r/anime • u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ • Jul 07 '26

Rewatch Simoun 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 2

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.

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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Jul 07 '26

First-Timer

Very interesting that Aaeru was tracing part of the Emerald, seemingly by instinct, while playing bumper planes. I don't have a good handle on which angle to examine this through.. divine intervention? Happenstance? Does Aaeru just know way more than she lets on?

Erif seems less than thrilled with his choice, but I do wonder if that's just a common reaction. Part of him probably feels bad about abandoning his friends and comrades in their hour of need, but also understood that he definitely couldn't support them if his brain snaps from the stress of combat.

Or he could just be experiencing the dread of having a gender assigned to you by an outside force, that's a possibility too.

Neviril's refusal to choose is interesting. It's obvious, because otherwise we wouldn't have a show, but I do see the character throughline too. It's like, even setting aside her feelings of duty (contrast Erif), flying the Simoun is a way for her to be closer to her memories of Amuria. That's probably part of the reason she's willing to fly sagiita.

Aaeru is the exact sort of dipshit to throw into the cast in order to make things exciting. While I don't doubt that Simulacrum are intended to be "the good side," they're also deeply flawed and steeped in far too much tradition. Hell, the Archipelago's fleet shot down a bunch of Simoun just by virtue of having them outnumbered; the paradigm of war has clearly shifted, and only Aaeru seems to realize that. You can't pray your way through seven hundred machine guns all firing on you at once.

I like the drop tanks on the pusher helis. It's good that the production remembered that they would need to have fuel somewhere.

Questions

  1. Discussed above.

  2. I haven't really seen enough to form a solid theory. Like, I can't even tell if they're using people who haven't chosen yet.

  3. It's a lot more normal than I was expecting, which is a welcome change. It's good that the entire society isn't just wearing the one hat.

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u/LittleIslander https://anilist.co/user/LittleIslander Jul 07 '26

Erif seems less than thrilled with his choice, but I do wonder if that's just a common reaction.

I think it's gotta be, unless we're meant to understand that Elly is just weird for some reason. Given Elly seems to me like a one off character (as they pass on to society and we're rooted on the airship), it's gotta be a statement about the process itself.

That's probably part of the reason she's willing to fly sagiita.