Knights of sidonia vol 1 by Tsutomu Nihei

Nagate has lived in the inner belly of Sidonia his whole life, but the death of his grandfather forces him out into the upper layer of the colony ship where the rest of the human race lives. After the destruction of Earth and the Solar System by the Gauna, Sidonia is now home to the only remaining humans in Space, searching for a new home and a refuge away from the aliens who still threaten them. Nagate is given a terribly strong weapon and becomes a pilot for a large robot space suit. He and a team of pilots are sent on a routine mission to mine an asteroid, but things go sideways when they find a Gauna under the surface.

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This is one of those sci-fi books I keep hearing about as fundamental, but so far, the first volume doesn't seem to be as influential and timeless as Akira was for the same genre. There is some fan service that is a little jarring given how series the rest of the storyline is. There are lots of jumps in narration that don't always make sense, but if the reader sort of roles with it and doesn't ask too many questions, they'll see the holes left behind aren't critical to the overall storyline. The action sequences and some of the illustrations are a little hard to follow, and it's difficult to tell some of the Sidonians apart because their facial structure is the same. However, the Gauna are pretty terrifying, so that is one area where Nihei's illustrations are done well. I might give this one more volume to see if any of the issues I have are resolved.

There is some nudity in this volume, as well as some violence, so this would be better for older audiences.

Sara's Rating: 6/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Publisher: Kodansha (Vertical) 
Publication Date: February 5, 2013
ISBN: 9781935654803 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 6/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Science Fiction, Action Adventure, ​Mecha, Kodansha