Awesome in a thin package
Candy Fleck | Henning, MN | 06/03/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Simoun is a series that I've run across reviews on and either the people love the series or hate it.
I personally love the series and when media blasters/anime works finally put out a box set of the 5 disk series here in the US I snapped it up eagerly.
This story is about war and the affects of war on the innocent people drug into it. It's a story about growing up in the chaos that is war and a story about figuring out what you want to do, or be, and taking the first steps into that direction of your life. I personally love the series completely and it is one of my all time favorites.
Now this boxset format disappointed me a little bit. I love simoun and did buy this set as soon as it was offered but they stuck all 5 disks into a single normal dvd case. I understand that media blasters like everyone else has to cut costs somewhere but there is just something nice about holding a nice box with slimpacks of your favorite series (with the cover art they released the single editions of) in your hand instead of one dvd case.
Overall if you don't mind the yuri content(everyone in this world is born female till 17 when they choose their gender) it is an awesome series and this boxset is a cheap way to get the complete collection."
Temple maidens forced to fight a war.
David Raymond | 03/30/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This story is placed on a planet where all people are born and spend their childhood as a girl. At the age of 17, the child chooses their sex by entering a holy stream, and crosses it while thinking about the sex they have chosen. The crossing of the stream becomes a rite of passage between a child and an adult.
A Simoun is an airship, with a pair of Ancient Helical Coils as its base. Spinning a coil provides power, which can be used to fly. The coils also react to the pure soul of a child before she chooses her place as a man or woman in this society, and can alter the space around it, by tracing through certain patterns.
Children of noble decent are chosen to act as priestesses. They perform these acts to bless the land, fight disease, improve crops, and other tasks that will better the community. Priestesses that excel can delay their trip to the stream to enter adulthood. It is a wonderful system, that is, until war breaks out.
The priestesses are now asked to save their country, by tracing out patterns of destruction. The burden of war is placed on little girls. Some of them die, and some that are over 17 choose to escape the horrors of war by crossing the stream.
With the desperate need to replace priestesses, trainers, younger girls, and children of non-noble rank are added into save their country.
Simoun does have battle scenes, but the main emphasis is on the maturation of the priestesses through difficult events. The horror of war, the loss of a soul mate, class differences, choosing a life partner, and honor, are what Simoun is about.
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