Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Happy 20th Birthday, Simoun!
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omiya
 Posts: 1948 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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Obligatory link to the official video of the OP 「美しければそれでいい」 by Chiaki Ishikawa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nMv4RQ1AMc and ED 「祈りの詩」 by savage genius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7SgOZmxlX0 I still haven't watched the anime but I have the soundtracks and have been attending Chiaki Ishikawa lives since 2012 and savage genius lives more recently. |
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theanimeoracle
Posts: 7 |
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Yuri age-gap and incest? Say no more, I'm in. Can't believe I missed this one!
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Cryssoberyl
 Posts: 272 |
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Thank you for this retrospective. For 20 years I've considered Simoun the greatest anime ever made, with only Utena approaching it - but while Utena may be superior as a piece of art, I consider Simoun to be superior as a piece of writing. The writing of the narrative, the characters, and their relationships...this is a journey of stunning beauty and poignancy. Utterly unforgettable.
Unfortunately it is with a sorrowful irony that I say, it is also a work that has largely been forgotten, even by yuri fandom. Among younger fans, seldom do you hear it spoken of among the greats. In some ways this is predictable. As you rightly point out, it is not an easy, tidy show; as I've heard some Japanese fans express it, it is a show that picks its own audience. As I have always put it myself, there are times when Simoun will give you what you want, but it will never be in quite the way you expected or hoped. This show is not interested in crowd-pleasing. It is interested in being what it is and saying what it wants to say. I hope that this article will push even a few more people to experience it. Then, like others both inside and outside the work, they too can regard this Girls' Portrait as a monument to love and beauty, standing for all time. |
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 1162 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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I think we'd all win with watching Simoun. It's one of the most thematically rich anime I've ever watched. And I think certain audiences, young and old alike, would gain more by watching shows with "problematic" content. Because, unless we're talking about purely sensationalist works, works that deal with "problematic" content are also shows that have a lot of nuance, which is something I feel a large part of the world's population lacks right now, and lacked before, to be honest. Let's not blame all of Humanity's trashiness an frailness on social networks, shall we?
But anyways, thank God some platform took Simoun... even if it's a platform I've never heard of before. |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1726 |
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All that plus a great soundtrack.
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2321 |
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Glad to see this article. Its a show that deserves attention and at least its now being streamed though I've never heard of that service. I'm not sure your average anime audience would embrace it and it doesn't have the "art" label assigned to it like Utena, but I loved Simoun back in the day as it did some very interesting things. I wish there was a BD available I have the DVDs but I'd prefer the durability of Blu-ray. Its been probably 15yrs since I last watched it I should check if my DVDs still work and give it a rewatch.
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Ruprecht
Posts: 27 |
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Never seen it but it kind of reminds me of Vandread which came out in 2000 and was also a mecha anime that dealt with a gender war.
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HannoX
Posts: 211 |
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I have Simoun, but haven't thought about it in years. It is a great anime and deservers to be remembered and seen by a larger audience. Hopefully this episode of This Week In Anime will get people who have never seen it to check it out.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19143 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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This series was on my Top 10 list for the 2000s when I made such a list back in 2013, and looking back on it now, I think I may have undersold it by putting it only at 9th. Unfortunately its DVD release sold notoriously poorly during its original release (I think Justin Sevakis once said that some of its five volumes only sold in the hundreds), so I tend to agree that audiences at the time weren't fully ready to appreciate what it offered. I suspect that the series would get much more attention if it was airing in 2026 instead.
It's a beautiful, remarkably delicate series both artistically and in terms of its writing, one which hits hard with its many messages without ever feeling preachy and doesn't follow conventional story beats. (Its last episode certainly offers some surprises.) In addition to its gender issues, it also has a lot to say about religion and (to a lesser extent) the way industrialization can encroach on classical beliefs. I'm long overdue for a rewatch and feel it's plenty worth a subscription cost for a month to check it out. And its soundtrack is one I would certainly love to pick up if I ever run across it. Last edited by Key on Thu Jun 25, 2026 6:11 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Rogueywon
Posts: 309 |
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You got all the way through an article on Simoun and you didn't mention the soundtrack once?
Shame on you! It's sublime. |
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omiya
Posts: 1948 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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The (used) second soundtrack CD was still selling for new price (3000 yen) when I bought a copy in August 2017. (I had picked up the OP/ED and OST 1 back in April 2015).
Last edited by omiya on Fri Jun 26, 2026 7:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6693 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Fantastic series that I appreciated more and more with re-watches. And, as others have pointed out, the soundtrack is exceptionally good.
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meerrettich
Posts: 1 |
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One of my favourite shows, and sadly also one with no legal streaming source for a long time. Which is why I have a question for anyone with access to Darkroom:
Did they "fix" the sharpening and distortion too? They apparently made the image too narrow which distorts everything and put some filter on top to sharpen the lines. Which in the process just makes anything not good looking stand out more. Really curious about that because we do anime rewatches in a small community I am part of, but only of shows with a legal source. And I am not sure if it is worth it to recomment this when there are visual issues. The screwed aspect ration especially looks really bad if I compare the trailer to the DVD source. Any input here would be greatly appreciated, thanks! |
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Dop.L
Posts: 749 Location: London |
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I bought the CDs from Japan back in the day, and I still listen to them regularly, great music from a great show. Because of all the times I've listened to Youen Naru Kizuna no Hibiki (a signature track for the show) there are still times I'll be listening to a classical radio station and think "Is that a Bandoleon" - and be correct! |
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Dop.L
Posts: 749 Location: London |
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Great to see this show getting some respect and OMG has it really been 20 years?
I originally watched it back then in fansubs, and imported all the US DVDs as soon as they were available. Then I imported the soundtrack CDs from Japan! I really wish it'd get a new physical release, yes, the CG looks a bit crap but that's because it was 20 years ago. The rest still holds up though. |
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