Forum - View topicREVIEW: Simoun Sub.DVD 1
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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The general style of both armies are so extremely different. For some reason it reminds me of the two armies in Last Exile with one having a more French/Italian feel and the other a Russian feel to their styles.
I also like the two tone colored eyes that the characters have. Although I've seen this effect done on occasion, especially for promotional artwork, I can't think of any other series that use it consistently like Simoun does. At first I thought this was going to be a gimmicky series with the yuri element but found that this element is not overplayed in the series. Having been disappointed in their recent title Kasimasi I was surprised to find Simoun a solid first six episodes with some gorgeous artwork and animation. |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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I usually don't do yuri, but this looks like it might be worth renting, at least. I don't watch dubs, so the sub-only thing is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned.
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Crescent
 Posts: 38 |
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Ah, yeah, I do remember that. That's really no big deal for myself, I think I'd be more thrown off by seeing Kyuukoku as opposed to Simulacrum. |
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Randall Miyashiro
Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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One more thing that I have to point out. When you go into the settings menu you can choose between Japanese and English subtitle and back to main! At least in previous MB sub only titles like Loveless you can choose between subs on and off. Why bother with a settings menu if there are no options present?
I think that this is a mistake in the discs authoring and they just forgot to put the subs off button on this menu. |
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ConanSan
Posts: 1818 |
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Glad to see I'm not the only opponent to the voltronian army's view of the english spoken word.
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1826 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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Where did the fansubbers get Simulacrum anyway? |
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hentai4me
 Posts: 1313 Location: England. Robin is so Cute! |
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The series is actually quite good, I will buy this if it gets a UK release.
I'd say the biggest weakness for the series is the real lack of closure in the final episode, there is a bit of foreshadowing but in general two of the major cast just up and disappear to little effect. |
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VEGANDARAE
Posts: 57 |
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Is the Screen Actors Guild strike affecting dubs as well?
I see a lot of sub only works lately in review and it's starting to get to me for some reason. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7373 Location: Maine |
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It's the writers guild, not the actors. My understanding is that animation is covered by a different guild. There was even speculation that some screen writers would jump to animation during the strike to make money. The sudden influx in sub only DVDs is really nothing more than a time and cost cutting attempt. Emerje |
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VEGANDARAE
Posts: 57 |
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WHEW!
Whatta relief, so the anime industry isnt getting hurt by this at all? |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18265 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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A lot (most?) of anime dubbing work isn't union to begin with, so even if SAG was striking, it probably would have little or no effect on English dubbing of anime.
Besides, the increase in sub-only releases started long before the current writer's strike. |
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WesW
 Posts: 144 |
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When I first saw the OP sequence for the show, I instinctively cringed, thinking that this series would just be a cheap attempt to appeal to the lowest common demoninator. However, I saw enough potential in the military, social and sic-fi elements introduced in the series to go ahead and keep watching. This was one time when I should have gone with my instincts.
A typical episode in Simoun goes like this: Girl A pursues girl B for pairing or romantic reasons. Girl B refuses girl A's advances for some well-reasoned, valid reasons. The show then cuts away to some other event. After a while, girl B waltzes in and suddenly declares that she has decided to give in to girl A's advances. What about all the reasons she refused initially? We never know, because issues are never explored and resolved in Simoun. And it's not only personal issues. The military and political aspects of the show are similarly short-shrifted. As I watched the show, it was if more plot developments occurred off-screen than on-screen. And then we get to the non-ending, which hentai4me alluded to. By the time it was over, it seemed apparent to me that the show was initially scripted out as a 52-ep. series, but was then cut down to one season. The result was that all the expositional content for the sub-plots was thrown away, and what is left ends up being nothing more than a cheap attempt to play to the subset of the otaku crowd that's into figurine collecting. If the series had been fully developed, and the social (i.e. yuri) aspect handled with respect, ala Kurau: Phantom Memory, then this could have been a great series. As it is, the only people likely to get much out of it are guys who go into squeals of schoolgirl delight at the sight of animated figurines kissing each other. Oh, I forgot to add that one of the subplots involves incest between two sisters, and there is an eye-catch for one of the later eps which depicts one of the older pilots in bed naked with one of the child pilots, perhaps the prodigy that Key mentions in the review. Just to let you know what type of audience the producers decided to aim for. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18265 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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This may be a bit off-subject, but there is nothing "yuri" about Kurau. People that think so are reading way too much into the Kurau/Christmas relationship. If you are correct about the rest of this series then I'm not happy to hear it. This series gets off to a good enough start that I'll probably watch it out anyway, but it would have been more satisfying to know I had something good to look forward to. 
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Bisuketto
 Posts: 153 Location: Middle America |
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Simoun truly is an amazing series and I'm glad it is finally able to be pruchased in the States. The emotional impact really doesn't start to pickup till mid-series and then by then it's hitting you full on.
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crimsonsplat
Posts: 24 Location: Houston |
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The emotional impact is quite powerful, especially towards the end, but the actual ending itself was highly disappointing.
Along about ep. 20, I wrote:
Unfortunately, the ending left too much unexplained and unresolved; there were too many loose ends and gaps, and I am in agreement with WesW:
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