Entry tags:

anime, current event, sexuality, war

Of love, war and form-fitting uniforms

Because I could not stop for Death -
He kindly stopped for me -
The Carriage held but just Ourselves -
And Immortality. ~~ Emily Dickinson

I've begun watching a new anime series, Simoun, a speculative yuri drama. While that isn't unusual for me, it is unusual for me to explain my impressions in writing. I have believed that I engage further with stories when I analyze them, rather than "reviewing" stories to persuade or dissuade others of their entertainment value. Preparing the notes for this post has already improved my appreciation for this beautiful and imaginative series.

A nation of craftsmen have begun an invasion by air of a "beautiful and peaceful" empire called Simulacrum. Their fleets of dirigibles and cramped & fragile fighters must travel between lightning clouds and a treacherous sea for their objective - to observe the empire's flying machines. The empire has literally revered this technology as the expression of God's will, but now uses them to repel the invading craftsmen. These machines are Simouns, gloriously nimble dervishes that paint mystic pattern-trails upon the sky, summoning great explosions. Simouns carry two pilot-priestesses, who provide the machine with its activating principle: their kiss. In other words, this anime provides a fantasy world where female homosexuality is not only accepted and validated, but is the key to the kingdom: Girls are kissing, while the world hangs in the balance!

But this isn't Ragnarock City: any shagging goes on discretely off camera, and Simoun has paid as much attention to creating a plausible, self-consistent world as it has to its characters' relationships. The technical and architectual design evokes a feminine, shoujo esthetic. The spinning disks from God which move the flying machines can also move the empire's locomotives. The persistence of the species in the absence of boys receives an explanation more artful than "they use cloning vats and genetic engineering".

Within Simulacrum, all people are born female, but individuals choose their ultimate gender when they reach maturity at 19. Tempus Patieum, the same mystical entity which empowers the Simouns, also transforms the teenage girls into adults when they visit its holy spring. However, only young love can activate the Simouns' power source. Mature human beings who've chosen their sex cannot fly them. Priestesses of the Simoun Simula, the organization which runs the empire's flying machines and now its defense, ordinarily would follow their society's expectations to visit the spring at 19, but can now delay to continue flying (for war, for freedom, for love).

So this is Simoun's premise; I cannot yet judge how well it uses it, having seen only the first three subtitled episodes. (Thank you, Sue, for the episode synopsises.) This anime could raise some of the Big Questions about War as it relates to Beauty. I expect it will provide a robust setting for fans' erotic fantasies (more so perhaps for women who love women, though I am not complaining). I've enjoyed the visual and musical presentation. The character designer has given the pilots varied & appealing appearances, and the adult women & men appear true to their ages. The environments look gorgeous, and the Simouns themselves appear as beautiful as this story requires. As for the music, Simoun uses some nice classical arrangements.

Now I'll voice a few questions that've been bugging me:

• The Call Tempus attaches cables between their ships and a crippled member of Call Cup's to converse with the surviving pilot, apparently because the empire does not have radio. But when they fight the craftsmen later, a group of Simoun execute the same Remergion pattern-trail in unison. How do they coordinate so accurately in battle?


• As Erie and Neville travel to the spring, Erie considers her choice, saying, "And if I don't choose to become a man, it'll limit what jobs I can do in the future." However, adult women have appeared to hold most political and military positions. So how, if I trust the translation, do the adult men enjoy greater vocational flexibility?


• Simulacrum has been referred to as 'the Imperial Nation', which sounds redundant and awkward to me. Is there a more accurate translation?

I expect I'll have more to say about Simoun after I've seen more of it, but not before I write about some of the other new anime I've seen.