Alright everybody, let’s get back into another episode of the rich and beautiful Simoun! Episode eighteen saw the Holy Empire suffer a tremendous breakdown in its traditional structure, as the decision by Onashia to hold a ceremonial funeral for the foreigner Angulas served as the last straw for a great deal of Simulacrum’s military. Having seen their own sacred traditions trampled on, as well as having learned that Onashia’s loyalty isn’t even necessarily tied to their own country, has essentially broken the power that custom and ceremony had over them. Where once they deferred to the religious branch and its priestesses, they have now lost their faith and respect in these institutions, and without faith or tradition, it turns out the people holding all the guns ultimately also hold most of the power.

Of course, the crisis of faith that is now splintering Simulcrum’s government has been playing out on a more personal level all through this series. Characters like Aaeru, Neviril, and even Floe have consistently grappled with what it means to be a symbol, a soldier, and an individual human being at the same time, with various members of our team all settling on their own relationship with faith, and reasons to fight. And outside of the specific priestess-versus-soldier conflict, characters like Para have struggled mightily with the fear of leaving a comfortable assigned role, and embracing their own messy personal desires. The way these larger societal assumptions and structures shape these characters’ lives and even identities has been illustrated thoughtfully from the start, and I’m eager to see how they all cope as those structures begin tumbling down. Let’s get to it!

Episode 19

A quick recap, since we’re really in the thick of it now. Chor Tempest are sent off to discover the enemy base ship, with orders to destroy it if they discover it

I know it’s necessary in terms of the show’s escalating drama, but it’s a little awkward that when the military take over, they immediately start demanding incredibly reckless and strategically unsound military action. Though I suppose given the trajectory of military coups throughout history, there’s significant reason to assume that if any military is given full political power, it will immediately attempt to destroy everything around it at once

This episode’s just directly called “Sybilla.” Time for some more extensive Aaeru backstory?

Waporif grudgingly says “that Aaeru always does whatever she wants,” but he’s smiling. “If only I could follow my passions as wholeheartedly as she does…” As their society crumbles, Waporif is likely feeling even more aware of the arbitrary nature of his faith

The whole ship’s crew is with them at this point. As their societal bond falls apart, what’s left are their individual, personal bonds, and this crew has learned to trust its Sybilla

Old rivals from other Chors are now joining Tempest’s mission. The time for boarding school rivalries has passed; like in other shows critical of the Class S yuri dynamic, this infighting ends when our heroes realize that they’ve actually been pitted against each other by a larger common enemy

Rodore and Mamiina heading to lunch together. Basically every scene featuring these two has become an inherent emotional payoff – they’ve worked hard to earn this close relationship, and it’s a joy to see

Mamiina’s “ehhhh?” is so charmingly animated. After her usual pride and poise, seeing her act friendly and casual with Rodore is so nice

“If something goes wrong, I’ll be there to protect you.” THESE TWO

Right, most of their other Simoun were destroyed. These two new recruits are just using the lesser Simile

Mamiina actually pulls the group back together after Floe sparks a fight during their meeting. She has nothing to prove now; she’s willing to put herself out there to maintain group harmony, and she actually hopes they don’t end up having to fight

I like how this show seems to position the urge to fight itself as a reflection of lacking something, of having some source of dissatisfaction elsewhere in your life that you channel into violence. This show’s happiest characters rarely feel the urge to prove themselves in battle, with Aaeru standing as the clear exception – and Aaeru’s reasons for feeling the way she does are one of the show’s central mysteries

Of course, it’s only living in Simulacrum that gives these girls the privilege of simply not wanting to fight. The other nations here aren’t fighting for pride, they’re fighting for survival

Their new Sybilla ally rightly wonders why Central Command is squandering Chor Tempest like this

Neviril directly brings up the fact that Mamiina was excluded from the funeral, and concludes “our country really is terrible.” These girls are officially done giving a fuck

And Mamiina rightly responds by pointing out that as normalcy crumbles, people will respond by falling back on the rules and customs they’re familiar with. Once again, Mamiina demonstrating she no longer has anything to prove – when you know yourself and are proud of who you are, it becomes far less necessary to push back against every challenge to your identity

This show’s soundtrack is as strange as ever. As the girls approach the enemy fortress, they’re accompanied by an upbeat smooth jazz number played mostly on a synth keyboard, like you might hear in an upscale fast food place like Panera Bread

I love the design of the enemy base ship – all hard geometric angles layered over each other, like a floating industrial Escher print. It feels inscrutable, malevolent, and emphatically man-made, in contrast with the natural shell-like curves of the Simoun

Para’s preoccupation with her assault of Neviril causes her to postpone their rendezvous. Para, you are a goddamn mess and you are going to get somebody killed

They keep reemphasizing the new pilot Vyura’s presence on the Messis. I’m not sure where they’re going with her, but she’s clearly important – you don’t continuously reiterate a character’s presence unless you want to make sure the audience is keeping them in mind

Aaeru and Yun return from their mystery field trip

The captain’s also had enough. The Messis heads to the front lines to support its priestesses!

Man, I love this team. It’s somewhat sad that we’ve more or less left the era of regular two-cour anime productions behind us; the twenty-six episode structure allowed for a kind of rambling pacing that really worked for building up ensemble casts like this. Thirteen episodes allow for a punchy novella, or a tightly constrained character piece, but it’s harder to pull off a sprawling, ensemble story like this

The eyecatch is Rodore and Mamiina being adorable together. I swear to god if this episode kills one of them, I will riot

Neviril tells Floe to run away. Damnit, they really are setting up a death for Mamiina, this is terrible

Neviril and Mamiina crash-land on the enemy ship. DON’T PROTECT HER WITH YOUR LIFE, MAMIINA. STOP BEING A HERO

Mamiina claims that her life is worthless compared to Neviril’s – and the enemy sybilla actually disagree, saying they are both equally worthy. The societal barriers that have defined Mamiina’s self-image are meaningless to these women, who’ve always seem all Simulacrum sybilla as impossibly holy and powerful

The priestesses of the Plumbum Highlands claim they are “nothing like the soldiers from the Archipelago who man this ship.” I love that – it seems the religious schism that Simulacrum is experiencing is actually being echoed by their neighbors, as all of these societies grapple with their communal foundation myths being violently excavated

Mamiina and one of the Plumbum priestesses work together to activate their Simoun. A brilliant moment, using this show’s most thoroughly established symbol of unity to emphasize that there is ultimately no difference between the priestesses on either side

MAMIINA YOU DICK, STOP HEROICALLY SACRIFICING YOURSELF FOR PEOPLE

Gah, that’s frustrating. Mamiina was one of my favorite characters, and killing her off for the sake of protecting these random priestesses we just met feels pretty unsatisfying. I understand the significance for her of them accepting her as a “true sybilla,” but I’d still like her final moments to reflect more on the personal bond she’s regained with Rodore. It feels like they introduced these priestesses just to give Mamiina a reason to die

The Messis arrives at last, allowing the sybilla to escape

And Done

THIS SUCKS. Don’t go killing off my favorite characters for entirely dramatic tempo-related reasons, Simoun! I know we needed to escalate the tension and give the sybilla a more personal reason to fight, but killing Mamiina was a really goddamn mean way to do that – particularly since we’ve already lost Dominura and Limone, who were already two of my favorite sybilla as well. This show is MEAN.

Cruel and perhaps unnecessary killing of Mamiina aside, I have to admit this was a really, really good episode. All of the careful setup work the show has done is paying off marvelously at this point, with the personal, political, and moral complexity of this situation coming through clearly for all these heroines. Losing Mamiina is the worst, but goddamnit, Simoun is a really good show.

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