Let’s continue our journey through the captivating Simoun! The show’s last episode was one of its all-time best so far, an unexpectedly focused exploration of the relationship between Morinas and Wapourif that doubled as a very personal articulation of the show’s conflicted thoughts on faith and duty. Once again, the contradictory framing of sybilla as holy icons and sybilla as soldiers resulted in painful friction, this time for Wapourif, as he was forced to grapple with his feelings on both Morinas personally and the nature of the simoun more generally. A tender romance was thus naturally contrasted against a brutally pragmatic order from Dominura, resulting in an episode whose major dramatic beats played into the show’s character arcs, thematic conflicts, and overt narrative all at once. It was a phenomenal episode, and I only hope it’s not the last we see of Morinas and Wapourif growing closer.

That episode was great in its own right, but its implications for Simoun’s ongoing narrative are just as exciting. The episode concluded on Wapourif eventually consenting to dismantle a simoun, which he saw as empty except for its central helices, but which Dominura apparently saw as something truly horrifying. Based on the episode also casually hinting that a sybilla’s body disappears if she dies in combat, it seems reasonable to assume that the sybilla themselves somehow provide fuel for the simoun, in a manner that’s much more gruesomely literal than any of them expected. How this will tie into the fact that simoun work better when their partners are in love, I don’t really know, but I’m excited to continue discovering where all these mysteries lead. Let’s jump right into another episode of Simoun!

Episode 15

“One by One”

Yun is collecting sticks out in the woods. Yun’s probably the team member we’ve had the least focus on so far, so I guess it’s finally her turn

She tells Limone she’s gathering branches for a cradle, something they used to do as an offering to “grant peaceful rest to those who died before their time.” It’s a very Yun bit of character building, and also feels like a pretty savage echo of last episode’s potential revelations. If dead sybilla end up acting as fuel for the simoun, I can’t imagine they’re resting all that peacefully

That declaration is contrasted against a beautiful shot through the foliage as a pair of birds fly past. A light gesture towards this show’s persistent flight motif, which is generally tethered to freedom, and perhaps represents an escape from the potentially cyclical duties of sybilla

“Limone, you should stay with Dominura. Out of all of us, you’re the closest to her.” I heartily agree with this recommendation. Limone and Dominura’s scenes are criminally adorable

Neviril and Aaeru return, and Neviril is predictably fawned over by Para

Morinas asks Wapourif what Dominura saw as Wapourif prays in the church. Wapourif returns to his old “we should not have touched such sacred things,” and Morinas gets understandably upset. I really love how their relationship must navigate around Wapourif’s deep-seated reverence for what Morinas and the simoun represent – Morinas doesn’t want to be worshipped, he wants to be treated as a person, but Wapourif can’t necessarily give him that. And so she holds Wapourif’s hand to her breast, saying “fine, I won’t let you touch them anymore,” bitterly undercutting Wapourif’s framing of her as some ethereal angel by demanding she be acknowledged as a sexually self-possessed woman. This show’s conflicts are great

That said, these two are a charming couple and you better not break them up, Simoun

Para wants Neviril to rest, but with Dominura out of commission, the team has basically no leaders. And right on cue, the enemy attacks

The sybilla all head to the bridge, which gives us our first group scene in quite a while. This feels like a bit of an inherent payoff given the interim material; we’ve now at last been given meaningful character stories with every single member of this crew, so seeing them all gathered is a validation of our investment in the team

Para chooses herself to act as the team leader while Neviril and Dominura are out. The girls expect Aaeru to argue, but she doesn’t. I like that – I feel like most of Aaeru’s teammates see her as confrontational for the sake of it, and can’t really parse how her actions stem from a fundamentally different way of viewing their work. With Para stating “I’ll give you your orders” and generally treating this situation in the same military way Aaeru would, Aaeru has nothing to complain about

Kaimu and Yun head off to take the patrol

Haha, Floe can’t accept an Aaeru who’s not incredibly upbeat and overbearing. Of course Floe would love Aaeru for all her most annoying qualities

Floe of all people giving a pep talk to Aaeru sounds like a scene I have to see

Neviril is literally glowing by the riverside. I feel like this show can go too far in portraying Neviril specifically as a kind of porcelain doll, though it does play into her character journey

Aaeru apologizes, and Neviril says she doesn’t even know what she’s apologizing for

“I do have a reason. I know I’m the reason you’re sad.” Man, Aaeru is trying really, really hard here. The other girls are right – she’s acting far more sensitive and accommodating than she usually does

Oh, excellent. Floe wasn’t here to cheer up Aaeru – she was here to scorn Neviril. The insolent Floe is the perfect choice when someone needs to tell Neviril she’s being a selfish child

So that’s it. Aaeru’s behavior has made Neviril realize that to both Aaeru and even Amuria, Neviril herself was only ever a tool they employed for their own ends. So not only is Neviril angry at Aaeru, but Aaeru has also trampled on her happy memories of time with Amuria. None of this is Aaeru’s fault, but it makes sense that Neviril would resent her for it

Doubting everything, Neviril wonders if she’d make a mistake, and almost asks if she’d have been better off with Para. It’s an incredibly cruel thing to say to Para, and so Para stops her, and Neviril realizes what she’s done

I mean, good. Neviril is being even more selfish than the others here, so hopefully she understands that

Floe volunteers for the next scouting group, unsurprisingly. The mood around the ship sucks ass, and Floe’s not afraid to say it

Looks like we’re building to a point where all the other pilots have left, and Neviril is forced to reckon with her fears

We’re down to just this conflict’s key players left on the ship – Dominura and Neviril, Morinas and Limone, Para and Aaeru. Morinas suggests playing hide and seek to Aaeru and Limone, which basically just seems like an excuse to have them run around and bump into whoever they need to resolve some drama with

Ahaha the very next sequence is Limone running into Dominura. Okada, I love you, but dear lord are you bad at narrative structure

Dominura is curled up in a ball humming to herself, and it’s apparently the same song from Aaeru’s music box – “The Door to a New World”

“It’s the song of the migrants, who were searching for a land of peace. Tempus Spatium took us in when we had been wandering without rest.”

“In exchange for my death, the Holy Land gave my life meaning.” So Dominura was once a true believer herself

Para keeps standing in the rain until Wapourif calls her in. A nice unspoken reflection of her sense of obligation – she’d rather wait in the rain for the soldiers she sent off to return

Para wants to fill the vacuum left by Dominura and Neviril, but she just can’t. She’s not that decisive, she’s not that inspiring, she’s not that confident. Her role is one of the hardest – she has the knowledge and temperament to understand what her team needs, but she just can’t be that person

“Please let me go, Paraietta.” With her orders crumbling, Neviril arrives and strikes the final blow. Para can’t say no to Neviril, and doubly so when Neviril is basically the only one respecting her authority in the first place

Limone says Dominura has “the eyes of someone who’s about to die.” Christ, kid

But Dominura isn’t done. She stomps down the hallway with a fire in her eyes, and immediately starts scarfing down a meal. Thank god we’re not losing her – Dominura is easily one of this show’s most compelling characters, and we need her blunt anger now more than ever

Kind of an awkward freeze frame here after Dominura tells Para to fuck off. The pacing of Para leaving this room is too quick, and her confrontation with Dominura too brief, for this to feel like a key moment for her – it’d have been better to capture that moment where she was standing hopelessly in the rain

And we conclude on Dominura and Limone dramatically reiterating their desire to perform the Emerald Ri Majoon

And Done

Whew! What a melancholy stew of emotions that episode turned out to be. With Dominura incapacitated and Neviril lost in her feelings again, Para was forced to step into a leadership role, and man alive did she ever suck at it. Poor, panicked tactical decisions, an inability to inspire faith in her subordinates, and a general lack of confidence in any of her own decisions meant Para spent most of this episode in total despair, as more and more members of Tempest were shuffled off to an utterly unknown battle. I’m guessing it will be Limone and Dominura who save them this time – not only are they two of the best, most capable sybilla in the team, they’re also just more or less the only functional pair still on the ship. I’m also guessing Dominura and Para will be exchanging some pretty harsh words next episode, but for now, I just hope our team gets through this crisis okay. Simoun continues to improve by leaps and bounds as we make our way through its second act!

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