The Beginning-Part 1: Tsutomu Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia
Knights of Sidonia (KoS) is a 15 volume manga and Tsutomu Nihei’s attempt at a story with more mainstream appeal than his previous work, the most well known of which is “Blame!”. The tumultuous origin of Knights of Sidonia is well documented, with plenty of outlets presenting the interview in which Nihei describes the influence from his family which shaped the manga. However, the main purpose of this article is not to review or analyse Knights of Sidonia, though I will do so. As is fitting for the first post of a blog, this article concerns my relationship with manga as a whole.
Knights of Sidonia holds the distinction of being the first manga that I followed along with and purchased new volumes as they released. More than this, it is tied to my first ( and so far only) trip to America. I recall purchasing the first three volumes from a large Japanese bookstore that we discovered completely by chance, as the storefront was almost completely obscured by scaffolding. This bookstore -Kinokuniya- is huge, spread across at least three floors, with the third floor hosting manga and Japanese magazines like Newtype and Hobby Japan, all shiny and wrapped in individual plastic sachets. I managed to refrain from opening those three volumes for the remainder of our holiday, but upon our return to the UK, I quickly finished them off. Eager for more, I bought the fourth and fifth volumes from Forbidden Planet when they came out.
The cover of the first volume of Knights of Sidonia that I purchased in New York. Though there are only a handful of coloured pages inside each volume, usually at the beginning or end, they are quite striking and complement Nihei’s uncoloured panels very well, given that he toned down his use of black ink when compared to Blame!
I feel that I should interrupt myself here to point out that I find Knights of Sidonia to be a very enjoyable manga that doesn’t quite outstay its welcome. I even like the anime adaptation, which uses Polygon Studio’s 3D graphics. Though many find the fidelity to be lacking, saying that characters all look alike and that framerates are too low or choppy, I found it to be a faithful adaptation of a written work that started out strong but began to founder. What comes next may seem particularly harsh or negative, but clearly it was not all bad, as to this day I would recommend KoS.
The cause of this faltering is an attempt to switch from a science fiction story to something more akin to a romantic comedy. If I remember correctly the manga juggles 5 potential love interest for our main character- Tanikaze- and it seems to me that the story was never intended to handle this. I say that, because by volume 11 a character is introduced and set up as the fifth runner in the race for Tanikaze’s affection and then is never seen again, save for a single panel in which they appear as set dressing. When a manga starts with such a strong opening it is disappointing to sit down with the latest volume and the first question that enters your mind is “Is this the volume that will finally kill the series for me?”.
It is worth noting, for those who haven’t read Knights of Sidonia, that an acceptable resolution to the story is made by the 15th and final volume, even if I am not the greatest fan of the decisions made in the epilogue.
