Knights of Sidonia S2 ep9: un-uttered anticipation and fear

This is more like it.  I could see comedy, harem and slice-of-life elements in an anime anywhere in this day and age.  I come to watch Sidonia primarily for the sci-fi and the space horror elements.  That whole sort of Game of Thrones element where anyone could die at any moment for any little mistake.  We’ve spent quite a bit of time reinvesting in the cast since the second season kicked off.  Now it’s time for the show to finally start playing with that element again.

Beauty of the Thousand Year Village aside, I’m glad to see the character development take a backseat to the plot’s movement finally.  We may finally learn about what happened to the colonists who were murdered a few episodes ago.  Kobayashi is moving forward with her plan to take the fight to the Gauna, and she plans on using the Lem star system’s Ninth planet as suitable staging ground for that battle.  The problem remains that that very planet isn’t Gauna free, and she needs to know what’s down there and then kill it.

The recon mission isn’t so bad by itself, but the new orbital re-entry craft they created for the Guardians has struck a nerve with some of the rank and file pilots.  They see the artificial kabi at the tip and assume the vehicle is a suicide ride.  One pilot even goes out of her way to voice her anger over the project and taunts Nagate over being leadership’s special pet.  The problem with this is that she ends up deserting, leaving Izana as the alternate to participate in the squad based mission.

The scene of the pilots making their way around coveted planet with all its rings is the scene of the hope I have for this show.  I love space, astronomy, technology and all the things that come with these scenes.  The moments of anticipation and mystery as they fly through this hostile ground are also things I love about this show.  They have this very Evangelion-esque moment of not knowing what they’re looking at in the distance, and then seeing absolute horror and death right before them pop up in their way.  Needless to say there is some death and will be more, but most importantly Izana is out there.  You know Nagate’s coming in to get her.  I’m excited.

To be fair, the awkward romantic scenes and seeing Shiraui and Yuhata fret over Nagate and Izana’s night out was fun to watch.  And it would be nice to see Izana finally confirmed as the winner of this impromptu conversation.  I’ve been pulling for her since before she was a her.  And it seems like the only logical and true option for this love geometry.  It looks like we’ll have to wait to see what Nagate’s true answer is.

This episode was more about the ending than the rest of the episode for me.  Of course, the love geometry is pushed forward a bit.  We also see that Ochiai still has something up his sleeve, though the reveal appears to be something that will have to wait until the end of the battle with the large hive cluster.  I’m looking forward to the upcoming skirmish, and even more to the climactic and massive battle soon to come.  We’ve already gotten glimpses of great and intense space battles in this second season.  The idea of topping them with something even larger and more intense excites me.

Further Reading:

• Knights of Sidonia S2 ep8: lovingly preserved culture and crushes