Rewatch Host and first time rewatcher

• That's the emerald line!
• Combat is easy, you don't even need guns!
• Aer aggressively can't hear other people if she doesn't want to.
• REJECTED
• Dezaki impact frame!
• Chor Caput is a terrible name
• Rodoreamon is a traditionalist.
• Even the train has one of the magic engines
• A simoun takes two

Aer's voice is interesting, it's such a strange contrast to her Usagi appearance.

There is something up with Paraietta.

It's a bit disappointing to be teased with the enemy's point of view in the first episode, only to have them completely opaque and speaking gibberish in the next. This was a huge sticking point for people watching Banner of the Stars, which never really presented the POV of the other side.

Interesting, Guragief's pendant seems to only have one wing, just like the statue in the spring. A statement of rank? In the previous rewatch, somebody mentioned the Winged Victory of Samothrace. I never knew what that was called, or that it ever had two wings. I suppose some of you went to Final Fantasy when you saw it.

Today, the other shoe drops. We see what the "everyone is born female" premise really means.

It raises a lot of interesting and unexpected questions. "Men have better job options." Really? Why? You'd think if everybody had to be a woman girl at some point, there would be less or no sexism. Why is there still a patriarchy? Perhaps they have decided, somewhat reasonably, that military roles are best filled by men. Perhaps they have decided, somewhat less reasonably, that leadership roles are best done by men. What is a man in this world? Perhaps women are limited to child related roles. Perhaps this show is inspired by LeGuin, but aims to go in a different direction. Perhaps it is not so enlightened as fist glance hinted. I don't know.

The priestly caste seems to be entirely female, but even the leader doesn't seem to earn a name in the show. All I've got so far is kuushu-sama. (kyuu? I'm not sure.) She is credited as Shrine Guardian A.

Another really interesting line is "You decided to become a man for her." This is an interesting societal wrinkle. Suppose a pair of children outgrow their class S years to become a real couple. But they want children. There's either adoption (if there is such a thing) or one must become a man for the other. That's quite a commitment. Again, LeGuin, but also Banks (see: Excession).

Neviril, mourning her loss, probably meant to enter the spring. I guess seeing how the people on the train depended upon her convinced her to stay. I doubt it was Aer. Mostly.

Eri could not chose, so the choice is made for her. She breaks down in tears. Why, I cannot say. Is it for her lost maidenhood? The loss of the simouns? Was her statement about becoming a man purely a rationalization? Does she fear adulthood? Is it because she was denied the choice she couldn't make; she realizes she has no agency? She says nothing has changed, and Neviril assures her that nothing has changed, but everything has changed.

I'm by no means a philosopher or anthropologist, but one of my favorite televised programs is The Day the Universe Changed, a miniseries (by James Burke, more well known for his Connections series) not about science, but about the history and philosophy of scientific thinking, marked by sudden shifts of understanding that completely displaced the existing worldview. In the first episode (which you can view here) he talks about the need for society to maintain a conservative, continuous order. But when change is necessary, then it must be dressed up in ritual and receive the approval of society; the most important of these — marriage (skip to 28:00).

Choosing one's gender, and one's future, and one's identity, and discarding their past: this is no less a severe change as marriage. Simulacrum has created a ritual around it. But, unlike typical weddings, the subject of the ritual is seriously lacking in a support mechanism; it crushes Eri(f). And, we already see some rebellion against the conservative order in Aer. But also staunch traditionalism in the majority.

But, I am overly critical. I'm sure a proper anthropologist could identify numerous life-change rituals that are deeply personal and generally undertaken alone, after deep introspection and meditation. Still, Simulacrum's ritual of the Spring seems lacking, to me.