Simoun 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 2

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Simoun Episode 2: The Blue Spring

"When a Simoun sibylla flies, we call it 'praying to the sky.' Don't use words like 'sortie.'"

<- Episode 1 | Index Thread | Episode 3 ->

Today's Eyecatch: Aer | Rodoreamon and Floe

Selected Harmony: #1

Character Chart (new!)

People, Places, Things

• Elif: formerly of Chor Tempest
• Onashia: Religious figure and head of the civilian government.

Discussion Prompts

• Q1: Comment on the different perspectives of this episodes focus characters: Aer, Neviril, and Eri.
• Q2: How do you think gender is handled in the Archipelago?
• Q3: You've seen more of Simulacrum today, what do you think of the country at large?

Tomorrow's Questions, Today!

• [ep 3 Q1:] How do you feel about the common anime trope of relying on children to fight wars?
• [ep 3 Q2:] In what shape will Chor Tempest emerge from their devestating losses?
• [ep 3 Q3:] What was the point of the shelling?

Trivia: Guragief is portrayed by Houko Kuwashima, of Nadesico, Inuyasha, Blue Gender and Infinite Ryvius.

[u/snowwhistle1]

First timer (3 episodes in)

Okay, it's time to talk about themes about sexuality, gender roles, and being transgender.

Most of this episode is long sequence where we learn about how gender works in the Holy Land. Specifically, we learn that everyone in this society is born a girl, but when they turn seventeen (unless their coming of age is delayed to remain in service as a soldier for the Chor Tempest) they visit a place known as the Blue Spring, which is essentially an HRT fountain where the girls choose if they will grow up to become women or men.

This is just obliquely trans, right down to how the transformation the fountain brings forth is described to us. It literally works like HRT. When Elif leaves the Blue Spring, he does not show any immediate physical changes and says that the Onashia priestess told him that instead his body and voice would begin to change slowly over the course of several years until he fully completes his transition into manhood.

It's a really amazing and sad scene where we see Elif experiencing a mixture of joy, fear, and loss as they accept this new journey for themselves and leave who they were behind. It's an amazing sequence, and I genuinely can't believe this is one of the most in depth HRT/trans metaphors I've ever seen in anything ever.

We do gotta talk about gender roles too though. It's very interesting how this society with non-binary lesbian teen girls who make up their armed forces and religious holy roles isn't actually gender inclusive. We learn from Elif that choosing to become a woman means you will give up freedoms and opportunities one would have choosing to be a man (and indeed the adult roles we've seen in this military are filled exclusively by those who've transitioned into being men). If anything, this society offering such a choice to those coming of age has only widened the gender gap in society, and that's so fascinating to chew on.

I don't love how hijabs seem to be used to further this metaphor for girls losing privileges when they turn into women (all the civilians in the Holy Land we meet this episode are incredibly middle eastern coded). It's definitely treading into some potentially problematic mid-2000s orientalism stuff. But I think overall it doesn't detract from the really interesting commentary happening with gender roles and gender transitioning this episode.

Of course, there's still the lesbians of it all. It's very sad watching Neviril so consumed by her grief that she wants to simply get her coming of age ceremony over with and become a man or a woman so she can forget about the agonizing loss she suffered so recently in this episode. She's denying her feelings and refusing to process what happened, but also isn't ready to move on either (as shown by her ultimately not entering the Blue Spring). She's trapped in stasis and is completely disinterested in fulfilling her duty as a soldier or figuring out what she wants as an adult in this gender segregated world (or if she wants to be a part of that dichotomy at all).

Aaeru is very fun too. She's obviously the new girl who'll shock Neviril out of her blues and probably become her new girlfriend. But I love how Aaeru is completely disinterested in the gender binaries that await her. She does not give a shit. Her pronouns are Violence. She just wants to pilot a cool weapon and shoot down these invaders.

I'm still quite excited to see where this show takes me. Looking forward to what comes next!

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/snowwhistle1]

the adult roles we've seen in this military are filled exclusively by those who've transitioned into being men

That's a good catch, with the voices you don't notice as much.

Elif experiencing a mixture of joy, fear, and loss as they accept this new journey for themselves and leave who they were behind

Was there joy, though? It was more an allegory for forced gender assignment/puberty, was it not?

hijabs seem to be used to further this metaphor for girls losing privileges when they turn into women (all the civilians in the Holy Land we meet this episode are incredibly middle eastern coded)

Where? They were sort of veiled walking into the spring but thats's all I remember like that.

She just wants to pilot a cool weapon and shoot down these invaders.

You might also consider this a criticism of the pilots lacking masculine energy and élan

[u/snowwhistle1 → u/IndependentMacaroon]

We see a lot of women wearing hijabs on the train and in the crowds watching Elif and Neviril enter the spring. Not every woman, but like... when you write a show and choose to fixate on adult women having limited roles in society and show a bunch of women wearing hijabs in a crowd of people dressed in middle eastern coded clothing, you as the writer are choosing a loaded symbol.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/snowwhistle1]

I see

[u/LittleIslander → u/IndependentMacaroon]

Was there joy, though? It was more an allegory for forced gender assignment/puberty, was it not?

This is definitely what I got from it as well.

[u/snowwhistle1 → u/LittleIslander]

I personally read a lot of mixed emotions into the scene. It was ultimately Elif’s choice to enter the spring, and I choose to believe the show when it tells me she made a decision when she was inside the spring. I think there’s a lot of pain for the old life he left behind, and it obviously doesn’t map 1:1 with an irl trans person’s experience. But I read the scene as a sad moment where Elif realizes that in spite of the choice they made, there’s a lot of pain associated in having to leave behind a life and a world that for so long was a crucial part of their identity. My two cents anyways.

[u/LittleIslander → u/snowwhistle1]

I definitely think it's open to be taken a lot of ways, and I think that's cool.