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Every bit as good as you’d expect, that one.
Sidonia no Kishi is nothing if not predictable. I think you could read a one-paragraph synopsis of any episode in the series so far and predict with almost total accuracy how successful that episode was going to be. This is a show that’s very good indeed at what it does well, and pretty darn mediocre at what it doesn’t. Given that, it was always a pretty good bet this was going to be a strong ep, and indeed it was.
I’m not a big fan of villains like Kunato, but there can be no denying that he’s committed to the cause of being a douche. Turns out he was responsible for the “blacked out” part of last week’s episode – the mission that led to Nagate becoming a pariah and Hoshijiro a corpse. It says something about how petty a guy is that he’d be willing to risk the lives of everyone on a mission (including himself) and his entire civilisation in order to make a comrade he’s jealous of look bad. It almost feels like a cheat to have someone like that in a hard sci-fi story like this one, but if every society gets the hero they deserve I think Sidonia is every bit as fucked-up as it seems to be.
In a stretch one could blame Nagate for what happened to Hoshijiro – she did die trying to save him after Kunato’s betrayal left him momentarily dumbstruck – but in truth, Kunato shoulders the responsibility. I find it a bit odd that there would be no recordings of cockpit communication that could implicate Kunato, and that Nagate would be willing to leave this unchallenged, but that is what it is – and the results are that Sidonia has turned on Tanikaze and he’s a funk so deep a bear has to come and physically drag him out of his hole. Nagate does seem to have a pattern of spacing out during missions and sulking in-between, but at least his gender-neutral friend is always there for him.
There’s a lot going on here that I’d certainly like to learn more about. My sense that there’s a nationalist bent behind the politics of this series is growing and I do find that a bit unsettling, but there are clearly a lot of dark secrets behind what happens on that world. I have my suspicions about what’s going to happen to the protesters who’re supposedly going to be allowed to “emigrate” but we’ll see in due time. And these don’t seem like the sort of people who ought to be trusted with missiles that can destroy entire planets.
I think it’s when the Gauna are directly involved that Sidonia is at its strongest. There’s an almost Evangelion-like quality to the part of the series that directly involves creatures, and it’s in these scenes that the CGI works best. Just what are they – why do they assume the forms of the humans they kill? That’s the most interesting question in the series for me – I find the Gauna generally speaking more interesting than the people they’re menacing (which was certainly not the case with Evangelion). It would be nice if this series could do everything well, but very few science-fiction series can approach that standard – the ones that do go down as genuine classics, and it’s no shame to fall short of that mark. When Knights of Sidonia sticks to its element its a genuinely interesting and engaging series, and the more it does so over the next five weeks the better off it’s going to be.
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thedarktower
May 24, 2014 at 2:43 pm" I find it a bit odd that there would be no recordings of cockpit communication that could implicate Kunato, and that Nagate would be willing to leave this unchallenged"
me too. but you know..since it's a private channel it does sounds reasonable why there aren't any. or at least as I think, there are recording, but no one bothered to check it because there is the main channel and the folks at the command room probably heard his signal and saw Nagate reacting in the wrong time. and since Nagate says nothing…why would you check every single recording of every pilot..assuming there are any at all.
as for Nagate..well, I think he know it's a lost case and that no one would believe him. then probably there isn't any way to prove it..or worth enough excuse to check the entire transmissions from his Mecha.
anyway, I like what's going on in Sidonia no Kishi.
they are handling the characters and story simultaneously very well. story-wise as you said there secrets beneath the surface and we got a bit of stuff each time. it's a not a secret that the whole military-politics is on a collision course and when everything is coherent enough (unlike captain earth), it's really fun sci-fiction-space-mecha anime.
in terms of characters, it also has become very interesting. Kunato is risking way too much in order to be on front and the fallen of Hoshijiro and the Gauna taking her shape really stirred up the story and the other characters.
it's a good mix that becoming better and better along with the animation and battles. I like it.
I do have to say, there are some light modifications. for example, in the manga Nagate got really beaten. plus, I don't remember Midorikawa getting the stage of commanding at this point. but it's not so bad you know. because the structure and the chain of events has remind the same and bears the right touch of Siodnia no Kishi. so who cares 😛
p.s
I am glad you stick to Sidonia and you ended up liking it. it is good stuff.
thanks for blogging it. it is great (:
Gary Cochran
May 24, 2014 at 7:41 pmYou have to remember Nagate has lived his whole life with just one other person… An old man. He may not know how to process some things. Either he did not notice Kunato did him a dirty deed or he does know and can't figure out what to do with it.
thedarktower
May 24, 2014 at 9:43 pmI think it's safe to assume he noticed.
he is very angry at Kunato and asking him "why?" after he re-watched the battle and
(probably) realized what happened. and Kunato is looking at 702 unit (the Tsugumori) I think as an explanation. moreover, later on when they are called on a new mission, Kunato tell him "don't think about trying to blame me" or something like that. suggesting that both Nagate and Kunato knows what the latter did, but as it sounded, it would be an impossible blaming him. so…probably private channels aren't recorded, otherwise Nagate would've used the old(Kunato's false signal) or new("dont blame me") chat-record. or at least both he and Kunato doesn't know about such possibility (I am pretty positive Kunato is smart enough to cover everything, so if he disposed any possible evidence he know. that doesn't mean someone else can't find an evidence Kunato has no idea about).
it's interesting because..Nagate already figured it was Kunato's fault, but still I think Kunato's words at the broadcast and later on (when the two confronted) still bear effect on Nagate who think is responsible for Hosijiro's death. true, Kunato is also to blame, but Nagate can't shake that feeling that easily. I believe he is angry about Kunato, but more about himself for letting it happen. plus, he can't do anything to Kunato right now so he only wants to fight the Gauna and bring them down, as he said before he took off toward the mission.
Zeta Zero
May 25, 2014 at 4:24 amAt first I thought Nagate naively believed he was responsible for the mission failure, however he later confronted Kunato about it in the hangar. So I would say it's the later. He probably realised that a pilot of Kunato's caliber would receive little to no punishment anyway.
Dick McGuy
May 24, 2014 at 9:33 pmEven if Nagate did try to bring Kunato to justice I doubt much would come of it. Nagate is a guy who has spent his entire life literally living amongst garbage, Kunato is from the family of elites in Sidonia (his family designed the current generation of mechs they use, after all). Hell, just because of Kunato's expertise with the technology he probably had a way to keep that transmission secret.
drasca
May 26, 2014 at 4:36 amUltimately, Captain "The people are irrelevant" is in command, and she favors Nagate. I don't think the elite family backround is relevant when the one woman in charge overrides everything else.
If Nagate were a fraction as petty as Kunato, I'd bet Kunato would be out the air lock — or worse, permanently grounded as a pilot.
Eternia
May 25, 2014 at 8:15 amSo guy's evilness is too cartoonish so that I can't even get angry.
Just because a newcomer gets to drive a mecha you targettting, got some praises from media, he did all these? Hard to believe. The military itself doesn't make a big deal out of Nagate's last achievement, seeing how he is just a subordinate in Kunato's squad. For some petty jealousy and trivial matter, this guy risked the lives of entire troop, and the lives of his entire colony. I wonder if he even a brain inside his skull.
Ronbb
May 25, 2014 at 2:00 pmSo excited to hear the voice of Koyama Rikiya…even for just 5 seconds… Unlike Namikawa Daisuke, Riki-san has a very unique voice that is easily identified, but his ability to use the same voice to breathe life into so many different and diverse characters always amuses me and makes it so easy for me to appreciate the characters that he plays.
Fan-girling aside, I quite enjoy Sidonia. I'm attracted to the world-building and the mysteries behind Gauna and the history of why and how the humans get to their current state. With the entrance of Riki-san, presumably the grandfather of Nagate, I'm curious about Nagate's story and the role that he will play to take humans out of danger.