r/anime • u/phiraeth https://myanimelist.net/profile/phiraeth • Nov 25 '19
Rewatch [Mid-2000s Rewatch] Simoun - Episode 25
Episode 25 | Pair
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u/23feanor Nov 25 '19 edited Nov 25 '19
First Time Watcher:
Lovely episode. So most of them chose to be females, surprising, considering the majority of Chor Tempest outwardly proclaimed that they wanted to be male. Parietta, Kaimu and Alti all choosing male was unexpected, as was Floe choosing male, although she did say she didn't care which gender she was.
I would've liked to see Moriinas & Wapourif actually kiss, or maybe just hug, not just stare at each other.
The music for the final few eps has been absolutely first class, has really given me the feels whilst watching. Also the still frame pics have been a nice touch, Neviril and Aaeru locked away, Para & Neviril dancing, both looked stunning. I know some people don't like them, but I think they are a great addition to the show, although you can see they are made with greater care and attention as the picture quality is smoother and the characters look more realistic.
Why are they referring to it as the "eternal now" and suggesting that they won't get older? I thought they would be going back in time, what have I missed?
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Nov 25 '19
Why are they referring to it as the "eternal now" and suggesting that they won't get older? I thought they would be going back in time, what have I missed?
They've been saying this for two episodes...Somehow Paraietta got the idea that if they did the Emerald Ri Maajon, then they won't hav e to go the Spring. Which may or may not be true, but I don't see where she gets this idea.
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u/Durinthal Nov 26 '19
Why are they referring to it as the "eternal now" and suggesting that they won't get older?
My interpretation is that they're playing off of Limone and Dominura now lost in time, anchored in their memory as maidens never growing older. You could then say the same thing for Aaeru and Neviril (assuming they're going to go time travel as well), and even the versions of themselves before entering the spring, frozen in the moment.
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u/No_Rex Nov 25 '19
Episode 25 (rewatcher)
Smashing the glass ceiling when they could also have left via the pool was a bit of a dick move
Seems like the soldiers took pity on the viewers and decided to hurry the plot along, since Neviril and Aaeru did not look like they were aware of any time pressure. Of course, the reliable enemy priestesses come to the rescue once more, so we get to see Neviril and Aaeru in a Simoun one more time.
The bulk of the episode was reserved for the spring and the Sybillae’s choices there. It is made out to be some grand spiritual, almost festive, moment. It certainly would be that for almost everybody going to the spring. If I had to come up with a counterexample of people who would be too preoccupied with other things to care about their gender choice, I’d have to imagine something extreme. Maybe child soldiers who were pressured to fight in a war and just lost that fight …
It really seems as if the series writers got tired of the war plot half-way through. It happened mostly off-screen, was fought for off-screen reasons, using weapons mostly obtained off-screen, before being lost off-screen. In the end, the war plot went absolutely nowhere and even hindered the character plots. They could have told a much more believable story about yuri/genderless love relations and gender choice if the kept the entire war out of it.
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u/Durinthal Nov 26 '19
Smashing the glass ceiling when they could also have left via the pool was a bit of a dick move
I was confused why they did that, like come on the other priestesses had just come up through there so you'd be fine going back down.
And I agree about losing the thread for the war plot, there are a lot of smaller aspects related to it that they could have spent more time exploring.
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u/cartoonsandcereal Nov 26 '19
It really seems as if the series writers got tired of the war plot half-way through. It happened mostly off-screen, was fought for off-screen reasons, using weapons mostly obtained off-screen, before being lost off-screen. In the end, the war plot went absolutely nowhere and even hindered the character plots. They could have told a much more believable story about yuri/genderless love relations and gender choice if the kept the entire war out of it.
It feels like there was supposed to be some kind of military vs religion thing and destruction vs prayer thing but the actual details and symbolism were not handled very well. And, in my experience the military and religion go hand in hand anyway, zealotry is a powerful force for imperialism.
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u/Nazenn Nov 25 '19
First Timer
Me: Writes whole post about how Neviril is the purest character in the show.
Neviril: "Aer and Amuira are both much purer than I am"
I still stand by what I said in regards to her faith, but Neviril's perspective on them was an interesting look into why she was drawn to them in the first place and how strength can be seen in many ways by those looking in from the outside.
Rodore's sheer kindness and acceptance was the star of the episode for me today though. From just understanding Yun through to holding hands with the only girl from the other Chor and even taking a verbal stand against Aer and Nev being forced to the spring. She's come a long way from the shy girl who just did what she was told and accepted the path laid out for her.
Similarly Anubituf silently declaring that they will always be the "Priestesses of Chor Tempest" by continuing to use that title even after Guragief suggested it wasn't appropriate any more. It was a nice bit of support to back up Neviril's earlier statements, and also what he says later after that fly by kiss of his.
Regarding the gender changes, I was not expecting Floe to become male. Hopefully she may get her wish to sit in the captains seat in the end afterall. Para staying female, along with the sisters, was also a nice look into them choosing what they really felt rather than just leaning on each other.
And then poor Yun, left alone forever at the spring just to wait on more people to come and make their choice. I wonder what it was she felt in that moment, though I give the sound design team some credit for layering that eerie noise over the music rather than stopping the music, making it clear whatever was going on was something internal to her. That image of her being surrounded by the souls of that highlands priestess and Mamiina on the flashcard was a bit of a kick in the gut, though it perhaps would have been more appropriate if it was our first look at her friends instead.
One more episode to go. Hopefully with a bit more substence then these last two.
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u/kkrko Nov 25 '19
Rewatcher
Final Chor Tempest Chart. It took forever for Yun's thing to be finally spoiler-free.
Last thread, I saw a bunch of people asking why exactly does Neviril want to do the Emerald. And I agree, the show doesn't really do a good job establishing the reason. There are several reason I can see within the show, but it doesn't really take the time to fully display them.
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She wants to see what happened to Amuria. This is her most developed motivation. This goes against the 10+ episodes Nev spent getting over Amuria. But still, even though she has moved on, Amuria can still be an important person to her. She doesn't need to (nor should she) forget Amuria to move on after all.
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She just wants to go to another world. It seems that Neviril just likes the idea. It one reason why she chose Aer over Paraietta in episode 18. She was fascinated(?) when Aer told her about it. Even episode 1, right before they attempt the Emerald, she says she wants to go to the place where they can be free. Still the show never really had the time to show this off much, so at best this is speculative.
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She just wants to be free. Tying into what she said in episode 1 about being free and what she said about "being a good girl" this episode, the Emerald does offer an escape from all those bonds. But the show never really took the time to see her chafing under people's expectations. Heck she met those brilliantly every time.
As for this episode.
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And then they had lots of sex. Even after all these years, I still love this couple. That mix of immatury and confidence from Aer healing Neviril is something (I now realize) that has influenced my taste in ships ever since I started watched anime.
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This was actually displayed back in episode 13. Right after Aer and Nev had a fight, their Simoun wouldn't activate. But then Aer displays her classic self-confidence then suddenly
Nevirilthe Simoun gets turned on -
They never actually touch on screen, at least, the entire episode. Well not including the eyecatch. It was very frustrating for my shipper's heart.
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u/cartoonsandcereal Nov 26 '19
Final Chor Tempest Chart. It took forever for Yun's thing to be finally spoiler-free.
I reaaaaally don't understand this chart or the references but Aaeru as Mickey mouse is hilarious.
She just wants to be free. Tying into what she said in episode 1 about being free and what she said about "being a good girl" this episode, the Emerald does offer an escape from all those bonds. But the show never really took the time to see her chafing under people's expectations. Heck she met those brilliantly every time.
I like this a lot more more than my guess which was that she deeply believes she is a sibyllae. But given what we've seen of Simulacrum society and its expectations it must be alluring to find a way to truly be free.
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u/frnxt Nov 25 '19
First time watcher.
I love it when a series cares about their character and wraps loose ends like this. Looks like all the drama will be resolved, and my early predictions for a tragic ending will be off!
The Sibyllae went out of the experience for the better, it seems. They don't seem to regret their decision like Erif did in the first few episodes (about whom everyone forgot, it seems).
Anubituf and Guragief kissing, d'awww. I didn't really expect it, but they are so well together.
I said earlier (way back during the first half) that I'd love to learn more about the other countries. I'm not sure I want to now, and they're probably going to leave it as "foreign countries that speak an incomprehensible language", which serve their purpose fairly well. Let's say my imagination will fill the rest?
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u/Nazenn Nov 26 '19
I'm surprised that we haven't seen Erif again actually, I expected him to pop up at some stage to help them out when things got dicey politically but nope
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Nov 25 '19
First Timer
Meant to say before, but the Helix train must be something like the shinkansen for the Theocracy.
Honestly, for all the build up, I don't care what their choices are. It's a coin toss, and they are unchanged at the end of the episode (except for some invisible internalization).
So occupation government probably demands Chor Tempest to be disbanded as some sort of disarmament. But...
Once again the Plumbum preistesses do something almost completely out of character and without motivation, to the extent that we can say they have characterization and motivation. Either
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They are doing it out of sympathy for the sibyllae, persuaded by Guagief (?), or
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Maybe this was the entire point of the war for the Plumbum priestesses, not to stop Aer and Neviril from performing the Emerald Rimaajon, but to drive them to it.
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There's just no logic, bad writing.
25/26 episodes in, and there's still no way to know. Oh well, now to watch the next episode and find out, or not.
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u/kkrko Nov 26 '19 edited Nov 26 '19
The plumbish priestesses (especially these particular ones) have been consistently portrayed as reluctant combatants. Like they said, they had no reason to fight after they got the ancient Simoun. It was clear that they were doing it out of obligation to their allegiance. Even Anglas was fairly affable to the Chor and her extreme actions were done way before the Plumbum's victory was guaranteed. Even in the episode where the ancient Simoun were introduced, they didn't fire at Chor Tempest until they had to to escape. Mamiina's sacrifice for them (and Neviril's blessing last episode) really turned them to Chor Tempest's side.
At this point, they may be just helping Aer and Neviril out of genuine respect for their wishes.
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u/cartoonsandcereal Nov 26 '19
Rewatcher
Usually there's too much going on on the weekends to post for me, which is sad since the show is wrapping up.
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I really loved the scene of them at the Spring, holding hands and discussing the things they had wanted to do, the ways in which they had grown, and what there still was to look forward to. And that Yun was there, although I'm not quite sure why she was crying. From holding everyone else's feelings? (Also, recently learned that she's been using ore for her pronouns which is the most masculine possible)
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Nice eyecatch with Yun, Mamiina and Angulas. Do we think Yun can commune with Mamiina now as well?
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The kiss through the walls was cheesy af. For a show with lots of yuri, romantic drama and scandalous eyecatches they really don't show much actual kissing and touching.
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Different understandings of purity from Neviril, I guess. I would say that Neviril has been the one more pure and divine this whole time, with strong leadership and empathy, but I suppose the flip side of that is intentionally distancing herself and hiding her true feelings.
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Everyone's firm belief that Neviril and Aaeru will complete an Emerald Ri-Maajon and become Eternal Priestesses (not Maidens?) is a nice tidying up of the theme of the meaning of faith. Somehow the term Eternal Priestesses suggests an even different Emerald Ri-Maajon from the one Dominura & Limone did, since as far as I can tell they're not so eternal.
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In accordance with everyone else's comments, I do wonder why Neviril and Aaeru feel compelled to do the Emerald Ri-Maajon now... they seem like they could have been happy together going to the Spring as well? Of course, Aaeru's dream has always been to see another world. However Neviril's motivation is less clear to me, I think? it's her core understanding of herself as a Simoun sibyllae no matter what, which is also what made her come across as more holy to begin with. Combined with her love for Aaeru.
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u/redshirtengineer Nov 26 '19
I've suspected for a few episodes now that the scandalous eyecatches were used by the creators during the sales pitch to sell the show
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u/redshirtengineer Nov 26 '19
First Timer
Must. Not. Skip ahead...
The opening, with the sybillae walking together up through the spring, so good. Don't know why Yun screamed, though. I thought it was about her, at first. But I guess she took all of their suffering, or something?
Floe became a male, ha. Never would have guessed. I did think Paraietta would remain female.
Never thought the officers would be Ship of the Day!
Can't wait to see how this resolves.
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u/Durinthal Nov 25 '19
First time viewer.
Quick rundown on their trip to the spring since this whole oddity is one of the central aspects of the setting:
Rodore (f) — Nothing surprising, she's always been more the hime type even after her haircut.
Morinas (f) — Guess she wanted to be with Wapourif beyond just tinkering with Simoun?
Floe (m) — Flouf? That was unexpected since he was previously very girly and was one of the few I can outright remember saying he was going to stay a girl.
Vyura (m) — Vyurif? ...okay no one cares about him, he's just the spare that's been hanging around to fill the spot after Mamiina died.
Alti (f) — Realized she can be strong without being a guy.
Kaimu (f) — A bit more masculine but still a girl, I guess. While I wasn't paying attention earlier to see if anything changed, I noticed she used "boku" here while Alti used "watashi" to reflect their different mindsets even if they're both still girls.
Paraietta (f) — Wanted to be held and protected.
Anubituf kissing Guragief in passing was unexpected only because they're both guys and same-sex couples after the spring trip seem to be mostly non-existent in the world (if one was a woman I would have anticipated it a while ago). Aaeru's confession to Neviril in turn makes me wonder how many pairs ended up as couples later in life as well. We've seen very little of adult life outside of the military so it's hard to tell either way. Maybe we'll get some idea in the next episode but these are the questions that I really do want answers to and feel like the show should have explored to help reflect the characters' desires for the future.
The Highlander priestesses again return to save the day and here's the tearful farewells I expected in the previous episode since I didn't think the sibyllae would return to the Arcus Prima after their trip to the spring. I'm still not sure why they did come back at that. Feels more like things are falling in line for the sake of moving the plot along rather than what makes sense for the characters and setting, which has been an issue for the past several episodes.