hades from his body once and for all. When Shun awoke in Seiya's arms moments later, he once again donned the Andromeda Cloth and was ready to return to action.

Saint Seiya: Next Dimension
Shun has survived the destruction of the Underworld and Elysium, and appears in the Sanctuary where are Athena and Seiya (the latter with the sword of Hades in his chest like in the movie) Athena and Shun go in search of Artemis, goddess of Moon, sister of Athena, for help to Seiya, which in three days, his heart will be pierced by the sword of Hades. Along with Saori come to Olympus where he has a hearing with Artemis, who claims that the acts committed by Athena provoke the wrath of the Gods. Then, with the guidance of Hecate arrive with Cronos, the God of Time, who send Athena and Shun the past 200 years. Shun falls in the Sanctuary Colosseum, where he is attacked by guards that quickly repels his Nebular Chain until Tenma, the Pegasus Saint of this era, appears to stop them. Tenma with Seiya, just as Tenma found him like his friend Alone, and begin to fight, but the superiority of Andromeda makes the combat to end soon.

Both come to the White Ram Temple where Aries Shion does not let go, instantly ramming his glass wall. Knowing the situation that he is a Saint from the future, Shion lets him order to help in Athena, who was turned into baby Cronos, from the clutches of the Pope and Pisces Cardinale.
 * Aries House

Finally he and Tenma reach the Temple of Taurus, where Ox, the Gold Saints defender waits to stop them. In this house are slowed by Ox initially, but then agrees to let this happen. Gemini HouseModifier Arriving at the house of Gemini, decide to separate, Tenma takes the path to the left, but on entering is the true gentleman of Gemini, Abel. It uses its other dimension, but is rescued by Shun who decides to return to rescue Tenma. Abel strikes again, but is interrupted by Suikyo latter replies that they escape into the temple of Cancer lest they die. ecapando already comes with the temple Shun giant crab. Cancer HouseModifier Tenma and Shun, Cancer Deathtoll encounter who try locking them in coffins and uses Omerta, the legendary coffin, then comes Suikyo Gemini Victim of trying to kill two bronze and faces with them, and smote them, Tenma later with Shun Cancer enclose their own special coffin and head to the temple of Leo. It reveals that the teacher wanted to help them Tenma escaped both times we were faced with these last golden saints and not even being a saint of Athena, but goes to get his head for personal reasons. After leaving the house both saints Cancer, tenma asks Shun to follow him as he recovers coughing and spitting up blood.
 * Taurus House

In the fifth house of Leo, Shun makes the acquaintance of the gold saint of Leo named Leo Kaiser and his friend Goldie (a huge lion wearing armor). Shun tells Kaiser that he must continue for the sake of Athena, but the gold saint who has orders not to let anyone pass, does not believe his words and orders Goldie to attack Shun however that the bronze saint is able to tame. Amazed of what happened, Kaiser then shows him unconscious Suikyo, Shun who earlier had defeated the gold saint, to make them desist from pursuing, but Shun intends to reach by Athena at any cost, and attacks the gold saint several times with his chain which fights back with punches thrown at the speed of light, shortly after the fifth house also comes Tenma. After the battle between Kaiser and Goldie against a group of Specter, the gold saint decides to go Tenma and Shun continuing so to the 6 th house.
 * Leo House

Close to home of Virgo, Shun and Tenma see fall two comets, Shun perceive in them the cosmos of Dragon Shiryū and Cygnus Hyōga. Within the Sixth House, Shun assist the savage fighting between the spirit of Virgo Shaka and the spirit of Virgo Shijima. At the end of the terrifying duel, Shaka declares that Shun in the future will be the new Gold Saint of the Virgin.
 * Virgo House

Non-canonical anime episodes

 * Differences between manga and anime
 * The anime has it's own timeline and is not considered canon

Shun is portrayed rather weak in the first 4 movies and the anime-only 'Asgard' arc: In almost every fight scene, he is almost always defeated, and needs his brother Ikki to rescue him (except against Mizar Zeta Syd, the on- time Shun defeated a foe in either of the first 4 movies or the 'Asgard' anime-only story). This has led to a misconception among certain fans that Shun is a 'weakling', but it is important to remember that these stories were not written by Masami Kurumada and therefore are not canonical, and are out of Kurumada's true continuity and plot.

Asgard arc
Shun confronts Mime of Benetnasch, but he is defeated, despite coming to wound the God Warrior with his Nebula Storm. Fact is that he failed to defeat Mime by not wanting to naturally defeat him, due to the neutral form of Mime behaving without actually offering a reason to be defeated

Ikki arrives and defeats Mime n and asks for Shun to move on. Shun does, finding Shido from Mizar, whom he defeats, this time with success with his most powerful technique. After that, he is shot down by Bado de Alcor even with the support of Shaina and happens to watch the new confrontation of Ikki, who defeats the shadow of Mizar. At the end of this Saga, Siegfried fights Doube, but is defeated, and helps Seiya to defeat him, as well as save Athena.

Eris and Heated Battle of the Gods
Shun along with the other Bronze Knights accepts the challenge of Eris. He confronts Orpheus of Harp and is defeated being saved by his brother. In the end he sees the destruction of the Sanctuary of Eris.

Legend of Crimson Youth and Warriors of the Final Holy Battle
Shun goes to Asgard along with Saori, Seiya and Shiryu to look for Hyoga. There he stands as Saori's protector. Shun confronts Ur and is defeated, but saved by Ikki after his brother defeats Rung. The two are hanging on a cliff. Shun defends Seiya of Durval and after the defeat of the Priest, he sees the Tree of the Universe being born in the place of the statue of Odin.

Heaven Chapter: Overture
Shun fights against the celestial angel Theseus, even using the best blows, all are repelled and blocked, leaving the Knight with no exits to win. When all seemed lost, his brother Ikki of Phoenix comes to help, but is also easily overcome by the angel, who throws them in a place similar to a small lake. In this place, they find a great statue, where were the souls of the Golden Knights sealed by to rebel against the gods. Encouraged by them, they both decide to fight together and form an unbeatable duo, the combination of Nebula Storm and the Phoenix Bird completely destroys the celestial angel

Saint Seiya Omega
Main Article: Andromeda Shun (Omega)

Conception and creation
As Masami Kurumada uses the revered Osamu Tezuka's Star System technique, (a stable cast of characters which play a a different or similar role in the author's various works, sometimes with the same personality and sometimes with an entirely new one), he gave Shun's appearance to Ai Daichi, a main character in the manga Aoi Tori no Shinwa, a manga that Kurumada wrote and drew years after Saint Seiya.

Also, Kurumada designed Shun closely resembling Jindai Naoto, from Otoko Zaka, the manga he wrote and drew one year before Saint Seiya. And even more, Shun also resembles Kirikaze, from Fuuma no Kojiro, also a manga Kurumada wrote and drew several years before Saint Seiya.



Kurumada explained in interviews that he gave the Andromeda Cloth the same color that identifies the Andromeda Nebula found in the constellation of the same name.

As Masami Kurumada was a practitioner of the martial arts in his youth, he used his knowledge about traditional Japanese martial arts weapons in his concept for Shun. The Chains of the Andromeda Cloth, were a formidable weapon, perfectly suited for both defense and offense, sharing these traits with the traditional Manriki-gusari, a chain-based weapon used in Japanese martial arts.

List of opponents
In the original manga, Shun won 60% of his battles, i.e. 6 battles out of 10 (battles labeled as "unfair" are not considered).

Techniques and abilities
To fight, Shun normally relies on the Andromeda chain, as he does not want to use his full power because he does not want to kill the opponents. During the Sanctuary Arc, Shun awoke the 7th sense in his fights against the Gold Saints but from his teacher's perspective, he'd awoken to this sense of cosmo long before that battle. As he's more than a capable fighter even without his bronze cloth. Although a reluctant fighter, Shun is one of Kurumada's characters with the larger technique arsenals at his disposal.

His known techniques are:
 * Nebula Chain: The Andromeda Saint's signature technique which allows him to manipulate the chains of his Cloth however he pleases. At the most basic, the Nebula Chain is a straight-forward attack where the chains rapidly slice and wrap themselves around the enemy. This attack can be improved by using the Thunder Wave of the chain.


 * Rolling Defense: A simple defensive technique that utilizes Shun's chains in one of two ways: he will either twirl the chains around himself to create a barrier, or set them on the ground to mimic a circular web; this was later named the Circle Defense. In web mode, the chains construct a distance between himself and the opponent, and will discharge energy volts or simply slash the enemy if they attempt to enter the field.


 * Thunder Wave: An advanced offensive technique utilized through the square segment of the Andromeda Cloth's chains. It has two main means of function: first is to strike at enemies with an electrified current of burning cosmo running through its spear point, increasing overall offensive power compared to the simple offensive/defensive activities of the Nebula Chains. And second is the ultimate heat seeking effect, where the triangular headed chain feels out for it's desired target from anywhere and anywhen to strike. Even from across dimensions.
 * Great Capture: A technique that twists the chains to paralyze, capture, or immobilize foes. Shun also uses other ways of capturing opponents with Boomerang Shoot, Spiral Duct, etc.


 * Nebula Stream: A defensive attack that links directly to Shun's Cosmo. It entangles the foe with streams of the Andromeda cosmos in an attempt to paralyze them. As Shun becomes more determined to use his true power, the stream will eventually transfigure into the Nebula Storm technique.


 * Nebula Storm: By the time Shun has chosen to execute it, his Cloth and chains are abandoned (either voluntarily or destroyed by his opponent) to allow him full access to his cosmos. The attack is dispelled as a single burst from the summit of Shun's Cosmo. Because of its extreme destructive nature, Shun will only use it as a last resort.

Cloth
Main Article:  Andromeda Cloth

The Gold Cloth of Virgo
As Shun was born under the astrological constellation of Virgo, he has the privilege of donning that Gold Cloth in times of crisis. This was shown when he and his fellow Bronze Saints (also wearing Gold Cloths each) battled the god of Death, Thanatos.

Shun, like the rest of the Bronze Saints, did not have time to use his Gold Cloth or launch any attacks while wearing it, as Thanatos attacked all the Bronze Saints immediately upon their receiving of the Gold Cloths. Thanatos, with one strike, was able to shatter all 5 Gold Cloths that were present, an event which was unprecedented. Later in Next Dimension, Shaka designed Shun as heir of the Virgo Gold Cloth.