Sidonia no Kishi
Knights of Sidonia

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Years. For years I had an idyllic vision of how Knights of Sidonia would end. Heroic sacrifices, ruminations on loss, heartbreak, and the futility of a never ending battle, an epic, possibly tear-jerking conclusion to Sidonia's story.

But no.

Knights of Sidonia might have the most disappointing ending in all of manga. Characters arcs are thrown in the trash; plot lines come crashing down in flames. Carefully cultivated motifs that run throughout the entirety of the first 2/3rds of the manga are jettisoned in favor of a long, hard to follow action scene and a generic boss battle. Then, tragedy. We're subjected to the most sugary, cop-out, ... series ruining ending ever. The last 10 chapters reduce Knights of Sidonia to a mediocre manga. The last 10 pages reduce it to a dumpster fire. I...didn't understand. Did Nihei lose interest in the series as time went on? Was he told he had 6 days to complete the last 30 chapters? WHAT HAPPENED?

I usually loath reviews that try to utilize some sort of math or algorithm for the score, but I just can't resist it this time: Knights of Sidonia Chapters 1 through to whenever that dumb robot randomly shows up for no reason - 9 out of 10. Knights of Sidonia dumb robot through to opaque, tensionless action scene - 6 out of 10. Knights of Sidonia ending - 1 out of 10.

16/30=0.533X10=5.33.

For nostalgia's sake I think this is a fair score. I see now that my dreams of a 3rd season were woefully misguided.

Our favourite cyberpunk artist has finally gone mainstream, dumbed his latest work down to a level that we mere mortals can consume & digest without difficulties.

Nihei Tsuomu's works are very unique. 'Blame!' was a manga you had to re-read a few times to actually realize the plot. The magaka refused to narrate even the most critical things. Compare that to the typical manga/anime with text-bubbles, notes & what-nots... you were left with your own devices(imagination, wit & interest) to parse the story. Yet the story was complex, layered and you were free to come up with your own interpretations. But, whatever your impression was ... based on his previous works, you had to admit one thing:

That his works were utterly, massively, absolutely cool.

One definite improvement is the artwork. There's now a unprecedented clarity, unseen on Nihei's previous mangas. Now the human are drawn with equal grace & fluency as he did with the cyborgs, monsters & robots before. Although there's the issue with generic human faces. But seeing the author's depiction of conflict on a grand-scale & mind boggling mega structures, there aren't many manga with better artworks than this. Characters in this manga are designed & developed in a traditional way. Now there are conversations, multiple panels are dedicated on clarifying a character's intentions or actions. Not many things are left to imagination. Some of the fight scenes are a bit confusing maybe, but the anime will help you up on that. Multiple readings are not required to finally get to the bottom of the story.

If you were expecting a gritty, dark story without any emotional fat & shallow story-telling.... you might be disappointed. Although "Mecha" is not a genre that can naturally produce anime/manga with actual depth in the story-line. The basic idea of human shaped fighting machines doesn't scream 'grown-up' in the first place. Yes this is tagged as "seinen", but not for the right reasons.

Truth is, this manga(and anime adaption) is & will continue to be a bigger success in Nihei's career compared to 'Blame!' or 'Biomega'. If you are a mecha/space-odessy fan, you must give it a go. There aren't many better ones than this.

STORY: 5
With its post apocalyptic settings and humanity-transcending lifeforms Sidonia no Kishi gets immediately compared to Blame!, the most famous work of the author. Here we have a much simpler story and universe and, while the introductory chapters show a lot of potential, things become less interesting as the story progresses until an ending that many are upset about. Also progression is too long with the boring shonen rhythm of both heroes and enemies becoming gradually ridiculously stronger. This manga should have been much shorter!


ART: 6
The art of Nihei is much cleaner here but still retains his bold style. It's enjoyable despite confusion during battles ... and similar-looking characters.

POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 5
There's a bit of politics in a few arcs but it never goes far. Nothing special.

FEMINISM: 4
Quite a letdown compared to Blame!. Girls are needlessly sexualized and we get all the shonen cliches of peeping in changing room, running by accident on a naked female character and instances of sexual harassment that are treated as comedy. The story even turns into a harem at some point with everyone wanting to sleep with the main character, that was totally not needed.

CONCLUSION: 5
Too long and not delivering on initial promises. Only for fans of the author.