But she was still hungry.
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(The following is a re-upload of my original tumblr post. I’ve altered it in the following ways: fixed typos/grammar/punctuation, made image edits easier to read, clarified confusing sentences, streamlined extraneous content, and added stickers to nude scenes to comply with Blogspot policies. The rest of the original madness is preserved as-is.)
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Welcome to me disrespecting your childhood, one board-book at a time.
Last episode was a sweaty heaving climax and I loved every second of it. Finé, the very hungry butterfly, reverse-prolapsed the base’s elevator shaft and revealed her brain-bonkingly bizarre plan to B L O W U P T H E M O O N. She was thwarted by Chris’s Climax Song, which saved the world by knocking Kadingir’s shot off course.
Chris even slipped in a truly magnificent Will The Real Butterfly Please Stand Up moment.
Climax Songs are supposed to be fatal. The last we saw of Chris, she was bleeding and unresponsive as her body fell back to Earth.
On the one hand, that character arc peak was just so satisfyingly perfect that I couldn’t ask for a better death scene for her. On the other hand, we didn’t actually see her body land. She’s not For Reals dead until we see her grave.
…And even then, I dunno.
Kadingir’s blast was stopped, but Finé herself is still kicking. Without Chris, temporarily or not, it’s now up to Hibiki and Tsubasa to face off against our villain in the penultimate episode of the season.
So, draw your swords, clench your fists, or just tumble some popcorn into a big-ass bowl. Here we go!
The episode opens with a refresh of the closing scene of last episode: Chris’s Climax Song, her counter-blast against Kadingir, then her body falling out of sight as Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Finé watch from the foot of the tower.
Miku, the Special Disaster Team agents, and the other schoolgirls see it happen from inside their underground shelter, watching the battle via monitors.
HAHA YEAH MIKU THAT REALLY SUCKS, I SURE HOPE NO ONE ELSE YOU CARE ABOUT DIES ON YOU ANYTIME SOON HAHAHHAkillmenow
You know this episode is gonna be a hands-inside-the-minecart-hellride because they skipped the OP, instead choosing to play the credits over the refresh scene. Skipping the OP always means serious shit is gonna go down in an episode, if it needs even that extra 90 seconds of screen time.
Oh yeah, this is gonna be one to remember.
At the foot of Kadingir, Hibiki falls to her knees and cries over losing Chris just when they finally became friends.
After rewatching Madoka Magica so many times, you’d think I’d be used to hearing Aoi Yuuki sob brokenly. Nope, still hurts my soul to see her characters in pain.
That’s it, that’s the anime.
Her tears soon turn into something else entirely.
Well gee, would ya look at the clock, it’s FROTHING BERSERKER TIME AGAIN! Oh how I’ve missed you.
Hibiki hasn’t gone berserk since… hmm… when she activated Durandal, way back at the end of episode 5?? Has it really been that long, or am I forgetting something?
This will be the first time the good guys see Hibiki’s berserk mode. The only people who’ve seen it before are Chris and Finé, during that battle over Durandal. Tsubasa, Miku, Snoop Oni, the other agents… none of them has any idea what Hamster is capable of when she loses control.
I really, really do not want Miku to see her like this. Especially since Hibiki is fated to die soon. What if her death happens immediately after, before she gets a chance to explain it to Miku? What if Miku’s last, literally the last, memory of her partner is seeing Hibiki succumb to bloodthirsty, Gungnir-possessed rage?
The very hungry butterfly laughs at Hibiki’s tears, because Finé’s classy like that. Finé also mocks Chris’s sacrifice, calling it a foolish waste.
This disrespect for Hibiki’s fallen friend goes over about as well as you’d expect.
DO NOT POKE THE HAMSTER, TOPLESS, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE MESSING WITH.
Well, okay, you’re actually one of only two people who does have an idea what you’re messing with, plus you’ve been monitoring Hibiki’s corruption via X-rays all this time. So, Finé should already know that even the sweetest little hamster still has a nasty bite if you piss her off enough or try to take her sunflower seeds away, trust me I’ve had my fingers introduced to enough incisors over the years to know tha–
…Wait.
Shit.
Sunflower seeds.
It’s been so long since I owned one that I forgot hamsters love sunflower seeds more than anything. I’ve been calling Hibiki a hamster this entire season because she’s tiny and soft and adorable, but…
I’m gonna splinter a rib. Wretched fucking anime.
Where were we? Oh right, grief at the foot of Kadingir. Welp, that fluffy little tangent was nice while it lasted.
Tsubasa is also pissed at Finé’s mockery, because…
Wretched fucking anime, I hiss once again, this time through teeth gritted in pain.
Forgiving herself for Kanade’s death and learning to make peace with the grief was Tsubasa’s major character arc this season. But, the person ultimately responsible for Kanade’s death is Finé, so Tsubasa still needs to settle things with her. Not in the sense of “you need to be defeated for what you did to the dead” but more a “you need to be defeated so the survivors can move forward with their lives”. Vengeance is never for the sake of the dead, it’s always for the sake of those left living.
Hibiki succumbs to her rage. Her voice drops to a monstrous growl, and rocks burst and levitate around her.
Everyone watching from the shelter stares at the monitor with their jaws hanging open, including Miku and Hibiki’s other schoolmates. Tsubasa, only like 5 feet away from this screaming monster, also freaks out. Finé, however, seems unconcerned.
Interesting that Finé phrases it this way. She makes it sound similar to how she possessed Ryouko and those other poor bastards throughout history. Does Finé plan to make Hibiki her new host body? (Or, can she only use her blood descendants?)
Finé finally drops the other shoe that’s been hanging over us and making me nervous since the reveal of her betrayal... She’s been the magical girls’ doctor, had full medical access to them the entire time without them ever questioning what she does to their bodies, and yes, she finally confirms that she has been exploiting this to experiment on all of them.
Hibiki takes this reveal well.
Same girl. Bad day.
Enraged, Hibiki flings herself at Finé, who blocks the attack with her purple energy shield. Hibiki’s so strong, she manages to smash through the shield and land a vicious strike. Finé just shrugs it off and mocks the girls some more.
Tsubasa yells out for Hibiki to calm her tits, saying that giving in to the rage will only accelerate the corruption.
Because Hibiki really looks receptive to sound, rational advice right now.
Hibiki lashes out without any control, turning on Tsubasa.
Back in the shelter, the rest of the team watches this horror unfold. Miku’s classmates are appalled, especially that one “this isn’t an anime” girl.
I need an actual name for this girl if she’s going to keep showing up and pecking frantically at the fourth wall like a parakeet in front of a mirror.
Sure, she has a real name, but that’s not sufficient for her level of tiresome. I guess we’ll just go with This-Isn’t-an-Anime girl, or just TIA-chan for short. Pinch the bridge of your nose when you say this name so it sounds extra obnoxious, it just won’t suit her otherwise.
TIA-chan freaks out that someone supposed to protect them carried this monster inside her the whole time. If Hibiki is now even turning against Tsubasa, what’s to stop her from slaughtering more people she cares about?
Ehh… she has a point.
Miku takes this whole thing wel– oh wait no, she actually does take it well.
Um.
Okay.
I mean, she looks like the fucking Hound of the Baskervilles right now, but okay.
I was completely wrong that the reveal of Frothing Berserker mode would shock Miku. Sure, Miku’s certainly not happy to see her Hibiki suffering like that. But, it doesn’t lessen her trust in Hibiki, nor her belief that Hibiki’s doing the very best to be the hero she truly is. If that kind of love can’t pull Hibiki back to humanity, I don’t know what can.
Pictured: Me watching this anime.
Tsubasa tries to hold off Hibiki without actually harming her. But, even someone as strong as Tsubasa can’t stand up to a Frothing Berserker for long. Especially when Finé keeps throwing more taunts at both of them and making Tsubasa even angrier than she already was.
Hoo boy…
Sweaty, battle-worn, panting with exertion, messy-haired, armor cracking, face dirty, furious Tsubasa…
Hibiki ravages into Finé pretty hard, nearly ripping Finé’s torso in half. Finé just smirks and regenerates like the fucking Elite Four with their goddamn Full Restores. Finé’s says she is similar to Hibiki, in that Nehushtan has taken hold of her to the point that she’s no longer human.
Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Symphogears stronger.
Actually, this bodes well for Hibiki. For one thing, gaining fusion-related regenerative powers will help cure the whole She’s Fated To Become Dead And Buried thing. For another thing, Finé proves it is possible for someone to live fused with their Relic and retain their own consciousness. Hibiki needs to learn mastery over Gungnir the way Finé mastered Nehushtan.
Kadingir starts to glow once more, amping up for another shot at the moon. Finé tells them as long as Durandal continues to power Kadingir’s energy reactor like a battery, the particle cannon can keep firing.
Okay, so that means somebody needs to get in there and just Sword-In-The-Stone their way out of this mess by yanking out Durandal from inside Kadingir?
But no, of course Tsubasa wants a more dramatic option than just popping open the battery cover and pulling out Durandal and muttering because you coulda sworn you had some fresh batteries in a drawer somewhere where the hell are they now that you need them.
HAH, speaking of batteries and Durandal…. The other name the characters sometimes use for Durandal is “Sacrist D”, which sounds like a rap name to me, but according to the internet, “D cell batteries are typically used in high current drain applications, or applications that require an extended running time.”
…Gee, like a massive, long-firing, high-current-power particle cannon?
I’d look the anime in the eye and say, “Clever girl,” but I don’t want to get eaten by raptors, so instead I’ll just clap softly.
Tsubasa levels her sword at Finé dramatically. If Tsubasa can’t take out Kadingir, she’ll just take out its user.
Honey, you literally saw Finé glue her own torso back together after getting split down the middle by Hibiki. Go ahead and whip out the biggest, longest, veiny-est, most compensating-for-something sword you can imagine, but I don’t see how that will do any better.
Besides, there is currently one enraged Hamster blocking Tsubasa’s path to Finé.
Well, that looks familiar…
Fucken
Tsubasa gives a quiet but determined speech to her enraged friend, as if she’s apologizing for having to take Hibiki down. However, instead of fighting Hibiki further, Tsubasa grounds her sword, leaves herself defenseless, and lets Hibiki strike her heart.
As Tsubasa bleeds out from this strike, she pulls Hibiki into an embrace.
I remember the last time Tsubasa laid her hand on Hibiki’s cheek.
Watching these two go from “scarred old war-dog annoyed by easily-excitable puppy bouncing around her feet” to “yes, you can share the couch with me, little buddy” has been so heartwarming.
Their relationship arc as friends and comrades received less focus than Hibiki/Miku relationship drama or Tsubasa/Kanade grief or even Chris learning to make friends. Regardless, it’s been deeply satisfying seeing these two grow to care for each other and learn more depth about each other beyond “wow you’re an amazing pop star” and “wow you’re an exhausting little scrub”.
Most of the development was on Tsubasa’s side. We went from this:
To this:
To this:
And now to:
Started from the bottom, now we here.
It connects Tsubasa back to Kanade, as well. Hibiki was just a stranger to Kanade, but Kanade had enough love in her to give her life to save this little Hamster. It took Tsubasa a long time to see why, but eventually Hibiki wiggled her way into Tsubasa’s heart, too. And now, Tsubasa is willing to let Hibiki literally into her heart via the fists and nearly kill Tsubasa, if that’s what it takes to save her friend.
Finé watches the two girls hug, and of course is baffled by such a display of compassion.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER, WHAT IS FRIENDSHIP, DOES NOT COMPUTE, THIS WORLD IS ONLY PAIN
We’ve talked before about how good people like Hibiki can’t understand what motivates bad people…
…But equally so, bad people can’t understand goodness, either.
Tsubasa, bleeding out from the chest but still standing like it ain’t no thang, uses a special move to paralyze Hibiki and freeze her in place.
This frees Tsubasa to face Finé alone. Her last words to Hibiki as she walks away bring us full circle back to Kanade’s sacrifice.
This brings tears to the paralyzed and enraged Hibiki’s eye.
I like how the subs took the time to translate the background chorus of “ya-haiya-haiya” as Tsubasa confronts Finé.
Like yeah thanks, Symphogear, I was totally gonna be wondering what those meaningless background words meant, that was really gonna keep me up at night if I didn’t see a romanization of abstract vocal chanting.
Tsubasa’s secondary arc, after laying Kanade’s memory to rest, was learning to see herself as more than just a blade for battle. Kanade taught her there’s more to life than battle…
…and Kanade wanted the two of them to share their songs with the world. Singing to inspire people, not singing solely for the sake of activating their Gear to fight. Tsubasa eventually took this to heart, peaking with her solo concert at the site of Kanade’s death. Tsubasa now sings for the sake of sharing her feelings with everyone who hears her voice.
Tsubasa, now whole of self and confident in her purpose in life, charges at Finé for a one-on-one duel.
I don’t know how many people are going to die by the end of the season, but I may be one of them. This anime will be my undoing. I crashed the video player twice getting this exact frame.
Tsubasa got Hibiki’s fist through her chest barely two minutes ago, yet she’s still fighting in top form. And singing her warsong without missing a beat. There’s honestly no evidence to make you think Tsubasa just took a near-fatal injury, except one little blood spatter on her chest like she spilled some Tabasco.
That amount of blood is not some “serious wound”, that’s just “mother nature knocked early and decided to fuck up your sheets”.
Tsubasa spent upwards of a month recovering from her injures in the mid-season, but now she just waltzes onward with absolutely zero fucks given. Jeez, who needs a fusion’s regenerative abilities when even normal Symphogear wielders are nigh-on invincible like this?
Her final one-on-one with Madame Butterfly forces Tsubasa to fight to the fullest extent of her powers. She pulls out everything she’s got.
YO DAWG I HEARD YOU LIKE SWORDS
SO WE PUT A GIANT SWORD FOR YOU TO STAND ON WHILE DUAL-WIELDING TWO OTHER SWORDS AND ALSO YOUR ANKLES HAVE SWORDS ALL THE TIME
SO YOU CAN SWORD WHILE YOU SWORD, DAWG
Despite all those swords in her arsenal, Tsubasa still can’t defeat Finé.
Sorry, Daddy Longlegs. Rad as you are, you’re still only the secondary protagonist. Landing the defeating blow on the final boss is Hibiki’s job, unless the anime really wants to buck me out of the saddle. Don’t worry, I’m sure Hibiki will share the loot drops with you. Maybe Finé will drop another sword for you!
Generally, season-finale fights are structured this way: supporting characters are picked off, our hero is left alone and almost succumbs to despair, but then the hero realizes she has The Friends We Made Along The Way with her in person or in spirit, and with their support she triumphs.
Tsubasa takes a massive critical hit from Finé. Apparently, THIS one matters, because getting fisted through the chest earlier didn’t, but for reals now, she’s actually injured.
This isn’t relevant to the anime, but I just noticed my document program doesn’t recognize “fisted” as a word.
This was the most satisfying Add to Dictionary ever.
Finé’s hit knocks Tsubasa right into Reminisce Land. We get a (final?) scene of Tsubasa with Kanade’s spirit, who’s never stopped loving her and supporting her throughout the season.
Kanade takes Tsubasa’s hand and reminds her that they are Zwei Wing and together they can fly anywhere. This gives Tsubasa the one last burst of willpower needed to complete her attack on Kadingir.
Finé can’t believe her eyes. Yet again, she sees someone braver than her refuse to Give Up On Life after Finé thought she broke their will for sure.
Tsubasa soars to the top of the tower, her usual blue wings dyed Kanade’s orange for extra impact. The last thing she yells out is Hibiki’s name.
Tsubasa’s dying strike destroys Kadingir in a massive explosion of light.
This scene is stomach-bustingly awesome. But, like, you left Hamster paralyzed at the foot of the tower with absolutely no way to run away from this giant explosion. Finé can probably summon another of her purple shields to protect herself, but Hibiki’s pretty much S.O.L.
But, once the dust settles, we get a shot of the shattered tower, beneath the similarly shattered moon, where both Finé and Hibiki remain standing.
Tsubasa’s paralysis on Hibiki dissolves, implying Tsubasa is no more.
This is turning into Hamlet. Is everyone going to die and get resurrected, Mai-HiME style?
Okay really, Symphogear, one magical girl death I could buy, but both Chris and Tsubasa dying?? Unlikely. Tsubasa’s “death” here not only cements that she will come back at some point, but also that Chris will.
I’m… not sure how I feel about this. Depends how the anime handles the resurrection scenes for them.
Also, will Hibiki be dead by that point, too, and one of the non-Symphogear good guys like Snoop Oni or Miku or even TIA-chan will have to cast Mass Resurrection to get the band back together?
Witnessing the destruction of Kadingir and Tsubasa is enough to jolt Hibiki out of her berserker rage. She looks fine now.
Yep. Perfectly fine.
With the knowledge that she’s now the last non-evil Relic wielder standing – holy crap I can’t believe I thought Hibiki would be the first to die, how wrong I was – Hibiki fades out of her Gear, then falls to her knees in tears for, like, the third time. It’s been a rough night.
In the underground shelter, the rest of the good guys are similarly distraught. Like Hibiki, most of them break down in tears at seeing Tsubasa die.
Snoop Oni is particularly struck. He practically raised Tsubasa, as far as I know. He sent her off to battle after battle, fearing she wouldn’t come home to him someday, and now he’s finally lost her, once again failing to protect the girls under his care. But, as he clenches his fists in grief (he’s too dude-bro-macho to cry even for this, I suppose), he can see the honor in how Tsubasa sacrificed herself to save the rest of them, and he is truly proud of her.
Though Miku’s in tears, too, she’s collected enough to reprimand TIA-chan when the latter starts shrieking about how they’re all gonna die and the magical girls Tried So Hard And Got So Far But In The End It Doesn’t Even Matter.
Miku takes TIA-chan by the shoulders and says the reason the Symphogear wielders fight and die is to protect what they care about, people like herself and TIA-chan.
At the ruins of Kadingir, Finé flails around and rages at the failure of her grand plan to destroy the cursed moon and by extension the entire Earth, a plan she wanted to result in her gaining Power Over All Creation.
Finé simply does not understand why people won’t just give up and let her destroy the world, nor why they think love for others is a valid reason to sacrifice your own life.
Sure, Finé. Pain is the only thing that brings people together.
All that love up there? Nope. Only pain brings people together. Sure.
Finé viciously kicks at Hibiki on the ground. Hibiki is barely responsive after all the trauma she experienced tonight. She does nothing while Finé vents on her. Finé says that Hibiki was at least good for something:
Finé tells the limp Hibiki that it was her experiments and data-gathering on Hibiki’s fusion with Gungnir which allowed Finé to take the final steps in fusing herself with Nehushtan. So… that’s why Finé was creeping on Hibiki all that time and putting up stalker shrines full of pictures? Our Hamster was in fact a Guinea Pig?
Finé flings Hibiki around like a wet towel. Hibiki just lies there after being thrown to the ground, unable to muster any more will to fight.
For this, honey:
Never forget.
Hibiki, broken, doesn’t see the point of all this suffering. Why has she been fighting all this time, if it only resulted in the deaths of her friends and the destruction of the school she called home?
No, no, come on, hero – Don’t Give Up On Life! Get up and get back in the fight. Get up, Bambi. You must get up!
Miku and the others sheltering underground are joined by more survivors. Including a cute little girl.
Oh! I REMEMBER THAT GIRL! It’s the little girl Hibiki risked her life to save way back in the first episode, when Hibiki’s magic awakened for the first time!
I honestly never thought we’d see this girl again! Bringing her back is a pleasant surprise after all the bloody dripping chunks of offal the anime flung at us lately. This was the first life Hibiki ever saved, and now this girl returns to share that uplifting message with her savior, who needs it now more than ever. It’s a wonderful little bookend moment. I love when shows pull themes together like this and remind us how much our characters have grown from who they were at the start, yet also how they are still the same people at heart that they always were, even before they knew how to wield their power.
The little girl asks if there’s some way they can help Hibiki, even just by cheering her on. Unfortunately, the other survivors don’t see how there’s anything they can do. Miku gets an idea.
The agents tell her it’s possible for them to patch through to Hibiki on the outdoor speakers so Miku can talk to her. But first, Miku needs to find a way to reactivate the school’s damaged power systems. Miku’s willing to do whatever it takes, and even TIA-chan and the others ride along as Miku sets out.
Outside, Hibiki’s still lying there, unresponsive. Finé talks aloud, more just venting to herself again than really trying to have a conversation with Hibiki. Finé shares a bit more about her past as an ancient priestess.
Asshole, you fell in love with your own glorified reflection and thought you were better than everyone else. Shut up.
Finé waxes on about how she never got the chance to tell her god how she felt, since he made the most cosmic Swipe Left ever by striking down her original Kadingir before she could climb it to heaven. As further punishment, he cursed humanity, even taking away the language Finé’s civilization used. Finé calls this language:
Who cares? Why would you need to communicate with a god when you can connect with your fellow human beings, instead? Hibiki understands that.
I think Finé just didn’t want to love other people. Humans just don’t matter to her at all. Claiming to love some intangible god was the only way Finé could claim she had any love in her at all, while in reality maintaining her sense of superiority over everyone else was all she cared about. Finé as a character, like many villains, is defined by her selfishness. Especially compared to the magical girls. Finé has abused pretty much everybody, she’s murdered countless people through her summoning of the Noise, and she has zero empathy for the suffering she caused.
It’s pretty standard hero/villain contrast. Finé hurts others, Hibiki helps others. Finé tortures and manipulates to force others to do what she wants, whereas Hibiki persuades and befriends and cooperates. Finé’s selfishness also means she refuses to accept any responsibility for her own actions, instead blaming the god’s curse or the moon or whatever the fuck is on the What-Do-I-Hate-Today calendar.
Finé keeps on with her whining:
I have no sympathy for Finé here. Finé was alone all that time because of her terrible treatment of everyone she came into contact with. She treated other people like stepping stones she was willing to trample on her path to getting what she wanted. Breaking the “curse” won’t do any good for all those people she killed along the way.
Welp, you asked for it, so…YES, I’M GOING TO TELL YOU THAT YOU WERE WRONG.
Get up and stretch that DVT away, folks, I’m going to talk about my job for a second.
Okay so, in the felony trial court system, at least the courts my work contracts with, on pre-trial reports there’s a section called Sentencing Considerations. This section is where the defendant (you can’t call them “the criminal” on pre-trial reports because they haven’t been convicted yet, you can only call them an alleged criminal, so the court calls them “the defendant” because they are on trial to defend themselves from these allegations if they can) gets evaluated based on the circumstances of the defendant’s crimes.
Sentencing Considerations is where the judge weighs mitigating factors versus something called Circumstances in Aggravation, which means “bonus asshole-ery you did that makes your crimes even worse than they normally would be”.
Sentencing Considerations don’t have anything to do with a guilty/not-guilty verdict. Even if your Circumstances in Aggravation section is the full set, you can still be found not guilty. But, if you are found guilty, then the more aggravating circumstances you have, the shittier your punishment will be. Circumstances in Aggravation is the part where the court tells the defendant why You’re Bad And You Should Feel Bad.
Here are some examples of Circumstances in Aggravation, lifted word for word from my state’s legal code:
Circumstances in Aggravation prevail by a wide margin. The defendant is deemed ineligible and unsuitable for community-based supervision. If convicted as charged, it is the recommendation of the undersigned that the defendant be sentenced to state prison with the high-base term, pursuant to Penal Code Section 1170(H)(3).
The kicker for all this, and the reason it’s hard to sympathize with her, is that Finé has never once expressed remorse for what she’s done. Exactly the opposite.
We haven’t yet gotten anything from her along the lines of “I’m sorry for the pain I caused” or “I didn’t realize what I was doing” or “I want to do better”. Any of those things would have made her more sympathetic a character. The definition of a bad person isn’t that they did something awful, it’s that they continue to do awful things despite opportunities to change.
I’m not sure if the anime is trying to make her a tragic villain, because that’s not working at all, or if it’s aware that she’s just blowing out her ass right now and has no genuine relatability.
(Wow, really, document program, “relatability” isn’t a word, either? “Fisted” I could understand, but this?? Your dictionary is thinner than a magazine.)
Symphogear knows how to portray character development – it’s where the anime excels! – so I’ll trust that it knows what it’s doing with Finé. I don’t think the anime is trying to get the audience to sympathize with her, I think it’s more trying to portray that Finé wants people to sympathize with her and she doesn’t understand why people think she’s despicable instead.
None of this negative characterization is to say this is bad writing on the anime’s part. Quite the opposite. This character type is wholly believable and you probably know at least one in your life. And, from a structural perspective, this villain makes a sturdy contrast to the characterization of the magical girls. Plus, this villain type – the flamboyant, loud, over-the-top, sleazy, deliciously-power-mad bombast – is just a blast to watch. I am so happy Finé is part of this show.
Not every villain needs a tragic backstory of goodness-turned-failure-turned-wickedness. Maybe Symphogear’s background material delves a bit deeper into Finé’s character, but for now, it’s acceptable-enough motivation to the viewer that Some People Are Just Assholes And That’s That.
WHAT IS LOVE, BABY DON’T HURT ME
Seriously though, Finé’s the one who doesn’t know love no matter how many times it’s shoved in her face like a speedo at the WeHo pride parade.
Finé saw several examples of love tonight. She mocked them all, from Chris’s familial love for her parents, to Tsubasa’s comrade love for Hibiki, even to Miku loving Hibiki enough to stand up to Finé and get slapped for it. Heck, even Snoop Oni had enough love for Finé to hesitate before attacking her, and look how she returned his friendship:
After that tantrum from Finé, we cut back to Miku and her friends.
They made their way to the circuit room. They’re trying to find a way to squeeze through the gap in order to turn the ruined facilities back on, so they can patch through the outdoor speakers to give Hibiki support.
TIA-chan decides to contribute to the conversation in true TIA-chan fashion.
OH GOD IT’S SPREADING
NO MIKU NOT YOU AS WELL
The other classmates agree to help for Hibiki’s sake, and together the girls try to fix the broken power supply.
Lesbian sex is weird.
Through the power of yuri, their plan succeeds. They get the backup power supply running, allowing the other agents to work the outdoor speaker system.
Back with Finé and Hibiki, our butterfly finally decides she’s had enough fun playing with Hibiki’s limp body.
Finé raises Nehushtan’s whips. She’s moments away from a killing blow on Hamster, when...
A song breaks through the empty pre-dawn air. It’s Miku and the other girls coming through on the speakers, singing their school anthem.
HEY LOOK, ANOTHER CLASSIC CHILDHOOD BOOK I CAN RUIN FOR EVERYONE
And Finé’s heart shrank three sizes that day.
Finé snarls out a NANDA KORE WA??? like Every Anime Villain Ever when she hears the girls singing.
Gurl, you know what this is, you spent years working in the base right under this school when masquerading as Ryouko. Did you never once in that entire time hear the school anthem performed? Not to mention the agency was using the students’ singing as test subjects on the Relics anyway, so how do you not recognize the sound of students singing the school anthem?
Welp, I suppose I’ve met fellow Americans who don’t know our national anthem beyond, “Umm… AND THE HOME OF THE BRAAAAAVE!”
Crap, speaking of the agency using students as test subjects, it didn’t click for me last episode because I was too distracted by this obscenity:
But, this solves a question I had before about how the fuck this was possible:
The agency dolled the academy up like a luxurious palace, and also lowered the tuition rates, all to attract more girls for them to use as human test subjects. These girls may have had low tuition fees, but the agency made them pay a different price for attending this school.
What scumbags, I say, as I dry my tears on student loan bills.
I’m also amused at Finé’s confusion as to where Miku and the girls’ voices are coming from.
As Finé continues to wonder where That Awful Sound Of Happiness is coming from, it occurs to me we’ve never heard her sing. Everyone else needs to sing to activate their Relic and keep it going during battle. We’ve never heard Finé sing to Nehushtan. She doesn’t even have a transformation sequence, she just glows blue and then boom, butterfly now.
I’m not sure why the lack. She must’ve sung when she was a priestess. I can’t think of any religions that don’t involve song or chant in some way. We talked waaay back in one of the early episodes about how singing/chanting is used by various cultures as a way of entering an altered state (i.e., “transforming”) and connecting to the divine. Which is why having the magical girls sing to use their powers wasn’t too far-fetched for the show’s mythology. So, why not Finé?
Maybe once Finé lost the connection to her god, she gave up on singing. This emphasizes her selfishness again. Compare this to people like Tsubasa and Kanade, who became pop singers to inspire others and share their passion with as many people as they could. Finé doesn’t want to share her songs or her love at all.
The school anthem finally reaches Hibiki in her unresponsive state.
Hearing the people she cares about sing for her restores Hibiki’s willpower. She remembers what she loves and what she wants to protect, and resolves to keep fighting for it.
HELL YES YOU CAN!
As the wise words go, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
Hamster rises up, right as dawn breaks over the ruined landscape for extra symbolism. Finé is shocked.
DO YOU EVEN LISTEN TO YOURSELF TALK AT ALL, TOPLESS? AT ALL?
Hibiki summons her Gear. This time, Gungnir doesn’t take on its usual appearance. And, the burst of light that shines out from Hibiki awakens two others.
Holy YYAAAAAAASSSSSS
LOCK AND LOAD, THE BAND IS BACK TOGETHER
This some Mai-Hime style, indeed!
It’s not clear if the other magical girls were just in a similarly unresponsive state and hearing Hibiki brought them back to their senses, or if they were actually dead and Hamster simply resurrected them through her own determination.
Hibiki takes to the morning sky in her new love-boosted version of Gungnir, power radiating off her. Finé screams a terrified, “What ARE you?”
While her friends swirl around her in similar winged white versions of their Gear, Hibiki yells out exactly what she is:
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As the end credits roll and I scramble around trying to pluck my rational brain from the heavy cloud of that-was-so-rad haze it’s currently enveloped in, two thoughts stick out in my head.
The first being, “This anime could cure female anorgasmia,” and the second, slightly more pertinent thought is…
WHY IS HIBIKI STILL ALIVE?
There just isn’t enough time left in the season for her to complete her Rebirth-Savior arc that’s been hanging over us since the beginning of episode 1. We only have one episode left, and it needs to cover the three girls with their new Gear bringing about the final defeat of our villain, as well as the post-climax denouement and overall wrap-up of the season.
There’s not enough screentime in that agenda to slot in all that episode 1 establishment scene of Hibiki’s death, burial, Miku’s grief, the city being ruined and then slowly rebuilding itself, and Hibiki’s eventual resurrection. Trying to shove all that into the final episode would feel far too rushed.
So, is the season truly going to end with Hibiki’s death as a cliffhanger, presumably with Finé killing Hibiki while in her own death throes or something?
A cliffhanger-death is the only viable option I can see. The other option is…
...No. No, I like Symphogear and I don’t want to believe the anime would take that option and fail that badly. I’ll just have to trust this anime, hold off on throwing any tomatoes just yet, and have faith Symphogear will resolve this smoothly and present a solution that I’m just not clever enough to foresee at this point. Just… just don’t do what I’m worried you’re going to do, anime.
I also hope next episode will go a bit more into detail on how Chris and Tsubasa were brought back. That final triumphant scene was so awesome my joints are sore just thinking about it, but I really hope it’s not as simple as, “April Fools! Hey we’re back now lol that was a nice nap, bring juice boxes next time, now let’s go kick some ass together in our flashy new armor.”
Speaking of flashy new armor, the new Gungnir design was gnarly. And Finé’s reaction to it was priceless.
Said the woman wearing an insectoid-feeler-looking crown, butterfly pauldrons so bulky she probably has to turn sideways to fit through most doors, spiky shoulder-whips that trail even worse than Chris’s jellyfish tendrils, golden torso armor that exposes 80% of her breast surface area and the entirety of her abdomen, diamondback mesh leggings, six-inch platform heels with spiked toes, and a pair of Sasha Fierce gauntlets.
“Make it work, people!”
In other news, we also didn’t solve Hibiki’s Frothing Berserker problem.
She just kinda dropped out of rage mode after Tsubasa sacrificed herself. Hibiki needs to learn some sort of control of Gungnir’s influence over her. Her comrades can’t just keep flinging themselves into explosions to bring her back to her senses every time she goes off the deep end.
Her new shiny white Gear takes a much different motif than the black/corrupted Frothing Berserker mode, so I’m not sure whether we’ll see Frothing Berserker mode again in the final episode. It seems redundant to have Hibiki occupy two altered states at once – both the new shiny-empowered and the dark-corrupted versions of her magic. Stacking those two forms on top of each other like a PB&J might be really jarring.
I dunno, maybe the anime could pull it off and make it the raddest magical girl battle ever seen. Or, they might decide to save the rest of the Frothing Berserker development for next season, or even carry it through all the seasons and keep it as a permanent impediment the hero must learn to coexist with.
Welp, one final episode left, folks! I feel the hype heating my veins already.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and my what a beautiful radiant light it is.
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