Knights of Sidonia is a sci-fi mecha based anime that is based on a manga written by Tsutomu Nihei. The manga was made into an anime series thanks to the folks at Polygon Pictures. The anime tells the story of Nagate Tanikaze, an under-dweller who once showing up on the surface is thrown into full-out war against an alien species known as the Gauna.
Nagate Tanikaze is a HS-aged boy who we meet from the very beginning is what everyone calls an under-dweller, someone who lives underneath the surface of Sidonia – a massive colonizing spaceship that is looking for a new home for the human race. Nagate is quite unique from the rest of Sidonia’s inhabitants because he cannot photosynthesize. This means that he still has to eat on a regular basis while most of the population photosynthesizes once a week. Once he shows up on the surface he is sent before the captain, the woman in charge of all military operations. She decides to take him in and enrolls him in the guarde pilot academy. Guardes are the mobile suits that the pilots use to fight off the Gauna, a type of alien species they have not faces in a century but is an ever looming threat.
On a routine mission for materials in space, Nagate’s unit encounters a Gauna and from this point the life of every person in Sidonia is put into grave danger. The series continues to dive deeply into the politics of Sidonia, the nature of the Gauna and the relationships Nagate has with his fellow pilots.
For those who have watched Neon Genesis Evangelion this show is in a lot of ways similar. I found that at this point there isn’t as many psychological issues running rampant, and that this has been replaced with more of a science fiction feel. Also Knights isn’t quite as graphic as Neon Genesis was, and I’m ok with that.
At this point only the first season is on Netflix as the second season is currently in development. Netflix brought this series to all of its’ viewers within weeks of its’ initial airing. Which is really impressive, I am hoping to see them do the same once the second season is completed.
I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on the series. Please feel free to head over to our Reddit page at r/dontforgetatowel/ and let’s talk about this very interesting anime.
~LastUrsa
