why isn't this more popular?

Knights of Sidonia

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Jun 14, 2014 12:09 AM

#81

antonnn

Offline

Apr 2010

1197

Every series is generic is some form. Nothing is totally free from it, but what separates the series that are known as "generic" from those that aren't, well, you just need to compare something like Sidonia, Mushishi, Kaiba or Tatami Galaxy to series like Date A Live, SAO, Mahouka, NGNL . The differences are there. Sure they aren't all the same genre but the generic shows, regardless of genre, all have the same shit in em that makes them come across as generic. I honestly like some of these series, but a lot of them are boring and tiresome.

Jun 14, 2014 12:48 PM

#82

Mayuka

Offline

Jul 2012

48248

OnionSoda said:
^
1) Generic char. Nope. Did you see what he told to Kunato after his betrayal? That's not a generic character.
Yes, he is being pushed along, but... What do you really expect from someone who lived 17 years in seclution with an old man? He makes perfect sense. The only character that looks one dimensional is Hoshijiro, and even her makes sense.

2) Were you paying attention? He was RAISED a pilot by the very best pilot ever. And no, he is not "the chosen one", they actually want him to get killed

3)The council, the main source of work being warfare, no democracy, people being promoted in order to be send to die...
Definitely not a nice place to choose to live

That and the cosmic horror story makes it is dark and cruel, but not unnecessarily.

Fai said:
An Immortal young man who lives in an utilitarian-state dystopian ship full of genetic experiments is recruited to fight cosmic horrors in situations where 99% of characters get massacred as if it was no big deal.

"Safe" writing that is not

preach guys preach <3

underneath the stars

Jun 16, 2014 8:32 AM

#83

OppaiMan

Offline

Jun 2014

Not

Enough

Oppai

I love it though

Oppai is love, oppai is life

Jun 16, 2014 12:19 PM

#84

Wind_Falcon

Offline

Jun 2008

184

It should be noted that the manga itself is pretty trollish - at least for the average Japanese otaku (and some western fans which are used to otaku pandering it seems).

It's a thin line, but a lot of the jokes the manga author makes with the world and the characters are more than they seem on a superficial level. Most of these jokes the average reader/viewer won't even register as jokes - they'll think of them as "the most cliche thing in existence" and regard the story and characters as predictable and uninteresting (and the ones with more mainstream taste among them might even find them genuinely entertaining, which is a trap laid by the author), but older Nihei fans will be having a lot of fun with these same cliches because they know exactly why Nihei included them, what previous tropes that he used in his previous manga he's subverting and making fun of mainstream manga/anime by playing them seemingly straight faced, and what is it's meta function.

I honestly believe this manga is aimed primarily at Nihei's hardcore fans - at least the ones with a sense of humor, because a lot of them are alienated as well. That's why the freaking manga is so full of references to his previous work.

So I think it's pretty natural that the adaptation of a trollish manga of an underground legend author is not popular in the mainstream. It was never supposed to be. It's obvious to every Nihei fan that with Sidonia no Kishi he's not aiming at creating another deep intellectual manga like BLAME! This doesn't make Sidonia bad - its still full of the usual style of the author and various "Niheisms" (he's definitely not trying to make garbage to appeal to mainstream tastes) - it's just not meant to be as serious as a lot of people think it is - which is again I think a deliberate troll on the part of Nihei - if you are an uninitiated reader. It's fun, its funny (for the hardcore Nihei fans with a sense of humor at least), it's epic, it has interesting sci-fi concepts - but it's a big joke as well. I actually think the best way to describe the manga is BLAME Gakuen! meets Gunbuster in the setting of the second half of Biomega sprinkled with the "what the fuck" moments from Kaiba. And BLAME Gakuen! is the biggest tell that the author is not entirely serious with Sidonia. We already know that he's not only above poking fun at mainstream tropes, but at his own work as well.

And the adaptation itself leaves a lot to be desired as well. I mean I've watched worse adaptations, but I'm against adaptations to be made just for the sake of adaptations. Go big or go home. Nihei definitely deserves better - a lot better in fact. If I knew before hand that this is how it was gonna turn out, I wouldn't want this adaptation and I definitely don't want another season if that's how they are gonna handle it again. And I'm not talking about the CG - that's the smallest problem the adaptation has (though yeah, it would have helped a lot if characters weren't CG/cell shaded or whatever and just been normal 2D animation). The various cuts, changing places of scenes, some moments being too fast paced, while others - too slow paced, wrong emphasis on events, even character design - they've messed a lot of things up. Not to mention that the creators of the anime without a doubt have no idea of the intricacies, subtleness and general trolishness Nihei has imbued in the manga - which is the worse part about the adaptation. They've completely missed why the manga is so great in the first place.

Wind_FalconJun 16, 2014 12:36 PM

Jun 16, 2014 12:30 PM

#85

Blarey

Offline

Nov 2013

4313

Cuz the CG looks like shit.

Jun 28, 2014 12:28 AM

#86

Farabeuf

The Shrike

Offline

Nov 2009

11299

He he. Now that the show has finished it keeps on climbing (even with the MAL demographic). I remember after the first episode it was barely reaching a score of 7 because of all those people who rate shows after watching a single friggin' episode. And yet by word of mouth more and more people are watching it and getting into it and now it's scoring solidly over 8.

"Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii

There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

Jul 24, 2014 10:12 AM

#87

wat

Offline

Jul 2014

Wind_Falcon said:
It should be noted that the manga itself is pretty trollish - at least for the average Japanese otaku (and some western fans which are used to otaku pandering it seems).

It's a thin line, but a lot of the jokes the manga author makes with the world and the characters are more than they seem on a superficial level. Most of these jokes the average reader/viewer won't even register as jokes - they'll think of them as "the most cliche thing in existence" and regard the story and characters as predictable and uninteresting (and the ones with more mainstream taste among them might even find them genuinely entertaining, which is a trap laid by the author), but older Nihei fans will be having a lot of fun with these same cliches because they know exactly why Nihei included them, what previous tropes that he used in his previous manga he's subverting and making fun of mainstream manga/anime by playing them seemingly straight faced, and what is it's meta function.

Could you expand on this some more and give me some examples from the anime/manga? I'm very new to anime and manga so there is a lot of stuff I don't pick up on but what you said is really interesting to me.

Jul 28, 2014 9:07 AM

#88

Wind_Falcon

Offline

Jun 2008

184

wat said:
Could you expand on this some more and give me some examples from the anime/manga? I'm very new to anime and manga so there is a lot of stuff I don't pick up on but what you said is really interesting to me.

Just read his previous works. The differences in them will hit you from the very start like a brick, they are that obvious.

Though I should note that even in BLAME! Nihei is self-conscious, which is evident right from the cover and the blurb "Adventure-seeker Killy in the Cyber Dungeon quest!".

Jul 28, 2014 9:09 AM

#89

SolviteWoTaberu

Offline

Jan 2013

12227

How is this not popular?

Its sales were crazy high.

Jul 28, 2014 9:16 AM

#90

IntroverTurtle

Offline

Nov 2010

26413

catullus said:
thats just your incorrect opinion and yes opinions can be incorrect. My opinion is a fact because its the only one igaf about.

Id rather stab myself in the eyes than watch ping pong.

Watching, 6/11, rated a 7.

Yeah.....

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why isn't this more popular?

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