Tsutomu Nihei is in a class of its own. Its Blame! entered the list of the most important works of Japanese (and not only!) cyberpunk. In turn, the Knights of Sidonia are called by many the title that brought back mechs to the world. Do volumes 8-11 of the cosmic epic support this legend?
The Knights of Sidonia is a title that is difficult to judge. On the one hand, drama is chasing drama here, humanity is on the verge of extinction all the time, and then all this is contrasted with goofy fan service and medium-quality melodrama. Yet somehow it works, and the manga is one of the best titles I read today, though volumes 8-11 again raise my doubts about the decisions mangaka is making.
Harem knights
Humanity is gearing up for the final battle with the Hermits. As a result of the master’s plots, Sidonia approaches a gigantic cluster ship that consists of millions of cores. Newer and newer mech models are being prepared for battle, at the same time the mad scientist Ochiai continues to experiment on biological weapons in the form of a pilot hybrid created from the Hermit core. This is the story on a macro scale.
All this is intertwined with moral threads focused around Nagate Tanikaze. Sidonia’s war preparations are resource-saving, and the protagonist moves to Izana, a third-gender character (pending) who seems to have ever stronger feelings for Tanikaze. His heart still seems to belong to the late Hoshijiro, whom the Hermits ‘cloned’ as the monstrous Scarlet Moth. The deputy commander Yuhata moves into the heroes’ apartment (also jealous of Tanikaze, of course), becoming a hybrid of Tsumugi, who, thanks to a long tentacle, is able to squeeze through the ship’s pipes. And as if that was not enough, the android Teruru becomes the next roommate. The relations between the characters had been strange before, but I didn’t expect to see a story with a slight harem tone here.
Ja, waifu
I am also particularly surprised by the introduction of the above mentioned robot at such a late stage. Its plot, showing mechanization as an attempt to avoid the monsters’ attention, is quite interesting, though it is woven in way too late. I suppose it is “the silence before the storm”, but it distracts the reader from the threat lurking on the heroes. And did I mention that Teruru is naked during her change of form from working to more human? And that when asked to dress like a human, she starts to wear only underwear? And that he loves to clean and cook? Apparently, Nihei badly needed to introduce the archetypal waifu to the story .
Mechs versus tentacles
Tala already spoke about the dash in the reviews of previous volumes . I can only repeat that Nihei used an unusual procedure, in which complex and crazy details designs of mechs and Hermitists are juxtaposed with characters drawn on one hoof. Out of curiosity, I turned to the anime adaptation on Netflix to see how it all works in motion. And I bounced fairly quickly through inserts with too sterile computer animation. I like dirt and attention to detail in Nihei’s comics all the more (such as combat suits full of patches to emphasize wear).
Enough silence, waiting for the storm
Sidonia remains a great title that can take the reader over with dark scenes such as the plot of the second hybrid, Kanata. Finally, some bothering questions were answered (e.g. why Lala is a humanoid bear in a maid costume). But all these serious scenes are intertwined with a pentagonal (or even more) love plot. I know few titles where this emotional sinusoid reigns, and even fewer where it works. The Knights of Sidonia are one of them. Hope you enjoy the end of the story.
