Sidonia no Kishi

After destroying Earth many years ago, the alien race Gauna has been pursuing the remnants of humanity—which, having narrowly escaped, fled across the galaxy in a number of giant seed ships. In the year 3394, Nagate Tanikaze surfaces from his lifelong seclusion deep beneath the seed ship Sidonia in search of food on the upper levels, only to find himself dragged into events unfolding without his knowledge.

When the Gauna begin their assault on Sidonia, it's up to Tanikaze—with the help of his fellow soldiers and friends Shizuka Hoshijiro, Izana Shinatose, and Yuhata Midorikawa—to defend humanity's last hope for survival, and defeat their alien foes. Sidonia no Kishi follows Tanikaze as he discovers the world that has been above him his entire life, and becomes the hero Sidonia needs.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shinatose, Izana Main

Toyosaki, Aki Japanese

Hoshijiro, Shizuka Main

Suzaki, Aya Japanese

Tanikaze, Nagate Main

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Benisuzume Supporting

Suzaki, Aya Japanese

Kobayashi Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Hiyama, Lala Supporting

Arai, Satomi Japanese

Midorikawa, Yuhata Supporting

Kanemoto, Hisako Japanese

Placenta Hoshijiro Supporting

Suzaki, Aya Japanese

Honoka, Ren Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Ittan, Samari Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko Japanese

Yamanaka, Takahiro Producer

Hashimoto, Ryuu Producer

Yamazaki, Yoshihiko Producer

Shizuno, Koubun Director

Reviews

Jan 16, 2025

bergars

Recommended

Finally, I can give this marvel another look.

Started it way before I had any media literacy. The fights were incomprehensible, the plot didn't make sense, I didn't understand some characters and their actions, and this is in Nihei's safer works. As of now, this is a gem of an anime.

Deep Sci-fi, something I've been craving for a while. Concepts of immortality being commonplace, the morality of space warfare, the pettiness STILL present in those times. How the context builds each person living in this world. Things like third genders, biological advancements. Even photosynthesizing, having a stigma around doing it with other people. It's ... in the details, and there are so many greats sparred around this story.

That's not the plot, though. Gaunas. Old Nihei concept. The same name has been passed around from manga to manga, and the concept changes each time it arrives in place, at least it's different for now. Beings that mainly target humans for reasons unknown. It could be the Evangelion thing, where the creatures are attempting a religious decomposition into one being. It could be the Attack on Titan, where there's something hidden away inside the Gaunas that challenges all notions previously set in stone. I wouldn't know.

The first season establishes the world, the robots, how it comes to dealing with these cosmic monstrosities, and the day to day in a space colony. The characters have so many great personalities, all likeable, with their own little romances, and chapters in their lives. The changes in their dynamics, and how they just hang out. It actually feels like a lived-in world, where even if everything might crumble after each battle, all they can do is try to live their lives the best they can.

The message on appreciating the little things is never stated by the story, but you can feel it in each conversation the pilots have. They go on little trips, outdoor activities, visit the ocean, as they slowly, and I MEAN SLOWLY, uncover the mysteries of the spacecraft. The reveals, whatever happened to Hoshijiro, the insane things about the protagonist, what his grandfather was. They don't change EVERYTHING, but it changes enough to truly make one question the surroundings.

All in all, 12 episodes for the beginning of a mystery leaves me excited. The season works really, really well, the characters are solid, I like the MC and his evolution. The romances actually work, and make me angry when something bad happens to them. The animation, even if choppy, works extremely well, even with new technology. I just want to see where it goes, even if everybody tells me the second season and final movie change everything. Will experience both for sure.

8/10. Extremely happy to want to see this through.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 21, 2020

theRealGuyFieri

Mixed Feelings

Sidonia no Kishi, or Knights of Sidonia, is an alternative future where mankind flees like a pussy from an ever impending extinction.

Straight off the bat, I would like to say that Sidonia no Kishi has a very interesting and eye-catching idea to the whole show. The way humans live in this O'Neill cylinder-ish space station and that there are many different layers of the station. Also, clouds and lakes are even included to make it seems as if it is Earth. Kinda reminds me of Made In Abyss. However, the flaws of the show are quickly revealed as the show progresses in the first few ... episodes. The pacing, planning of scenes and the execution of scenarios are utterly horrible and butchered. When I notice this from the get-go of the first episode, I was deeply saddened and in a state of anger and crestfallen. Anger due to them ruining such a fascinating and intriguing concept, I could really see the potential in it and was looking forward to the show as a whole. Of course, saddened by what the studio did to present this concept of Sidonia no Kishi. To be more specific, our main character, for example, Nagate, a boy that came out of the depths of the station. He has little to no knowledge of the world above and yet, in the span of the first episode, he is found by the authorities and instantly given a position at the school for pilots. This compiled with the fact that we the audience know nothing seems very rushed and out of pace. I was truly shocked by what was happening and how it happened so fast. Plus, by the next episode, our character just blends in normally like he was there begin with anyways. Additionally, how is our character not even shock to see a talking bear? Like, I was shocked and he just took it as if it were natural to see a talking bear. Talking about character issue, Norio, or the super edgy prideful piece of shit. He is painfully shallow and badly written, like, of course, there has to be that kid that wants all the spotlight to himself and proceeds to challenge Nagate. But by challenge, I mean sabotage, and by sabotage, I mean committing an outright murder to get the spotlight. How the hell is students like him recruited in the school, I just can't fandom what the fuck he did just to get appraised. What's worse, or should I say for the better, is that he didn't have the balls to carry on his doing and loses his shit when he hears the voice of Hoshijiro. I am at least glad the show excluded him from the episodes that came after and till the end because I really do not want to see more screen time of his edgelord ass. Like, the time when he bitch slaps Izana after knocking into by accident AND she got her leg piece by a wooden stick, like, that, in bird culture, is considered a dick move. Not all is bad, thankfully, I love Izana, she is such a breath of fresh air to the horrible characters around her and Nagate got better in the later episode. What I can't stand is Kobayashi and why couldn't they pick any other name for her, I love Kobayashi for the dragon maid series. Anyway, who placed this lunatic as the head of the station. She is literally an insane person that makes, not roughness actions, but dumb and stupid ones. Like the time she engaged a turn of the station in an instant without giving time for the people to react, resulting in a ton of flying bodies splattering across the station's internal. I bet in her mind it's like 'LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR'. Plus all she does is agree at commands and disagree at some, only to bring up stupid choices. Moreover, the show does no effort in presenting time in the series. That I mean the sense of time in the show, many a time the show skipped or fast forward the scenarios that are happening, resulting in, what seemed to be a short time, happened over a long duration. The failure in doing that just makes scenes transition off and out of place. Lastly, the show does a trash job on making human pilots worthy of something, by that I mean the way the show presents the death of pilots on every mission doesn't seem impactfully enough and that just resembles disposable underwear to me. You have to be kidding, how did the 4, star pilots train hard and well for an attack and instantly got rekted in the first battle without putting much of a fight. Truly, that is so disappointing to see.


-SCORES-

Character- 5/10: Love Izana, Hoshijiro (even her placenta form), the last half of Nagate and of course, Lala. The rest of the characters just seemed too shallow and weak, and Kobayashi is just a lunatic.

Art- 8/10: I honestly think they did a great job on the art, I absolutely adore the half-time art scenes of episodes, probably from the manga but those are gorgeous to me. Other than the times when scenes are too bright and that their clothing is always dirty, I say the style they made on was pretty and decent. Nowhere close the studio Orange standard of 3D but still a decent one.

Writing- 4/10: Planning, pacing, storyboard, character-wise, execution, dialog, and some others are weak. I disapprove of the implementation of Slice Of Life and Romance genre at first, but after seeing countless 'Sortie Alert', I just want them to continue the path of the world around them in the station and not what is going on outside. The 'Sortie Alert' is probably used too many times, I sigh whenever something interesting is happening and then,' Sortie Alert' appears. For Nagate, it's back to sorties for you.

Sound- 7/10: The did a decent job, the intro is nice by everything seems kinda flushed out. Like I just want to enjoy it at max but the studio probably forgot to increase the volume of the intro in production.

Overall, please for the love, please get better in the next season. I really love the concept but hate the studio for presenting it in such a shit manner.

Strong 4 to a Light 5

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Aug 27, 2024

Licht_Eish

Not Recommended

tl;dr -
The series may have a few redeeming qualities, but overall, it falls short of what it could have been. The plot is too convoluted and relies too heavily on cheap plot twists and overly dramatic fight scenes. The characters are one-dimensional and lack any real development. The animation may be nice to look at, but it's not enough to make up for the lackluster story and characters. "Knights of Sidonia" had potential, but it was squandered by the need to appeal to a certain audience, resulting in mediocrity.
Story: 2/10
Characters: 2/10
Sound 4/10
Art: 7/10
Overall:4

Real review:
There are a few moments when the series exceeds its own boundary ... with its utterly nonsensical plot, and outlandishly underdeveloped characters. Essentially, the series seems to cut corners in developing its cast of characters, making the storylines seem arbitrarily drawn. A story that should have thrived as the new type of big bang story built on sets of intriguing principles and methods allowing for great suspense and surprise, Sidonia reveals its true need for surprise instead of straightforward plot development by altering the entire story around and repeating mystery arcs with basic alterations and one dimensional special effects.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of the shots of the are breathtaking. The animation and story set-up dragged me in from episode #1, and so for like the first 5 episodes, I couldn't stop, but once it suddenly decided to throw regular anime harem statistics into the mix 6 episodes in, the series lost it - pure and simple. Fight Scenes occasionally outshine the surprise moments with some peril, but then I notice the use of bands and orchestra to make everything seem so much more epic and stupid. I honestly believe that it'd be just as scary without the choirs blaring in the background. Okay some of the choir bits are reasonably nice, but nothing memorable. For the series to have such an ambitiously dramatic set of elements, the story really needs to remain politically complex and astoundingly mysterious. It doesn't.

I really don't think there was much intelligent thought here when developing this series because it's just a litany of bad plot choices to be a great space epic. This series really doesn't reach the required standing. Instead, you'll find yourself thinking only one constant. "Sidonia is good at being entertainment, but not much else."

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Sidonia no Kishi Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jun 26, 2014	229 replies	by mastchacha »» Jan 26, 11:35 PM
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