Shun's depiction as a female changes the original mythology in which female Saints were forced to hide their faces in masks to renounce their femininity. The spin-off "Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho" also deviated from such rule by introducing the Saintias ("Holly Fighting Girls"), Athena's devoted handmaids.
Andromeda Shun in this series is a girl, while throughout the Saint Seiya saga Shun was an effeminate-looking male. Writer Eugene Son said he deliberately made the change to allow Seiya's group to include a female warrior, as part of updating the story to current times. Such change suffered strong backlash from fans of the original anime and manga.
Andromeda Shun is the second Saint to change gender in an adaptation of the original Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac (1986). Scorpio Milo is depicted as a female in Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary (2014).