Phoenix Ikki

Phoenix Ikki
Saint Seiya character
File:Ikkimanga-7.jpg Phoenix Ikki from the manga
First appearance	Manga Saint Seiya Chapter 4: "Galaxian War" (1986) (shadowed) Chapter 9: "The Phoenix Saint" (1987) (fully) Anime Saint Seiya Episode 2 October 18, 1986 (image) Episode 6 November 22, 1986 (fully)
Created by	Masami Kurumada
Voiced by	Japanese Hideyuki Hori (anime) Noriko Uemura (child) Katsuyuki Konishi (Hades OVAs and Knights of the Zodiac) Machiko Toyoshima (child OVA) Tomokazu Sugita (Omega) Kenji Nojima (Legend of Sanctuary) English Scott McCord (DiC dub) Mike MacRae (ADV dub) K. C. Jones (as young Ikki, ADV dub) Adam Gibbs (Knights of the Zodiac/Netflix dub)
Information
Weapon	Cloth Feathery shuriken
Relatives	Andromeda Shun (younger brother)

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Phoenix Ikki (鳳凰星座 (フェニックス)の一輝, Fenikkusu no Ikki) is a character from Saint Seiya, a manga written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada which was later adapted to anime. Ikki is the Phoenix Bronze Saint and older brother of Andromeda Shun. Although he initially appears as the first antagonist that the main characters must defeat, he later becomes a powerful ally.

Creation and conception

Conceived as the lone wolf of the group of the main characters, Ikki has a brutal past that explains his attitudes. Although Kurumada said he could not fully show the situations Ikki went through in a shōnen manga, he compared his change of personality to that of soldiers who fought in Vietnam War like the characters in the 1978 film The Deer Hunter.

Character outline

Personality

In terms of personality, Ikki is almost the opposite of his younger brother, Shun, and his fellow Saints. Ikki is a loner, cold and harsh. When he first appears in the manga, fellow Saint Wolf Nachi points out that it is hard to believe Ikki and Shun are related due to the differences in their personalities. However, after the "Black Saints" arc, it is revealed that underneath his rough exterior lies a compassionate and kind soul.

Abilities

As a Saint, Ikki has been trained in mind and body to learn how to use the power of the Cosmos within his own body and use it for super strength, speed, agility, durability and reflexes. The Phoenix Cloth armor he wears represents the constellation of Phoenix, which is associated to the immortal bird that is reborn from its ashes found in the folklore and mythologies of diverse cultures. And his connection with the constellation combined with his own Cosmos gives him Fire & Heat Powers with the ability to generate, manipulate and control them. Also Reflecting this association, the Cloth has the ability to reform itself if pulverized and possibly change into a new form as it does so – other Cloths require a great amount of a Saint's blood to repair. Ikki himself is extraordinarily resilient and hard to kill. On several occasions throughout the story, he returns from death and it is implied that every time he does so, he receives a boost in strength. With his special attack Phoenix Illusion Demon Fist or Phantom Devil, he can mentally destroy the minds of his victims.

Having been born under the sign of Leo, Ikki also dons the Leo Gold Cloth on one occasion, during the fight against Thanatos, the god of death, in Elysion.

While Ikki is ranked as a Bronze Saint, his potential places him above most Silver Saints. As a child, Ikki was known as the toughest of the one hundred orphans recruited by the Graude Foundation and would often defend his younger brother, Shun. During his battle against Virgo Shaka, Ikki awakens his seventh sense, which places him at the same level as a Gold Saint in terms of power. In the "Hades" arc, he also awakens the eighth sense, which allows him to descend to the world of the dead without being subject to its laws.

Appearances

In Saint Seiya

In order to take revenge on Mitsumasa Kido, the head of the Graude Foundation who had Ikki endure a living hell of rigorous training on Death Queen Island to become a Saint since an early age, Ikki interrupts the Galaxian Wars tournament to steal the Sagittarius Gold Cloth from the Graude Foundation and challenges the other Bronze Saints to fight him and the Black Saints. After a long series of struggles, Pegasus Seiya, Andromeda Shun, Cygnus Hyōga and Dragon Shiryū eventually defeat them. Overcoming his grudge, Ikki begins to assist the Bronze Saints in their fights to protect Athena and retake Sanctuary from Gemini Saga. His intervention is crucial in defeating the Gold Saint Virgo Shaka and Saga himself.

In the "Poseidon" arc, Ikki aids the Bronze Saints by defeating Lyumnades Caça and battling Sea Dragon Kanon. Although he is unable to beat Kanon, Ikki succeeds in extracting valuable information from the Marine General about Poseidon that led to Athena's victory over the god of the Sea.

Ikki does not appear in the "Hades" arc until the Saints are already in the Underworld. He defeats Garuda Aiacos and then confronts Hades himself, who had gained possession of his younger brother's body. Ikki attempts to rip the god out of Shun's body, and is punished for it with death. Not even the god of the Underworld could keep the Phoenix down, however, and Ikki eventually travels to Elysion where he participates with the other Bronze Saints in the battles against Thanatos, Hypnos and Hades.

In other media

File:Phoenix ikki 2.jpg

Ikki as seen in the Saint Seiya anime, wearing the anime-only first version of the Phoenix Cloth.

Ikki reappears in Saint Seiya: Next Dimension, the ongoing canonical sequel and prequel to Saint Seiya authored by Kurumada that deals with the aftermath of the war against Hades. After Athena visits Mount Olympus to meet her sister Artemis and ask for her help to cure Seiya from the curse Hades inflicted on him, Andromeda Shun is attacked by Artemis's soldiers, the Satellites, and their commander Lascomoune. Shun manages to defeat the Satellites, but not Lascomoune, who nearly takes his life. Ikki then intervenes to protect his brother and defeats the commander of the Satellites. Afterwards, he follows Athena and Shun into the past, to the war against Hades that took place in the eighteenth century. Ikki is proclaimed as the future Gold Saint of the Leo successor to Aiolia, from the Gold Saint of the eighteenth century Leo Kaiser

He also appears briefly in the spin-off manga Saint Seiya Episode.G authored by Megumu Okada, as Leo Aiolia and Scorpio Milo think of the next generation of Saints who will write future history.

Several minor changes were made to Ikki's design in the anime adaptation of the series. The Phoenix Cloth, which is orange in the manga, appears as multicolored in the anime adaptation. Ikki's black hair also changed colors.

In the anime-only Asgard arc, Ikki first appears during Seiya and Shun's fight with Mizar Zeta Syd, showcasing his reformed Phoenix Cloth. After this, he appears again only much later to save Shun from Benetnasch Eta Mime, sacrificing himself and his cloth to defeat the god warrior, Ikki later revives to help Shun fight the brothers Syd and Bud, the two then help Hyogā and the trio make their way to help Seiya fight the last god warrior Siegfried, Ikki is defeated alongside the rest of the bronze saints. His last important role is to shield Seiya with his own body from Hilda's attacks.

In the Saint Seiya movies, Ikki always appears helping Andromeda Shun and using the same methods to defeat his opponents. In the Heaven Chapter: Overture movie, however, Ikki is unable to defeat the Angel of Artemis until he fights alongside his younger brother and the two combine techniques to kill him. Later, he is seen with Shun going towards the place where Seiya is fighting Apollo.

Reception

In the section Right Turn Only! from Anime News Network, writer Liann Cooper noted that the fight between Ikki and Shun was a plot twist "skirmish". Mania Beyond Entertainment's Mark Thomas found Ikki to be one of the most interesting characters from the series, having liked his early role as an antagonist and his subsequent appearances as a partner for the Bronze Saints. His powers were also praised by Thomas, who noted he was "far too good for the Bronze Cloth", but was saddened with how he disappeared during his fight against Virgo Shaka. The character has also appeared in the Gin Tama interrupting most plot twists from horror stories causing protagonist Gintoki Sakata to fear they might get sued. IGN stated that Ikki was different from Seiya as he only acts whenever his allies are in problem in contrast to being a conventional hero like them. According to a guidebook, Ikki is the first and only user of the Phoenix Cloth. IGN found that the reason for why Ikki became its owner is unknown but multiple fans have made hypothesis in regards to it. HobbyConsolas found that the Netflix series adapted well the duel between Ikki and Seiya.

References

This article "Phoenix Ikki" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Phoenix Ikki. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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