Tag: tragedy

Sweet Wife in My Arms (Chinese webnovel) – Gave up at chapter 270 (spoilers)

I don’t remember when it was, but I know I promised myself not to start any webnovel with a ridiculous number of chapters. I told myself I would always check first and not start something that was bound to get tedious and stupid. But time passes, people grow old, we forget our promises and then… we end up reading long-winded dreck like Sweet Wife in My Arms.

Summary: For his sake, she was willing to abandon her career as the best actress and be his wife. With her own network, money and unscrupulous methods, she helped him rise to the top of the world. He, on the other hand, held another woman in his embrace and kicked her away with no mercy. It turned out that all he ever wanted was her rare blood type, her six-month-old child’s cord blood. It was her life…

When she opened her eyes again, she returned to her 20-year-old self. Time repeated and her life rewound. In this life, she would live well. [source: Webnovel]

Now, to be absolutely fair to Sweet Wife in My Arms, the first 250 chapters are a decent and enjoyable read. The female lead Yan Huan is definitely a Mary Sue with perfect acting skills, the most beautiful face ever, amazing wire-fu skills, etc. but that is normal for this kind of series and she’s not obnoxious about it. And unlike many trashy series of this sort, she does not fall back in love with the guy who killed her because it was all a big misunderstanding or something.

In the same way, the male lead Lu Yi is your general icy cold super powerful guy who doesn’t like women at all but somehow there’s something special about the heroine… etc etc. You know the drill if you’ve read even one Chinese romance web novel. Lu Yi is miles and away better than most other CEO/Prince MLs. He’s not rapey, not physically or mentally abusive, not over-the-top protective and doesn’t try to force his way into her life. If anything, she’s the one who starts clinging to him even when he has a girlfriend.

Furthermore, the plot isn’t bad. It has the generic “super talented actress” gimmick  romance web novels use when they’re not using “super talented doctor” instead. I like this gimmick better because we get to read about the various cheesy, campy movies and series. Yan Huan takes part in. Which the audience laps up, but they sound sooooo bad. Like this one called “Divorced” about a woman whose husband cheats so she finds another man who doesn’t cheat, happily ever after, after all a woman can’t be happy without clinging to some rich man, haha… And somehow it grosses 600 million yuan and makes her a millionaire, lol.

But that’s the thing about the series early on – it doesn’t take itself very seriously. Despite Yan Huan’s sad past and Lu Yi’s coldness, it’s not a mopey or depressing story. It has its dramatic moments, frustrating ones, funny ones, cute ones. It’s no masterpiece, but it was interesting enough to pass the time. To slowly see Yan Huan overcoming her unfounded fear of Lu Yi, Lu Yi learning to stand up for himself a little, Lu Yi bonding with her cat Little Bean, Yan Huan winning him over with her food, etc. Very cute stuff.

So where did it go wrong with Sweet Wife in My Arms? Around chapter 265, when Yan Huan did something very stupid. I mean she had done stupid things before like meeting a ‘director’ in an apartment alone, but this was extra stupid. Here she remembered that a mudslide occurred in her past life, and Lu Yi was trapped in it. Instead of telling him about it, she decided she would look crazy if she did. So what she did was… she borrowed his car… and went there… and almost got caught in the same landslide.

In other words, instead of potentially avoiding millions of dollars in damage, injury, lives and work hours lost, she wanted to play “little rescue heroine” by showing up with food. Look, I get it, in a NORMAL situation, she might sound crazy for saying she had a dream or premonition about a mudslide. But Lu Yi is the kind of guy who absolutely can and would investigate the area if she so much as hinted at it. He told her as much, whatever she needs him for, he’s willing to do it. There was no need to risk his life, her life, many other people’s lives, just so she wouldn’t look crazy.

But see, that incident in itself wasn’t the dealbreaker for Sweet Wife in My Arms. The problem is that the mudslide broke my immersion, so to speak. I sat up and thought, “This is really dumb. Do I really want to read much more of this?” And THEN, only then, did I check the chapter count. Aieeee, 707 chapters translated to date. Over 2500 chapters in Chinese!! Two thousand five hundred! 2500!! I was only 10% of the way through and I was already shaking my head.

So at that point, I thought, eh, I can’t do this. Let me just read spoilers and see their happy ending and then I’m done. But the spoilers for Sweet Wife in my Arms are hooorrible. The series is craaaap!

Highlights include:

  • Yan Huan still tangling with Lu Qin, Su Muran and other idiots she dealt with in her past life when a sensible person would move halfway round the world to get away from them,
  • Lu Yi getting amnesia and getting cuddly with another woman,
  • Switched identities, the usual miscarriages, triplets…
  • All kinds of shenanigans revolving around Yan Huan’s extra special blood,
  • Obligatory Yan Huan in a coma scene, and
  • Yan Huan going through not one, not two, not three but FOUR rebirth sagas before getting her happy ending

And that’s just the spoilers from the thread. I’m sure there were even more ups and downs, especially revolving around annoying side characters like the gluttonous, uncaring manager Yi Ling and her inevitable romance with Lu Yi’s best buddy Lei Qingyi. To be honest, if the series was, say, 400-500 chapters long, I would have stuck it out regardless of the stupidity of the mudslide incident. But 2500 of this and more? Nope, I’m out. Time is precious in 2021. Gotta read better web novels before COVID clobbers us all.

TL;DR – Sweet Wife in My Arms has a passable premise and very likeable main characters. However it goes on waaaay too long and involves waaaaay too much drama. Unless you have nothing better to do with your time, I advise you to read shorter, more compact and more sensibly plotted series.

Beware of the Brothers manhwa review – Another bait and switch

In the post before this one, I posted about a Chinese web novel that promised one thing, delivered for a while then switched it out for something else. Chinese web novels are not the only culprits. Beware of the Brothers is a manhwa based on a Korean web novel that does the same bait-and-switch.

It offers a tale of a woman who goes back in time to her childhood to try and make sense of her difficult and tragic relationship with her adoptive parents and siblings. And it delivers that for a while in sometimes heartwarming, sometimes painful and sometimes frustrating detail. But then… Ugh. Anyway, here’s the summary first:

Summary: Hari, a destitute girl, got adopted by Duke Ernst at 7 years old when she lost her mother. The Ernsts had themselves lost their youngest daughter Arina and sought Hari due to her resemblance to the late girl.

After suffering all kinds of persecution in 20 years of life at the Ernst estate, Hari is about to escape by getting married. But right before the wedding, she wakes up to find herself back to her childhood in that hellish household. Well this time she’s going to live how she pleases and not repeat the tragedies of the past!

Or so she claims, but if that’s what you’re expecting, forget it. While most “back to the past” protagonists use their knowledge and maturity to change things and improve their lives, Hari in Beware of the Brothers isn’t one of those.

So prepare yourself to see a supposed 27-year old acting like a kid most of the time. Sulking, fighting, arguing with her young brothers Eugene, Cabel and Erich. What you won’t see is a former adult trying to prepare herself for an independent life through education, hard work, networking or anything other kind of common sense behavior. When help is needed, she doesn’t even offer to perform basic bookkeeping or writing tasks even though as a former adult she should have been able to do all that.

While she does try and fail to prevent one great tragedy, that’s the limit of her efforts in that regard. It goes to ridiculous levels when she blandly endures physical abuse for no good reason until her brothers save her. What’s the point of the “adult returned to kid” setting if she keeps acting like a kid? The author would have created a better story by simply having this be her first and only life. There are a lot of series like that, where the “isekai” or “reincarnator” setting feels completely tacked on.

Regardless, none of that is my main beef with Beware of the Brothers. For all her clumsiness and helplessness, Hari is still a pitiable figure who thinks her family never cared about her in the first or second life. The slow, frustrating but ultimately rewarding process by which they all admit that they all care about each other, and the brothers explain that they see Hari as their real sister… it was very sweet and heartwarming to read. After all the annoyances, it was like FINALLY! Phew! And the fandom rejoiced…

…until the timeskip…

…which made it clear that the whole “brothers” thing was a lie…

…and Hari is going to end up in a romantic relationship with her older “brother” Eugene.

hari seducing eugene in beware of the brothers
That’s my line, author.

Back up and let’s review. Beware of the Brothers spent the first 30 or so chapters building a warm and solid family relationship. Then after that it apparently turned into an incest romance series. In other words, the author built the family just to have incest – can’t have incest without family right?

I say “apparently turned” because I stopped reading once I saw a suspicious scene. The usual “bump into each other, ooh he’s so cute” kind of scene. I did a quick search for spoilers, saw the Eugene x Hari ending and noped right out of there.

Well it does say “Beware of the brothers” in the title. It just didn’t use the full version: “Beware of the brothers who may be secretly lusting after their adoptive sister who is a dead ringer for their late little sister.” Eugene is nuts for considering it, but Hari is even harder to understand. For a lifetime and a half, over 40 years, she has seen Eugene as nothing more than a somewhat distant older brother. She was all gung-ho about marrying another, very decent guy. And now it’s suddenly “hey, time to marry my big brother”???

If I were a masochist I would want to see them explain things to their friends, siblings and the society at large, but I’m not one so I dropped out long ago. If you still want to read the series after this spoilerrific post, then clearly incest doesn’t put you off, so enjoy yourself. As for me, and hundreds of fans, we’re just pissed off because the author hid her true purpose so cunningly. If that incest tag had been there from the start, I would never have touched the series. Thus this post is here to warn innocent victims like myself.

On to better, less immoral series!

Shokusai no Oukoku – Barbaric Japanese TV show

I like food and I’m always looking for new Japanese TV programs to watch, so Shokusai no Oukoku (食彩の王国) sounded like a good fit. Each episode takes one food, or a few foods from a certain region. First they show the various ways the locals prepare it, then they show a professional chef who uses the item in various high-class dishes.

It’s not really what I was looking for because most of the ingredients are things like eel and fresh wasabi and abalone, etc, stuff I can’t get in my country no matter how much money I pay. Most of the cooking done by the chefs can’t be replicated by an amateur cook by me – besides the dishes always look so fussy and artsy. That only leaves the home-cooked version of each item, which only makes up about 1% of each show.

But if that was the only problem I might have kept watching it. It’s interesting to learn about new foods and the narration is very soothing. The problem with Shokusai no Oukoku is the sheer barbarity of their food preparation methods. The cruelty with which they prepare the animals while they’re still alive is just too much for me to take.

I’m not a vegan or a vegetarian. I’m more of a People Eating Tasty Animals kind of person. I believe God gave us both plants and animals for food. What I don’t believe in is causing untold suffering to creatures in the course of preparing that food.

In one episode of Shokusai no Oukoku, I watched a woman prepare crab miso soup by crushing live crabs and mixing them with hot water and miso. Why crush them while alive? WHYYY? It’s too horrible. But that woman was a home cook. Maybe she doesn’t know any better. Let’s turn to our professional chef… He’s doing that same thing! Crushing them with a brick!!!!

Okay, that was just one episode. It won’t happen any more, right? Right… as far as crabs go… But then I watched the episode about octopus. Oh, the octopuses. It was horrible. Really horrible. Especially when you know what I do about how sensitive and intelligent octopuses are. Just pure Japanese sadism at its finest.

First they chopped up an octopus while alive, and that was presented as a good thing. “See how fresh it is, it’s wriggling!” OF COURSE IT’S WRIGGLING WHILE YOU’RE BUTCHERING IT TO DEATH! Rgggh. And it got worse with a cooking method known as jigoku yaki (地獄焼) which is grilling seafood alive. Yes, alive. I will spare you the gory details. I just wish someone had spared me. I must have lived a very blessed life so far because it is easily the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen anyone do to an animal.

I don’t want to watch Shokusai no Oukoku any more. I don’t want to watch any Japanese cooking show any more. I’ve just… I’m done. This post was a warning to stay far far away from this horrible, inhumane program. You were warned.

Mammoth post about a ton of isekai manga

After watching In Another World with my Smartphone and Knight’s & Magic, I became interested in seeing just how trashy and generic isekai (protagonist thrown into another world) series could get. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been going around the various manga aggregator sites reading what seem to be the most popular ones. Only there are so many isekais and they’re all so similar that I’m having a hard time keeping track of them. This here post is to help me keep everything straight while making some brief comments on each one.

Dungeon Seeker – Main character Junpei is thrown into another world with his crush as well as some bullies. He soon finds himself trapped in a dungeon after being betrayed by the one he trusted most. After somehow avoiding a gory death at the hands of a skeleton, he instead eats the monster and acquires news skills! And so it happens that Junpei goes around defeating and devouring various enemies while living for the day he can get his revenge.

Dungeon Seeker is one of the earliest ones I read and it’s one that I enjoy more than most. The main reason is the lack of a sidekick. In 9 out of 10 isekai series, the hero quickly acquires sidekicks. Usually attractive females, competent but not too good so they don’t outshine him, and of course madly in love with the hero. This series don’t have any of that nonsense so I can focus solely on Junpei’s exploits without an adoring audience standing around explaining every little detail for me.

The drawback of Dungeon Seeker is how hard it tries to be dark and edgy. Someone has been reading too much Berserk. Junpei himself also tries to be cold and hard but is actually pretty weak and easily flustered. It’s a bit annoying sometimes. But each chapter is fast-moving and full of interesting occurrences and cliffhangers, so it’s a good read.

Rising of the Shield Hero – It’s about Iwatani Naofumi, a hero summoned to another world who becomes bitter and angry after being betrayed by someone he trusted. He gets better though, and he has to work with other heroes to defend the world against a series of monster attacks.

The manga art is very good. While Naofumi is strong, he’s far from invincible so this might attract the crowd that likes isekai but doesn’t like overpowered heroes. It also takes a while for other characters to warm up to him, so this isn’t one of those series where everyone worships the hero from day one.

That said, it’s not that interesting a series. Probably the biggest disappointment on the list since I’d heard too much about it. Exhibit A of “the hero gets an adoring harem of competent but not too competent sidekicks,” which is cute the first time you see it but gets old quickly.

Since Naofumi fights solely with a shield, I was expecting him to use it in all kinds of unconventional and inventive ways, but he really doesn’t do much but just kind of stand there. The author too has been reading too much Berserk and now has an evil shield that threatens to take Naofumi over. Yeah yeah, whatevs. Dropped after 30-something chapters because it’s not that interesting, though I did enjoy seeing him get revenge on his betrayers.

Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou – This one is about Hajime Nagumo, who is summoned to another world with his friends but is abandoned and betrayed by one of his companions (we don’t know which one), which leaves him injured and bitter. Eventually he picks up some good skills and an adoring but not-too-competent sidekick and makes his way out of the dungeon. And that’s as far as I read before I dropped it.

I’ve heard good things about the light novel and web novel versions, but the manga is rushed trash. It zooms from one event to another without making any sense and the art is terrible too. The action is so hard to follow that I have no idea how they defeated that dragon – or indeed any other enemy in the series. It’s possible that the upcoming anime will be better, but the manga didn’t compel me to watch it.

Kumoko from Kumo desu gaKumo desu ga, nani ka? – I love this one. It’s about a nameless heroine who dies in the real world and gets reincarnated as… a spider?! Yup, a tiny little monster spider in another world. And when you’re a tiny spider, everything’s out to either squish or eat you. How will she ever survive?

The best isekai I’ve read so far, 90% because Kumoko is just sooooo cute! I never thought I’d find a monstrous spider cute, but Japan managed it somehow. The other reason I like it is because of the minimal human interaction present. It’s all monsters all the time, no harem nonsense or political intrigue.

Kumoko gets very strong very quickly, but the enemies are always one step ahead so there’s still plenty of tension. The best part was the fight against the angry monkeys, in which she almost died several times and the enemies just kept upping the ante. That was a good one. The only downside of this manga is… I’ve caught up to the latest chapter, so now I have to wait! Waaaaaahhh…

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken – A 37-year old man is stabbed to death and reincarnated in another world as a lowly slime. And he may very well have stayed a lowly slime for life if he hadn’t befriended and absorbed the most powerful dragon on the continent. Now renamed Rimuru, he’s a force to contend with as he goes about creating the world he’s always dreamed of.

This would have been really interesting if Rimuru had stayed a slime/monster all the way through. Unfortunately he soon gets a human form and looks and acts like all the other isekai heroes before and after him. Boring. Instead of a single groupie, he has an entire nation full of them, so that’s new I guess. Otherwise there’s nothing interesting about this series.

Rimuru meets someone, adds them to his host of worshippers, meets someone else, adds them too, and on and on. Repetitive and unexciting. I thought at least the fighting would be exciting since he was a slime, but once he gains his human form he mostly fights like a human. Blah. Dropped after 30-something chapters.

Jaryuu Tensei – The main character is run over by a car and dies. Then he’s reincarnated as a powerful dragon. An allegedly evil one, which has adventurers clamoring to defeat him. Still he’s so mighty that he doesn’t need to worry about puny little humans… until he accidentally eats a magical item and gets reduced to a human being himself!

Same mistake as Slime Datta Ken. Jaryuu Tensei was funny and different when it was about an actual dragon, but once he takes on human form he becomes like everybody else. Quickly makes friends, picks up an adoring and powerful – but not too strong – elf slave and goes around righting wrongs and fighting evil. Very forgettable series, and it’s sad because it didn’t have to be that way. Mr. Author, next time you write a series about an evil dragon, please ensure that it is actually about a dragon, kthxbye.

Kenja no Mago – A normal guy from this world is reincarnated as a baby in another world. He grows up as Shin, a magical prodigy and the adopted grandson of the most powerful sage in the whole world. Eventually he goes off to magical high school just in time to foil a plot to destroy the country with a demon. Now it’s up to Shin and his band of high school buddies to save the world from the evil demon wizard Oliver Strom.

The one good thing about this manga is that it is very much not a harem. Shin falls in love with one girl quickly, she loves him back, everyone is fully supportive and they get engaged within a few chapters. Refreshing! Apart from that, Kenja no Mago is just like all the rest. Shin is so clever, and so inventive, and everyone thinks he’s so wonderful, even the king and the royal household and all the enemies. He makes an attempt to train the rest of his team but it’s obvious he’s miles ahead of them. There’s no real story besides defeating Oliver either so, meh.

Isekai Tensei Soudouki – Strictly speaking, this is not isekai. Rather a baby in another world, Balud Cornelius, is possessed by the souls of an ancient Japanese warlord and a perverted high school boy. This makes him a powerful fighter who knows a lot about business and making money. He quickly catches the eye – and ire – of the rich and powerful as he revolutionizes the world with inventions like gold-plating, water pumps and… hair conditioner? The sky’s the limit for this unlikely trio!

As with the other series, Balud quickly gathers a troupe of loving fangirls and fanboys. And as with the other series, the author sends him off to magical high school, which made me groan in despair. Not another one! But before too long he’s sent on a political mission to Not!Spain where the series finally picks up and gets somewhat interesting. At least I want to know how he beats the pirates.

The problem I have with this is that the warlord and high school characters might as well not exist. They hardly ever show up except as Deus Ex Machina, then they’re quickly banished to the void until they’re needed again 3 chapters later. This makes the whole premise pointless.

The author was clearly trying to avoid the generic “reincarnated in another world” trope, but he failed to follow through with the full potential and implications of a split-personality hero. In short, despite his backstory Balud is just like all the other isekai heroes. Isekai Tensei Soudouki is still interesting once it gets the political focus the other series don’t have, but apart from that it’s nothing special.

Mushoku Tensei – A jobless NEET is thrown out by his family and dies a pitiful death. After being reincarnated as a baby named Rudeus, he vows to work harder and treat others better. As he grows up, Rudeus becomes a tutor and picks up some fans, but then the whole country is split by an earth-shattering disaster…

This one was actually surprisingly heavy on the feels. Especially the feeling of anger I get whenever Rudy’s good-for-nothing lout of a father is involved. Apart from that I read it quickly and forgot about it because it’s very slow. It’s good for marathoning, but as a monthly series it lacks the impact to keep me reading. The characters aren’t memorable at all either, since as usual they exist mainly to lick the hero’s boots. I might read the whole thing in one go whenever it’s complete since I like Rudy’s try-hard attitude. Otherwise it’s dropped.

Tensei Shichatta yo. Iya, gomen – A self-loathing high school boy with an unhappy family life is accidentally killed by “god” and reincarnated as Will, a ridiculously cute baby with all of the high schooler’s memories. By a lucky chance, all magic in that world is powered by kanji – and Will knows all of them already. Blessed prodigious magical talent, a supportive family and a loving group of buddies, Will is living the dream. Now if only those pesky assassins would stop attacking…

Not much has happened in the 17 chapters I’ve read. It’s a very feel-good manga with very cute characters and art. Despite his immense powers, Will is actually a very sweet and kind little boy. His small size also keeps him free from any harem shenanigans. I hope they keep him small forever.

Kuro no Souzou Shoukanshi – Tenseisha no Hangyaku – High school boy Tsuguna is accidentally killed by a “god” and reincarnated in another world. On the plus side he can summon otherworldly helpers through a special book. On the minus side, he’s born with black hair and black eyes, a curse and a calamity in that world. After years of ill-treatment, Tsuguna escapes from his family and takes on the challenges of the new world. But of course someone as special as him could never hope for an ordinary life.

I’d even forgotten that I read this one. Of course he’s taken in by sexy elves who are madly in love with him. Of course he quickly finds his not-too-competent but cute sidekick. Of course everyone who is anyone in the world is intrigued by this amazing black-haired boy. And there’s stuff about an evil church full of mysterious bad guys. Unremarkable, unmemorable stuff.

Manuke na FPS Player ga Isekai e Ochita Baai – An online FPS player nicknamed Schwarz Powder falls off the edge of the game-world and lands in another world. He can’t log out or go back, but for some reason he can still make in-game purchases. In-game purchases that include guns and advanced armor in a medieval world. Some guys have all the luck.

I’d heard this was terrible, but it’s not that bad. Certainly not compared some of the other dreck I’ve been trying. The gun thing is different. I don’t know enough about guns to rage over his gun choices like other fans do, which is a plus. And while Schwarz has an least one admirer, she hasn’t joined his harem full-time yet. I prefer solo players for these isekai series. Schwarz’s character design is a bit goofy but I like the world and I like the gun combat. I’ve only read 11 chapters but I like it so far.

Gunota ga Mahou Sekai ni Tensei Shitara – Not even going to bother with a proper description. A gun otaku revives in another world and forms a harem of gun-fighters. Because he was such a good metal-worker in the past that he can even create machine guns in another world. Dumb-looking art and a fanservice-heavy focus. I finished one chapter and that was enough.

Tenseisha wa Cheat o Nozomanai – Protagonist Mira is a normal 6-year old in a fantasy world. Until she hits her head one day and recovers memories from her past life in our world. She doesn’t remember everything, but she does remember enough to know that isekai protagonists always end up in a world of trouble. That’s the last thing Mira wants. “Please let me be normal, please let me be normal,” is her plea. Unfortunately fate has other plans.

Very cute manga, seems like the kind of shoujo that would run in Ribon. Female isekai heroines are rare enough, much less ones as small and cute as Mira. But of course she’s still overpowered with a moderately competent sidekick. When the scanlations left off, Mira was on her way to a magical academy (of course) where she is sure to catch the eyes of the whole world (of course) but she hasn’t gotten there as of chapter 6. When I get the time I’m going to hunt down the raws and find out what happens to cute little Mira… or that’s what I thought I’d do, but it turns out the manga is on hiatus. Noooo!

That’s all the isekai manga I can remember right now. Any future comments on these series will be on an individual basis and most likely not until I’ve completed them. There are a still a few popular series I haven’t tried yet, but I’ll remedy that in a couple of days and maybe do another post on that. I also watched one or two anime series in the past month so I’ll write about those some other time. ではまた。

Knights of Sidonia quick anime and manga review

Still easing myself back into watching and blogging about anime regularly. Gundam 00 really did a number on me. From now on I will know better than to marathon a drama-heavy show, and if the fandom says to stay away from a movie I will consider their responses more carefully. Today, let’s talk about Knights of Sidonia. I watched both seasons of the anime and finished up by reading the manga, which was only 78 chapters long and thus a quick affair. The ending was… umm… Well, we’ll talk about that in a bit. First the summary:

Knights of Sidonia (シドニアの騎士) is a mecha manga series by Tsutomu Nihei. After destroying Earth many years ago, the alien race Gauna has been pursuing the remnants of humanity—which, having narrowly escaped, fled across the galaxy in a number of giant seed ships. In the year 3394, Nagate Tanikaze surfaces from his lifelong seclusion deep beneath the seed ship Sidonia in search of food on the upper levels, only to find himself dragged into events unfolding without his knowledge.
When the Gauna begin their assault on Sidonia, it’s up to Tanikaze to defend humanity’s last hope for survival, and defeat their alien foes.

What I liked about Knights of Sidonia
  • It’s short. You can marathon both seasons of the anime.
  • The enemies are truly threatening. Although Tanikaze starts out overpowered, he can’t keep up with the Gauna’s speed of adaptation so he’s almost always in danger. This isn’t one of those “Boring Invincible Hero” shows.
  • That said, Tanikaze is a pretty boring typical shonen hero who tries to save everyone all the time. But he’s a nice, earnest guy and easy to root for, which is more than I can say for many protagonists.
  • There’s plenty of action in every episode. Sometimes it gets a bit much.
  • The ending is happier than I would have expected, given the overwhelming odds they face.
  • It seems to be a love-hate kind of thing, but I rather like the CG art style. It’s different from the other stuff I’ve been watching.
  • She takes some getting used to, but Tsumugi-chan is kind of cute. Best girl ftw!
What I didn’t like about Knights of Sidonia
  • Some of the gauna are kind of gross.
  • Some of the scenes are kind of gross, like the living catheter (ick) and the romantic piss-drinking (double ick).
  • A little too much time is wasted on romantic hijinks halfway through the show/manga. It brings everything to a screeching halt to have girls fighting over the hero when the world is collapsing around them.
  • I don’t approve of certain relationships in the ending (to explain would be to spoil, but it is an abomination).
  • Some of the characters look a little too similar, which makes it hard to tell people apart at first.
  • Certain characters get away with murder, literally, and are quickly and easily forgiven. Like it’s not even an issue.
To watch or not to watch?

It’s probably faster to read the Knights of Sidonia manga, since it’s only 78 chapters. But the anime isn’t bad at all, plenty of action and tense moments and the body count of a small civil war. There are many unanswered questions at the end concerning the origins and intentions of the gauna and the history of the world, so this probably isn’t for anyone who likes complete closure. For anybody else, y