Virgo Shaka
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| Virgo Shaka | |
|---|---|
| Saint Seiya character | |
 Virgo Shaka by Masami Kurumada |
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| Created by | Masami Kurumada |
| Voiced by | Yūji Mitsuya (三ツ矢 雄二) |
| Profile | |
| Age | 20 |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | September 19 |
| Nationality | India |
| Class | Saint |
| Loyalty | Athena |
| Cloth | Virgo |
| Rank | Gold |
| Training | India |
| Height | 1.82 m |
| Weight | 68 kg |
| Blood type | AB |
| Secret moves | The Treasures of Heavens Demon Pacifier Transmigration to the Six Paths Heaven Supremacy on evil spirits of rivers and mountains |
| First appearance | manga: chapter 18, vol.5 Anime: ep.41 |
Virgo Shaka (乙女座のシャカ Barugo no Shaka?) is a character from the manga series authored by Masami Kurumada, Saint Seiya, and later adapted to anime.
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[edit] Personality and background
Although Gemini Saga and Leo Aiolia were the first Gold Saints introduced by Masami Kurumada in his manga, Virgo Shaka was the first one he showed fully revealing his status as Gold Saint and wearing his Gold Cloth, in the chapter 18, contained in vol. 5.
Shaka is one of the Twelve Gold Saints. As the guardian of the Temple of Virgo along the path of Sanctuary, Shaka has played a pivotal role chiefly in the battle between Athena and the Pope in the Sanctuary arc, and also in the Hades arc. He is referred to many times on the story as the "the man who is closest to god" (or closest to attain godhood) due to his immense power and is also considered the only Gold Saint that has full control over the Araya Shiki (8th sense).
Shaka alone of all saints occupies the rarefied spot between God and man, but living between two worlds has its blessings as well as curses. Being the Reincarnation of Buddha* and endowed with the most powerful cosmos of all the saints even overpowering Libra Dohko's and Aries Shion's Cosmos, Shaka well deserves his reputation as the man closest to God. Even as a child in India, Shaka was precocious and communed with God himself--a scene recounted in the flashbacks moments before Shaka's death in the Twin Sala's Garden. For someone whose life has just begun, he had been unusually sensitive to sufferings and mortality of human life. Seeing pain and death as reflected in the Ganges gives the boy Shaka enough despair, if not a crisis of faith. With esoteric learning and training, Shaka eventually became powerful enough to don the Gold Cloth of Virgo, which he wore even as a boy in the manga, and wise enough to rise above human passions and attachments. For most of his life, he would look on human feelings with a mix of pity and compassion without being bound to them, with charity but not always with love. Detachment seems to be Shaka's answer to the poignant questions raised by human life, and he is seeing humanity from the point of God rather than living the experience. He would be disabused of this attitude in his encounter with Ikki. In the end, Shaka would have to remember that he is a man, as well, and return to whence he came.
- As in the Hindu tradition sometimes Budha is called the incarnation of the god Vishnu, in some translations of the history, Shaka is considered the reincarnation of Vishnu himself. In this case, he can be compared to Saori, it means, he is called an Avatar too, having the same level of power. This also may be the explanation to the need of three Gold Saint evoke the "Athena's Exclamation", a power with the same level of the Big Bang, to defeat him. And even receiving this destructive power, he still continued alive.
[edit] Plot overview
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[edit] Sanctuary Saga
Shaka's fighting style strikes the eye above all with a sense of style. Shaka fights in consummate form--with just a flick of wrist and the barest hint of athletecism. The economy of movements stands in stark contrast with the blood, sweat and toil of other warriors. The Buddhist-inspired mudras (poses) struck by Shaka hide an inhuman discipline, intensity and nerve all under a gesture of grace. Yet, Shaka is not all style and little substance. He can attack the enemy and defend himself at the same time. This two-sided fighting style often turns the weapons and techniques of an adversary against himself. When the Bronze saints invaded the House of Virgo, Shaka rebounded the attacks on him--and also their damages--to their originators. This aspect of Shaka's combat, doing unto others what they have done to him, is almost divine, as within minutes the three standing bronze saints--Shun, Seiya and Shiryu--are thrown on all fours and will remain so for the rest of the confrontation with Shaka. Shaka's approach usually aims at paralysis, not just physical but mental. His moves seem immaterial partly because he plays mind games by conjuring illusions, as duelling with Shaka is much more a battle of will than mere fist-swinging. He targets the five human senses --sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing--to cripple the adversary's body in combat. Yet, he ultimately aims to disintegrate the adversary's consciousness and the mind's control over the body. That does not mean Shaka is invincible. Those who are extremely strong-willed, whether out of despair or determination, can break through Shaka's attacks. Saga in the Hades chapter was able to block Shaka's attacks on Hades' spectres, not to mention Ikki, who caught Shaka by surprise and carried off him on a suicidal run by trying to burn up his own cosmos. The Tenbu Hōrin (The Treasures of Heavens) (天舞寶輪) is the epitome of this approach and Shaka's ultimate strike against an opponent. It traps the opponent into a matrix of illusions (normally Buddhist in nature), and destroys him through five stages. Each stage obliterates one of the opponent's five human senses cumulatively. And if that's not enough, as it was the case for Ikki, Shaka can remove the opponent's 6th sense, effectively shutting down the brain. As a result, the opponent's life is sustained only by his or her cosmos. (Ironically, Ikki at the end turned Shaka's Tenbu Horin against its maker: with the loss of all other senses, Ikki was able to shunt all his energies to the seventh sense--much as how Shaka husbands his strength by keeping his eyes closed--and achieve a breakthrough.)
[edit] The Hades
When Saga, Shura, and Camus returned from the dead, it was he who urged his dead comrades to drop their allegiance to Hades and return to the Underworld where they belonged. When the true spectres invaded the 12 temples of Sanctuary, it was Shaka who ultimately rid the Sanctuary of their presence with his Demon Pacifier technique.
Now that there weren't anymore Spectres to follow Saga, Camus and Shura - he asked them their true intentions. Saga only replies that they came back to life by pledging loyalty to Hades and to obtain the head of Athena (Saori). Saddened by this reply, Shaka conducts them to the garden at the side of his temple. The four engage each other in battle, but the three revived Gold Saints are not on par with Shaka's strength. Even so, Shaka realizes that he can't hold back the three Gold Saints and uses his The Treasures of Heavens to disable their senses, and urges them to use the forbidden technique that was sealed by Athena many centuries ago, Athena Exclamation, with a power similar to that of the Big Bang itself. Shura and Camus hesitate - for they will be branded lower than beasts. Saga encourages his fellow Gold Saints to remember their purpose and goal. When Shaka is about to take their last senses, the trio decide to use the Athena Exclamation.
The Gold Saint of Virgo is consumed by the immense destructive force of the "Athena Exclamation" attack. With his physical body completely obliterated by the banned attack, Shaka's spirit returns to Earth one last time to write a final message to the goddess Athena herself (Arayashiki). Overwhelmed by tears - the 3 fallen Gold Saints weep over the loss of their comrade. Shura decides to help Shaka achieve Nirvana and finally put an end to his suffering by assisting him in his suicide. Shura screams his apologies to Shaka, but he sees that Shaka has already died and his body begins to fade away into dust.
Later on on the Hades arc, it is revealed that Shaka and Athena are still, indeed, alive - they are shown making their way towards Hades' realm. Shaka eventually located Hades and confronted the Greek God alone, threatening to kill Hades by himself. Just when Shaka is about to attack Hades he is stopped by Athena. Athena forbids him to attack Hades, since he was inside Andromeda Shun's body. After both the gods disappeared, Shaka tried to sacrifice himself to open the way to the Elysium, but since he didn't have enough power alone Libra Dohko stops him, this was only granted after all the Twelve Gold Saints reunited and used their own lives.
[edit] Power and abilities
Shaka is said to be the only one of the Gold Saints that not only masters the 7th sense, (allowing him to move at the speed of light), but also the 8th sense (allowing his soul to retain its will at the underworld).
Shaka has shown enough telekinetic power to even control his enemies' weapons and to reform his body after it was obliterated by Phoenix Ikki. His mental power is also formidable, since Ikki's mental attacks were completely ineffective but were returned to the original caster. He often casts illusions to deceive his enemies. A probably illusionary technique is Transmigration (or Reincarnation) to the Six Paths (六道輪廻 Rikudō Rinne?) in which Shaka sends his opponent to one of the six Dharma's rebirth realms. These realms are, as described by Kurumada: Gakikai (the realm of the preta), Jinkai (the realm of humans), Jigokukai (the realm of hell), Chikushōkai (the realm of beasts), Shurakai (the realm of the warring demigods) and finally Tenkai (the realm of heaven). Interestingly enough, Kurumada presents the Buddhist realms of reincarnation as separate planes of existence from those found in the Hades arc of his manga, which he derived from Dante Alighieri's conception of the underworld. The Tenkai is considered the worst realm to be sent as mentioned by Shaka.
Shaka strengthens his Cosmos energy by depriving himself of his eyesight. When he opens his eyes, the stored strength is then released. Due to his enormous power, Shaka is called the "man who is closest to god".
Between his offensive techniques he can use Demon Pacifier (天魔降伏 Tenma Kōfuku?) to expand his cosmos at multiple targets or at a single one as a blast, that it was strong enough to destroy a large part of the Cancer Temple and Heaven Supremacy on evil spirits of rivers and mountains (天空覇邪魑魅魍魎 Tenkūhajachimimōryō?) in which Shaka summons minor spirits and sends them against his enemies. He can also use Hām (カーン Kān?), a defensive technique that creates a barrier that encircles Shaka's body.
Shaka's strongest attack, The Treasures of Heavens (天舞宝輪 Tenbuhōrin?), is a defensive and offensive technique. It removes the senses of its target one by one until it kills him. All five hits have been named as "Remove of the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th sense" ( Dai Ikkan/Nikan/Sankan/Yonkan/Gokan Hakudatsu?). Apart from removing the five senses it can also stop the main functions of the brain that allows the body to think, also called the 6th sense. However the offensive power of this attack is so powerful that it can even destroy the cloth of the opponent.
Apart from those fighting techniques, Shaka also uses two concentration ones that belong to the buddhism like Om(ॐ) to maximize his Cosmo energy, allowing him to use the full extent of his power and Tenpōrin Seal (転法輪印 Tenpōrin'in?) to erase any doubts in his mind that could refrain him during the fight.
[edit] Cloth, constellation and Temple
Shaka's guardian constellation is Virgo, and his Gold Cloth represents it and its associated myth : Its unclear what character in mythology the constellation exactly represents.
After the fight against Saga, Shura and Camus the Cloth was totally destroyed. However, he could attain the Eight Sense and reach the Underworld as a living being, along with his Cloth.
The temple he guarded was known both in manga and the anime adaptation as ShōjoKyū, "The Temple of the Maiden".
[edit] Other media
Main article:
The Virgo Saint of the 18th century was known as Virgo Asmita. Since they look the same, he's speculated being Shaka's previous incarnation. He appears only in the sidestory Saint Seiya Lost Canvas, which status as canon is unknown.
Although the ecents depicted in it are non-canonical, in the fourth Saint Seiya movie he is killed by one of the soldiers of Lucifer and in the end he is brought back to life when all the Gold Cloths starts to shine. Shaka also stars in the non-canonical Heaven Chapter Prologue, in which his soul is sealed with the other Gold Saints when they talk to the gods and say they always be loyal to Athena. Although being sealed he would encourage Ikki and Shun to fight against the angel of Artemis.
[edit] Notes
- In his manga, Kurumada gave Shaka blonde hair. Shaka shared this trait with fellow Gold Saints Mu, Aldebaran, Saga, Kanon, Aiolia, Aioros, Milo Shion and Aphrodite. In the anime adaptation, due to a relative excess of yellow tones in Kurumada's designs of the Gold Saints, all blonde Gold Saints had their hair color modified, except for Shaka, who was the only Gold Saint whose hair remained blonde as it was originally conceived by Kurumada in his manga. A good color balance and contrast for Shaka was achieved by leaving his blonde color hair without modification, and giving the Virgo Gold Cloth darker golden tones.
- As revealed by Masami Kurumada in vol.12 of his manga, Shaka became a Gold Saint at an early age. He had already been granted the Gold Saint status and the Virgo Gold Cloth by the time he was 7 years old.
- Kurumada derived Shaka's name from the ancient realm of the Shakya (pronounced Shaka), and whose most famous member was Siddharta Gautama, known as Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and as Shakyamuni.
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