Let’s check back in on Simoun! Episodes eight and nine represented the show’s first major turning point, as an attack on the ship prompted Neviril to finally redon her leadership mantel, and even choose Aaeru as her pair. Aaeru’s uncertainty seemed to be what ultimately tipped her hand, leaving Neviril resolved to embrace her own uncertainty about the world and society they inhabit.

Having finally returned to the skies, Neviril then brought that heretical uncertainty before the holy council, and was ultimately rewarded for her honesty by the shrine guardian Onashia. Chor Tempest live, but the resolution of episode nine also prompted a variety of new questions about how this society functions. Onashia seems to exist outside of the law – while those beneath her are traditional priests and politicians, Onashia appears to be an actual living embodiment of their religion. It’s clear that Simulacrum is hiding a variety of secrets from its own people, and if Onashia is who she appears to be, discovering her nature and motivation will be crucial to uncovering the truth of this world. That said, I’m not even sure right now if the “scale” of this show will involve challenging Simulacrum society – after all, we’re almost halfway through, and we’ve pretty much just spent this time dealing with Chor Tempest’s immediate personal problems. But with Neviril back in the saddle, I’m excited to see the whole team working together. Let’s see what’s next in Simoun!

Episode 10

“You embarrassed a lot of council members back there. They won’t just let Chor Tempest carry on as before.” Neviril’s speech closes one door and opens another. The drama regarding their squad’s base existence has been resolved for the moment, but now we’re aware of a whole larger world of political machinations within Simulacrum. A pretty classic trick of dramatic escalation; framing some specific event as the summit of the first act’s conflict, and then the resolution of that conflict leads to the whole story moving to a higher-level arena of disagreement. Works well enough for a political/societal conflict like this, but is also echoed in tropes as hoary as “you beat your nemesis, but as it turns out, your nemesis was only the weakest of the Seven Super Bad Dudes”

Lovely shot of the city at night. Though to be honest, it’s disappointing how few unique frames we see of this city. This shot’s unique colors make it a nice variation on the show’s usual “from the mainland, facing straight on to the port island” city shot, but I’d love to see this city from other angles, and I’d even more like to see Neviril and the others explore its strange alleys and architecture on foot. This show’s myopic dramatic focus makes sense for its equally myopic characters and their boarding school drama, but I’d be a lot more emotionally invested in Simulacrum if I could appreciate its beauty from the ground level. As is, it feels a little too easy to already see Neviril’s society as the villain; it is the villain, but we should be able to sympathize with why these characters might still love the world they grew up in, and getting to appreciate the beauty of this world from the ground level would certainly help there

The gang will be staying on the Messis until the Arcus Prima is repaired

The girls complain about their new ship, but all these CG whales are pretty much the same to me

Dominura stares down from the ship’s bow in a shot that really deserves a JoJo “MENACING…” accompanying it

“Birds in a Cage.” Speaking of subtlety

Nevermind, I take it back, this ship is way uglier than Prima

This stretch of the conflict is also a pretty familiar conceit – the ace team survives, but now have to live like amateurs, stuck in the worst dorms. I wasn’t aware Milky Holmes was so directly inspired by Simoun

Their closer quarters will force them to actually act like a team for the first time. Prima’s spaciousness allowed them all to live their own private lives

We’re getting little flourishes with all of the secondary characters like Morinas, small humanizing moments to make the whole team feel relevant

“Captain, the look on your face says ‘this is all quite a bother.’” I really hope Dominura doesn’t just turn out to be a villain and that’s it. This team could definitely use a sharp and even semi-antagonistic character like her

Meanwhile, Mamiina is off terrifying the cooks by peeling potatoes. This is a good team

The shower has to work through the rust before it gets to clean water. It took half a season, but our team has finally arrived at their actual shitty boarding school dorm

This week in Simoun: There’s a Mouse Oh Gross Get It No You Get It Someone Help

Aaeru and Limone are so cute together. This episode isn’t exactly action-packed, but it’s extremely focused in its own way, working hard to hammer out the larger group dynamics

Simoun starting with the group all in disarray continues to be a really weird choice in terms of audience investment, but it seems like now we’re getting the relationship-building the series needs

So Dominura is acting as their representative to the captain of their new ship. Weird power friction between her and Neviril

Yeah, again we get that one consistent shot of the capital city. I want more!

Guragief and Anabutif, the two heads of Prima. Have we actually gotten their names before?

They’re genuinely concerned for Tempest. Nice to see at least a couple adults are unquestionably in their corner. Tempest are presumably a lot more beloved among the military side of this society than its religious wing

Mamiina makes soup and salad and suddenly everyone’s amazed by her cooking abilities. These are some useless-ass fighter pilots

Mamiina now mending bridges with all the members of the group she antagonized. Mamiina’s been a little shortchanged by her role in the narrative; she seems to be generally a cooler-headed person than her first few appearances would indicate, but the show needed Chor Tempest to break down enough to prompt that disbanding ultimatum, and so Mamiina was used to that purpose

Mamiina’s former employer is named Rodoreamon. Please Simoun, give me a nickname as convenient as Para for this girl. Rodo? Rea?

Of course, Mamiina is still a proud and angry person. This reconciliation with Rea is not going the best

How could it, though? I’m sure from Mamiina’s perspective, any happy memories they shared are tainted by the understanding that she was ultimately just one more plaything of the young lady

Neviril finally speaking with Dominura alone. If this episode has a conventional hook, it’s discovering more about Dominura’s motives

And then when Neviril asks about Dominura’s unexpected bargaining power, she just walks the heck out. Damnit, Dominura

Aaeru’s music box is a memento from her grandfather

Neviril suspects their patrols were being baited. Likely an ambush coming

Unsurprisingly, this conflict also presents an opportunity for Mamiina and Rea to be forced to interact, working as a simoun pair together

Rea cuts the braids that Mamiina envied as a child. “Rodore” is apparently what Mamiina called her

Rea’s position is interesting here. Mamiina’s anger is totally understandable and justified, but what can Rea herself do to counter it? The circumstances of their earlier interactions were also completely beyond Rea’s control

And Done

Another very solid episode, and this one didn’t have the benefit of a dramatic peak to lean on. This was an unabashed character-building episode, one that did great work in solidifying the overall team dynamic while also resolving Mamiina and Rea’s specific conflict. I wasn’t really expecting to care about their relationship too much, mostly because Rea’s always felt like such a wet blanket, but I ended up really enjoying this episode’s focus on those two. Perhaps what was most compelling to me was that while Mamiina was clearly in the right in a morality-of-society sense to scorn Rea, Rea herself was also essentially an innocent. Both of their positions were respected by the narrative in their own ways, leading to a resolution that felt solidly earned. I now actually care about those two as a pair, and look forward to seeing how Simoun continues to build up its secondary cast!

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