Check-out Station: Knights of Sidonia (killing people you just met long before you knew)

What an appropriate final episode for the first season. Too be honest, I thought and expected this show to be a 20+ episode affair. But with the confirmation of a second series my mind is at ease. There was a lot that made me worry about this manga being adapted into an anime, especially with the art style chosen. But it appears for now, that this show is a mild success. A sign that a very dark, atmospheric show with leanings towards hard scifi could make it in the big leagues.

Knights of Sidonia ep10: watch as your delicious world of ignorance melts away

There are reasons for keeping things behind a locked door. Security, safety, secrecy, greed, even a slight buffer of time; all these reasons apply to this episode of Knights of Sidonia. And I think a hundred generations of humanity living on this colony has made people forget that sometimes that door is there for their own safety.

Secrets, secrets, secrets; this show has always been about

Knights of Sidonia ep8: there will come a day when you will have to make this same decision

Is it a trend this week for show’s to give me what I want. I’ve already read the manga up to this point and way beyond, but a lot of material is still fuzzy to me. I don’t remember this information at all. The names Benisuzume, Ochiai and placenta Hoshijiro definitely ring a bell. In my head, it signals that the show has already headed down a dark(er) path.

Knights of Sidonia ep7: now things get nasty

I don’t know how Nagate does it.  Guilt or not, I would have taken the time to break every bone and joint in Norio’s body, or die trying.  I don’t find much more astonishing and disgusting things than putting one’s personal goals and glory above the lives of others.  I’ve seen many a TV show, movie or play try really hard to make me hate a character and just fail.  I have no such issue with Knights of Sidonia.

Knights of Sidonia eps 5 & 6: we don’t need heroes, we don’t need champions; we need bodies

Knights of Sidonia

Episode 5

I knew I wouldn’t have a lot to say about this episode the moment I knew the set up. Quiet episodes like these certainly can be fun to watch, but when it comes to the actual events, not a ton is actually happening. The show is nice enough though to give us some background while we’re watching Nagate and Shizuka struggle to survive and drink pee.

It seems that humanity encountered the Gauna race about six hundred years ago or so. They also found the only material that is capable of killing the gauna around that time. It seems clear that the gauna eventually descended upon Earth before either destroying it, or forcing the humans to destroy their own planet to contain the threat – which did not work. Now these things still stalk the galaxy for humanity.

Something that seems to recur in the narrative is

Knights of Sidonia eps 3 & 4: painting the walls with the feelings of children

Knights of Sidonia

Episode 3

My first response to this episode is what a complete group of f*ck ups Akai’s squad turned out to be. Harsh as it may seem, if not for their leader’s mistake, the team would not have fallen apart and been annihilated. Then again, I guess I could also blame the romance between Akai and Momose. With this failure, things will surely get messy in the next episode.

I’ll pull things back a bit though, as I have to talk about the entire episode and not just its disastrous conclusion.