Back to Jambatti's Profile Jambatti's Profile

THIS one is the masterpiece of all contemporary/modern world magic school animes. It has slow start, intriguing plot twists, interesting fights, and a finished, super-satisfying ending.
The chracters are great, and also the whole backstory of MC will resonate with you very much if you are coming from a low-income family in Asia or an orphan.Unlike most similar animes, here our main character, Mo Fan, was not given anything in advance - he earned everything.
The reason why 9 is for the continuations - season 2 is questionable at best, and everything that comes after is just like one big piece of dung. They should have ... ended the series with this one.

If you like magic academy animes in modern setting, but want one where MC is neither a jerk or an idiot, look no further than this. You are in for 12 episodes of epic treat.

This is a great anime about mechas & war in general. One of the best actually. The creators of this show for some reason tried to market it as a some kind of Macross-like drama, while it is anything but. For the same reason the low overall score - mecha fans can't find this anime(or dismiss it as being different genre), and teary shoujo-drama fans are dissapointed that this show doesn't have (or barely have) what they were looking for.

The story overall is interesting but it is not what makes this anime so great. It is the mecha fights & war story.

The mecha fighting in ... this anime is great for those reasons:
1) There is actual tactics being used & characters have to utilize their mecha functionality to win. No "love/friendship/loss" power spikes, no self-aware mechs, none of that. If you are outplayed, you die (or eject if lucky). No ammo = you die. Bad luck = you die. You break the line even for good reason - you, and possibly your squad die too.
2) There is no MC bias or something like that. Characters around main heroines die left and right, just as in real war. This makes this anime WAYYY more mature drama, than those teary ones where MC "saves the day & all his friends with the power of friendship". Here, no such powers. Only your mech and your piloting skills for everyone.
3) The sides are mostly evenly matched in the war, so we see losses & wins on both sides. Unlike for example Aldnoah: Zero , where MC's team almost always wins with no losses.It is interesting to see the war unfold.

Also, the characters are surprisingly mature & act rationally. There are some comedic reliefs - but even they are felt like a cracked dark joke by somebody who are due to charge enemy lines in 1 minute and have 99% chance of dying in that attack.

Do not want to spoil anything, but the ending is thought-provoking and while feels somewhat rushed leaves a very good overall memory.

Overall 10/10 - If you like mecha & also dislike the "power of friendship" and "MC always wins" tropes, this anime is a must watch.

Frist, let me describe this anime in a nutshell: When you are making a serious, epic drama - but then your manager come in, and tell you that you just ran out of money, and need to turn your work into something that will 100% make good sales (rom-com harem), and quickly.

Yes, this series is totally like this. Absolute amazing, steampunk world of airships and floating isles. Beautiful artwork, both backgrounds and characters. Grim setting with a stern focus on racism, war, and psychological/morale aspect. After watching the first episode, you may think "oh, this looks like the Title of the Year!"...

...And then, we come ... to the plot and how it is presented here. Well, i must say even Gate series creators, implemented the fanservice more naturally that it is done here. The world of heavy drama, epic fights, deaths, and difficult morale choices? Lets make some epic adventures series that would be worshipped for decades by a loyal community? Nope - lets add maids, lolis, lolis with superpowers, and outright rom-com/harem fancervice cliches. Oh, and how can you forget the massive plotholes!

Verdict: This anime tries to be both a serious throught-provoking drama, like Shinsekai Yori or Sidonia no Kishi, and a light-hearted comedy with some fantasy adventures as a background, like KonoSuba or Zero no Tsukaima. At the same time. Which is simply impossible, and is the exact reason why this one title is a fail. You can't seat on two chairs at once.

Rating: I rated this anime 7/10, but thats almost exclusively for the first episode, which is absolutely magnificent. Otherwise this is 5/10 at best.

Sidonia no Kishi i rate 10 of 10. It 'been long since i watched something with such enjoyment.
I often rate some good animes 8-9 ball, but 10 i give almost never. But this is exactly that situation.
This is, a perfect mecha story. Mecha_as_it_should_be. And one of the finest pieces of action/adventure anime at all(much better than, e.g., overrated by dumb kids "Attack on Titan").

Let me explain why at every point:

1)Atmospherous music, not only the exatly compositions, but the timing and appropirateness of sound to very each moment is perfect.

2)No cryings, stupid emotions for half the episode in "IWILLKILLYOUEVILLLLAAAAAA" style, and also no reflections ... for half of episode.

3)Main charecter. He is not slow, stupid, pervert or something. His emotions are a bit typical for these genre main characters, but, again - there is no annoying roraring, crying, childy enragements and so on for half of each episode, no things that ruined many other good animes.

4)The story is being told very softly - typically in animes of same genere, its like - deep "coolstories" told in the beginning, then, in middle of series:-"To hell the lore, lets enjoy how wide protagonist can open his mouth!". Here, in Sidonia no Kishi, they make it the different way.
They explain almost nothing in the beginning, but in the end, you will understand every character purposes and what's what and for what purpose in this world is. If you have ability to think, of course.
Battle scenes are really unpredictable in comparison to other similar genere animes.
Yes, MC(main character) will not die, but all other things is very deceicive and unsetted to you before you watch it.

5)Animation and art. Could be better, could be worse. Not a masterpiece ofc, but not ugly overall and suits these series atmosphere well.

6)Characters - could be better too, but...no stupid&slow protagonist. No persky moe. No lolitas.
No stupid troublemakers and other fanservice characters. This anime is serious, solid - and so do it's characters, with very few uncritical exceptions. Seriosity without boring long "coolstories", comedy elements without stupidity, almost a harem, but not harem...such way of things are very rare thing in modern animes.

7)...and...no, i don't think i need to continue.

In total:

Want to watch some good plot adventures anime, but tired of stupid troublemking protagonists, dull stories and too much fanservice, and don't want to be bored with too much unimportant lore? Then Sidonia no Kishi is your choice. I strongly recommend this one to everyone of my cast, the people who think they "overgrown" watching cartoons&sure that modern anime is degrading(and its true). But not in this title. This is what the anime exatly should be imo.

So, to the ones who understand, i'm sure i convinced you to watch it. For others, let me prepare a departure ceremony for you.

An old-school adventure, without all the "save-the-world", "chosenity" and so on crap.

Adventrutes happen in a classic sci-fi "inhabited space", with various planets, strange alies, deep space mysteries, etc.

Main characters group is wandering around that space, every member of this improvised team solves his own problems and going to reach his specific goals. On the way with that adventurers do happen adventures(strange, isn't it?)

What else do you need to know? Go and watch it, now!