It was serialized by Kodansha in their seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon between April 2009 and September 2015, with its chapters collected in 15 tankōbon volumes.

It tells the story of Nagate Tanikaze, an "under-dweller" destined to become a Garde pilot, whose mission is to defend the massive starship Sidonia from a hostile alien species called Gauna.

An anime film sequel titled Knights of Sidonia: Love Woven in the Stars premiered in June 2021.

At any given time, a Gauna consists of a nearly impenetrable core protected by a dense layer of malleable flesh known as "placenta" (胞衣, ena).

The tip of the kabizashi is made of a rare and little-understood material which has the unique property of being able to destroy a Gauna's core.

The story follows the adventures of Garde pilot Nagate Tanikaze, who lived in the underground layer of Sidonia since birth and was raised by his grandfather.

Knights of Sidonia, written and illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei, was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from April 25, 2009,[4] to September 25, 2015.

[7][8] An anime television series adaptation, produced by Polygon Pictures, premiered on April 10, 2014, and ended its first season on June 26, 2014, on MBS and later on TBS, CBC and BS-TBS.

[9][10] The series was directed by Kōbun Shizuno, assisted by Hiroyuki Seshita, with scripts by Sadayuki Murai and character designs by Yuki Moriyama.

Sadayuki Murai and Tetsuya Yamada returned to write scripts, while Shūji Katayama composed the music.

[28] Carlo Santos from Anime News Network gave the first manga volume a B, stating, "It is got a young man piloting a giant robot against alien enemies, but Knight of Sidonia is no Neon Genesis Evangelion.