(L) Simoun

[Kaoru Chujo]

I don't think saying the show is about Neviril's heart is "the same as saying it's about nothing." Everything in the show is telling us about people's feelings. We learn about Neviril's heart in various ways, especially from her words and actions in reaction to other people and to the war and the death of her partner, as well as from the words and actions of others.

Sure there will be a plot -- in fact there already is, with several elements in play: the war, the death of Neviril's partner and her reaction to it, the competition between people to be her new partner, her choice to continue or to go to the pool, etc. It's just that the plot isn't moving that fast. Nor need it do, in my opinion, as long as the stories of the heart keep unfolding. This is josei science fiction. The comic is in a yuri magazine. Studies apparently show that when men have control of a TV remote, they tend to stop on action; and when women do, they stop on faces talking to each other.

In my translation of the glossary and also on Yui's page there is a bit of information about the Maaju Pool (the long hole in the ship), which is indeed a training facility. They wear things on their legs that show the patterns they make, so they can train for Ri Maajon. Maybe we should call the Maaju Pool the "Mage Pool" -- except that that obscures its relation to Ri Maajon (or however we should spell that). I must admit that the thing doesn't make physical sense to me, but I accept it as part of the story.

Originally Posted by Futaba

Do we also agree on "Simulacrum", "Regina", "Sagitta", "Auriga", "Arcus Prima", and "Sibylla Aurea...?"

I agree with all those, and with Neviril (as on Yui's site, and as a direct transliteration from the official site with the ending -ru changed to -l). The official site has ネヴィリル , which transliterates to Neviriru. They might have been thinking Nevreel, but Neviril is a more direct transliteration, and more reminiscent of Tolkien, which I think they might have been thinking of. I think Helical Motoris works, too. MrProphet's suggestion of Aer (or maybe Aaer?) for Aaeru seems good to me. She's a creature of the air. Paraietta seems okay as-is.

My transliteration of the glossary was done fairly literally, to give us a base to work from that wasn't corrupted by too many of my own opinions. But I also think it's reasonable to honor the spellings/pronunciations the staff put on the official site. If we can't be fairly sure about what foreign word ending was intended, I prefer leaving spellings literal to the Japanese.

I think "corps" (that's how you spell it, I think, not "core") is what's intended by "kor". As in Army Air Corps, etc. Otherwise, I don't know what it would come from and would leave it as "kor" or "cor". I think "call" makes sense, but I have no reason to think that was intended, whereas "corps" is pretty exact, referring to a military body -- except for the size of the body. "Corps Tempest" certainly has the firepower of a corps.

Or we can just use whatever the fansubbers decide on, for the sake of consistency.

I agree with Matrim about wanting to see/hear more of Rimone. She's played by Noto Mamiko (as was the first enemy pilot). She seemed very confident and capable in the Mage Pool. And I loved her reaction of disgusted dignity when Furoe finally learned she was a Sibylla.

[MrProphet]

BluWacky (I could be mistaken) had a good suggestion for RIMAAJON, so I credit it to him: Re-emersion.

MAAJU PUURU - Merge Pool?

[Matrim]

I think "corps" (that's how you spell it, I think, not "core") is what's intended by "kor". As in Army Air Corps, etc.

Well, I think you can spell it both ways, it's that you get two different words in the process - "core" and "corps". Since there is a war going on in this series, "corps" does seem the better option but we can't be sure, alas.

They wear things on their legs that show the patterns they make, so they can train for Ri Maajon.

So does that mean that the Simouns are plioted like mecchas i.e. the machine repeating the movements of the pilot's body? It certainly didn't seem that way in the first episode.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I just discovered a nice promo video on the official site with little statements from all the main seiyuu about the show and their characters, including Mamiko Noto, Takahashi Mikako, Koshimizu Ami, and Toyoguchi Megumi, as well as the seiyuu for Aaer and Neviril, and the seiyuu for Furoe, who appears to be quite young. They show little pics of the character when the seiyuu starts to speak, so you can tell who plays whom even if you can't understand what they're saying.

And the technician is definitely female. You can tell by upper body configuration....

Great point from vuori about the change in writers. This ep had a different feel from the first two, probably partly because of that change.

And whatever we decide on for Maaju and Ri Maajon, I think it has to preserve the connection between the two: Maaju is practice for Ri Maajon, and so the sounds of the words are connected. Maybe some further explanation will show up when the blog entires for episode 4 are posted on the official site.

[Tremalkinger]

I'm so relieved that Mamiko Noto is playing the smallest girl, Rimonu. She gets (one) line in episode three, and her voice isn't bad at all. Furoe still annoys me, but only a little. She's bearable.

As far as the name discussion goes... am I missing a syllable? It sounds like most people just call her 'Nebiru'.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I just discovered a nice promo video on the official site with little statements from all the main seiyuu about the show and their characters.

Thanks again for the links ^_^

Is it just me, or does Neviru's seiyuu say 'I think Neviru will meet a new love' during her interview. My Japanese skills are lacking, and I can't rewind and watch again due to minute long buffering times.

Edit for more thoughts on the video:

Holy crap, does Toyoguchi Megumi (Sei-sama of MariMite fame) talk fast. I was looking forward to her interview, but it was an incomprehensible mass of words. Compare that to Nebiru's seiyuu, who talks really... really slow (not that I'm complaining! I understood parts ^_^).

Furoe's seiyuu looks like she's about 15 or 16? What? She says its her first time working in anime too.

[Sakuya]

Originally Posted by Tremalkinger

As far as the name discussion goes... am I missing a syllable? It sounds like most people just call her 'Nebiru'.

http://character.biglobe.ne.jp/speci...oun/chara.html

The romanization is "Nebiriru".

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I think "call" makes sense, but I have no reason to think that was intended, whereas "corps" is pretty exact, referring to a military body -- except for the size of the body.

A Corps in the modern sense is a large unit, but they could be thinking of the original French, where corps just means body (of troops, craft etc.). To me that term doesn't carry any particular sense of size - what matters is that it's a cohesive unit, as in the phrase espirit de corps.

Now I think this is a weak argument, but you could suggest "call" as in "callsign" - think of the squadron callsigns in the original Star Wars movie (Red Leader, Red 5...). So far we've seen Tempest and Cup(??). One reason I don't that's very likely is that they don't seem to have radios.

Originally Posted by Sakuya

http://character.biglobe.ne.jp/speci...oun/chara.html


The romanization is "Nebiriru".

Sorry to be pedantic, but the kana ネヴィリル on that page is romanised as Neviriru - Nebiriru would be ネビリル. Also, in my totally subjective opinion the softer "v" just sounds nicer.

Originally Posted by Tremalkinger

I can't rewind and watch again due to minute long buffering times.

Depending on your OS, you could look around for a stream recorder. I use GetASFStream myself, and it does the job fine despite its somewhat confusing interface.

[Iskandar Taib]

Originally Posted by Tremalkinger

Furoe's seiyuu looks like she's about 15 or 16? What? She says its her first time working in anime too.

Looks more like 12 to me..

Or she just sounds it.. Maybe she's another Ohtani Ikue.

They seem to make a lot of comments about who is "kawaii" and who is "suteki", don't they?

A little nitpick - I wonder if "navigator" is the best term to use for the Sagitta. They handle the weapons, maybe "WSO" or "RIO" would be better..

In a long bygone age, the second person in a two seater was called the "observer". Later on, on things like the DH Mosquito, the second man may indeed have been a navigator. It would be interesting to find out what the proper terms would have been in the Italian air force...

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Iskandar Taib

A little nitpick - I wonder if "navigator" is the best term to use for the Sagitta. They handle the weapons, maybe "WSO" or "RIO" would be better..

How about MIB - Miko In Back.


(For anyone who's wondering: this is a feeble pun on Guy In Back (GIB), slang for the second crew-member of a modern fighter aircraft.)

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Iskandar Taib

...A little nitpick - I wonder if "navigator" is the best term to use for the Sagitta. They handle the weapons, maybe "WSO" or "RIO" would be better....

The glossary on the site says that the sagitta is the "navigator" (the English word in kana) and also handles the weapons. So far I'm not sure the weapons, whatever they are, are that important, since the Simoun appear to make their biggest effect with Ri Maajon, which seems to depend on the pilot.

I just wanted to take a look at the OP, but I got caught and watched ep3 again. Good show. Unique atmosphere. Strong characters. Great music -- sometimes playing against the scene, but sometimes very effectively dramatizing it, as when Neviriru made her entrance into the Maaju.

As for Neviriru (Neviril), I'm 100% sure it's a "v" on the official site. The kana are ネヴィリル, and ヴ is a "v", according to Japanese wikipedia. What the characters are saying is more problematic, but it's pretty likely they're following the script.

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

As for Neviriru (Neviril), I'm 100% sure it's a "v" on the official site. The kana are ネヴィリル, and ヴ is a "v", according to Japanese wikipedia. What the characters are saying is more problematic, but it's pretty likely they're following the script.

Well, that doesn't really answer our question, since all Japanese syllables are open except ん.

So, even if it was Nevril, they still had to write it as Neviriru.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

Well, that doesn't really answer our question, since all Japanese syllables are open except ん.

So, even if it was Nevril, they still had to write it as Neviriru.

But don't the Japanese prefer -u kana to approximate closed syllables? (Except for to of course.) So by that logic Nevril would be written as ネヴリル "Nevuriru".

Hopefully the ep 2 sub will be out soon so we can see what Doremi decided to do. Of course that's only a very small part of why I'm waiting for the ep 2 sub

EDIT: Just remembered I was meaning to post this - Comic Yuri Hime V4 cover. This volume will have the second installment of the Simoun manga.

[Yui from Okinawa]

Many people question to simoun wolrd!
Now I add main-page to "Q & A and Consideration sub-page "!http://www.geocities.jp/emiri_0623/q-and-A-english.htm

[Seska]

Offtopic:

Technic of the flight vehicles....

i think they use some kind of rotation force, to maintain high and manover for they crafts. But dont ask me, how the source looks alike and what kind of power they use to maintain this,( the rotation force) up.

Mmm. still not found a subbed eps 2.

Mfg,
Seska

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

Well, that doesn't really answer our question, since all Japanese syllables are open except ん. So, even if it was Nevril, they still had to write it as Neviriru.

I was just answering the question about "b" or "v". It's "v".

As for Neviril or Nevril, I'm open to either, but I think Simon had a good point: that they would not add the little "i" in there if they wanted to elide the vowel. Here are the lines from ja.wiki that may apply:
1. 後に母音を伴わない [v] はほぼ例外なく「ヴ」と書かれる。
2. [va]、[vi]、[vu]、[ve]、[vo] は、それぞれ「ヴァ」、「ヴィ」、「ヴ」、「ヴェ」、「ヴォ」と書かれる。

I believe this says: 1. Use 「ヴ」 alone when there's no following vowel.
2. represent the sounds in brackets with the kana combinations in brackets. [So "vi" would be 「ヴィ」, as in ネヴィリル].

I also think Yui's usage is telling. She's a native-speaker and uses Neviril.

Oh, and it looks like I missed something the technician Waporif said about his/her gender. Although he still has a woman's breasts, Yui on her Q&A page points out that s/he said s/he went to the pool two years before and decided to become a man. The breasts still give a yuri ambience, but he's now male. (I checked Yui's Japanese Q&A as well.) When people become male, they add "wa" to the front of their names, so she went from Porif to Waporif (Poorifu to Wapoorifu).

Yui also says that Waporif said the top ring controls the energy that is in space, and the bottom ring controls time. What that means, I'm not sure. And neither are they. Maybe the top ring somehow taps zero-point energy?

[Matrim]

Yui also says that Waporif said the top ring controls the energy that is in space, and the bottom ring controls time.

Seems that we were right about Tempus Spatium (time-space) then. I could buy them somehow exploiting the time-space continuum (I trust the power of yuri ) but if the bottom ring controls only time, you'd think they would have come up with a time machine and that doesn't seem to be the case. Anyway, I still think they are worshipping some sort of a technological miracle because they don't underastand it fully which will lead to problems in the future.

[Seska]

dont forget the trainie ship, at the end of Episode 02....
It have only 1 ring...

Mfg,
Seska

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Seska

dont forget the trainie ship, at the end of Episode 02.... It have only 1 ring... Mfg, Seska

In Yui's Q&A, it says that the single-ringed ships are just for training, but that they can attack other ships with a sonic boom.

Spoiler for ep2:

Maybe that's how Aer (Yui transliterates it Arel) was able to destroy the enemy ships. I couldn't figure that out when I watched it.

I like the idea that the time- and space-rings interact to produce the special power of the Simoun, but maybe the training ship just has the space-ring. I'm sure we will learn more gradually. That appears to be how this show works.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

When people become male, they add "wa" to the front of their names, so she went from Porif to Waporif (Poorifu to Wapoorifu).

Yui's page says it's the final -f that marks a male name, which fits with

Spoiler for ep 2:

Erii emerging from the Spring and saying "from today, I am Erif" - I think it must be a strongly gendered ending in their society, seeing her/his reaction when Neviril first says the name out loud. (You know something, we're going to run into real pronoun trouble discussing this show...)

I haven't read the ending credits closely enough, but there seem to be a lot of minor characters whose names end that way (the drones of the hive?).

It's also interesting to read Yui's point that if a Simulacran chooses to become male, they don't change instantly. So I guess their society has a number of people in their late teens / early 20s who in our world would be considered "transgendered"? I wonder how this affects their social interactions (and how accepting a Japanese audience would be of this notion)? For example, would people without a strong gender preference choose to remain female and avoid the hassle of transition? If gender is changeable, would they be less hung up on same-sex vs opposite-sex relationships?

For all I'm a self-confessed Joshikōsei fan, it's also nice to watch an anime that's so thought-provoking...

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I also think Yui's usage is telling. She's a native-speaker and uses Neviril.

No offense to anyone here, but I've seen weirder cases of Engrish. In official print media too. 8)

Anyway, I think that unless we see some official confirmation, I'm going to stick to my preferred method. Of course, you are all more than welcome to use what you think is best here.

Since Doremi is kinda stalling and I've only watched the raws so far, it doesn't really matter that much to me. It's just a fansub, and I've seen some weird double reverse romanisations in my time (Akaado, anyone? 8)). So, it's not like this vital to our enjoyment of the show.

I'd rather discuss plot and characters that naming conventions. 8)