When hearing the term mecha, one can’t be blamed if the image of gigantic mobile suits launching rocket-propelled fists at each other come to mind. After all, this is how many was first introduced to this bizarre genre. While many mechas still exhibit similar traits nowadays, every once in a while comes a show like Sidonia no Kishi, which downplays the mecha so much that even replacing them with something else entirely wouldn’t change the story by one bit.

The story of Sidonia no Kishi is set in the far future, where mankind has been forced to retreat into “seed ships”, basically gigantic spaceships, to preserve themselves after the planet Earth was destroyed by a mysterious race of aliens known as the ‘gauna’. Nobody knows where the gauna came from or what they want from mankind, but the story mainly focuses on the efforts of a military team (dubbed the “knights”) to prevent the gauna from reaching and thus destroying one of the seed ships, “Sidonia”. They do this through the use of mecha units dubbed the “grades”, which in execution is very akin to a fighter jet.

The premise itself seems very generic. We have the human’s mothership, an attacking alien race, and a team of pilots tasked to protect the mothership (which is where of course our protagonist is). Of course, premises don’t mean that much to an anime – true beauty lies in its execution – in which Sidonia no Kishi did surprisingly well.
The crew did their best to make the setting as believable as possible. Even though most of the anime takes place in the ridiculous setting that is Sidonia, the anime explains everything sufficiently enough that you’ll never find yourself confused or objecting to any of the events that happen in the anime.

You’ll also find that the show doesn’t fell slow nor dragged on. There’s always a new development – whether it’s a new gauna or interpersonal relationship problems – to keep the show going forward. There isn’t much of an overarching plot however, and due to this often times the development feels forced – like how a gauna always manages to appear at the right time.

But by far the biggest flaw of Sidonia no Kishi’s story is its characters. They’re shallow, one-dimensional, and they never seem to do anything new. To make matters worse, our protagonist is too perfect. He never messes up, and even if he did, it was because of another character’s doing. He doesn’t react much to other people’s insult, and he doesn’t react much to their praises either. He’s not a Gary Stu or anything, but a human being must at least have a few flaws.

Other than the story, the first thing you might’ve noticed when watching this anime is its very peculiar animation. Unlike many animes, Sidonia no Kishi is done in full 3D. I’m not talking about Pixar-esque 3D, it’s more similar to 3D JRPGs taken up a notch.

As expected from 3DCG animation, the shadows are very well done. They are updated dynamically according to its light source, which is something very hard to do using traditional hand-drawn methods. In addition, POLYGON PICTURES opted to have the shadows to be very prominent, and this results in some very nice looking scenes. The 3DCG also allows for very impressive looking battle scenes. Whether its a dogfight or a gauna encounter, you’ll never find the animation in Sidonia no Kishi to be lacking in the action department.

It’s not all flowers and sunshine, however. The animation in Sidonia no Kishi suffers from 2 major flaws that holds it back from truly being great.

Firstly, movement, especially those of the human characters, seem very awkward. As many of you are probably aware, making natural-looking 3D animation is not an easy task. Many major 3D animation studios spend a crapload amount of budget just to overcome this one problem – budget, that POLYGON PICTURES certainly doesn’t have. You might think that I’m overexaggerating the magnitude of this problem, but trust me, it’s nothing small. There is a lot of screentime devoted to the characters in Sidonia no Kishi, and having their every little movement feel awkward really gets annoying. Yes, you might feel used to it after a few episodes, but the awkwardness won’t dissapear – it will always be there.

Secondly, it’s the framerate. The framerate of Sidonia no Kishi’s animation is very inconsistent. It might be fine for most of an episode, but it’s not rare for it to have a sudden drop. Some episodes even have most of their duration in low framerate. This is especially true during more complex scenes, such as gauna encounters, where the animation would feel so choppy that you can no longer shrug the issue off.

In the sound department, I don’t really have much to say. Sidonia no Kishi has a lackluster OP and ED, and the background music aren’t really that memorable either. I’m not saying the background music are unpleasant, however – they do add to the mood – but you’ll likely just forget about them by the time the episode ends.
About the voice acting, again, I don’t really have much to say. They get the job done, but they’re not really any better than any other anime, be it mecha or not.

Now with all that said and done, that brings us to our final question: is the anime worth watching?

Despite all its flaws, Sidonia no Kishi does one crucial thing great and that is swaying its audience’s emotions. You’ll likely find yourself thrilled, shocked, happy, or even angry according to the anime’s set rhythm. Many animes set in a similar setting fail at this and end up being 3edgy5me – Sidonia no Kishi masterfully doesn’t – so I say give it a shot. If you’re a sci-fi fan like I am, you’ll probably like it.

While the premise of a group of people adventuring in a medieval-esque world is admittedly a tad too common in TV media, the same can’t be said for anime. While some animes do have this as their base premise, they usually deviate from it well into their mid-point. Very few animes follow this premise as closely as Hitsugi no Chaika does, and that’s what makes it one of the better animes of last season.

Story: 16/20 and Characters: 14/20

The story follows Toru Acura, a saboteur – basically a hired gun - who’s out of jobs due to the war being over. While scavenging for food in the forest, he meets Chaika Trabant, a peculiar girl who carries with her everywhere a coffin (hence the title, “Chaika the coffin princess”). It turns out that Chaika is the daughter of the late Emperor Gaz, the person who plunged the world into war years prior. Things happened, and eventually they, along with Toru’s sister, decided to embark on an adventure to collect the late emperor’s remains in order for Chaika to give him a proper funeral.

The premise itself is already quite interesting. It grants infinite possibilities in where they would go next and what obstacles await them in their next destinantion. Usually this comes in the form of a former hero who is over-protective of the remains, but the show throws you a curveball every now and then. It keeps you hooked and wondering what happens next. Chaika is certainly one of the few animes this season that kept me counting the hours to the next episode.

That said, Chaika isn’t without its shortcomings. The pacing can sometimes feel rushed – this is mostly evident in season one’s ending – an additional episode would’ve done much better for the series. It also contains many harem-like elements, and I heard many people despise that. But the biggest shortcoming is surprisingly the titular heroine – Chaika herself. It’s not that she’s unlikable or anything, you’ll likely find yourself attached to her once you’re at the anime’s midpoint. The problem is that she has a very peculiar way of speaking. If you don’t have the patience, you’ll likely drop this anime just because you couldn’t stand her speech.

Other than that, the other characters are quite likable. While many of them can be shallow at times, and there’s little to no character development, you’ll likely find them hard to hate.

Animation: 10/20

The animation of Chaika is very bones. It has thick outlines, it’s mostly hand-drawn, and anything that moves looks different to anything that doesn’t move. That said, the animation isn’t bad per se, it’s just quite average. You won’t find any eye-popping or ridiculously beautiful scenes that are better described as works of art, and neither will you find scenes which are dissapointing. Still, if you’re a fan of bones’ animation style, you may find the animation in Chaika to be very good.

Sound and Music: 15/20

First of all, the OP and ED were pretty catchy. It doesn’t particularly stand out, and most of you will probably find it average, but I found that it is quite suiting to the show’s tone. The background music, on the other hand, were pretty neat. They really fit with the show’s medieval-esque backdrop, and they often add emotional impact to the scenes in which they were played.

In the voice acting department, I don’t have anything to complain about. You may find Chaika’s (the character) voice acting to be very annoying at first, as I said above, but trust me, you’ll get used to it. The voice acting doesn’t particularly stand out like say, Ping Pong The Animation, but it does the job.

Enjoyment: 20/20

Most of Chaika’s pieces may be the very definition of average, but as they say, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The beauty of Chaika shows when it all comes together. No episode felt unnecessary, and you wouldn’t even notice bones slipped an anime original episode somewhere in there.

Unlike many animes of Spring 2014, Chaika is very consistent, and you’ll never felt you’ve wasted a week waiting in anticipation for a new episode. There’s always a new development around the corner. I’ll give the anime an additional 5 points for this.

Conclusion: Not particularly a stand out, but this is something I’d definitely recommend, given the proper context.