Knights of Sidonia, volume 1 Paperback – Illustrated, February 5, 2013

Gundam, Evangelion, Macross... And a hundred others. KoS is different in premise from Nihei's other works, but his fingerprints are all over this Mecha book. Much better volume one that Aposimz in that I feel motivated to read more. Unlike Blame, I do not feel particularly motivated to buy the print version.Nihei's brand of monster is gorgeous, but he trades much of his ruined architectural storytelling for efficiency corridors and cleaner ship environments, as well as the emptiness of space.One lingering issue is a degree of same face at play. The repeating cast being bigger than Blame, there are panels where I struggle to tell the players apart ... Except the bear.

I like the setting and art design.z No exaggerated bodies for the lady Characters. Good setup first chapter. I will read it all

Tsutomu Nihei has meticulously built this age where humanity clashes with an alien species whose intelligence probably is beyond but certainly is separated from our own. But what remains from humanity is also changing to something alien to us as Nagate, a human that has been living isolated, discovers sometimes painfully.It is addictive to see the drawings by an architect/mangaka that dreams functional buildings in which lost in the scope of their sheer scale humans are like ants; the proportions of the characters is slim but natural where in Western comics is usual to prefer a muscular type. And the writing... Tsutomu Nihei is almost invisible and his world is the one speaking for him. This is, again, a very beautiful work of art; a manga about a hopeless and, in the vacuum of the space, almost a silent future.

An interesting mecha series mixed with a little bit of space opera. Not a lot of action in the first volume, and some of characters feel a little flat, especially the main character. I'm interested in seeing if Nihei develops them any further. The art is gorgeous and as usual for Nihei, absolutely filled with mindbogglingly huge structures, inhuman bizarre monsters, and relatively lifeless un-distinct faces.The quality of the Book itself is great, the cover is not cluttered and the printing and binding is acceptable. Though the book itself is slightly smaller in dimensions than many of my other Manga, though it's not dramatic enough to really be a con.

I'm writing this review as a series as a whole. There are 15 total volumes. The first 8-9 volumes are very good. Nihei does a fantastic job of slowly providing exposition, building mystery, and creating an interesting plot. His artwork in these volumes is fantastic. It is less scratchy than in Biomega and Blame!, contrasting hyper-detailed backgrounds with expressive character work. The art is very dark. Space is represented as a deep black and Sidonia's starkly contrasting urban and rural settings helps it to become a character unto itself. Nihei does a very good job for the "mech" crowd, spending a lot of time explaining how the mechs, called Guardes, work and does a great job drawing them.There are problems in these first volumes. There are odd tonal shifts in which Nihei is trying to be funny. Usually these scenes involve awkward interactions from women trying to win the main characters affections. Usually they revolve around the main character accidentally walking in on women naked in the shower, or their bedrooms. I am not exaggerating, this gag happens more times than I can count over the course of the series. It's as if Nihei can't think of anything funnier than this. Still these scenes mostly don't detract from the interesting plot development of the first half of the series.Around volume 10 the quality of the series takes a huge nosedive. The art appears rushed, the details that made the previous volumes is missing, space and darkness is rendered in a light gray that takes away from the gothic feel of Sidonia and the scary loneliness of space. The plot takes a back seat to the love triangle (pentagon really) that never really makes sense. Every female character in the series is into the main character for reasons that make little sense, as he appears an oblivious, vacuous chap whose only redeeming quality is that he is a very good Guarde pilot. Because the technology has developed over the course of the series, the mechs are so powerful there is very little tension. For example, when the series begins, it is very rare for a single pilot to ever take on one of the alien antagonists. By the end, the humans are fairly easily killing thousands at a time. The description of time is ambiguous in the series, but it seems that these developments take only a few years at most.Trust me on this, the ending is awful.I write this as a warning to those thinking about making the investment in reading this manga. If you were to buy it on amazon it would cost over $150. There is no way you should pay that for this series.

I’ve always loved black & white comics, those from Japan in particular. And now Tsutomu Nihei achieves a strong second place in my heart after Masamune Shirow. This guy is great at showing scale, which really comes through in this epic space journey. The story is teased out at just the right pace to preserve the mystery without becoming tiresome. In fact, I think this is a more accessible comic than his last, Biomega, although I loved the relentless action of that story even more. I’m reasonably sure that Nihei is still writing this manga in Japan, so who knows how many volumes there will be (there were six for Biomega), or if a set will ever be released, but I know I can’t wait and intend to buy up each and every one of these as soon as they become available. Fantastic.

This is one of the best story-driven mangas on the market. The style of art, creative storytelling, and engrossing narrative full of rich character development are very likely to suck in any reader of manga. The manner in which h the author draws in readers with a strong emotional investment in the characters, some of which are only around for a chapter or two. You will find yourself getting used to one set of characters and suddenly and unexpectedly have one ripped from you, creating a vacuum of feeling that will make you wonder why you bothered to begin to attach yourself. This is an absolute treasure and I would recommend 10/10.

Excellent release. Vertical has matched and exceeded my expectations. In particular I have taken a liking to the more compact dimensions used with the tankoubon, which are closer to the Japanese format also used in French and Italian releases. They show dedication to their craft, evident from their relentless eye to detail. Sole (rather major) letdown is the rate of releases, where the English releases are barely at volume 3, while other European languages are already at 7 and the original Japanese already at 10. This is not being helped by releasing only once per two months. At this rate, we'll only be at where the French are today in Februari 2014 and the Japanese half a year later. This makes it impossible to discuss it with people who read it in those other languages.As for the manga itself, it's absolutely stellar. Nihei draws a minimalist but realistic science fiction world, taking into account many things other authors conveniently ignore. He shows us humanity which has departed from its God-given form with new genders and photosynthesis; a massive seedship, once one of many but now an orphan in an endless black sea where location has lost meaning; an alien race which is truly alien, but appears to share a relationship with more than meets the eye. He does this without losing control over the story, managing to consistently focus on the narrative without needing to halt to explain things. In-universe mechanics, history, order and other elements come naturally while he takes us through a surprisingly rich world. He manages to convey complex situations using a deceptively simple-looking drawing style, seemingly effortlessly transitioning to show more detail when the situation calls for it, doing so without ever breaking convention and culminating in the rare but exquisite coloured pages. So, too, is the dialogue, which is relatively sparse but functional, letting the art and writing engage in beautiful symbiosis to tell a tale that gracefully walks the tightrope between serious events and Nihei's clever, trademark comedy.Literally the only element that leans toward being a downside is that the art style tends to cause a bit of sameface, and with the equally minimalistic dialogue this can cause a bit of confusion who's who, especially in the earlier volumes. From those same reasons stems also the fact that the plot heavily relies on the reader actually being concentrated, which may be an issue if you're used to manga which make a point of explaining everything multiple times. This leads to situations where a poorly understood story element is expected to be explained in the near future, which doesn't happen because it actually was already explained in an earlier chapter. Due to the fact that you should probably get used to Nihei's style first, I advise re-reading the first three volumes as soon as you're done with the third, this should shed some light upon a few questions you've probably asked by now. It's also be easier since you're better able to distinguish between the faces by now.I should probably note that this manga is due for anime adoption in 2014 and is expected to become one of the major hits that year.

Hi,I very rarely write a review but this is just so good.I've read and still have all of Blame! and more recently I read BIOMEGA. Both of those are enjoyable for their wild ideas and visuals but they were always a bit lacking in story, especially BIOMEGA.That's why I really like this. It has all the craziness of those other books but it has much more focus on story. The characters have more depth and although there are some familiar elements in the story for anyone with a long standing interest in sci-fi, the whole thing feels fresh.I read this twice the first day I had it. I hardly ever do that.Really brilliant. Hope it lasts and develops beyond the puny 6 issues that BIOMEGA managed.

I admit I watched the anime first and it quickly became my favourite.I bought the manga because I love the anime so much. It never disappeared and followed the anime very closely.Very highly recommended.

Really enjoyed the first volume its like battlestar galactica crossed with Pacific rim looking forward to volume 2 .worth purchasing

Liked his style since I first came across "Blame".This is great so far. Almost identical to the anime. In some part, the anime has more detail, it some the book is better especially the design of the Guana.Will collect every single one.