is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Tsutomu Nihei is a Japanese manga artist. Nihei has been drawing comics professionally since the mid-1990s. In 1995 he was awarded the Jiro Taniguchi Special Prize in that year's Afternoon Four Seasons Award for his submission, ''Blame''. After working as an ...

. It was serialized by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

in their ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Monthly Afternoon is a Japanese monthly ''seinen'' manga anthology published by Kodansha under the ''Afternoon'' line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of January 25, 1986. ''Afternoon'' has spawned many successful manga series such as ...

'' between April 2009 and September 2015, with its chapters collected in 15 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. It tells the story of Nagate Tanikaze, an "under-dweller" destined to become a Garde pilot, whose mission is to defend the massive starship ''Sidonia'' from a hostile alien species called Gauna. The manga was licensed for English release in North America by

Vertical Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...

. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation was produced by

Polygon Pictures is a Japanese 3DCG animation studio. Polygon has animated a wide variety of content, from commercials for Shiseido featuring the studio's original penguin characters , to the 3D CG anime television series ''Digital Tokoro-san'' and the 3DCG ani ...

. The first season aired from April to June 2014; the second between April and June 2015. An anime film sequel titled ''Knights of Sidonia: Love Woven in the Stars'' premiered in June 2021. In 2015, ''Knights of Sidonia'' recived the 39th

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

in the general category, as well as the 47th

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fict ...

in the Best Comic category in 2016.

Plot

Setting

The story is set in the year 3394, a thousand years after mankind flees from Earth after it was destroyed by a race of shapeshifting

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

, the , aboard hundreds of colossal spacecraft created from the remains of the planet. One such ship is the ''Sidonia'', which has developed its own human culture closely based on that of Japan where

human cloning Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural concepti ...

asexual reproduction Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the fu ...

, and human genetic engineering, such as granting humans

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

, are commonplace. It is also revealed that the top echelons of this society have secretly been granted

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...

. With a population of over 500,000 people, ''Sidonia'' is possibly the last human settlement remaining, as the fates of the other ships are unknown. Little is known about the true nature of the Gauna or their motivation for attacking humanity. At any given time, a Gauna consists of a nearly impenetrable core protected by a dense layer of malleable flesh known as . Once the ena is shed away and the core is destroyed, the Gauna's body disintegrates. ''Sidonia'' is defended by large mechanized weapons called whose weaponry and mobility is powered by , armed with a high-output cannon for long range assaults and a special spear known as "Kabizashi" for close combat. The tip of the kabizashi is made of a rare and little-understood material which has the unique property of being able to destroy a Gauna's core. Later the Gardes are also equipped with firearms whose ammunition have the same material of the Kabizashi after a means to artificially mass-produce it is discovered. Most people in the surviving human population are screened and drafted as Garde pilots at a young age, if they are shown to be capable of piloting them.

Story

The story follows the adventures of Garde pilot Nagate Tanikaze, who lived in the underground layer of ''Sidonia'' since birth and was raised by his grandfather. Never having met anyone else, he trains himself in an old Guardian pilot simulator every day, eventually mastering it. After his grandfather's death, he emerges to the surface and is selected as a Garde pilot, just as ''Sidonia'' is once again threatened by the Gauna.

Media

Manga

''Knights of Sidonia'', written and illustrated by

, was serialized in

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

'' from April 25, 2009, to September 25, 2015. It was compiled into fifteen ''

'' volumes. The manga has been licensed in North America by

, who released all fifteen volumes in English between February 5, 2013, and April 26, 2016.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation, produced by

, premiered on April 10, 2014, and ended its first season on June 26, 2014, on

MBS MBS may refer for: People * Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia * Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician Places * MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US * Mari ...

and later on TBS, CBC and

BS-TBS is a Japanese satellite broadcasting station headquartered in Akasaka Gochome, Minato, Tokyo. Its channel name is BS-TBS (formerly, BS-i). It is a member television station of Japan News Network. Channels *Television: BS-TBS is assigned BS16 ...

. The series was directed by

Kōbun Shizuno is a Japanese anime film and television director. Works Films *'' Legend of Toki'' (2008) *'' Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence'' (2011) *'' Detective Conan: The Eleventh Striker'' (2012) *'' Detective Conan: Private Eye in the Distant Sea'' ( ...

, assisted by Hiroyuki Seshita, with scripts by Sadayuki Murai and character designs by Yuki Moriyama. The series has also been localized and streamed by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in all of its territories since July 4, 2014, becoming the service's first original anime, as well as the first anime series on Netflix available in

Dolby Vision Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. It includes dynamic metadata that are used to adjust and optimize each frame of the ...

/ HDR. The first season has been licensed for home video release by

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

. The opening song is "Sidonia" by Angela and the ending song is by Eri Kitamura. A second season aired from April 10, 2015, to June 26, 2015, with ' by Angela as the opening song and "Requiem" by CustomiZ as the ending song. The second season was released on Netflix on July 3, 2015, and has been licensed by

for home video distribution. On June 16, 2017, a third season for the series was confirmed to be in development by director Hiroyuki Seshita. In July 2021,

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

announced they acquired the streaming rights from Netflix to both seasons.

Films

A compilation film of the first season with additional scenes and re-edited sound effects was released on March 6, 2015. A new anime film, titled ''Knights of Sidonia: Love Woven in the Stars'', was announced on July 3, 2020. Hiroyuki Seshita served as chief director, while Tadahiro Yoshihira served as director for the new film, with Polygon Pictures returning for production. Sadayuki Murai and Tetsuya Yamada returned to write scripts, while Shūji Katayama composed the music. The rest of the staff and cast returned to reprise their roles. The first four minutes of the film were shown on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on April 28, 2021. The film was set to premiere on May 14, 2021, but was delayed to June 4, 2021, due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic. Funimation screened the film in international theaters starting on September 13, 2021.

Reception

Manga

''Knights of Sidonia'' won the 39th

in the general category in 2015. The manga won the 47th

in the Best Comic category in 2016. It also won the Best Seinen category at the 26th Salón del Manga de Barcelona in 2020. It was one of the Jury Recommended works in the Manga Division at the 17th

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

in 2013. The

Young Adult Library Services Association The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...

listed ''Knights of Sidonia'' in its 2014 list of Top 10 Graphic Novels for Teens. Carlo Santos from ''

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

'' gave the first manga volume a B, stating, "It is got a young man piloting a giant robot against alien enemies, but ''Knight of Sidonia'' is no ''

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known simply as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. ''Evangelion' ...

''. Yet it is not as bleak or incomprehensible as Tsutomu Nihei works like ''

Blame! ''Blame!'' (stylized as ''BLAME!'') is a Japanese science fiction manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei. It was published by Kodansha in the Seinen manga, ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Afternoon'' from 1997 to 2003, ...

'' or '' Biomega'', either—rather, it is the best of both worlds, bringing Nihei's hard sci-fi mentality into a more conventional space-adventure environment".

Anime

The anime series received positive reviews, even from famous members of the Japanese anime/game industry, like

Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and writer. He is regarded as an auteur of video games. He developed a strong passion for action/adventure cinema and literature during his childhood and adolescence. In 1986, he was hired ...

, creator of the ''

Metal Gear is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...

'' series, who claims that "It's a kind of anime that we haven't seen for a while that has that sci-fi spirit. Using digital technology cultivated through games, it creates animation that encapsulates Japan's cultural assets like manga,

cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proc ...

, kanji, giant robots, etc. What's born is a unique made-in-Japan work that could never be cooked up in Hollywood. Japanese culture has lost its 'cool', and ''Knights of Sidonia'' will be the white knight that saves it". Other industry pros left acknowledgements as well, including Akiko Higashimura, Digitarou and Yoshinao Dao.

References

External links

''Knights of Sidonia''
at

* * * {{Netflix original animated series and films 2009 manga 2014 anime television series debuts 2015 anime television series debuts Anime series based on manga Animeism Anime postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Biopunk anime and manga Artificial intelligence in fiction Brain–computer interfacing in fiction Biorobotics in fiction Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Funimation Genetic engineering in fiction Japanese computer-animated television series Kodansha manga Mecha anime and manga Polygon Pictures Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Space opera anime and manga Tsutomu Nihei Vertical (publisher) titles Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General)