The cover of the July issue of Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine (pictured at right) has revealed that an anime adaptation of Tsutomu Nihei's Knights of Sidonia manga has been green-lit. Afternoon's editorial department posted the cover image on its Facebook page on Thursday, although the issue itself will not ship until May 25. The magazine cover did not provide any other details about the anime.

The manga's story takes place after humans flee Earth due to the devastating invasion of alien creatures called Gauna. Humans travel through space in giant ships while the Gauna continue to pursue them. As a new human culture develops, people fight the Gauna with Morito (Guardian) robotic mecha. A young man named Nagate Tanikaze trains as a Morito pilot aboard the spaceship Sidonia and defends its people from Gauna attacks.

Nihei launched the manga (pictured at left) in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in 2009, and Kodansha will release the 10th volume in Japan next week.

Vertical is releasing the manga series in North America, and the company will release the third volume next month.

Nihei's other manga include Blame!, Biomega, and Abara. Tokyopop published Blame! in North America, while Viz Media released the Biomega manga. Blame! also inspired an original net anime series, which Media Blasters released in North America.

Update: More background information added.

Thanks to Vito Plahuta for the news tip.