Knights of Sidonia: Grand-scale mecha world
Noirit Mustapha
The anime adaptation of Tsutomu Niheis Knights of Sidonia began last year, with the first season dropping in April, and the second season, subtitled The Ninth Planet Crusade, airing a year later. In it, we follow the gigantic manned seed ship, Sidonia, as it travels through the galaxy, on the run from the ferocious alien species that ravaged the solar system we call home. Nagate Tanikaze begins as a straggler who lived beneath the main surface city of Sidonia, but eventually leaves and copes with living with others and making new friends. All the while, we see his growth as one of the finest pilots the ship has to offer.
The most noticeable thing about Sidonia straight away is its art style. It forgoes a traditional 2D animation for a fully CGI experience, and even by 3D standards it is certainly unique. Polygon Pictures, known best for the recent Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon series, manages to carry on the show with style, especially during the intense fights of the show. Sidonia also excels in its sound design, both using the best effects to enrich the experience of the action, and a great soundtrack from the man behind Rurouni Kenshins story.
Story-wise, the anime grows at a steady pace at first and delivers the lore and character development nicely alongside the action during the first season, culminating in probably the largest fight of the series to date. The second season might turn off a few people, however, as a lot of its time is spent developing the newest character, which in turn shifts the focus to a sort of slice of life story. Regardless, the finale encounter, while not as tremendous in scale, ups the intensity factor more than tenfold. It is these very moments of hype inducing wonder that carry Knights of Sidonia all the way to glory, as one of the most unique looking, and best sounding mecha anime of the year.
