My cup runneth over.
(Read the full episode below, or click here for the list of other episodes)
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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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It was brought to my attention last weekend there was an announcement Symphogear will be getting a new fourth season, and a fifth as well.
Hooo boy…
TOPLESS TRIED TO WARN ME, I DIDN’T LISTEN
For real though, this is fantastic news for the fandom, and I’m over here cheering hard for you all. From what I’ve seen so far, Symphogear deserves all of the seasons. It’s rad, gay, painful, heartfelt, clever, and memorable. I’m glad this anime has been well-enough received to merit continuations.
I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into when I started this, and I’m in way over my head. To say I’m a little nervous about what’s in store for me the rest of Season 1 and the four following seasons would be an understatement. But, to say I’m excited about it would also be an understatement. It’s been a blast so far, and this show has won enough of my trust that I believe the rest of it will prove to be an overall good. We’ll just have to see what’s to come!
I’m not making it out of this anime any time soon. But, somehow… this prospect doesn’t frighten me.
Welp, the next four seasons begin one episode at a time.
I have no idea what today’s episode will throw at us. Last episode was so kind and gentle I thought it was a laundry detergent ad up until that ending realization with the tombstone selfie. Will episode 9 be another calm-before-the-storm type episode, or will the gates of Hell’s Home Stretch be heaved open on us?
We open with Tsubasa humming to herself in a military hangar while she works on repairing a motorcycle.
Dang, girl, you can fix motorcycles on top of all your other skills? Your already impressive Lesbian Cred just skyrocketed, Tsubasa. This must be the same bike she crashed during her Dramatic Entrance in the second episode.
Never forget.
Whup, this opening scene is a flashback, then? In that case, that’s the bike she will someday crash. Poor hunk of metal has no idea the suffering it will endure for the sake of Tsubasa’s dramatic flair. How many times will she shatter this poor motorcycle, only to reassemble the pieces like some kind of sadistic necromancer so it can further serve her harsh purposes?
I should’ve known this wasn’t present day Tsubasa. Humming happily, smiling, blushing, soft-voiced?? This is Moemura-version Tsubasa.
Kanade and Tsubasa have a sweet little chat. Kanade lightly teases Tsubasa over the humming, but compliments her on it at the same time. This is before Kanade suggests they become Zwei Wing together, but it’s crystal clear Tsubasa is Deeply In Love with her already.
Hahhaha omg people Tsubasa just loves her so much hahah Kanade is her entire reason for being haha that’s just great haaha hngngggg
So much for this being another gentle episode.
Tsubasa wakes from her flashback, lying in one of the medical exam rooms at the base. The doctors complete their check and announce her injuries from the Climax Song are finally healed and she’s cleared to return to active duty.
TSUBASA IS OFFICIALLY COMING BACK OFF THE BENCH, I’VE BEEN WAITING LIKE A THIRD OF THE SEASON FOR THIS
Giant swords will be unsheathed, dramatic entrances will be made, motorcycles will be crashed…
…and hearts will be melted.
After the OP rolls through, we return to the music academy the girls attend, which also secretly houses the Symphogear agency’s base.
Jeez, is this the first time we’ve had a full aerial view of the academy? I didn’t realize our girls went to school at the fucking Palace of Versailles. Didn’t Hibiki once say this place has cheap tuition??
My massive student debt and I are weeping right now.
We transition to Hibiki showing Miku around the base and OMG HIBIKI SHOWING MIKU AROUND THE BASE.
Well what did you think your “cheap” tuition went towards, Miku? The football coach’s salary?
You know what, never mind.
Look how proud Hamster is right now. Like yes, bae, this is what I’ve been doing this whole time. Being able to share your passion for your work with the person you love is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. Hibiki’s pretty much glowing as she gives Miku the tour.
So, will Miku now take a more active role on the Symphogear team? After last episode’s developments, I hoped she’d be able to support Hibiki more directly, but I wasn’t sure the agency would allow her to just, I dunno, stroll their top-secret base on a tour.
The two of them come across Tsubasa in the corridor. Hibiki runs up to her with an excited “Tsubasa-san!”
Hibiki greatly admires Tsubasa, both as a singer and as a veteran Symphogear wielder, so Hamster’s practically bouncing with eagerness to introduce Miku to her. Miku already knows who Tsubasa is, since she’s a famous pop star and attends their school, but Miku’s never talked to her in person before.
Translation: NO HOMO
I’m… not sure how Tsubasa will handle having Miku here.
Although the wounds from her Climax Song are now gone, Tsubasa’s wounds over Kanade aren’t fully healed, evidenced by that flashback we just had. Seeing Hibiki and Miku be such a disgustingly perfect couple has gotta sting a little. Especially since Hibiki is only alive and able to love Miku by the grace of Kanade’s sacrifice. A sacrifice the widowed Tsubasa still hasn’t forgiven herself for allowing to happen.
Even if that issue doesn’t rub Tsubasa the wrong way, she might disapprove of a civilian being involved in their Symphogear life. Tsubasa believes warriors must isolate themselves from the people they want to protect.
Wielding a Symphogear is Not A Game to her. Tsubasa might think having Miku around is unnecessarily endangering Miku, that it’s irresponsible of Hibiki to do so instead of “keeping her safe” and away from them. Tsubasa wasn’t there for the Tentacruel escapade last episode, so she didn’t see the development Hibiki and Miku had about promising to trust and support each other in their dangerous endeavors.
Who knows, maybe Tsubasa’s in a good mood today and will handle her shit. She says to Miku:
Whew, crisis averted. For now, at least.
Hah, of course Tsubasa throws in a little dig at Hibiki even when giving her approval. She respects Hibiki as a comrade much more than she did before, but you can’t fault her for still being a little exasperated by the overly-bubbly Hamster.
Miku agrees.
HIBIKI: PROBLEM CHILD
Brown-haired guy notices Tsubasa’s unusually calm reaction to all this.
Well yeah son, Hibiki’s optimistic outlook on life is so heartwarming it’s defrosting Tsubasa just by proximity. Such is the power of Hamster-Jesus.
Tsubasa tells us that Snoop Oni convinced the higher-ups to allow Miku to work with the team as an “external agent”, despite the dangers that will pose to… really everyone actually, not just Miku. I suppose this makes Miku an independent contractor, of sorts? Good frickin luck filling out your 1099 form in the spring, honey.
Miku accepts the risks, however, and is quietly resolved to do her best to help the team, no matter what may happen to her or how many confusing income tax forms she must complete. Hamster beams over this.
Dr. Perv gainaxes her way onto the scene. Hibiki asks if she has any gay stuff to add to the already gay conversation, to which Ryouko replies with an emphatic YES.
Yeahhh she’s not exaggerating, is she.
The group shares some silly, carefree talk about possible romances, and Hamster is so oblivious it makes Tsubasa take her own fingers and Apply Directly To The Forehead.
Ryouko surprises everyone by being pretty supportive of the idea of Twu Wuv.
Uh oh…
Does that line mean what I think it means? If so…
...HIDE YOUR HIBIKIS, HIDE YOUR MIKUS, ‘CAUSE EVERYBODY ABOUT TO GET ABDUCTED UP IN HERE and their love-power used for evil.
I thought it was Hibiki’s corruption Ryouko wanted to get her hands on, what with her creepy stalker shrine of Hamster pics and that ominous chest x-ray. It now seems that in addition to all that Gungnir-corruption, maybe the strength of Hibiki’s love will also be turned toward an evil purpose by our villain.
There’s more chitchat and goofiness. Even the music makes this scene play like a comedic little interlude, as if it’s just a cute, carefree scene to establish Miku gets along well with the rest of the agency. However, as Ryouko strolls away in her typical fake-airhead fashion, I’m left with an unsettled feeling about this entire conversation… I worry this encounter will bite Hibiki and/or Miku in the ass at some point.
Careful what you wish for, sweet girl. You could end up strapped to a St. Andrew’s Cross before you know it.
(Also, whoa, not sure if Hibiki and Miku are just tiny smols or if Tsubasa really is that much of a tol even with the age gap, but I hadn’t realized the height difference between them was this significant. This pleases me.)
Now that Tsubasa’s fully healed, she can resume her pop idol career. Hibiki is so happy to hear the news that Tsubasa finally got full medical clearance that she blurts out an offer for Tsubasa:
WOW
Is Hibiki from another planet?? Pretty sure a “deito” means exactly that. The people who try to insist it has a platonic meaning are probably the same people who try to insist yuri couples are just “really close friends”. Does Hibiki just mean, like, she and Tsubasa should hang out sometime now that Tsubasa can actually tolerate her existence? Is Hibiki really that much of an oblivious donut hole?
NO, DON’T CHANGE SCENES NOW, SYMPHOGEAR, I NEED AN ANSWER TO THE HIBIKI/TSUBASA DATE
We bump over to Chris. Wrapped in a blanket, she huddles alone in an abandoned building somewhere in the city. Judging by the empty food containers strewn about the place, this is where she’s been staying since her friendly encounter with Miku last episode and her battle to save Miku and other civilians from the Noise, however begrudgingly.
Though Chris is slowly clawing her way up to being a person she can be proud of, she’s nowhere near the peak. She wants to be good. But, without direction or companionship, she’s lost on how to reach that point. She doesn’t even have a home anymore, not since Topless threw her out of the lakeside mansion and sent Noise to hunt her.
Chris gets to her feet warily when she hears someone enter the building. Luckily, it’s Snoop Oni. He managed to track her down, and even brought her some food. Chris is pretty hostile to him at first, but he doesn’t seem to have any ill feelings toward her, despite the fact she used to work for the enemy and caused him and his agency some pretty serious problems during that time.
Hunger wins out over suspicion, so Chris reluctantly accepts the offered food. While she eats, Snoop Oni talks to her. About herself, actually.
He relates the story of how Chris’s parents, who were musicians, were killed when she was a child, and how she was captured by a trafficking gang, then eventually rescued and brought to Japan.
Snoop Oni continues on, about how the Symphogear agency took an interest in young Chris because they thought the fact she had musician parents might mean she possessed a natural aptitude for becoming a Symphogear wielder. Chris doesn’t much like this idea now any more than she did before. To her, this is yet another case of adults wanting to use her as their tool, whether it’s traffickers selling her into slavery, or the goddamn disaster her relationship with Topless/Finé turned out to be, or now some government agency trying to recruit her into a soldier to die fighting their battles.
GEE, I WONDER WHOSE FAULT THAT WAS?
Snoop Oni says agents were sent to find and rescue young Chris, to no avail. Many of those agents died mysteriously in the field. More blood on Finé/Ryouko’s already stained hands, I presume.
Turns out Snoop Oni, before being promoted to commander, was one of those agents sent to find Chris. Now that she’s reappeared after all this time, he promises her that he’s determined to save her and bring her back to the light, to complete the mission he failed years ago and redeem himself to the girl he also failed in the process.
Yeah, that’s honorable of him and all. Realistically though, Chris can’t join his team until Ryouko is purged from it.
I’m pretty sure Chris knows Finé and Ryouko are the same person. The episode that introduced Topless and revealed Ryouko’s betrayal (revealed to the audience, that is, our heroes remain blissfully ignorant) was the same episode Hibiki and Chris fought over Durandal. I definitely remember a Significant Look passing between Chris and Ryouko during that fight, as if Chris was looking to Ryouko for instructions or support in the battle. Wouldn’t make sense for Chris to do that unless she knows Ryouko and Topless are the same person, or at least on the same side.
However. Rewatching episode 5 to double-check that scene would also entail rewatching this scene:
So, I’m just gonna go by memory until the anime shows me otherwise.
Point being, Chris is still on the run from Topless, so accepting Snoop Oni’s recruitment offer and waltzing into the base would put Chris directly in Ryouko’s line of fire. Plus, it’d be impossible for Chris to claim she’s part of Team Good now and simultaneously go, “OH YEAH I FORGOT TO TELL YOU GUYS THAT LADY STANDING RIGHT OVER THERE IS A TRAITOROUS MURDERER WHO’S TRIED TO KILL, KIDNAP, AND STEAL FROM YOU MULTIPLE TIMES AND IS PLANNING WORLD DESTRUCTION/DOMINATION. Must’ve slipped my mind, my bad. We still good?”
The fact Chris hasn’t yet told Snoop Oni about Ryouko, despite having two encounters with him since Topless kicked her to the curb, proves how Chris is still waffling on the issue. She wants to be good, she’s trying real damn hard, but it’s so very risky for her to trust again.
She could warn the agency about Ryouko’s impending betrayal, but is she certain the agency are the good guys, anyway? After all, they’re the ones who let Ryouko into their ranks to begin with, they’re the ones who want to use Chris as another of their soldiers, and they’re the ones who failed to save her after she was captured by the traffickers and later by Topless. Why should Chris trust them? Why not simply stand aside and let the agency and Ryouko frickin tear each other apart, and then Chris will be free of both of their manipulations?
Snoop Oni’s making an honorable effort here, but he has little chance of swaying Chris. All he’s done in this scene is reiterate her painful past, not hopes for her future. He’s making the mistake of trying to shoulder Chris’s past for her, instead of encouraging her to find a way to lay the past down herself and move forward unburdened by it.
For this reason, it probably won’t be him who convinces her. It’s gonna be continued kindness from Miku and Hibiki that slowly teaches Chris it’s okay to trust people again. These two girls have separately made the first steps toward bringing Chris back and offering her a new start, and we can see how it’s already changed her a bit. If they can keep that up, they’re the ones Chris will be loyal to. She’ll care about her new friends, not some government agency or its laws.
So yeahhh I’m sure Chris is going to take your honest offer real well here, Snoop Oni my bro. Real fucken well. Expect a slap across the face at the very least, or your head ground into the dirt under her heel more likely.
Or, Chris could just fling herself upside down out a fucking window, that works too.
I’d like to take a moment to point out we were given an establishing shot of the building earlier in the scene, showing several windows already broken, which Chris presumably used to enter building in the first place when she began staying here.
Meaning she already had a perfectly viable exit method...
...And she still chose to hurl herself out an unbroken window with an acrobatic flip, shattering the glass into a million jagged pieces and probably shredding her outfit in the process, not to mention her own skin, just to give one last “fuck your grapes” farewell to Snoop Oni.
And I thought Tsubasa was the drama queen.
Chris Gears up during the fall from the window, allowing her to land safely and building-hop through the rain to get as far from Snoop Oni as she can. He watches her go, not planning to give up on her yet.
These two consecutive shots concisely sum up her character at the moment. Confusion, lack of purpose and identity, and then a retreat to anger to smash down the pain rather than deal with it. Like Tsubasa, Chris has made a lot of emotional progress lately, but unlike Tsubasa, Chris is nowhere near approaching the wholeness of self she needs. She has much further to go.
The anime has clearly had enough of that introspective crap, though. Time for it to take us back to Hibiki and Tsubasa’s DEITO!
Amazingly, Tsubasa actually agreed to this idea, though it doesn’t seem she had the heart to tell Hibiki a “date” doesn’t mean what Hibiki thinks it does, which is, “Let’s go hang out and have fun for once, instead of fighting monsters all day.”
Hibiki also brought Miku along, or maybe it’d be more accurate to say I imagine Miku brought herself along to keep Hamster from getting too sloppy over their favorite pop idol.
I honestly can’t tell who’s the third wheel here.
Seeing them in casual outfits is an enjoyable change. Tsubasa looks Ab Fab, as expected. This may be the first time we’ve seen Tsubasa wear something casual. Miku I think we’ve seen in casual outfits before, but I’m trying to remember if we’ve seen Hibiki dress casual before.
WELL OKAY YEAH THERE WAS THAT TIME, THANKS SYMPHOGEAR
I guess she also wore normal clothes the night she and Miku were about to break up.
OH YEAH THAT’S A MUCH LESS PAINFUL MEMORY, THANKS AGAIN FOR THAT, WRETCHED FUCKING ANIME
An upbeat montage plays, showing these three girls in their cute outfits having good plain fun together. A rare goddamn occurrence. They go shopping, see a movie, get ice cream, try on clothes, and Hamster even tries valiantly (and fails hilariously) to win a plushie for Tsubasa. Tsubasa manages to unwind a bit, though at one point all three of them have to hide to avoid getting swarmed by a group of Tsubasa’s fans, but the girls just laugh it off.
Their date ends up at a karaoke booth. Because yeah, your pop star friend agrees to an outing together, of course you’re gonna take her to a karaoke booth and book a private performance.
Tsubasa turns the lights down and picks a dark, sultry love song to karaoke to. (What the heck is the verb form of karaoke?) Hibiki and Miku are starstruck.
LOOK AT THESE FUCKING LYRICS YOU GUYS:
IT’S LIKE SHE’S PERFORMING A CALLOUT NIGHTBLOGGING POST SET TO MUSIC
Is this real life?
Tsubasa picked this song, you guys. She even told the others, “I’ve always wanted to sing this,” and gave a little bow before the performance!
I cannot get over this.
She’s basically singing a Japanese version of:
Sweet mercy me, I was not prepared for this scene. I’m wheezing so hard it’s gonna wake up the babies through the wall. I do not want to have to go in there and rock them back to sleep again and explain to their mother that I woke them because I was losing my shit over an anime.
Yeah, that’d be my expression too if I were locked in a darkened room with Tsubasa singing about sinful lips.
After that truly amazing experience, Tsubasa, Hibiki, and Miku head home for the day. They’re aglow over how much fun they had on their “date”. Especially Tsubasa, to whom Fun is a foreign concept.
Hamster protests this statement, taking Tsubasa’s hand to lead her to a vantage point to look out over the city together, the city they work hard to protect. Hibiki points out all the spots in the city where they’ve made sweet memories together, and tells Tsubasa that that’s what they’ve been fighting for this whole time. Tsubasa again hears Kanade’s voice in her memory, telling her there’s more to life than battle.
Tsubasa’s come so very far from the shattered sword she was in the first episode. Helped along the way by Kanade’s spirit and Hibiki’s compassion, a compassion Hibiki was only able to share with Tsubasa because of Kanade’s gift of life.
The next day, Tsubasa tells Hibiki and Miku she plans a comeback concert, to announce to the world that she’s back on the scene now that her injury is healed. Due to the agency’s information-control, the public didn’t know Tsubasa was injured in battle, but they knew she’d been hospitalized, so her fans will be happy to have her back.
Hamster looks at the concert ticket Tsubasa hands her and notices the location of the concert hall printed on it. The concert’s going to be held at…
Oh goodness gracious no…
Not there. Not that concert hall.
PICK LITERALLY ANY VENUE BUT THAT ONE
GO PERFORM IN A RADIOACTIVE DIVE BAR OUT OF BIKINI ISLAND IF YOU HAVE TO, JUST DON’T GO BACK TO THAT PLACE
WE WERE HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME, SYMPHOGEAR, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SINFUL LIPS YOU HORRIBLE PERSON OF AN ANIME
I’m so scared by this choice. There are only two possible outcomes: performing at this symbolically significant place will be a necessary part of Tsubasa’s healing process and allow her to move forward, OR we will suffer another horrific tragedy and it’ll set Tsubasa and all us poor saps back even further.
This could go really well, or it could go really, really badly. Why must they tempt fate, why is that concert hall even still standing? Tear it down and salt the earth before any more of these precious girls meet their fates there.
Hibiki doesn’t let fear or painful memories get the better of her. She’s far braver than me. Both she and Tsubasa want to lay the past to rest, even if it’s risky.
The night of the concert arrives. Hamster is late, as usual, probably because she still frickin runs everywhere instead of using actual transportation. Her phone rings en route to the concert hall.
I don’t even need to put the following screencap in, do I? You can already guess exactly who is calling her and why.
Welp, here we go.
Hibiki tells the team that she’d rather not inform Tsubasa of this Noise appearance, and instead go it alone. Hibiki knows how important tonight’s concert is for her friend. Being able to finish this concert in this place tonight will be too important of a symbolic victory to Tsubasa. Hibiki doesn’t want to jeopardize all the emotional progress Tsubasa has made.
So, Snoop Oni gives Hibiki the okay to face the Noise alone. Greaaaat.
We get scenes of Tsubasa performing the opening of her solo concert to the packed audience, intercut with scenes of Hibiki rushing to fight the Noise.
When Hibiki reaches the Noise battle, somebody else is already there.
Chris also detected the Noise, and let her heroic side out once more to stop the monsters before they eat any civilians. She pumps hella bullets into the gathered mass of Noise, including the boss mob, which looks like a big mobile yellow brick castle with frickin turret guns.
Rook almost takes Pawn, but Queen slams into frame just in time to save Chris from the attack.
This makes twice that Hibiki’s saved Chris from the Noise. Hibiki says nothing to Chris, however, instead getting her Punch on and taking out more Noise.
A group of Noise are about to strike Hibiki from behind, when Chris returns the saving-you favor, shooting those Noise into dust before they harm Hibiki.
Hibiki’s surprised at being saved by Chris. Chris gives a grumpy, half-hearted “I didn’t want to owe you anything” as an excuse for helping her. Hamster smiles at this, knowing it’s the closest she’ll get to a “Don’t die on me, nerd” from Chris.
Hibiki and Chris continue to fight the Noise. Not exactly working together, but at least sharing a goal. The camera swaps between the battle and the concert, where Tsubasa sings flawlessly for a wildly cheering crowd.
I’m enjoying this scene a whole lot. This concert performance is definitely a step up from the one in the first episode. The music, costume, visuals, and camera sweeps are more intense and spectacular to watch, and the fact that we’re now much more connected to Tsubasa as a character than we were in the first episode makes it that much more rewarding to see her shine so brightly tonight in this special place. Not that the first concert was bad, of course, but it didn’t exactly blow me away.
POOR CHOICE OF WORDS
Anyway, this one is a step up in all respects. Well done, Symphogear.
Tsubasa sings the final sweeping conclusion to her song right as Hibiki lands the final blow on the boss castle mob. Hamster literally punched a castle to death.
Oh Hibiki, is there anything you can’t fist to destruction?
POOR CHOICE OF WORDS AGAIN
After the song, Tsubasa gives a heartfelt thank you to the cheering crowd (we even see Miku clapping in the audience) for supporting her through everything.
She shares how fulfilling it feels for her to be able to sing her heart out once again and share her true feelings with everyone. Inspiring them and lifting their spirits, exactly what Kanade wanted to do when she and Tsubasa first formed Zwei Wing together.
Tsubasa comes to the realization that this is how she can honor Kanade’s memory and the love they shared, by sharing that passion with everyone who listens to her voice.
And finally...
For the love of Madokami, finally...
...Tsubasa hears Kanade’s voice in her head saying, “I forgive you,” and knows she can at long last forgive herself, as well.
I’m a little misty-eyed myself right now. This scene is a beautiful culmination.
Forgiving herself for letting Kanade die is what Tsubasa needed all this time, in order to lay Kanade’s memory to rest with dignity, and move forward with loving memories of the time she shared with Kanade, instead of Tsubasa being haunted by only the painful memories. All the struggle, all the healing, all the Hamster-Jesus handholding, has been building up to tonight’s concert. Tsubasa was able to put herself back together in the same place she was broken, and it is so very satisfying to see her finally reach this point after watching her suffer the entire time we’ve known her.
It’s no wonder Tsubasa is moved to tears in this scene. Breaking out of a pattern of self-loathing and grief isn’t easy. When you’ve suffered as long as Tsubasa has, releasing your pain feels like another death, and you grieve all over again. Not only is she leaving behind the pain, she’s leaving behind the self that was trapped by that pain, and that’s godddamn scary to live through.
Pain endured long enough starts to feel like maybe it’s just one of your personality traits now. She has to forge herself into an entirely new person and identity than the one she’s been living as for the past two years since Kanade died. It takes a whole lot of bravery to become a better person, but if Tsubasa can pull it off like she seems to be well on her way to doing, then the person she becomes will be so much more complete.
This is Symphogear, though, so they’re not letting us out of this episode without sprinkling a little misery atop the beauty.
The episode closes with a scene of Chris alone in an alley after her and Hibiki’s battle against the Noise. Chris rages helplessly, punching the walls and crying, trying to figure out what the hell she is fucking doing with her life and why it’s so very hard for her to figure out where the Good side is and how to join them.
Hibiki’s involvement has thrown Chris’s already fragile resolve into a tailspin. On the one hand, Hibiki works for the agency Chris hates. On the other hand, Hibiki’s shown Chris nothing but kindness, which is something she sure as hell never got from anyone else in her life before she met Hibiki and Miku.
She breaks down into more tears and falls to her knees. The only word she can force out through the pain is Finé’s name.
Oh sweet mirroring threads, we traded one fucking suffering-fest for another, didn’t we. Tsubasa finally forgave herself for losing Kanade, but Chris still hasn’t forgiven herself for the piece of her life she gave to Finé.
(Oh heck, even that karaoke song Tsubasa sang for Hibiki and Miku ties in with Chris’s struggles. I didn’t mention it at the time because my brain was imploding over that scene, but after the whole Toxic bit, the last line of the song was, “If you ever betray me, I shall tear you apart with a blade of hatred!” I’m not even kidding. That karaoke song ties in with Chris and Finé’s current situation pretty neatly.)
Wounding and possibly killing people for Finé, isolating herself from the rest of the world for Finé, putting up with being flat-out tortured for Finé’s amusement, plus all the heavily-implied sexual mistreatment Chris endured, all these things contribute to Chris’s feelings of shame and helplessness right now.
Chris didn’t choose to be captured by Topless in the first place, but Chris did choose to stay with her, trust her, obey her, and become her tool for harming others. Chris can’t put the entire blame for her own misguided actions on Finé, and that’s what really hurts.
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Deck the halls, everyone survived another episode!
Tsubasa returned to center stage in more than one sense. Last episode was spent resolving Hibiki and Miku’s relationship arc, so this episode was spent on Tsubasa’s development. She was finally given a resolution, or at least the beginnings of one. Our girls aren’t out of the woods yet.
Chris, despite the suffering and rejection and window-shattering-backflips seriously I am still awestruck by that moment, got her Hero on once more. Last episode, she saved Miku, and now she saved Hibiki. Chris is attempting to learn from the things she’s experienced since being on her own.
For example, that encounter with those kids in the park a few episodes back:
Led to Chris trying to pass that advice on to Miku:
Ehh… girl has no idea what the fuck she’s doing, but she’s trying. A+ for effort. You’ll get there, Chris. By the grace of Hamster-Jesus, somehow you will get there, I promise you. Don’t Give Up On Life.
Tsubasa’s concert was wonderfully symbolic of just how far she’s come in this show. Even the choice of backdrop for her performance reflects Tsubasa’s character arc.
Zwei Wing, the “two wings”, were broken in half by Kanade’s death, but now Tsubasa was able to get her wings back and rise above her pain. Helped up by a pair of hands that seem to come out of sweeping water to lift her up…
…as Tsubasa is drawn upward to the radiant, four-pointed orange star that is the source of this healing light…
…and for bonus points, that four-pointed star on Hibiki’s chest is also a scar…
… which was left as a permanent reminder of Kanade’s brave sacrifice and the legacy Hibiki now carries for her, bringing us full circle.
I jus t
SYMPHOGEARRRRRRR
It’s is an understatement, but I’ve exhausted my ability for words at this point, so I’ll just go ahead and say This Was A Good Episode.
Tsubasa forgave herself for her failure, Miku was inducted into the agency without any trouble, Chris did something kind for Hamster no matter how grumpily…
…and Tsubasa sang Toxic in a sexy darkened room exclusively for Hibiki and Miku and I will never, ever let her live this down.
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