Knights of Sidonia S2 – 10

Unfortunately this wasn’t the time for Izana to become an ace pilot though she did at least show some ingenuity in her escape from gauna. Instead the spotlight falls once again to Tsugumi and Tanikaze. A lot of the fight scenes before the challenger appeared was to shown that Tsugumi and Tanikaze have great teamwork which admittedly isn’t all that strange seeing as they go into battle often. While it is a shame that Izana didn’t get a moment to shine, I am glad that Sidonia has returned to the elements that make it good. Those harem antics went on for far too long and now that it’s back to the plot that matters, I am starting to see that spark that made the first season so good. A bit late into the game but as they say better late than never. The CGI animation really looks its best in the mecha battle scenes. While human characters tend to have levels of uncanny valley syndrome, the robot battles are fast and fluid with little awkward movement. Any stiffness in the animation can be just attributed to the robot’s mechanical movements and easily ignored. The battles are really a symbol of this shows strengths, it’s at it’s best at a fast pace and events are constantly happening. When the show takes the time to slow down it’s flaws become more apparent. In a way, it’s similar to attack on titan in this regard. Attack on titan was also at it’s best when everything was in chaos and the situation was dire. But when things slow down and it moves away from the main threat then that’s when the weaknesses in the characters and story become more visible. So the key to this kind of story is to keep things moving and never dwell too long on a cooling down period.

The big reveal of this episode was the return of Tanikazes ex-girlfriends robot turned psycho killing machine, Benisuzume. This reveal is what makes Gauna an effective threat as just as Sidonia is improving their forces with Gauna technology, Gauna in turn are improving their forces through Sidonia technology. Each side is becoming more and more dangerous thus insuring that nobody has the upper hand for long. With the addition of Tsumgi, it felt like Sidonia had drawn the winning card but with the re-appearance of Benisuzume, she now has worthy opposition. Her existence however has me wondering as to just where is the real hoshijero? Is Benisuzume the real Hoshijero or is she the floating body lying in Kunatos workshop or is she Tsumugi? There seems to be some level of cloning going on as all three clearly have a connection to Hoshijiro. I really like Benizumies design as a melded mecha chimira, especially the 101 left from the robot printed on her right forehead. It’s…cool. For lack of a more professional word. Actually if I can segway into another topic, I must ask a question if manga readers have an answer. What exactly is the role of Tsumugi’s pilot? I mean from what I have seen, it looks like Tsumugi has full control over her functions as Kunato couldn’t stop her from rampaging in an earlier episode. So is the pilot some kind of advisor or a fail safe? I also find it amusing that after Tsumugi nearly killed herself to save Sidonia, Kunato has stopped acting as pilot and left it up to his assistant instead.Too much of a close call for him I guess. As things look now, this could be a pretty good wrap up for what has been a weak season for Sidonia. Assuming of course that this is a twelve episode season like it’s predecessor.