Category: Simoun

The previous episode ended the previous arc quite wonderfully. It almost couldn’t have been better. You would expect some intermezzo, though the events immediately start again, as some very interesting facts get revealed.

The Messis-arc clearly dealt with the conflicts going on inside the Chor Tempest. By now, almost all of these seem to be solved. Only Paraietta still has her issues, Aruti also shows signs of being unhappy and shouldn’t there at least be something wrong with Yun?

In any case, this isn’t really enough material for another arc like that, so it seems that this arc will be focusing at the enemies. All of the events which happened during this episode seemed to point towards this direction as well. The Archipelago and the Highlands have formed an alliance, and more will probably follow. The Arcus Prima meanwhile is heading for the Ruins, in which the Simoun originally came from.

I’m wondering whether the enemies will be able to deliver a blast of the same caliber as Limone and Dominüra managed to do. The previous arc was just totally awesome, though it’ll be very hard for the last episodes in order to top that one. Ah well, they make a very good start with all the events which happen during this episode:

– It becomes clear that the Chor Kaputo and the Chor Riboru all have fallen at the time when the Arcus Prima was in repairs. This makes the Chor Tempest the only Chor on the Arcus Prima.
– Once at the ruins, enemy crafts come flying by, equipped with the same Helical Motores as the Simoun.
– To make it only better, these crafts are able to perform Ri Maajons.
– Paraietta, Aruti, Mamiina, Yun, Kaimu, Rödoreamon, Morinasu and Furoe chase after them.
– Aaeru’s wind machine makes sound, even though it’s closed. She decides to check out the ruins.
– There are three enemy “Simoun”. Paraietta and Kaimu chase after the first one, though Paraietta has lost her confidence, so it escapes. The other three Simoun are chasing the other two enemies. Rödoreamon is able to hit down the second, though when Morinasu chases after the third, she can’t keep up for some reason, and they retreat.
– Aaeru and Neviriru, meanwhile, discover that the Ruins lead to the Spring, with Onashia in the middle of it.
– Onashia claims that she’s everywhere and nowhere. She never mentions the enemy Simouns at all.
– Meanwhile, Yun checks out the fallen Simoun, with Mamiina following her. They’re shocked when they find out that the pilot was Angurasu, the one from episode eight. Yun suddenly gets serious, claiming that everyone’s waiting for her.
– Aaeru reveals that her grandfather knew about the fact that the spring connected to more than one place.

This episode alone raised so many questions.
– How did the enemy get their hands on a Simoun?
– What is Onashia’s role in this?
– In fact, what exactly is Onashia?
– Why did Aaeru’s wind machine make sound while closed? Why did the sound stop when they reached the ground?
– What exactly is Aaeru’s grandfather? He was a Simoun Sibylla himself. He must’ve found out something during these days.
– How did Angurasu survive her self-destruction-treatment? Twins?
– What’s Yun up to? Has she finally decided to go to the spring? Or is she planning to follow her friends, who died in combat?

Overall, this could promise to become very interesting. The enemy also really surprises me. They’re trying all sorts of different tricks and strategies, and everytime, it becomes more effective. Not because of their strategies, they remain the same. It’s because they keep improving their technologies, while the Simoun stay the same. That makes you predictable. It’s only a matter of time before they really begin to overpower the Simoun with ease. I’m wondering where the creators plan to carry this next.

Memorable Moment: Rödoreamon missing her stuffed toy, which Limone kidnapped. ^^

This episode was just… incredible… It focuses mostly on Dominüra and Limone, with a bit of Paraietta. The title of the episode already gave away what was about to happen… but god… I never expected it to be this awesome.

We continue with where we left off at the previous episode. Neviriru, Morinasu, Kaimu, Dödoreamon, Aruti, Furoe, Mamiina and Yun are still gone, and most of the episode therefore only shows Aaeru, Dominüra, Limone, Paraietta and Wauf. (Interesting note: the OP has changed. Okay, not a bit, though there are small parts which are different).

Wauf is worrying about the things which are happening. After all, things are quite strange, with four Simouns gone. Dominüra meanwhile is praying to Tempus Patiem. Limone, meanwhile, managed to find Rödoreamon’s doll. She and Aaeru have a bit of fun, and Paraietta gets angry at them. After that, another alarm goes off. This time, it’s not just one enemy plane, it’s an army of them. Wauf commands the Messis to dive into the trees for shelter (it seems that they haven’t been spotted yet).

Paraietta, Aaeru, Dominüra and Limone head off to scare the enemy planes away. Dominüra surprises Waporifu by admitting that the Simoun are God’s Crafts. Meanwhile, Paraietta feels quite left behind when she suggests to charge in, while Dominüra and Aaeru find it a better idea to defend the Messis. Limone was too cute when it appeared that she brought the stuffed toy along.

On a side-note, the background music definitely changed for the Simoun-battles. The accordion is totally gone, and it has made way for a psychedelic, futuristic tune. I have to say, that it fits perfectly! The enemy manages to leave without being able to spot the Messis. Paraietta gets even more confused when it seems that she acted too rash once more. When everything seems clear, she doesn’t notice the scouts of the enemy. Only because of Aaeru, they don’t get sighted.

Dominüra and Limone meanwhile have a touching discussion about the Emerald Ri Maajon. Limone understands how Dominüra feels. Later in the Messis, Wauf comes with two possible options, if the enemy were to attack again. 1. Wait for the four Simouns to return and hold defences until that happens. 2. Flee, and leave the other Simouns to die. Paraietta is so confused that she immediately assumes that it’ll be option 2. She then suggests to look for the others (aka Neviriru). The others disagree with her. Paraietta answers this by slapping Aaeru, in order to make her point. I wonder how she’ll turn out, as the rest of the episode focuses around Dominüra and Limone.

The former enters the church again, in which Waporifu is praying. Dominüra then fully acknowledges the existence of Tempus Patiem, and forbids Waporifu to mention the incident, a couple of episodes back. Then the alarm follows, and Wauf makes the logical decision: wait for the other Simoun to return. After all, he values their lives more than his own.

Limone again forgot to put Rödoreamon’s stuffed toy back. The Simoun head out, and they start to attack the enemy crafts. It then seems, however, that the enemies have exponentially increased their speeds, and they’re starting to be able to dodge the Ri Maajons. Dominüra and Limone try out all sorts of highly destructive Ri Maajons, but they don’t work. Dominüra then suggests the Emerald Ri Maajon. What follows is Dominüra claiming that what she saw a couple of episodes back completely destroyed her beliefs. Does that mean that she abandoned her superiors as well?

What follows is Wauf deciding to use the Messis as decoy for Simoun to escape. Neviriru, meanwhile, begins to feel that someone’s making the Emerald Ri Maajon. Paraietta also begins to yell at them, without any success, as well as the other Sybylla. Neviriru even screams, though Dominüra and Limone are totally relaxed, accompanied by an awesome background tune.

In the awesomeness which follows, Dominüra and Limone have disappeared, with the enemies still intact. Then, the other four Simoun return and the Arcus Prima appears. Even though this is a Deus ex Machina, I don’t care at all. It cleans up neatly after the major events of the scene. This also closes the Messis-arc.

Overall, this was just totally awesome. Without a doubt, this was the best episode of Simoun yet. And that has to say something! I can’t wait to find out what the last part of Simoun will be like.

Just one thing…

What the heck happened to Limone and Dominüra?

OMG Paraietta! She really was incredible in this episode. The episode wasn’t really focused on a select number of characters, but Paraietta’s case was amazing. Apart from that, Furoe, Neviriru, Aaeru, Limone, Dominüra, Morinasu, Waporifu and Yun also received a healthy dose of character development.

We start the episode with Limone and Yun, outside of the Messis. Yun is collecting a few branches in order to make a cradle. Yun’s a tough nut to crack. The fact that she’s serious, and exactly knows her goal give her a very strong and level-headed personality. Though she’s still hiding something, I believe. It’s also very interesting to see Limone opening up more and more to others beside Aaeru, as we see her later in the episode trying to make a cradle of her own.

Yun also suggests Limone to stay by Dominüra’s side, as she’s the closest to her. Meanwhile, Aaeru and Neviriru get back from their day-long journey. Neviriru leaves immediately, along with Paraietta. We switch to Morinasu and Waporifu, who seem to have gotten into a fight. Last episode totally destroyed Waporifu as well, as she indeed sees the Simoun as sacred crafts, who shouldn’t be touched by anyone.

Later, the Alarm goes off, as an enemy has been spotted. Dominüra still is in shock, so somebody else has to take control. Aaeru still tries to go with Neviriru, though Paraietta stops her. Paraietta feels that with Dominüra gone and Neviriru tired, she has to yet again act as a leader. Still, there’s one major difference with the beginning of the series, when she had to do this as well: at the beginning of the series, it was only natural for her to take the lead. This time, she forces herself in the lead. Most of the Sybilla don’t really like this. Although Aaeru’s the only one who listens to her.

Still, Paraietta’s so occupied with being in the lead, that she forgets the most important thing: determining who gets to be sent out. All she does is forbid Aaeru to go with Neviriru, nothing more. She keeps clinging to protect Neviriru so that she can’t see the big picture anymore. Yun corrects her mistake by taking the initiative, to go along with Kaimu.

Back in the dorms, Mamiina, Rödoreamon and Aruti wonder why Aaeru was so obedient. Furoe gets pissed off by this. It seems that she kind of enjoyed Aaeru’s cool and direct personality, and it must be annoying to see Aaeru different like that. Furoe then gets too cute when she tries to hide her jealousy of Aaeru to the others. ^^

Furoe then notices Aaeru walking outside, and goes after her. It seems that Aaeru headed to Neviriru, in order to apologize for making her feel horrible. Neviriru, however, simply walks away from Aaeru. Quite cowardly, and Furoe indeed scolds her for that. This finally makes Neviriru see that both Aaeru and Amuria were using her as a tool to get them higher. I don’t think Neviriru will be flying with Aaeru anymore. It was also nice to see Neviriru break down when she realizes this.

Then, another enemy shows up. Furoe, Aruti, Mamiina and Rödoreamon get sent out, even though Yun and Kaimu still haven’t returned. Aaeru begins to wonder about the enemy’s plans, and wonders whether Paraietta, who sent them out, made the right decision. Paraietta takes this way to highly, and thinks of it as an insult. Though Aaeru does make sense. The enemy has only been spotted, it hasn’t attacked. All Paraietta’s been doing is sending out troupes, without using some kind of plan.

Meanwhile, it starts to rain, and Aaeru, Morinasu and Limone are left alone in the dormitories. Quite bored. Morinasu then suggests a play of hide-and-seek. It’s quite interesting that such a thing can be included. It seems interesting to play hide-and-seek in such a huge ship. It’s got lots of opportunities to hide. ^^

In any case, Limone runs into Dominüra’s room. For some reason, Dominüra is singing the song of Aaeru’s wind machine. Could it be a coincidence that she was singing this, or was there some kind of meaning behind it we still don’t know? In any case, Dominüra has a strange look in her eyes. She’s like a zombie, though she does recognize Limone, and talks to her.

It’s still raining, though Paraietta’s still standing on the same spot since we left her before. It seems that she’s in deep thoughts after what Aaeru said. She decides to check up on Dominüra, though when Limone emerges from her room, she gets doubts. She’s incredibly indecisive, and she knows it. What follows is an amusing scene in which she relieves her anger on a wall, not noticing Aaeru, who still is hiding, near her.

What follows is an amazing scene. Even if it was just because one of the most awesome background tunes being played. Another enemy has been spotted, and Paraietta forces herself to send another pair after them. She chooses Aaeru as her pair, though Neviriru, of all people corrects her. Neviriru then decides to go for herself, and take Morinasu, of all people, as her pair. Paraietta tries to stop her, in order to protect her, though Neviriru refuses to listen to her. This is what breaks Paraietta. An amazing scene. Probably the best scene of Simoun yet.

Another thing I love is the fact that something is going on with the other Sybilla. Something is keeping them occupied, but we never know what. Right now, they’re just plot devices in order to remove some characters so that some character development can be more focused without other people unnecessarily arriving. While that in itself is amazing, there has to be something happening with the other Sybilla. But what?

We have to wait for that answer till the next episode, as the story focuses on Dominüra. Limone tells Aaeru that Dominüra’s eyes looked like the eyes of a dying person (interesting note: how does she know what the eyes of a dying person look like?). Limone was wrong about this, as they see Dominüra walking in one of the corridors. After eating A LOT, Dominüra seems to recover. When Paraietta sees this, she asks for advice, though the former quickly blows the latter down with a snide remark. That’s the last we see of Paraietta in this episode.

Meanwhile, Dominüra and Limone agree to do the Emerald Ri Maajon some day. Limone wants to make the most perfect Ri Maajons, while Dominüra is the former member of a Chor whose sole existence was to make the Emerald Ri Maajon. We’re in for an amazing sixteenth episode. 🙂

Overall, Simoun is just getting better and better. Paraietta was amazing this episode, and Furoe also had a very nice role.

Memorable Moment: Neviriru choosing Morinasu.

Okay. That was an AMAZING episode! It’s centered around Waporifu, with Morinasu as an important side-character with a healthy dose of Dominüra. The results are just incredibly awesome!

We start with Aaeru and Neviriru flying around a bit, in search of the enemy carrier. They can’t find it anywhere. The enemy either moved it in order to retreat, or in order to use it for a nasty little plan. In any case, we won’t be seeing a lot from them, as they keep flying around for the entire episode, which equals about a day. It’s very interesting to see that even though Neviriru’s scared about Aaeru, she still managed to fly for more than 24 hours with her, inside a Simoun.

We then switch to Dominüra and Wauf, who conclude that the enemy has been forming alliances. Dominüra wonders about what the “Center” might be doing. I think she means her employers by this. Wauf also tells her that the Messis has to be stationed at the ground for a small while, in order to conduct some small maintenance. Dominüra reckons that there’ll be lots of sad things happening. And how she’s right. Haha! But not in the way she thinks.

Meanwhile, we turn to Waporifu and Morinasu. Morinasu reveals that she’s planning to become a man. Morinasu also is still surprised about the fact that the Simoun Gems can read the Sybila’s heart. It also seems that Morinasu and Furoe had a relationship once. ^^ They broke up, though. Waporifu couldn’t bear the fact that he (she?) was defiling a holy image. What follows is a scene which might be the start of the first actual couple in this series, as it seems that Waporifu starts to get feelings for Morinasu. Morinasu also wonders if the Sybilla really are the big-wigs they’re rumoured to be.

We then switch to the other Sybilla, having fun catching fish in a local stream. Furoe, Limone and Kaimu really are enthusiastic about a fish-trap that Mamiina managed to set up. Paraietta also smiles for the first time since ever. Yun is reading a book as usual. ^^ Dominüra, meanwhile has a little conversation with Waporifu. Dominüra wants Waporifu to dismantle one of the Simoun. Something which has never been done before. After all, if the Simoun were God’s holy image, how come they were shot down? Waporifu also reckons that the Simoun are just machines. Dominüra wants to find out about the secrets the Simoun have been keeping for so long. Waporifu, however, refuses. Like she refused Furoe and tries not to get too close to Morinasu. (On a side-note: Kyuukoku seems to be Simulacrum. At least, I think it does).

We then switch to later, that evening. Waporifu gets some interesting thoughts. When Amuria disappeared, the Simoun was not distorted in a way which did not suggest that she was dragged out. If that was the case, then where did Amuria go? That’s thus far, the only evidence pointing towards the fact that the Simoun indeed are godly. Dominüra, meanwhile, tries to put even more pressure on Waporifu. Morinasu catches the two of them on this, and she finds out that Waporifu’s a terrible liar.

Paraietta and Yun then have an interesting conversation. Paraietta’s getting worried about Aaeru and Neviriru, and she asks Yun to be her pair in case they needed to save the two of them. Yun then holds a cryptic speech. I’ve no idea what she meant, though it seems that she wanted to subtly make something clear to Paraietta.

Things really get awesome when we switch back to Waporifu and Morinasu. Waporifu reveals that she got the request to dismantle a Simoun. Morinasu then comes with quite an interesting opinion. Getting in the Simoun has made her realize something: the Simoun are indeed God’s crafts. I wonder what made her think that way.

We then switch to the evening. The Sybilla all go to sleep, except for Dominüra, and of course Aaeru and Neviriru, who still haven’t returned. Dominüra meanwhile has a conversation with Wauf. He has discovered that she belonged to the Chor Dextra (wait a minute… wasn’t she in the Chor Kaputo?) In any case, the Chor Dextra was only formed in order to complete the Emerald’s Ri Maajon. She’s now member of a certain “Audid Organization”. Wauf then comes with the interesting revelation that somebody’s watching the thing she’s trying to do. This only gets her cornered more and more.

Waporifu, meanwhile, has been thinking. She then heads to Morinasu, in the dormitory. What follows is the first kiss which actually feels like a kiss, if we ignore Limone in the previous episode. That was a great scene. Waporifu exits with her own conclusion: the Simoun are just machines. She spends the rest of the night dismantling one of the Helical Motores of one of the Simoun. Dominüra then returns to her the next morning, for some amazing results.

The Helical Motores were just empty! They just had one big spiral in them, and that’s all. Waporifu is quite astonished when she finds out, though when Dominüra sees this, the breaks down. The other Sybilla are woken up by this, and they see a mentally destroyed Dominüra getting carried away by some staff of the Messis.

Overall, that was just amazing. It’s probably the best episode of Simoun yet. Dominüra, Morinasu and Waporifu were just awesome. I wonder if it’s got something to do with Aaeru and Neviriru being absent. In any case, that was a nice touch.

Memorable Moments: Dominüra seeing the dismantled Simoun. Waporifu and Morinasu at night. Everything was just perfectly built up.

This was a fun episode. It centered around Aaeru and Neviriru. Aaeru’s thick-headedness and Neviriru’s hestitant nature were put in the spotlights, with some satisfying results. The other characters also provided some nice development.

We start the episode with the characters reflecting the previous episode. Dominüra seems to have put Kaimu and Aruti together as an experiment. To see whether they would go well together. Kaimu and Aruti then acknowledge that the two of them can’t pair anymore. It’s because Kaimu rejected Aruti as her pair. Rejecting your pair is the same as rejecting your Simoun, hence the distorted Simoun-gem from the previous episode.

We then switch to the dormitory, in which the lack of enemy movement is getting on Furoe’s nerves. She’s getting bored with the lack of activity, Yun scolds her about this. Furoe unleashes her anger upon Rödoreamon’s stuffed animal, who doesn’t quite survive this ordeal. This provides some funny material for later in the episode. ^^

Rödoreamon meanwhile has decided to help Mamiina with the households, and she keeps getting impressed by her. The bond between the two really has increased a lot.

Meanwhile, outside, the inevitable happens: Aaeru learns about the Emerald Ri Maajon (Doremi translated this as the Jade-Remergon, for some unknown reason. Emerald seems to be the right way to translate it, though). In any case, I was expecting her to do something stupid, though Aaeru really surprises everyone when she does the most stupid thing you can ever imagine.

She runs towards Neviriru, in the middle of the dining room, and promptly asks Neviriru to do the Emerald Ri Maajon with her. Aaeru speaks about Amuria like she was just ordinary dust. Aaeru doesn’t seem to realize that Amuria’s a sensitive subject. But that only makes that scene more fun. Aaeru really proves that she’s able to do things nobody would dare to.

The others have interesting reactions when this happens. Neviriru gets incredibly scared and walks away. Paraietta begins to yell at Aaeru, though she follows Neviriru in the end. Limone wants to help Aaeru, though Rödoreamon stops her. Mamiina rushes off immediately when a couple of plates fell on the floor (an interesting reaction. She, didn’t really care enough about Neviriru, so she noticed that she needed to take action). Yun and Kaimu both scold Aaeru after Neviriru left. Dominura observes everything which happened without involving herself and Furoe takes Aaeru towards a quiet place in order to teach her a few things.

As Aaeru’s incredibly thick-headed, Furoe isn’t able to make clear to Aaeru that Neviriru loved Amuria. Aaeru hasn’t fallen in love yet, so it’s only natural. Still, Aaeru does seem incredibly oblivious to the phenomena called “Love”. Aaeru did, however, pick up one thing about the definition of love: if two people want to kiss outside of a Simoun-flight, then it’s love. Overall, Furoe was quite funny in this discussion. You can really see that she’s having trouble with Aaeru’s incredibly to-the-point personality. ^^;

Neviriru, meanwhile, locks herself inside an empty room, gets some freaky flashbacks about Aaeru and Amuria, she begins to scream and faints. In one way, Aaeru acted like an incredible idiot. But on the other hand, Neviriru has been locking herself in. She still has a trauma from when she lost Amuria, which keeps haunting her mentally. At the moment, Aaeru keeps bringing this trauma to the surface. It may be painful at first, but it does make Neviriru confront her fears. That, or she might totally lose it. Depending on her own strength.

Paraietta managed to find Neviriru, and put her on a solitary bed in a dusty room. Aaeru, meanwhile, tells her new discoveries about love to Limone. The results are quite amusing when Limone ends up kissing Dominüra, later that evening. (^^;) Dominüra was a bit agitated before, as permission to go after the enemy carrier from the previous episode kept getting delayed. She was also getting worried about a certain “Kyoukoku”. It was interesting to see Dominüra worrying about the decisions of the officials like that. It was even more interesting to see Limone’s actions towards Dominüra, and seeing her reaction to this. ^_^

Aaeru, meanwhile, keeps trying when she enters Neviriru’s room through the window. After this, another kissing scene follows. (I bet the yuri-lovers will be very enthusiastic with this episode ^^) Neviriru keeps ignoring Aaeru, though. Paraietta gets to be the one to break them apart. Neviriru then wants to be alone again.

Meanwhile, a very funny scene follows in the dormitory. Every main character except for Neviriru, Paraietta, Dominüra and Aaeru’s there, and they first reflect a bit about Amuria. It seems that she was a very strong person. Everyone was scared to mention this to Neviriru. Then the amusing things begin when Rödoreamon finds out about Furoe’s treatment to her stuffed animal. It seems that Furoe tried to sew it afterwards, while she can’t sew at all. The results are quite hilarious. It’s great that they people can still laugh, even with such a gloomy atmosphere. It was a nice touch. ^^

The next day, Dominüra decides to not wait for official orders to destroy the enemy carrier from the previous episode, and she sends Aaeru and Neviriru on a solo-mission. Aaeru’s very enthusiastic when she hears this, though Neviriru and Paraietta object. It’s the first time that Neviriru really objects, and Paraietta manages to send her out anyway. It’s probably because Neviriru believes that the Simoun-gem will probably get corrupted, just like in the previous episode. After all, after what happened, she believes that she’s got no other choice than to reject Aaeru as a pair.

The look on her face, when she saw the Simoun-gem shining to its full extend was amazing. What was even more amazing was the statement with which she ended the episode. She wonders how it could be possible for her to accept Aaeru, when she’s actually scared of her. This can promise to be incredibly interesting for future episodes.

Overall, this was a very fun episode. Especially Neviriru’s development was awesome. Dominüra also was quite interesting. It seems that she indeed has a personality. Furoe’s also quite funny, despite her bratty behaviour.

Memorable moment: Limone x Dominüra ^^

This was another incredibly exciting episode. One of the best in Simoun so far. Dominüra gets the strange idea of messing up the pairs, in order to let Kaimu and Aruti work together. As she’s in love with Paraietta and hates Aruti, Kaimu doesn’t really like this.

The major part of the episode really illustrated this. Kaimu kept getting angrier and angrier. Simoun is great in portraying angry characters. The background music also really helps in this. It’s a really sad tune. Especially when Kaimu and Aruti make their first test flight, along with Aaeru and Neviriru, the scenes kept getting more amazing by the minute. It indeed seemed that they were sortof close once before they came to the Arcus Prima, though on the night before Kaimu’s first flight, one of them seduced the other, and well, you can guess the rest.

It isn’t clear who seduced who, but Kaimu clearly blames Aruti for this. Aruti, however, still remains nostalgic. Both of them are at fault this time, and both manage to learn a bit. Kaimu learned that she doesn’t need to get so angry with Aruti (still, I doubt whether these scars are totally gone). Aruti learned to stop living in the past, and stop depending on her sister to make her grow.

Aaeru meanwhile tries to get even closer to Neviriru, though that doesn’t really work. She also looked very cute with her hair loose.
Yun also displays a cute side when it seems that she doesn’t like onions. I’ve also noticed that she’s along with Limone the only one who likes to read books. She’s also the last one to go to sleep in the evening.
Furoe still doesn’t seem to have forgotten what happened at the previous episode. It’s a shame that we don’t get to see the two of them meating again. The soldiers seem to have left the Messis.

Overall, this was an awesome episode. The tension was just perfect. So far, we’ve had an episode dedicated to Neviriru, Paraietta, Limone, Furoe, Kaimu, Aruti, Mamiina and Rödoreamon. That only leaves Morinasu, Aaeru, Dominüra and Yun. I can’t wait for them. 🙂

Memorable moments: Seeing the Sybilla actually fixing the leaks on the Messis. Limone trying to comfort Rödoreamon.

I LOVE the direction in which tis anime is going. At the beginning of the first episode, the Chor Tempest had an incredibly high status. They were seen as the best of the best, most people probably thought that they were above humans. After the fiasco at the end of the first episode, the Chor Tempest began to collide. Slowly but surely, they lost their status. They weren’t the top Chor anymore. They were inches away from being disbanded. They had to move to a small, second-rate ship. And now, they have to share their ship with about one hundred common soldiers. If this line keeps going down, it’ll have some amazing results for the second half of the series.

She show is patially about the reactions of members of the Chor Tempest to these events. Both the ones who were in the original Chor Tempest (Neviriru, Paraietta, Kaimu, Aruti, Furoe, Rödoreamon) and the new ones (Aaeru, Limone, Morinasu, Yun, Mamiina, Dominüra). The old ones have to say goodbye to their lifestyle of luxury. The new ones have to get used to the fact that they won’t be flying for the best team anymore. It’s great that everyone seems so have a different reaction in this.

This episode was once again a great one. A bunch of soldiers has joined the Messis because of the plans of Dominüra. Now the Sybilla have to live with the soldiers, and the soldiers have to live with the Simoun. Dominüra seems to have taken command over the Messis, to the displeasurement of Neviriru, and decided that the Simoun were to be used as transport carriers, in order to help the soldiers win a town back which has been occupied by the enemy. Once again, it shows that the enemies aren’t just a bunch of pigs, as they have been planning for this to happen all along. Because of this, the Simoun are forced to aid the soldiers.

The character who gets the attention in this episode is Furoe. She’s fallen in love with one of the soldiers. A young man, he probably went to the spring not too long ago. This man will be the first outsider to see what the Sybilla are in reality. At first, he’s freaked out by Furoe and her cheerfulness, though I think they both felt a bit for each other. When Furoe gets scolded for the things she’s doing, she even goes as far as saying that she’ll go to the spring.

The town to be won back is the hometown of this particular man. During the operation, he managed to see the Simoun perform their Ri Maajons, and destroy half of the town, along with the enemies who had the bad luck to be in their range. This was the first time in which we see a citizen of Simulacrum freaked out by the Ri Maajons. He’s the first one to see what kind of killing machines the Simoun he always looked up to are. More people will probably follow him soon. I can’t wait for it. 🙂

There were two Sybilla who weren’t able to kill the enemy soldiers: Furoe and Kaimu. The former was too busy searching for the man she loved. She indeed was one of the Simoun who didn’t take her job too seriously, and doesn’t put flying the Simoun above everything. In Kaimu’s case, she just was scared. She saw the faces of the soldiers, and she wasn’t able to kill them. Much like Neviriru in the first episode.

Another thing I realized during this episode is the use of the background music. It may be more than just a tune to strenghten the overall atmosphere and tension. At the beginning of the mission, Neviriru had forbidden the use of Ri Maajons. This results in hte soldiers fighting the enemy, with the Simoun assisting them with the help of their guns. The background tune which plays is heavily tension-based. It just builds up and up. Then at a certain point (as there are only four Simoun who can actually do something) Aaeru convinces Neviriru to do a Ri Maajon. Right after the Ri Maajon hits, the tune switches to the standard accordeon-music that’s played every time during these scenes. The point is, that there’s no tension in this tune AT ALL. In fact, I think it’s meant to be some kind of symbol, to the devastating power of the Simoun.

I just can’t seem to figure out what’s up with Dominüra. Especially because of the way she talked to Limone. I think that Limone’s the only one who Dominüra treats kindly. It also seems that she was pretty enthusiastic with both the fact that she had to play as carrier and Limone’s steering. You’d think that, as a Simoun Sybilla, she’d want to do a job which doesn’t dirten the name of the Simoun. She’s clearly up to something, but what?

Rödoreamon and Mamiina have become a lot closer since the previous episode. Rödoreamon is still shy (heck, she got really scared when the soldiers arrived) and spoiled, Mamiina is still cold, though you can see that they really have become friends now. Paraietta also was interesting during this episode. It seems that she doesn’t have the perfect qualities of a leader, as she started yelling once the soldiers arrived. Neviriru and Yun were the ones to recover her mistakes.

Overall, if you ignore the little inconsistencies, you have to admit that the soldiers and the Sybilla delivered some effective teamwork. All of the grudges which were displayed at the beginning of the episode were gone at the end of it. I really like the way this is going. The Chor Tempest will be losing their status more and more. The episode was great as well. This show just gets better and better.

Memorable moment: The commander of the soldiers motivating the others by telling them that it’s their war, not the Sybilla’s.

Holy god, this really was a gloomy episode. The atmosphere was so thick, you could almost cut it with a knife. As the Arcus Prima is still in repairs, the Chor Tempest has been transferred to a temporary battleship: the Messis. While the Arcus Prima provided our Sybilla with all kinds of luxuries, the Messis is just an ordinary ship with no luxuries at all. Some members don’t have problems with this (Aaeru, Neviriru, Yun), some members love it (Mamiina) but most of the members are a bit unconfortable with it (Furoe, Kaimu). The latter part really accomplished a great atmosphere in this episode.

Apart from the Messis, this episode had two main focuses. The first was Dominüra, who’s been the one who got them into the Messis. She acts a lot different than when she was in the Arcus Prima. She also begins to get more bossy by the minute. Still, Neviriru trusts her. I don’t know whether this trust is real, or whether Neviriru doesn’t want to cause any unnessecary problems, though.

Another major point of the episode was the relationship between Mamiina and Rodoreamon. Mamiina still acts cold towards Rodoreamon, who still doesn’t have the courage to say something about it. She does make attempts though. She manages to ask Mamiina to talk to her, but again, her shyness stops her from actually saying the right things. In the end, she cuts one of her braids. It seems that Mamiina was always yealous of them. It also seems that there’s an actual story behind Rodoreamon’s braids, as she didn’t wear them just because her parents told her to. In any case, I liked this scene. I almost always like it when a character changes hairstyle. It suggests change.

Apart from that, lots of small things happened during this episode yet again. We finally get a bit more info on the strange windmill that Aaeru keeps carrying along with her. It’s a memento of her grandfather, who also used to be a Sybilla in his (her?) younger days. I’d love to get to know a bit more about the village Aaeru grew up in. I also loved it when I saw that Limone put all kinds of candy in her suitcase. ^^

There also seem to be mice aboard the ship. Furoe, Yun and Limone seem to be quite scared of it, though Neviriru remains neutral and Aaeru’s been used to mice in her village. Still, Limone was able to appreciate a joke Aaeru made about this.

Overall, the great part about this episode was the atmosphere. It’s been mostly meant to introduce the life on the Messis, and develop a few relationships.

Memorable moments:
– The expression on Rodoreamon’s stuffed toy. She really had a strange taste when she was young. ^^
– Rodoreamon cutting her braid off. It had it coming, though it remained awesome.

Yup, it’s as predicted. The Chor Tempest will go on. This episode was nothing rather special in terms of action and drama, but it did provide a huge load of interesting material for future episodes.

The most important part of this episode was Neviriru, who traveled to the temple in which Onashia rules. (I think this is called “The Centre”, not sure though. And what kindof place is the “Grand Temple”?) In there, she demonstrates her leadership, as she’s able to give a very nice speech, in order to make Onashia not disband the Chor Tempest. She was quite the heretic in this. All the priests around Onashia shivered and outraged when Neviriru compared flying in the Simoun to faring war and doing Ri Maajons to killing people. When she mentions that she doesn’t care about God’s will, people really got ticked off. Onashia, however, has the total opposite opinion. It has yet to be explained why she has. She’s quite the excentric person, and I’d love to get a bit more info on her. So far, we only know that she’s the one who oversees the gender-changing ceremonies at the Shrine, she rules the country of Simulacrum, she has a different opinion when compared to most of the high priests and she has a rather good memory.

Still, this also shows us more insight about the highly placed people in Simulacrum. It reminds me a lot of the medieval christianity. They believe in their god, and because they believe in the god they do, they think themselves more highly than anyone else. It’s a surprise that they haven’t attempted to shove their beliefs down the throat of others, like the cristians liked to do during the colonization-era.

About Dominüra, I was wrong. She’s evil. At least, she works for evil people. But at the same time, she sympathizes with the members of the Chor Tempest. Though I think that she got scolded enough to not care about this anymore, and carry out the assignment of her superiors. The last scene in the episode suggests this, in any case. Her superiors seem to be highly places officials. Oh, and they also let the Plumbum Priests invade the Arcus Prima.

The third and last major point in this episode came from the enemy. It seems that they’ve also been enlisting for suicide pilots. And now, their crafts don’t just shoot back, but they also explode when they hit something. It’s a good thing that these things have no accuracy at all. But this does show that the enemy’s getting more technically advanced by the minute. And more desperate as well. But then again, if you know that all of the soldiers you’re going to send to the battlefield will end up dying, why not turn them into suicide pilot, huh?

Harukonfu also had an interesting role. He’s been extremely shocked about what happened, which made him lose his own determined personality. He still does what his previous ideals told him, though with far less enthusiasm. We can see this when he attempts to apologize to Neviriru. His struggles with his ideals and memory turned this into a really weak attempt.

Rödoreamon is getting more pityful by the minute. The thing is that she’s shy. And when she does say something, she says the wrong thing. I suspect that this will move her away more and more from the others, unless she can get some kind of help froma good friend.

I LOVED how Limone was holding Aaeru’s hand at the end of the episode (when the Chor Tempest was introduced to its new, temporary battleship: The Messis). She’s just so adorable. She acts like a cool and cold girl all the time, though she can do this without too much suffering because she knows that she can rely on Aaeru. I never imagined how great the impact of episode four could have been.

Morinasu again demonstrates that her laid-back personality can work quite strong when it needs to. She’s easily able to comfort Limone. She also has a sharp eye when she’s the first to notice the enemy’s motives.

Aruti wanted the funeral ceremony to be over as soon as possible. Why?

Furoe really doesn’t care about the little details. We can see that in the way she attempted to pack her suitcase. ^^;

Yun has a high sense of duty. She likes to act serious, and she also attempted to protect Mamiina from the others.

Vyüra looks up to Neviriru, that’s for sure. Though she hasn’t got any respect for the other members of the Chor Tempest. I’m not sure about her opinion on Aaeru, however…

Anubitufu is a strong captain. You could really hear the enthusiasm in his voice when he spoke.

I also liked the way that, in the seventh episode, Mamiina was willing to sit in the back of the Simoun and operate the weapons, so that Neviriru would be able to sit in the front and fly the Simoun. It now turns out that she doesn’t care about this at all, when she let Aaeru sit in the front.

Simoun just continues to get better and better by the minute. These dramatic shots were greatly executed. Especially Aaeru was great. In fact, Simoun’s just awesome in its ability to portray heavy emotions suffered by the characters. Higurashi really can learn from this. I’d love to see a crossing between the two shows. 🙂

In any case, last episode, we left off with the priestesses and the important people from Plumbum arriving for the conference. We start the episode with Anubitufu, who finally introduces himself. He’s the captain of the Arcus Prima, indeed the biggest warship that Simulacrum posesses. This must mean that the Arcus Niger, from the previous episode, is something other than a warship, as these two ships looked like they were the same size. Three Chors are stationed in there, the Chor Tempest, the Chor Kaputo and the Chor Riboru (the current top-Chor, Vyüra’s in this one). Waporifu then reflects about what happened back in the previous episodes.

We then switch towards the pre-conference meeting. Harukonfu wonders why there are so many priestesses. He believes that they only serve as translators for the Plumbum officials, though the priestesses answer that they are needed to watch over the important conference. The Plumbum officials get a bit startled when they find out that the Tempus Patiem-priests (or the Simoun Sybylla) also will attend the conference.

Meanwhile, we switch to the Chor Tempest in their ballroom. The overall atmosphere is kindof gloomy. Rödoreamon tries to make Mamiina feel better, who immediately bites back at her. Yun also doesn’t understand Aaeru’s reason to be a Sybylla (not wanting to go to the spring). Then, the Chor Riboru decides to invade into the ballroom. This ballroom always belonged to the Chor Tempest because of their status, though now that that’s gone, the member from the Chor Riboru just do as they please.

Once they get sent out, Furoe comes running towards them with a message. It’s been decided that only two priestesses will attend the conference, so the third one will stay with the Chor Tempest for the moment. Both parties introduce themselves, Furoe introduces each of the members of the Chor Tempest, and Angurasu (the priestess) repeats the name of each of them. Except Aaeru, who gets a bit pissed about this. Angurasu then tells a bit about the country of Plumbum. It’s supposed to be very cold. Mamiina then reveals that she only became a Sybylla because of the war. When she was young, she wanted to be a Simoun pilot, though this seemed impossible due to the fact that she came from a poor family. Because of this, she kept wanting to pilot one of these more and more. When she finally got the chance to fly and it seemed that she had talent, there was no way back for her. She now hopes to be Neviriru’s pair, so that nobody would ever dare to look down on her ever again.

Later, we switch to the conference. In there, the priestesses give a very obvious hint about what is going on. I would have liked this scene to be a bit more subtle. In any case, we switch back to the main prayer room with Angurasu, Furoe, Aaeru and Kaimu. Angurasu suggests that there probably was another god or belief before Tempus Patiem and Animus (this should probably be handy information for later in the series). Angurasu then is startled by the fact that Aaeru doesn’t consider herself as a priestess. She just wants to stay away from the spring because she can’t choose. Neviriru, meanwhile, is watching all of this.

Then, we switch to Limone and Dominüra. Limone’s studying a bit of the Plumbum language, and she finds Dominüra quite bothersome. What follows is Angurasu taking Kaimu as hostage and heading for the Simoun-dock. Then the good stuff begins. Aruti’s getting angry when she sees that her sister’s a hostage. The characters then realize that this was entirely planned out by the Plumbum officials. Angurasu plans to use Kaimu into setting off together with one of the Simoun. At least, that’s what everyone thinks. The thing she really plans is even greater.

Events really get juicy when she plants a huge bomb near the Simoun. When she’s about to set it off, she mumbles that it isn’t wise not to make decisions. She then sets the bomb off, while yelling Aaeru’s name, as hard as she can. To make things even better, the other Plumbum priests and officials suddenly commit suicide. Then some unexplainable events happen, along with some awesome ones. Apparently, Angurasu planted her bomb very conveniently, so that only the Chor Tempest’s Simoun remain unharmed. In that case, why can’t these Simoun be used by the other Chors?

The good part, however, is that Aaeru heard Angurasu scream out her name. Limone explains that this means “the love for god”, the highest form of love in the Plumbum language. Aaeru’s reaction to this is great to see. It does make sense, though. When Angurasu didn’t want to speak out Aaeru’s name, it was because of the meaning of her name. When she found out that Aaeru doesn’t see herself as a priestess, she got startled, as she assumed that one who’d name herself Aaeru would surely love god more than anything.

Neviriru’s the one to bring Aaeru out of her shock, when she accepts Aaeru as her pair. The episode ends with six simoun heading out of the Arcus Prima.

This anime’s definately got a strong message against terrorism in the world. This is probably one of the first times in which we’ve seen enemies on true suicide missions, in which their only purpose was to fool the enemy, kill themselves and do as much damage in the process as possible. All because they loved their god more than anything. Aaeru, as she doesn’t believe in Tempus Patiem, really has troubles seeing this.

As usual, we had a huge number of different characters, each acting their own way. A small summary for each of them:
Limone: Acts very friendly towards Aaeru, the fourth episode really made Limone respect Aaeru, and she shows this. She’s cold towards Dominüra, though. Then again, she was smiling when she got introduced towards Angurasu.
Rödoreamon: Apparently, she had no idea how selfish she was when she was a kid. She feels sorry for Mamiina. I think she only became a Simoun Sibylla because her family status forced her to.
Aruti: Most of the anime, we’ve seen her as a serious girl, though she changes completely when she tries to talk to Kaimu, her older sister. She’s also enraged when she finds out Angurasu kidnapped Kaimu.
Morinasu: She likes not to worry too much, the previous episodes showed this. Though this does make her strong, in some way. We could see that when she tried to hold back Aruti from trying to rescue Kaimu.
Harukonfu: I wonder how he’ll react after this episode. After all, he firmly believed in the success of the conference, and seeing these people commit suicide can be quite a shock.
Paraietta: She acts like a decent leader. She does the things she needs to do to keep the team from slacking off or behaving badly, though she doesn’t have the charisma of a leader. I guess that that’s Furoe’s part, as she’s the one to introduce Angurasu to the members of the Chor Tempest. It’s also amusing that whenever there’s a scene that features both her as Neviriru, you can always find them close to each other.
Kaimu: When Aruti asked her to come along with her, she declined. Why?
Guraghief: He seemed quite happy to announce that the Chor Tempest would be flying.
Anubitufu: At the end of the episode, I don’t think he would’ve thought to see the Chor Tempest in action.
Yun: She believes in her own ideals. She knows she hates war, and she set to her mind that she would fly the Simoun just like her friends did. She keeps mentioning this whenever she has the chance.
Dominüra: When I first saw her, I really thought she’d be an evil character. But she actually ends up being a very sympathizing one. She just hangs out with the rest of the Chor Tempest, and she really is part of the team now. She still tries to familiarize with Limone, even though her attempts aren’t really working.
Furoe: She may be a whiny brat, but she’s very active in the Chor Tempest. She tries to find out things on her own, she likes to take the initiative and she’s very outspoken.
Mamiina: She’s devastated by the last episode, though this episode showed that she’s mostly an attention-seeking girl. She lived her whole childhood without being recognized, and now she wants to be acknowledged. Naruto tries this by pulling all kinds of pranks, Mamiina tries this by being the best and not being shy to tell everyone about her childhood.
Aaeru: She’s been extremely straightforward since the start of the episode, though during this episode, she breaks. She also was the first to notice that Angurasu was planting a bomb inside the Simoun dock.
Neviriru: I think the last episode got her out of her crisis. She’s been using this episode to check up on Aaeru, and the way she acts. She then realizes that the two of them were very different from each other, except for the fact that they both have trouble to choose.
Angurasu: a pitiful child. She’s been grown up, only living for her god, Animus. For that, she’s even willing to kill herself.

I love the way that each of the characters has her own reasons to be a Sibylla. Neviriru’s reasons are still unknown. Aaeru wants to fly the Simoun because she doesn’t want to go to the spring. Paraietta lives for Neviriru. Furoe’s reasons aren’t known yet. Rödoreamon was forced in because of her family. Rimone wants to make perfect Ri Maajons. Dominüra wants to be accepted in the Chor Tempest, though her reasons for starting in the first place are still unknown. Aruti’s in because of her sister. Kaimu’s reasons are still unknown, same with Morinasu. Mamiina wants to be acknowledged and Yun doesn’t want to betray her friends.

Overall, I don’t think the Chor Tempest will be disbanded. After all, the anime would kindof lose its purpose if this happens. The episode itself was awesome, except for the few convenient coincidences and the obvious hint that was shown at the middle of the episode.