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Let's Fly - Simoun

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Post by Chibi Rachy Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:39 pm

I've actually wanted to do a thread like this for awhile, but didn't get around to doing it. For any who know me, Simoun is my OTA, or one true anime, as I like to call it. I never used to get why people would say that such and such anime was their favorite and it was the one series that they loved most. After seeing Simoun, I finally understood what they were talking about.

To be silly, you could say that Simoun is an anime about aircraft powered by lesbian kisses. It's really kinda true if you know the series. To be serious, the anime is a sci-fi war drama about girls growing up and making choices. The war is a secondary thing behind this. You have a cast of 12 main characters, and even with such a large cast, the show does a pretty decent job at developing their stories. You're not going to get super in depth, but you're not getting an entire focus on a handful of characters either.

Yes, there is a war going on. And in the country of Simulacrum, the only aircraft they have can be powered only by priestesses. So therefore we have teenage girls flying and fighting in a war, which is a conflict for many of them. Simoun (the aircraft) are divine and meant for prayer and ceremonies. Many feel that it is against their long held beliefs and the will of Tempus Spatium (their Fumi) to use the aircraft for war.

As the war progresses, many characters find they struggle with the conflict and their own inner feelings. Amidst the destruction, they are soon left with no choice but to fight. That is unless they journey to the Spring. In this country, everyone is born female. At age 17, one journey's to the Spring to choose their permanent gender. The priestesses, also known as Sibyllae, are exempt from having to choose at 17 as long as they are willing to continue fighting in the war.

Overall, the series will suck you in, or turn you off on the first episode. Some people don't like the overload of information in that episode, but for those who are iffy, it's recommended by fans that you watch up to episode 4. If by the end of that episode you aren't hooked, feel free to turn away and forget the rest of the series.

The series itself does include homosexuality and transgender issues. It does make you think about a person simply being a person, regardless of gender. There are plenty of other lessons to garner, and different fans take away different things from the show.

Myself, it's been nearly a year since I first watched Simoun. Actually, when I look back at my LJ, February 9 of last year was when I started it. I marathoned the series and finished it in under 24 hours. I was hooked and could not get enough. Shortly there after, I started writing fanfic and found that I had a lot to say when it came to Simoun. Simoun's the reason I've met a lot of my current friends, some of them are my best friends nao. I connected to Aaeru the best in the end, though I HATED her for the first half of the series. She's SUCH a lunkhead (my coined term for her), but I love her to pieces nao. I can get inside her head and write her easily, more than I've ever been able to do for any character. Many dislike her, but not me.

Here's the OP. The song was actually written with Neviril, one of the characters, in mind.



So...your thoughts?
Chibi Rachy
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Sibylla Aurea of Simoun Fanfic
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Post by cecirdr Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:36 pm

I also got sucked into Simoun. I wasn't exaggerating in another thread when I said that I thought the story was epic. Because of that, I can actually have a hard time talking about it, it's just so big.

I see the fall and rise of a society. What's the place of ritual, politics or religion? What do you believe in? Why do you believe it? What do you do when you've lost your faith? Who are you? Are you what you believe in? But what if you find out that those beliefs were naive or flat out wrong? What do you do if you find out that you're being used, then who are you? How do you construct a new you once decisions are made and doors are nao closed to you? How do you move from a world where you're full of potential and valued to one where you're no different from anyone else? What do you do when you realize that the only reason you had a voice in the "game/story" was because you had a valuable and rare skill, but nao that you're "Jane/Joe everyone", decisions are being made and you're just along for the ride?

Ultimately for me, the main theme of story was about coming to grips with having to make decisions that you *knew* were going to limit you or make you "average". Doors are going to close for you and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Some decisions lead to death, others to contentment or despair but you can't avoid them and there's no way to know the outcome until the decision is made.

I did also find it intriguing that the lagging society with its pollution and millions of "fighting drones are like the roaches of the world....or the rats. They just keep coming....wave after wave. They're brutish and unrefined...but ultimately, they rule the day. It makes me think of all the mighty civilizations that have fallen. Rome was probably the biggest, but there's also the Maya, Mesopotamia and the Sumerians...there's so many. Quite a few scholars study the economics and social structures of these former civilizations, their rituals, their environment and their wars....the whole picture. There are some take home points that they've published and that appear to point to modern society having similar problems, but so far no world leaders are listening to them. I wonder if history is ultimately going to repeat itself? Every society is like a buffer. It can run for generations clinging to beliefs and behaviors that are self defeating. But it appears that just like a buffer, eventually those mistakes reach a tipping point and cause a catastrophic collapse. Ah.....but I digress.

I realize that other people may not see these things at all in Simoun. It's me projecting myself and the issues I've had to cope with onto the series. I guess that's what makes it so powerful for some people. It's a vehicle with enough complexity and heart for there to be room for lots of personal identification.
cecirdr
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Post by Chibi Rachy Sun Feb 13, 2011 9:20 am

I meant to reply to this sooner, but I got busy ^_^"

You'd really enjoy talking to my friend Nathan about it. He's got some ideas like that as well. I can see those things, but I'm just not good at discussing them. I'm much better off sticking to writing for the series and providing a nice stock of well-written fanfic for the masses so that the glory of Simoun can contine. Something like that. :D
Chibi Rachy
Chibi Rachy
Sibylla Aurea of Simoun Fanfic
Sibylla Aurea of Simoun Fanfic

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