I haven't read any of Attack on Titan yet. Nor have I seen any of the show. However, I have a really good understanding of the work's tone, and I think Knights of Sidonia pulls off that kind of tone better than I've heard Attack on Titan does. The action is gruesome, but it manages to do so without falling back on the same kind of beat over and over, which by accounts Titan does.

The monsters are visually unnerving, without the potential for the designs to become quite as unintentionally comic, as some of the Titan designs can be, due to the monsters being totally inhuman - until they kill a human and transform their appearance into a 30' form of that human..

Also, in this volume, while the body count is lower than the body count from the start of Attack on Titan, the stake's feel just as high, and the writers don't have to casually massacre hundreds of civilians to get the stakes across. Only one character dies in this volume, and it's enough to sell the threat. ( )

Freaking cool, but it could still be a better? I've only read the first volume so far but there were some really promising elements. I love the multiple genders and the ESP but then i immediately wanted to ask, which photosynth room do the nonbinaries go to? Also photosynthesis was a cool idea too. I didn't like how the inside of the ship is lined with residential districts separated by huge machine complexes like a Dyson's Sphere. That's been done to death. Also the design and scale of their ship defies belief. I can understand how big a Starship is or a Battlestar, but this thing is like Spaceballs 1. The fighter design was... bizarre? It's annoying how the enemy doesn't stay dead (but then isn't that a compelling plot device when it's the hero?) ( )