Space opera manga series The Knights of Sidonia, written by Tsutomu Nihei, first appeared serialized in a Japanese magazine beginning in 2009. The series was first made into an anime show in 2014 with a subsequent season in 2015, both airing on Netflix as well as Japanese platforms. The show was officially Netflix's first original anime series and gained a lot of traction from then on, but a new movie is now coming from Funimation.
After delays due to the pandemic, the second film in the franchise, called Knights of Sidonia: Love Woven in the Stars, is finally here and will be available internationally faster than the anime seasons or the previous film ever were thanks to Funimation. Deadline reports the film currently has a premiere date of September 13th in Canada and the U.S. and brings audiences ten years forward in time from the setting of the last release. Funimation released a short trailer and a poster teasing the film.
The new Knights of Sidonia film will follow the main character and ace pilot Nagate Tanikaze in a final battle to save the spaceship Sidonia (and also humanity's last home) from a threatening and dominating alien species called the Guana. The short trailer from Funimation builds a tragic and intense story around a dangerous fight to keep Sidonia in one piece. Audiences are shown their favorite characters in states of distress while fleets of alien ships surround Sidonia, threatening to advance at any moment. Funimation will also begin streaming both season one and two of the anime series beginning August 3rd, after obtaining the rights from Netflix.
Set in the year 3394, the story of Knights of Sidonia takes place 1000 years after mankind is forced to leave Earth due to the Guana aliens. The ship Sidonia was created from the rubble of Earth, which was destroyed by the Guana. Life upon the Sidonia is a little different than on Earth: genetic engineering has allowed for human photosynthesis, immortality, cloning, and asexual preproduction. The population of Sidonia is just over 500,000 and as far as the community is aware, they are the last humans alive anywhere. Our pilot, Nagate Tanikaze, works hard to keep Sidonia from pending doom.
While the Knights of Sidonia series has centered more on the origin story of the Sidonia ship, the upcoming film is in the future. All cast and crew from the original two anime seasons and the first compilation film will be returning for the second film, including director Hiroyuki Seshita. A third season of the show was already confirmed in 2017 but does not yet have a release date. The young anime series is on its way to becoming a classic sci-fi adventure series.
Knights of Sidonia: Love Woven in the Stars will be released in theaters in the U.S. and Canada starting September 13th, 2021.
Source: Deadline