(L) Simoun

[zalas]

Just on a spur of the moment, I made a music video using Simoun footage and FF6's Aria di Mezzo Carattere:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/memb...o.php?v=113162

Since it is a new show, Simoun hasn't made it into AMV.org's 'confirmed anime' list so I am unable to upload to the org for the moment. Here's a yousendit link:
http://s14.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3...X1JVVW7GUH3STY

Use the rapidshare link in the amv.org entry if the yousendit doesn't work anymore.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by zalas

Just on a spur of the moment, I made a music video using Simoun footage and FF6's Aria di Mezzo Carattere

For something done on the spur of the moment, that's pretty neat

Since no-one else has mentioned it here, the nice people at Doremi Fansubs have announced they're working on this series. Yay!

[Tremalkinger]

Originally Posted by Simon

Since no-one else has mentioned it here, the nice people at Doremi Fansubs have announced they're working on this series. Yay!

*gasp*

Yay! Go Doremi!

I wonder if they'll give it the 'chinese overdrive' treatment like they did for Mai Otome (3 days from air time to distribution), or we'll have to wait a week or more. Either way, I'm really greatful. Just, you know... waiting on shows involving lesbian tendencies can be hard.

[BiZz]

Originally Posted by Tremalkinger

*gasp*

Yay! Go Doremi!

I wonder if they'll give it the 'chinese overdrive' treatment like they did for Mai Otome (3 days from air time to distribution), or we'll have to wait a week or more. Either way, I'm really greatful. Just, you know... waiting on shows involving lesbian tendencies can be hard.

Agree with you xD
Waiting it's too hard for me

Keep it up Doremi !

[thedarksenshi]

Yep, thanks for doing this show, Doremi!

[BiZz]

So Simoun episode 2[RAW] is out.
Well we need sub for this one xD It's not easy to guess what they say like the first episode.

Spoiler:

Why the girl is crying ?

[wrex_japan]

Originally Posted by BiZz

So Simoun episode 2[RAW] is out.
Well we need sub for this one xD It's not easy to guess what they say like the first episode.

Spoiler:

Why the girl is crying ?

I figure she's crying because

Spoiler:

of the emotional stress she went through in 1) trying to decide whether to be male or female, 2) facing the reality that she's no longer a Simoun pilot 3) and the reality that she'll be male hitting her/him. Their conversation: Eri said, "nothing's really changed much" and Nebiriru replied, "Yes, Erif, nothing's changed."

I think it's good if Doremi subs Simoun... the new character Aeru is like an aggressive Arika from Mai Otome.

I should have my blog entry of this up soon.

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by wrex_japan

I think it's good if Doremi subs Simoun... the new character Aeru is like an aggressive Arika from Mai Otome.

Somehow I thought the same thing and the first glance similarities between Aael and Arika are indeed striking. Only, I hope that Aael turns out nothing like Arika... Pretty please! Can I get this little wish?

Episode 2 turned out just as strong as the first one. In some respect, it was even better in the fact that it dealt with a slightly lighter topic (death vs. adulthood), but still managed to produce a memorable emotional impact.

Animation side: once again, everything was clean and beautiful. I still can't get enough of the amazing pastel watercolor backgrounds they are using for this show. It's nothing I've ever seen, adding even more of that "artistic" feel to the show.

Music is one again very interesting and wide-ranging. It's less dramatic (no "fight music"), but it nevertheless fit every single scene like a glove and stood quite firmly on it's own. If there is any other show I can compare this with, it would be .hack//SIGN (you know, before Kajiura got stale and repetetive), where the music sometimes drowned out the dialogue to produce a very memorable effect.

Simoun has something like that, but with better musical talent and range (the regular use of tango in anime must be a first).

My only gripe with the episode is that in the first half of it, it seemed like they didn't pay proper attention to detailing character's faces. Some of them looked rather bland and generic. It wasn't all that bad, but compared to the second half, where the heavy facial nuances returned once again, it was a bit noticable.

For some reason, they are paying a lot of attention to drawing Aael, because she looked good throughout, while Nevreel's face looks a bit simple and too.. well... it's as if they just used Photoshop on her with lots of "fill color". I don't have any better way to explain it, sorry...

The plot was interesting as well...

Spoiler:

1) I liked the comparisons between Aael's deadly fighting dance and Nevreel's similar looking flight in that aerodynamic tube. It was as if they were hammering down a point that the Simoun fight is akin to a dance.

2) The last part, with Eri finally entering adulthood was great. They managed to convey the feelings of a totally random girl (it's just a second episode, after all) very nicely. We really got to feel what Eri is going through while becoming an adult: the fear, the anxiety, the hope. Her sobs afterwards only underlined her transformation and her loss of innocence.

3) I am wondering about the Fountain. Do the girls physically change into males after the ceremony? Eri/Erif didn't seem changed at all, but we do see people who look positively male.

Another interesting point here is that most of the adults we've heard from, both male-looking and female-looking, actually have very feminine voices, as if their voice never changed after entering adulthood. Once again I come back to my question: do the girls change their physiology after making a choice at the Fountain?

It would be interesting to find out.

[Starks]

Ep 1 out by Doremi!

[Maceart]

Episode 1 out from Doremi-fansubs. Mind you, I didn't have any hand in this project (I only created the torrent to release the file), so I have no idea wha this is about.

Seems pretty decent though. Yakumo's voice from School Rumble as a narrator is always a big plus.

Lots of yuri tendencies, as always.

[zalas]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

Spoiler:

1) I liked the comparisons between Aael's deadly fighting dance and Nevreel's similar looking flight in that aerodynamic tube. It was as if they were hammering down a point that the Simoun fight is akin to a dance.

2) The last part, with Eri finally entering adulthood was great. They managed to convey the feelings of a totally random girl (it's just a second episode, after all) very nicely. We really got to feel what Eri is going through while becoming an adult: the fear, the anxiety, the hope. Her sobs afterwards only underlined her transformation and her loss of innocence.

3) I am wondering about the Fountain. Do the girls physically change into males after the ceremony? Eri/Erif didn't seem changed at all, but we do see people who look positively male.

Another interesting point here is that most of the adults we've heard from, both male-looking and female-looking, actually have very feminine voices, as if their voice never changed after entering adulthood. Once again I come back to my question: do the girls change their physiology after making a choice at the Fountain?

It would be interesting to find out.

Spoiler for Episode 2:

I really liked the parallel dance between Aael and Nevreel, and I believe Nevreel was redoing that ultimate Remersion while Aael was subconsciously doing it without realizing. And about the fountain, I believe Erif said that she'll be gradually turn into a boy, right before she broke down and started crying.

[friendshipz]

btw, all the cast for simoun are female..so due to not changing cast once they changed sex, there wont be much changes for a girl to guy accent.

Spoiler:

i find it hard to identify the gender of them..especially those elder, am really very confused about the storyplot..i doubt that even a japanese could fully understand wat was it all about.. and also, about the issue of yuri once they changed sex there wont be called yuri..it might get to the basis of a normal relationship or even yaoi, cos 1 may choose to change or not to change their sex

[KamelRed]

Not since since I've watched Platinum Hugen Ordian have I shook my head while wondering "WTF?!" aloud while watching anime. That all changed after I saw the first episode of Simoun.

This series is definitely not my bag.

[wrex_japan]

Originally Posted by friendshipz

btw, all the cast for simoun are female..so due to not changing cast once they changed sex, there wont be much changes for a girl to guy accent.

Spoiler:

i find it hard to identify the gender of them..especially those elder, am really very confused about the storyplot..i doubt that even a japanese could fully understand wat was it all about.. and also, about the issue of yuri once they changed sex there wont be called yuri..it might get to the basis of a normal relationship or even yaoi, cos 1 may choose to change or not to change their sex

Most of the Simoun cast should be female because once you go to the Springs to become an adult, you can't be a Simoun pilot any more, whether you are male or female. The change doesn't seem to be immediate either; it happens gradually. Now, what I'm not sure about are the ruling class aboard that main ship... I've no idea if they are actually all female or if they're really effeminate looking males.

[Matrim]

Somehow I thought the same thing and the first glance similarities between Aael and Arika are indeed striking. Only, I hope that Aael turns out nothing like Arika...

I was just about to say that. Please, please, please, don't go down that road I can't bear another Arika.

Anyway, the first episode was awesome I must have watched the raw half a dozen times and the opening at least twenty times. And not only because of the shoujo-ai factor, mind you. The music is brilliant, and I love the animation, especially that of all the flying machines.

Spoiler:

Too bad Amulia was killed in the first episode, she seemed less annoying that Aael and also better looking. But it's good to see that characters can actually die in this show.

It's been a long time since a first episode has managed to move me emotionally that much. The second episode is also nice, just not as much as the first one.

Thank you, Doremi for subbing this one. I just think you need to change some of the names, though, maybe it's just my ears and maybe the official site says something different but I hear something like "Sibylla" and not "Simula". But that's nitpicking, as long as the series stays as good and someone is subbing it I could live with whatever names and terms there are in the sub.

EDIT: Sorry about the spoilers.

[zalas]

Matrim, you might want to put that huge spoiler in spoiler tags for episode 1, for the benefit of people who still haven't watched episode 1 yet.

[ZeusIrae]

OK,This totally suprised me.I expected something barely watchable like strawberry panic.And what do I get?Something great,there's seems a lot politics in the background.I really like the monologue with the female voice,it made the first ep less black and white.I hope the rest will be as good as the first ep.

My only problem is that they are overdoing with the yuri.I mean the big zoom on the kiss,isn't that a little too much?But the rest is great,I really like the animation especially the colors.

This is really a nice suprise.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I've just watched most of 2 again, and I have to say I think this is a very good show. The loliesque characters and the yuri aspects may put some people off, but I don't think there's been any real fanservice so far (okay, maybe I have to count the kiss). The characters are becoming real and the story is interesting and well told.

This is a weird world, but in two episodes, I think they've gotten us into it very well. The other sibylla's angst over the pool decision communicated that central event in the sibyllas' lives, and helped us feel more about Nebiriru's situation.

Nebiriru is becoming a very interesting character. Her voice and appearance really get across her conflicted feelings (voice: Takahashi Rieko). And although at first I was a bit put off by Aaeru, her confidence is infectious, and something about her voice really, really works for me (voice: Niino Michi).

This is a serious show so far, and I like it that way. There is a mood under it that too much comedy might break. Despite the action, the show seems to be about the people, their feelings and relationships.

The odd and complex way they do characters' eyes is fascinating. Especially Nebiriru's eyes, which make her seem strange and deep.

The voice-acting cast is studded with big names: Noto Mamiko, Kuwashima Houko, Takahashi Mikako, Toyoguchi Megumi, Mizuki Nana, Koshimizu Ami.

The director, Nishimura Junji, did Samurai Deeper Kyo, Ranma 1/2, Soul Hunter and Windy Tales. The music I find just wonderful, playing with and against the story. It's by Sahashi Toshihiko, who also did the music for FMP, GSD, Rizelmine, Hit wo Nerae, etc., etc. The character design is by Nishida Asako, who was animation director on Fate/Stay Night, Keroro Gunso, GunxSword, Yama to Boshi to Hon, etc., etc. The art director is Kobayashi Shichiro, who also did YKK, Melody of Oblivion, Windy Tales, To Heart, Daa Daa Daa, etc., etc., etc. So we basically seem to have top staff people.

I find the OP quite thrilling -- music and images. The kind of thing that really gets you up for the show. And of course, the Simoun are just fantastic. Who is Jin-seob Song, the mecha designer? The sound effect really works, too.

"Motto takaku. Onegai."

[Matrim]

The odd and complex way they do characters' eyes is fascinating. Especially Nebiriru's eyes, which make her seem strange and deep.

Yes, I have to agree with that.

My only problem is that they are overdoing with the yuri.I mean the big zoom on the kiss,isn't that a little too much?

No. BTW, there is less kissing in the second episode so maybe the first episode was a bit deceiving in that respect.

[froinlaven]

The lesbian kisses make me say yes, but the crazy jargon makes me say no! Oh, what am I to do!?

I guess I'll keep watching for now.