Has anyone here seen this anime? I just finished it and I have to say it's one of the best shows I've ever seen. It's kinda like NGE (Neon Genesis Evangelion) in that it's a somewhat dark and serious take on the Super robot (mecha) genre. Easily the most exciting mecha anime I've ever seen, because people even prominent characters die so frequently you really have no idea what to expect, apart from the main character really anyone seems to be fair game (after Hoshijro died anyway).

The setting is also somewhat strange, although the basic plot is just pilots in robots fighting aliens, it's also based in a far-far-future when mankind don't have to eat often because they "photosynthesize" (well except for the MC who isn't genetically altered), there's also apparently a "Third Gender" who can reproduce with anybody and for some strange reason a talking bear that isn't explained at all.

I don't really like anime - not as a general rule but just because I find so much of it to be boring and low-budget (barely even animated), but this was great.

Yes. Sidonia is a great anime indeed.
Makes me think of Battlestar Galactica, in a certain way (huge ship drifting in the universe towards an uncertain goal; manking on the brink of extinction and pursued by a mysterious alien species, etc).


Yet I don't know what you mean by claiming that Anime series are "boring and low-budget (barely even animated)". You're probably thinking of shitty stuff like Dragonball, Pokemon and Naruto.

Most Anime productions are the world's top concerning animation techiques.

You've been looking at the wrong Anime, that's for sure.

Here, take a look at the series below:

http://www.animeultima.tv/watch/shingeki-no-kyojin-english-subbed-dubbed-online/

I'm a fan of Nihei's, but I haven't read or watched Sidonia yet.

I dunno if I could stomach watching the anime because of the eyecancer cg, considering the main thing I like about Nihei's work is the art style. :( No, most anime are pretty cheap/low budget outside of movies/OVAs because they're pretty much made at a loss even having to pay for the timeslot and can't be expected to make it back via commercials (due to the late night time slot) or dvd/bd sales.

Like the average anime episode's done on a couple hundred thousand per episode, while the big prime time american cartoons like Simpsons or Family Guy are like a million dollars per episode (and they make a lot more back from advertisement, then DVD/BD sales as icing on top).

Yeah I don't like 3D-CG much, but in this show it's not bad, to be honest it's hard to tell the difference between it and traditional 2d animation (in this show).

The CG makes the battles look much better though.

CG is perfectly fine for mechanical things and effects, but it's a lot harder to make cg people look good. certainly not on an anime budget.

kinda sad that it seems like more anime are probably going to be pushing in that direction when there's a pretty big gap between them and Pixar etc..

Ah yes, Sidonia No Kishi... I haven't been excited that much for an anime in a long time. And the manga is somewhat better...

I wouldn't compare it to Evangelion, anyway: the former is far more comprehensible and enjoyable that the latter :-P