Setting

At Daikuuriku planet, everyone is born a female (though with no sexual organs). While some countries force a sex into the newborn baby, the Holy Land of Simulacrum keeps the tradition where one chooses her sex at age 17 by visiting the mythical spring where Tempus Spatinum (God) will bestow upon you the sex of your choice, or will choose one for you if you are in doubt. If you choose male, you will keep the female voice and body, but they will tone down in the following years are your voice change and the breasts diminish (though most males in the series still are pretty androgynous and have female voices)

Preview

The Theocracy at the Holy Land of Simulacrum is the most advanced country in Daikuuriku, but not really for their own efforts but actually for their findings: The Simoun, built with relics dug from an ancestral cave, are a powerful and agile craft, can fly freely on the sky, while all other countries, despite their efforts, are unable to attain even a little of it's power. What is more, a Simoun Chorus (Squadrom), often comprised of 6 Simouns, can 'draw' shapes on the sky (called RiMajons), which if correct, bring the blessings of Tempus Spatinum, creating deadly mass destruction attacks. While in peace times, the Choirs keep offering such blessings to Tempus Spatinum to get better crops and fertility to their lands - and so the Simulacrum keeps the best landmass in the planet.

However, the surrounding nations will do anything to invade the Theocracy and steal the secrets of the Simouns ... and a world scale war breaks.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Simoun is often regarded as a Yuri (female homosexualism) title, but beware such false reviews: Simoun is not Yuri. You cannot have homosexualism between two genderless individuals. It's extremely important that you keep in mind that although androgynous and female in appearance, all characters (below 17, or the Choir priestess / Simoun pilots, called Sibyllae) are genderless and therefore anything goes. Although the romances seam to be Yuri in nature, you will eventually note a pattern where one of the so called "female" pronounces her intent to become a male when turning 17, and no romance heads towards homosexualism: every couple in the title ends up with a male and a female. In fact, the only homosexual scene (if you can call that) during all the title is a (grown ups) male-on-male kiss later on the series. Therefore, do not be fooled and don't let prejudice get in the way of appreciating this excellent title, and keep in mind they are not doing any homosexual activity, they are only entering romance without sex being an issue, and the female concept before 17 in this universe have a whole different simbolism than to us. Look beyond the "female" body, into the simbolisms, and realize that this is not a Yuri universe, though, obviously, there is a huge Yuri appeal going on, and the manga was even serialized in Yuri Hime magazine.

Secondary note: Some "males" in the series just selected their sex, so they still have breasts, which clearly diminish thru the series.

Pacing

Simoun is not a action title, you might add up "pilots", "advanced fighter" and "war" to be a action packed thriller, but it's not. Simoun is all about it's characters, the little nuances of each character development, their doubts, insecurities, and choices in life. From all episodes, hardly 5 will feature battles; hardly 10 will feature significative Simoun flights. Simoun focus strong on it's plot and characters, with the politics and strategies of war, the hidden mysteries of the Simouns, and each individual character issue (a Choir have 6 Simouns, a Simoun requires 2 pilots, thus we have some 12 characters that do get character development - thus - leaving little space for action packed sequences). Also note that some characters do die, only to be eventually replaced by new characters that receive equally important character development.

The main theme on Simoun is exactly the exploit of the Sibyllae concept of genderless young maidens discovering love and friendship. Without the boundaries of society and gender, the characters are free to develop relationships were they see fit. Love, in Simoun, is really the feeling of love, the poetical and passionate love, and never the physical act of love. Therefore, Simoun brings an interesting way to develop such relationships.

Conclusion

With all that being said, one probably realized by now that Simoun is slow paced, character focused and, to those who don't care for that, boring. This is actually true if you are not fan of subtle titles that focus on thought-provoking propositions. Even the battles are 90% strategy and 10% actual onscreen dogfights. A lot of the character/plot development is achieved by conversations and talking instead of actions, and there are lots of small details that are only fully appreciated if you get into this detailist aspect of the title. Therefore, Simoun will probably be hated by people looking for action, or any poor soul who cannot set aside their prejudices against homosexuality (one must be really perverted to feel there is homosexualism going on, since they have no gender, but alas, a lot of people do think like that).

The recommendation therefore has been laid out on the above paragraph: watch if you fully understand and accepts this is a thought-provoking polemic slow-paced title, avoid otherwise. For those who watch it, expect interesting developments, revelations and even a nice bit of sci-fi.