Shiryu as Hadès and How His Character Could Have Had More Screentime (this is going to be long and like...not even half of what I have to say sorry)
First of all : Shun is actually a good character for Hades, the whole kind guy turning into World's End Maker was a good plot twist BUT character wise he was already pretty central and full fleshed, Shiryu otherwise....erm (I rlly love Shiryu but he gets so bad/forgattable after Sanctuary...sick) + don't forget those are the main plotlines !!! I have a whole developpement in my head but you don't want to read a whole novel so please bear with me
I feel like he was tossed a bit of the side after the first arcs and it genuinely makes me sad, his character is a bit alike to Shun's on some points but except losing his sight every five episode well...he's not as well developped as Shun lmaoo 😭 that's why I believe it could have been interesting, even without the whole developpement points who are hard to add in a show like this, his character could have been a little more than what he is...Shun has a pretty shiny role, Seiya is the mc, Hyoga has a familial story or something like this every arc, and Ikki also has meaningful parts in fights/story, while I feel like Shiryu was often here because well he had to, but doesn't have a role that big (minus maybe in Asgard, but here he was a bit of an ass with fenrir for no reason so um 😭)
Anyway so ! First of all, Shiryu is the only one without a known family member (Seiya -> Seika, Shun -> Ikki, Hyoga -> his mom), no real backstory, nothing (thanks Ohko for trying at least, genuinely it made Shiryu's character rlly much cooler) so I decided to change it to give him at least something ! Also the necklace trope is also included but I won't extend myself on it, you guys know how it works
Changed his whole non existent backstory in the AU, basically, instead of being an orphan with the other kids, he would have been taken home by Dohko, who would have protected him from Pandora and Hades when his parents died from their attack (I always saw Shiryu as Chinese, I scrapped the whole brothers trope bc I don't like it + it's manga only) Dohko is a powerful Saint and could have done that.
I feel like he'd know Shiryu was like...different, his job is looking at the reincarnation of the Specters so yeah, he felt it. But killing a child, right after Athena was taken away and almost killed ? Yeah...no...he'd feel too bad, and would take Shiryu with him instead, keeping it to himself in hopes a good teaching and keeping an eye on him could prevent anything bad from happening (almost worked ig, oops)
It could make an interesting plot point with Shiryu and Dohko's dynamic, because as much as Shiryu likes him as a parental figure and master, he knows he's keeping secrets from him, and would feel some resent when learning about the truth y'know ??
After that it doesn't change much from the plot, except when it comes to dynamic within the Bronze group : Shiryu is sent to check what the hell is going on with the Galaxians Wars (a bit like Hyoga did in the manga), Ikki makes a whole ass mess, etc etc. Also it'd "explain" how Shiryu was so eager to end Ikki's life : he doesn't know him like the others do. For him he's just a threat to put an end to, which would be interesting dynamic wise too...Seiya would try to integrate him to the group, Shun, while understanding his view, would feel some kind of discomfort BEFORE trying to learn to know him better (I love their friendship srry), and I feel like he'd connect with Hyoga with the whole "My dad is a Gold Saint and while I love him well sometimes he tends to be a bit weird with me" and with Ikki I have a whole another plotline but I can't sum up that. This post is already long enough. Anyway the dynamics would have been changed and I think it's interesting to learn to know characters through someone who doesn't know them as much as they do know each other ?? Honestly most of the developpement is made in my head here are just the big lines
ANYWAY, back on track, nothing changes that much from the og anime before Hades (or it does change in my head because Shiryu was badly written in those ‼️or not written at all idk) and...yeah 😭 whole big mess...Dohko has to explain to Shiryu how and why he kept like...HUGE stuff from him all his life in order to protect him, also to Shion because "why the fuck didn't you say anything" (he cares for the kid and was afraid Sanctuary would take him from him), also I don't really remember how the whole Pandora plot point was made in the thread I made with the person on discord (sorry it was in march but I remember Pandora has a different plotline than in the og anime) but starting here it's just, yeah kinda the same I guess !! Except for the Ikki part/dynamic with Shiryu, but ONCE AGAIN it's a part of my Shiryu/Ikki plotpoint and it'd be too long (before some ask, YES, Ikki stops himself from killing him, because YES, Ikki cares about his friend group), also if it sounds silly sorry, but he sometimes (in the og anime) had a bit of extreme reactions, was willing to go pretty far to protect the people he cares about (Fenrir, Ikki...) and it could be a bit of a hint to his soul sometimes awakening to his Hadès self... He's not like, cruel or really mean, there's just sometimes something off about him, he sometimes "shifts" slightly and ppl can't really pinpoint what it is (not sure about this one does it make sense ???? Idk)
The most important parts of this AU are basically the developpement of his character through that "newcomer" lenses, learning to trust the others, and overall develop a more meaningful dynamic with them and giving him a bigger role !! I know it sounds a bit "Saint Seiya, everything is the same minus Shiryu is Hades" but there's more to that I swear, it's just hard to explain like this without making huge walls about dynamics
(Can you tell I'm shitting myself. Please don't be rude rlly, if you don't like the idea just ignore !!)
