Inherent in a review of the end of a series is a review of the series writ large. So, I take it into account and make occasional mention of it. In the same vein of prefacing my review, what is a review without spoilers, as such, spoilers are here but a spoiler free TL;DR is at the end.

From the start, the animation is noticeably better than during the series, though the series was already good CG animation. Some of this could be chalked up to the difference between the theater quality versus streaming. But not all of it, I have a nice monitor and fast internet. There is a noticeable improvement in the animation and overall look for the movie. Though considering it is a movie, that is to be expected.

Before they even drop the ten years later, a time skip has pretty clearly happened. None of our familiar faces are there and the new faces we do see are looking fairly young. With these new characters brought out my initial concern regarding tying up all the loose ends and foreshadowing. With the time skip being ten years things should have happened. But that certainly isn’t the case. Tanikaze, Tsumugi, Izana, and Yuhata are all still living in the same house. The technology is all substantively the same, a few improved weapons that look the same as they ever were and the mechs on from the 18s to the 19s and a 20, also looking the same. They are still at the same planet with the same plan as they did ten years prior. All of the characters are indistinguishable from ten years prior sans Tanikaze’s hair which was the slightest bit different. What were they doing for the last ten years? The same thing they did before Tanikaze arrived, stare straight forward and wait for the camera to roll. There was no need for a time skip, it had no story function.

A couple characters, Kunato and Yuhata, really help spell out the main thrust of the issues with the series. Kunato in season one was a weak antagonist whose motivations and actions were somewhere between uninteresting and inane. Thankfully, the author agreed and turned him into the slightly more interesting KunatOchiai. Though with all the threads opened up by the new Kunato not being followed in any substantive way, I can’t say it was much of an improvement. He merged human and Gauna and there is no ethical questions. There are no problems from any of his research other than him wanting to use it to destroy humanity to save it or some such nonsense. The sole purpose Yuhata served as a character was to be concerned about other characters and be cool giving out commands. From a prime position to pull one of the main characters into the political intrigue from season one that was totally absent the movie.

Tanikaze, or any of the core four, being totally disconnected from the intrigue going on throughout the series was to its detriment. Tangentially explored side characters going about political intrigue does not make for a compelling subplot. Tanikaze was brought up to speed offscreen after all that was left is to kill the big bad monster. With the death of the council, any form of political intrigue was forsaken for playing house in season two and giving a pilot washout full access to all military hardware with no reservations. Instead of furthering the story, the immortal council’s execution was just the easiest way to drop a subplot without resolving it. How are they immortal and who are they, why are they, anything about them, all dropped.

This series is void of anything meaningful to say, it leans towards interesting ideas but never commits. Hoshijiro’s death is compelling. She is dead but still floating in front of Tanikaze and interacting with him which could have been foreshadowing to some grander idea about what it is to be human. She is writing and developing more and more human characteristics. But that is removed, and she is essentially replaced with a giant baby monster now. Disregarding that Tsumugi has an unlikeable, concerningly childlike personality, the build up from the first two seasons of a relationship between Tanikaze and Izana is abandoned. Which could be okay if it was shown that it was abandoned. But that is all gone for no apparent reason, and they are going to make a grand statement about romance between Tanikaze and Tsumugi being different but still finding love. Just kidding, Tsumugi is a human, it never mattered and nothing meaningful is said. Frankly they don’t even take a strong stance on Tanikaze’s grandfather giving up immortality. None of the immortal characters even consider it. I don’t mean to imply there shouldn’t be a meaningless story but starting threads and abandoning them does not lead to a nihilistic message, it just stems from a tight deadline.

The ending being all the Gauna are dead, so now everything is okay, is insipid. It has been introduced from early in season one that there was some sort of substantive being and life in the Gauna. Hoshijiro’s initial musings in the pod was the start to right up to the end when Ochiai says he is talking to the Gauna and their big ship is a super library. The takeaway is: fuck’em, its genociding time.

I don’t want to imply I hated the series, there are a few things I liked about the series. Minimal explanation about the Honoka sisters. Not everything has to be said, the implication of their origin is enough. I would same the same with Lalah but apparently a human woman in a bear sized life support system turns into a bear, who would have guessed? While Izana and Yuhata being coupled together is lame, not telling the audience that Yuhata is also the third gender and showing her switch to match Izana is pretty cool. The animation is good CG in the first two seasons and slightly better for the movie. The action is good, the fights are compelling and the Gauna are visually interesting. A good job was done setting up some potentially plot points that were abandoned.

Spoiler Free Summary

As a mechs fighting giant Cronenberg monsters, Sidonia no Kishi does its job. As a show that offers anything meaningful to say, it is all bait and no payoff. This is a show about blowing up giant space monsters into balls. This is not a show about political intrigue or grand questions of what it means to be human, what it means to be conscious, and what it means to be mortal. But they certainly try to trick you.