Anime fans have gone through it for years. As evangelists of an art form, we want our enthusiasm validated, but the thought of bringing it up to uninitiated friends or family at a party might prove…difficult. Even now. Even for the most veteran otaku.
It’s hard introducing newbies to anime. No matter how you define the genres or how exhaustive your recommendation charts are, finding the perfect place for your mom (or friend, or partner, or whoever) to dip her toes into the vast pool of a sprawling cartoon tradition can cause a lot of trouble. First impressions matter, and they matter more when it comes to a medium that’s never enjoyed the mainstream American success that domestic properties have.
So what makes a solid intro to anime for someone who knows very little about it? For my money, that show is Knights of Sidonia, championed by Netflix since 2014 as its first original anime. Filled with mecha battles, political intrigue, youth empowerment (and endangerment), and a serious approach, it makes a great entry point for novice fans. Here’s why.
1. The otaku back catalogue isn’t nearly as useful to a novice.
With around 11,000 anime in existence (approximated from My Anime List), selecting by content alone will doom you to endless confusion and second-guessing. Mining the internet and even your own “anime lists” for answers will provide as much clarity as your 400-title Netflix queue. We require simplification. Consider ease of access: how your friends watch their first anime could prime them to connect to it as a familiar media consumption experience, or widen the gap between them and the foreign medium. It helps that they’re already on Netflix (or at least have access to someone else’s login information).
Knights of Sidonia is, by virtue of its exclusivity to Netflix, a technically easy choice, and a lack of effort is key for any binging experience.
2. Netflix didn’t pick it at random.
Knights of Sidonia, a sci-fi anime produced by Polygon Pictures, was the first anime to claim real estate on the Netflix Originals section, bumping shoulders now with the likes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards, and Master of None. Being branded a Netflix original series doesn’t guarantee greatness, but it did give Knights a broad endorsement among its full viewer base.
None of this was accidental. Netflix has data on your feet at this point, along with your other streaming habits. And as a data-driven web service, you could make the case that Netflix has honed in on what makes anime popular, and leveraged those elements in its selection of Knights, supporting the migration of anime to an easily discovered, mainstream view, rather than relegated to the fringes of entertainment. In a New York Times interview, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings presaged further original anime content, foreshadowing Netflix’s deal with anime studio Production I.G. to create sci-fi series Perfect Bones, coming in 2016. The consensus from a sampling of my “uninitiated” friends is if Netflix made the anime, it’s got potential mass appeal, and Netflix seems to recognize anime’s commercial viability.
With the Netflix logo, Knights is deemed credible, normalized, and noticeable. Other anime might look different enough to turn viewers off before they even give it a go, but Knights got to bypass that hurdle, and there’s no need to go through a specialized anime streaming service like Crunchyroll and FUNimation to find it.
3. Knights of Sidonia is part space opera, part psychological character study.
But after that casual viewer hits play, does Knights pay off? Yes, strong as a Gauna alien monster — the size of 8,000 spaceships — hurtling through fleshy and mechanical explosions in tandem with circles of flying Gardes — the larger-than-life combat robots piloted by uncertain youths in their attempt to expunge the Gauna threat from Sidonia.
This is all to say it’s a true anime, not a product watered down for a Western audience. It’s accessible, sure, but comes complete with mecha and other tropes most anime lovers love, and its plot moves quickly enough to keep things exciting. It follows prodigious pilot Nagate Tanikaze, entrusted with legendary robot unit Tsugumori, as he puts his life on the line to protect the drifting “seed ship” Sidonia, hundreds of years after the Gauna destroyed the solar system.
Sci-fi and mecha anime have historically succeeded in penetrating international borders, providing hits like Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and Steins;Gate, and bringing us multiple beloved Gundam series, Code Geass, and Gurren Lagann. Knights of Sidonia covers the bases of what those shows offer: captivating action, an alternative world, thoughtful explorations of the human condition, and giant robots.
4. It can play with the big dogs.
I like it for the awesome Garde v. Gauna showdowns, immersive soundtrack, and narrative themes. The show executes complex moments in mid-air battle flawlessly, making it easy to catch details without losing focus on the action. The soundtrack never stagnates, filling out battle scenes and opening sequences alike with sweeping scores and buoyant synths. And like some of the most popular sci-fi anime ever made, its story revolves around characters who search for their identities, and seek companionship in a futuristic, technologically surreal environment. It’s like finding out Evangelion, a better Aldnoah.Zero, and bit of Ergo Proxy had a baby that lasted for shorter (and tighter) seasons.
5. For all the giant robots, it’s pretty tame. And that’s good.
For all its anime tropes and sci-fi setting, Knights never veers into the ridiculous. Character designs lack the oversexualized, exaggerated “fan service” of other shows, instead favoring more realistic shapes and linework. The young pilots attend an academy, but not one with typical high school drama, because — thank goodness — they’re not really in high school! The show has its wonky moments, but it’s not such an off-the-wall sci-fi that it might confuse the hell out of someone. (Looking at you, Parasyte and Elfen Lied.)
In terms of sheer ostentatiousness, the giant mecha in Knights pale in comparison to other Netflix original anime like The Seven Deadly Sins and Glitter Force. They may just not be the right content for a first exposure to the medium. Their genre determiners may come off as more juvenile — a blanket often thrown over all anime all the time.
Knights of Sidonia gets the first-timer approval for riffing off past sci-fi and mecha successes, for praise from mainstream news sources, and looking familiar enough to connect to. I’ve even heard it compared it to Wall-E and Star Wars. If the CW can wrangle a four-show crossover with live-action superheroes wearing brightly colored rubber, why not watch some robots wage intergalactic war?
6. It led the way for anime greatness to come.
Perfect Bones isn’t the only show to get pumped for. Voltron is back in heavily anime-influenced style, and if you don’t think the second season of Attack on Titan will go bonkers as soon as it hits America’s biggest streaming service, you don’t know fans. Knights of Sidonia wasn’t the direct cause of this, but it does a great job of legitimizing the anime around it for an audience that might otherwise shrug.
So show it to your friends. You can never guarantee that you’ll make a new addict overnight, but for now, Knights has you covered next time you find yourself recommending someone’s first anime. It’s binge-worthy, compelling, and well-rounded.
And for real, all aboard the hype train for Perfect Bones.
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