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Anime First Impressions

Simoun – Anime First Impressions

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Admittedly, I didn’t know much about Simoun before I watched it. The cryptic animenfo description led me to believe this was just another “all female pilot” anime. Doesn’t anyone find it weird that high school age (and younger) girls are found to be the most fit to pilot war machines? Anyway, here’s what I thought of the first episode of Simoun:

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Admittedly, I didn’t know much about Simoun before I watched it. The cryptic animenfo description led me to believe this was just another “all female pilot” anime. Doesn’t anyone find it weird that high school age (and younger) girls are found to be the most fit to pilot war machines? Anyway, here’s what I thought of the first episode of Simoun:

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Simoun is a tale of two countries. One has super-cool aircraft that can fly with ease, and the other country has weak propeller-based planes. The weak country is always trying to invade the other one to steal the technology. At first, the anime is narrated from the view of the weak country.

Simoun are the aircraft of the superior country. It’s not really explained, but I think they work by having two girls kiss each other and then kiss a green ball… It kind of reminds me of that one episode of South Park where Mr. Garrison makes the really uncomfortable vehicle (that’s still better than driving a car). It seems like a cheap gimmick, but hey, any vehicle that forces two girls to kiss gets my vote!

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There’s always tension between the two countries (probably due to the constant invasion attempts), but the country with the Simoun always beat the crap out of the other one. That is, until the other country brings out the massive swarm of planes! The Simoun crew gets surrounded and are forced to retreat. At the end of the episode, a cute cute girl with cute hair buns shows up to whip some butt.

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I’m not too sure about the story at this point. It seems like every other word that’s spoken is in reference to some random thing I’ve never heard of. Example: “We’re just raising a prayer. To create a perfect Remergion shape, and to comfort the Tempus Patieum.” WTF!? It’d be nice for them to explain what they’re talking about. The jargon factor is pretty high in this anime.

Here’s my guess as to what will happen later on in the anime: The Simoun pilots will keep fighting, but at some point, it’ll be revealed that their country is really the “evil” one! The Simoun are really some kind of evil device (I dunno, maybe it produces lots of greenhouse gasses?), and the other country is really the one suffering! Or maybe the Simoun will just kick everyone’s butt. I dunno…

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The character designs are excellent. Maybe I’m just saying that because of the girl on girl action, but I think they’re all really cute. I especially like hair bun girl and freckle girl.

The animation quality is really good as well. It just looks top notch. There is CG, but I can actually handle it in this context. It would be nice if it were even less noticable, but it’s not as bad as other anime I could name.

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The OP sounds really epic and dramatic. It’s not really my style, but it isn’t bad. The ED is also kind of cheesily dramatic. It reminds me of a bad 80s song. I’d also like to point out that the ED sequence is really lame and stupid (a rotating model of the Simoun).

Download the OP: “Utsukushi Kereba Sore de Ii” by Chiaki Ishikawa
Download the ED: “Inori no Uta” by Savage Genius

I’d say that Simoun has quite a few things going for it. The characters are cute, and the animation is really good. If the plot doesn’t start making sense soon, though, I’ll probably drop this anime.

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5 replies on “Simoun – Anime First Impressions”

I’m speechless. I think this is my dream come true.

They’ve actually made a show consisting chiefly of girls kissing each other, then kissing some balls.

No, wait, they’ve already made that show. it’s in the back of the video store, where the floors are mysteriously sticky.

i watched almost the whole anima, and i can say it is wonderfull.i know in the beginning it is a little confusing, but how longer you watch how more you understand it.

in my opinion it’s worth watching it

it has a twisty plot, at first you don’t know where its going but when done, its a awesome trip w/out the drugs . . .

i like the uniqueness of the ships. They have this ducted fan like thing that flips when it takes off (helical? motor tech?)
and do the usual FF magic + tech thingy . . .

but later its explained like tech like Eureka 7 . . .

I also like how they didn’t yuri-ize it like some other animes of the genra, it was added in for effect, which is good. shoot, though i’ve gotten shot down in the clubs good by lesbians LOL.

The character design is pretty cool. My friend pointed out when they turn sideways its like a ‘dwarf’ silhouette profile as opposed to ranma’s ‘cat / dog’ profile . . .

Awesome show . . . its one of the better animes that impressed a fan of higher quality anime like ghost in the shell, macross (not robotech), ghibli stuff .. .

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