BLAME! & Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki

[Ryu]

Title: KNIGHTS OF SIDONIA
Japanese: シドニアの騎士
Airing date: 10/4/2014 (TV series 12 episodes)
Genres: Adventure, Mecha, Space Opera, Military Science Fiction, Romance
Original creator: Tsutomu Nihei
Director: Kobun Shizuno
Assistant director: Hiroyuki Seshita
Written by: Sadayuki Murai
Music by: Noriyuki Asakura
Character designer: Yuki Moriyama
Art director: Mitsunori Kataama
Production designer: Naoya Tanaka
CG supervisor: Masayuki Uemoto
Battle animatics by: Eiji Ohkushi
Director of audiography: Yoshikazu Iwanami
Studio: Polygon Pictures
Produced by: KOS Production Committee
Network: MBS, TBS, CBC, BS-TBS, AT-X, Netflix (summer 2014)
Opening theme: "Sidonia (シドニア)" by angela
Ending theme: "Tenohira -show- (掌 -show-)" by Eri Kitamura

Main cast: Nagate Tanikaze (谷風 長道) / TS Tani (谷) – 028 voiced by Ryōta Ōsaka
Izana Shinatose (科戸瀬 イザナ) / TS Shina (科) – 291 voiced by Aki Toyosaki
Shizuka Hoshijiro (星白 閑) / TS Hoshi (星) – 336 voiced by Aya Suzaki
Norio Kunato (岐神 海苔夫) / TS Ku (岐) – 001 voiced by Takahiro Sakurai
Honoka Sisters (仄 姉妹) / TS Hō (炉), En (煉) – 203, Ren (焔) – 206, Ro (烽) – 205 and Shō (炒) voiced by Eri Kitamura
Yuhata Midorikawa (緑川 纈) voiced by Hisako Kanemoto

Supporting cast: Eiko Yamano (山野 栄子) / TS Yama (山) – 205 voiced by Nanako Mori
Samari Ittan (サマリ イッタン) voiced by Atsuko Tanaka
Ichirō Seii (勢威 一郎) voiced by Tomohiro Tsuboi
Captain Kobayashi (小林艦長) voiced by Sayaka Ohara
Ochiai (落合) voiced by Takehito Koyasu
Lalah Hiyama (ヒ山 ララァ) voiced by Satomi Arai
Mochikuni Akai (赤井 持国) voiced by Sōma Saito
Hinata Momose (百瀬 日向) voiced by Yumiko Igarashi
Kashiwade Aoki (青木 柏手) voiced by Shinobu Matsumoto
Izumo Midorikawa (緑川 出雲) voiced by Yuto Suzuki
Shinsuke Tanba (丹波 新輔) voiced by Osamu Saka
Mozuku Kunato (岐神 海蘊) voiced by Ayane Sakura
Hiroki Saito (斎藤 ヒロキ) voiced by Rikiya Koyama
Tsuruchi (弦打) voiced by Kousuke Toriumi
Sasaki (佐々木) voiced by Takako Honda
Tsumugi Shiraui (白羽衣 つむぎ)
Numi Tahiro (田寛 ヌミ)
Yure Shinatose (科戸瀬 ユレ)
Tonami (土浪)
Kanata (かなた)
TV series subbed PV:
Official website: http://www.knightsofsidonia.com/
English website: http://starchild.fm/anime/knightsofsidonia/

Synopsis: It’s been a thousand years since the Gauna, a strange alien race with no known method of communication, destroyed the solar system. A portion of humanity managed to escape using enormous “seed ships” like the Sidonia, which have allowed them to maintain the population while drifting through space. Nagate Tanikaze is a young man who has been raised deep in the bowels of the ship. When he goes into training to pilot the huge robotic weapons known as Gardes, Nagate is entrusted with piloting the legendary unit known as Tsugumori. Nagate and his fellow pilots put their lives on the line against the Gauna, in the ultimate battle for the survival of humanity!

QUOTE (Anybody @ Mar 25 2014, 01:55 AM)Will Watch: 1) Sidonia no Kishi - YES YES YES. Been waiting for this for YEARS. Let's hope this delivers. Could possibly be best show this year if handled correctly and faithfully.I was waiting for a new space opera like Space Battleship Yamato 2199, I don't mind cell-shading or designs as long as its story gets better; Ex: high - PS 8/10

 

[Anybody]

I love the way CG feels because it fits with the "sanitized clean contrast" aesthetics Nihei went for with Sidonia. The design and the animation style reminds of 2001 Space Odyssey. Really fits that "hard scifi" vibe.

So far fairly accurate with manga from what I remember. Let's hope they stick with it and not get some funny ideas because there's a lot of crazy great stuff down the line.

Also damn great OP.

10/10 for now.

 

[Barbobot]

The CG will take getting used to. Right now the characters just don't look all that appealing.

 

[franzoir]

Thanks for the heads up Necro. Unfortunately, I thought it was terrible in all aspects.

Whoever directed that pv should get an oscar because the person knows how to sell a pos.

 

[AccipiterF1]

The cg is dreadful. The designs match the palate of the characters, but have none of the sharpness or detail. I mean just go back and look at that bear. The motion is clunky too giving the appearance of a video game cut scene from ten years ago. Whoever decided to do it this way deserves to get punched. I'm still happy to see this story animated, though.

 

[Ryu]

QUOTE (AccipiterF1 @ Apr 17 2014, 09:51 PM)I'm still happy to see this story animated, though.
QUOTE (franzoir @ Apr 12 2014,02:15 AM)Thanks for the heads up Necro.you're welcome ;/ i suggested it because you liked this kind of series like Suisei no Gargantia, though harsh judgements such as terrible or drive to suicide (lol) aren't justifiable enough for only ep.1... after watching the 2nd one today I still think it's the best premise of this Spring by far, I have seen worse animation or design in anime that tried to be interesting like Aku no Hana and Appleseed XIII

 

[Anybody]

This alongside S2 of Mushishi continues to be the only worthy thing to watch this season.

THey still are relatively faithful to manga and its nice to see Nihei's art come alive in such way. CGI looks breathtaking and Ep2 is even better in that aspect than EP1.

QUOTE (NecroRyu @ Apr 18 2014, 12:00 AM) I have seen worse animation or design in anime that tried to be interesting like Aku no Hana and Appleseed XIII

I don't see why those two are in the same sentence. Appleseed was meh, Aku no Hana was pretty much the only slice of life show that I respect.

 

[Norren]

QUOTE (Anybody @ Apr 18 2014, 06:12 AM)This alongside S2 of Mushishi continues to be the only worthy thing to watch this season.

THey still are relatively faithful to manga and its nice to see Nihei's art come alive in such way. CGI looks breathtaking and Ep2 is even better in that aspect than EP1.
I finally got a window to watch this one tonight, but I'm not sure what to really make of it... the art feels so sterile, I have a very difficult time connecting with it... all the eyes are so... dead. I actually find the dead eyes to be rather creepy in an uncanny alley sort of way, but they were honestly one of the reasons I put this show on my "do not watch" list until Anybody repeatedly emphasized how good it was... so I gave it a chance thinking "The mecha CG looks really good".

As expected the mecha CG is absolutely amazing. The problem is, it's attached to the plot.

The plot... How do I even begin to describe my reactions to this. I have a high tolerance for things that should repulse me for how bad they are, but... Conceptually, this series is Shingeki no Kyojin in Space. Shingeki no Kyojin was a terrible story, slapping "in space" on it doesn't make it better, it makes it worse. As if to emphasize the similarities, the first KyojinGauna we see even takes a direct cannon shot larger than it that utterly demolishes it, but fails to kill it because it wasn't a dual wield katana Special Unobtanium Spear attack to the nape of the neck.

The Sanitized dystopian tropes also don't sit well with me since just like Shingeki no Kyojin's grand scheme plot, this series has all sorts of hints that it is going to become less about fighting KyojinGauna and more about fighting the corrupt human leadership repressing humanity. As an example, in just the first episode, it introduces Martial Law, GMO Soylent Green (New and improved, with real green coloring through photosynthesis!), and the immortal robotic leadership copy/pasted from Macross Frontier.

And then there's just the pure disgust I feel towards the very concept of running anything on a spaceship with a human body compost reactor powering it.

This series actually made me nauseous. Not hyperbolic nausea, I actually felt sick to my stomach after watching the second episode.

Dropped for now, I might revisit this if it sounds like it gets better later and I can marathon past the False-Utopia/Dystopia content.

 

[franzoir]

QUOTE (Norren @ Apr 24 2014, 11:20 PM)The plot... How do I even begin to describe my reactions to this. I have a high tolerance for things that should repulse me for how bad they are, but... Conceptually, this series is Shingeki no Kyojin in Space. Shingeki no Kyojin was a terrible story, slapping "in space" on it doesn't make it better, it makes it worse. As if to emphasize the similarities, the first KyojinGauna we see even takes a direct cannon shot larger than it that utterly demolishes it, but fails to kill it because it wasn't a dual wield katana Special Unobtanium Spear attack to the nape of the neck..

 

[Ryu]

QUOTE (Norren @ Apr 24 2014, 11:20 PM)The Sanitized dystopian tropes also don't sit well with me since just like Shingeki no Kyojin's grand scheme plot, this series has all sorts of hints that it is going to become less about fighting KyojinGauna and more about fighting the corrupt human leadership repressing humanity.  As an example, in just the first episode, it introduces Martial Law, GMO Soylent Green (New and improved, with real green coloring through photosynthesis!), and the immortal robotic leadership copy/pasted from Macross Frontier.
QUOTE (Anybody @ Apr 18 2014, 07:12 AM)QUOTE (NecroRyu @ Apr 18 2014, 12:00 AM)I have seen worse animation or design in anime that tried to be interesting like Aku no Hana and Appleseed XIIII don't see why those two are in the same sentence. Appleseed was meh, Aku no Hana was pretty much the only slice of life show that I respect.I'm not comparing both series but only that Sidonia's characters don't look that bad in my opinion, about ep.4 with that jealous Izana in the festival I wonder if this series will turn into a harem ;/... by seeing so much hatred like in Mahouka only made me more curious to find out by myself, if it'll be worthy until the end or not (more reason because I like Shingeki no Kyojin so I'll keep watching)

 

[Anybody]

Three episodes in and this is the only show this season that I can stomach.

They changed around a bit of the order of the events in the third episode but so far remain quite faithful to manga.

Can't wait to see how they do the flashback to Earth part in either next episode or episode after that, depending on how will they stretch the next part.

QUOTE (Norren @ Apr 24 2014, 11:20 PM)
I finally got a window to watch this one tonight, but I'm not sure what to really make of it... the art feels so sterile, I have a very difficult time connecting with it... all the eyes are so... dead.  I actually find the dead eyes to be rather creepy in an uncanny alley sort of way, but they were honestly one of the reasons I put this show on my "do not watch" list until Anybody repeatedly emphasized how good it was... so I gave it a chance thinking "The mecha CG looks really good". 

There's nothing wrong with art style,sterile dystopian architecture landscapes and dehumanized almost expresionless characters are Nihei's forte.

The worlds he creates have cold, twisted atmosphere, are filled with impossible megastructures, horrible monsters, twisted characters and are very disconnected from how our world is.

Sidonia has that in spades since apart from Nihei's trademark style, it also draws inspiration from sanitized environments of the scifi genre greatest minds like Isaac Asimov and A.C.Clarke.

Nihei is masterful at creating complex vast dystopian societies and degraded rusty landscapes and making it feel natural (while kitsch like Mahouka would try to spoonfeed forced lore making up the world in parts, Nihei presents the whole already as fit of a genius)


QUOTE
The plot...  How do I even begin to describe my reactions to this.  I have a high tolerance for things that should repulse me for how bad they are, but...  Conceptually, this series is Shingeki no Kyojin in Space.  Shingeki no Kyojin was a terrible story, slapping "in space" on it doesn't make it better, it makes it worse.  As if to emphasize the similarities, the first KyojinGauna we see even takes a direct cannon shot larger than it that utterly demolishes it, but fails to kill it because it wasn't a dual wield katana Special Unobtanium Spear attack to the nape of the neck.

Please keep sprouting bullshit.

Sidonia manga predates Kyojin by good two years.

SNK Manga author has been quite a big Tsutomu Nihei fanboy, so obviously his first work is a fanfict version of Nihei's worlds.

Nothing about SNK was terrible apart from it having way too mainstream of approach to very good topics.



QUOTE
The Sanitized dystopian tropes also don't sit well with me since just like Shingeki no Kyojin's grand scheme plot, this series has all sorts of hints that it is going to become less about fighting KyojinGauna and more about fighting the corrupt human leadership repressing humanity.  As an example, in just the first episode, it introduces Martial Law, GMO Soylent Green (New and improved, with real green coloring through photosynthesis!), and the immortal robotic leadership copy/pasted from Macross Frontier.
Well boo fucking hoo. This is not an action genre. This is not even really a "mecha" show. Its a cyberpunk hard scifi.

The concepts you mentioned are very commonplace in hard scifi genre. Maybe you should read a few books? As for "immortal robotic leadership" - Nihei has been using that idea in his works about a decade before Frontier already, also yet again, its a commonplace idea of hard scifi genre that dehumanization of human nature and abuse of authority would lead to perversion of our very existence.

Nihei explores it in every work of his, hell Biomega is all about how power and wealth of huge mega-corporations eventually lead to near-extinction of humanity and destruction of earth


QUOTE
And then there's just the pure disgust I feel towards the very concept of running anything on a spaceship with a human body compost reactor powering it. 

Then you might as well stay away from this or...well any sort of scifi.
Since this will go quite in depth into gene splicing and genetic experimentation latter on.  The stuff so far is relatively tame compared to what's to come.

Exploration of change in human nature and human morality is the framework of EVERY SINGLE good quality scifi narrative ever, so you might just stick to slice of life then and be safe from it.


QUOTE (NecroRyu @ Apr 25 2014, 04:00 AM)QUOTE (Norren @ Apr 24 2014, 11:20 PM)The Sanitized dystopian tropes also don't sit well with me since just like Shingeki no Kyojin's grand scheme plot, this series has all sorts of hints that it is going to become less about fighting KyojinGauna and more about fighting the corrupt human leadership repressing humanity.  As an example, in just the first episode, it introduces Martial Law, GMO Soylent Green (New and improved, with real green coloring through photosynthesis!), and the immortal robotic leadership copy/pasted from Macross Frontier.QUOTE (Anybody @ Apr 18 2014, 07:12 AM)QUOTE (NecroRyu @ Apr 18 2014, 12:00 AM)I have seen worse animation or design in anime that tried to be interesting like Aku no Hana and Appleseed XIIII don't see why those two are in the same sentence. Appleseed was meh, Aku no Hana was pretty much the only slice of life show that I respect.I'm not comparing both series but only that Sidonia's characters don't look that bad in my opinion, about ep.4 with that jealous Izana in the festival I wonder if this series will turn into a harem ;/... by seeing so much hatred like in Mahouka only made me more curious to find out by myself, if it'll be worthy until the end or not (more reason because I like Shingeki no Kyojin so I'll keep watching)

It has harem elements, but Sidonia is all about taking anime cliches and presenting them in un-anime way, so the said harem will be...VERRRRY weird, especially considering one of "love interests" will be a tsundere who is an inhuman slug-like genetic experiment .

It won't be the focus though, since Sidonia just like all of nihei's works is focused more on worldbuilding and history, but it is an important element nonetheless, since scifi genre overall has human interaction and sexuality as its core (example: Isaac Asimov's The Gods Themselves)

 

[Ryu]

QUOTE (Anybody @ Apr 27 2014, 03:52 AM)It won't be the focus though, since Sidonia just like all of nihei's works is focused more on worldbuilding and history, but it is an important element nonetheless, since scifi genre overall has human interaction and sexuality as its core (example: Isaac Asimov'sit's ok I don't mind harems or fanservice (like changing room scenes lol) unless that ruins the plot, about its tragic ep'4 from what you remember in the manga is it told how many died in their escape?... also just in case it's not spoiler what events were changed in previous episodes? is the arc you can't wait, happening after or while Tanikaze rescues Hoshijiro as seen in a preview for next week?

 

[JCDRANZER]

So this is a dark and complex mecha anime that loves to kill characters left and right. I'm almost finished with episode 03 and I hope episode 06 will be subbed and released by the end of today. After that I think I'm going to start reading the manga, it's quite a fascinating story.

 

[Ryu]

indeed but about ''loves to kill characters left and right'' I just saw the shocking ep'6 cliffhanger, its title 'Salute' makes sense now but i didn't expect it to mean good bye after many relaxing scenes -.-... I'll not read the manga yet so I must wait for next thursday to watch that timeskip (if it's not delayed again ¬¬), but it seems the envious Kunato had to do with Tanikaze leaving a Gauna alive

 

[JCDRANZER]

I knew that was going to happen because I came across a random spoiler at MAL or was it randomc, can't remember to be honest.

Regardless, that was a damn shame for Hishijiro to go out like that but it seems the next episode might show what actually happened in that battle. I'm going to probably read the manga after getting through the latest episodes of the shows that I'm following.

 

[Anybody]

QUOTE (NecroRyu @ May 02 2014, 12:00 AM) it's ok I don't mind harems or fanservice (like changing room scenes lol) unless that ruins the plot, about its tragic ep'4 from what you remember in the manga is it told how many died in their escape?... also just in case it's not spoiler what events were changed in previous episodes? is the arc you can't wait, happening after or while Tanikaze rescues Hoshijiro as seen in a preview for next week?

AFter and most of it will have to wait for S2. The rescue IS the part where stuff gets infinitely more crazy with every second.

Nothing much was changed - they added the flashback to the life the rookie who died in Ep2 had(its not in manga) and they moved around a few scenes (the Cube scene happens a bit latter and is a full-on flashback. Hopefully we will still get it if we get Season 2), which is understandable since otherwise we would not get the spear explanation till possible S2.

The only thing they really changed is the Kunato scene in the gauna battle. In manga, Kunato's jealousy is half-justified since instead of just grabbing the spear randomly, Nagate outright steals it from him, pushing him away from it, in order  to go in for the kill . Its nothing major though.

Either way if they hope to make S2(which is possible since its doing decently in sales so far) then S1 will end on quite major cliffhanger, considering where it will stop in the storyline.

Right now we are barely into Volume 2 of the manga (newest is Volume 12), that means that The last episode of the season could be either end of Volume 3or end of Volume 4, both dealing with some quite a big mindfuck revelations.

 

[Anybody]

Not happy with the changes they made to Kunato's characterization.

They removed quite a bit of his point of view and the alterations to the first Gauna battle hurt this plotline quite a bit.

At this point he should be genuinely freaking out about what happened, even if he blames Nagate for it(which is more of a psychological defense mechanism to cope with what he did). In his eyes, Nagate took away took away two things that gave meaning to his life.

What Kunato is looking is not really "fame", but an acceptance or belonging. As the cut flashback says his position as Pilot is something he achieved by his own guts and will - something not given to him through his family's money. The things that justified him having that family name and NOT the other way around.
He feels like Nagate stole the last small things he had that did not go to him simply because of his family name.

He does not "gloat" he does not feel "having won". In an utilitarian society like Sidonia, he feels like he has nothing.

None of that you can see in the adaptation.

 

[Ryu]

QUOTE (Anybody @ May 24 2014, 11:07 AM)Not happy with the changes they made to Kunato's characterization.

They removed quite a bit of his point of view and the alterations to the first Gauna battle hurt this plotline quite a bit.
QUOTE (Anybody @ May 18 2014, 08:47 AM)Nothing much was changed - they added the flashback to the life the rookie who died in Ep2 had(its not in manga)  and they moved around a few scenes (the Cube scene happens a bit latter and is a full-on flashback. Hopefully we will still get it if we get Season 2), which is understandable since otherwise we would not get the spear explanation till possible S2.those changes aren't looking good in last episode compared to previous ones :/ thanks for the heads up, after what you pointed I'm starting to wonder if they'll plan S2 or rush to end it this season... anyway I had my doubts about Hoshijiro dying soon like that despite her importance in the main cast, by this cliffhanger and next title now she's a zombie enemy (if she isnt brought back to normal)

 

[JCDRANZER]

Anybody, I'm totally on-board with what you are saying about the changes because future events will seem just-deserved rather than OMG-why did that happen...I'm sure you know what I'm on about. I think they did this because it's only 1-cour.

 

[Anybody]

QUOTE (NecroRyu @ May 26 2014, 12:01 AM) those changes aren't looking good in last episode compared to previous ones :/ thanks for the heads up, after what you pointed I'm starting to wonder if they'll plan S2 or rush to end it this season... anyway I had my doubts about Hoshijiro dying soon like that despite her importance in the main cast, by this cliffhanger and next title now she's a zombie enemy (if she isnt brought back to normal)

Since this is written by Tsutomu Nihei, there's only ONE main character. Everyone else is fair game in getting killed.

Also no, generally there are no revivals in his works.