「激昂」 (Gekkou)
“Rage”

When it comes to the fight against the Gauna, there’s no rest for the wary. They’re resilient, capable of adapting, already superior in terms of raw capability, and tend to arrive in numbers far larger than what humanity’s capable of sending out to fight them. It’s a wonder how humanity’s managed to survive so far—they’ve had quite a few close calls already though—and this week was just another example of how even with new weapons and a more even playing field, the Sidonia’s just one miscalculation away from being blown to smithereens.

Little did they know that that reality was actually a lot closer than they thought—no thanks to the Gauna’s new ship-borne Hyggs Cannon. The ability of the cannon to literally go right through the Sidonia’s armor makes it a fearsome weapon to behold, and the lack of a major charge time would make anyone quake in their boots. Just like that, the tables turn in an instant, and even the almighty Tsumugi is bought down—though not before she ends up saving an innumerable amount of lives by deflecting the first cannon shot. Needless to say, our new chimera friend has fast put herself in the hearts of viewers and members of the Sidonia universe alike, and one does hope that she still has some fight left in her. It’d definitely be a pity to see the best girl bite the dust after only a few episodes in the limelight…

Either way, Sidonia no Kishi ends up as action packed as expected following the first large scale battle of the season, and it’s great to see how it leaves off where it started in the first season. In some ways it’s unnerving just how consistent the series is, but there’s much to be said about how great that result is for viewers in general, and for fans of a genre this series represents so well. It’s here though, where I must note that this episode does bring a first for me in regards to questionable developments, and there were two things that ultimately made me tilt my head a bit and wonder.

In particular, I refer to the fact that virtually no one on the Sidonia suspected a Hyggs Cannon formation until it was too late. I suppose that as outside viewers it was readily apparent that the Gauna was prepping a cannon from the get go, and the fact that the Gauna haven’t done it before made it a plausible thing to not realize, but there’s a measure of predictability when it comes to this, and it crosses me as odd how delayed the response was and how there weren’t any preparations made to try and at least steer part of the Sidonia away from the first shot. One could argue they didn’t have time, but the fact they said they’d do an emergency course change after the next shot fires alludes to there at least having been a chance initially, and part of that felt like it was twisted in such a way to give Tsumugi the chance to shine by deflecting the shot.

That’s not to say this makes a major overall impact, but considering how well the series has orchestrated its developments up until this point, I feel one should at least make a point to note how unusual it is to have developments stick out as oddly as they did here. The fact that Tanikaze’s Gardes booster essentially self-navigates itself toward the center of the Gauna is also interesting because of how convenient that ended up, and one wonders if perhaps there was an explanation that got cut out here. Alas.

Looking forward, it looks like we can expect more of the same—that is, more of the usual goodness. The fact that placenta Hoshijiro seems to be making a return always bodes well, and one wonders if that might not play a part in the hopeful recovery of Tsumugi. In the meanwhile, one does hope the Sidonia’s prepping something new for the near future, because they’ll certainly need it. Perhaps their own equivalent of Hyggs Cannons? One can hope.

Author’s Note: Not sure if I ever mentioned this before, but if you ever want to ask a particular question or just chat, feel free to leave something on my ask.me or Twitter. I tend to upload some quick pictures of stuff I get there too, so… yeah.

 

Preview

48 Comments

  1. really like this show! I think the the murky style cgi actually works very well for this type of show, and the style of the creatures…I get all these nostalgic vibes of R-TYPE shooters and the dark story reminds me of the old Fear Effect ps1 games, which is always a good thing!

    BROOKLYN otaku
      1. So true. spoilers for manga chapter GPS (again)
        Show Spoiler ▼

        But then I guess they don’t have the budget for the alternate CGI back in their initial run. O well.

        info600
    1. A manga sidenote from Nihei mentioned the anime would have different events. I feared and anime only end but I guess he must have meant this.

      The booster pack becoming a self guided munition was a bit dumb, hate to say it but the manga version was better.

      celebrinen
    2. It is not only the Ramming, he used the Automatic evasion of the Engine Section. You see in how the Engine Section avoid these obstacles on its own. Something alike Horses. So, he just gain Speed to accelerate a Mass Cannon with many Explosives in his Back. Something like a Cannon we know of today.

      But yeah, i was “happy” that he do not think of sacrifice himself. But then the Show would stop in a instant. Because all around Tanikaze moves. He even move the Captain to some degree

      WorldwideDepp
      1. I am just Happy, that Izana take a bit of Tanikaze’s MC Heavy Duty of his Shoulders. As you saw, she (well she look and deal like a Woman) run to help Tsugumi

        WorldwideDepp
    3. Yeah, it looks dumb.

      If the Booster Pack just went straight careening into the core by Nagate Dive-Bombing, it’ll look more believeable.

      After all, its a Cannon, it got a barrel, straight shaft clear of any obstruction from the muzzle all the way to the breech end.

      Yeah it was different in the manga, but Tsuruuchi, Seii, and Samari has done the Calrissian-Antilles Death Star II run at the penultimate battle of last season. Doing that once again might be repetitive.

      kittyraider
  2. I am happy when I watch becuase it’s just so cool!

    The battle scenes were anazing ! One could think of wars like The Revouintary or Civil Wars ! Then you could think of WWII when the Gardes peeled to do the Ring shots! Then you have Tsugumi who just takes the fight to a new level the EP being called Rage! She could read The Gaunas thoughts!

    I could agree with you about the Hyggs canon but was never used against Sidonia before but adapted by the Gauna after a couple of Sidonia shots. I think the Trojan Horse therory could be used here ! They faked out Sidonia thinking it was going to be individual attacks when a huge shot was being hidden. Plus the new weapons from Sidonia would thought to be effective!

    But that ending > Tsugumi did deploy some kind of shield not only to protectb Sidonia as well. BTW Izana is very injured!

    1. mmm i think that “shield” she used was her skin… remember she got a gauna’s anatomy.. and they are mostly constituted by core and placenta .. all the shapes we see on Tsumugi are actually formed by her placenta (like her “helmet” and her “dress” … even her “cannon”) … so imho she just expanded and thickened her placenta do be able to modify the shot by a few degrees (the shot went so close to Sidonia that displays were affected even tho they are under kilometers of armor).. so yeh she used her own body mass to save Sidonia.

      commenting on other point you mentioned: the gaunas are totaly learning: a) they trapped Tsumugi. b) decided to kill the carrier(Sidonia) instead of the planes (guardians).
      they getting smarter!

      Inanis
  3. mmm about the 2 points that stick out:

    1) no preparation against the higgs cannon: the issue was that the potency of the cannon was so out of the calculations that it would melt THRU Sidonias armor and consume almost 5/6 of the ship… i think i gotta point out the sheer size of sidonia: the front face got meteor impact craters that are several times bigger that guardians! … the ship itself is 28 kms long and the armor (including the ice section) is more than 1 km think … so yeah they werent planing to get hit by something that strong … Sidonia is not an agile ship.. is more like a cargo tanker.. that takes several hours to change trajectory .. unless they use emergency thrusters .. but those are an extreme damage by themselves: the fatality projections (the green/yellow/red covering the secondary display when the captain told them to prepare for emergency thrusters) showed that a direct hit from the cannon would damage/destroy 5/6 of the ship… emergency thrusters would damage/destroy 1/3 of the crew… so yeah the choices were 5/6 loss or a 1/3 loss… none of the alternatives were good. Sidonia is TOO big and slow to dodge shots like that.

    2) “kamikaze” tanikaze: i cant read the language on the displays .. but it seems he dropped his long range propulsion system … one that has autopilot (iirc seen this before when he got stranded in season 1) .. that doesnt explain the propulsion engine dodging pillars… but maybe besides autopilot it also got a anti collision system? it would explain why so many guardians can just fly around and dont crash when doing those cruz and circle formations for long distance travel. if thats the case it was just a matter of setting a target and letting it fly.

    Inanis
    1. I think the damage estimate shown on the screen is due after adjusting Sidonia’s angle is still due to the higgs cannon. After Sidonia rotates a bit, they will receive the cannon blast at an angle which matches the recalculated damage estimate.
      http://i.imgur.com/ITCrNkP.png
      http://i.imgur.com/KqPObs3.jpg

      That said, I don’t doubt that the G-force caused by the emergency thrusters will cause substantial damage. Though most of the damage will probably be concentrated towards the front of the ship though since that experiences the most displacement.

      dot
      1. Yeah just noticed that as well. So its damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. There is no safe ticket for sidonia here. Even if they anticipated before that the Guana ship was going to fire the Hyggs cannon, I doubt they would have any time at all. The Guana ship was already closed to sidonia. The only time they could have is more time for the gards to shoot the centre to shoot the Hyggs cannon but still not enough time before the Hyggs cannon fire again.

        Loterwi
      2. oh you are rigth: even after they use the emergency thrusters the back of the ship would get hit … so yeah they had no chance to survive that (the back of the ship contains the main engines , the gravity generators and the research section among others).

        Inanis
    2. Does the booster have autopilot? I don’t remember any mention in S1 or the manga. It struck me as a plot guided bomb and a “Yay, Nagate saves the day(again)” moment.

      celebrinen
      1. iirc they had some guidance system, what i cant seem to find is if they have any collision avoidance system.. it would make sense if it got some kind of way to avoid collisions… specially with those close formations the Guardians use.

        Inanis
      2. Looks to me the Battle field management of the Command Center of the ships integrates into the Sidonia GPS system. He probably download the map trajectory of the enemy ship to the Gps System intertia Booster.

        Private
    3. Well, there is still this.

      it is not Important where the Cannon hits, The Cannon still rip the Hull apart. And Oxygen would left into Space, most of the Survivors would die of suffocation or freeze to Death of the Empty Space. And for them that got into an Bunker. Sometime even their Oxygen drops to Zero. So, it would only delay their Death. And i bet the Energies System would break down.

      WorldwideDepp
  4. celebrinen
  5. From how i see it, the booster could be seen as if avoiding the pillars through camera movements, but that’s stretching it a bit too far to make it believable.

    At least they managed to justify the explosion done by Tsugumori’s booster, which makes it much more believable that only Tsugumori could do such a thing. Since the Tsugumori has ramped up engines, its Higgs reactor must be crazy powerful compared to the other Gardes and iirc it was stated Higgs reaction meets with another Higgs reaction = explosion.

    Boo
    1. Tanikaze had an new Engine, that whats more faster then the Normal ones. You saw that when they still need the Formation to gain speed, where Tanikaze could just fly alone. So yeah, he used his “Fuel” as Dynamite effect

      But i bet he get an hell of “Loves” from the Engineer Girl at home 🙂

      WorldwideDepp
    2. Well, Nagate could just peer down the chasm and pop a Hyggs Cannon shot down the shaft into the charging core to trigger a runaway Hyggs Interference chain reaction. Just like in Ep 4 of the first season

      But that wouldn’t be as cool as a Booster Pack Dive Bombing.

      After the introduction of GCP Projectiles and Hypervelocity Railguns the pilots seems to forget that they still have a Particle Cannon on their Guardians…

      kittyraider
  6. I am satisfied with the Screenplay. The Director responsible for this part, do a great Work. You give us a feeling we fight with them. In cockpits views. Something alike enjoying the Fights with a VR Helm

    I am also pleased, that Tsugumi did not lost to her Gauna Instincts, and she is still Human. She controlled or gain back the Control over her Gauna Rage instincts. Good Girl.

    WorldwideDepp
    1. Well, this Long dong Things have Recoil. Even if they use Magnetic Fields to accelerate the Ammo. They are something of Mass Drive Guns, and the Auto thrust are doing their best to hold the Guardian in position

      WorldwideDepp
    1. Yeah, but I mean more so a version that is of practical usage. IIRC the last time it was fired didn’t the ship experience a black out or something of the sort?

      Zephyr
      1. It is a matter of power and distance. By the way I surprised that they did not use the Hyggs interference trick that Tanikaze performed with his first Gauna kill.

        Eraser
  7. I must defend their “Dumbness” in seeing what danger is creating there.

    The was first assuming the Ship is doing something to kit the Guardians. No one was thinking at that point they Gouna was preparing to come close as possible to Sidonia to fire a Cannon. No until know they attacked the Gaurdians nearby.

    So, when they realized the attack is not for the guardians, it is the Main ship. They attacked it to stop firing at all cost. But the Ship created Walls around the Main Cannon in the meantime, until it is fully charged

    Lucky Tsugumi could deflect this Light-beam, that has some kind of ESP Shock and Gravity effect, or the nearly miss Shot would not effect that greatly the Bridge controls and shack the entire Ship…

    What is the Human girl doing in the Preview? I am curious

    WorldwideDepp
  8. Really, “we are so fucked” seems (justifiably) to be the default reaction of about half the cast to just about every Gauna-related development. They’d be in way, way over their heads if not for the likes of Tanikaze and Tsumugi. Actually, scratch that. They’d just be dead. Predicting the Gauna’s moves wouldn’t save them from an unwinnable scenario.

    mythnut
  9. https://randomc.net/image/Sidonia%20no%20Kishi/Sidonia%20no%20Kishi%20Daikyuu%20Wakusei%20Seneki%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
    Shinatose Izana, Guardian Pilot. A Human Crushed
    https://randomc.net/image/Sidonia%20no%20Kishi/Sidonia%20no%20Kishi%20Daikyuu%20Wakusei%20Seneki%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2039.jpg

    Do not worry gentlemen, we can rebuild them. Sidonia have the technology.

    Sidonia can make them better than they was. Better…Stronger…Faster…

    kittyraider
  10. I think the biggest thing people forget to note down is that Tsumugi can understand the Guana. Just before Tsumugi rages listen to her lines.

    So I think with Tsumugi, there is hope for peace between Guana and Humans.

    Loterwi
    1. There is a progression towards Sidonia contacting the gauna

      Step one was Hoshijiro who thought that the gauna were trying to communicate.
      Step two is Gaunajiro. Her actions suggest the possibility of dialogue.
      Step three is Mugimugi who is a half breed.
      Step four is spoilertastic.Show Spoiler ▼

      My suspicion is that the finale will be a bit like one of Nihei’s previous one shot mangas.

      celebrinen
  11. Small note: The higgs cannon is a human weapon the Guana have been mimicking since season 1. We even see Sidonia fire its own higgs cannon in season 1.

    Wissenschaft
  12. That ship needs a decoy system or powerful jamming sensors against enemy long range cannon. Its great threat if they encounter 5 bigger enemy ship arming hygg cannon.

    The Sidonia should deploy a decoy system with the same radar signature as there mother ship to distract or confuse the enemy mother ship.

    Cool long range sniping gun and very organize platoon formation with 2 defensive layers. Just A little bit of retreat as the enemy advance.

    Private
    1. I would be like to see the Sidonia’s Gauss gun, loaded with thousands of anti-Gauna projectiles and shoots it like a shotgun. That would be epic, but too wasteful.

      Eraser
  13. This show is giving some Vandread and Fafner vibes. For now they narrowly escaped death dealing with just one Gauna mothership… What if Sidonia face 2 or more of it at once going forward? The Gauna is showing their ability to adapt much like the Festum in Fafner.

    Tsumugi and Tanikaze can only do so much. Jesus, my heart skipped a beat in this episode. A really good episode.

    I really hope they can repair/heal Tsumugi-chan!!

    Reikakou
  14. Sidonia is like a Big bad Carrier for their Guardians, sure they also have Docks for normal Spacecraft. But until now, we only saw the little Workbees of Guardians

    WorldwideDepp
    1. remember, this Gauna in this Episode was once an Colony Ship, where Sidonia lost contact with. Their fate is was you saw

      So Sidonia has more then Guardians docks

      WorldwideDepp
      1. Think Sidonia like Homeworld Mothership, just without the Human Ship KI, and Sidonia is also an Big Colony Ship. But that lost nearly all Crew at their first Attack of Gauna

        WorldwideDepp
  15. I think I can sort of explain why when the Gauna super-hyggs beam shaking Sidonia was like its an earthquake despite the missed shot.
    That Guana Hyggs beam might be pulsing ripples of gravity due to the intense nature of the Hyggs beam and by it also being almost as fast as light thus the mass/gravity being extremely high causing Sidonia to shake in its wake. Or might be Sidonia’s own gravity generators are repulsing the gravity of the Guana hyggs beam and some-what failing resulting in an on-off pattern instead of a smooth off-and-on thus causing the shaking.

    Loterwi

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *