This creates a sharp contrast between himself and the rest of the Saints: Whereas the others will not hesitate to battle when the situation demands it, Shun only allows himself to fight if it's an absolute necessity, or when his almost endless patience wears out.

This attitude separates him from the rest of the Saints: whereas they will not hesitate to battle when the situation demands it, Shun only allows himself to fight if it is an absolute necessity or if his almost endless patience wears out.

During the Sanctuary Saga, In the Galaxion War story arc Shun competed in the Galaxian Tournament  to hopefully meet up with his older brother.

In the Sanctuary arc, at the battles of the Twelve Temples, Shun holds his own against Gemini Saga and manages to kill Pisces Aphrodite.

When Shun awakens in Seiya's arms moments later, he once again dons the Andromeda Cloth and follows his fellow Bronze Saints to the Wailing Wall and then Elysion.

Shun is separated from Athena in the process and lands in the coliseum of Sanctuary, not without attracting the attention of several foot soldiers and Pegasus Tenma.

Shun reveals that, during the last battle of the 20th-century Saints against the evil god Mars, a mysterious rock fell from the sky boosting the Cosmos of every Saint and God, and granting them new elemental powers; as such, Mars himself gained the elemental power of darkness, that used to deal Shun a "dark wound" spreading all over his left arm.

However, forced to burn his Cosmos again, this time Shun lost almost completely the use of his left arm, overcome by darkness, and decided to devote himself to his new life as a physician entrusting Athena's safety to the 21st-century Saints.

Despite his still meek, cheerful disposition, Andromeda Shun is still revered as one of the strongest Saints of the 20th century: when Hound Miguel faces him the first time, without knowing about his diminished strength, he escapes in fear, leaving a wounded Kōga behind.

Regarded as a "true walking caricature, this character was the most fragile and sensible, with fine traits, long hair, doe eyes and the most feminine armor of the group (with a nice 95B in the guise of a breastplate in the anime version)".

from Anime News Network, writer Liann Cooper described Shun's character as "prissy" and his fight against his older brother, Phoenix Ikki, as a plot twist "skirmish".

[16] In a review of the anime, Chris Beveridge from AnimeOnDVD praised the fight between Shun and Gemini Saga due to the power the Bronze Saint shows to take down his enemy.

[18] The writer of the Netflix series, Eugene Son, justified Shun's gender change after thinking the Knights needed more female representation.

He explained that while the original show had some excellent core concepts, the one thing that bothered him about it was that “the Bronze Knights with Pegasus Seiya are all dudes”.