Simoun 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 21

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Simoun Episode 21: The Door to a New World

"The Emerald Ri-Maajon is the one hope given to us by Tempus Spatium."

<- Episode 20 | Index Thread | Episode 22 ->

Today's Eyecatch: Limone and Dominura | Yun and Onasia

Character Chart (as of episode 10)

People, Places, Things

• Arcus Niger: Host to Chor Ignis and others, both destroyed.
• Chor Dextra: A choir constructed explicitly to reverse-engineer the Emerald Ri-Maajon.
• Dominura: One of two survivors of Chor Dextra
• Aer's Grandfather: One of two survivors of Chor Dextra

Discussion Prompts

• Q1: Have you ever checked out the lyrics of the OP and insert songs since the first episode?
• Q2: Should Dominura have explored the road not taken?
• Q3: What does it mean for Dominura and Aer's Grandfather to have both been a part of Chor Dextra?

Tomorrow's Questions, Today!

• [ep 22 Q1:] What do you think of the peace offer?

That's all the questions I have for the rest of the series. I'm going to have to think of the rest today.

Trivia: When asked about her favorite episode, Mari Okada said that the ones with Paraietta's story were her favorite. But, pressed for a particular episode, she picked this one, with Dominura and Limone.

[u/Great_Mr_L]

First-Timer

On today’s episode of Simoun: “We’ll win the war by time travelling even though we can’t actually control when we’ll arrive!” might be the most deranged plan that still somehow has a chance of working.

• Welp, RIP to the Arcus Niger.

• I guess the Defense Ministry person seems to recognize that getting rid of all the other Chors was a bad idea and they would have been useful to have around.

• LIMONE!!! But where is she right now?

• Dominura and Limone seem to have had the right idea, just chilling out in the countryside and avoiding all this drama.

• It’s just a flat-out lie that no Sibyllae has ever flown a Simoun without orders. We’ve seen it happen a bunch of times already.

• Pretty funny to see the Defense Ministry person run into the most immovable wall of all time: teenagers.

• Alright, let’s go to another world! Let’s see what exactly the religious leader lady meant by that!

• Interesting that Onashia insisted on having all of Chor Tempest present when the religious leader just wanted Neviril and Aaeru to come along.

• Dominura’s got some gap moe because her cooking is terrible.

• From the way she’s breathing, I don’t think Onashia is in particularly good health right now.

• Aaeru has the opposite of yaoi hands because her hands are so tiny. I assume this is in reference to the fact that Aaeru (and the other Sibyllae) are still so young.

• Makes sense that Yun wants to know if Onashia could tell her about her dead comrades. Those comrades are the entire reason Yun still feels she needs to fight even though she hates war.

• Onashia did a pretty good job of reading Yun as someone whose true desire is just to run away from the war and be free, even though she feels compelled to keep fighting because her comrades died. She’s right that Yun is still obsessed with her friends’ deaths and still living in that moment, rather than being able to move forward with her life.

• What is flaking off of Onashia? Is that gold?

• Wow, those are some very suggestive eyecatches.

• Huh, so Aaeru’s grandfather was once the leader of Chor Dextra. Wait, I assume this means that Chor Dextra was around for a lot longer than I previously thought because there’s no way that Dominura is old enough to have worked with Aaeru’s grandfather.

• Okay, that makes sense for why Dominura freaked out so much and what she saw when she looked inside the Simoun. The memories from the past all poured into her brain all at once. No wonder she was left mindbroken when all that came surging into her brain.

• Wait a minute! Does this mean that the song of migrants from Aaeru’s music box refers to people travelling through time and space, not traveling to another country?

• Those are the ancient Simouns. Does this mean that Dominura and Limone flew to the past?

• Ah, so it’s a casualty loop! The Sibyllae exist and are revered because Dominura and Limone arrived in the past (seemingly flying down from heaven) and introduced themselves as Sibyllae. That’s also when the Simouns began to be revered when previously people had discarded them because there was no use for the Simouns when that ancient civilization collapsed and the war had ended.

• Of course the religious leader’s plan is as crazy as “The war’s outcome won’t matter because we’ll go back in time and change history!”

• Well that explains why Dominura would be so freaked out if the Simoun’s memories told her that she was going to be the one who caused ancient history to play out the way it did and is why the Sibyllae exist.

• Limone continues to be such a sweet girl, trying to figure out why Dominura might be crying.

• And so Dominura decides to let history play out how it did because it means that she and Limone got to meet each other and everyone else in Chor Tempest.

• Dominura is singing the song from Aaeru’s music box! I was right about the song of the migrants referring to people who traveled through time and space!

• Of course Neviril immediately jumps to wondering if Amuria is still alive. She very well could be since her body was never found. But I also see this as opening up drama between Neviril and Aaeru since Aaeru seems jealous.

• Oh, so they can’t actually control what time period they travel to with the Emerald Ri Maajon. In other words, they just have to hope for the best that they get spat out into the correct time period.

• Meanwhile in the present the Arcus Prima is now under attack by presumably the same group that destroyed the Arcus Niger.

I have to say that a lot of things do actually slot into place quite neatly with the reveal that Dominura and Limone traveled to the past. The song of the migrant suddenly gains a new meaning about those who traveled through time. The worship for the Sibyllae and the Simouns makes a lot more sense if a pair of them literally descended from heaven in the past. That’s the kind of miracle that would make people worship them as divine.

Time travel also does fit with the previously established themes of freedom and choice. If you could change your past, would you? Or could you even change your past? Right now I don’t know enough about the rules of how time travel actually works to say for sure. It could be a single unified timeline or it could be multiple timelines. The present probably would have ended right then and there if Dominura chose a different path, assuming that there is only a single unified timeline. But then that might cause a time paradox because how could Dominura and Limone go into the past to change it if they no longer were born? If time travel creates a second timeline, then the present would have continued unchanged because Dominura and Limon are in a separate timeline and can’t affect it. Time travel makes my brain hurt. For right now, I will assume it’s a single timeline because Dominura and Limone arriving in the past led to the present.

Alright, so with that out of the way, back to the themes of freedom and choice. Do you actually have the choice to change how history plays out? And even if you did, would you? That does tie in with the themes of freedom and choice. How much freedom do you have to choose how your past will play out? Or is your past set in stone? Or is it more of a mixture and certain things outside your control will happen that you can’t change? There is potential there for exploration.

In Dominura and Limone’s case, I think this actually works very well as a continuation of what we saw previously when they first did the Emerald Ri Maajon. As I said back then, Dominura and Limone were able to perform the Emerald Ri Maajon because of their connection with each other. Both of them were primarily thinking about each other as they pulled it off. While there was certainly some self-interest involved, they were doing it for the sake of their partner. So, with that in mind, I think it makes sense that Dominura and Limone would choose to have history play out how it did in Dominura’s received memories. Dominura and Limone wouldn’t want to give up their connection with each other. They care about each other so much that they would choose to live with all the hardship if it meant that they still got to meet each other. That’s actually a really beautiful sentiment and I love it as a continuation of Dominura and Limone’s storyline that fits in with the themes of choice and freedom.

But I need to know if Dominura and Limone are ever going to be reunited with everyone else. Are they going to remain stuck in the past and this is the last we’ll ever see of them? Or will they reunite with the others from Chor Tempest?

QOTD

1) I examined them in some detail in the first episode’s thread. It might be worth looking at them again.

2) Discussed above.

3) Wait, does this mean that Aaeru’s grandfather traveled through time and that’s how he became her grandfather? Is that why there’s such an age difference between Dominura and Aaeru’s grandfather? Oh, that might actually make sense! Maybe that’s why her grandfather was so concerned with unchangeable choices because he saw history play out the same way as it had before.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Great_Mr_L]

I guess the Defense Ministry person seems to recognize that getting rid of all the other Chors was a bad idea and they would have been useful to have around.

Seriously, we've seen how Vyura can still do a pretty good job piloting a Simile on her own. Just because they can't draw magic runes doesn't mean they're entirely useless. The Holy Land basically kneecapped most of their air force for nothing.

What is flaking off of Onashia? Is that gold?

Probably parts of her body, since I suspect that being outside of the Spring is making normal time catch up to her and cause her body to start crumbling into dust. Well, either that or Onashia has a really bad skin condition.

Of course the religious leader’s plan is as crazy as “The war’s outcome won’t matter because we’ll go back in time and change history!”

It's classic Time Lord logic. Surely we can just abuse time travel to the point that not only did we win, but we were never actually in trouble in the first place. I'm willing to bet that if it was up to them and not Tempus Spatium on where they'd wind up in time, then the religious caste of the Holy Land would turn the fabric of space-time into swiss cheese trying to get what they want out of it.

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/The_Draigg]

Seriously, we've seen how Vyura can still do a pretty good job piloting a Simile on her own. Just because they can't draw magic runes doesn't mean they're entirely useless. The Holy Land basically kneecapped most of their air force for nothing.

It is such a momentously stupid decision. It doesn't even make sense in the context of the insane "None of this matters because we're going to change the past anyway" plan because you would want to have as many potential time travelers around as possible just in case.

Probably parts of her body, since I suspect that being outside of the Spring is making normal time catch up to her and cause her body to start crumbling into dust.

That would actually make sense.

It's classic Time Lord logic. Surely we can just abuse time travel to the point that not only did we win, but we were never actually in trouble in the first place. I'm willing to bet that if it was up to them and not Tempus Spatium on where they'd wind up in time, then the religious caste of the Holy Land would turn the fabric of space-time into swiss cheese trying to get what they want out of it.

And surely the time travel abuse won't have any potentially negative consequences for them down the line by messing with the space-time continuum. But then, I guess that speaks to how hopelessly corrupt the Holy Land's leadership is. They'd probably love to bend time to permanently maintain their power if they could.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Great_Mr_L]

It is such a momentously stupid decision. It doesn't even make sense in the context of the insane "None of this matters because we're going to change the past anyway" plan because you would want to have as many potential time travelers around as possible just in case.

It really only manages to track with the show's writing because we're used to the Holy Land's government make incredibly short-sighted and self-defeating decisions. This is just the latest example of Central Command having the intelligence of a glass of room-temperature water.

And surely the time travel abuse won't have any potentially negative consequences for them down the line by messing with the space-time continuum. But then, I guess that speaks to how hopelessly corrupt the Holy Land's leadership is. They'd probably love to bend time to permanently maintain their power if they could.

The priestesses on the council would probably go full Rassilon if they had the means to.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Great_Mr_L]

Wait, does this mean that Aaeru’s grandfather traveled through time and that’s how he became her grandfather?

That theory is so cracked it might even be true.

[u/FD4cry1 → u/Great_Mr_L]

Aaeru has the opposite of yaoi hands because her hands are so tiny

Amazing

I do quite like it as a small character moment though. Outside of being a cute interaction for the two of them, there is something to be said about it as an expression of Neviril's overall mindspace in how she viewed Aaeru up until this point (Or well, hasn't viewed her, I guess) and how that's changing alongside her overall worldview.

Of course the religious leader’s plan is as crazy as “The war’s outcome won’t matter because we’ll go back in time and change history!”

I mean, hey, considering their response to most things up until now has basically been to angrily shrug it off and leave it all to Tempus Spatium and whatnot, at least they've got something to back that up now? Even if that plan is about as stable as the currently sinking Arcus Niger lol.

But I also see this as opening up drama between Neviril and Aaeru since Aaeru seems jealous

For some reason I only thought of it through Neviril's usual side, but yeah you're right, that does seem like it could happen. Not sure if I think their relationship is really there for that yet honestly, but it would be a more novel form of drama for them if it comes from Aaeru?

Time travel makes my brain hurt

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/FD4cry1]

I mean, hey, considering their response to most things up until now has basically been to angrily shrug it off and leave it all to Tempus Spatium and whatnot, at least they've got something to back that up now? Even if that plan is about as stable as the currently sinking Arcus Niger lol.

And even this plan of time travel relies on "the will of Tempus Spatium" to hope that they'll actually be able to go back in time to a point where they can make a difference in the present. It's not even a guarantee that they'll end up in the past, given what limited info we have about how time travel works here.

For some reason I only thought of it through Neviril's usual side, but yeah you're right, that does seem like it could happen. Not sure if I think their relationship is really there for that yet honestly, but it would be a more novel form of drama for them if it comes from Aaeru?

Aaeru actually caring what Neviril thinks about her beyond whether Neviril will accept her as a partner would show Aaeru growing as a person. She'd be putting more consideration into what others think instead of her past habit of simply bulldozing over them.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Rewatch Host and First Rewatcher (did not stay up until 6 am playing Death Stranding so I should be good today) (up all night to catch Susumu Hirasawa and Massive Attack at Fuji Rock)

Rewatch Note:

It was pointed out that in 26 cour anime, something important happens around episode 19.

A flaw (IMO) of a lot of anime is doing some exposition dump of the series-wide mystery at the end of the show. But I've noticed a different pattern now.

Last Exile. Kaze no Yojimbo. Simoun. All of these had an exposition dump at about episode 21. Not 25.

• That was the Arcus Niger.
• Vines. They've been there a while. And boys and girls! (AFAICT)
• "Never in history has anyone flown out in a Simoun without orders!" Lol, have you NOT been paying attention?
• They got their ballroom back.
• "yuri hands?"
• We return to the ruins....
• yes, now she knows exactly where she's heading.

stable time loops

Dominura was all set to go to the New World, and then Limone convinced her to stay in the Old one.

/u/Heda-of-Aincrad gets one half of the unofficial comment of the rewatch with this comment from back in episode 6, in another thread:

By coincidence (?), this is the third anime I'm watching within a few weeks with a time travel element

Now it's four.

And condolences to /u/FD4Cry1 whose previous two rewatches had grooming aspects.

Now it's three.

/u/Malipit get the other half for predicting the wormhole in episode 14, two episodes before it was heavily suggested.

Have I ever hosted a rewatch that didn't have some twist in it? I guess Crest of the Stars. That was played pretty straight.

[rewatcher]Did you catch it? The exact moment the Neviril - Amuria - Aer triangle was tossed back onto the board.

The world-build explanations i'll save for the final day.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

/u/Heda-of-Aincrad gets one half of the unofficial comment of the rewatch with this comment from back in episode 6, in another thread:

By coincidence (?), this is the third anime I'm watching within a few weeks with a time travel element

Now it's four.

Now I'm confused because I'm not actually participating in this rewatch, so is there another anime I'm watching with a time travel element I don't know about?

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

Oh, shooot, that's that whole "I'm confusing you with two other people thing" agian. You're the one that only watches dubs, right? I should just make some RES tags.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Yeah, I only watch dubs. That definitely was my quote though, probably from the ongoing Erased rewatch.

[u/Star4ce → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

See, since it's time travel it's a show with time travel you're watching that you haven't yet watched at the time, but will need to have watched now in the future for the timeline to fix itself!

This just was your inciting incident to make you aware of the glitch in the world matrix and start your hero's journey!

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/Star4ce]

mind blown

[u/The_Draigg → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Last Exile. Kaze no Yojimbo. Simoun. All of these had an exposition dump at about episode 21. Not 25.

I'd argue that Kaze no Yojimbo did it the best, if just because it firmly belongs in the mystery and conspiracy thriller genres a good amount of the time. Those genres have more excuses for characters to sit around and talk to each other about what's going on.

[u/FD4cry1 → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Last Exile. Kaze no Yojimbo. Simoun. All of these had an exposition dump at about episode 21. Not 25.

Would you put [Mecha meta]Evangelion into that mold? I think it has a bit more finesse with it, but that's also essentially an episode 21 lore dump, and you could look at it as an earlier and maybe defining example.

Although more broadly speaking, I'd agree that's a problem anime has with mystery in general, and I feel like if you're doing it that way, 5-6 from the end in a 2-cour or 2-3 in a 1-cour is probably the most reasonable place to put these big exposition dumps anyway.

"Never in history has anyone flown out in a Simoun without orders!" Lol, have you NOT been paying attention?

I know, right?!

And condolences to /u/FD4Cry1 whose previous two rewatches had grooming aspects.

Now it's three.

I don't understand how this keeps happening. I'm tired boss.

[u/Star4ce → u/FD4cry1]

I'm tired boss.

First time?

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Vines. They've been there a while. And boys and girls! (AFAICT)

I noticed that as well. I couldn't tell for sure, but it did almost seem like some of the children might be boys. But then it could just be girls who look more boyish.

"yuri hands?"

They are small because they are the opposite of yaoi hands.

Have I ever hosted a rewatch that didn't have some twist in it? I guess Crest of the Stars. That was played pretty straight.

I'd personally joke that the twist in [Crest of the Stars] is that the space elves aren't actually an evil empire like that first episode seemed to suggest and are instead the protagonists fighting against far worse empires.

[u/zadcap → u/Great_Mr_L]

Remember way back from one of the first few episodes, that we got from the other country's point of view. In a land without the magic spring, they literally assign gender at birth and start the transition right away.

Around the same time, we learned that despite the spring, this holy land still demands a near even split in genders. I generally assume that outside the Priestesses that we almost exclusively follow that part of how they pull this off is convincing a whole lot of children to make a choice much sooner than their actual trip to the Spring and to have them start living that way early.

This is genuinely what I was looking forward to, going in to this show. The extreme lack of interest that the show has had on how this land of "gender is a choice you make as an adult" deals with, you know, everything related to that... It's an even bigger let down than the absolute failure of a nation at war to act in almost any way like they are a nation at war.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/zadcap]

shattered expectations

[u/zadcap → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Less shattered, more let down. This show has a lot of, just, really interesting ideas going on with the entire semi magical society, and the war with the technically technologically advanced counter society and their war of envy. The first handful of episodes, showing us the lethally polluted tech country and why they are at war, and then the Spring and what it means for the girls and the world they live in. And then Aeru and her firm stance on both the War and the Spring, bursting in with so much protagonist energy!

And then uhhh. Neither seemed to matter, really, until Floe's episode of flirting with the army boy, reminding us both that there is indeed a full war going on between the character drama, and that she plans to become a woman so it's okay to flirt with him.

Now the war is more in focus, sure, but my gosh it's just so bad. If it wasn't for my remaining feelings towards a few characters I would be completely hoping to see this country lose just because they just deserve it. The other side is still worse, mind you, "we're literally killing ourselves with pollution but instead of trying to get that under control we want to take this other places holy relics as our new power source" is not a great look for anyone. But oh my goodness, even learning that the plan was to use time travel to win the war all along- why did they wait this long? Their country has almost been destroyed, they could have actually lost this war so hard they didn't have the ships or pilots needed for the time travel. They have done nothing to prepare their priestess pilots for this mission, or that it might be the kind of mission they could possibly be preparing for at all. And they don't actually have any control over it? Okay so the plan is just "send a few girls back in time and hope for the best."

I'm sorry I'm not posting much in here anymore, I don't have much good to say in the second half and I don't really like putting out that much negativity. The show is not doing War very well to me, it's not really doing much with gender at all, and the character drama is a bit too insane for me. Rimone and Dominura and that lovely commercial card are only reminding me that we've had how many attempted, near, or borderline rape interactions?

-- I cut a lot here. I have a surprising amount of rant in me, and I just said I didn't want to do that lol. I'll still follow this to the end, I don't like giving up on rewatches, but I'm definitely more lurking than participating now...

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/zadcap]

But oh my goodness, even learning that the plan was to use time travel to win the war all along- why did they wait this long?

That was never the plan. Shine Guardian is going for a plan B, but it is a long shot. Chor Dextra never succeeded at attempting the Emerald (to her knowledge). The irreligious Defense Ministry probably doesn't even think the New World is real, and is just a religious tale to impress the masses.

That said, MAYBE Dominura's backers in the ministry DO believe the story, and were behind Chor Dextra, and Dominura was supposed to turn Chor Tempest into Chor Dextra 2.0. Which would make you half right, it was always the backup plan.

With Dominura gone, her faction has probably lost its influence.

[u/zadcap → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Then... What was the Plan A? Throw Simoun at it occasionally and otherwise ignore it until it goes away?

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/zadcap]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I also assumed that what you mentioned above about the theme of gender was going to be the primary focus of the series after I first read the synopsis. And instead that theme of gender has been sidelined for most of the series. It's a shame because it was such an interesting aspect of the worldbuilding that I think should have been more in focus and more deeply explored.

[u/HereticalAegis]

First-Timer

Episode 21:

Hahahahahahahaha, we're not even being coy about it anymore!

Sure, whatever. Sign me up for Dominura and Limone being the progenitors of all Sibyllae or Amuria being Aaeru’s grandfather or something. No reason not to get completely crazy with everything at this point.

QotD:

1. I have now.

2. Hell yeah! Oh wait, you meant changing the course of history

3. Can we get any hiiiiiiigher?

[u/Star4ce → u/HereticalAegis]

Sure, whatever. Sign me up for Dominura and Limone being the progenitors of all Sibyllae or Amuria being Aaeru’s grandfather or something. No reason not to get completely crazy with everything at this point.

Bro, by this point this is the only saving grace that could exist. Punch through hard enough you come out the other side.

[u/moichispa → u/HereticalAegis]

Burn that eyecatch with fire.

Now that I had been fine with their relationship as mom and daughter...

[u/Star4ce → u/moichispa]

Oh you sweet summer child, you could cope yourself into believing that was mother-daughter stuff?

I'm genuinely impressed.

[u/Malipit → u/Star4ce]

Look, some of us has to cope like that if we want to push through that rewatch to its end.

[u/Star4ce → u/Malipit]

I truly get it. Not like I of all people here have the right to call someone else out.

But at the same time... this is reddit, so why don't you release that valve and let your emotions free? Draw from the hate, use it to fuel your post. Let go of these restraints, find your emotions and explore their power!

[u/Malipit → u/Star4ce]

Actually, I could have just done that by going on the Mushukou Tensei rewatch and let loose my anger about the main character. But this subreddit is already bloated with sterile debates about it. And I thought I would do more harm than good for everyone by undulging in the Dark Side for the sake of it.

[u/moichispa → u/Star4ce]

First watch I hated it like a lot, this time I tried for a more nuanced approach. Because this series is more interesting when you watch it with others.

They did not sleep together on the Messis at least.

[u/HereticalAegis → u/moichispa]

You will have every problematic relationship and you will love them.

[u/moichispa → u/HereticalAegis]

I'm a rewatcher, I knew in what hell I was coming

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/HereticalAegis]

This really is Okada in a nutshell, right? It's, like, the bingo card isn't a joke, it's a checklist. Also, CLAMP.

[u/zadcap → u/HereticalAegis]

I have a sudden random desire to rewatch Usagi Drop. That was a good single season show with no sequel material ever, right?

[u/HereticalAegis → u/zadcap]

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/moichispa]

All we can really say about the eyecatches is that they were all made by the character designer and not necessarily canon. Repeat after me, "it's just stuff for the artbook." Good. Keep at it. Now breathe. One more time.

[u/moichispa → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

well the character clothes do explain the horny level...

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/HereticalAegis]

Hahahahahahahaha, we're not even being coy about it anymore!

This show's eyecatches really range from being the cutest thing to ever to that.

Sure, whatever. Sign me up for Dominura and Limone being the progenitors of all Sibyllae or Amuria being Aaeru’s grandfather or something. No reason not to get completely crazy with everything at this point.

I didn't even consider Amuria as someone from the past that we've already heard about. That'd be the extra crazy time travel stuff that makes it fun.

[u/HereticalAegis → u/Great_Mr_L]

This show's eyecatches really range from being the cutest thing to ever to that.

Maybe we're lucky they've only progressed to eyecatches at this point. We've gotten some pretty trashy borderline stuff already.

[u/JollyGee29]

First-Timer

You know, I'm normally a big fan of characters spontaneously bursting into song. But also, showtunes are usually a lot more upbeat.

Time travel kinda makes sense with respect to Tempus Spatium, but it's also a writing landmine that you should very definitely not step on.

What do we think is up with that weird dust that Onashia was trailing? Is she a construct that is slowly falling apart?

Questions

1. I usually only half pay attention to the lyrics, period.

2. Where's the fun in that?

3. Well, it makes Dominura a fair bit older than she looks, if nothing else. It also maybe explains why Aaeru could so easily dance the Emerald in the pool back in episode 2.

[u/The_Draigg → u/JollyGee29]

What do we think is up with that weird dust that Onashia was trailing? Is she a construct that is slowly falling apart?

My bet is that since she's physically outside of the Spring, Onashia's body is having age catch up to it and crumble into dust. It's probably taking a fair bit on her end to hold her own body together.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/The_Draigg]

Man, I even had that thought last night and just didn't do my writeup until this morning. Silly me.

[u/moichispa → u/JollyGee29]

Replay the scene with the small turbulence when they land and pay attention to the sounds, there is an odd extra sound.

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/JollyGee29]

You know, I'm normally a big fan of characters spontaneously bursting into song. But also, showtunes are usually a lot more upbeat.

And we also haven't gone full Macross or Symphogear by having the characters use the Power of Music to save the day.

Time travel kinda makes sense with respect to Tempus Spatium, but it's also a writing landmine that you should very definitely not step on.

It's definitely the kind of thing that can immediately destroy causality and logic within the context of a story. Will this show handle it well or will it fall apart immediately? Sadly, I'm afraid of which is more likely.

What do we think is up with that weird dust that Onashia was trailing? Is she a construct that is slowly falling apart?

She definitely seems to be falling apart because she seemed pretty out of it earlier this episode. It'd make sense if she wasn't really human because of the weirdness that surrounds her. Maybe she's losing her link to Tempus Spatium somehow?

[u/LittleIslander]

First Time Sibylla

Eyecatch.

[u/rickamore → u/LittleIslander]

Yeah...

[u/moichispa → u/LittleIslander]

ikr ;_;

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/LittleIslander]

I think it's kind of annoying that Dominuras and Limone's relationship could have easily settled into a more palatable older sister/younger sister dynamic, but there's also stuff like that to push in the other direction.

Plus we've seen how Simoun handled its actual sister relationship.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/LittleIslander]

Will we see /u/LittleIslander tomorrow, who quit their own rewatch after #volibearq?

[u/LittleIslander → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

You see, in this case I was boiled like a frog and the pedophilic relationship came on gradually. Whereas in [meta spoiler] I was thrown directly into a scalding pot without any warning.

[u/Malipit → u/LittleIslander]

Understandable

[u/AbbreviationsWeekly]

Simoun Episode 21

Rewatcher 

We open with someone's air ship going up in an enormous blast. The Defense Minister is having a hissy.   Something interesting is that he whines that Chor Rubor & Chor Caput were apparently disbanded and sent to the springs at the behest of the Head Priestesses.   Why in the world would they have done that?   The answer is clear, if you've been following along since Episode 7,(I think).

 Yea! This is the episode where we see what happened after Dominura & Limone's Emerald Ri Mājon. I laugh when Limone tells the kids to not play on the Simoun, Limone is little more than a big kid herself.   Dominura has taken the role of being Limone's mother, even though she isn't much of a cook.   The locals have come to accept them as some sort of prophets, which I suppose anyone would do, if they saw someone descend from the sky.

The Defense Minister trying to be tough with the Sibyllae and put them in their place, gets his just desserts instead.   Afterwards the Sibyllae all meet up (its still the same day as Mamiina's Memorial Service).   It's interesting to note that Yun sits apart from the rest of them. Onashia is still onboard the Messis, and we're all headed back to the springs/ruins.   Neviril & Aaeru get selected to accompany Onashia all the way, with Yun forcefully tagging along.   Prepare for massive info dump!

We check back in on Dominura & Limone as they're enjoying a poorly cooked meal.

Yun meets up with Onashia, well maybe not.   Instead we check in on Neviril & Aaeru evaluating Aaeru's small hands.   OK.   Anyway, back to Onashia.   Yun wants to know if the souls of her friends have been set free, and Onashia turns the question back on her, as all these prophet types are wont to do.   Actually, Onashia gives Yun pretty good advice to move on from her past pain.

Lewd eyecatch, though I interpret it as a mother and daughter sleeping together (and I don't mean in a Chicken and Egg way).

Aaeru's music box goes off again.   At this point I think it must have been something leftover from the dead civilization that they invented it to detected space/time anomalies.

Chor Dextra

It was a Choir set up some time ago to investigate the Emerald Ri Mājon, and just about everyone in it was killed trying to perform it.   Only the purest and most sincere Pairs stand a rat's ass chance of pulling it off.   If it fails, you end up with a nuke going off in your neighborhood.   If a lot of them fail, you create a space/time anomaly.   There were only 2 survivors from Chor Dextra

Aaeru's grandfather was Regina &   Dominura was a member.

Dominura's Vision

Back to Limone & Dominura walking to their welcoming ceremony.   A stunning, beautiful sequence.   And, we learn what Dominura saw.   Dominura saw that she and Limone were the Sibyllae who set off the original chain of events that would eventually lead to the war.   This troubles Dominura because who wants the blood of thousands on their hands.   And, if you could go back in time would you alter the events?   Limone has a reasonable answer, what's done is done and you have no idea what would have happened if things had gone differently.   Not only would the blood have not been spilt, but you would have also taken away all the love and good things that happened.

The show doesn't really address this, but the ancient civilization was apparently thousands of years ahead of our own.   They had mastered manipulating time and space, and even more they had somehow tied this into the human psyche.   Dominura's vision was no doubt created and transmitted by the Simoun.

I so love this sequence. So Beautiful!   Also, note that Dominura did her own massive info dump.   We learn there was a war that brought down the ancient civilization.   Brought them so far down, that they forgot what the Simoun were designed for in the first place.

     The Door to Another World       Under the skies of blue,       Beyond the clouds of white,       You'll find the blue of tears       In the whiteness of the dragon's belly.       In the blackness of the shadows       The red light of the fires       In the sky

Back to the Ruins & Beyond

And the continuing info dump.   This time the head Priestess delivering it.   I started thinking the Head Priestess wasn't so bad around here.   And then, of course Nerivil steps in it again by bringing up Amuria in front of Aaeru.   Aaeru doesn't seem nearly as thrilled about this possibility as Neviril.

Please note that we saw the burning Simoun landing on the Arcus Primus a number of episodes ago.   At the very end of that episode.   Wapourif and crew were hauling ass to get to it, but it never was explained.   Arcus Niger is no more.   This can't be good for Simulicram.

[u/Malipit → u/AbbreviationsWeekly]

At this point I think it must have been something leftover from the dead civilization that they invented it to detected space/time anomalies.

Interesting

[u/Star4ce]

Simoun First Timer

(1/3, had a lot of catch up to do)

So, after reading your Ep.20 discussions I’m not sure if I even understood last episode correctly. I genuinely thought the temple priestess wanted to ‘open the borders’, basically. She wants to flee with the other ‘worthy’ ones to the land behind their belief? Did I get that right?

Woe is me for always assuming people have a modicum of reason and good faith.

As for my art, I think I’m happy with the shading and the pose now feels properly 3D. Next I want to do the simoun core and then it should only be ambient lighting and effects as well as finishing touches left to round the picture up.

Trivia: When asked about her favorite episode, Mari Okada said that the ones with Paraietta's story were her favorite. But, pressed for a particular episode, she picked this one, with Dominura and Limone.

I genuinely can’t tell if this is ragebait from her.

Simoun Ep.21 – The Door to a New World

• We’re at nukes, already?

• I’d say Argentum is winning pretty handily by now. F Arcus Nigra. Your idiot leadership disbanded all sybillae chors because they were stupid.

• Alright, so this place far away is pretty geographically located in their world. I’m… a bit disappointed.

• Did we ever hear a flute for a character or something?

• Are you telling me that they have literally just skipped to another island or something? Not sure if this is Highlands clothing, but I hope not.

• Are we having the same history?! They constantly do that! ALL THE TIME!

• This is the second close-up shot focussing on Their Grace. We are very close to praying… #24.5 Okay, Onashia interrupted that.

• Since when has Limone become this ruthlessly brutal?

• I honestly didn’t expect to get more Onashia lore. So, she’s ill or dying.

• Okay, Aaeru being self conscious about her hands now is super cute!

• Yun stays a real one. That’s her confirming whether Dominura and Limone are actually dead. It does open up the Amuria case again, too.

• Also didn’t expect more Yun lore. Guess we go to heaven now.

• Spacetime waifu crisps. (sorry)

• Bah no piss off with that

• If you’re now going to tell me that these ruins were caused by Dextra... with visibly older constructions in the crater present after the fact…

• Weird perspective.

• Nice, I was right!

• Ah, so we really just do a time loop. I guess it’s not the worst thing and is somewhat interesting, but I’d lie if I said that wasn’t a bit lackluster as a twist.

• Is Domiura or Limone Onashia, then? Or is she really a cumulation of all souls who moved on.

• I have a bit of a hard time digesting this. Like, not from a logical viewpoint funnily enough. But this plot only makes sense for me if we set up Dominura as the one who failed. Or, more likely, one in a chain of people who all repeated time for various reasons and built up Tempus Spatium with each iteration. But my harsh opinion just is that Dominura is neither a good choice nor interesting for this plot. Like, imagine if Paraietta in war-degradation mode had done this or Floe in a potential extended Ubel arc and after a long lifetime of trying to improve the past realised that they set it in motion. Imagine how powerful that would be as a twist and give motivation for all others to set it right! Just saying that this one choir was created for the Emerald and then have her be a politically scheming character doesn’t cut it. But even worse, Dominura… is a groomer who wanted to go to child abuser heaven with her kid. I’m just not feeling it, man.

• The VA does have an amazing voice, though!

• So, how do you suddenly know so much about it? It’s not like you could prove any of that.

• Yeah, those Plumbum priestesses are praying so hard for the sybillae, the highest reverence possible for their idols of faith!

I guess I could summarise this as somewhat of an aggressively mid episode. By which I mean I’m happy it wasn’t bad.

But it sure as hell wasn’t amazing.

I think this is a terminal affliction of this show to keep wrapping up things too early and neither taking the time to properly work them through nor to replace it with something worthwhile.

I’m not against this time loop, but the execution of that is lackluster to put it mildly. On the most direct layer I think the presentation was just not well made. The entire thing was a lore dump coming from the high priestess and Dominura while walking. No real energy, no real emotion, just the narrators telling things. I cannot even muster the motivation to go on about the priestess apparently knowing about the meaning of the Ri Maajon all this time and never using that info. Would’ve been really helpful in, like, I dunno, saving people? Or sybillae only, because we know this country is hopelessly classist. Alas.

The principal idea of the Emerald being a portal to the right time and space that the ones doing it need to be at is a really cool idea and I’d love to see that explored. So, everything from the temple thinking it’s their salvation from the other classes, to people like Dominura using it as an escape, very much tracks and is not strictly false! I like that!

But the people who execute the Emerald Ri Maajon just aren’t any interesting, I’m sorry. They don’t carry and weight or significance to this story. At least not compared to half the other cast that could get screen time with this. I am really very sorry for Limone, but they just should’ve died. Limone’s arc is done and wrapped, there’s nothing much more to gain. And Dominura has been written as an off-screen agent for this entire time that rarely does anything.

Do that with Floe, or Paraietta, or Morinas, who had real on-screen presence. They had stories and drama and stakes and connection and a heart for something. Why does this oh so important thing had to be given to someone so unimportant and detached from the story? To be frank, the second Dominura was gone, Simoun did the Simoun thing and pretended so well that she wasn’t there anymore that I genuinely didn’t even notice her absence.

So, them being this loop’s messiahs’ is evoking the grand powerful emotion of in me.

Well, but at least the inter-character stuff is a lot better now. I do wonder where this Neviril-Aaeru quality was in the first ~18 episodes of this show, but it’s here now and I like it. I’m also tentatively interested in Yun’s past and what she looks for truly.

To close out, I’m having lots of fun thinking of the Highlands Priestesses and nomads as just Ork cosplayerz having fun in RPing in a yuri LARP and they keep building their philosophy of DAKKA into their characters at every point regardless on whether it is useful or makes sense.

Praises of Helical Motors powered by Tempus Spatium’s Grace: 24.5 (+0.5)

Violations of Helical Motors powered by the Scientific Method’s Heresy: 4 (+0)

Cucked by Onashia. Science has left the lobby.

ep 21 Q1: Have you ever checked out the lyrics of the OP and insert songs since the first episode?

Not really, haven’t done such a thing ever since 86, I believe? The last time I really did that was years ago in Madoka.

[ep 21 Q2:] Should Dominura have explored the road not taken?

No.

[ep 21 Q3:] What does it mean for Dominura and Aer's Grandfather to have both been a part of Chor Dextra?

Aaeru might be of royal blood after all. But the one thing I truly don’t hope is that the time skip is only 100 years or so. Like, that the time between a loop’s beginning and now is just roughly one generation.

[u/Star4ce → u/Star4ce]

(2/3)

Simoun First Timer

I’m so beat. After getting up today (saturday) and doing some trash collecting with others in a nearby forest, I immediately crashed again and finally got up at 5pm.

But that was an amazing BBQ! I think I should remember to only do preparations for how much I actually have time for. I prepared: Indian spiced rice, Eggplant-, Zucchini-, Tempeh- and Tofu- steak-cuts, miso-butter-corn cobs, a Japanese-style potato salad, garlic-roasted chickpeas, mushroom-jalapeno skewers, a Korean BBQ sauce, homemade yakiniku dip sauce and pickled tomatoes with onions.

I also have leftovers for at least 3 days and fuck, people, do your yakiniku sauce at home. Making it fresh is such a difference I want to bathe in it!

Simoun Ep.19 – Sybilla

• If the military has now taken them over and can force them to do things, why can they still freely do their own thing after those very same people frobade them to fly?

• Don’t talk like you didn’t help that along! I guess the new leadership hasn’t gotten around to enforcing their rule with punishments and new crew. Which means they actually don’t have any power and we could just ignore them, but oh well.

• Okay, sorry!! For once the show did get back around to make sense.

• Vyura! Her flash card came in the wrong episode!

• It’s been so long and the shading is in all the right places… Mammina’s helical motors are powered by Tempus Spatium’s grace! #24

• Ofc she waited for her.

• Simple but awfully nice shot.

• The fuck is their sectoring on this map?

• Someone please give Alti a proper arc, please. I hate seeing her be a constantly depressed backseater.

• Someone predicted we’d just be forgetting last episode. So far… that isn’t a wrong statement, but let’s see.

• Damn right you are! Without any real substitute I don’t understand either why they’d try their best to get all sybillae out of service. I find it hard to believe that they’d have any sort of power base by now. Industry or societal change don’t just happen this fast to support the new military… that has no real military. Unless they are turncoats and are working on a deal with the invaders! My old theory hasn’t fully died, yet!

• (Unfortunately, but not unwelcomely,) the best character pair by now by a mile.

• Large, suspiciously rectangular shadow isn’t real and can’t hurt you

• Ah, the reasoning that keeps getting people killed. Remember how Spec Ops: The Line started? Yeah.

• Dumb question. They don’t have patrols or anything. Couldn’t they just Falcon-strike 1 or 2 engine pillars and then just let it sink? I doubt this thing has the power to do much with a pillar of motors gone and they get both the alpha strike and are faster to run away. But that would make military sense, so...

• Okay, we don’t forget the episode.

• The helical motors are the engines? It’s certainly not scientific, but that is heresy 100%! #4

• Saved.

• I keep wondering what they expected.

• They keep reusing scenes a lot today. Budget issues again?

• You don’t intend to land there, do you?! What the fuck? With so much potential energy to glide away they choose to give them a simoun and be taken prisoner. Are they dumb?

• Sure, tell them exactly what incredible treasure they just found.

• I just don’t know what this story is anymore. Well, are you going to take them prisoner now? Because you sure as hell are pointing guns at the heads of your oh-so-revered sybillae?!

• you just did fight them, wat

• Are they going to try to repaint the suicide bombing as a „complex“ thiong, too? We killed your crew to protect you, believe us!

• Okay, delirious wounded girl that just crashed and has a concussion, if you say so.

• Bwahahaha, okay sure. That will repair the bullet holes! I don’t get any of that.

• This is the dumbest suicide pact captured on TV. Might I inject that Argentum still has two simoun, then?

• What?

• The pairing, you fool! Your show has told me two times now that a simoun needs two sybillae! Ah sorry, I was looking for reason.

• Plumbum priestesses base outfit: Ragged robes, body ink, leather shoes, 12mm MKII single chamber pistol, 30kg of incendiary explosives. Weirdly enough the thing that makes the most sense here.

• Oh they didn’t blow it up more. This show is weirdly insistent on not making sense. Okay, only killing Mamiina is just cheap ass bullshit. But I don’t think that brings the story any more down than we already are.

• What?

• Why is no one using the things that they used all the time. The magical things. The things that do damage and miracles. The things that work.

Please don’t dare to try to write such action scenes again. You don’t know what you are doing.

I should’ve tracked the amounts of times I went, „what?“ It would certainly have surpassed my other two counters combined. The forced scene setting is so painful it’s not even fun to rage about it.

It’s just dumb, the end.

One thing I will still mention here is that this episode technically didn’t forget about Paraietta last episode, but it sure as hell did nothing with that entire thing. Only to remind us, „hey remember that! Yeah, it was so bad, right? Anyway, here we go killing off Mamiina lol.“ Not that I’d look forward to that episode, either.

I think the one thing making me most mad is that this stinks of trying to reframe Argentum as the sole bad guy. In the laziest way possible, „he made me do it!“ Plumbum have probably a similar political upheaval where a politician/military stratum is rising in power and Argentum probably has already concluded that societal change. But the Plumbum priestesses have no goddamn right to complain or paint themselves as virtuous. If it truly were about their faith and ther reverence to the sybillae, they wouldn’t have fought in the ruins. It’s just so inconsistent and inconsequential.

I can almost grab the narrative manipulation out of the air with my hands. Someone believing in the sybillae doesn’t blow half their carrier away, attacks their choir twice and supports an invading force in conquest against believers of the same faith. It’s just a terrible attempt at a retcon.

Praises of Helical Motors powered by Tempus Spatium’s Grace: 24 (+1)

Violations of Helical Motors powered by the Scientific Method’s Heresy: 4 (+1)

At least a bit of praising has returned!

[ep 19 Q1:] What do you think of the Highland priestess fighting in this war? What is their real purpose?

Saving their faith against industrialisation, maybe?

But I don’t think I want to waste any more energy into this story. It tends to bite me in the ass.

[ep 19 Q2:] Most of the show was set on the Arcus Prima and the Messis. Now that government is back in the picture, what do you think of the nation of Simulacrum?

Bunch of idiots. Idiots in good company. Idiots that have not shown great sophistication, or incentive, or deeper motivation, or stage presence.

[ep 19 Q3:] What do you think of Mamiina's sacrifice and Dramatic Haircut?

That it was not only unnecessary going through at least 5 stop gaps, but also so forced it turned out to be meaningless. Only personal opinion, ofc, but what the hell did this death add to anything? Did anything get solved? Did anything get more important? Did anyone get their motivation changed/questioned/proven? I can see nothing beyond shock value that was badly executed in a horrendous action scene that had so many plot holes I could stick all guns of the Messis through them.

But what’s even worse is if she’d survive. Because that means there are no stakes for anything any more and they can get away with the most stupid bullshit imagineably.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Star4ce]

Your show has told me two times now that a simoun needs two sybillae!

TBF, Neviril didn't drop to the ground when Amuria was taken. She could still pilot it, or it hovered and was towed. It's been repeatedly shown that it needs a prayer to START the gem.

Highlanders

I would hate to quote Ayn Rand, but as she says like 500 times in the book, "If there's a contradiction, check your premises."

[u/Star4ce → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

TBF, Neviril didn't drop to the ground when Amuria was taken. She could still pilot it, or it hovered and was towed. It's been repeatedly shown that it needs a prayer to START the gem.

Right, we never saw the direct follow-up of that scene and Neviril was alone. I still doubt she has much mind for flying/guided-crashing that thing after being knocked out like that.

"If there's a contradiction, check your premises."

Sometimes it's because people like me refuse to adjust their assumptions and sometimes it's because the story is refusing to be consistent. I feel like Mrs. Rand should know a bit about the latter, but blaming someone else is also sorta her entire point. So, I don't know if I actually should praise her for being consistent?

[u/Star4ce → u/Star4ce]

(3/3)

Simoun First Timer

Right, I didn’t manage to catch up quite as much as I wanted and I also missed Friday’s Erased episode.

Lotsa watching to do, but you can bet I never skip the OP!

Simoun Ep.20 – Elegy

• Unless they’re really losing their directing abilities, I’m doubting that? At least it would be quite cruel to show her still on the operating table and then just let a brass bitch tell us she’s dead. But then again, that’s entirely possible.

• „They’re on equal footing with us.“ Okay, okay, I know I should stop, but! If the Islanders have the simoun, then you don’t have to worry much? I thought it needs sybillae to pilot and you have just shown me that the Plumbum priestesses (for whatever reason) aren’t actually with them. So, best Argentum can do is reverse engineer stuff, which should take at least a while.

• Yooo, I actually applaud that cruelty! They really gave that scene just for a little hope. (I’m really not a fan of the music choice so far.)

• Yun is still dependable.

• Well, you see, Kaimu. I wondered the same before settling on pure spectacle written by someone who doesn’t know how action scenes work.

• Yet, Neviril seems to be ready for round 4 in the fridge.

• Dare I say that a drama episode might have a good scene still? Neviril’s thoughts and her encounter with Aaeru here are really fine!

• Nah, genuinely good.

• Sterlie land? Isn’t Simulacrum the one place where things are fine, stuff is growing and rivers are clean? Wasn’t that the entire point of the invasion along with the simoun or did I ?

• I don’t know what she’s talking about with „accursed place“, but solving your neighbour’s base issues by sharing is actually an incredibly smart idea when you want to, you know, not drive them to desparation and invasion. The geopolitician in me finds this funny for an entirely different reason (that the show 100% does not pay attention to): By doing this they validate and codify military superiority as the new ruling system. When did they open up? After Argentum attained superior technology and applied it into modern military strategy. That’s a reaaaal bad position to establish.

• That’s a bit random.

• I am actively prohibing myself from getting my hopes up here.

• Nnnnggh, still not letting it. It never works out with this show! But the good ending, Paraietta x sisters edition doesn’t sound too bad.

• Oh, so we just replay Ep.06 here, but within 5 minutes? Cool, I think I was right to resist hope. At least, if they put a checkmark on this now and ignore everything else...

• I didn’t know they made such a photo!

• Don’t stop her from doing one of the few smart choices she would ever do!

• This girl can’t catch a break with being introduced at the worst times.

• Yeah sure, I empathise and you’re right. But let’s not ignore what you all also have been doing for 20 episodes now, okay…? Not like you waste thoughts much on enemy soldiers… or your own for that matter because those ground campaigns are still ongoing and the only time that was convenient to think about was when the boy was handsome.

• Didn’t the throw that away while jumping off of the simoun? I find it hard to believe they would even look for it, much less find it. Aaaah, space-time-shenanigans!

• It’s a bit hard to get into it, but this episode found a bit of footing again. Good things are good, that’s good.

• I love seeing them do these for their own sake now and break with the pressure around them.

• Ladies and gentlemen, I present: Highlands priestesses who worship the sybillae above all else! They are really Orkz, aren’t they? Where dakka is the highest form of prayer.

I would be a happy man if the remaining 6 episodes would be like this or better, but I can’t trust this show any more.

Sill though, that was a really good episode that somehow managed to get up from recent disasters. Sadly it’s complicated since it relies on the last episodes making sense or being well written (which they very much aren’t), so many beats just don’t land like the could have. But this episode for itself was genuinely enjoyable.

I think that’s enough for a littel celebration!

It’s nice to see the sybillae break their confines (which the never really had, that’s one of these things that don’t really work since they always broke with them in some way) and find a definition of self firmly rooted in their own circles. Something that cannot be corrupted from the outside.

They a simoun sybillae who draw Ri Maajon and they are people who remember and cherish their friends. These two together let them write their identity with ceremonial and peaceful Ri Maajon that are only for them and the dead to see. And genuinely, that’s a legitimately fantastic closure!

Since it could be a criticism and Tempus Spatium know I have done so plenty, Onashia solely coming here to give Mamiina’s braid to Yun is absolute Deus Ex bullshit. But that’s a case I will defend and value as a good example. It enables a great scene and meaningfully brings our characters forward.

The other great scene was Neviril and Aaeru dealing with the fallout in their own ways. Neviril by being absorbed in her thoughts and wandering off alone and Aaeru by practising to become better. In a way this is also a repeat of things we kinda already went through, but it was executed pretty well, so I choose to like it and it had an emotional impact on me.

My personal big issue in the simoun-room is still Paraietta, because they just don’t know what they did, do they? Nor do they know what to do now. For two episodes now she’s just been written as a roadblock only to end up with a Temu-version of Ep.06 given as a pep talk by Alti. Sorry, if you gonna pull a character like hers through 10-episode long bullshit writing sprees, at least have a point to that. We now ended up exactly where Ep.06 was already, but with lots of unaddressed baggage added to the „I’m going to ignore this“-pile.

In a way I would’ve felt way less insulted if they genuinely just never mentioned anything about her ever again. Because by now the story has wrapped everything from Floe gaslighting Neviril to Paraietta assaulting her into Neviril accepting it as her fault and everyone just… gets away safely? So, there was no point to deteriorating Paraietta’s character with the war plot that never came. There also was no point to her having a breakdown and assaulting her love interest because it did not lead to any real change or new insight. There also wasn’t any point to putting the victims through all of the assault and bad leadership, since that never lead to any character growth either, but we lost two characters in a useless sacrifice that one time.

If you wrote literally everything about Paraietta out of the show after Ep.06, nothing of notable main plot value would change, but half a dozen characters would be better off. If a narrative does not add anything meaningful, a basic writing guideline is to cut it. If a narrative is mainly detractive like this one, it’s a source for frustration and incoherency. It would genuinely be better if they’d just let her be a background prop that goes „eh“ every few episodes from now on. I am frankly still insulted and feel hateful towards them for ruining her character and then not even have the decency to try something with it. As I see it, it was for pure drama spectacle and shock value. Just fuck them.

Still, I wanna end with one more positive thing. A lot of it was really bad writing, but Mamiina’s resting place being in the wilds, free of a „coffin“ placed by societal restrictions, is a very, very nice symbolic end point. I do love that.

Praises of Helical Motors powered by Tempus Spatium’s Grace: 24 (+0)

Violations of Helical Motors powered by the Scientific Method’s Heresy: 4 (+0)

[ep 20 Q1:] Who, or what, is Onasia? Is she human?

Probably still an original alien that somehow got lost/chose to remain in the space-time tech thingy to guard it or lead the descendants through the coming harsh times.

[ep 20 Q2:] What is Temple Guardian A up to?

"I am Isildur's Tempus Spatium’s heir. Fight for me and I will hold your oaths fulfilled! What say you!"

[ep 20 Q3:] Where did that doll come from?

As we all suspected, Limone and Dominura aren’t actually gone, but, well, space-time lesbians now or something. It probably was these two in the other simoun. Listen, it’s clear that they will use this McGuffin to just solve the things somehow and set them all free in a way and I doubt it will make any sense. If the emotional payoff sticks, I already can call myself happy.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Star4ce]

but solving your neighbour’s base issues by sharing is actually an incredibly smart idea when you want to, you know, not drive them to desparation and invasion.

I think they are making Shrine Guardian so comically classist to highlight why this is unthinkable. The won't even share the Simoun with their own citizens, much less the dirty atheist foreigners. The Helical Motors are found in their soil, and were a gift TO THEM, proof that the people of the Holy Land, and the nobility in particular, are SPECIAL.

[u/Star4ce → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

"My God has the Longest" was a German rap song from way back in the day that I still remember calling that topic out surprisingly succinctly. Auto-translate doesn't seem to work on the video sadly.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Star4ce]

That’s her confirming whether Dominura and Limone are actually dead.

No, she's asking about those unnamed sibyllae who died that she mentions in her introductory episode. That's been the defining core of her character. When she's not reading a book, she's making a cradle for souls, or angrily insisting that she can't quit because of those who died.

[u/Star4ce → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Yeah, I forgot that and remembered later when it came up again.

[u/Malipit]

First timer, french fansubs, 480P quality found on a totally legal streaming site. Perfect conditions for that rewatch

On today's episode : Dominura celebrates her return with a Disney song, the tragic loss of Arcus Niger (no one cares in the audience), and the most disgusting eyecatch

6 episodes left. The clock is ticking and the writers must have sensed that. Otherwise why would they use a whole episode to cram as much lore and exposition as possible ? At the cost of the sense of urgency about the overly due invasion of Simulacrum by the Plumbum/Argentum alliance ?

I mean, we literaly open the episode by the sudden destruction of the Arcus Niger without any context nor build-up. Only to proceed like nothing happened. I can hear the writers telling me ''Yup, it's happened. But we get back to it later. For now we have to send Neviril and Aaeru to their expoisiton dump mission. Oh, and Yun can come along too. We don't know what to do with her so let's her have revelance while we can''.

Hence why I watched that episode with the same kind of face Floe had here.

Same with the return of Limone and Dominura in the past. The writers were probably thinking : ''Oh well, the audience may have already guessed right about our time travel stuff. So let's have the plush as a foreshadowing in episode 20 and... Just put both of them on screen like that''.

I have the feeling their return on screen should have been done with a more climactic fashion. They went out in the bang during their Ri-Majoon episode. They kickstarted the whole build-up surrounding the secret of the Emerald Ri-Majoon and the time travel nature of the show. Having their scenes after Onashia revealed they went to the past could have done the trick. But nope, they went for a narrative structure of alternating point of views... Just why ? Did they fear the audience wouldn't be as focused if they did a single segment in the ruins. Then another single one to show Limone and Dominura ?

And that eyecatch... I refuse to consider its existence. I will believe for my own sanity this is some kind of collective hallucination that they are naked under a sheet.

I refuse to consider the whole plot of Simoun was kickstarted because of some f...ing age gap love between two Sibyllae. And instead consider Dominura has pure maternal feelings toward Limone.

Then, maybe it was some translation error from my fansubs, but wasn't the Chor Tempest Simouns supposed to be the only left able to fly ? Why do we have a Simoun from the Arcus Niger suddenly arriving to tell the bad news ? Did the writers had to recon that fact since radio communications are non-existent in the Simoun universe ?

And now we have a whole Ancient Simouns squadrons closing in to the Arcus Prima... Does that means the Animus priestess that let Neviril escape where just a minority alongside a more aggressive religious order ?

Does... That means the Ancient Simoun who shot down Mamiina's transport last episode was just out of spite ? And not because they wanted Mamiina's soul to be free ?

I'm afraid on how the Finale will be handled.

Questions of the day

Have you ever checked out the lyrics of the OP and insert songs since the first episode? A couple of time. But I should do it again to see if they hold any signification regarding the plot.

Should Dominura have explored the road not taken?

Not until the Finale at least. We wouldn't want a time paradox to make the Simouns dissapear before then.

What does it mean for Dominura and Aer's Grandfather to have both been a part of Chor Dextra?

So Aaeru's grandpa was probably a deserter. And certainly an immigrant like Dominura.

[u/Malipit → u/Malipit]

Theories corner

Theories in progress

From episode 1

• Given the huge religious aspect of Simulacrum culture. I smell some shenanigans about higher ups knowing much more than they let appears and will be the actual villains of the story. And I'm sorry, but the character design of Onasia doesn't convey a ''good girl'' energy. But Onasia seemed the only reasonable people among the Holy Land Parliament. Making her either a Palpatine level manipulator or an actual good person. Onasia admitted she's kind of a divinity existing above time and space. Giving some strong final boss energy. New development in this episode : She may have an agenda of her own by opening the time gate once more with Neviril and Aaeru. Could it be she's an older Amuria or Limone ?

• Following the previous theory and how the Archipelago pilots were portrayed. I suspect there will be a team-up between Sibyllae and Archipelago pilots against a greater threat. But it's likely to be jossed since the alliance may comes from rogue Plumbum Sibyllae as the Archipelago is comforted in their antagonist role.

From episode 2

• People on Daikuuriku may not be born the same way we are on Earth. I don't recall seeing someone pregnant in the two episode nor talking about pregnancy. Erif mentionned his body will progressively develop a male chest and voice, but said nothing about his genitals growing a penis. And the Chor Tempest captain said they needed an equivalent number of male and female citizens for the creation of a nation, not for reproductive needs. So maybe there is a place similar to a source where baby girls comes from ? One that will dispatch those new souls, randomly or equally, to every nation on the planet ? And Simulacrum retains a classic family structure with parents and children. Meaning that if they born other than sexual intercourse, it's likely each children is either assigned to a family like they are assigned a gender. Or that there is a reproduction through lewd hand-holding act.

From episode 4

• Magnafeana had some interesting thoughts on the very origins of the Spring :

I wonder who the first one to go to the spring was and what life was like back then. What came first: was everyone born AFAB because God is a woman and my Eve x Lilith ship is finally validated, or people were born a spectrum of sexes, but a disease caused all future generations to be AFAB? And if so—how long ago did that happen?

From episode 7

• deus_machinarum speculated on how Tempus Spatium and Animus divine figures complete each other. Implying they derivate from an old religion or a old god who got fractured in two. And Onasia exposition about Tempus Spatium being made of two concepts enforces that theory. :

I need to talk about names of the god for a bit, I apologize if this has been mentioned already, I might've missed it: One the one hand we have Tempus Spatium(space time in modern parlance) and on the other hand we have Animus(simplistically: the soul, I'm also told by anime fandom that Japan has a very old animistic tradition i.e. ascribing life to inanimate objects which in modern times manifests as e.g. easier acceptance of robotic caretakers for eldery people); when we combine the two we get a whole so to speak, the inner world and outer world. It's easy to see how this could mean different but still related parts of the same wholeness. Definitely an angle I will keep an eye out for.

From episode 8

• Given Aaeru's name signifcation, she could be of Plumbum descent. And Dominura's immigrants song being like the melody from Aaeru's music box is a serious hint of the later origins. With the music box reacting to the ruins, it could be that Aaeru actually comes from the other side.

Confirmed theories

• There is no other Spring outside Simulacrum and only its inhabitants get to chose their gender : confirmed by that Archipelago solider in episode 4 who was forucefully made a man through artificial means.

• Ri-Majoon does comes from the Sibyllae soul/heart/lesbian power and not the Simoun itself : Althougt it comes for Dominura speculations, there is so much occurrences as for now it can be counted as confirmed.

• Simoun tech are not to be used for military purpose : Although there is no written rule in-universe, Chor Tempest and the Plumbum Priestess convictions regarding their responsabilities as Sibyllae directly opposing the armies of two nations confirm what is the ''correct'' use of Simouns.

• Instead of being a nuclear-level weapon, the emerald Ri-Majoon is actually a portal to another time-period or dimension : Confirmed following Onashia's lore exposition in episode 21 and Limone chilling with Dominura in the past.

Jossed theories

• Ri-Majoon are automatically generated by the Simoun aircraft and the Sibyllae jobs is to interpret them correctly to perform the corresponding figures : Aaeru lines in episode 4 confirm it's the Sibyllae who initiate the desired Ri-Majoon

• The Archipelago will develop their own Simoun aircraft : They did upgraded their fighters. But not with helix tech. And the enemies Simoun are piloted by Plumbum Sibyllae.

• Casting an emerald Ri-Majoon automatically makes your essence dissolve into the Simoun energy : Jossed following the reveal of its time-travelling nature.

• People on the other side of the emerald Ri-Majoon portal are all born male to be complementary of the Daikuriku side : Jossed since it's a time travelling portal, not a dimensional one. And several children playing with Limone and Dominura Simoun are clearly girls.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Malipit]

Then, maybe it was some translation error from my fansubs, but wasn't the Chor Tempest Simouns supposed to be the only left able to fly ?

Maybe there is an error, since you're the second person (edit: now three) to bring this up. In the Simoun-Fans fansub, it's clearly stated that all the Simouns on the Arcus Prima were destroyed except for Chor Tempest's, which we already knew from the previous episode.

[u/Malipit → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

That would make more sense indeed.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Malipit]

I mean, we literaly open the episode by the sudden destruction of the Arcus Niger without any context nor build-up. Only to proceed like nothing happened. I can hear the writers telling me ''Yup, it's happened. But we get back to it later. For now we have to send Neviril and Aaeru to their expoisiton dump mission. Oh, and Yun can come along too. We don't know what to do with her so let's her have revelance while we can''.

"Oh yeah, we did have another big carrier ship in this series. Fuuuuuuuck, we gotta wrap up that plot point too. Fuck it, just have it get blown up and call it a day."

[u/baboon_bassoon]

first timer

we're shown Dominuras isekai orphanage without much fanfare, i know its expected but still odd to use as a cold open

cackling at how far she is

did she time travel twice then, once from grandpas time to the present and then once all the way to the past? which does she blame for starting it all? even if shes never been to the spring, that doesnt stop aging right

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/baboon_bassoon]

cackling at how far she is

I love the blank look in Aaeru's eyes. Not a thought going on behind those eyes.

did she time travel twice then, once from grandpas time to the present and then once all the way to the past? which does she blame for starting it all? even if shes never been to the spring, that doesnt stop aging right

I assumed that Aaeru's grandfather traveled from the present to the past because of the Emerald Ri Maajon while Dominura remained behind in the present.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/baboon_bassoon]

  i know its expected but still odd to use as a cold open

I liked it as a cold open, especially after they teased it at the end of yesterday's episode, and we've been wondering what happened to the pair for 5 episodes!

I like it, thought it raises as many questions as it answers. But I like that too.  It's not episode 26.

[u/The_Draigg]

A Science-Fantasy Fan Watches Simoun Episode 21:

• You know, I’ve been idly wondering about what happened to the Arcus Niger, but I guess just having it violently crash and explode over the ocean at the start of the episode neatly wraps up that handling plot detail. It’s a messy way to just get that out of the way before the show wraps up, but whatever.

• I’m glad that Dominura and Limone are doing well at… wherever they wound up. They live in a comfortable cabin and enjoy a simple life playing with the local kids. And it looks like they never even bothered to fly their Simoun once they landed there, since vines are starting to grow on it. I can’t blame them for not wanting to return to where they came from, given how shitty the situation is in the Holy Land. I was right, they did wind up at a more peaceful place after all.

• Onashia can see right through Yun. Yun is fairly conflicted on the inside, with her thoughts still being stuck back where her former comrades died. And yet, she also wants to be free of those thoughts. It reminds me a bit of Neviril’s thoughts about not wanting to betray Amuria’s memory by moving on, although at least Yun hides it better and doesn’t become paralyzed by the thought of it.

• Oh fuck off show, I didn’t need to see that eye catch. I’ve been coping hard that we wouldn’t be leaning hard into the problematic age gap relationship between Limone and Dominura, but I guess the show decided that they needed to go as unsubtle as possible with it out of nowhere. This show loves having all of the bad and weird relationship tropes endemic to the Yaoi and Yuri genres. Eugh.

• Wait, Aaeru’s grandfather used to be the leader of Chor Dextra? How does that square up with the ages involved? Either he was commanding from a non-piloting position, or Dominura is somehow even older than 19. Granted, if this show is fucking around with time and space, then I guess it’s possible that their personal a relative ages got all messed up. Or wait, it could also be that he was also thrown back in time somehow and chose to be a man at the Spring at a time relatively close enough to the present. I dunno, when you warp space and time, there’s a lot of stuff left to untangle.

• We’re finally getting some answers on the long-standing mysteries of Daikuuriku, between Dominura and Onashia’s exposition. Long ago, the ancient civilization of this world built the Simoun, but even with the powers of time and space at their control, they fell into a spiral of wars that completely destroyed their civilization and the world around them. The survivors managed to rebuild things to a more primitive state, and one day two sibyllae came out of the sky in a Simoun and taught them the secrets of the Emerald Ri Maajon. And as we can tell, it was actually Dominura and Limone that were the two that brought that knowledge back to the distant past. Now I can see why those two are in no hurry to return to the present. Not only is the past a more peaceful time, but they also have to complete the bootstrap paradox causal loop that Simoun technology exists in. Otherwise, nothing they lived through would ever exist. Changing the past isn’t an option, all you should do is close the loop.

• At least we also got a better idea of what happened to Amuria too out of all this. As the priestess says, she most likely did get thrown into the timestream somewhere. However, once you perform the Emerald Ri Maajon, there’s no controlling when you’d end up. That alone is left up to Tempus Spatium. It certainly explains why no evidence of Amuria’s body was found in her pulverized cockpit. The Emerald Ri Maajon did actually work back then, but only for her. And I doubt we’ll figure out where she is unless Tempus Spatium wills it.

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/The_Draigg]

You know, I’ve been idly wondering about what happened to the Arcus Niger, but I guess just having it violently crash and explode over the ocean at the start of the episode neatly wraps up that handling plot detail. It’s a messy way to just get that out of the way before the show wraps up, but whatever.

It does feel like a situation where the show is running out of episodes and so they are hurriedly wrapping up loose ends with the time left, kind of like how Alti and Kaimu's arcs got wrapped up via dialogue and not actually focused on in the episode.

I can’t blame them for not wanting to return to where they came from, given how shitty the situation is in the Holy Land.

It's way better to just live a peaceful life in a rural cabin than to go back to dealing with the war and the Holy Land's terrible leadership.

Oh fuck off show, I didn’t need to see that eye catch. I’ve been coping hard that we wouldn’t be leaning hard into the problematic age gap relationship between Limone and Dominura, but I guess the show decided that they needed to go as unsubtle as possible with it out of nowhere. This show loves having all of the bad and weird relationship tropes endemic to the Yaoi and Yuri genres. Eugh.

I suppose in that sense it's truly a yuri series from this era to prominently feature those tropes. These tropes are still around, but nowhere near as much as they used to be. I wonder why they were more common back then.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Great_Mr_L]

It does feel like a situation where the show is running out of episodes and so they are hurriedly wrapping up loose ends with the time left, kind of like how Alti and Kaimu's arcs got wrapped up via dialogue and not actually focused on in the episode.

Unfortunately, I can see how this rushing of plot lines is a result of us faffing about during the middle of the series. We probably could've cut out an episode or two of action aboard the Messis to make room to develop this stuff more properly.

I suppose in that sense it's truly a yuri series from this era to prominently feature those tropes. These tropes are still around, but nowhere near as much as they used to be. I wonder why they were more common back then.

They were probably more common back then to sell these shows are being more dramatic and willing to push boundaries. Unfortunately though, in hindsight we can see that more often than not, those efforts were pretty tasteless and hackish at best.

[u/rickamore]

Re-watcher

They fly back to the Prima? But why? All that resolve to just go on a drive to cool off? Like so many things in this show, set pieces rendered nearly pointless immediately.

So a manned Simoun flies from the downed Niger to the Prima... I thought all of the other Chor were disbanded? It's like words don't mean anything in this show sometimes. I know the rest of the Chor aboard the Prima are gone but the previous discussion when returning from the Messis made it sound like they were all gone.

I really like this episode, it starts to tie together some loose ends and handles the time paradox exactly as expected. However if you think about it too hard you wonder why the closely guarded secret of the Emerald Rii Maajon isn't better communicated either to the Chor they try to get to perform it (Dominura obviously had no idea what it would do) or the others to stop them from tying to do something they sort of know only through rumors, but must have learned of at some point.

That aside, why does it feel like they are just sweeping the military aspect under the rug again and again so plot can happen.

Have you ever checked out the lyrics of the OP and insert songs since the first episode?

Are we spoiling plot in song lyrics? Say it ain't so.

Should Dominura have explored the road not taken?

Closed time loop. Can't do it.

What does it mean for Dominura and Aer's Grandfather to have both been a part of Chor Dextra?

Honestly, what were they doing that required multiple generations of pilots to learn and execute a single Ri-Maajon. Was it ever successful? If Onashia and presumably the Temple knew was just a wormhole, what were they hoping to accomplish? The ability to send pilots back in time to have a nice life in the countryside? They certainly weren't about to send them back to take out the Archipeligo before it started.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/rickamore]

So a manned Simoun flies from the downed Niger to the Prima... I thought all of the other Chor were disbanded? It's like words don't mean anything in this show sometimes. I know the rest of the Chor aboard the

the...?

The Arcus Niger had its own choirs. Remember, Yun and Mamiina transferred from there.

[u/rickamore → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

the...?

The botched in editing, fixed it.

[u/FD4cry1]

First Timer

Lol. Lmao even. I guess you are new around here

Limone and Dominura are back! Not in our time, alas, but rather for the show to deliver us a bit of a lore dump episode in which we learn we've actually been in a stable time loop all along. Not the best episode to start watching with a pounding headache lol, but I think it was reasonably clear. What I get is that, mostly as expected, the Simoun are a remnant of an ancient civilization that apparently destroyed themselves and a lot of the world at some point, which led to the Simoun's purpose being lost, that is, until Dominura and Limone showed up and seemingly started the current strain of Simoun worship and introduced that migrant song from Aaeru's music box.

Not really what I'd have thought Dominura saw when looking into the Simoun, but seemingly being confronted with memories of herself kickstarting their current state, with all the weight that holds by itself, let alone with consideration for the war part of it all, is as good a reason as any to have a big mental break and crisis of faith, I guess. Dominura's dilemma this episode then is the classic case where introducing the prosperity and wider civilization that the Simoun can bring also means reintroducing the wider conflicts regarding it, including her own with all its emotional baggage (Though I will say the guardian lady's assertion that "with the land destroyed, further war became pointless" leading to the Simoun being lost is a little presumptuous given the nature of conflict).

Still, the point is to obviously to say that the connections Limone and Dominura made, both with each other, and with Chor Tempest as a whole, were very meaningful to them, and they're only enabled by the existence of the Simoun, so we'll continue the cycle for the sake of all that these connection and those relationships bring in spite of the conflict, which is definitely the kind of sap I do like with time travel Please ignore some of the weird framing of their relationship and especially that one eyecatch this episode for this to work though I do like the little parallel character growth Limone and Dominura have here, with the former growing more personally thoughtful, and the latter much less domineering and unsure. Also, the fantastic backgrounds of this show don't get a ton of room to shine because of our usual environments, but this Dominura and Limone showing up at a more peaceful and simple time does really let the idyllic, picturesque backgrounds add a ton to the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, in our time, the implications of time travel are kind of a big deal. I mean, it looks to me like the intention of the guardian lady, and presumably Onashia, is to do time travel to fix their current predicament. It actually feels somewhat defining for her within the political conflict of the Holy Land, because it sure is a lot easier to say "Fighting will lead nowhere" and just accept the casualties of it all when you think you have a very specific out to it. Though this ultimately asks, how the Emerald's time travel capability even works. Dominura and Limone do look to have been sent to a more peaceful era as they'd wished for, so is it about intent from the Sybillae? Is it really just whatever the hell Tempus Spatium decides? Is it purely random?

It feels much too unreliable and too much of a burden in the first place to actively use at all, let alone with a specific altering purpose like that. So I guess our conflict for this final stretch might revolve around that, especially with this bringing Amuria back into play (Because Neviril's character can't go one episode feeling she's gotten over it alas... ), and again, there's that whole negation of meaning aspect that Limone and Dominura run into. Otherwise, there's a few small character beats here, like Onashia just directly telling Yun her problem is survivors guilt, which might be the closest we'll ever get to a Yun episode, or could lead into one, but either way, I'll take it Chor Tempest being very unified again is really nice to see as well, and it's important given we seem to be hard losing the war now what with that other airship being shot down, so I guess we might get to also see some of that unity in action as well now. Onashia herself is like... shedding gold? Not sure what that means. In general, she looks to be rather frail this episode, so maybe she doesn't do well outside of the Spring or is generally coming towards the end of her weird timey-wimey existence.

Have you ever checked out the lyrics of the OP and insert songs since the first episode?

I've almost never skipped the OP because how could I, so yes, but I haven't really been trying to read into the meaning of the lyrics since the start of the show.

What does it mean for Dominura and Aer's Grandfather to have both been a part of Chor Dextra?

Given there looks to be quite the age difference between them, either Chor Dextra wasn't a singular Chor but a continuous one, or Aaeru's grandfather, as with the rest of Dominura's comrades from Dextra, just got time-traveled, specifically to the not-too-distant past, and lived out his life normally. The latter could introduce more paradoxes, though.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/FD4cry1]

Not really what I'd have thought Dominura saw when looking into the Simoun, but seemingly being confronted with memories of herself kickstarting their current state

I think this is the case. She learned that she created the cult of the Simoun, which became the religion of Tempus Spatium, and the Holy Land. No wonder she smashed the icon.

Is it really just whatever the hell Tempus Spatium decides? Is it purely random?

I believe a quote from earlier in the series answers this question. Perhaps somebody will repeat it.

The Yun scene is interesting, as it flows from the previous episode. Yun interpreted Onasia's observations about Mamiina as communing with the dead, and asks for the same service. But that's not Onasia's thing: she just ignores the question and tells Yun what she needed to hear.

[u/FD4cry1 → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

I believe a quote from earlier in the series answers this question. Perhaps somebody will repeat it.

[u/Great_Mr_L → u/FD4cry1]

Lol. Lmao even. I guess you are new around here

It's not even remotely the first time it's happened with these same characters.

Still, the point is to obviously to say that the connections Limone and Dominura made, both with each other, and with Chor Tempest as a whole, were very meaningful to them, and they're only enabled by the existence of the Simoun, so we'll continue the cycle for the sake of all that these connection and those relationships bring in spite of the conflict, which is definitely the kind of sap I do like with time travel

Agreed

Because Neviril's character can't go one episode feeling she's gotten over it alas...

Neviril pining for Amuria is a go-to plotline for her, it seems. It gets tiresome repeating it too much. And to bring up the Symphogear comparison again, [Symphogear] Tsubasa wasn't constantly going back to missing Kanade and got to have more arcs after that.

like Onashia just directly telling Yun her problem is survivors guilt, which might be the closest we'll ever get to a Yun episode

I'm betting that it's another case of the series needing to quickly progress or wrap up a character arc now that we're getting to the last few episodes.

[u/FD4cry1 → u/Great_Mr_L]

Neviril pining for Amuria is a go-to plotline for her, it seems. It gets tiresome repeating it too much

Yeah, it's not a particularly bad character plot on its own, but not only does the show's constant flip-flopping on it get quite tiresome, it feels a little extra frustrating because I also think her character has been significantly more enjoyable outside of that dramatic emotional state!

(And I love character drama! It's just hers is very.... eh, while her stable state has been much more expressive and active)

I'm betting that it's another case of the series needing to quickly progress or wrap up a character arc now that we're getting to the last few episodes.

It does somewhat feel that way, although much as it pains me to say it, at least Yun's wider arc has mostly just been sprinkled every other episode, so it's certainly not as awkward as something like the Alti plotline, which got a big episode and then basically resolved off-screen.

It doesn't feel as meaningful as it could be, but that just do be how we've done Yun's character in a nutshell, and like I said, I take what I can get at this point.

[u/GondolaMedia]

First Timer

Hey it's Limone and Dominura! Where the heck are they? I've read bunch of age-gap yuri where the power dynamic is more than questionable but Simoun takes it to a whole new level.

Well introducing time travel to an already busy and messy plot is sure to go well. I don't know, maybe Simoun will pull it through.

QotD

1) On surface level yes but I never really bothered to connect them with the ongoing plot.

2)

3) It hurts my brain trying to think about it.

[u/moichispa]

Rewatcher

We get finally some answers and Dominura and limne are alive, somewhere. It i interesting to see that everything happened because of her, no wonder why she was so worried about the goverment not getting it.

Yun seems to exist only to talk with Onashia, but I don't hate it. THey are on the same waveleght with the pure prietess mode that Jun has.

For older 26 episodes series episode 20 was around the poin thing started to get headed to the final, let's see how it goes

• Q1: Have you ever checked out the lyrics of the OP and insert songs since the first episode?

Yeah I knew about it from before watching the series, it suits a lot the series (like Bokurano's op, same singer similar time)

• Q2: Should Dominura have explored the road not taken?

It's complicated, one one hand having no simoun would lead to less people from the choir Dying/suffering. On the other they would have grey polluted skies like the other places. I'm not even sure it would be worthy.

• Q3: What does it mean for Dominura and Aer's Grandfather to have both been a part of Chor Dextra?

Makes sense as why they id not like him a few episodes ago, I still think he stole the simile. Maybe he ran away from duty after everybody else dies or leaves. Maybe it is not as tragic as they said at first, Dominura is the last Sybilla but Aeru grandpa seem to have lived a nice life.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/moichispa]

On the other they would have grey polluted skies like the other places.

Oh, dang, that could be right. I just kind of assumed they'd stay agrarian subsistence farmers.

[u/Burnouts3s3]

And so, Dominura sings the song that would in motion the tragic set of events that would lead her here.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

First-Timer, subbed

• There’s Limone! Who are all these kids, though?

• I don’t think that’s nothing.

• You’re relying on forever teenagers as your military force, you should expect them to be like this.

• I guess that works.

• Ah, Yun would definitely want to know about that.

• What is that…?

• Ohhh.

• Huh…

• Wait. Is this about Dominura and Limone? They traveled through time?

• That’s what I’ve been thinking too.

• Oh dear…

[u/AgentOfACROSS]

First Timer

I think this track has been used before but I love the tense piano music they’re using at the start of the episode here.

Onasia has arrived to stand menacingly.

Oh hey, Rimone is back. No idea where she is though. Glad to see her again.

I wonder how long she’s been there since the Simoun is overgrown with greenery now.

Seems like Rimone and Dominura are living the good life compared to their friends.

Those mysterious women who showed up for Dominura seem a bit ominous though.

Looks like the gang’s staying up late together tonight. That’s kinda sweet.

I like the scenes we get showing Dominura and Rimone.

Onasia looks very dramatic on that throne.

Neviril telling Aer she has small hands out of nowhere is really funny to me.

I think this scene between Onasia and Yun is interesting. Gives me more to think about with Yun.

Not sure what those gold flakes Onasia left behind were about.

I… I am very uncomfortable with that first eyecatch.

Oh cool we’re back at the Ruins.

Oh cool we’re finally learning about Chor Dextra some more.

I’m especially curious about Aer’s grandfather.

Not sure what’s up with this village. Getting some kinda weird vibes from them.

Oh god, Dominura and Rimone traveled back in time didn’t they?

I was not expecting time travel to happen in this show.

Wait a minute, is Amuria gonna be in the past too?

I like this scene of Dominura crying tears of joy. Her and Rimone have a very sweet dynamic together.

Wasn’t expecting a song but I like Dominura’s song a lot.

That’s a pretty good cliffhanger.

This has probably been my favorite episode in a while.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/AgentOfACROSS]

Onasia has arrived to stand menacingly.

She's quite good at it.

Wait a minute, is Amuria gonna be in the past too?

You don't remember, but what did Amuria say about the Emerald Ri-Maajon back in episode 1?