Sidonia no Kishi starts out as a very promising story: you can easily tell how fleshed out the characters and the world around them are going to be, the story is exciting and keeps you on the edge as the characters are facing life and death situations against the mysterious gauna whose motives and origins and unknown.

The hugest flaw of this manga is probably the pacing. At the beginning, I was finding it too fast and it's just one event after the other, but later on it's the complete opposite: it almost turns into a romcom / slice of life. Is that what I wanted of a great plot about fighting back unknown invaders? Certainly not.

The second half of the manga is just a pain to read through because of how slow things get. What's more, a lot of plot elements just seem to be completely forgotten and not just minor ones. The fights just lose the edge they have as you simply can't feel the danger any more and weapons that were ineffective against the gauna can now insta-kill them?

By the time you're done with the manga, there's really nothing left of what was there at the beginning. It's like reading an average shonen that tries mixing a plot with many horrible romance tropes and the likes instead. That's a shame because you can tell this could have been much better, if only it had focused on its main plot and tried to enhance it instead of branching out with different themes.

That aside, there are also obvious problems about the author's knowledge of military / aeronautical organisation, like a reviewer already said. It's a shame as, at least in the beginning, the story does show a lot of great sci-fi ideas!

A lot of the panels in outer spaces are also such a mess that it's really hard to understand what's a mecha or a gauna. Combined with the action, there are a lot of battles where I would have zero understanding of what's going on if there wasn't any dialogue, because you just can't tell what's supposed to be drawn.

All of that makes for a "good" but very disappointing manga that leaves you very frustrated once you're done with it.

... Last updated on April 6th, 2019, 12:27pm

Nihei Tsutomu cures my itch for a biomechanical setting with dark nuances and grim undertones, minimal dialog and sketchy outlook like his previous works Blame and Noise. Sidonia no Kishi is quite different, i guess he is trying to appeal to the mainstream market which is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact i think he managed it well. Sidonia no Kishi still retains his earlier style but with a dash of whatever the current trends are, has a little bit of humor, more light hearted, of course a harem of sorts with the typical shounen MC types and etc etc. Its not really that bad. Truth be told i quite enjoyed it. Readers new to Nihei's genre will have an easier time sinking in while fans of Nihei's works, i suggest to approach the manga with an open mind.

Agree with it being a little confusing in some parts mostly the start, the author throws you right into it fast and hard but once you get used to it everything makes sense(they are in a time of constant war and battles so things are hectic). Could not stop reading this kinda feel like there could be more to it like a sequel though I haven't looked into it but I'm happy either way.

I'm 4 volumes in and I just now have a pretty decent general idea of what's going on. The early chapters seem like they kinda jump around a lot, and early on A.) everyone looks the same and B.) you aren't super sure who's important to the plot. Now that the bad is out of the way: holy crap, this is a good one. I'm not even into Gundam type stuff, but this is really cool. It kinda reminds me of early in Gantz and Shingeki no Kyojin; a distinct art style and a story that doesn't pull all its punches. I'd definitely recommend giving it a chance.

... Last updated on September 11th, 2015, 2:14am

This is not Blame!!
Deal with it Nihei fans xD
I'm liking it a lot even though I am a Nihei fan =D

(My rating is obviously biased... it is subjective anyway )

edit: well... a very "Niheish" ending, many things unexplored, many questions unanswered, this time i think it was even worst, but because he tried to patch some (just some) things up in a single chapter. Very unfortunate, otherwise a very nice read.

... Last updated on September 29th, 2015, 9:35am

I grew up with hard science fiction. From it I learned how huge space is, and how instantly it will kill unprotected creatures. I also learned the kind of immense energies need to get a craft into space, let alone accelerate it enough to travel between stars. This manga tries to situate traditional hand-to-hand combat in the middle of that indifferent immensity. Further, it puts a monstrous living being out there in the airless void and has the "knights" fight it. This is the equivalent of ancient stories of knights fighting dragons. Its absurdity is unbelievable. I can just manage to see how it could work for an audience brought up on heroic tales of samurai sword play, but it doesn't work for me -- not even for a moment.

I would describe this manga as a Cross between "Battlestar Galactica" (Humans vs Clones) and "Gundam" (Jesus Err Yamato) but with the added touch of "A Clockwork Orange" (MindFcuk Category)

Nihei has build a unique world much like his previous mangas, the characters are complex with the governing system who is torned between having to maintain the dynasty as well as fight for what is best for the community, we have the Genderless beings who have been given the freedom to chose at will making a complex journey of nature's wired epithets into a beautiful and enduring saga.

The story might be hard to follow, with panels jumping at odd moments and when you least expect it but once you are able to decipher the Cryptic language through which Nihei conveys his lores then you are sure to be spell-bounded.

It may not be for the mainstream audience but the authors ambitious effort to dwell into complexity and hardship that the human race has to ensue in order to survive in a world alien to them and at the same time maintain the decorum (society, law and order etc) that bought the civilization as to where it stands now is HIGHLY COMMENDABLE!

This just makes me miss Blame! There are cool little easter eggs hidden throughout the story from Nihei's earlier works like the graviton beam emitter and Toha Heavy Industries. The gauna in this story also seem to be similar to the gauna in Abara. It's definitely worth checking out if you're a big fan of Tsutomu Nihei but other than that it's a pretty bland SoL/robot battle manga as seen through a slightly more moe Nihei filter.

compared to previous work of the same mangaka that is. His works had a very unique feeling to them which is lost in this series. I dont say its bad, but certainly cant like it as much as his previous series.

Sidonia is nothing like BLAME!. Say, it is inherently anime-adaptable, I think it is quite obvious.

Still, he did it the right way. Being adaptable by anime or mainstream audience doesn't mean it is bad, i enjoy it as an entertainment, it serves more excitement, fun, nudity, romance and hermaphrodite. Needless to say, the visual arts, settings, plot and such. Everything together is still supreme, it is a 10/10.

However, if you are a fan of Nihei already, then the plot on Sidonia can't amaze you as much. It shares pretty much the same kind of disaster as BLAME!, Abara or Biomega, and the gaunas and apocalypse stuff are shown on Abara and Biomega already.

I would say Sidonia has two problems. Firstly, unlike the others, Sidonia waters down the content, everything is explicit now and it doesn't require the readers to dive in, it can interest most readers but fails to interest his fans. Secondly, I've read up to volume 9 now, so it is already as much as BLAME!, Sidonia spends more panels on the characters' mentality than what will actually happen next, while his previous works are complete opposite and proceed quickly.

In all, Sidonia shares similarities on plot but it is in different genre or categories. I am sure some people do hate it and you aren't wrong. My point is just that his name summons the wrong type of readers(probably the impatient type) to read his new manga and get raged.

... Last updated on May 27th, 2013, 3:47am