What do you think?
Rate this book
シドニアの騎士 [Sidonia no Kishi] #2
Knights of Sidonia Vol. 2
The Sidonia has engaged a new type of Guana. This armored-type is strangely aggressive, and most of the young pilots who have confronted the monster are not prepared for this change in stragedy.
Rookie pilot Nagate Tanikaze has even fewer completed flight-hours, but that does not prevent him from devising his own plan of attack when his squadron is in danger. Feeling the stirrings of a bond that is precarious at best given that humanity itself is in peril, he ignores orders to save a colleague left behind.
And then upon returning to the Sidonia, the history of the Guana is revealed to Tanikaze, not long before battle and a rival's jealousy leaves him alone in space again.
Rookie pilot Nagate Tanikaze has even fewer completed flight-hours, but that does not prevent him from devising his own plan of attack when his squadron is in danger. Feeling the stirrings of a bond that is precarious at best given that humanity itself is in peril, he ignores orders to save a colleague left behind.
And then upon returning to the Sidonia, the history of the Guana is revealed to Tanikaze, not long before battle and a rival's jealousy leaves him alone in space again.
182 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 23, 2010
97 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Tsutomu Nihei
214 books736 followersSee also 弐瓶 勉.
Tsutomu Nihei (弐瓶 勉 Nihei Tsutomu, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist. His cyberpunk-influenced artwork has gained a strong cult following. He has a relatively large community of fans in Germany where his manga Blame!, NOiSE and Biomega were published by Ehapa. Blame! was also published in France and Spain by Glénat, in the US by Tokyopop and in Italy by Panini Comics.
At first he studied architecture and later it is shown up in his manga works with drawing huge structures. This became one of his general theme that makes his manga unique. His works are usually in black and white. He is also an avid fan of the video game series Halo, as he mentions in his commentary section in the Halo Graphic Novel.
Taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_...
Tsutomu Nihei (弐瓶 勉 Nihei Tsutomu, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist. His cyberpunk-influenced artwork has gained a strong cult following. He has a relatively large community of fans in Germany where his manga Blame!, NOiSE and Biomega were published by Ehapa. Blame! was also published in France and Spain by Glénat, in the US by Tokyopop and in Italy by Panini Comics.
At first he studied architecture and later it is shown up in his manga works with drawing huge structures. This became one of his general theme that makes his manga unique. His works are usually in black and white. He is also an avid fan of the video game series Halo, as he mentions in his commentary section in the Halo Graphic Novel.
Taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
November 21, 2018
1.5 stars
There's so much disappointing about Tsutomu Nihei's latest manga series, Knights of Sidonia, I'm face-palming just trying to decide where to begin to write this review.
The first thing I noticed was the art was less detailed than his previous manga series, Blame! and Biomega . Some may say it's cleaner, but considering his style is known to be heavy, gritty, and cyberpunk-inspired -- similar to the excellent original Battle Angel Alita series -- it just felt too light. The characters also looked too similar to each other, especially the faces, which makes it hard to form an attachment when you're constantly wondering, "Who's that?" So by the time one of them dies, I didn't even know who it was, nor did I really care.
Second, Nihei just cannot write a good story. The appeal of Nihei's work is the sheer weirdness of his monster-saturated apocalyptic worlds and his aforementioned established art style, not so much the story, but Knights of Sidonia is just plain bad because it seems like his attempt to create a sort of twisted Macross or Evangelion for mainstream appeal instead of sticking with the less popular niche genre of cyberpunk. He could bring his work to a whole other level if he'd collaborate with a writer and draw his interpretation of the story, as many manga writers and artists do.
Though the first volume of Knights of Sidonia probably has more dialogue than all the volumes of Blame! combined or Biomega combined, too much is yet again left unexplained -- a huge flaw consistent throughout his work that leaves many readers unfulfilled. And not just unexplained -- implausible, unbelievable, ridiculous. I'm not going to accept that the people on Sidonia, a ship that's been floating in space for a thousand years after the solar system was obliterated, somehow have enough resources of things that no longer exist in the universe to make tons of giant mecha, specialized weapons, wooden pagodas, and fancy kimonos. And I'm not going to accept that, like too many other cliche Japanese manga, a bunch of angsty, hormonal, stick-figure teenagers are going to save what's left of humanity. Oh yeah, and they're all magically Japanese -- not a single person or name from another culture even though some of them have light-colored eyes and hair.
Which leads me to the third major flaw of Knights of Sidonia: unabashed "fan service" (as another reviewer put it), which is just a nicer way of saying sexism and misogyny. Beyond the ludicrous notion of traditional Japanese culture surviving in space for a millennium to satisfy nationalists and otakus, there are scenes suggesting females getting aroused by catheters in their space suits, monsters taking the form of naked females, the grisly murder of women with nudity, and yeah, only female nudity with no male nudity or brutality whatsoever. If that isn't enough, there's Nihei's attempt at humor through yet more sexist cliches in Japanese manga, such as a male stumbling into a female's "locker room" and a male getting his face accidentally pushed into a female's crotch.
None of these complaints is something I thought I'd ever put in a review of Nihei's work. I enjoyed Blame! and Biomega even if they started strong and slowly degenerated into a confusing mass of strange. But he hasn't just dropped the ball with Knights of Sidonia -- he's lost his game.
There's so much disappointing about Tsutomu Nihei's latest manga series, Knights of Sidonia, I'm face-palming just trying to decide where to begin to write this review.
The first thing I noticed was the art was less detailed than his previous manga series, Blame! and Biomega . Some may say it's cleaner, but considering his style is known to be heavy, gritty, and cyberpunk-inspired -- similar to the excellent original Battle Angel Alita series -- it just felt too light. The characters also looked too similar to each other, especially the faces, which makes it hard to form an attachment when you're constantly wondering, "Who's that?" So by the time one of them dies, I didn't even know who it was, nor did I really care.
Second, Nihei just cannot write a good story. The appeal of Nihei's work is the sheer weirdness of his monster-saturated apocalyptic worlds and his aforementioned established art style, not so much the story, but Knights of Sidonia is just plain bad because it seems like his attempt to create a sort of twisted Macross or Evangelion for mainstream appeal instead of sticking with the less popular niche genre of cyberpunk. He could bring his work to a whole other level if he'd collaborate with a writer and draw his interpretation of the story, as many manga writers and artists do.
Though the first volume of Knights of Sidonia probably has more dialogue than all the volumes of Blame! combined or Biomega combined, too much is yet again left unexplained -- a huge flaw consistent throughout his work that leaves many readers unfulfilled. And not just unexplained -- implausible, unbelievable, ridiculous. I'm not going to accept that the people on Sidonia, a ship that's been floating in space for a thousand years after the solar system was obliterated, somehow have enough resources of things that no longer exist in the universe to make tons of giant mecha, specialized weapons, wooden pagodas, and fancy kimonos. And I'm not going to accept that, like too many other cliche Japanese manga, a bunch of angsty, hormonal, stick-figure teenagers are going to save what's left of humanity. Oh yeah, and they're all magically Japanese -- not a single person or name from another culture even though some of them have light-colored eyes and hair.
Which leads me to the third major flaw of Knights of Sidonia: unabashed "fan service" (as another reviewer put it), which is just a nicer way of saying sexism and misogyny. Beyond the ludicrous notion of traditional Japanese culture surviving in space for a millennium to satisfy nationalists and otakus, there are scenes suggesting females getting aroused by catheters in their space suits, monsters taking the form of naked females, the grisly murder of women with nudity, and yeah, only female nudity with no male nudity or brutality whatsoever. If that isn't enough, there's Nihei's attempt at humor through yet more sexist cliches in Japanese manga, such as a male stumbling into a female's "locker room" and a male getting his face accidentally pushed into a female's crotch.
None of these complaints is something I thought I'd ever put in a review of Nihei's work. I enjoyed Blame! and Biomega even if they started strong and slowly degenerated into a confusing mass of strange. But he hasn't just dropped the ball with Knights of Sidonia -- he's lost his game.
January 12, 2020
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
Continuing Knights of Sidonia, volume 2 mainly is more of the previous. There is a lot of battles against different types of Gauna, which is the alien races fighting the humans. There is a lot of inexperienced people who have to do important jobs. The main character goes from hero to zero and back again in the span of chapters.
I find the drawings are a bit full which sometimes make it more difficult to follow the story, especially during all the battles where there's so many tentacles and other things that it sometimes becomes a bit of a blur. I'd rather see a little bit more character development.
Continuing Knights of Sidonia, volume 2 mainly is more of the previous. There is a lot of battles against different types of Gauna, which is the alien races fighting the humans. There is a lot of inexperienced people who have to do important jobs. The main character goes from hero to zero and back again in the span of chapters.
I find the drawings are a bit full which sometimes make it more difficult to follow the story, especially during all the battles where there's so many tentacles and other things that it sometimes becomes a bit of a blur. I'd rather see a little bit more character development.
July 29, 2020
Вкрай повільний розвиток (загалом не дуже характерний для робіт Ніхея), аж надміру спрощений та лаконічний візуальний стиль (якому вочевидь бракує того "бруду", яким, зокрема, відомий Блейм), доолі пласкі персонажі та фактично відсутній розвиток світобудови, яка як стартонула на рівні фанфіку "Battlestar Galactica" (і то лише одного її аспекта) так і не поспішає стати чимось більшим. Потужні символічні та вкрай деталізовані батальні сцени першого тому, які вдлегку могли посперечатися з тією ж Євою, в другому томі перетворилася на якусь досить мляву та безблагодатну метушню ліній та кутів.
Зміна стиля, яку зазнав пан Цутому ще попереду, діалоги такі, що можна взагалі не читати, наповненість як змістом так і емоційна вкрай низькі. Фактично, навіть 3 з 5 для цієї роботи - це такий собі аванс на майбутнє, віра обіцянці, що манга, що визнана найуспішнішою у автора, ще матиме нагоду розправити крила.
Зміна стиля, яку зазнав пан Цутому ще попереду, діалоги такі, що можна взагалі не читати, наповненість як змістом так і емоційна вкрай низькі. Фактично, навіть 3 з 5 для цієї роботи - це такий собі аванс на майбутнє, віра обіцянці, що манга, що визнана найуспішнішою у автора, ще матиме нагоду розправити крила.
January 16, 2018
Continuando algumas das ideias colocadas no volume anterior, este possui um pouco mais de ação e uma quebra no ritmo da história na metade para aprofundar algumas das relações. Eu gostei de como o autor deu um respiro para que possamos assimilar tudo o que ele nos passou até o momento. Temos também uma boa construção de mundo ao sabermos mais sobre os Gaunas e seu contato com o homem e o que aconteceu com a Terra. Tudo parece mais perigoso e imediato a partir daqui.
Somos colocados diante da ameaça real dos Gaunas e como as pessoas do Sidonia ainda não sabem lidar adequadamente com eles. Ficamos sabendo como se deu o primeiro contato com os Gaunas e por que Sidonia parece ser a última esperança da humanidade. O que deu para entender a partir dos últimos desenvolvimentos é que os Gaunas parecem evoluir sua forma com o contato com os seres humanos ou até com os mechas. Ainda existem muitos mistérios cercando essa raça alienígena. Aliás, é de arrepiar o formato das Mass Union. O autor tem uma mente extremamente criativa.
Alguns vão reclamar da parada para se focar no relacionamento do Nagate com a Izana e a Hoshijiro (ainda vamos ter a Midorikawa no meio). Eu gostei dessa parada porque me deu tempo de respirar diante de tanta informação passada. E não dá para ficar o tempo todo em momentos de ação ininterrupta. Gostei que o autor conseguiu em um espaço pequeno fazer com que nos importássemos com os personagens e até conseguíssemos distingui-los. Acontece uma situação no meio do segundo volume que eu fiquei espantado com os culhões do autor de ter feito aquilo. Por um capítulo me embasbaquei com a opção narrativa dele... Mas, foi apenas impressão. Para mim, se ele tivesse mantido aquele status eu teria dado nota máxima. Só pela ousadia. Mas, não aconteceu.
A série começou muito bem e se enquadra perfeitamente no meu gosto de histórias.Aquela pegada de ficção científica hardcore com personagens que estão lentamente sendo construídos nos volumes. Além disso, a curva de aprendizado da série não é das mais fáceis, e eu curto muito desafios. Parece que o terceiro volume vai tratar da relação entre Nagate e a capitã.
Somos colocados diante da ameaça real dos Gaunas e como as pessoas do Sidonia ainda não sabem lidar adequadamente com eles. Ficamos sabendo como se deu o primeiro contato com os Gaunas e por que Sidonia parece ser a última esperança da humanidade. O que deu para entender a partir dos últimos desenvolvimentos é que os Gaunas parecem evoluir sua forma com o contato com os seres humanos ou até com os mechas. Ainda existem muitos mistérios cercando essa raça alienígena. Aliás, é de arrepiar o formato das Mass Union. O autor tem uma mente extremamente criativa.
Alguns vão reclamar da parada para se focar no relacionamento do Nagate com a Izana e a Hoshijiro (ainda vamos ter a Midorikawa no meio). Eu gostei dessa parada porque me deu tempo de respirar diante de tanta informação passada. E não dá para ficar o tempo todo em momentos de ação ininterrupta. Gostei que o autor conseguiu em um espaço pequeno fazer com que nos importássemos com os personagens e até conseguíssemos distingui-los. Acontece uma situação no meio do segundo volume que eu fiquei espantado com os culhões do autor de ter feito aquilo. Por um capítulo me embasbaquei com a opção narrativa dele... Mas, foi apenas impressão. Para mim, se ele tivesse mantido aquele status eu teria dado nota máxima. Só pela ousadia. Mas, não aconteceu.
A série começou muito bem e se enquadra perfeitamente no meu gosto de histórias.Aquela pegada de ficção científica hardcore com personagens que estão lentamente sendo construídos nos volumes. Além disso, a curva de aprendizado da série não é das mais fáceis, e eu curto muito desafios. Parece que o terceiro volume vai tratar da relação entre Nagate e a capitã.
March 6, 2015
having already seen the first season of the anime, i decided to read the manga because i wanted to continue the story (i couldn't wait long, you see). also, expecting some answers to questions that arised in the series but were not explained, and so far, it did clarify certain things. one of the more important things that i noticed is that the structure of the scenes are different from that of the anime: some sequences come before or later, which may or may not make the story more understandable. i like the mystery begind all the gauna and of sidonia itself, the way these people live and how they came to use giant mechas to fight. the art is pretty impresive and there isn't really much difference from the anime, which is a good thing. with the anime's second season coming this spring, i think i'll hold up reading the manga and watch the series and then continue.
April 27, 2016
The lone space ship Sidonia is slowly crawling trough the space to the unknown destination. There were many seed ships, but Sidonia's crew lost contact with them and it is expected that to be filled with last humans. Due to series of unfortunate events Sidonia lost majority of the crew and now cloning and various gene modifications are keep population on the acceptable level and healthy.
Then the monsters, huge, rabid and almost indestructible space creatures which were said to destroy the Earth and trying to wipe out humanity for unknown reasons were attacking Sidoina on regular basis only to be fend of by the pilots in fancy mecha "the knights",
Nagate Tanikaze was slowly starting to get part of the crew and becoming a pilot. He met mysterious masked captain of the ship.
There were panties and some boobies but it was fitting to the scene, so why not?
Then the monsters, huge, rabid and almost indestructible space creatures which were said to destroy the Earth and trying to wipe out humanity for unknown reasons were attacking Sidoina on regular basis only to be fend of by the pilots in fancy mecha "the knights",
Nagate Tanikaze was slowly starting to get part of the crew and becoming a pilot. He met mysterious masked captain of the ship.
There were panties and some boobies but it was fitting to the scene, so why not?
October 25, 2020
I'm starting to get used to the artwork in this second volume, and the story didn't seem as rushed as last time. It's totally unfair the way they treat Nagate when it was a team effort, and not his fault alone. I know I am liking this series better as it goes on because the loss herein actually made me feel a twinge of grief.
January 22, 2015
I enjoyed it, but man they are coming slowly with the answers. It's confusing that there's such little information on what's going on. We get a tidbit here, small piece there. It's intriguing, but I want more.
November 26, 2015
sip definitivamente vale la pena seguir leyendo esto. Ciencia ficcion.. futurista.. y de esas tramas que me gustan en donde hay cosas nuevas y no sabes lo que va a pasar. Cuando me gusta algo que leo me como una empanada.. asi que esta va con empanada.
June 6, 2014
So, basically, this is a science fiction space opera zombie apocalypse story with giant robots.
September 21, 2014
Amazing art, great story. Couldn't ask for more!
October 27, 2015
This volume had romance,tragedy, and action. Any one could die at any moment. The Sidonia seems like even more of a vibrant and beautiful world, especially in the underwater scene.
April 12, 2016
A bit better paced than the first volume, I'm liking the series so far.
October 23, 2021
This story is so dry I need to soak my eyes in artificial tear drops. Even death is bland here. Humanity is on the brink of extinction and I can't feel anything for these characters. And I still can't tell them apart.
December 31, 2017
Segundo volumen de la última serie de Tsutomu Nihei (Blame!) que nos mete a bordo del buque espacial Sidonia, donde al joven Nagate Tanikaze criado en las entrañas de la nave ha sido ascendido a cadete de Guardián. Junto con sus compañeros Nagate se introducirá en sus robots gigantes cargados de partículas Heige y las poderosas Kabizashi para destruir a los Gauna, una especie alienígena que ha terminado prácticamente con la humanidad. Usando su prematura instrucción como arma, Nagate desobedece las ordenes y se lanza a surcar el espacio con la intención de proteger a Shizuka Hoshijiro, la primera chica que conoció en la superficie. Un segundo volumen que mejora bastante su antecesor, con una mejor narración, pero que sigue acumulando una serie de fallos.
Uno de los peores es el arte. Si Nihei es un genio creando escenarios y Gaunas, pero es un desastre con los personajes. Todos son prácticamente iguales, indistinguibles en los rostros, por lo que cuesta un poco empatizar con ellos y descrifrar alguna escena. También falla un poco en las batallas, que se vuelven confusas en algunas viñetas pero que el placer visceral compensa. Aunque la narración ha mejorado bastante con respecto al primer volumen, dejando de ser tan brusca en los saltos temporales y dando algunas respuestas sobre la historia de la humanidad con los Gaunas, sigue teniendo algunos momentos fan service absolutamente ridículos. Pero bueno, es un mal al cuál ya sobreviví en la serie de animación, y que no creo que vaya a menos. Seguiré leyendo Knights of Sidonia por qué el universo de ciencia ficción que recrea es realmente interesante, plantea bastantes intrigas, y se siente que esconde muchas cosas detrás. Pero si fuera solo por sus personajes, ya habría abandonado el barco.
Uno de los peores es el arte. Si Nihei es un genio creando escenarios y Gaunas, pero es un desastre con los personajes. Todos son prácticamente iguales, indistinguibles en los rostros, por lo que cuesta un poco empatizar con ellos y descrifrar alguna escena. También falla un poco en las batallas, que se vuelven confusas en algunas viñetas pero que el placer visceral compensa. Aunque la narración ha mejorado bastante con respecto al primer volumen, dejando de ser tan brusca en los saltos temporales y dando algunas respuestas sobre la historia de la humanidad con los Gaunas, sigue teniendo algunos momentos fan service absolutamente ridículos. Pero bueno, es un mal al cuál ya sobreviví en la serie de animación, y que no creo que vaya a menos. Seguiré leyendo Knights of Sidonia por qué el universo de ciencia ficción que recrea es realmente interesante, plantea bastantes intrigas, y se siente que esconde muchas cosas detrás. Pero si fuera solo por sus personajes, ya habría abandonado el barco.
September 13, 2022
This volume was definitely better than the first. It feels as if the story and characters are developing, and it’s no longer just set up. There’s still some expository sections, but questions are being set up which makes it feel more like a progressing story. I still have to get used to the way scene changes happen so abruptly, but I’m sure in the future it’ll be less of an issue.
June 18, 2020
After watching the first season of the anime and bloody loving it, thought I’d give this another go plus it was on sale!
There are still gaps in the narrative but I found this a lot more easy to follow. I’m not sure if that’s due to watching the anime or not, the fight scenes are still confusing and you don’t know what’s going on.
There are still gaps in the narrative but I found this a lot more easy to follow. I’m not sure if that’s due to watching the anime or not, the fight scenes are still confusing and you don’t know what’s going on.
May 16, 2022
The only thing that brings this volume down is the frustration I feel for Tanikaze and the fact he does nothing to clear his name. Usually he doesn't have a filter, only when it matters he's quiet. I just never understood that direction in his character arc.
March 25, 2025
I wasn't sold on this one until the last chapter really ramped things up. The art is unique, moody and fantastic, but in contrast the story felt quite run of the mill until and excellent twist.
I'll be sticking around for the next volume at least.
I'll be sticking around for the next volume at least.
August 17, 2025
La historia es buena, la trama interesante y te van soltando detallitos poco a poco para mantenerte enganchado.
El dibujo es de lo mejor y de lo peor de la obra. Es distinto y curioso, llama mucho la atención...pero en las escenas de acción apenas te enteras de un carajo de lo que pasa.
El dibujo es de lo mejor y de lo peor de la obra. Es distinto y curioso, llama mucho la atención...pero en las escenas de acción apenas te enteras de un carajo de lo que pasa.
September 23, 2025
(THIS REVIEW IS ORIGINALLY FROM STORYGRAPH, FROM 29TH JULY 2025.)
The writing in this volume really captured me. The plot is starting to roll and a number of questions being asked all of which have me interested... and leaves me thinking OMG! So dark! I love it though to be honest.
The writing in this volume really captured me. The plot is starting to roll and a number of questions being asked all of which have me interested... and leaves me thinking OMG! So dark! I love it though to be honest.
October 21, 2017
Virei fã desse universo por causa do anime da Netflix. E o mangá é muito gostosinho de ler. São 15 volumes. Quero saber como termina essa história.
February 6, 2018
3.5 It's still really hard to follow, but I'm enjoying it.
October 12, 2018
Nope, I give up. Just when Tanikaze is starting to make a relationship that you can almost sense emotion from, the girl dies. Nice. Yeah, I'm good, no more of this series for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2019
電子化計畫持續進行~190426購入KOBO電子英文版
--
181020讀完中文版
--
181020讀完中文版
August 17, 2019
Lo que llevo leyendo , es de loa mangas que son más fieles al anime, rara vez aporta algo distinto uno del otro .. como sea la historia va mejorando !
December 31, 2019
It's still interesting, but sometimes the illustrations make it hard to understand what's going on. (full review to come)
September 30, 2020
This is my favourite volume. It takes me from being happy to being sad and angry.
Treason, friendship, honor, pride. This is what this manga is about.
Treason, friendship, honor, pride. This is what this manga is about.
October 10, 2020
Bien pero meh. Una lástima. No creo que continúe con esto.
November 29, 2024
Nah, it is not worth your time. Really difficult to follow, gives the impression of "ok, maybe I have not read it with enough attention..." but no. The flow of the story is just bad.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews