tsutomu nihei knights of sidonia volume 1

All over the ship are hand-holds and bars on which crew and residents can attach carabiners for when the ship turns and gravity changes. As would be scientifically likely, the fact that he has a diet at all means that he'd smell differently from other members of the ship's ecosystem. Series lead Tanikaze is one of the few humans onboard the Sidonia who cannot photosynthesize and requires regular meals of actual food. To its credit, Knights of Sidonia is both conceptually smart and plenty imaginative. So I pick up and read the second volume and Wow! Suddenly I'm sold on these characters and invested and Oh yes and Oh no and What Is Going to Happen Next WHERE IS VOLUME 3?) And some of the mystery of what's going on. It had some intriguing sci-fi ideas,(4) but mere ideas aren't enough to buy my interest any more. After all: I am now someone who reads and enjoys mecha manga.(2)įor a reluctant reader such as myself,(3) Knights of Sidonia has a number of things working in its favour. Also: though I read comics all the time and spend at least six hours per week writing about them, at least I don't read the ones with big robots on the covers because that's infantile.(1) So when I sat down and read Knights of Sidonia and had my worldview shattered? That was a feeling both delicious and terrifying. I haven't questioned my belief that mecha stories are substandard fare because, well, primarily that would give me one more direction in which to apportion my already far-too-small disposable income. Of course, that doesn't stop every last one of us from building lives on irrational presuppositions and convenient generalizations. It's easy to propose-on purely rational terms-that prejudices are always unfair. Obviously, this was unfair and premature-like saying I don't like country music just because I haven't heard any country music I've ever appreciated.

Around 2003, after about a ten-year abstinence, someone convinced me I should give Neon Genesis Evangelion a shot-that didn't go so well and I basically gave up on mechas for good. Throw in some Battletech gaming as well as all the giant-robot stuff that littered the culturescape of my youth ( Transformers, Tranzor-Z, Johnny Sokko) and it might not be difficult to see why I might weary of the stuff. Two series of Voltron and a religious devotion to all three Robotech seasons left me a bit spent.

Besides not being particularly interested in battle comics, I think oversaturation in my youth led to mecha-fatigue. While I do occasionally dabble in the sci-fi genres, I tend to avoid anything involving mechas.

Tsutomu nihei knights of sidonia volume 1