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REVIEW: Simoun Sub.DVD 5




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JohnnySake



Joined: 22 May 2008
Posts: 582
Location: Auburn Hills, MI
PostPosted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:49 am Reply with quote
The author of the review of Simoun 5 is much more eloquent than I could ever hope to be in talking about the final chapters of this series. I agree though, if you've been watching the series through to this point, you cannot help to be carried along with the various waves of emotion going on with the characters.

Yes, a tidier end may have been preferable, but you do not always get that with anime, as you fellow readers are all too well aware of.

There is one other item the reviewer did not mention too much of, and that is the Arcus Primus itself. The last few episodes led me to feel he/she is one more character worthy of note in this grand story as well. Watch the series to the end and you'll understand what I mean.

This is definitely a show that has more to it than you first think. If you've been sitting on the fence about it, I would highly recommend it, and stick with it through a couple volumes. Hopefully then the characters will grab your attention and not let go.
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3489
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:46 am Reply with quote
It has been so wonderful to see my own impression of Simoun be confirmed in these reviews (proof that we all like reviews we agree with more than ones we don't...). I had an awful time convincing anyone this was a good series just based on the description; people assumed it was lesbian smut when it's such a smart, character-driven show.

I do have to say that I never understood the hate for the background art. It had a sort of watercolor look, like the backdrop of an old theater, which was elegant but not distracting from the "actors," that is, the much more detailed character designs.

Anyway, when Simoun comes out in a box set, I hope to be able to afford it and buy it. I really wish they had different covers, though. It makes it look like porn. Anime hyper
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Gewürtztraminer



Joined: 14 Nov 2007
Posts: 1028
Location: Texas - Its like whole other country.
PostPosted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:38 pm Reply with quote
I took a chance on the first volume on a whim, after enjoying Kashimashi. I am really glad I took a chance on it.

This series will require repeated viewings to catch everything. I am still unsure about what happened to Dominura and Rimone, and what role that played in the whole story. Everything else seemed to be explained or resolved in my mind.

I did think the foreign speech handling on the last disc was odd, especially since early episodes 'translated' the speech. A translation on the last disc was not needed, the meanings of the 'FOREIGN' speech were readily discernable.

My one complaint about the series, was the extraordinarily long wait times between volumes. Does it really take that long to put out a sub only disc? With such a big cast, each new disc required relearning everyone's names. I can't complain about the singles price though. Judging from Media Blaster's box set prices, I might have a tough time not upgrading to a thin pack release in 8 months or whenever they get around to putting one out, and passing these singles on to a friend.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:45 am Reply with quote
I know a lot of people don't purchase this series because they couldn't go thru handing it to the register looking like, as some put it, lesbian smut. Laughing

(They would bring it to the register, then in the last minute, throw it into the "decided otherwise" bin.)

Then again, many anime covers are like that too.
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18138
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:09 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
I know a lot of people don't purchase this series because they couldn't go thru handing it to the register looking like, as some put it, lesbian smut. Laughing


That's what ordering via Internet is for (which I ended up doing for most of the volumes of this series, since I had trouble finding them in local stores). Besides, are these volume covers any more embarrasing than, say, Welcome to the NHK's?

For the person asking about Rimone and Dominura, spoiler[they apparently went back in time and fulfilled a bit of history about goddesses descending from the sky to teach people how to use the Simouns left over from the previous war. What ultimately happened to them in that past timeline is left unclear.]
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NegativeZero



Joined: 21 Aug 2003
Posts: 94
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 7:45 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:
For the person asking about Rimone and Dominura, spoiler[they apparently went back in time and fulfilled a bit of history about goddesses descending from the sky to teach people how to use the Simouns left over from the previous war. What ultimately happened to them in that past timeline is left unclear.]


spoiler[My recollection was that they never came out and said it definitively, but they strongly hinted that Dominura refused to ever make her choice and in the end became Onasia. One assumes that Rimone eventually made her choice, lived a normal life, and died naturally.]

Simoun was my favourite shows of 2006, and I'm glad that it got a proper DVD release. I just wish that they'd had some kind of box or something with the last volume.
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18138
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 9:18 am Reply with quote
NegativeZero wrote:
spoiler[My recollection was that they never came out and said it definitively, but they strongly hinted that Dominura refused to ever make her choice and in the end became Onasia. One assumes that Rimone eventually made her choice, lived a normal life, and died naturally.]


I thought that at first, too, but when I went back and rewatched the episode focusing on Onasia, the details don't jive. spoiler[Dominura was showing the same symptoms as Onasia because she was several years past the point where she should have chosen (based on the changes with Rimone, 5-6 years has passed), while Rimone wasn't quite to the point of having to choose yet because she was so young to begin with.]
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Exaar



Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 279
Location: Delaware
PostPosted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:28 pm Reply with quote
About Dominura:

spoiler[I got the impression that they were saying she was Onashia. They kept repeating that Dominura was the 'last member of Chor Dextra', and then there was that scene with the crystals at the end...

But the real clincher for me was the scene in the last episode where Yun, with her little cradle with a piece of Onashia's cloth in it, walks down to the water and floats it, saying just, "Dominura". There's absolutely no reason for her to say that or have that scene at all unless they were trying to imply that Dominura = Onashia.

Of course, it really is unclear, and that still doesn't explain what happened to Rimone, but that's what I took away from it.]
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