Jul 21, 2016
In many ways, Simoun surprised me. I don't know what I was expecting-- I hadn't ever really watched anything too similar to this before. But I heard some nice things about it, mostly combined with other less nice things. For example "Simoun is really poorly animated at times, but the story is really interesting." So, I timidly gave it a try. And it was actually totally worth it!
What it is about Simoun that makes me forgive its many flaws Sometimes the animation is REALLY BAD! Like, hilariously bad. Sometimes it feels like the entire point of the show is fanservice (girls kiss to power
...
their special airships), sometimes it feels like the plot is paced really slowly or is even nonexistent. Sometimes I hated the main characters.
So what is it that I like so much about Simoun that I am willing to ignore the fact that I would give it a 4/10 for art, a 6/10 for character and story?
1) Everyone is born a girl and when they become adults they go to a magical spring and choose their gender. Gender stuff like this really interests me on a deep, personal level. I really wish they had gone into this and how it impacts the characters and society more. Even though it didn't go as far into this as I would have liked, this was the initial thing that made me choose to watch Simoun over everything else on my watchlist.
2) The side characters. I honestly love all of the characters besides the two main characters. Oh, and Floe. She kind of just annoyed me. My interest in the other girls of Chor Tempest and the characters outside of their team was what really kept me watching whenever I would get frustrated with Neviril or Aeru. Mamiina, Wapōrif and their friendships/love interests were my two favorites. I could honestly have watched a show about either of them.
3) How serious this show is able to get. I admit that I have not watched a lot of yuri. In fact, before this show... like none. I really did almost expect that it would be all about the fanservice. There is quite a bit of romance between the girls and we do get to see them in revealing clothes and there are shots of them in oddly sensual poses that serve as the commercial break divider things??? But despite all of that, Simoun has a story to tell about the psychological effects of war on young priestesses who are torn between their beliefs about and their duties, who have to choose whether to continue fighting or move on to adulthood, and who have to make huge, scary decisions like WHAT GENDER THEY WILL BE. It is great. You can tell that a lot of the girls actually struggle with realistic emotions in this show even though their situations are highly unrealistic. If there is one good thing I can say about Aeru its that I totally understand why she doesn't want to grow up. And I appreciate a show that feels like it is about that just as much as it is about girls who kiss and fly around in crazy airships that can make special lights in the sky to take out enemies.
tl;dr- I never expected to actually like Simoun this much. If you are unsure about it, give it a try. It starts out a bit rough, but the second half is really touching.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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