scientiiaa
--Additional information--
Knights of Sidonia, or Sidonia no Kishi is a mecha manga series by Tsutomu Nihei (Blame, Biomega), which was serialized by Kodansha in 'Afternoon' between April 2009 and September 2015. The manga is localized in English by 'Vertical.' An anime television series adaptation, produced by Polygon Pictures, aired between April and June 2014 and a second season aired between April and June 2015. An anime television series adaptation, produced by Polygon Pictures, premiered on April 10, 2014 and ended its first season on June 26, 2014, on MBS and later on TBS, CBC and BS-TBS. The series was directed by Kobun Shizuno, assisted by Hiroyuki Seshita, with scripts by Sadayuki Murai and character designs by Yuki Moriyama. The series has also been localized and streamed by Netflix in all of its territories since July 4, 2014, becoming the service's first original anime, as well as the first anime series on Netflix available in Dolby Vision/HDR. The first season has been licensed for home video release by Sentai Filmworks.--Story-line--
The future is not favorable for humans anymore: our planet is no longer there, world population has decreased dramatically because of the gauna invasion, and there is a chance that humans can be completely annihilated. However, humans are known for their ability to adapt and this time they will not give up that easily. Many seed ships are being created, which are later sent in different parts of space and are designed to be the last stronghold of the human race. Although, seed ships do have weaponry, they use robots called gardes, or guardians to protect the main ship from any possible threat that might occur. Not much is known about seed ships now, because the distance between them is so great (150 something light years) that it takes more than 100 years only for one message to be delivered. In this lovely setting, Knight of Sidonia tells the viewer a story of Sidonia, which is one of these seed ships. Sidonia has its own guardian Saitou Hiroki, who is a guardian's pilot and Sidonia's top 1 ace. However, one day, due to some circumstances, Hiroki refuses to take medicine anymore, which increases the life of any human, helping them to never age; he takes his grandson with him and hides from the people of Sidonia. Eventually, Hiroki dies and it forces his grandson to the surface. One of the Sidonia's leaders immediately understands that Nagate is the only grandson of one of the greatest ace pilots Sidonia has ever had and that his grandson is believed to be as skilled as his grandad and sends him on a mission. Right on his very first mission, Tanikaze faces the main foe of humanity that has not attacked Sidonia for a long while-gauna. While Sidonia Knights' story-line does contain some cliché mecha elements that you surely know about, it has one of the richest story-lines you will ever see in anime: an absolutely new setting, it contains many sci-fi elements, and it is just able to keep you in the never ending suspension, leaving you absolutely no time for breath; you simply have no time to think, because you do not know what to expect from this series. By the way, there are two seasoning now and the third season is underway, which means that there will be even more new details.--Note--
Gauna are an alien lifeform that destroyed planet earth. The light-year is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances. It is about 9.5 trillion kilometers, or 5.9 trillion miles.--Art/Sound--
Knight of Sidonia has some awesome CG, which help to keep action scenes flashy and mind-blowing. You can find Knights of Sidonia's opening on youtube and you will get the idea how it is going to look like. Anyways, the animation manages to reflect that dark setting perfectly well, it also manages to keep the action scenes amazingly interesting to watch. However, my only problem with that is that while all character designs do look decent, I would have loved to see a better emotion portrayal for characters. Yet, it is not an anime about cute boys and girls doing cute things; the animation is good. Sound wise, Japanese dubbed version does a much better job than the English one. Sidonia no Kishi, as any mecha anime, has simply amazing OST, which was composed by Asakura Noriyuki, who also wrote the music for Rurouni Kenshin and Major. The opening theme 'sidonia' is performed by a Japanese pop band angela, which full version you should definitely check on youtube. They are notable for having their music portrayed as theme songs for several anime television shows. The band members are Atsuko(vocals) and Katsu(keyboard). Their signature upbeat tunes and rich arrangements combine elements of electronica, dance, rock, swing jazz and ska. The ending theme 'show' is performed by Eri Kitamura, who prefers j-rock, symphonic rock, symphonic metal, and pop rock. That said, Sidonia did surprise me with its opening and ending themes choice. The opening song sounds like a hymn to the last stronghold of humanity-seed ships, when the ending theme somewhat keeps you in suspension, making you want to watch the next episode as soon as possible; they both fit the anime well.--Characters--
Knights of Sidonia has a very rich cast. Every character has its purpose in the series, they have their motives and aims they are trying to pursue. Although, it might take you some time to get used to these rather unusual characters that this anime has, since as it has been already been stated before, the main genre of this anime is sci-fi, so there will be many weird things. But even with that, all main and supporting characters are equally good. P.S. Do not mind the bear lady; Japan is a weird place. --Criticism (does not contain spoilers)--
Of course, this anime is not perfect, or flawless; nothing is. But I guarantee you that this series has more positive than negative sides. I cannot even call them serious flaws, they are just too minor for me to criticize. That said, Sidonia no Kishi, just like Evangelion, has the right to be called iconic mecha anime. It has a brand-new setting, as well as many elements, which have never been touched upon in any other sci-fi, or mecha anime. --Overall--
All in all, I give this anime a very weak 10/10. Even if you are not a fan of mecha, think of this series as a sci-fi series, which involves robots. Robots, as well as robot fights, are not the main focus of this anime. However, I have to say that this anime series has quite a bit of female nudity, along with some graphic violence, which makes it something that is not for kids. But do not be afraid, it does not have any unnecessary fanservice at all!One of the most innovative sci-fi series you will ever see!
sommeraaron
Growing up on Robotech (Macross) and the Gundam franchise, I have a tender spot in my core for mech anime. If you grew up on said anime, then you have to immediately view this series. It's not for you that I need to make the case. You'll already be willing to finish the series in one sitting.For those of you, maybe a younger generation, without the mech background, give this a chance. My girlfriend is of the Hunter x Hunter, Kill la Kill, Blue Exorcist generation. But, Knights of Sidonia has your emotional character development, cutesy facial expression (heavy blushing) and the artwork will hold the new generation. I've tried in vain to get my girlfriend to watch many of the late 80's early 90's classics. She loved Ninja Scroll and Armitage, but still admits to not watching older anime for the dated animation. Knights of Sidonia is the perfect oldschool mech vs alien anime with an updated appearance.
Jim Fess
So i found this show because i had off on the 4th of July 2014, and i decided to dedicate the entire day to Netflix. As soon as i went on Netflix it showed me this newly released title "Knights of Sidonia" and i wasn't that interested by the description or the images because i saw mecha type anime(robots). That immediately discouraged me because i hate mecha type anime, but for some reason something inside me just couldn't resist watching one episode. So i start episode 1 and my first reaction was the picture quality, it was so strange and 3-D-ish. At first i wasn't sure if i even liked it but i finished episode 1 and thought it was decent. I decided to give one more episode a try before i decided if i was gonna watch it or drop it and boy am i glad i did! After episode 2 i got use to the strange animation and the story really picked up from there. Every single episode left you in suspense for the next, its been along time since a show caught my eye like this show did! This show has a very unique concept on the human race and how they've changed in the future this is one thing that really caught my attention. And the action and mystery were very nice too. Both opening and ending are very good in my opinion. This show has post-apocalyptic, romance, action, and mystery. I'm really excited for season two and i'm very happy that this was English dubed the same time as japans release.Overall: 4/5. Why not 5/5? The animation basically. I think if they would have used what ever effects they did on the animation during specific parts in the show rather than the entire thing it would have looked better. Don't get me wrong though even with the strange or different animation style this show is really good. The story is a 5/5 for me, theirs just so much suspense and mystery and cool concepts i love it all. And don't forget i don't even like mecha genre anime and i loved this, that basically says it all! Edit: Just finished season 2 and i have to say i think it was even slightly better than the first, for me it kept the same suspense at the end of every episode. It had its adorable moments along with epic action and some unraveling of the shows mystery's. The opening theme wasn't as memorable as the first season but if you listen past the first few seconds its actually pretty decent. I enjoyed the ending theme very much, it gave me the old eerie feeling of paint peeling. And i have to say my judgment of the animation has changed since my first viewing, just because the style is different from the mainstream isn't a bad thing and i think this is one of the few shows that can be done the way it was and come out well. 4/5 for season 2, its completely consistent with season 1 quality and for me i think i enjoyed it slightly more, cant wait for season 3! If you were a fan of season 1 you will absolutely love season 2, i promise!
