Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki 09-10

Finale soon to be in sight. Stay on target. Stay on target. 

Well we’re two episodes away from the finale and we have finally arrived at the ninth planet of the show’s subtitle. And while it looks a whole lot like the 6th planet of the Sol System, this planet happens to hide a danger even more deadly than Saturn can produce. Once again, just as the humans of Sidonia evolve their weaponry, so too do the Gauna, often with more devastating results. But I’m getting ahead of myself, first there is a matter of romantic hijinks to discuss!

Are we sure Sidonia ever actually left the solar system? 

I know that this happens to be the most interesting part for some people, but it never really clicks with me. I’ve never liked this kind of humorous harem-style romance, but I can appreciate it for how it advances the characters.

Now that Izana is fully a woman, they are ready to push her and Nagate’s friendship to the next level into something a little less platonic. I actually don’t quite like how Izana character has shifted recently. She seems to have shifted from a klutzy and awkward, but dependable and close friend that Nagete was comfortable being best friends with, to an ultra needy and emotional female, who gets majorly jealous from Nagate seemingly ignoring her, and then getting so pissed off at him in thinking that he doesn’t care about her? Umm, has she seen all the previous episodes? Is this want they think women are like? I know that Izana is going through some major changes right now, but her character just feels off to me.

As for their time in the Thousand Year Village, it ends up kind of how you would expect at this point. Nagate is beginning to feel the effects of “twitterpation” as well, but he is a male at the center of an anime harem, which means that 9 times out of 10, he’s going to be rather daft when it comes to the romance department, no matter how many hints all the girls give him. Of course Izana finds out the truth that her grandmother had set her up, and that Nagate truly did think that he was on a mission. Now if I were Izana, I would be be more miffed at my grandma for causing such an awkward situation and embarrassed at my own assumptions as well as slightly relieved that my crush never saw through my grandmother’s deception. Yet, Izana has become an anime female now, and thus she has decided to declare Nagate the idiot and place her anger and blame on him. It ends up culminating into an explosive confrontation in low gravity, in one of the most romantic locations I have ever seen, both on and off Terra.

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. 

I do have to say that I would kill for that view. I’m never far enough away from a city to see the stars to that degree. However currently, I am writing this while tens of thousands of feet in the air, flying in the late of night. As I leave the city behind, it is breathtaking to watch the ground below you glimmer and shine white and orange as you ascend higher and higher above them. I can imagine that it is sort of how the field of stars might have looked to Nagate and Izana in that omni-directional viewport. It’s a spellbinding experience, that I can understand how it would kindle hidden flames. Which is exactly what is does, as our two pilots finally lay all their cards out. And while we don’t know what happened that night they spent together (even considering the blushes, I’m pretty sure it was all innocent), we at least know that the feelings between the two have become clear.

The call of fate.

But enough of all that lovey-dovey mushy stuff! We have a war going on, and Kobayashi isn’t letting anyone forget it! Tensions are high as Sidonia arrives at the ninth planet of the Lem System, and there is even beginning to be talks and acts of mutiny as the pilots are doubting the actions and decisions of their captain. And right they should. Kobayashi’s relentless in her desire to destroy the gauna, and Ochiai has now outrightly admitted to using and manipulating her for his own purposes. We see that he’s buying time to completely finish a second Chimera, one that will more than likely take Tsumugi’s place. He states a few times that what they are losing control of the female Chimera, and that Kobyashi’s actions will lead to that inevitably. I’m not sure what they were expecting when creating a sentient being that was half human. Eventually, the human independence factor will show through. What have they changed within this new sibling being that shall be different I don’t know, but that’s a worry for another time. Right now, we have a much more immediate danger to worry about. Like cloaking Gauna!

The giant disappearing-reappearing meatball of space!

Yes, the alien tentacle goo has learned how to turn themselves invisible from both the human eye and most of Sidonia’s sensors. A survey team is sent to the ninth planet, and Izana is called up as a last minute replacement to the team. We knew this was coming ever since her and Nagate’s tête-à-tête that night. And if we had actually heard a confession of some kind, I would say that Izana was pretty much as doomed as Hoshijiro before her. And when the destruction of the survey team thanks to the previously mentioned cloaked Gauna, you fear for the girl’s life. And we’re not alone, as Nagete and Tsumugi, having switched places with Izana and for the first time being stuck waiting on standby, are a bundle of nerves sitting on pins and needles.

Kobayashi’s response to the distress of the survey team, is supposed to be both disturbing and understandable. Yet, somehow the coldness of her response, as well as the building animosity from the pilots under her command,  only seemed to convey the former. As captain, she is responsible for all the people of Sidonia, and her pilots have to be able to trust her to be able to lead them. If she begins to use them as throwaway pawns to fight an unending battle that she seems to have begun to take way too personally, she’s going to get more and more unrest showing among the crew, and specifically her two ace pilots, Nagate and Tsumugi.

The two are one misplaced command away from going against orders themselves and going out to rescue Izana, who Kobayashi has abandoned.

And interestingly, it’s not their pleading that strikes a chord with the captain, but the fact that Nagate can test out his newest Garde armor, that allows the hardened woman to let them go to rescue the survey team survivors. Ochiai even makes comment that what Kobayashi is doing will be to her detriment, and when even HE is commenting on her actions, you have to think the woman is doing something wrong.

Meanwhile, Izana herself is keeping a pretty calm head throughout all of this. After being a little overwhelmed by the fact that her eyes have become computer stat screens, she gets used to it and uses it to her advantage. She guides what’s left of her team down through the planet’s atmosphere in an attempt to shake the Gauna off their tail. She uses her new sensors and her brain to figure out that the Gauna are tracking them via their Kabi-based weapons and their Hyggs particle fuel. After dumping both, she leads them away through the clouds. Now this is a Izana that I can get to like very much. Could it be that whatever went on between her and Nagate, instilled within her an inner confidence that she’s never had before? Well, whatever it was, I’m glad to see it and I’m hoping to see more of that in the future. But even with all that level-headed confidence, she and her remaining companion can’t survive this way forever. And thus, we have our rescue mission.

It’s obvious that Izana accidentally saw the ending of the season finale of Game of Thrones.

With their first real planetary mission since the series began, Nagate and Tsumugi descend upon the ninth planet, only to be immediately attacked. The attack is quick, violent, and precise, even for a Gauna blast. The new Garde model design ends up saving the boy ace pilot’s life, but what could it be that has caused them to be grounded even before they could get their bearings?

Well, get ready for a blast from the past, as it seems that just as Nagate is about to potentially take a new step in his personal life, the girl from his past, (or at least her Gauna phantasm), has decided to make her return. Yes, Benisuzume has returned, and this time larger and more powerful than before. Her voice and presence is the same eerie echo of the long dead girl from which she was spawned, What is her purpose here? I highly doubt her showing up here out of the blue is any coincidence.

Nagate is still haunted by this thing’s presence and thus it is Tsumugi who engages it. However, Benisuzume might as well be her aunt considering her own mother’s origins. but it is unknown whether Tsumugi knows about the connection. However, her hatred of the Gauna has been made clear, and she will defend her friends to the death in order to protect them. So what will happen with this future fight will be fascinating. The two most powerful “female” fighters in the series going one on one? This will definitely be a “cat fight” that I’ll be looking forward to watching.

She’s baaaack…

So, we are finally making it to the third act of this series, and yet, somehow, I still feel as if this series has really only just gotten its second wind. I mean, we’re just now getting to the ninth planet and this supposed full-scale war between Sidonia and the Gauna. We have the new weapon that Kobayashi is insisting in being built, her dark obsession, what Ochiai is up to, and now Benisuzume’s return all to work with. That’s a few threads to wrap up in a couple episodes. I would honestly be very happy with another season being made as I’m not yet ready to let go of this world, but we’ll have to see how things go and how the next few episodes end up going. I have no doubt that this season will once again end in a bang.

About IreneSharda

A Chicagoan biochemist, teacher, and an aspiring virologist, with a love for science only rivaled by my love for movies, animation, and anime. Both a lover of action/adventure and romance, I'm a girl who walks the entire spectrum. Mecha, Sci-Fi, Psychological Thriller, Romantic Period Piece, if it's has a good story, I'm there.