(L) Simoun

[Benio]

Today I watched Simoun marathon. What a great anime!

Every episode is no-nonsense and very intriguing. I think the key to enjoying this series is to understand what Ri Maajon, Tempus Spatium, auriga, sagitta, etc. are and also the background about the war. Once one gets past that, everything just makes sense.

After hearing it so many times, I can't seem to get "Tempus Spatium" out of my head now. If Simoun gets licensed in America, I'll definitely buy it. Hope it WILL get licensed (but after we get to watch all episodes subbed first, of course. )

Thanks everyone on this board and everywhere else who helps bring this great series to fans like us. Your work is really appreciated.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by metronome

Spoiler:

I like how aeru gave paraietta her way ordering around, while the others feel lthe "ordering" things look like sumthing in military service, it's war afterall!:P
(tho I dont know what is the real reason aeru back down like that)

Spoiler for ep15:

I finally gave up waiting for a better raw and watched ep15 today (thanks for the sub wowo!). I don't think Aaeru really backed down in that scene at all: I'm no expert in the subtleties of Japanese culture, but it seems to me she scored a definite victory over Paraietta by not picking a fight at that moment. She gained face by suppressing her personal feelings for the good of the group, but it was obvious that she was doing that by choice and that she could have easily contested the issue.

Although Floe didn't get it, I think it was clear to the others that Aaeru exposed the weakness of Paraietta's authority ("I choose to obey you this time, but..."). It was certainly clear to Paraietta herself - you just need to see the looks they were giving each other.

On a different note, I'm liking Yun as a character more and more - if there's going to be a death in the family I hope it's not her.

[Matrim]

Spoiler:

I don't think Aaeru really backed down in that scene at all: I'm no expert in the subtleties of Japanese culture, but it seems to me she scored a definite victory over Paraietta by not picking a fight at that moment. She gained face by suppressing her personal feelings for the good of the group, but it was obvious that she was doing that by choice and that she could have easily contested the issue.

Yes, my impression was pretty much the same. Aaeru was like "Oh, well, somebody has to be in charge right now, I am not going to question your authority....for now". And it seems Paraieta failed in the leadership test.

[ghost89475]

I love this anime, it keeps getting better and better.

Spoiler:

4 aspects i took note of.

Morinas and Waporif. Off??? Morinas' reaction in the church/alter made me think it was more of an angry response to Waporif not being honest and consistently babbling abt not touching Kami's stuff... I think she was pissed. Hehe... I thought it was funny.

Parietta. I thought the ep's title suited her perfectly. She wanted to lead, tried to lead, but she was always alone. Even Neviril did not exactly recognise her authority (not sure if she actually was in charge).

Dominura. I don't know what to think of her though.... She confuses me. One minute she's scarily lifeless. The next, she's marching down the corridor like a goddess to war, and then she's... a glutton shooting sarcastic comments towards the already lost parietta.

Parietta vs Aeru. I guess aeru scored one when she agreed to parietta's "command". I thought her reason was a combi of recognising that someone had to be in charge and of becoming tentative after her lack of tack with neviril.

Anyway, I thought "poor parietta" kinda summed up the ep. I think she has a higher chance of biting dust instead of yun though...

[fignae]

Spoiler for ep15:

Originally Posted by Simon

[...] but it seems to me she scored a definite victory over Paraietta by not picking a fight at that moment. She gained face by suppressing her personal feelings for the good of the group, but it was obvious that she was doing that by choice and that she could have easily contested the issue.

Yes, that was the way I read it too. Aaeru's the only one who really sees the big picture here, while everyone else is wrapped up in their own woes. It may be the same reason for her apology to Neviril. Simple, straightforward logic like taking Para's word over her own with regards to Neviril's state, and coming to the conclusion that she should apologize if she has caused Neviril's pain. This, while the others are going *angst* I can't cope with the past! My ties to this person...!

Ahem.

Spoiler for ...not really. commenting on speculation:

The speculation in ghost89475's post is new to me, and I must say, somewhat attractive.... Yeeks, least favourite character, sorry! We've certainly had a lot of episodes so far that have been centred on Paraietta, and I think if anyone dies (avoiding spoilers on this) it will be someone the series has dealt with at some length. Of course, there might be Yun episodes coming up, I don't know. As for Morinas, I... don't want Mizuki Nana to leave Simoun! Aaah.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by fignae

Spoiler for ep15:

Yes, that was the way I read it too. Aaeru's the only one who really sees the big picture here, while everyone else is wrapped up in their own woes. It may be the same reason for her apology to Neviril. Simple, straightforward logic like taking Para's word over her own with regards to Neviril's state, and coming to the conclusion that she should apologize if she has caused Neviril's pain. This, while the others are going *angst* I can't cope with the past! My ties to this person...! Ahem.

Great comments. And so were some of ghost89475's.

Spoiler for ep15:

I didn't really find Morinas's thing with Waporif funny, but I also didn't think it was the end of their relationship -- more like the beginning. It's like Morinas's response to the kiss.

Dominura is a goddess marching to war. Her in the cabin with her hair down and her eyes strange is what goddesses look like in the morning, lol. Or maybe I should say it's what humans trying to be goddesses look like when they're not putting on the goddess front.

And the comment about Paraietta being alone is true, and a point in favor of trying to get the "lonely" meaning into the title -- although I guess I'm still more comfortable with the "One after the other...." that appears to me to be the top level of meaning. I have trouble seeing how to render both meanings in the appropriate balance in a title-like way: the idea may be that people fly off one after the other (and that leave me alone here again), but how to get that across?

Aaeru's response to Paraietta was so strong. Amazing anime, that can put so much into such a simple thing. Not that other cultures don't do similar things, but I see the effects of the subtlety of Japanese communication, and an echo of the kinds of subtleties that you can read in the Tale of Genji, written a thousand years ago.

total off-topic tangent: I worship The Tale of Genji, especially the last ten chapters, which can be read separately. For those who don't know, The Tale of Genji is a big novel that is arguably the first real novel ever written in the world. It was written by a Heian court lady (Murasaki Shikibu) around 1000 AD. I like the Royall Tyler translation, but Arthur Waley's old and very slightly inaccurate one is great English prose.

I've suggested to Japanese who haven't read the Genji (or have read only what they were forced to in school) that even without reading it they get a lot of the Genji's essence in much Japanese literature written since, including some anime, movies and dorama.

You can visit Murasaki Shikibu's supposed grave in Kyoto (it's down a little alley just south of Kitaoji street on the west side of Horikawa-dori street). You can also see the one part of the Heian palace grounds that is supposedly still like what it was when she would have seen them, at Shinsen-in, a charming little park just south of Nijo Castle. And there is a very nice Genji museum at Uji, in the southern suburbs of Kyoto. Uji is where those last ten chapters are mainly set, and you can still get some of the feeling of the novel there. A Fujiwara family country seat there included the Byoodo-in, one of the world's great buildings, which you can also visit.

[warainagara]

Spoiler for ep 15 mostly little observations related to previous posts:

Agreed with fignae about the reason Aareu followed Paraietta's order.
She might begin to be considerate for others' state, especially Neviril, which is due to her uncomfortable situation with Neviril.

Sibyllae's response to Paraietta's mentioning 'order' was rather surprising to me.
Their confusion about their identity as Sibyllae was already shown by Neviril's episode 9.
But the fact is they have put an end to many lives,
and now it would be natural to feel more comfortable with military things, although there can be some inner resistance on the personal level.
Maybe they don't take it seriously, because they can't actually see people killed by them with their eyes.
(Kaimu once hesitated to shoot guns at humans, since they are not crafts.)

Paraietta appears somewhat different from others in that she was the one who originally sticked to Sibyllae's languages like 'pray' more than others did, but now she is using different languages in previous ep and 15.
This may summarize she has had the similar agony as Neviril shown in ep 9, although ep 15 portrays her as one whose concerns revolve around Neviril.

As for Morinas and Wapourif I'd agree with Kaoru Koujo.
It's not done yet.
At first, I laughed at Morinas action. (pulling Wapou's hand..)
Could it be interpreted as "I am ready to accept you but it's you who are not confident?"
It seems to be up to Wapourif from now. (Go, get her Wapou!)

Didn't ep 15 show a good contrast between Aaeru-Nevirl, and Dominura-Limone?
One of the former has been hurt by being a tool for the higher flight, while one of the latter is encouraged by her pair to challenge to the higher level.
A small word like "because you are my pair" may have a strong power indeed.
A power that brings a person who was on her way to death to will for life.
Touching relationship....

[m000m000]

Spoiler for ep 15 mostly little observations related to previous posts:

Originally Posted by warainagara

Paraietta appears somewhat different from others in that she was the one who originally sticked to Sibyllae's languages like 'pray' more than others did, but now she is using different languages in previous ep and 15.

No, Paraietta's very much the same now as then. She's one of those persons who "puts on the show" by the rulebook (be that literal or what "should" be precieved as "right" in each and every situation), even if what they inside think or want to do may be something different. They're afraid of losing something(face, prestiege, whatever - In Pariaetta's case a load of combinations could be deducted) should they actually do as they'd please, and thus put up the Model Student act.
It's living a life in a willful self-denial which obviously will eat away at you with time, and Ep15 was just all about pushing the delicate chinese cup all the way to the very edge of the table.

Now you just have to wait for a small breeze or a careless hand, and someone's going to have to pick up what's left of the fragments on the floor afterwards.
(...let's hope no one else steps on them?)[/quote]

All in all, I really liked Ep15. Probably one of my, if not the, favourite episode on the series for me. Favourite moment probably was when Dominura told Paraietta to go stuff it, it cracked me up. Needs more good sarcasm in the series!

[metronome]

behold! episode 16 of simoun is gonna out
cant wait anymore:P

[fignae]

Spoiler for episode 15, not 16 yet!:

Originally Posted by warainagara

Could it be interpreted as "I am ready to accept you but it's you who are not confident?"
It seems to be up to Wapourif from now. (Go, get her Wapou!)

I like this! Hehe. Could be the old thing where someone feels insulted when their love says, behind their back, that they should never have gotten together. She went through all that, and finally decided to accept him, and now he says it was a mistake?!

[Kaoru Chujo]

Looks like ep16 must be pretty interesting. It hasn't appeared in cyberspace yet, but on 2channel, they have ripped through a thousand posts since it started airing about two and a half hours ago. The last hundred posts came in 12 minutes.

I have tried to avoid reading anything, but I did see the following, which appeared shortly after it started airing: "Really moe, really weeping. My heart is beating hard again. What a godly anime!"

Once again, my reaction is just subjective. I'm not sure what the normal numbers would be. But it does seem that Simoun, which is rushing through its 34th thread, is beginning to pull away from Ouran, which is on its 29th. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean much, since Higurashi is at 104, Utawarerumono is at 58, and even Tsuyokiss is already at 20, after only three weeks. 2channel is mainly an otaku board.

[wowo]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Looks like ep16 must be pretty interesting. It hasn't appeared in cyberspace yet, but on 2channel, they have ripped through a thousand posts since it started airing about two and a half hours ago. The last hundred posts came in 12 minutes.

Wow you can understand 2ch? Are you that fluent in Japanese?
Yeah, I have to avoid futaba as well, I don't want to accidently see a screenshot. >_<

Btw I was planning to sub ep16 as soon as I can get my hands on a raw.
Let me know if someone else was planning to do it so 2+ people aren't scrambling over the same episode.
Simoun RAWs are tricky, sometimes I see them by monday night, but other times it's tuesday morning or later... hopefully the booming popularity influences its up speed.

[fignae]

I have taken to closing my eyes to avoid spoilers. This is scary.

Spoiler for one last ep 15 issue, feels like years ago:

How come no one speculated about Aaeru's tune being the song of the migrants? Where did they migrate from and does Aaeru represent the class conflict that will eventually result in a world-changing revolution?

The raw might be late this time, as the Chinese group can't be as fast. Let's hope some enthusiastic fan fishes one out of Japan.

As for the first radio show: the website is sometimes down.

[Kaoru Chujo]

1. radio show. www.onsen.ag, the internet radio site, had the wrong link posted yesterday, but it's okay today. The file is on tokyotosho and datorrents now.

2. raw. It has appeared in cyberspace, but not bt yet. If I'm allowed to say such things.

3. Please carry on, wowo. I for one have no plans to translate this one.

4. The song of the migrants.... I wouldn't mind seeing a new government in Kyuukoku, but their traditional way of dealing with gender seems as if it's better than in Shoukoku, at least. I'd certainly rather see an internal reform than an external conquest.

5. 2channel. I'm far from fluent in Japanese. I don't understand everything on 2channel, but I can get some basic idea from most posts. Not well enough to be confident of a translation, though. It's so colloquial, and has a number of odd ways of expressing things. But I like those odd ways, like using the counting character 乙 (it means "second" and is pronounced "otsu") for "otsukare-sama deshita" to thank the person who starts a thread for their work. I like the way Simoun posters will write instead 乙のリ・マージョン "Thanks-for-Your-Work Rimaajon", and how they have invented various kinds of rimaajon, humorous and otherwise. And they've posted ascii art of that 乙 kanji as if it were the shape of a rimaajon. The English Wikipedia article has some of the special words 2channel uses, and links to sites that explain more in Japanese. But I was slightly spoiled for this episode by seeing one rimaajon they posted.

Spoiler for ep16:

Spoiler for are you sure you want to be (possibly) spoiled?:

It was ascii art of Yun, with the words "Sayonara no Rimaajon"

[Starks]

Raw is coming soon.

^_^

[Starks]

Raw is out...

Spoiler for episode 16:

Dominura and Rimone are dead... WTF! THOSE BASTARDS AT STUDIO DEEN JUST KILLED A PERFECTLY GOOD LOLI!

[warainagara]

Wowo, go ahead for ep 16 trsl.
Thank you for getting on it early.

Downloading the raw from Tokyo Toshokan.
It seems Yun begins to appear in the opening.

[metronome]

Originally Posted by Starks

Raw is out...

Spoiler for episode 16:

Dominura and Rimone are dead... WTF! THOSE BASTARDS AT STUDIO DEEN JUST KILLED A PERFECTLY GOOD LOLI!

oh no!

Spoiler:

dang! one of my favorite seiyuu shud walk away from this anime it seems

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Starks

Raw is out...

Spoiler for episode 16:

Dominura and Rimone are dead... WTF! THOSE BASTARDS AT STUDIO DEEN JUST KILLED A PERFECTLY GOOD LOLI!

May I remind Stark about Mai-Otome. If you don't see the actual body there is no death.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Spoiler for ep16, Dominura, Rimone:

There is no sign of them. No wreckage. We have no idea where they are. They looked pretty satisfied as they were going, anyway. Will they reappear at base? In "the ruins"? In the future? Never? In paradise? I think they said in ep1 that people who succeeded at the Emerald Rimaajon went to join Tempus Patium. Perhaps it isn't the weapon people thought it was, but just the holiest and greatest of prayers? As one poster on 2channel said: "Noto kawaii yo Noto! And Yukana is kawaii, too."

And in the next chapter preview, there are Neviril and Aaeru at the Spring, or in some other ruins, and there is Onashia. I can't imagine them going to become adults. In any case, perhaps we'll learn more about Tempus Patium, etc.

I loved the human and plot aspects of ep16, but the reappearance of the simoun and Arcus Prima was a bit too neat. As was teh poor marksmanship of the enemy. But that's normal in anime fights, I guess.