What's this about?
Welcome to my shrine dedicated to this ship that has been living rent-free in my brain, since 2023!
They are a MxM yaoi ship from the Saint Seiya franchise, and they have become pretty much main focus point. I found out that shrines were a thing people did around here so, I decided to join in the fun! Buckle up, I'm going to be sharing their propaganda. Because I feel like the fandom has been purposely sleeping on them, for far too long. Despite there being SO much glorious food of these two, within the source material AND other things surrounding the franchise.
The propaganda
We begin at the start. Which is a quick overview of them in the official source material, without a too biased look into what we got. Just bear in mind, although I'm mostly caught up with the franchise's lore, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm the most knowledgeable about the series as a whole (and that's not at all how I wish to present myself as).
Taurus Aldebaran and Aries Mu are first introduced to us as friends, seemingly Aldebaran is the first and only person Mu appeared to act in a playful and friendly manner. Something we never observe him do, with anyone else.
Episode G
- Mu is well into his exile, thus he is nowhere to be found in Sanctuary. It's up to Aldebaran to deliver Dohko and Mu's letters, to excuse them for their absences.
- Aldebaran defends Mu from accusations thrown by the other gold saints, alledging that he could be another traitor, due to his refusal to return to Sanctuary.
- We learn Aldebaran was the only gold saint that stayed in touch with Mu all this time. He's also the only one that knows the way to Jamir's tower, and clearly knew about the process of bringing cloths back to life.
- Instead of just teaching Aiolia the way, he accompanied him under that premise. But also in hopes to be used as blood sacrifice, to fix the Leo cloth as to not try further strain Mu. Ultimately, that was in vain and Mu used his own blood to do the repairs anyway.
- Aldebaran stayed with Mu, and looked after him while he was unconscious, after a huge fight that took place in there and he fixed the Aiolia's cloth. He refused to return to Sanctuary right away.
- Although it isn't specified how long Aldebaran stayed with Mu in Jamir, it's possible to inferr it may have been around an week or so where these two were entirely on their own
- Next time we see them. Aldebaran is assisting to re-build the tower, while Mu oversees it all. But, that's cut short due to Aldebaran receiving orders from the Pope, to return immediately to the battlefield. Something he can't refuse, and Mu asks him to fight for him.
- Aldebaran asks Mu to return to Sanctuary with him, once more (it's left implied, that wasn't the first time he asked such question). When that went nowhere, he trusted his friend to send him safely to Sanctuary, using his abilities
"I'm the one who believes in you, the most."
Classic Anime/Manga
- Immediately after Seiya's battle in the Taurus house, Mu leaves Saori's side in order to pay Aldebaran a visit. "Do you need me to fix your horn, Aldebaran?" A friendly banter between the two takes place.
- Mu clearly knows the true extent of Aldebaran's powers and strength, and appears to be surprised he didn't outright kill the bronze boys
- In the manga, when Mu finds Aldebaran's corpse he witnesses it being destroyed but, due to time running short. He is unable to stay and witness, Aldebaran fight back against the low-rank spectre that took his life. He appeared visibly upset about not being able to stay there for him.
- ANIME EXCLUSIVE: In the Hades arc- Mu cries upon finding out that Aldebaran was killed in battle, he is crying when he carries his friend's remaining cosmos and releases it in the sky for him to become a star in the nightsky
"We'll meet again soon, my friend."
Soul of Gold
- The writers really tried to separate them while in the show, by not having them directly interact with one another. Even though, their episode's promo art sure makes it look like otherwise. But they accidentally, only made their bond look even stronger through a particular editing style. The battle in the episode they shared, it had constant cuts between one another. It was a peculiar way to exhibit the parallels between one another, and it matched them.
- They unlocked their Divine cloths at the same time.
KoTZ
- Truly, the only reason I even checked out Kotz was because of the filler side-story, involving those two. If there's one positive thing to say about KoTZ is how, they managed to truly portray these two as good friends.
- Everything leading up to their first encounter stays the same, until Mu convinces Aldebaran to see Athena. Despite Aldebaran's hesitance to give ears to Mu, he was quick to mostly abandon his old beliefs, when he met Saori. Aldebaran finds himself in a tough position where he's inclined to be skeptical about Mu's convictions in regards to the Pope, but at the same time he is with his ears open and willingly followed him to Starhill.
- Mu is always the one that initiated every physical contact/touch on Aldebaran. He placed a hand over Aldebaran's arm, while introducing him to June, Tatsumi, Saori and Kiki.
- There is another banter between them, when Aldebaran tries to talk Mu out of following through with his plan of further investigate the Pope. And Mu replies to him with a 'You know me, Aldebaran.'.
- There is a lovely shot that puts, Aldebaran, Mu and Kiki in one picture together after witnessing June's fall
- While fighting his inner dark-side (IDK how you describe that weird mirrored versions), Aldebaran is confronted with the fact he allowed himself to be influenced by Mu.
- Both find Shion's corpse together, and both are struck by a lightning and stay out of 90% of KoTZ's 3rd season.
- They hold hands!! Aldebaran held Mu's hand!!
"You let yourself be influenced by Mu!"
Saintia Sho
- Aldebaran guarded the Aries temple's entrance as per Mu's request.
- There is a conversation between Aldebaran and Mu through his telepathy, where Aldebaran expresses concern for the Saintias safety/well-being as they are heading towards Artemis' temple. Mu expresses how much he admires that side of his.
- When Mu could no longer hold out the incoming enemy, he passed out for a moment thus causing him to seemingly fall to his impending doom. Only for him to be caught in the last second by Aldebaran, leading to one of the best panels.
"You're so gentle, Aldebaran"
Special mention: Legend of Sanctuary
- This was another re-telling of the Sanctuary arc, and for the most part not a whole lot changed for either of them in it per se. Other than the fact, Mu is the one that ended the fight between Seiya and Aldebaran. And they both were trailing behind the bronze boys, while bringing with themselves Saori.
The extras
When looking into anything AldeMu related, you have likely heard the name Noriyo Sasaki be thrown around. So, what's his relevance? He was one of the animation directors that worked on Hades arc's anime adaptation, and in 2016 he released many old sketches he had done way back in the day. And SO MANY of those arts, portrayed Aldebaran and Mu in a romantic relationship, and clearly taking the mantle of fatherhood over Kiki. Not only it showed how passionate he was for the series but, especially towards these two in special.
There are many websites that showcase the arts he has released, it shouldn't be too difficult to find them!
What's my relationship with them?
I feel like I owe them the huge leap in my art progress. Before I got into StS, I would go long periods without drawing anything, I would often find myself in constant art blocks. But, ever since I got into them, I have been putting out content of these two like crazy! As such, I have managed to improve in a fairly short amount of time. All because they gave me plenty of inspiration, to explore and draw. I haven't experienced this degree of inspiration in so long.
Funnily enough, it actually took me awhile to even find out about them, let alone even consider them as an option. I even got into ShaxMu for like 15 days, before completely abandoning it for these two! I got into them when I was reading Episode G by Megumi Okada, and not long after I was done with it I had the pleasure to learn about Noriyo Sasaki's works and since then, they haven't really left my mind. I couldn't be happier.
You may see it as cringe or embarrassing or something I should be ashamed for enjoying, but the truth is that none of you all pay my bills. So, cry me a river about it with your opinions. Ultimately, this is all harmless fun and something that has benefitted me in the end.