Sidonia no Kishi Ep. 3: Never be confident

Whenever a minor character is ever confident about an upcoming battle, it always spells death.

Episode Summary
In the first half of the episode, Nagate gets to know his classmates a bit better, especially Shizuku and Norio. It’s not exactly love and peace with the latter, however. Meanwhile, Izana continues to be jealous of the fact that Shizuku keeps hanging out with the hero.

In the second half of the episode, the Gauna draws near too near for comfort. Sidonia then launches Akai squad to subjugate the alien threat. Unfortunately, Momose gets caught by one of the Gauna’s arms, forcing Mochikuni to abandon his duties in an attempt to save her. It’s all downhill from there was the Gauna eventually overwhelms the rest of the four-man squad.

Notes
• I guess even in a dystopian space society, you would have gladiatorial space combat. In fact, it’s taking place during this thing called a Gravity Festival. If resources are truly this limited, then space sports with mechas seem like a waste to me, but perhaps the people need something to entertain them as they aimlessly drift through space. Or maybe resources aren’t that limited — who really knows outside of Sidonia’s upper echelon.

• Anime characters are so dramatic. I’m not sure why Izana instantly leaps to the conclusion that there’s already something developing between Nagate and Shizuku. In fact, constantly avoiding the guy is just one surefire way to push him towards the other girl. Having said that, I don’t think this anime will be breaking any boundaries or anything, so even if hermaphrodites in Sidonia can change their sex to suit their relationship needs, I don’t think there’s much of a future between Izana and the main character.

• Koichi Tsuruuchi: “If I win this, will you photosynthesize together with me?” That’s rich. I don’t understand why the girl has to punch him though… must be another one of the show’s odd attempts at humor.

• Really? Even in some dystopian space society set a thousand odd years into the future, girls still still dress up in yukatas for a festival? Plus, who wants to bet when she gets there, she’ll just run into Nagate hanging out with Shizuku and have her heart broken?

• Yuhata seems oddly obsessed with Nagate’s Gardes-piloting skills. She then wonders how our hero might fare against Norio in a one-on-one battle. You’d almost expect him to do well, since he’s the hero and everything, but actually, I don’t think he would. After all, hasn’t he only been trained to battle Gauna and not other Gardes pilots? In fact, there isn’t really any need to learn how to battle another Gardes. This would probably be one of the reasons why this event is a spectator sport.

• Years and years of simulation training have more than prepared Nagate for battling Gauna, but what’s peculiar is how that same simulation didn’t bother to prepare him for the fact that the Gauna can shape-shift. Then again, none of the other Gardes pilots are suffering from the same PTSD symptoms so maybe those in power simply never felt the need to worry about the pilots’ mental health. Perhaps Nagate is just unfortunately unique in this way.

• And oh look, Shizuku’s in her own yukata and what a coincidence that she should stumble into our hero at the festival. Yep, things aren’t looking good for Izana. On a related note — since Shizuku paid for Nagate’s food and all — you’d almost expect food to be cheaper in Sidonia since it’s in such low demand. Who needs to eat very often when you can just “photosynthesize?”

• Shocker: Izana’s storming off again.

• Norio’s behavior seems a bit… extreme. He doesn’t even care that his actions causes Izana to puncture herself in the thigh with a dowel. I know he’s the son of some important family in Sidonia and all that jazz, but it’s not like the anime has shown us that the elites in this society can get away with this sort of thing. As such, Norio’s blatant disregard for other people’s safety — even if they’re beneath him — kind of comes out of left field. Being arrogant doesn’t have to mean that a character is also stupid enough to think he can get away with assault.

• Akai then shows up to Nagate’s room to invite him to the sea. I wouldn’t have imagined that Sidonia would have a sea…

• But no, there really is a “sea,” and it’s Sidonia’s water reservoir. Alright, that makes sense. Still somewhat surprising that they’d make an attraction out of a water reservoir though, but oh well.

• Interesting to hear the pilots sort of joke about their own mortality. I like it; this makes them seem more human. The more confident Mochikuni appears, however, I can’t but feel as though the more likely he will die in the upcoming encounter against the “class H2 Gauna.” Or maybe Momose will. What’s certain is that this relationship is doomed.

• Only four Gardes to subjugate the Gauna? Feels a bit low for such a serious threat, but perhaps this is intended. It’s hard to read Captain Kobayashi.

• Seems a bit odd that this entire battle is being broadcasted to the students. What if it ends in complete failure? And if it does, what if ends up traumatizing the trainees? After all, they’re trainees and not battle-hardened veterans.

• Where does the Gauna get enough “fuel” to continually regenerate itself?

• The action isn’t bad, but I feel as though the debris surrounding the Gauna causes the scene to appear far too busy. More specifically, the debris is too distracting, and it makes it difficult for the audience to focus on the important elements of the battle. In manga form, I’m sure all the debris isn’t a big deal whatsoever, but when they are moving all at once on the screen, it becomes another thing entirely. This is why I don’t feel as though adaptations should ever be a true 100% conversion. What works in one medium won’t necessarily work in another.

• Yep, Mochikuni eats it when he tries to save Momose. Or rather, the Gauna eats him.

• And the broadcast continues long enough for everyone to see the Gauna assimilate the ace pilot. Geez…

• In fact, despite the Akai squadron being the best in Sidonia, they seem ill-prepared for battle. The entire operation is falling apart simply because Momose got caught. Yeah, it’s easy to say we’d react the same way if one of our loved ones is dying in the heat of battle, but perhaps that’s the problem: we’re civilians, and deep down, these kids are civilians too. They might have trained to become soldiers since they were born, but they’re far from being ready to do whatever it takes to get the job done, especially Mochikuni and Momose. No, I’m not faulting these kids for reacting to the dire situation in such a human way. Rather, I’m questioning whether or not Sidonia is training their soldiers properly, and it doesn’t appear as though it is. You’d almost expect the squad leader to be someone a little older and a little more grizzled. At the end of the day, these are ill-prepared kids being forced to go to war. Is Sidonia simply lacking of adults?

• Looks like shit’s about to go down in next week’s episode.

Closing Thoughts
I think the story is a tad bit predictable at the moment. Nevertheless, the Gauna threat feels real enough — by this, I mean that anyone can die — that for now, the anime fulfills its job as a thriller. Speaking of which, the battle against the Gauna is hardly perfect in terms of its visual composition, but honestly, I’m hard-pressed to think of any other show this season with fight scenes that are actually exciting to watch.