Simoun

This is the text-based version. I will add another layout with images and decorative elements at some other time.

Simoun is a 2006 mecha yuri anime. In the country of Simulacrum, all humans are born female adn when they reach the end of their teenage years, they must choose whether to remain female or become male.

I found this series when I was learning about gender. I was raised in a religious conservative country where the gender binary was the norm and specific behaviors were expected and enforced for each gender. Enter, Simoun.

Themes: Gender and Society

One of the aspects I love about this series the most is the topic of gender. Among the young main cast, Aaeru stands out as a favorite because she so unabashedly rejects social norms.

Her perspective leaves little room for argument. She *refuses* to choose to become a woman or a man. The rest of the cast chastises her for it because it's transgressive. People *must* choose because their country needs men and woman. One character also says that "choosing means becoming an adult."

To me, who related to tomboys and other androgynous presentations, those words seemed to imply that part of becoming and adult meant stop "playing around" with tomboyish outfits and the like. Becoming a woman or a man meant to start adhering to what society expects of that gender to "look like."

In the world of Simoun, this choice also comes with other social consequences. Women's career choices are severely limited compared to men. People who will inherit family business or aim for positions of power choose to become men.

Themes: Same-sex love

Along with the gender binary, society in Simoun discourages same-sex relationships after people choose their sex. Because of the narrative that for society to function there needs to be about an equal number of males and females that get married and produce offspring, lovers discuss who will become the man and who will remain the woman. While I don't have a personal connection with romantic relationships with the same sex, I do find this theme super interesting. The yuri elements in Simoun encompass all sorts of feeling from romantic love, familial love, to platonic love (maybe even paternal love?). The romantic love is where gender is most relevant. Seeing how characters who fought to maintain their same-sex relationships made me more sympathetic for them.