{ { Infobox animanga/Print
| type = manga
| author = Megumu Okada
| publisher = Akita Shoten
| demographic = Seinen
| imprint = Champion Red Comics
| magazine = Champion Red
| first = December 19, 2002
| last = June 19, 2013
| volumes = 20
| volume_list = List of Saint Seiya Episode.G chapters
}}
, also known as Knights of the Zodiac: Episode.G, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Megumu Okada. A spin-off of the manga series Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada, it first started being serialized in the monthly magazine Champion Red on December 19, 2002, and was concluded on June 19, 2013, being later compiled into 20 tankōbon by Akita Shoten.
The story is set seven years before the events of Saint Seiya and six years after the death of the Sagittarius Gold Saint Aiolos, the brother of Episode.G's protagonist, Leo Gold Saint Aiolia. It takes place in a fictional universe where the Olympian gods cyclically reincarnate on Earth, often waging war on each other for dominance, and depicts the battle of the Gold Saints, warriors with superhuman powers who fight for Peace and Justice in the name of the goddess Athena to protect the Earth from the recently awakened Titan gods.
Although no English version of Saint Seiya Episode.G exists, it has been translated into various other languages by publishers from around the world, where it was well received, but not without controversy regarding its differences to Saint Seiya.
In December 2013, Megumu Okada announced on Twitter that he was working on a sequel manga titled . Serialization began on April 5, 2014, in the bimonthly Champion Red Ichigo magazine, and continued in the web magazine Champion Cross (later renamed Manga Cross). The last chapter was published on August 27, 2019, and the series was compiled into 16 volumes. A second sequel titled began being serialized on January 28, 2020, also in Manga Cross.
Plot
The story of Saint Seiya Episode.G is set seven years before the events of Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya, in the same fictional world in which the Greek gods cyclically reincarnate to dispute dominion of Earth. The story revolves around the Saints of Athena, humans with superhuman powers who are devoted to the Goddess of War Athena, and whose duty is to protect the world from evil. The protagonist is the Leo Gold Saint Aiolia, who is mistrusted by the rest of the Saints because of the seemingly traitorous actions of his brother Aiolos in the past. In turn, he holds a grudge against the Saints as a whole, and against the elite order of the Gold Saints in particular.
While the Pope, the leader of the Saints, sends Aiolia on mission after mission to prove his loyalty, evil forces manifest that threaten to destroy Sanctuary, the home of the Saints. A modern-day Titanomachy begins as the Titans, ancient gods with a desire for revenge on the Olympian gods, attack Sanctuary to retrieve the "Megas Drepanon", the weapon into which Zeus had sealed their King, Kronos, in the age of mythology. Their first assault is thwarted by Aiolia, who subsequently gains the attention of the Titans as the "man of the evil omen" who is destined to free their King.
With the Titans once again roaming the Earth, ancient monsters are also resurrected worldwide and the Saints have to contain them. Meanwhile, the Titans gather their forces to strike at Sanctuary a second time. In the course of their next assault, Kronos is inadvertently released from Zeus's lightning seal by Aiolia's own lightning-based technique, but the god appears to be amnesiac. The Titans determine that it was Aiolia's attack that was responsible for this condition and that the Leo Saint might hold the means to fix it as well. They retreat to their base at the Time Labyrinth and kidnap Aiolia's servant Lithos to lure him there. Aiolia does not hesitate to go to Lithos's aid and, together with five other Gold Saints, initiates a series of battles in which the Titans fall one by one.