February 21,2018 | The Clarion
Arts & Life
Page 5
Netflix Review
'Knights of Sidonia' Season 1: a
fast paced entertaining anime
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By Jordon Morgan
Editor in Chief
Being the first anime series that was ever
put out by Netflix, “Knights of Sidonia” on
paper seems to have all the standard cliches;
science fiction premise, humanity on its last
legs, an outsider hero ready to save the day, the
whole nine yards. Thankfully, the show largely
succeeds thanks to its strong storytelling, tight
paced action and interesting characters.
Set in the far off future, “Knights of Sidonia”
follows the last remnants of humanity who
have been nearly destroyed by a mysterious
alien force known as the Gauna. Said remnants
are hiding out on a massive spaceship named
the Sidonia, armed with fighter pilots who
operate machines known as Gardes, who must
venture out into space every so often to fight
approaching Gauna forces.
Deep within the massive spaceship, a young
man named Nagate Tanikaze, who had been
living deep underground in the ship away from
the general populace, is discovered and taken
to Captain Kobayashi, the highest authority of
Sidonia. She asks him to become a Garde pilot
as well, believing that he has the skills necessary
to become one of Sidonia’s foremost protectors,
an offer that Nagate subsequently agrees to.
Much like the Netflix original film “Blame!”
(though again this show came out before that
film), the animation is somewhat unique in that
it blends traditional two-dimensional anime style
with three-dimensional CGI. The results, once
you get used to them, work quite well. It’s very
striking at times and one of the true benefits of
the style is that it allows the action, which is very
fast paced and could have been hard to follow,
to flow smoothly.
The action is almost jarring in how fast it is.
Being that it takes place in space with highly
advanced mech suits, it makes sense and
fortunately the show does a great job of making
it relatively easy to follow. That is if you’re
paying attention.
That doesn’t mean the storytelling is any sort
of slouch. Through it is a twelve episode season,
the show balances back and forth between
character development and the aforementioned
action scenes.
Although the characterization for everyone
is fairly standard (Nagate for instance being
the gifted outsider who has trouble fitting in),
the solid writing make it so that they are all
interesting in their own ways.
A nagging issue for the series however is
its propensity to not explain certain glaring
aspects that desperately need an explanation.
For example, there is a character named Lala
Hiyama who is essentially a walking sentient
bear who everyone interacts with as if its
normal. Another weird element is the fact that
many humans in this world are able to live off
of very little food due to the fact that they can
photosynthesize.
There are obviously going to be some aspects
in science fiction that are outside the bounds
of the norm but the issue here is that they
aren’t given any sort of explanation, which is
especially a problem when you have an outsider
character like Nagate which allows a perfectly
plausible tool in which to ask these questions.
In fact, for Hiyama’s case you would need to
look at outside information to learn that she is
a human who wears a bear-like life support suit
to sustain herself
Perhaps it’s a nitpick but elements such as
these that stick out should be given at least a
passing mention so as not to continuously baffle
the viewer.
Setting that aside, “Knights of Sidonia” is still
a solid anime that is worth your while. Given
that each episode (bar the season finale) is only
just over 20 minutes long, it’s easy to watch
when you only have a limited amount of time.
If you’re a fan of anime, you won’t regret the
time you invest.
Hopsoscopesi
February 21-27
|PISC(S (FIB 19 - MARCH 20)
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opportuntUes comitig >mu wgy right now aod wroe
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Let's face tL, you've been busy lately! You aught
s tbinkiag you can't go on. If that's the cose, it’s tine
> take a break if you can. Get out of town or juet chill
by youreelf for a few hours.
I (MARCH 21 - APRIL 10)
Thing! arc finally calaung down sAer the drama
that began the year. Hold on to the feelinp of unity
and idealtcm yoa found a-ith the Aquanua new moon
on Feb. 1$, you've got a lot to give.
|L(0 (JULY 23 . AUO 22}
If yov'te strugghag in your rebuonslup, it's time
> be boocst. Think about wbat you need to feel
luppocted and cared for. then aak for iL Gr pethape if
you're single it's time to tell that crush how
yon realty feel.
JXCITTXRJUS CNOV 22-DCC 21)
Your soctal life usd relationships are lively right
now, but don't overwhelm yxinrself Just eqjoy it and
remember not to be too hard on your frtends. Yon may
have taken on too much this aemesicr. but hang in
there and enyoy iqiecial momenta sa they come
ITXUXUS (April 20 - may 20)
^f yoa've been strogglmg with a pnsoaal
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thee this woek that sltuatioQ can either be escalaiod or
soothed Hold fast to the key* to your happiness and And
balance in the chaos.
^IXCO (AUO 23 - 0KPT 22)
Valentine's Day may not have been as eventful as
you had hoped, but don't lose bran. The end of this
month should prove to be caertiog, with nsocc
uaceruinty than you may have hope for.
CXPXICOXN (Dec 22 - Jan 19)
Yon're In the midft of a period of penotul
development and change, so don't be loo hard on
yoisrself Take things one step at a time You will soon
And yonrscif with fewer conamitmcnts, leaving you
more time to recharge by yourself
GEMINI (MAT 21 . juNi 20)
You might be losing steam sAes gtvwg it your all
the past few weeks, but keep on pushing Gensisu.
You might not be seeing results right now, but the
March t Atll moon will make it all worth k.
Li B Rs.X (BCPT 23 - OCT 22)
It's been s big month for yxm, maybe due to
school. Umily. or romaace-Valcntuie's Day was
mote exciting ±ai most years and yon are feclmg
cooAdent. but it's time tsow to take a step back and
foens on yourself. This is a good swmeoi lo rcnlty
think deeply about yonr goals.
AQ.UXRJ U S (Jan 20 • Feb 18}
Since Angust, you ve been obsessing over some
situatioQ - maybe you've been coasKkttng coding
a relationship - and you rinaily got some answeis on
Frb. 15 with the solar eclipse. The decuaon you made
then will be the right one.
iCOXPiO (OCT 23 • NOV 21)
It's tame lo go out on a limb Scorpio. Have you
pondering a big decision? The odds are good that taking
the plunge will lead to beneflcial outcomta. This could
be a pivotal moment for you, to ways that mi^t
sneprisc you