Cancer Manigoldo

Cancer Manigoldo (蟹座のマニゴルド) is the Gold Saint of Cancer circa 1700's. He is one of the most cunning saints to have lived within the era, and is the pupil of Cancer Sage, one of the most powerful Grand Popes of the Sanctuary. Manigoldo appears in Shiori Teshirogi's Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas.

Name
The name "Manigoldo" (マニゴルド) is taken from an Italian origin, with the very word meaning "Rascal" or "Rogue". It is a fitting parallel to the character's origin and personality.

Special Techniques
As the gold saint of Cancer, Manigoldo is well versed with offensive and manipulative techniques befitting of the Gold Saint. Just like his later reincarnation, Cancer Deathmask, Manigoldo specializes in spiritual techniques much associated with death, souls, and the Underworld. In Saint Seiya: Lost Canvas, it can be theorized that many of these moves were handed down from his Master, Cancer Sage, the Grand Pope of the Sanctuary.

"Sekishiki Meikai Ha"
Manigoldo's signature technique. Executed with one finger pointing at its target, the Cancer Saint rips the very soul residing within an individual's body and transfers it to a location of his choosing, usually the Underworld. In Lost Canvas, it is shown that even deities can fall to this move.

"Sekishiki Kisoen"
A blue will-o'-the-wisp is summoned in the palm of Manigoldo's hands, and the ball of fire incinerates all souls in the immediate area.

"Sekishiki Konso Ha"
Manigoldo gathers any and all souls surrounding him and combines them into one single deadly explosive attack. The technique is strong enough to harm even Thanatos, the God of Death, himself.

"Acubens"
A physical move. The Gold Saint latches his legs upon an opponent and pinches them in half.

Not a Judge nor Jury
Manigoldo lived his life as a young street urchin in a poor village ransacked and destroyed by the war. As a child, he developed an extraordinary talent of being able to see the souls of the deceased. Unfortunately, living in poverty and a war stricken childhood left Manigoldo jaded by life in general. To him, the concept of life - his and those around him - was no more than specks of dust hat could easily be blown away by a breeze. His experiences shown him that it would come and it would go without much significance. This was until he met Sage, the Grand Pope of Sanctuary.

Investigating a village about a series of crimes being perpetrated by someone calling himself "The Executioner of Death", Sage was surprised to discover a young boy in filthy clothes sitting by the remains of a building. He noticed something peculiar about this child: there were literally a dozen souls surrounding his body, yet he did not show fear. The Pope took a moment to speak with this boy, and asked him his name. Suddenly, the child latched out at Sage with a knife and connected, tearing the Pope's holy garment and prayer beads to reveal the majestic Gold Cloth of Cancer underneath. Sage grabbed the boy and explained that his philosophies regarding life weren't inaccurate, just slightly misconstrued. Being a veteran and survivor of the last war, he himself had witnessed the lives of many of his friends and comrades extinguished. However, he understood that they had merely returned to the cosmos to be a part of a much grander design. As long as humans realized this, they would be capable of shining brightly and proudly. Manigoldo felt confused, but the single tear in his eye showed that he knew there was something in the Pope's words. Sage invited him to go to Sanctuary to learn more. The two developed a teacher/pupil relationship, and Manigoldo would manifest a powerful enough cosmos to earn the Cancer Gold Cloth from his master.

Caught In a Pinch
Some time after Taurus Hasgard had been murdered in a battle against two specters, Pegasus Tenma decided to leave Sanctuary on a self-imposed exile. The spectre Bennu Kagaho had appeared during the final moments of the Taurus battle, and explained that the two specters who killed Hasgard were, in actuality, targeting the Pegasus. Kagaho warned the Bronze Saint that Pandora had made him a marked man, and his presence in Sanctuary will continue to cause those he associate with to pay with their lives. Taking Kagaho's words into consideration, Tenma grabbed his Pegasus Cloth and walked out of Sanctuary to avoid causing more unnecessary deaths among his peers.

The Pegasus Saint was soon stopped by Manigoldo, decked out in his Cancer Cloth. Tenma explained that Aldebaran's death was his fault, but the gold saint merely laughed at the idea. Manigoldo reminded him that they were living in a time of war. Of course there would be casualties! He was also well aware of the fact that Tenma and Hades used to be good friends, which, when factored into the equation, made the notion of exiling the Pegasus from Sanctuary to be a ridiculous and senseless idea. Refusing to allow the Saints to loose a valuable tool against Hades, the Cancer Saint grabbed Tenma and locked him away in a specialized holding cell.

Eventually, Tenma would be freed from prison to join Crane Yuzurihi and Unicorn Yato as they journeyed into the Forest of Death, guarded by the spectre Nasu Veronica. Once the spectre proved to be too much for the three saints to handle, Manigoldo made his dramatic reappearance. The Crab and the Fly traded blows, and the gold saint ended the exchange with his "Acubens" pincer hold that snapped the spectre in half. Veronica survived, throwing away his torn robe to reveal his majestic surplice. Manigoldo decided to relocate the fight to the Underworld as spirits, and the spectre obliged. To him, the Saint just made this battle suicidal by giving him the home field advantage. Manigoldo laughed, not only was he not intimidated by the Underworld like a dead soul would be, he viewed the entire place as a huge amusement park! Using the surrounding souls to fuel his "Sekishiki Kisoen", the Saint of Cancer swiftly defeated Veronica, and proceeded to fight a bigger challenge: the God who commanded death itself, Thanatos.

Reaping the Benefits
Inside the palace of the= Underworld, Thanatos was engaged in a game of chess with his twin brother, Hypnos, while discussing the current events of the Holy War. Just as Thanatos prepared to make a move in his game, a figure clad in gold armor crashed down onto the table from the ceilings above. Manigoldo, face to face with Thanatos, demanded to know which of the two was the one who commanded death, because he owed him a punch to the face.

Still grasping the chess piece with his fingers, Thanatos revealed that it was he who the Cancer Saint was looking for. Manigoldo immediately responded with a straight hook, but the blow could not connect. The deity merely halted it with the same chess piece. Hypnos excused himself and attempted to warn Thanatos to be cautious before exiting. Amused that a human dared raise his fist at him, Thanatos brought the chess pieces to life and had them strike the gold saint.

Manigoldo fended off the challenge, and lounged towards Thanatos with the "Sekishiki Kisoen" technique, vowing to cremate his soul and everything he stood for. Unfazed, Thanatos summoned his holy kamui and ascended into the air. He began to transform the walls of the palace into a divine vortex, that only the gods could travel freely without combusting into specks of nothingness. The God of Death forced Manigoldo forward into the deadly space. Suddenly, a voice declared that he would not allow Thanatos to act as he pleased. Surprised at the sight of a human walking freely among the vortex, the Greek god demanded the name of this invader. It was Sage, who had arrived to aid his pupil.

Twice the Charm
The wise Sage, donned in full Pope garment, revealed that he had brought along Athena's seals with him. The blood written on them by the previous Athena blessed him to move around in the vortex. Thanatos scoffed at the thought of being fought with ancient pieces of papers, but Sage had a greater plan in his mind. Using the power of Athena, the elder undid the vortex and forced the palace to return. The God of Death accepted this challenge and conjured up souls in the form of tearful winged skulls using the divine "Tartarus' Phobia" maneuver, and the souls quickly incapacitated both Manigoldo and Sage. The Pope was able to fend off the spirits with relative ease, and advised Manigoldo that the younger Crab was capable of doing the same, as well as utilize these souls to his advantage. The young Crab immediately knew what his master was referring to, and merged the souls into one cohesive point. The floor beneath Thanatos' left foot exploded as Manigoldo gathered the spirits into a single "Sekishiki Konso Ha" attack. Starting to become irritated, the deity warned the two humans that it was unbecoming of them to act with such arrogance, as their lives were no greater than specks of dust. He then targeted Sage with his next technique: the "Terrible Providence", a magnificently charged ball of cosmos energy. Before Sage could be hurt, Manigoldo jumped in and took the blunt of the attack, his gold cloth breaking apart as a result. The gold saint felt vexation with being compared to specks of dust, at the same time recalling the memory of when he first met Sage as a boy, and employing similar vocabulary in their conversation.

Sage nullified much of the power in the "Terrible Providence", saving his pupil from certain death. Manigoldo smirked, clamoring that he was still alive. His master scolded him for recklessly leaping into danger without precautions, and that he should have more reservations about throwing his life away. Manigoldo apologized, but proclaimed that even if the gods saw him as nothing more than a speck in life's designs, he will still do all he can to shine brightly.

Unfortunately, "Terrible Providence" had taken its toll on the Cancer Saint, and he dropped to the floor, stunned. Thanatos attempted a second try with the technique, but found his power canceled out by the cosmos within Athena's seals. The god growled, he will not be foiled by some ancient notes! Thanatos lashed out at Sage, sending the elder saint to his knees while ripping nearly all of the seals to pieces. The God of Death slowly descended from above, and prepared another wave of the "Terrible Providence". Just as all hope seemed lost, the deity suddenly found himself struck in the face, by none other than Manigoldo! The Saint of Cancer staggered back, but rejoiced that he had finally managed it; he had, at least, gave the commander of death a good punch to the face!

A Mask of Death
Words could not express the rage Thanatos felt. He was overcome with infuriation at the fact that a pitiful human being had not only dared to hit him, but was in celebration over it! With the seals of Athena no longer in effect, the god once again transformed the palace into the deadly vortex, and pulled Manigoldo towards the void. Unable to defend himself, the gold saint found his entire right leg swallowed up by the nothingness, cloth and all. Sage retaliated with the Saint of Cancer's signature attack: the "Sekishiki Meikai Ha". The technique was able to strip off some of Thanatos' kamui, which confirmed the suspicion that the Grand Pope had in his mind since the beginning of the fight, that, the god's true form was actually still residing in the Elysium Fields, and he was currently commandeering a puppet vessel with his holy soul. Thanatos was unimpressed, but Sage explained that the "Sekishiki Meikai Ha" was a move that specialized in extracting souls out of the target's body. Unfortunately for the saints, Thanatos was a deity, after all, and drawing his spirit out would be an extremely difficult task.

Just as Sage was about to give up, Thanatos felt a second tug, from an exhausted but still alive Manigoldo. The young Crab expressed that he always had a strong distaste for the God of Death since he was a kid, and the punch to the face earlier was easily the most satisfying thing he had ever felt in his entire life. Manigoldo then thanked his master for the times they spent together; he was truly grateful that he chose to go to Sanctuary with him. With both Cancer Saints smirking ear to ear, the two unleashed a combined effort of the "Sekishiki Meikai Ha" technique. Even a powerful god like Thanatos could not drive the two saints back. With all of the kamui, and in turn, his source of power, removed from his puppet body, Manigoldo latched onto Thanatos by the throat and declared that without the holy soul blessing his vessel, the both of them would now become dust. The Cancer Saint ordered his gold cloth to return to its rightful owner, and then combusted along with Thanatos' body.

The Seal of the Century
Manigoldo was dead, leaving Sage to finish up matters with Thanatos. The Greek god, now appearing before the Pope in spirit form, ridiculed the young saint's sacrifice as foolish. Yes, he destroyed one body, but what was stopping him from using another's, for example, Sage's? The Pope lamented his pupil's death, but assured that it will not be wasted. The god laughed in response and jumped into Sage, causing the elder to scream in pain as the spirit attempted to steal his body. It would not be more than a moment later that Thanatos realized something was wrong. Sage, bloodied, ripped off his holy garment to reveal that he was, in fact, wearing his older brother's Altar Cloth, an armor granted by Athena with substantial sealing abilities. Sage explained that ever since the last Holy War, he had his brother had been restoring the cloth to its full power to trap both Thanatos and Hypnos, and today was Thanatos' time. The god struggled to release himself from Sage's body, but to no avail. Athena's seal in the cloth had overcome his own. The elder then unveiled a small chest with the last of Athena's seal. Thanatos, livid that a human being had achieved the impossible and manipulated a deity for a fool, cursed Sage and destroyed parts of his body in retaliation. Sage promised his pupil that his sacrifice had not been in vain, and, using the last of his strength, the Grand Pope placed the chest next to the Altar cloth's reflection of Thanatos where the deity laid trapped. The holy soul was transferred to the chest, and the seal was now complete.

Final Farewells
Back in Sanctuary, Athena and Hakurei were both present in the Pope's throne room. They felt a surge of cosmos, and discovered the small chest containing Thanatos' soul upon the seat. Hakurei recognized it instantly, and knew that his younger brother was no longer with them. Athena expressed her gratitude for Sage's sacrifice, and Hakurei assured her and his departed brother that he would complete the duties they had set for themselves.

At the twelve temples below, Aries Shion also sensed the cosmos and prepared to move to the Pope's throne room to check things out. He was stopped by Manigoldo on the way, who looked up to the sky and greeted his fellow gold saint with a smirk. The Cancer Saint held the Grand Pope's holy headdress in his arms, and tossed it to Shion. It was a gift between the both of their masters. Manigoldo then vanished from view, leaving the Cancer Cloth behind in the temple. Shion realized that he had just met with Manigoldo's spirit.

He returns with the spiritual forms of the other Gold Saints to defeat Hades once and for all.

Comparison
While Manigoldo and his 1990's reincarnation Deathmask share the same soul and offensive capabilities, their personalities are very dissimilar from one another.


 * While Deathmask could be interpreted as evil in certain instances of the classic series and Episode G, Manigoldo in Saint Seiya: Lost Canvas was, at best, obnoxious to his peers.
 * Deathmask arguably never received his moment of nobility, while Manigoldo sacrificed his life to ensure that Thanatos was sealed for the next two centuries.
 * The chest that Manigoldo and his master Sage sealed Thanatos within would last up until the a decade before the next Holy War. During her childhood, the Pandora of the 1990's would accidentally undo the seal.
 * Manigoldo, having access to three more techniques than Deathmask, is evidently more versatile than his later reincarnation.

External
Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas Wiki's article