Where things start to get questionable is when you start to see the priorities of the show, being the pilots and their interactions. For the most part the characters are actually handled well and it's fun watching them, but it's very apparent that the story itself was taken as a second thought to how to develop their relationships. Time and time again the story plays to character progression when it's convenient, sometimes to the point of being irritatingly irrational. What saves the story from being complete filth though is how mysterious is continually represents its Holy technologies and its world as a whole. As the show went on, to me this felt cheap and increasingly dull as I just wanted to learn more about the setting and the motives of either nation, yet we're stranded with these pilots and their limited scope and off-an-on melodrama. There definitely is melodrama too, while I still think the characters are done well for the most-part. I appreciated their consistency and differences in subtle to serious situations, but it isn't always like that.
Another reviewer (YourMessageHere) said "while the thing is wrapped in sci-fantasy window dressing it's a story of spoiled obsequiously devout snobby teenagers getting what's coming to them", and I'd agree while I wouldn't say the story is completely oblivious to that. The anime does test these characters and they aren't completely useless and boring. Many of them do grow, but the whole design is just so convoluted that I just couldn't take it around the midway point.
I actually came to this series from looking into the staff for "Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)", being these two: Akatsuki Yamatoya and Shou Aikawa. They partly worked on the script, story, characters for FMA2003 and I was curious how they work on other projects. From what I've seen here, the duo work well at handling the basics of character interaction, but they aren't the go-to's for story design.
To conclude, "Simoun" isn't bad and has many things going for it. The design and concept of it in how it's directed gives a pretty original and regal atmosphere to it. The music is fantastic most of the time and plays well to bring an avant-garde feel. The characters can be fun and you'll be rooting for them every now and then, but they can also be outright cringey and completely irrational. The setting is interesting in a thematic sense, while little explored from what I saw, aswell as how it plays into the asexual pilot interactions. I did glance a bit further into the series and the pilots do seem to remain the focus and how they handle their little excursions in the greater war going on. I do think I'd have some fun if I watched more, but it'd be too tedious at this point. So I give "Simoun" a 6/10 for the effort and in getting some of it right.
