My reaction to the first episode of Knights of Sidonia was not a positive one. In fact, I expected to watch maybe one or two more episodes before writing the whole thing off as just another anime I can’t really get into. I long ago accepted that I’m not going to enjoy all of anime simply because I was exposed to some of the best works in middle and high school. It’s going to work just like American television and film, where what I enjoy is just a sampling of what’s available.

The first episode of Knights of Sidonia wasn’t even bad, per se. It simply didn’t really draw me in too deeply. An awkward protagonist that clearly had a lot of hidden talent, or what I like to call “The One” syndrome. A special Mecha that gets assigned to said plucky protagonist, giving room for Conceited Asshole Man to become jealous that his birthright was torn away. A war in space with an indecipherable alien threat that we haven’t made contact with in years. Naturally, by the end of the episode, a harmless, routine mission goes belly up when the alien threat is encountered for the first time in years, reigniting the war.

There’s also something uniquely Japanese about the idea of six or seven “sisters” all looking exactly alike.

It’s not that any of these elements were executed poorly, just that I knew precisely where they were going as they were introduced. I wasn’t repulsed, but I didn’t expect to really think much after a few episodes and thus planned to move on. Trying to grab my attention with the setting is no longer something that works so well for me, as every anime tries to have a unique setting. I’m more interested in characters or events at this point. What sold me on Attack on Titan wasn’t how the city was structured or how the military ranks functioned, it was the gravity of the events and how they affected the characters. The first episode of Knights of Sidonia failed to deliver on that front.

The second and third episodes, on the other hand, began to match my desires and expectations.

If I had to describe precisely why, however, it’s simply that Knights of Sidonia feels old school. It is still heavy with tropes, just as you’d expect nearly any generic Western Fantasy novel to be an imitation of Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones these days, but they are familiar tropes that remind me of shows I’ve enjoyed in the past. As I watched the different episodes I would chuckle to myself about how relevant Nadesico, an anime created in 1996. Almost twenty years later and many of the tropes that Nadesico had been lampooning, such as the protagonist’s harem and bumbling nature interspersed with sudden strikes of competence, are alive and well. You could show someone Knights of Sidonia, and then follow it up with Nadesico and they’d largely get it.

This should be a critique, that even after eighteen years a lot of these tropes are still alive and kicking, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. There are also moments that reminded me of Macross/Robotech, such as the protagonist’s growth into a confidant pilot and person. Whereas he has no backbone to speak for himself at the start of the series, he is much more outspoken by the end of the first season. The progression reminded me a lot of Hikaru/Rick Hunter in a good way, as did an episode where he got stranded with a love interest.

All of these elements could be viewed as “same old, same old”, but instead they merely felt familiar. The protagonists looked young, but they also looked like teenagers. The Mecha were certainly impractical, but they weren’t overly designed. They had bulk to them and resembled war machines.

Knights of Sidonia can also be extremely brutal. Like Game of Thrones, I am not surprised when certain characters die. In fact, you can pretty much see it coming a mile away, just as I understood the entire outline of the first episode as it progressed, but I was still rather shocked to see just how far the show would go at times.

The first season ends in a neatly tied cliffhanger. You feel pretty good about the protagonists, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. There’s also very little sign of filler here, only being twelve episodes in length. The progression for both characters and the plot move at a brisk pace, and any “all you need is love” message so prominent in the space-war genre are barely present. There is no heavy-handed message constantly being bludgeoned into your head, at least not yet.

If I had to summarize Knights of Sidonia, it would essentially be Attack on Titan in space, though only on the merits that it is the remaining population of humanity fighting against a monstrous entity, and the show can eliminate characters in a brutal fashion. However, it is not nearly so dark, and honestly relies a lot less on twists while moving at a more brisk pace. Even so, it should leave a positive impression, one that hopefully would get more people interested in seeing it.

It feels good to be enjoying anime like I did when I was younger. Whether Knights of Sidonia will have any staying power is not something I can predict, but for now, I eagerly await the next season.