Since I’ve finally caught up as of a few days ago, I thought I might post a few predictions and whatnot about the show before the next episode airs. If you are not up to episode 21, I suggest you don’t read this, as it will definitely be spoilerific.
Well, I have to say that the revelations about the nature of the Emerald Ri-Maajon in episode 21 were a little unexpected. To be honest, I was expecting we’d end up with a Dune-esque thing where Aaeru and Neviril lead everyone to a new world or something, much in the way that Last Exile attempted to end things. It was pretty obvious that Limone and Dominura weren’t dead, so the assumption was that they’d passed on to an alternate dimension or similar. However, dumping them back into the past was not something I was expecting at all.
To be honest, the whole return-to-the-past thing reminds me quite a bit of Anne McCaffery’s Dragonflight. I’m not entirely sure why I get that feel from it, but it might be the overall feel of the show leaning more towards the shoujo side of anime, despite that I wouldn’t entirely pigeonhole it in that category.
Anyway, from what Dominura told us, it’s pretty clear that she and Limone are the ones that teach everyone how to use the Simoun again. This is gloriously circular, as they themselves were taught how to do it by the ancestors of the people they taught how to do it. The implication, based off the way the people at that time were living, is that they also may have brought the Tempus Spatium faith back with them. However that’s pure speculation at this point.
Was I the only one who found it oddly abrupt that the Plumblum Highland girls suddenly are flying Simoun? From what we’ve seen, theirs seem to perform at least as good if not better than the model Chor Tempest is operating. Why didn’t they start using them straight away? Why didn’t they appear with them until after Dominura and Limone successfully completed the Emerald Ri-Maajon?
Personally, I suspect that we’re going to have a few of the girls start doing some time hopping. I think Dominura and Limone ended up in Simulacrum, and taught them how to use the Simoun. Either way, I’m predicting that Aaeru and Neviril’s eventual ’solution’ to the war is going to be one of two things. Either they travel back in time and stop the Simoun from ever being discovered again, or they travel back in time and teach the rest of the world how to use the technology.
There are a few loose ends that will need to be tidied up in the next few episodes. One of them is the fate of Amuria. It’s pretty clear that she and Neviril failed at the Emerald Ri-Maajon. We’ve seen what happens when it is pulled off sucessfully, and it certainly doesn’t suck out one pilot. I personally think she died. When Dominura and Limone arrived in the past, they were in the sky, apparently in basically the same spot as they’d left from. That would mean that if Amuria made it to the past, she’d have a rather horrible drop to her death. However, it is possible that she might have ended up on the ground somewhere else. I don’t think that it’s likely, though, because there’s just not enough time left in the series for the dramabombs that would have to go off should she reappear.
The other major loose end is how Onashia factors into everything. I’m getting a very, very strong impression that she’s actually someone else that we know, probably one of Chor Tempest. At this point, Yun is the most likely to my mind. She appears to be an important character, but hasn’t really done much yet. However, there are a few other possibilities. Aaeru or Neviril, obviously, however I don’t think either of them work as cleanly. If she somehow survived, Amuria would be a significant possibility. I think if that was the case then we’d have had a few more hints, however.
Another point that is of interest is the Plumblum girls’ use of ‘Aa Eru’. The highest form of love, and so on. The question I have is whether this term is because Aaeru is somehow involved with their past (Aaeru and Neviril travel back to Plumblum?) or if Aaeru is named after the term. I suspect the answer to that will come in if we ever get some more information about Aaeru’s grandfather.
Actually, Aaeru’s grandfather is a bit of an oddity to me, because it makes me wonder how old Dominura is supposed to be. If Aaeru’s grandfather was the Regina of Chor Dextra, then it must have been quite a while back. He’d have had to have gone to the spring, become a man, found a girl, had a child, that child would have had to have grown to at least 16, gone to the spring, and eventually had Aaeru. Even assuming we completely minimise the down-time between going to the spring and having children, that’s still 32 years between him going to the spring and the current time. Even if we assume that when she was in Chor Dextra, Dominura was a child like Limone, she would be pushing 40 years old by now. While the characters do seem to be the right ages for this, it seems very odd to me. Dominura was sitting around doing nothing for 32 years, or what? Did Aaeru’s grandfather leave Chor Dextra before they annihilated themselves or whatever it was that happened to them? It just doesn’t seem to add up. Maybe I missed something. Is Aaeru really that man’s granddaughter? He’s obviously someone quite important to the plot, given the way that people reacted when they made the connection between the two… what is his terrible secret? I suspect there’s something important we don’t know about Chor Dextra.
I’m greatly looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. I must admit I’m a little worried though, as they only have five episodes left to do it. So many shows drop the ball right at the end and have rushed, unsatisfying endings, and this is one show that I’d not want to end that way. I wouldn’t be upset if it stopped and we got a second season, though. That’s a hint, Japan.
Side note: someone travel back through time and un-kill Mamiina please. 
:(
Side note: someone travel back through time and un-kill Mamiina please.
As much as she probably was my favourite character and I weep over the death of Granny, I think I’d still probably want stab the writers if they did that, since I think it’d be hard to do in a manner that wouldn’t come across as contrived, and, more over, cheapening the way she went out. Though with the whole time-travel thing there, I guess they do have a chance at least to magically fix up things. Omedetou, Aeru!
Though of course, if we with a reset ending can get a proper salaryman-Lodreamon Power-wife Mamiina denoument, I’m all for it :p.
Regarding Aaeru’s grandfather, wouldn’t it simply be that he (ex-she) went to the Spring at some point? Chor Dextra would have had to continue on, experimenting doing the Ri Maajon as normal. Sybillas will join and leave the Chor as how life would be normally. At least, until it was annihilated when they perfected the Emerald Ri Maajon. It’s unlikely as a result that Aaeru’s grandfather was in the Chor at the same time when Dominura was.
And I suppose everyone in Chor Dextra knows the secret behind the Emeral Ri Maajon.
Great piece, and interesting responses. Thanks. I agree with omo that Chor Dextra probably kept losing and gaining members over the years. According to the official site, Dominura is 19.
As for the Plumbum simoun, we saw them in the first “ruins” episode. Then we saw them at the flying supply base. Now we see five of them attacking. That seems like a reasonable build-up to me. The miko have had time to learn some Rimaajon — from Onashia? from books? The only thing that bothers me is: what happened to the miko and the simoun that were shot down in the ruins?
I think it’s possible that Dominura travelled in time from Aeru’s grandfather’s time to the present — perhaps in the “final breakthrough” that perfected the Emerald Remergion. We know that Guragief and Anubituf know that Dominura was associated with Chor Dextra, but we don’t know who else might know that. Dominura might have kept that a secret from the other Sibyllae in Chor Tempest.
In episode one, when Amuria suggests they try the Emerald Remergion, Neville says something along the lines of “but they haven’t finished researching that, yet/we don’t know how”.
The Plumbum mikos are now flying Simoun because, with the alliance between the Archipelago and the Highlands, they’ve been able to occupy the Ruins (Chor Tempest flew there to prevent that, but they arrived too late). In addition to being holy, the Ruins are the “Simoun mines”, where Simulacrum has been excavating Simoun (and they’re the only place where simoun/helical motors are to be found).
The ruins were also where Chor Dextra was perfecting the Emerald Remergion, but we don’t know how long ago that was — perhaps before they were Ruins, for example. The Emerald Remergion is a weapon of mass destruction, the Chor Dextra may have been wiped out (or nearly so), and the Ruins created in a mis-fire.
“The Emerald Remergion is a weapon of mass destruction”
…except that it isn’t, unless you screw it up. Done correctly, it can be something even more dangerous: a causality-violation weapon. Or a peaceful time travel device… but “peaceful” time travel can be inherently fraught with peril. I’m really looking forward to the last four episodes….