We need a villain episode.
(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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Our girls are in position for the final few climactic episodes of the season.
Hibiki and Miku resolved their arc as a couple by learning to support each other in their unique ways. Hamster herself learned to become a better warrior and balance her Symphogear duties with her normal life. On Tsubasa’s end, last episode she finally Let Go Her Earthly Tether and got her wings back, at long last able to forgive herself for Kanade’s death and look toward a brighter future.
The only person we’re waiting on is Chris. But, as we talked about last episode, Chris can’t complete a redemption journey and join the agency until after Ryouko reveals herself as a traitor. Maybe Chris will be the one to expose her.
In light of all this, we need a villain episode.
The only questions left outstanding (other than “Why does Chris’s hair look like a jellyfish?”)…
…involve Finé/Ryouko. Boy howdy, do we have a lot of those questions.
For starters, it’s not yet confirmed Finé and Ryouko are the same person. Yeah it’s been heavily implied, but I’ve been wrong before. Even if they are the same person, we don’t know whether they share a physical body. It’s possible the human-looking Ryouko is some sort of flesh-golem which is only a shell for her True Form, and she will undergo a butterfly-symbolic-metamorphosis into an even more powerful entity for the big climax.
Another question: who is this “Custodian” and what bonds did they place on Finé and her kind? A restriction of her power, it seems. Was this a good thing, since Finé’s powers are used for evil? Maybe the Custodian placed restrictive bonds on humanity as a whole, or on Symphogear girls in particular.
The Custodian sounds like some type of god, which explains why Finé needs to acquire a massive amount of power before she can break free of these bonds.
In addition, who are the Lulu Amel? Are those Finé’s people? It was implied she may not be human, or she may be one of the ancient people who first crafted the Relics.
Another possibility is that Ryouko was once a normal woman, who Delved Too Deeply And Too Greedily into her research on Relics and was consumed by what she found. The Lulu Amel might be another term for the Symphogear girls, who she plans to use as her minions.
Speaking of using Symphogears as her minions, we don’t know what a “Kadingir” is, either. It likely involves merging a human body with a Relic, for which Finé plans to use the already-partially-Gungnir-fused Hibiki. Hibiki’s power level, especially when wielding the ultra-powerful Relic Durandal, is over nine thousaaaaaaand. So, if Finé intends to challenge a god and cause a metamorphosis of the world as we know it, Hibiki is the tool she will use to do so.
We have many questions in need of answers. Finé’s just been kinda lurking in the background the past few episodes. No more political assassinations or kidnapping attempts, no attacks on the agency, no moves to steal Durandal or anything else. All she’s done lately is dump Chris (twice) and send Noise to henpeck her ex a few times.
Lack of Finé screen time the past few episodes is not a bad thing, as we spent those episodes on important character development for our heroes. That Tentacruel fight with Hibiki and Miku, Tsubasa’s solo concert… Those are my favorite scenes in the entire anime so far, and I absolutely would not trade them for any amount of villain screen time.
Even so, antagonists are the movers of Plot. So, until our Topless villainess gets off her nude ass, the plot can’t advance far. Plus, villains are just plain interesting to watch, so I’m eager to see her in action and learn about her background/motivation, hopefully getting answers to those above questions in the process. (Why does Chris have jellyfish hair? Is the idea for that haircut yet another crime we can lay at Finé’s feet?)
Worryingly, getting closer to Finé kicking the climax into gear and steamrolling us all beneath its grind also means we are getting closer to this:
I was wrong when I said all Hibiki’s character arcs were complete. She still must see her Rebirth-Savior archetype through to the end, and a rebirth can’t happen without her dying first. That prologue to the first episode also showed us Hamster’s death ties in with an apocalypse that leaves the city in ruins, no doubt brought about by Finé’s attempt (or success?) at breaking free of the Custodian.
So, I’m predicting today’s episode will be Finé- and Chris-centric.
I’m also predicting serious levels of woe.
*deep breath*
Here we go, people.
Unsurprisingly, we open the episode at Topless’s remote mansion out in the woods. What is surprising is there are several commandos lurking outside, setting up an ambush. These must be the same henchmen of her American co-conspirator, right? The ones who assassinated the Defense Minister on her orders?
Winning hearts and minds.
Have the Americans finally decided to cut ties with Topless and just try to steal Relics themselves? She probably hasn’t shared her “breaking of the world as we know it” plan with them, so they have no idea just how dangerous Finé truly is. They think they can simply get rid of her if she’s no more use to them.
Good fucking luck, you doomed yanks. Finé is going to wave her magic blue hands and flay you fuckers alive for sullying her pain-palace with your presence.
The camera sneaks into the mansion proper and brings us upon…
OKAY well nevermind, I guess it’s officially Confirmed that Ryouko = Finé.
Thank Madokami. I was going to look spectacularly silly if I was wrong about that, no matter how heavily implied or supposedly “obvious” the show made it before now. I’ve certainly been mistaken about “obvious” things before.
Also of hilarity is that Finé-Ryouko never bothered to fix that big door to her dining room/torture chamber that got broken down when Chris came bursting in all enraged after being cut loose.
Ryouko’s doing something on her multi-monitor setup. Something to do with Hibiki, considering all the screens are covered with those stalker-ish pics of our cute little Hamster. This is either part of her evil plan… or she’s just creeping on Hibiki’s old selfie posts. Make sure you don’t accidentally Like one of those pics from ages ago, Ryouko, that’ll expose you as a weirdo for sure.
The American commandos burst in through the door and windows. They empty their assault rifles at Ryouko and her computers.
Ryouko takes a bullet and goes down, bleeding heavily. The leader of the commandos stands over her and gloats (in Engrish, of course) that he now has all her data from her Relic research and no longer needs her for his plans, muahaha no one can stop us now.
Oh, son. You have no idea the metric ton of elephant crap you are about to be drowned in. You double-crossed the wrong butterfly.
Ryouko heals herself with her magic blue hand thingy and stands up, to the shock of the American commandos.
Thank you for that line, Ryouko. I now have my default response to the next piece of hate mail I receive.
She taunts the Americans, saying she has knowledge of a “black art” they could never comprehend. She takes a threatening stance. The commandos freak out and start shooting more rounds, because it worked so well the first time, and then…
WAIT WHAT WE CUT TO THE OP?
Dang it, Symphogear. I wanted to see our wicked-powerful villainess shred those commandos to pieces and feed the remains to her Noise.
Make the villain do something other than taunts and magic hands and creep on photo albums.
WAIT NO I TAKE IT BACK, DON’T MAKE HER DO ANYTHING AT ALL, IN FACT LET’S JUST FORGET SHE EXISTS AND TURN THIS INTO A FLUFFY J-POP DRAMA INSTEAD OKAY PLEASE?
The OP drops us off at the school, where Hibiki and Miku are chatting. Hibiki looks out over campus and shares how much she enjoys this school and how it feels like home to her, even though it’s only been two months since the start of the series when she transferred here so she could be near Miku.
Well, that’s for sure.
A lot indeed.
We then cut back to Finé’s mansion and YES, GOOD.
A figure dashes through the broken door.
NO, BAD.
Chris, why are you back here again? How many times has Finé practically punched you in the teeth and kicked you out? Last episode closed with a scene of Chris breaking down alone in an alley and cursing Finé’s name. I’m not sure if Chris came back to challenge Finé to a fight one more time, because it’s not like Finé nearly killed her last time or anything, or if Chris just wants to find closure so she can move on with her life. Chris can’t move forward until she gets a resolution for what Finé did to her and for Chris’s own culpability in the bad things she did at Finé’s direction.
Chris picks her way through the huge hall/torture chamber, stepping around the bloody corpses of the American commandos. Finé put paid to them pretty easily, but the butterfly herself is nowhere in sight.
Someone else arrives at the gory after-party, to Chris’s surprise. Snoop Oni and a squad of his MIB agents made it to the mansion. How did they know where it was, and if so why didn’t they come earlier? Or did they just now track Chris here?
Chris immediately goes on the defensive, assuming Snoop Oni will add up 1 Chris + Lots of Dead Bodies and think she’s the one who killed them. He reassures her that he knows it was Finé.
Wow Chris, you even got the Head Pat Of Acceptance from Snoop Oni. Didn’t he do the same for Kanade when the agency took her in as one of their own?
I suppose head pats from Snoop Oni are the equivalent of the Roman pater familias picking up a newborn baby – you’re officially acknowledged as part of the agency’s family now, Chris. Welcome to the mess.
Huh, I didn’t notice before, but Snoop Oni in that Kanade flashback was much more skinny than the huge buff guy he is now.
Is it possible he…
Wait no, please no. Don’t do this to me, Symphogear…
Hang on, I need to check episode 1 real quick.
Oh god no… I was right. He was skinny on the day of the concert battle, too.
He didn’t get muscular until after the concert battle.
He didn’t get muscular until after Kanade died.
I was so focused on how Kanade’s death affected Tsubasa that I overlooked the heartbreak Snoop Oni must also have gone through. He must have poured everything into making himself stronger after Kanade died, praying it would be enough, promising himself he would never again be too weak to protect the girls under his care and never again have to bury a child he took in as his own.
I hate this wretched fucking anime.
Back in the mansion, the MIBs fan out and search for clues to where Finé might have gone.
Dear random agent who just ran across the foreground,
That is not how you hold an Uzi, my good sir. Why is your support hand on top of the gun instead of behind the grip or under the handguard? Are you worried the ejection port’s gonna frickin get up and walk away if you don’t hold the slide down? Say goodbye to a few fingers if you actually fire the gun in that position. Sheesh, at least extend the stock if you’re going to carry the gun that close to your chest.
Sincerely,
A dirty US-scum monkey.
After that, another agent finds a note on one of the commando corpses.
HAH. That’s hilarious. Finé took the time to write a mocking farewell letter before she left. In the blood of her victims, no less. That’s some precision blood-writing there, no drips or splatters. She must’ve done this before.
Who is this note for? For Chris, for Snoop Oni, for any other commandos who might come looking for their missing comrades?
The agent lifts the note off the corpse, which to his surprise also pulls a string that triggers:
Whoooa “sayonara” indeed. Despite having the Black Arts at her command, Finé isn’t above mundane methods of murder. Bad guys always booby-trap their bases.
This blast takes out an entire wing of the mansion and collapses most of the walls around them. I guess that’s why Finé never bothered to fix the broken door, she was planning on blowing the whole place up anyway if anyone traced her back here. It serves the dual purpose of killing intruders and destroying any important data or papers she might have left behind.
Despite this explosion, nobody is injured. The agents didn’t even get flecks of debris on their shades. Snoop Oni shielded Chris, because everyone looks smol when they’re standing next to the big spiky lion dad.
“Spiritual energy” is the explanation for Snoop Oni’s powers? Like that earth-stomping trick we’ve seen him do, where he kicks up huge chunks of concrete to block attacks?
Okay. I mean, that sounds fake, but okay.
Chris gets angry, like she always does when anyone shows her kindness or concern, because she has no other way of coping with it. Offering kindness to others can make you feel vulnerable, but honestly, accepting kindness from others makes you feel even more vulnerable. Chris can’t handle that, so she resorts to anger in these situations, like a scared kitty arching its back to try to look intimidating.
Chris asks why someone with no Gear to wield is trying to protect her. He replies that it has nothing to do with Gear, it’s just the responsibility of adults to care for others. He doesn’t bring up his failure to protect Kanade, but you can tell it must be on his mind.
Chris doesn’t take kindly to this reply, mainly because so few adults have taken kindly to her in the past. She’s said before that she hates adults on principle, due to her awful experiences with them since she was a child. She reiterates that hatred here. She adds that she even hates her dead parents.
Ouch. I don’t think we’ve seen Chris express anger at her own parents before. She rages about how stupid they must have been to knowingly enter a war zone and dream they could bring peace through their music.
Once more, Chris is using anger to deal with pain. Maybe she thinks if she can convince herself she hates her parents for dying on her, then living on without them might hurt less. That way of thinking might be how she coped with living with Finé, too.
The truth is, Chris misses her parents. If she didn’t miss them, she wouldn’t have made it her personal goal to prevent people in power from causing more wars and orphaning more children.
Chris says that trying to save people through songs and hope and all that Care Bear nonsense about following your dreams will never work. The only realistic way, according to her, is to straight-up kill any people who are a threat.
Snoop Oni asks how that whole Kill ‘Em All thing has worked for Chris so far, which of course she doesn’t have a good answer to. Nothing’s really gone right for Chris, except the few friendly encounters she’s had with people like Hibiki, Miku, and now Snoop Oni.
He tries to give her a different perspective on adulthood and following your dreams. He tells her how becoming an adult not only means becoming taller and stronger and…
…becoming an adult also means you now have the power to make your dreams a reality. Growing up doesn’t mean giving up on optimism. He tells Chris that her parents weren’t cowards or fools. They genuinely believed they could make a difference in that war zone, and felt it was their duty to do their utmost to make that dream a reality.
This scene is truly touching, and surprising in how optimistic it is.
Magical girl shows are usually so youth-centric. It’s uncommon to see a magical girl outside the age range of 14-18 or so, maybe early twenties if the anime is feeling generous. I’ve yet to see a magical girl in her late twenties or into her thirties or beyond. They’re magical girls, not magical women. Normally, it’s these super-young magical girls who bring the audience messages of hope and believing in dreams. Hibiki, for example.
It’s rare to see adult characters echo that belief. Usually, adult characters in these shows are outright villains, or else they’re bitter and worn-out, gave up on dreams long ago, or are obstructionists who get in the way of the magical girls and those girls’ dreams. Snoop Oni sharing a quiet but firm belief that he can still make a difference in the world is really touching.
To conclude his heartfelt speech, Snoop Oni tells Chris that even if she hates her parents, he’s certain they would still love her very much.
Being told that she’s loved, possibly for the first time since she was little and her parents were alive, which was half her lifetime ago, is what finally does Chris in. For once, she lets herself be vulnerable enough to accept kindness.
Where are the other agents during this tender scene? The camera hasn’t shown us them since it established they didn’t die in the explosion. Are they just standing off in the background politely while Chris and Snoop Oni have this impromptu therapy session? Are they dusting off their black MIB suits, looking around and shuddering at Finé’s various torture devices, maybe having a chat about proper gun safety?
Chris eventually cries herself out. Snoop Oni and his agents get ready to leave. Why was he here to begin with? If they came to the mansion knowing everyone else was already dead, then I thought they’d raid Finé’s databases, or at least look around the mansion more. The agents only checked that one room. Despite the explosion that destroyed her main computers, it’s worth checking out any parts of the mansion still standing, in case they find some info about Finé and her plans. But, I guess I can’t blame them if they’re scared of triggering more bomb traps.
And, if the agents came to the mansion thinking they would find Finé there, well then it just would’ve been their corpses littering the floor instead of the Americans. No amount of “spiritual energy” from Snoop Oni gonna overpower the Black Arts.
Chris has warmed up to Snoop Oni a lot, but she remains reluctant to actually go with him back to the base. She’s still learning to stand on her own. She can’t join the team until she’s absolutely certain she isn’t getting herself into a repeat of her toxic situation with an evil master who will abuse her and use her as a tool for their own terrible ends.
Snoop Oni understands, and gives Chris the time she needs. As a parting gift, he gives her a transmitter device he explains will let her buy food and use public transportation, presumably so she doesn’t have to throw herself out of windows to get around anymore.
Well okay, she has one word to share with him.
Chris doesn’t know what “Kadingir” means, but tells Snoop Oni that Finé kept saying Kadingir was finally complete. He doesn’t know what it means, either. However, he knows that whatever it is, it’s gonna be bad news for everybody. He drives off with renewed urgency in catching Finé before she can wreak any more suffering and explosive love notes upon them.
Chris still didn’t tell him that Ryouko is Finé?? I’m starting to think maybe Chris doesn’t know, but like I talked about last episode, it makes no sense for Chris not to know, based on the way she interacted with Ryouko in a previous episode.
Back at the base, Snoop Oni holds a conference call with the rest of the team to let them know what’s happened. Except, they’re missing someone.
Probably off crying somewhere because she didn’t make a backup drive of her Hamster pics and has to rebuild her shrine from scratch.
Nobody in the agency knows where she is right now. Hibiki isn’t worried about Ryouko’s safety, though. Hibiki saw Ryouko’s special powers in action a while back, when Hibiki wielded Durandal and Ryouko used some sort of energy-shield to protect the two of them.
Tsubasa tells Hibiki that makes no sense, since to the agency’s knowledge Ryouko doesn’t have any combat training. She’s just a scientist and technician.
Hibiki never told anyone about what happened that day?
Hibiki never told anyone about what happened that day.
WHY DOES NO ONE TELL ANYONE ANYTHING ABOUT RYOUKO?
Maybe Hibiki figured Ryouko has “spiritual energy” like Snoop Oni.
Ryouko herself joins the conference call. She claims she overslept and her communicator was broken, and she may as well throw in “my dog ate my homework” for all her weak excuses.
It looks like her fake balloon-headed persona might finally have popped, for Snoop Oni’s eyes narrow slightly in suspicion. Her shadiness right now isn’t helped by the fact she’s only participating in the call through voice, instead of showing her face on the display like the others are.
Snoop Oni has only one word to say to Ryouko, and no it’s not the word you’d expect him to have for her right now.
This seems… unwise. If your suspicions were just now alerted to Ryouko, even in the slightest, it’s probably not a good idea to let her know you have a lead on the villain’s plans, even if you have no idea what that Kadingir lead actually means.
We get a shot of Ryouko, and see why she didn’t want to show her face on the communicator. She’s laid up in some unknown building, still bleeding and injured from killing those commandos.
Why is she telling them this? Or, is she just making up something off the top of her head to throw them off, and “Kadingir” actually means something completely different?
Snoop Oni, when did you become Mr. Takes Everything Literally? Finé’s not building an actual tower, you silly shovel-shaft.
“Kadingir” meaning “reach the heavens” is probably just a metaphor for “ascend / gain supreme power”. Sure, Finé might be building some sort of Stairway to Heaven, just because so many anime love having their climactic action scenes take place in space for no other reason than it looks awesome, but I doubt it’s a literal tower the way Snoop Oni thinks.
I think Finé’s “Kadingir”, i.e. her tool to “reach the heavens” and undo the bonds set by the Custodian, is something else entirely.
I’m guessing Hibiki is the tower. Corrupting Hamster and binding her power for Finé’s own use is the means by which Finé will attempt to reach the heavens, gain ultimate power for herself, and remake the world according to her wishes.
In Tarot, the Tower card represents destruction and strife. No surprise, considering we know Finé building this “tower” will coincide with the apocalypse which ruins the city and results in Hibiki’s death.
I’m hazy on the details, but I’m pretty sure the Tower = Destruction connection in Tarot was based on that Sumerian or similar ancient Middle Eastern myth about a heavenly tower (was it Babel? not sure) that Ryouko talked about. In that story, humans were harshly punished by the gods for daring to build such a creation and transcend their mortal limitations. The Custodian will probably punish Finé further for trying to build this Kadingir and trying to cause a metamorphosis of the mortal world.
Snoop Oni still doesn’t get the whole “tower” thing, but he tells the team that at least they have some kind of lead now, and they should all stay on alert.
Snoop Oni, if you die on me in the next few episodes, I swear I will personally carve those two sentences on your gravestone.
Hibiki and Tsubasa agree to keep an eye out, and end the call. Ryouko also signs off, but tells Snoop Oni she has “something to take care of first” before returning to home base.
Mm-hmm. Sure.
Hibiki shares the Kadingir news with Miku. Miku can’t find any information about it through her internet searches. At the base, we see agents combing the agency’s databases, looking for any information they can glean about such a tower. A Noise alert interrupts them.
Mm-hmm. Sure.
“Something to take care of first” indeed.
Another big-ass flying manta ray Noise joins the first three hovering over the city while civilians flee in fear. Tsubasa heads off to fight the Noise. So does Hibiki, reassuring Miku before she leaves.
MM-HMM. SURE. SUUUURE.
Hibiki tells Miku to stay at the school in the event they need her help evacuating students to the underground shelters. Hamster apologizes for getting Miku involved in all this Symphogear-vs-Noise stuff. Miku of course tells Hibiki they’re already over that, and Miku is glad to help any way she can. She agrees to wait at the school.
Literally every single line in this scene is painfully wince-inducing.
We’ve had ten episodes to prepare for Hibiki’s death and still…
I’M NOT READY
Hamster runs off to battle, because apparently Snoop Oni ran out of those transmitters he gave Chris that would’ve let Hibiki use transportation for once instead of holding B to run everywhere in every episode.
Snoop Oni and the other agents at the base remotely direct Hibiki and Tsubasa toward the four huge Noise, all of which are converging on the Tokyo Sky Tower.
How convenient. Just a short time after Ryouko gave you a lead on a tower, one nearby tower just happens to become relevant. Our good guys wouldn’t know a diversion if it leapt out of their garbage can like an angry raccoon and bit them on the nose.
Snoop Oni sends Hibiki and Tsubasa to Sky Tower, telling them that in addition to its normal functions, Sky Tower hosts backup servers for the agency’s databases. Who thought that was a good idea?? That’s like the White House storing their nuclear launch codes inside the Statue of Liberty’s head. Didn’t that happen in one of the National Treasure movies?
Snoop Oni admits he does know this attack may be a diversion or trap. But, he also knows they can’t just stand by and let the Noise attack Sky Tower and the surrounding parts of the city, endangering civilian lives. The team must dive into this trap headlong and hope for the best.
Tsubasa speeds away on her motorcycle, no doubt already envisioning the best possible way to crash this one for maximum dramatic entrance. Hibiki realizes even Mom’s Running Shoes won’t get her across the city in time, so the agency sends a helicopter to pick her up.
The four massive flying Noise circle Sky Tower like frickin hungry sharks. They open their fuselages and release hordes of Noise on the surrounding area, and now It’s Raining Noise, Hallelujah It’s Raining Noise.
Smaller flying Noise slip out and attack from the sky, while the ground-bound Noise fall to the streets and start hunting for any civilians who didn’t make it to shelter.
Yikes. This is the largest concentration of Noise we’ve seen in one place since the concert battle. Not looking good for us…
Tsubasa and Hibiki are powerful, there’s no doubt about that, but from a logistical point of view they’re still only two bodies. It’ll be a nightmare for them to handle this many Noise in so large an area all at once and protect the civilian shelters.
Hibiki’s helicopter arrives at Sky Tower and gets into position above one of the huge flying Noise carriers.
Hot damn, Hamster made her own dramatic entrance for once! Fucking jumping out a helicopter, Gearing up during the fall, punching through that massive B-52 sized Noise like it was a pinata, and piercing through the other side.
That was awesome.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
The words “dramatic entrance” magically summon Tsubasa. She rides up on her motorcycle just as Hibiki lands on the ground after taking out that carrier Noise. Tsubasa jumps off her bike, transforms mid-flip, lands with her sword unsheathed, and gets to slashing up some Noise of her own.
Unfortunately, the smaller flying Noise take out the helicopters, removing our girls’ air support. The ground-bound Noise continue to swarm the streets.
Just when our heroes are about to be overwhelmed, a barrage of bullets blazes out to an accompanying rock track.
OH YES, PLAYER 3 HAS ENTERED THE BATTLE
This will be the first time we’ve seen these three Symphogear wielders work in harmony. This is gonna be amazing.
Of course, Chris denies that she came to help with this battle purely out of the goodness of her heart.
Sure Chris, we know, we know. You’re a big bad tough girl who Don’t Need Nothing From Nobody. And we love that about you.
Chris was alerted to the Noise attack by that transmitter device Snoop Oni gave her at the mansion. He patches through on it and welcomes Chris to the party, though he ribs her a bit for taking her time to show up.
Hibiki bounds up to Chris and hugs her over her protests of NO, NO HUGS, AM TUFF GIRL. Hamster gives Chris a huge grin and thanks her for coming to help.
Apart from Snoop Oni and Miku’s kindness toward Chris, Hamster-Jesus always saw the Good in her. Despite the multiple fights they’ve had, Hibiki’s persistent offers of friendship and forgiveness finally paid off.
Tsubasa, on the other hand, is not too keen on fighting alongside Chris. However, they’re in no position to refuse the help.
Chris doesn’t want to work directly with them, so she agrees to go handle the Noise in the sky since she’s the only one with a ranged weapon, while the other two Symphogear wielders take care of the Noise on the ground.
Chris and Tsubasa manage to get in each other’s way pretty quickly. While neither of them is happy about working together, Tsubasa is at least willing to set her pride aside enough to try, so she criticizes Chris’s selfishness in refusing to return the effort.
To be fair, Chris also kicked Hibiki in the head one time.
So let’s all just forgive and forget.
Chris is equally upset at having to cooperate with Tsubasa. Chris raises her fist as if she’s about to strike Tsubasa. She’s stopped by a gentle pair of hands.
Hibiki gets her Hamster-Jesus on and makes peace between them. She takes Tsubasa’s hand as well, linking the three of them together. She tells them how she believes even three people as different as they are can still be friends if they share the same goals.
The battle is put on hold for a minute while Hibiki tells them how, after all this time, she still can’t summon Gungnir’s spear to aid her in battle. But it’s okay, she says, because having her hands empty of a weapon means her hands are open for holding the hands of other people.
Tsubasa and Chris are moved by this. Tsubasa yields first, grounding her sword and extending her now-empty sword hand to Chris.
Chris, very slowly and very hesitantly, returns the gesture.
I see now. I was wrong, Hibiki isn’t a tower between heaven and earth. She’s a bridge between people.
Someone like Finé could never understand that, and that’s why Finé’s evil plan to use this Kadingir is doomed to fail.
I’m 80% sure some kind of wedding is happening right now. I just don’t know whose. Any combination could work.
Now ready to continue the battle as allies, the Symphogear wielders realize they need to take out the three huge flying carriers that remain, else the carriers will just keep churning out more of those smaller Noise.
Chris comes up with an idea.
As the wielder of the Ichaival Symphogear and the only Ranged DPS of the group, Chris can super-charge her guns and release one enormous blast that will take out all the Noise carriers at once.
Tsubasa points out that while Chris is busy charging this mega-attack, she’ll be helpless.
Yes.
YES.
YES.
Give me ALL of the Symphogears wielders working together as comrades and fighting as one team, I NEED this in my life. Thank you blessed wretched fucking anime for bestowing this scene upon me.
Chris busts out some truly huge missiles and charges her mega-attack in preparation to Fuck That Noise. Hibiki and Tsubasa dash back into the melee to keep the ground Noise off Chris.
Was this shot absolutely necessary, Symphogear?
Chris uses a different song for this attack than her normal battle song. Her normal song is full of disdain and mockery, about how she hates other Symphogear girls and wants to destroy anybody in her path. This new song she sings as she charges her missiles is completely different. Lyrics that used to be about pain and struggle are now about warmth, accepting light, and trust.
People like Finé have told Chris poisonous bullshit like this for years:
But now, with Hibiki’s help, Chris can see that love and friendship are what actually connect people’s hearts.
Participating in this final attack is a huge act of trust for Chris. Possibly the ultimate trust. If Tsubasa and Hibiki don’t do their jobs guarding Chris’s back while she’s helpless charging her guns, she’ll die right here. Not only does she respect the other Symphogear wielders’ abilities as warriors, she knows they won’t let her down as comrades. She’s finally learning she doesn’t have to be alone, and she’s accepting the support others are offering her.
Their plan goes off without a hitch. Chris fires her Hyper Beam, it totally destroys the flying carriers, and Tsubasa and Hibiki sweep up the remaining smaller Noise.
The Holy Trinity of legs, ass, and boobs is now complete. Amen.
What a spectacular and moving battle that was. I’ll be rewatching this scene for days.
After that triumphant finish, the three girls regroup and transform out of their Gear. How oh how will the agency keep Symphogears secret from the general public after such an enormous battle in the middle of the city?
The group engages in some after-fight banter. Chris has accepted working with them and trusting them in battle, but she’s still prickly about the whole “friend” thing.
Oh, Chris. If I could reach through my screen and ruffle your silly jellyfish hair in affection, I certainly would.
The other girls take Chris’s protests in stride – Hibiki even steals another hug! – and together they celebrate their victory.
Welp, thank goodness we settled that diversion without any of our girls dying.
Diversion…
…Oh fuck me, I was having so much fun I forgot this Noise attack was only a diversion.
A DIVERSION FROM WHAT
FINÉ WHAT HAVE YOU DONE
Hibiki’s phone rings. You know this is gonna be bad because even the happy after-battle music dies when she answers the call.
Miku’s panicked voice comes through the phone.
The call suddenly goes dead, leaving only a hollow beeping.
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Aaaand there we go. One step closer to the inevitable apocalypse and the death and resurrection of our lord and savior.
The climax of the season is in full swing, and the remaining three episodes are going to be one hell of a ride. We can only hope for the best for these magical girls.
Welp… I did want the villain to actually do something this episode, didn’t I?
Many of those questions we had at the start remain unanswered. We still don’t know who/what Finé really is, why she wants to undo the bonds of the Custodian, nor how exactly she plans to do that.
We did get some answers. For starters, we got confirmation Finé and Ryouko are the same person and I don’t have to keep cycling through all four names I have for her anymore.
We also learned a little more about the Kadingir she’s building, in that it’s some sort of tower to the heavens, likely a metaphorical one, Hazel Grace. (Still not counting out that “climax in space” possibility though, this is an anime after all.)
As for the Lulu Amel… Well, if Finé is a practitioner of the Black Arts as she claimed, maybe “Lulu Amel” is the name for those practitioners. Are there other practitioners of the Black Arts out there, or is Finé the Last Of Her Kind? If the Lulu Amel are witch-like practitioners of dark magic, maybe the Custodian was the one who curbed their magic and placed “bonds” on them to stop them doing more harm to humanity.
We know Finé plans some sort of metamorphosis-rebirth for the world, solely based on her symbol being a butterfly. Maybe her “tower to heaven” instead involves remaking the mortal world into her vision of heaven, which per the apocalyptic prologue from the first episode, looks like a vision of hell for the rest of us.
A piece of hanging foreshadowing from earlier in the season came down on us this episode:
Ryouko designed an overhaul of the security system for the base beneath the school, after she assassinated the Defense Minister. So, it’s no wonder she was able to attack the base from within today.
Scarily, Durandal the ultra-powerful sword Relic is still housed inside the base, with only Snoop Oni and the agents to defend it right now since all our Symphogear girls are out in the field.
Shit, I should’ve known Finé would attack the school, considering Hamster was waxing happy about how much she loves the place at the start of this episode.
I was so worried Hibiki was running off to her death in this episode that I made the mistake of assuming Miku wouldn’t be in any danger back at the school. But Finé, the vile traitor, knows exactly how much Miku means to Hibiki.
If Finé needs Hibiki to wield Durandal for her and become her Kadingir, Miku’s life may be the leverage Finé uses for that. “Agree to wield Durandal for me and raise me to the heavens, or I kill your wife,” or something along those lines. These two precious little lesbians have no idea just how much suffering they’re in for.
Will Hibiki’s death come through an attempt at saving Miku from Finé?
Will Finé kill Hibiki after she depletes her usefulness as a Kadingir?
Will I need to buy a multi-pack of tissues to survive the rest of the season?
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