Story: 8/10
Art: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Quality Polish Edition: 7/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 8.2/10

Lmao chapter 63 is so funny and cute

I love the artstyle but the plot was getting too confusing, i kept mixing characters up, by the end i had no clue what i had read

... Last updated on February 9th, 2023, 3:18pm

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

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.

the gritty Blame style doesn't suit this kind of manga, there is to many people and to many things happening without enough explanation imo. im not talking about super in detail explanation but i really don't understand how he goes from the dump to a student in only a few pages...

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.

It starts like shounen on steroids. Kids, school, harem, become stronger, etc... Why "on steroids", why is it published in seinen magazine? Death of important characters, gore, nudity, romance with hermaphrodite (this is the best part! ). Unfortunately as story progresses you lose all this. Death is somewhere far away, no gore, no nudity, romance not moving at all.

Talking about plot. In three words - it is bad. 12 years after Blame, Nihei still can't plan the whole story. It feels like his idea of how should the story continue changes every 2nd volume. There are many plot holes. Complete lack of military knowledge. Kunato vs Tanikaze incident is plain stupid. Military tribunal? Flight Recorders? Not in Nihei's army. Moreover, the story started to drag in later volumes. Battle -> Benisuzume kills a bunch of not-drawn characters -> Benisuzume vs Tanikaze fight -> Draw -> Power-up -> Battle again.

Art is less sketchy then in Blame, which means even better backgrounds. But Nihei can't draw different humans. Not a problem for Blame with just 2 humans. A big problem for manga with dozens of humans. Everyone look identical and i'm not talking about clones. Only two things help with distinguishing characters: haircut and unit number.

All in all i'll continue reading it, because this is one of rare distant future sci-fi mangas.

P.S. Review after ch 30 (vol 6).

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After 43 chapters the story actually gets back on track. It feels more like the first volumes. Art has improved (faces variety increased). There're occasional nudity, old-Nihei-style sceneries and creatures. A certain episode in recent chapters was such an epic trolling that it made me to reconsider my rating.

... Last updated on November 22nd, 2012, 1:55am

Feels like I'm reading manga version of yukikaze, evangelion, and gundam combined. It's not bad but it's not great either. The mangaka has abandoned Blame!-like mood; instead, he attempted and failed to convey all the greatness of aforementioned masterpieces. Indeed, my comment is premature and should not be taken in heart. I am curious, however, how the author will continue from now on.

... Last updated on January 23rd, 2011, 1:21am

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.