(L) Simoun

[Veritas]

Originally Posted by oneplusme

Vyuraf's way hotter, so clearly the latter. Although heck, Vyuraf/Floef would be fine by me as well.

Still trumped by Anubituf/Guragief, though.

[Iskandar Taib]

Darthfury wrote:
>Each fan based comic will include at least 5-Chapters, which will start with an
>alternate ending to Episode 2.

*GROAN*

[WanderingKnight]

One thing I should add is that I'm not saying Simoun is "better" than some other show, just that I like it more, and that it is better to me. I am constantly forced to recognize that we all like different things, and that we have a tendency to confuse liking something with that something's being of high quality. Not that quality is such an easy thing to judge. Objective standards for anime are hard to find, and tend to be spurious when people do come up with them, in my opinion.

I'd go farther and risk stating that there is no objective element to be judged in anime: it's art. You may say, "but what about animation quality?", but someone else may say "I like my animation choppy!" and the show with the choppiest animation may be the best show for him or her, and that's perfectly fine. The same goes for every element in a series: How do you judge a plot other than by personal taste? How do you judge a seiyuu other than by personal taste? How do you judge character designs other than by personal taste? How do you judge genres other than by personal taste?

No show is better than other--there's shows I like and there's shows I dislike, and the same goes for any other person regarding any other type of art. There are many things more important in life that require us to find objective answers for, and I feel art should be a laying-back ground for the subjectivity of people to relax and spread wings.

[Simon]

A little oddity for collectors: the first (AFAIK) Simoun T-shirt. It was sold at a promo event for the third net radio CD, which was itself tied in with a promotional broadcast for the game release back in June. Obscure enough for you?

The text on the front reads "Takahashi + Takahashi = Takahashimoun" (since the radio show was presented by Takahashi Rieko and Takahashi Mikako), while the back seems to have the lyrics for a song from the show.


Also, for anyone not reading the Simoun-Fans mailing list, MB have put the R1 trailer up on YouTube - tell all your friends! It's got me wondering what extras they're going to include with the DVDs: I'd love to see the R2 extras subbed (especially the mock game-show on V1), but this might be asking a bit much. I think what's most important is that they include good explanatory liner notes, assuming some people buy the DVD who haven't already seen the subs

[Kaoru Chujo]

Maybe I've mentioned this, but Morinaga Rika (Mamiina) has a very active blog with frequent pics. Here's her most recent pic:



She is showing off her new hair color -- and her cat. Her hair has been orange, red, silver, etc., over the past year. The blog will be pretty active in the coming weeks, since her rock group "function code()" is bringing out a single.

A couple of pics down the page is one of her with Fujimura Ayumi, who was Ayano in Kaze no Stigma, "nee-san" to Rika's Ren. Rika says they went together to the final concert of Horie Yui's group Aice5 (with Asano Masumi, et al.), then went to Chinatown for a meal and to buy some tea. As I've mentioned before, Rika is under 4'11" (149cm) and weighs around 82lbs (37kg).

This fall, she will be in Minami-ke. She has roles in the current shows Moetan, Princess Resurrection, Kaze no Stigma, Seto no Hanayome, and Touka Gettan. She also stars on Moetan radio. Her home page has just been revamped with a lot of Flash.

[Futaba-chan]

I know that YT went to Yurisai; did anyone else? How was the Media Blasters premiere? I've heard mostly positive things about their sub, but how was it really?

[darthfury78]

Does anyone believes that Aaeru is Amuria's reincarnation? They are both tough minded. And in battle, they want to be victorious. I have a feeling that Amuria never really left Neviril side, as they are destine to be soulmates whatever the circumstances. One example is that Amuria wanted to escape the pressure of going to the Springs to choose a gender because to make a choice would mean to lose the ability to pilot the Simoun and knowledge that it holds.

This explains why she wanted to perform the Emerald Ri Mājon so she and Neviril could be together. But you already know the rest of that story.

Also, the first chapter that I am working on is almost finished. I have a new character description on Eri. Here are the comparisions: Old vs New:

Eri: Old Version

Erī turns 17 shortly after the start of the series, and goes to the Spring under the temple of Tempus Spatium. Because she hasn't made up her mind as to which sex she prefers to be, she is assigned to be male. He then changes his name to "Erif", as the terminal -f signifies masculinity in the Simulacran culture.


Eri: New Version

Eri is one of the most talented Sibylla fighter pilots of Chor Tempest. She has a passionate but commanding personality. However, she becomes very insecure of her choices whenever she's under a lot of personal pressure. Thus she can be very indecisive at times. She has a close relationship with Rōdoreamon and Guragief, who is her mentor. As the story unfolds, Eri becomes involved with Dominūra plot to uncover the secrets of the Simoun.



I viewed the first two episodes and was able to gather enough hints to create this new description of Eri's character background. All comments are welcome: good or not.

[Iskandar Taib]

Originally Posted by darthfury78

Does anyone believes that Aaeru is Amuria's reincarnation?

Most definitely not. You can't be a reincarnation if you're alive at the same time as the other person. Not only that, but do you really think Amuria is dead?

[Matrim]

One example is that Amuria wanted to escape the pressure of going to the Springs to choose a gender because to make a choice would mean to lose the ability to pilot the Simoun and knowledge that it holds.

You sure about that? This was mentioned plenty of times about Aaeru but I for one don't recall it being mentioned about Amuria, too.

This explains why she wanted to perform the Emerald Ri Mājon so she and Neviril could be together.

Huh? How the hell was Amuria to know that the Emerald Ri Maajon could send people back or forward in time? She wanted to become stronger, so it was quite understandable she wanted to try the ultimate Ri Maajon. Plus, if she didn't they would have most likely lost the battle in episode one.

[rishidan]

I've gotta side with Iskandar on this one.. I think it's safe to say that Amuria and Aaeru are kindred spirits or, to use one of my grandmother's phrases, 'cut from the same bolt of cloth'.

Spoiler for Spoilery Goodness:

When Aaeru and Neveril performed the Ri Maajon they appeared various times at (what seemed to be) the same altitude or at least pretty dang high up.

In episode 1, Amuria's cockpit was empty which means that the best case scenario would be her making it through alive but, even in a world of hope and puppies, gravity would have eventually kicked in and she would have achieved her terminal velocity within 5 seconds. ...if the atmosphere is comparable to earth's.

There are really only scenario I could come up with for Amuria surviving a fall from such a great height:

Since this IS anime it's completely feasible that she popped into existence somewhere (in future or otherwise) where a hero(ine) was flying about angsting over his/her lot in life, saw her appear, performed some sort of physics defying maneuver thereby managing to save her which lead to the two of them teaming up, saving the world / universe / space-time continuum or ending a war all while falling in and out of love. In all likelihood she probably hit the ground so hard that she dug her own grave.

[FatPianoBoy]

It's also possible that she came out on the other side much closer to the ground than when she entered, resulting in a non-fatal fall. No proof of that, but we really don't have proof of anything on this subject.

[Iskandar Taib]

Originally Posted by FatPianoBoy

It's also possible that she came out on the other side much closer to the ground than when she entered, resulting in a non-fatal fall. No proof of that, but we really don't have proof of anything on this subject.

Or might simply have ended up lying safely on the grass... Strange things happen in this world, after all - there was what-her-name's dead body in the Simoun, for instance.

As for Aeru and Amuria being alike, or kindred spirits, or whatever, who can tell? We don't find out very much about Amuria, other than that she wanted to "become stronger", and she, um, had a thing for Neville. Was she anywhere near as boke as Aeru? Who knows? I doubt it, though... No one else could be THAT boke, not even Kasuga Ayumu...

[dauthik]

Wow I just finished watching the series. It was extremely powerful, and also intensely confusing and mind-bending, especially since I was reading Kierkegaard in class at the time, who's all about the freedom of choice and God. Gahhh.

But anyway, I just have a few thoughts to offer on whether Amuria survived or not. So best case scenario being that she did survive after the Emerald Ri-Maajon...

Spoiler for just general spoilers:

It is likely that you're transported to the a very high point in space, because not only do we see Aaeru and Neviril always that high up, when Limone and Dominura appear they are also up in the sky. However, we see that Limone and Dominura floated down from that point, very slowly and without any sort of control over their Simoun at all. (if I recall correctly, they were actually asleep or something) So it's entirely possible that Amuria just floated down as well, but asleep.

Also, personally I believe that Aaeru and Neviril transcended all time and space, so that whatever applies to them doesn't apply to anyone else who performed the Emerald Ri-Maajon, but didn't perform it absolutely.

[oneplusme]

The review of the first US disc is up at AnimeOnDVD. They seem to like it.

[NightWish]

Ooo thanks for the link, I hadn't noticed it. Mark's review certainly does read very positive. Given I know the story already, my only concern about the English language release was the quality of the DVDs. Not the extras as they never really do it for me... but the actual transfer, audio especially (I rather liked it). Yeah, I enjoyed the series so much that I was going to buy it regardless of what they did to it, but I'm quietly happy to read the two A ratings and that his only real concern about the look of the transfer to DVD was Neviril’s character design which I thought was okay anyway...

[LionsMane]

It's great to see a good review.
And going back to Neviril's character design...I always found that to be intentional and to me it was a nice touch.
I'm happy about the extras too and I hope they continue to provide them throughout all the DVD releases.
I'll be happy when I have the chance to buy the first volume and see for myself though.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by oneplusme

The review of the first US disc is up at AnimeOnDVD. They seem to like it.

Yay! But have MB really chosen to go with "Aer"?

[oneplusme]

Originally Posted by Simon

Yay! But have MB really chosen to go with "Aer"?

As I understand it they didn't have much choice - the licensor dictated the English spellings. (Which, yes, is utterly stupid - and thus exactly the kind of thing the Japanese media corporations seem to like doing just to show who's in charge...)

[LionsMane]

Do we know of any other name changes that will take place? For some reason I feel like Rodoreamon's name might be altered.

[FatPianoBoy]

I remember seeing that as 'Lodoreamon' in several places. Perhaps that's what it'll end up being.