(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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NO THIS ANIME IS A CRUEL THING, FUCK
Last episode closed by shoving us down a fifty-foot water slide with no water, laughing at us as our raw-skinned bodies scraped to a squeaky, agonizing halt at the end of the drop.
Dr. Ver told us the moon is falling and he plans to use the Nephilim to save everyone.
Then, at Dr. Ver’s direction, the Nephilim tore off Hibiki’s arm and gauntlet, chewed them up, and swallowed the bloody mashed chunks, while our beloved brave Hamster screamed into the night.
Warm holiday season wishes, everyone!
The anguish on Tsubasa’s face is kinda spoiled by the Noise glue (we’re calling it that, okay). She can only watch Hibiki helplessly, powerless to save her friend.
That’s gotta hit super hard. Yet another Gungnir wielder Tsubasa cares about, suffering while Tsubasa can’t protect her.
In agony, Hibiki falls to her knees in a puddle of her own blood at the foot of Kadingir. Ver throws his head back and crows over Hibiki getting maimed.
Remember those PSAs, “If you don’t talk to your teens about the dangers of meeting strangers, who will?”
Dr. Ver is the “who” they were warning us about.
Mom and Team Black watch the fight from their parked plane, hidden around the other side of Kadingir. Mom shows no remorse, but the girls are appalled by Ver’s cruelty. Kirika even slams her fist into the wall and calls him a lunatic.
THEN GO STOP HIM, YOU CANKERS
I know Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe feel bad about the awful things their terrorist group is doing. But, you aren’t judged by what you feel, you’re judged by what you do about those feelings. So far, none of the three girls has done anything to stop the excessive violence their group is responsible for, even though they feel bad about it. Stand up, dammit. Courage is measured not by the heart, but by the spine. Do something.
Maria sees Hibiki’s pained face on the monitor and flashes back to the children she watched Dr. Ver needlessly murder last episode. Maria shakes her head in grief and actually moves like she’s gonna leave the plane and OH THANK GOD YES PLEASE GO HELP HIBIKI, MARIA, I’D TAKE THE DEVIL’S HELP FOR OUR HAMSTER AT THIS POINT.
FUCK
Mom frigids it up like Minnesota winter and coldly asks Maria where do you think you’re going, young lady, you have another thing coming if you think I’m letting you leave the house dressed like that with only one sock.
Go on, Maria. Stand up to Mom. Not just for Hibiki’s sake, but for the sake of Kirika and Shirabe who need Maria’s guidance, for Maria’s own sake, heck, even for the sake of Serena’s memory. Maria, please do the right thing.
Surprisingly, Mom turns her head at Maria’s protest – in regret, maybe? Is Mom finally growing a conscience? I hope there’s a good person somewhere under there.
Shirabe and Kirika have doubts, too.
I’m having a hard time seeing the gray area in these girls’ moral struggle against Mom, Dr. Ver, and the rest of the FISt terrorist group. If I had to pinpoint why, I’d say it’s because Symphogear is aiming for mystery and sympathy at the same time.
We still don’t know what the FISt’s hinted-at Frontier plan to save the world is, only pieces and clues. This is a good Mystery. It keeps intrigue and guessing going for the viewers, and makes it a lot of fun to try to pick apart the antagonists as characters when we only know shadows.
However, Symphogear is also aiming for Sympathy for our antagonists, at least for Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe. We as viewers are supposed to be struck by how torn they are about whether they’re doing the right thing, whether the deaths and pain caused by their group are worth it to save the world from the falling moon disaster.
But, because we don’t know what their plan to save the world is, we can’t know why they’re committing these awful crimes. We haven’t seen the point of all the suffering they’re creating. All we have is a pop-up box of atrocities, dusted with a couple vague lines from Dr. Ver that the terrorists plan to eventually save lives somehow.
This falls flat. It’s hard to sympathize with the terrorists that they’re trying to do the right thing when their actions are deliberately kept mysterious. Viewers can’t see the gray area, we’re only seeing the black area. We’ve been shown no reason yet to believe Ver’s vague statement that the violence will be justified for some reason at some point in the future.
Why. Why does their plan need to be so cruel.
Why was it necessary for Dr. Ver to steal the Staff of Solomon and kill people on the train in the opening episode. Why was it necessary for him to kill more people on the Marine base later. Why was it necessary for Maria to betray and traumatize thousands of her own fans, even casually threatening their lives pretty much for the lulz of baiting Tsubasa into fighting her to activate the dormant Nephilim.
Why was it necessary for Maria to terrorize the entire planet with threats of Noise attacks on their capital cities. Why was it necessary for Kirika and Shirabe to invade the school and pick another fight with Team Rainbow to steal their Relics to feed the Nephilim further. Why was it necessary for Dr. Ver to lure them into a trap at Kadingir. Why was it necessary to mutilate Hibiki.
How does any of this hideousness save people from the falling moon?
WHY WAS THIS NECESSARY, SYMPHOGEAR, I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS
My feelings towards the terrorists right now are less of a morally-ambiguous “Hmm, maybe they have a point,” and more of a Dumbledore-esque “What the hell are you doing you motherfukers!”
It’s hard from the audience’s perspective to see why Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe don’t Make Like A Tree. Other than that they’re afraid they might become FISt’s next victims if they try to leave the organization. Team Black must truly believe Dr. Ver that all their terrorism and murders will be justified someday.
I can sympathize with the three members of Team Black for other reasons. Such as Kirika and Shirabe’s lack of a stable childhood and their desire to just have fun away from the crushing larger plots around them. Also for Maria’s guilt over failing to protect Serena, and Maria grappling with Mom for her own autonomy.
Sympathizing with them for hurting people and abetting Dr. Ver in killing people is something I can’t do yet. The anime needs to unravel a little more mystery and show me more about this wild moon-fall plot twist before I can wonder whether the girls are doing the right thing, like Kirika was just asking Mom about.
Mom replies to Kirika, saying to throw away any gentleness because they have no need of smiles.
What? Why would you want to save a world without smiles?
Maria leaves to cry/sulk in a different part of the plane. She breaks down and calls out to Serena for help.
Welp. At least Maria looks pretty when she cries?? My heroine is bleeding out as we speak, okay, don’t judge me for trying to appreciate small blessings at a time like this.
Hibiki groans in agony, Tsubasa yells for her but can’t break free of the Noise glue, and Chris remains blissfully unconscious for this entire catastrophe.
The Nephilim didn’t just consume Hibiki’s arm, it also consumed the part of her Gear that covered the arm. The monster glows, absorbing energy from Hibiki’s Gear to become bigger and stronger.
Dr. Ver laughs madly, but then pauses.
The Nephilim isn’t the only one transforming.
Don’t tell me…
FROTHING BERSERKER MODE IS BACK
I’m staggered. We got a brief glimpse of it during Team Rainbow’s combo-Climax early this season:
I assumed that was only a cool callback to the first season. I didn’t think full-on berserker mode would return! Hell to the yeah!!!
The exact moment Dr. Ver realized he fucked up.
Under my glee, I’m a bit worried. Last time Hamster lost control of herself like this, she nearly killed Tsubasa in the crossfire.
I hope Hibiki aims that fury at the Nephilim and Ver, not at her teammates.
Snoop Oni and the rest of Section 2 watch this development remotely from their submarine base.
Closer, in the terrorists’ plane, Mom and Team Black are also taken aback to see Hibiki stand up in rage mode to face off against the bulked-up Nephilim. Mom says how Finé’s old notes, from the time Finé secretly experimented on Hibiki, mentioned something about this ability of hers.
Wait, you knew Hibiki going berserk was a possibility, yet you still picked a fight with her? I haven’t been this bewildered by people lacking common sense since that time I saw a microphone with a label reading, “For external use only.”
Hibiki uses her enraged energy to form a temporary shadow-arm-replacement thingy so she can properly beat up the Nephilim. Tsubasa says it almost looks like summoning an Armed Gear, the magical weapon used by a Symphogear wielder, like Kanade’s one spear or Tsubasa’s bazillion and one swords.
Hibiki never had an Armed Gear. Her special weapon was linking hands with her friends to join their power, because We Are Stronger United and all that awesomeness. So, if her power is in her hands, I guess a temporary shadow arm will do the trick. We’ve got a monster to slay!
Ver completely loses his shit watching Hibiki punch and kick the bejesus out of his Nephilim.
I could not be happier oh my god.
Flail, you wretched worm. You brought this on yourself.
Hibiki and the Nephilim all-out brawl. Hibiki has devolved into such a monster that with these two black-and-red beasts fighting each other, it’s hard to tell them apart in the melee.
Panicked and shrieking, Ver shoots a huge Noise out of the Staff to stop Hibiki. She effortlessly rips it apart and roars like a fucking god of the demon-realm.
Even the Nephilim wants to tap out. It tries to flee. Hibiki tackles it down.
SHE JUST WENT TEMPLE OF DOOM AND RIPPED ITS STILL-BEATING HEART OUT OF ITS RIBCAGE WITH HER FIST
THIS SCENE IS SO RAW I’M 90% SURE I JUST CONTRACTED SALMONELLA FROM WATCHING IT
Me too, man. Me too.
Hibiki tosses the heart aside as the Nephilim dies. She then runs the hollowed-out Nephilim through like an apple corer. Good night, sweet prince vicious monster.
Well, that’s one monster down…
…and one to go.
The energy explosion resulting from the Nephilim’s destruction dissolves the remaining Noise minions and their glue holding Tsubasa and Chris. Even Mom and the girls in the parked plane feel tremors. They don’t freak out as much as Ver, but they’re still shocked.
Mom has another of her coughing fits, bringing up blood to remind us she’s on the way out. Whatever Mom’s Frontier plan is, it’s getting more urgent for her by the day.
That was glorious, dear Chris, that’s what that was. What a bummer Chris didn’t get to witness it.
Defeated, Ver takes the Staff of Solomon and skitters away into the night like a roach. Bye, Felicia.
I am so relieved we won this fight. I mean holy moly, you guys, things were looking so bad at the end of last episode. Hibiki single-handedly turned tonight’s defeat into a resounding victory!
…HAH.
SINGLE-HANDEDLY.
Though this battle is won, there’s still the issue of Hibiki being minus an arm once Frothing Berserker mode wears off and that shadow-arm fades.
Hibiki is powerful on her own, but she still needs her teammates. Together, they hold Hibiki back from going too far and chasing down Ver to probably rip his heart out like she did the Nephilim.
Shit. Chris of all people would know. I really like that Chris is the one to warn Hibiki of the dangers of getting consumed by angry impulses like this, though of course she does it in typical gruff Chris manner.
You’re right, Chris. Shame on me for getting all bloodthirsty. I was so happy to see Hibiki regain the upper hand (…no… nope…) in the fight, that I ignored how terrible it is for poor Hamster. Yeah, it’s rad for us to see Hibiki enraged and kicking ass, but Hibiki clearly doesn’t enjoy being this way. She is suffering from it.
Chris and Tsubasa are right to hold Hibiki back from finding Ver and tearing him apart. He deserves to be killed, but Hibiki deserves better than to become a killer.
Dr. Ver is a rotting clump of seaweed tangled in everyone’s rudder, and he’s a manipulative, murdering asshole. But, if Hibiki kills him now, then that’s all he’ll ever be. She’d be robbing him of any chance to redeem himself and atone for what he’s done. Hibiki is a better person than I am, I know she’d never forgive herself if she killed him while she was under the influence of her berserker rage.
A wave of energy bursts from Hibiki as she struggles to control herself. Her friends hold on tight to her through it all.
They held Hibiki tight when she focused their Climax Song together over her own strain. They’re not letting go now.
I’m getting misty. This kind of teamwork and love is what truly wins battles for the heroes, not rage mode.
The radiance-explosion drains the berserk from Hibiki. She passes out and collapses in their arms, back to normal.
WAIT, BACK TO NORMAL?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME, SYMPHOGEAR
THAT WAS LESS THAN 4 MINUTES OF SCREEN TIME WHERE SHE WAS WOUNDED
I thought that was a temporary arm Hibiki materialized during the fight. I didn’t realize she simply sprouted a permanent replacement arm more easily than gluing a broken ornament back together because why the fuck do we even put out the glass ornaments every December anymore there are toddlers in this house now, fuck’s sake.
Anyway, our Hamster is basically a starfish now. Her getting the arm back eventually was kind of a given, but four minutes of screen time is hardly “eventually”.
Okay, okay. I GUESS it makes sense.
If Hibiki’s hands are her Armed Gear like Tsubasa said, that means Hibiki can regenerate them as many times as she needs. The same way Chris can create infinite bullets to reload or Tsubasa can create as many swords as she can carry and then some.
The girls can all regenerate their armor after it takes hits, as well. Because Hibiki is unique due to her Relic being embedded in her body, her own flesh is practically just another layer of armor. Does this mean Hibiki’s basically invincible as long as the shards of Gungnir in her heart don’t break?
Part of me was hoping Hibiki would get an Evil Dead style chainsaw arm. Groovy.
Hibiki is better, but Mom is getting worse.
Like Hibiki, Mom passed out from the strain. Sad music plays as Maria rushes to Mom’s side.
Cherry Coke and Sprite are… less than enthusiastic. But, because it was Maria who asked them, they agree to go find Dr. Ver to help Mom. They run out of the plane, and Maria stays to take care of Mom.
All because what?
Handle WHAT of Finé, Maria??
This is the most baffling fumble of “show, don’t tell” I’ve seen. We’ve been told multiple times that Finé is slowly taking over Maria, but we’re almost halfway through the season and we’ve been shown zero evidence to believe this.
Honestly, why do the other characters think Maria is Finé’s next reincarnation? Maria shows none of Finé’s personality, memories, abilities, relations to the other characters, nor even Finé’s speech patterns.
It would be easy to dismiss this as, “Symphogear just didn’t think it through.” But, that would be false. And this is where the baffling aspect comes in. Symphogear did think it through. This anime excels at character writing, and on top of that, one of the most enjoyable things about this season so far is its many well-planned little continuity callbacks to the first season, including callbacks to Finé.
Symphogear competently shows us other aspects of Maria’s personal conflicts. Her friction with Mom and Ver, her cloaked vulnerability, her refusal to kill innocents, her prideful antagonism with Tsubasa, and her grief over Serena and attempts to live up to Serena’s legacy. Finé is the one thing we HAVEN’T seen Maria handle, which is why it’s hard to sympathize with Maria about it in this scene.
Finé is trolling us from beyond the grave.
Maria is a well-put-together character. That’s why the anime’s failure to properly show the audience the Finé-possession deal is so confusing to me.
We know Symphogear thought this through, because the anime put so much effort into tiny details surrounding Maria to support the idea that she is struggling against becoming Finé. Just look at how the anime uses Finé’s leitmotif in scenes where Maria is torn over committing evil acts. Or how Finé’s Kadingir was chosen as the site for tonight’s pivotal confrontation. Or Maria’s flower motif in her concert dress, her hair clips, her bath robe – Dr. Ver even called Maria “the flower that is still a bud” once – invoking a flower’s symbolism of blooming/transformation that would indicate Maria is headed toward a transformation into Finé’s possession.
Heck, even look at Maria’s everyday outfit!
This outfit looks bizarre at first, but it is deliberately and cleverly designed in fragmented, overlapping, exposed layers, as if Maria is shedding her skin or molting out of a cocoon. Her visual identity as a character in transition is heavily supportive of the Finé-takeover theme.
How is Symphogear putting so much effort into including tiny Finé details surrounding Maria, while also forgetting to include major Finé details surrounding Maria?? There must be a reason.
It’s like the anime set the table, folded the napkins, laid out the plates and silverware and extra tiny forks, lit the candles… and then forgot to put the actual food on the plates. No matter how well-crafted or elegant the surroundings, we’re missing the essential component.
Symphogear, why did you bring Finé back if you aren’t going to bring Finé back?
It’s awful for me to hope Finé actually does begin to take over Maria, because the poor girl doesn’t deserve that. On the other hand, Finé better start displaying in Maria, because at this point it’s just too weird for her not to. If we get to the end of the season and Maria still hasn’t shown any of Finé’s personality or memories, then I’m shuffling this subplot into a big What Was The Point discard pile at the edge of the card table.
Back at Section 2’s base, Hibiki is unconscious after the battle. She’s wheeled in on a gurney while Snoop Oni and the others look on in concern. Tsubasa punches a wall and grimaces, worrying Chris.
Hibiki lies in the hospital bed and flashes back to…
…Hooo boy, here we go.
Grayscale flashbacks usually spell Pain. This scene ain’t gonna be pretty, is it.
Hibiki remembers the time two years ago, when the Noise massacred Tsubasa and Kanade’s entire concert audience, when Hibiki took the wound to the heart which embedded Gungnir in her, and when Kanade died to save her.
Once Hibiki recovers enough to return to school, her classmates leave accusatory newspaper articles on her desk about how the families of those who died at the concert are looking for someone to blame.
What the fuck? Looking for someone to blame in the wake of a disaster is understandable, but blaming Hibiki for being a survivor?? Unspeakably low.
Hibiki’s classmates gossip loudly, making sure she overhears, as they mock her for wasting tax money. This society has tax-funded public restitution, for which survivors of Noise attacks can apply to help them recover. The other students accuse Hibiki of leeching off this fund to pay for her hospital bills and physical therapy after the chest injury that nearly killed her.
How dare you make Hibiki believe she’s responsible for others’ deaths, that her life is a waste. Good grief, no wonder the poor girl grows up with self-esteem issues!
I’m now even more glad that Chris and Tsubasa held Hibiki back from killing Dr. Ver earlier. If she’s already haunted by misplaced survivor’s guilt over “killing” those concert victims, then killing him would’ve snapped her like a back-bent paperclip.
Hibiki trudges home after school. Her house is papered in more hate messages calling her a murderer and a thief. People even hurl rocks at her family from outside, breaking the windows.
I’m at such a twitching-temples level of upset right now that I can’t even allow myself the enjoyment of finally getting to see Hamster’s mom and grandma.
Adorably, Hamster’s grandma even looks like her, with the hairstyle and clips!
STOP PUTTING TINY CUTE DETAILS IN, SYMPHOGEAR, IT ONLY MAKES THIS SCENE MORE PAINFUL
This harassment from Hibiki’s classmates and neighbors is appalling.
Hibiki is, like, thirteen in this flashback. If they don’t want their tax money to go toward medical expenses for SAVING THE LIFE OF A 13-YEAR-OLD, what the heck do they consider a good way to spend taxes?
On top of that bullshit, this complaint of wasted taxes comes from a bunch of middle schoolers who have never filed a tax return. I for one am a Certified Adult™ and can rest assured that my taxes go toward healthcare and civil services and that sort of thin–
Anyway, Hibiki’s mom and grandma probably pay taxes just like other citizens. Therefore, the two of them contributed toward Hibiki’s recovery same as Random Asshole Classmate’s parents did.
But, as the newspapers tell us, people want someone to blame.
No one could’ve known back then that Finé orchestrated this Noise attack at the concert. The worldbuilding in this anime has likened Noise attacks to natural disasters. Grieving families wanted a convenient outlet for their anger, the same way real-world scumbags blame minorities for hurricanes or plagues. That these people picked a wounded teenager to vent on shows what kind of people they really were.
Was Hibiki was the only target of this abuse? I always assumed Hibiki and Tsubasa were the sole survivors of that concert. I wonder if Tsubasa got any hate. Maybe Tsubasa’s idol status shielded her from it, and ordinary people instead romanticized her as a tragic figure for losing her idol partner in the attack.
I’m glad Hibiki’s family still loves and supports her through this abuse. Their loving embrace brings the flashback to a close, which is nice because it’s the first shot in this entire miserable flashback that doesn’t twist rusty screws into my throat.
But, if they love Hibiki so dearly… why are they not in her life, now? Hibiki only mentioned her mom and grandma once. And, no mention of any dad or siblings. Hibiki said a few times that Miku was the only person close to her before joining Section 2. Did… did something happen to Hibiki’s family after this scene?
It’s a worrying thought. But, you know what about this flashback really brings me to tears?
It’s the fact that Hibiki was ostracized, abused, victim-blamed, even told she should kill herself… and yet, she still believes people are inherently good.
Hibiki emerged from this noxious puddle of humanity’s worst, still loving humanity for its best. She fights to save others, even strangers, when some of those strangers were the same people who mistreated her.
Hamster risks her life to help others. Not just because she wants to prove she’s good enough to keep living after they tried to tell her she wasn’t, but because she actually does believe the world is worth saving.
Based Hamster-Jesus. Tears of pain become tears of admiration. This is our hero.
Hibiki could’ve come out of this traumatizing experience a completely different person than she is now.
She could’ve come out of it a bitter, angry, violent girl. A girl who thinks ideals and platitudes about goodness are empty. A girl who hates so-called “heroes” who try to help others without acknowledging the hypocrisy she’s seen from so many people who claim to do good but only do harm. A girl who’s been a victim of the worst of this world and wants to destroy it.
…Do we know anyone like that?
Ah shit.
I Get It Now. One of this season’s themes so far is the Opposing Parallels between characters. A.k.a., the Shadow Self. Two people who have so much in common, but fall on opposite ends of the conflict. Some shadow match-ups, like Maria versus Tsubasa, are clear. Shirabe taking the role of Hibiki’s shadow confused me at the start of the season.
It seemed so… asymmetrical? Like, what parallels did Hibiki and Shirabe have? Why was the anime spending so much screen time showing interactions between these two?
Learning more about Hibiki’s past shines a light on why Shirabe was picked for Hibiki’s main opponent, instead of Maria, who would make sense as Hibiki’s opposing team captain and fellow Gungnir wielder. Hibiki could’ve become another Shirabe.
Shirabe has good intentions, or did at one point in her life, before whatever as-of-yet-unrevealed horrors she suffered. Despite her Slice It Up mentality, Shirabe told Hibiki she wants to “protect the things that justice cannot protect.” If Hibiki realizes the two of them have things in common, and if Shirabe is willing to listen and give heroism another chance, maybe Shirabe could step out of the shadow antagonist role and join the good guys.
Here’s hoping! People who hate humanity usually also hate themselves deep down. Shirabe deserves a better life than that. Hibiki was emotionally abused into her low sense of self-worth, and it still haunts her, as this flashback shows. Offering a hand to Shirabe will hopefully allow Shirabe to yank herself out of the same misery.
After the painful flashback, Hibiki wakes up in a Loss edit.
Miku left a note on her bedside while she was asleep.
Doubts fill Hibiki. She worries that maybe she isn’t a hero after all, that maybe she’s only hurting others just like Shirabe accused her, just like Those Assholes In Middle School accused her.
GUNGNIR GIRLS BLAMING THEMSELVES FOR NOTHING: THE EPISODE
I want to pelt them with Skittles until they see sense. But, as upset as I am, I must acknowledge these girls are dealing with some Serious Shit that I couldn’t even imagine dealing with. It’s understandable that they have issues to sort out because of it.
It’s nice to see a little mirroring between Hibiki and Maria. Both are doubting themselves and shouldering blame for catastrophes that were never their fault. Hibiki and Maria have barely interacted, again because when it comes to character conflicts, Maria pairs with Tsubasa and Hibiki pairs with Shirabe, so it’s interesting now to see some commonality between them.
So yeah, Hibiki doubting her worth as a hero is appropriate from a character structuring standpoint given the flashback we just saw, but oh how it hurts. We rolled off that heartbreaking flashback right into more heartbreak once Hibiki woke up. Pain train has no brakes.
I mean, how can she even THINK such a thing??
Precious Hamster, so many people are alive because of what you’ve done. You helped Tsubasa forgive herself and want more for her life than battle. You showed Chris that it’s never too late to accept an open hand and come back to the light. You helped Miku become a braver person who is inspired to protect what she loves. You rescued countless lives from Noise attacks. You saved the entire planet from Finé’s apocalypse. Your kindness even let Finé die with a peaceful smile on her face after living such a hate-filled life.
Why can’t you SEE how wonderful you are, Hibiki?
I suppose if our heroes never doubted themselves, they wouldn’t be heroes. We’ve seen the type of person who doesn’t doubt themselves even after doing horrible shit.
Don’t be that guy.
At school the next morning, Hibiki tries way too hard to put on a good face about the whole Got My Arm Chewed Off But All Good Now trauma. She’s happy and bubbly with Tsubasa and Chris as usual, but it’s clearly a front.
Tsubasa sees through the act. Because Tsubasa is an expert at hiding pain.
Tsubasa flashes back to last night’s meeting while Hibiki was unconscious. Snoop Oni and the rest of Section 2 talked with other government officials about Dr. Ver’s shocking reveal of the impending moon disaster.
Thanks for the big red Serious Damage warning, Symphogear, in case we couldn’t tell that the moon crashing into our planet would be a bad thing.
We should start putting Serious Damage labels on other devastation, too.
STILL NOT OKAY WITH THAT, BY THE WAY
The meeting between Section 2 and the government officials confirms that Ver wasn’t lying about the moon-fall. Still no word on why the moon would be falling all of a sudden, but the reason is probably immaterial at this point.
You know what, fine. No more argument from me on this particular point. If the moon can be the source of an ancient Babylonian curse, then the moon can also change its orbit whenever it feels like it. Do not question the mysterious floating sky orb, it sees All.
That Serious Damage label wasn’t big enough. The moon is over 2,000 miles across, nearly as wide as Australia. An Australia-sized rock crashing into us would wreck the entire planet, not just the area of direct impact indicated in red. This would be mass extinction on a level never seen before. The meteoroid that caused the dinosaurs’ extinction was only six miles across. SIX.
I don’t see what anyone could do to survive such a disaster, short of hitching a ride on Elon Musk’s colonization of Mars.
How long do we even have? The projection on Snoop Oni’s screen implies we’re only a couple days from touchdown, but it’s not specifically stated.
The government officials bicker about what to do, and come to no useful conclusions. Their inability to act frustrates Snoop Oni.
If government bureaucrats couldn’t solve the problem, why do the terrorists think the Nephilim will? I get why the FISt would lose faith in any government being able to protect them, considering how useless the officials in this scene are. But, how does summoning lots of Noise and having a giant flesh-eating monster under your command result in saving people from getting destroyed by a 2,000 mile rock?
After the frustrating meeting that goes nowhere, Snoop Oni and Tsubasa talk privately about another problem: how Hibiki regenerated her arm.
Wait what, we’re actually coming back to the issue of the Miracle-Gro arm? We’re actually going to find out why it was so easy for Hibiki to recover, we’re not just dismissing this huge, important injury??
Thank you, Symphogear!
Fuck you, Symphogear.
Snoop Oni tells us that just like last season, Hibiki’s unique attribute of having her Relic embedded inside her is causing the Relic to slowly overtake her. I thought Hibiki purified Gungnir’s corruption of her body in the Season 1 finale. But, because we haven’t already had enough bad news this episode, the corruption is back for seconds, and this time it wants the whole dish.
Snoop Oni shows Tsubasa a calcified piece of Hibiki’s body that the doctors removed while Hibiki was unconscious. The chunk of flesh isn’t even recognizable, it’s just a spiky black rock. Tsubasa’s hands shake as she thinks of the fusion taking complete hold, and Hibiki’s entire body being reduced to an inhuman Relic-rock.
Interesting in that this is another facet to Hibiki’s mirroring with Maria. Like Hibiki, Maria is slowly losing herself and being overtaken by evil influence via use of her Gungnir. (Or so we’re told about Maria, anyway. Come on, anime, throw me a bone, here. Or a butterfly, rather.)
Snoop Oni wonders that without Hibiki’s strength, how will Section 2 stop the FISt terrorists?
PREACH.
Tsubasa can’t allow the fusion to overtake Hibiki. She resolves not to let Hibiki fight anymore, to avoid using Gungnir and opening Hibiki to more corruption. Like how Kirika and Shirabe volunteered themselves for a dangerous mission to spare Maria the same fate.
This is the worst plan you could come up with, Tsubasa.
Team Rainbow needs to, you know, be a TEAM. Communication, honesty, working together, leaning on each other’s strengths to counter your own weaknesses, all that vital stuff!
Tsubasa doesn’t even consult Hibiki about this. Tsubasa just makes the decision on her own to invalidate Hibiki’s agency and prevent Hibiki from fighting. Have they even told Hibiki the full extent of her condition and the risks it poses?
Someone must’ve been asleep last season when we learned the value of letting your teammates share your burden so you can all overcome it together.
Tsubasa can’t win this war by shouldering all the burden herself. Like Kanade said, she’ll only snap.
Watching Hibiki suffer last night must have shaken Tsubasa so badly, she regressed into her I Work Alone mentality from last season. It’s not just to spare Hibiki, it’s to spare Tsubasa herself from going through the pain of losing someone she cares about. Never Again.
Snoop Oni says the fusion will either kill Hibiki or reduce her to an inhuman monster, but he admits that this intimate connection to her Relic is what makes Hibiki such a powerful Symphogear wielder.
I can’t believe Snoop Oni agrees with Tsubasa’s awful Go It Alone plan.
YOU’RE BOTH GROUNDED. NO BRUCE LEE MOVIES FOR A MONTH.
It’s a terrible plan for Tsubasa and Hibiki. Heck, terrible for all of Section 2. The fact that Snoop Oni can’t see this means Tsubasa wasn’t the only one shaken by Hibiki’s maiming last night.
The anime returns us to present time, with Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Chris at school the next day. Instead of calling Hibiki out on pretending to be cheerful about last night’s trauma, Tsubasa does worse.
DAMN IT, TSUBASA
WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THAT EARLIER TEAMWORK AND HOLDING ON TIGHT AND NOT LETTING GO, JACK
This is what I fucking meant last episode about how the villains can only win if they trick the heroes into defeating themselves. Tsubasa is doing the villains’ work for them. She puts on this forced assholery in a twisted attempt to help Hibiki, but all Tsubasa’s accomplishing is splintering the team apart and making them weaker. Tsubasa even shoves Hibiki backward with her hand for extra viciousness.
Tsubasa didn’t include Chris on the Bad Plan, so Chris has no idea why Tsubasa suddenly whipped out a dickish personality and started beating Hibiki over the head with it. Yeah, lying to both of your teammates about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it can’t possibly end well for anyone, Tsubasa.
Chris comes to Hibiki’s defense and demands Tsubasa explain herself. But, Hibiki is so hurt by her idol turning on her like this that Hibiki relapses into her old low self-esteem, and convinces herself Tsubasa is right.
Tsubasa practically tells Hibiki to turn in her badge and her gun, she’s off the Force.
Not if you keep treating Chris this way, you won’t. Tsubasa will probably drive Chris away, too, soon enough.
I’m so frustrated, I want to sandpaper my tongue. I can’t believe I was worried Chris would be the one to backslide this season. Tsubasa and Hibiki are the ones backsliding into their Season 1 character struggles. Hibiki into her low sense of self-worth and belief that she’s no use to anyone, and Tsubasa into her method of pushing others away so she can suffer alone to atone for tragedies she’s convinced herself were her own failure.
After such a traumatic experience for everyone last night, it’s no wonder they would regress. Doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking for us viewers to watch.
Chris, amazingly, is the most stable member of the team so far this season.
Uh, apart from that one angry attempt to headshot Maria-Finé. But, can you really blame Chris for that, after how she suffered at Finé’s hands last season? I certainly don’t want Chris to succeed in killing Maria, but I’m pleased the anime did acknowledge that Chris would have a deeply personal, volatile reaction to being told Finé was reincarnated.
Tsubasa says Section 2 Intelligence is handling the search for Dr. Ver, so the agency doesn’t need Hibiki for anything. Tsubasa leaves. Chris trails after her, practically nipping at Tsubasa’s heels like a baby Tassie Devil, still pissed at Tsubasa’s treatment of Hibiki.
Well, that scene was a nice long naked roll down a thorny hill. What can’t go wrong for our team this episode?
Good luck to those poor Section 2 Intelligence agents Tsubasa mentioned, tasked with the impossible mission of finding Dr. Ver. I’m unsure of the exact timeline, but it’s gotta be at least 12 hours since he was last seen fleeing Kadingir.
For all we know, he could be on the other side of the Pacific by now.
ARE YOU SERIOUS
THAT’S KADINGIR IN THE BACKGROUND
HE ONLY WENT LIKE 300 FEET
“SECTION 2 INTELLIGENCE”
For that matter, did no one find the terrorists’ plane, either? It wasn’t even in invisibility mode, it was just parked around the other side of Kadingir in full view. Stellar effort, fellas.
Ver is having a rough time.
He gets up, looks around, and just happens to spy with his little eye…
I AM READY TO PUT MY ELBOW THROUGH THE GLASS ON THE EMERGENCY EXIT FOR THIS EPISODE
I worry for his humanity. Now that he found the Nephilim’s heart that Hibiki tossed aside – it’s even still pulsing, if weakly – what will he do from here? The Nephilim is a type of Relic. If Hibiki can fuse with hers… maybe Ver will attempt fusion with the Nephilim’s remains.
Similar to how Finé used the Staff of Solomon to fuse herself and her Nehushtan Relic with a bunch of Noise, transforming herself into the Red Dragon. Mom did say earlier that the terrorists have access to Finé’s notes, so… uh-oh. Uh-oh, indeed.
Speaking of Mom, we catch back up with her and Maria.
Mom wakes in bed after passing out last night from her bloody coughing fit. Maria watches over her and sings softly for her. The same song Serena used to sing.
Maria must have cleaned Mom up and changed her dress, as all the blood is gone now. Mom looks at Maria and… smiles?
WOW, an actual display of caring for her daughter. So rare! I hope we get more of this.
Listening to Maria sing, Mom starts to wonder if she’s doing the right thing with the whole Frontier plan and with her treatment of Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe.
SACRIFICE A WHITE BULL TO HERA, SING A FUCKING HOSANNAH, LIGHT A CANDLE FOR MADOKAMI…
DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO, JUST THANK SOME SORT OF COSMIC ENTITY FOR THIS BLESSING.
I thought Mom would go to her grave without ever finding redemption. She’s nowhere near redemption yet, but holy crap this is a good start. Actually taking the time to consider if she’s doing the right thing after all, and thinking about what consequences her actions will have on others, especially the young people under her care, means there may be hope for Mom yet!
I was not expecting this turn of events, at all. What a spot of sunshine in an otherwise sadistic episode.
Mom sits up. She calls Kirika and Shirabe on the communicator. They’re still out searching for Dr. Ver (Jeez, you guys too? How hard is it to find a six foot nerd with a lab coat and a funky cane within a couple-hundred-foot radius?) in a ruined part of the city left over from Finé’s destruction three months ago.
Mom reassures the girls that she feels better. She thanks them for looking for Dr. Ver to help her. Because yeah, this is exactly the kind of person you would entrust your health to:
Maria and the others are shocked by Mom thanking them. I wonder if it’s the first time she thanked them for anything. Even Mom’s voice is gentler than normal, and she’s still smiling.
Mom has a lot of amends to make. Apologizing to Cherry Coke and Sprite for hitting them last episode, to start! And, she needs to ditch the Let’s Murder People To Save Them mentality. There’s still a long way to go before she grows into a better leader for her organization and a better parent for her daughters. But hey, one small step for Mom, one giant leap for Momkind.
The soda girls end the call, relieved that Mom is feeling better after her health scare.
Kirika’s stomach growls. Shirabe smiles at her. Cute, soft music plays while we get a sweet scene between the two of them, easing a little of the tension from this painful episode.
Although they’re hungry, they decide to keep looking for Ver to help Mom. They run off together, hand in hand, totally not gay.
Toooootally.
We hop over to Hibiki, on her way home with Miku, TIA-chan, and their other school friends. They went out for food together at Noodle Lady’s place to cheer up Hibiki.
Hamster’s been trying to put on a good face, despite how hurt she is over what Tsubasa said to her earlier and how it reminds her of the emotional abuse she endured in middle school. Hibiki’s friends can see something is bothering her. TIA-chan calls Hibiki out, in typical TIA-chan way.
Sweet mercy me, now there’s an idea.
Hibiki as a harem protagonist… Hibiki surrounded by all the other characters completely doting on her, from Miku to TIA-chan to Tsubasa to Chris to Maria to let’s bring Kanade back for this too I mean why not… I’d be down for watching an entire anime about Hibi-harem. I mean, can you even imagine…
Sorry, got distracted for a moment.
TIA-chan and Hibiki’s other friends gently rebuke Hibiki for being too dense to notice how worried Miku is about her lately. Miku pulls a sheepish look. Miku’s character arc last season was about overcoming her problem of Not Speaking Up, but it seems she’s still shy about being upfront with Hibiki about how she feels.
A squad of cars zooms past the girls, driven by Section 2 agents. The cars turn a corner out of view at high speed, then the girls hear a crash and see an explosion from the same direction.
Amateurs. Only Tsubasa is allowed to crash vehicles safely.
Hibiki and the others run around the bend to the crash site, and oh hey look who came back to shit on everyone’s waffles.
Section 2 agents: Can’t find Dr. Ver in a 300 foot radius despite intensive search.
Also Section 2 agents: Crash right into Dr. Ver on accident while cruising down the street.
Dr. Ver carries the Staff of Solomon in one hand and the Nephilim’s heart in the other. The heart-rock is swaddled in a cloth like he’s about to swallow fake-baby-Zeus or something. Because of this, Hibiki doesn’t recognize it.
He’s even more surprised by this encounter than she is.
Ver panics that Hibiki will go Frothing Berserker on him again. He summons more Noise out of the Staff to fight her, because yeah that worked so well for him last night, didn’t it.
Dr. Ver has devolved into such a shrieking, undignified mess, it’s almost laughable.
But, he’s still murdering people, which is not laughable.
Hibiki sees the crashed and burnt remains of the cars, and the piles of carbon dust that used to be Section 2 agents, maybe even people Hibiki knew and worked with before Ver’s Noise killed them. If that wasn’t enough to piss her off, the Noise he shoots at her is aimed straight at Miku and Hibiki’s friends.
Hibiki dashes in to block the oncoming Noise and save her friends.
Holy SHIT!
Hibiki has fused so far with her Relic, she doesn’t even need to wear her Gear to use its powers!
During the concert fight earlier this season, the anime made a huge deal of warning us that if Tsubasa touched a Noise before activating her Symphogear, she’d be dead.
Yet, Hibiki slams her fist into that monster without hesitation, only transforming into her Symphogear after the Noise disintegrates, so she can pose dramatically as it crumbles in front of her.
Excuse me, I have some paperwork to fill out.
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This episode was both satisfying and frustrating. Like a candy bar melted to the point that a lot of it sticks to the wrapper instead of ending up in your mouth.
The frustration comes mainly from Hibiki and Tsubasa. Hibiki for losing herself in doubts and convincing herself that people were right about her, that she’s only a hypocrite who hurts others. And Tsubasa is frustrating because ARGH TSUBASAAAAAAAA.
GO SIT IN A CORNER AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DID.
At the close of last episode, I worried that Hibiki losing her arm would isolate her from the rest of the team, since her hands are how she connects to the people she loves. She got the arm back, but ended up isolated from them in other ways.
I know Tsubasa only wants to protect Hibiki. But, invalidating Hibiki’s own will and agency to fight is not protecting Hibiki at all, it’s just caging her up. Plus, Tsubasa deliberately used the harshest manner to cut Hibiki off by pretending to be some angry asshole shoving Hibiki around, when in reality Tsubasa is a caring person who just sucks at coping with the trauma that life constantly throws at her.
Tsubasa’s plan to stop Hibiki from fighting didn’t even work. Hibiki uses Gungnir again anyway at the end of the episode.
In the past, Hibiki confessed to Tsubasa that she struggles with self-esteem issues. Tsubasa still chose to throw that in Hibiki’s face today.
It was one of the first things these two bonded over, their shared survivor’s guilt over the concert attack that led to Kanade’s and other victims’ deaths, and their shared desire to save others to make up for it.
Tsubasa struggles with that same undeserved self-blame. Like everyone else in this wretched fucking anime.
I hope Kanade and Serena are drinking ale horns together up in whatever Valhalla fallen Symphogear wielders go to, drowning their sorrows as they watch the girls they left behind be self-blaming angst-bunnies over things that aren’t their fault.
Thankfully, the many pains and frustrations of this episode also came with some satisfying moments.
THAT RIGHTEOUS BEAT-DOWN, MAN.
Hibiki getting Back In Black was surprising and awesome. It was darkly satisfying to watch Dr. Ver completely lose his shit over how wild-powerful Hibiki is.
Ver is completely unhinged by the end of this episode. I’m not sure if that makes him less dangerous, or more.
Matching icons for you and your crew.
Even so, killing him isn’t the best answer. Look at Mom, she’s starting to reconsider her alignment and be more considerate toward her girls. Mom didn’t change her mind because Maria beat her up or anything, but because Maria was kind to her and looked after her when she was ill.
Same with Ver. As much as I want to see our girls make a Blood Eagle out of him, I know hurting him like he’s hurt everyone else probably won’t turn him into a better person. He thinks his plan to use the Nephilim to save the world will make him a hero, so he needs to realize the terrible things he’s done to people for that goal are the opposite of heroic.
Another worrying aspect about FISt is that we still don’t know what is Mom’s “Frontier” plan to save the world from the falling moon. It’s interesting to note that Mom wasn’t nearly as upset by the Nephilim’s death this episode as Ver was.
Come to think, a few episodes ago, Mom went out to do some Frontier “inspections”. We didn’t see what Mom inspected, but we did see her leave the terrorists’ base – and the Nephilim inside it – to carry out these inspections. What was she inspecting outside the base if the Nephilim was already inside the base? Add that to Mom not being too upset about the Nephilim’s defeat, and it seems that her plan involves much more than just the Nephilim. The mystery continues.
Besides the eventual reveal of Frontier, other troubles lie ahead.
Hibiki continues to wield Gungnir, because SOMEONE made the genius decision not to tell Hibiki it’s corrupting her.
I’m actually not worried about this as much as the other scary stuff in this episode.
I mean, fusion or what-have-you, Hamster grew back her whole fucking arm in four minutes, survived her own Climax Song twice already, and even symbolically came back from the dead last season. What can’t she survive, at this point?
Hibiki’s heroism, not just at the end of this episode but in previous episodes as well, shows how mistaken she is to think that she’s not helping others.
She’s so full of doubts that she can’t see the good person she really is. Hibiki thinks she’s selfish, but her first instinct is to protect others. If someone told Hibiki this, she’d probably brush it off and claim she only helps others to erase her own survivor’s guilt.
From the audience’s perspective, we can see that’s not true.
When Ver shoots Noise at them, Hibiki immediately dashes in front of Miku and her friends to shield them.
Hibiki didn’t have time to think, nor to rationalize it as something like, “Well, I deserve to die just like those abusive people used to tell me, so I should take the hit.” Hibiki doesn’t think twice before sacrificing herself to help others.
We could even look at how Hibiki treats Ver, of all people.
When Hibiki held him captive a few episodes ago while watching Tsubasa and Maria fight, there comes a surprise attack from Shirabe, who launches a deadly sawblade at Hibiki out of nowhere.
Hibiki is completely unprepared for this attack. But, without hesitation, she immediately pushes Dr. Ver away from her, knowing he’d get hit by the sawblade if he stayed next to her. Taking the time to push him out of harm’s way means Hibiki loses time to get herself out of harm’s way. In that last shot, she barely pulls her arm back in time to avoid getting it sliced off by Shirabe’s huge pink sawblade. (What vendetta does the anime have against Hibiki’s arms, jeez.)
Hibiki could’ve just used his body as a shield. I mean, the fucker was right there. I would have pulled him toward me, so the sawblade would be sure to hit him, thereby protecting me. Hibiki is a good person and takes the riskier route for herself by pushing him away, ensuring his protection but exposing herself to the attack.
Again, all of this happens in a heartbeat, before Hibiki has time to think or rationalize anything. She isn’t doing it out of misplaced guilt or low self-esteem. Protecting people at her own expense, even her enemies, is Hibiki’s natural instinct. She’s a true hero, no matter the doubts she’s currently struggling with.
I needed this.
After last episode closing on Hibiki’s vicious maiming, after seeing her bleeding and screaming, after the flashback to the cruelty she suffered in middle school, after her own teammate shoved her aside and called her weak… I needed this ending.
I needed to see Hibiki brave and strong and triumphant. This is the hero we love, all the more so because she emerges from all that above pain still certain of her purpose, to use her Symphogear power to protect others.
For more than just the anime’s sake, I needed to see some kind of victory as this year comes to a close. This will be the last episode post before we enter the new year, so it’s fitting to wrap up a year of Symphogear with a scene of Hibiki persevering through great trials.
Apart from the suffering inflicted by this anime, many of us suffered for real-world reasons this year. The misery and defeats just kept coming, relentless, to the point that “2016 sucks” is so widespread a sentiment it’s become a punchline.
This was bad, you guys. Like, bad on a level none of us was prepared for.
But, like Hibiki, we persevered. As we continue into 2017 and into the rest of Season 2, we at least have that to hold on to. We made it through.
I mean… it’s not like things will get worse from here, right?
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