It turns out, Sprite contains something even more harmful than 44 grams of sugar
(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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Lemon-Lime Sprite pulled out a surprise last episode.
How will Kirika cope with being Finé’s next host? How will I cope with it? Prep your gauze with some alcohol, and let’s press Play.
Tonight’s episode opens with an establishing shot of the wounded moon, a reminder it’s soon to fall and destroy the world.
Maria flies the terrorists’ Osprey over the sea.
Flashback to a scene of her and the other two members of Team Black fighting the Noise in some city. The architecture looks Western. Maybe this flashback takes place in America, where Maria and FISt originate from.
The girls Fuck That Noise. Nice, we get to hear Shirabe’s battle song again while they shred the monsters! Symphogear songs make every fight scene approximately 417% awesomer.
A civilian runs to Maria for protection.
Maria destroys the Noise chasing him. The girls have the difficult task of killing the Noise in the city while also keeping its people alive.
This is the first time we’ve seen the terrorists actually protect people. How refreshing. Before now (or I guess after now, since this is a flashback), all they’ve done is threaten, attack, and kill people.
It’s exciting to watch Team Black working together. We’ve had a lot of teamwork from Kirika and Shirabe, but Maria usually does her own thing. The three of them are actually coordinating, like Team Rainbow does. Mutual support between magical girl comrades is my jam. Magical girls kicking ass in general is my jam!
Mom speaks into Maria’s headset. I wonder why she’d call now and disrupt an important mission. Probably some typical motherly reason.
Mom informs Maria this call is on a private channel, so Kirika and Shirabe can’t hear. Which is great, because it means we get listen to more singing while they keep fighting.
Fucking excuse me?
So… Maria knew all along that Mom propped her up as a fake Finé? Maria even collaborated with Mom to spread this lie?
Then… why was Maria so surprised by Mom’s reveal last episode?
I… I fucked up, people. Somehow, I misread her reaction oh so badly. What does the anime even want me to believe, anymore? Nothing in Symphogear has confused me more than this Finé reincarnation plotline. I keep harping on it so much because it keeps getting worse.
Maria’s complicity in Mom’s lie makes it more hurtful for the whole crew. It’s not right for Mom to insist Maria lie to comrades who are supposed to trust Maria with their lives in battle. This is not how a leader leads, Mom. How will Kirika and Shirabe react when they find out Maria deceived them on Mom’s orders?
Serena is dead, Dr. Ver is an asshole, Mom is a bad parent, Maria’s own idol partner tried to stick a sword through her, and the entire world sees Maria as a terrorist who threatened their cities. Kirika and Shirabe are the only people Maria has left. How will she stay sane if her only friends turn against her, too?
Mom attempts to sway Maria into pretending to be Finé. It’s all for the sake of convincing Dr. Ver to help with The Plan.
Mom doesn’t explain why they need Ver. Nor why having a reborn Finé would motivate him to help them. Nor how they convinced him Maria was Finé.
Besides, unless I wildly misinterpreted both Maria and Ver’s reactions last episode, he already knows Maria is faking it.
That is not an expression of surprise. We know because we’re quite familiar with his Oh Shit shocked expression.
Mom’s attempt at fooling Ver doesn’t seem to have worked as intended. It’s possible he outplayed her and secretly has A Plan of his own.
Maria can’t pretend to be Finé, she tells Mom over their private call. Finé’s soul didn’t enter any of them (*glances at Kirika* …yet), even though Maria and the soda girls are “Receptor Children”, orphans intended for use as Finé’s host.
Spin-off pitch: Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe abandon the whole terrorist thing and form a grunge band named Receptor Children.
Maria closes her eyes and shakes her head dramatically and tells Mom it’s futile. ...Wow, Diva, you’re still in the middle of a Noise fight. Maybe you should pay attention to that right now. You’re only making Shirabe and Kirika do all the work carrying your AFK-in-battle ass.
The distraction costs Maria. A careless blast from her Gungnir spear accidentally hits one of the civilians running to her for safety.
This fight was just a training simulation?
WHEW. Thank cupcakes. That scared me! I thought that guy Fucking Died.
The hologram fades, returning the girls to reality in some bleak terrorist dojo.
Bleak Terrorist Dojo, another great name for the grunge band.
Even though she knew it was a simulation, Maria is devastated over killing someone she was supposed to protect. She always goes out of her way to avoid killing, as shown with her concert hostages and even enemy Symphogear wielders. Although, Maria is quite willing to threaten and fight people. I suppose she’s Batman with his I Have One Rule thing, the line she won’t cross.
Dr. Ver doesn’t seem bothered.
What the heck was Mom talking about earlier, about needing to impress Dr. Ver that their organization is at the “cutting edge” of technological advancements? They have a fully-immersive holographic simulator!
Even Section 2 doesn’t have this level of heretical technology, and Finé herself worked with them for twelve years. How much more “cutting edge” does Ver want, a freaking spaceship? A Back To The Future hoverboard?
Ver compliments Team Black on their use of the “wonderful” Symphogear system. He answers a question for us from last episode, about why they need regular LiNKER injections. He says the girls have low compatibility with their Symphogears, rendering them unable to wield one without the upgraded version of LiNKER he created to increase their compatibility.
Is this true, or is it another of Dr. Ver’s lies? Maybe Team Black would do fine without LiNKER, but he wants the terrorists to believe he is needed, so he pulled some excuse out of his ass.
This is a classic manipulation technique. Fabricate a problem, then make yourself appear useful by providing the solution. Ver deceived us so many times, I’m now skeptical of every word that hisses out of his lie-chapped lips.
Dr. Ver tells the soda girls that with his LiNKER help, they can be the world’s heroes. In reality, he’s the one who covets that title, despite being spectacularly un-heroic. He doesn’t give a damn about the girls, evidenced by him nearly overdosing them to death last episode and manipulating them into singing Climax Songs to save him even if it cost them their lives.
He pets Sprite and Cherry Coke SUPER CREEPILY and laughs low and wicked.
WOW BUDDY
Just… wow. In my line of government work, we call your type a 288.
I cracked a jab back in the first episode about how he might be the kind of person required to update his registration annually. That was just an off-the-cuff joke, admittedly one in poor taste I probably shouldn’t have made. I didn’t think the anime would actually go down that route with him. This behavior from him is so out-of-the-blue. Dr. Ver’s always been creepy, but never with sexual undertones before now.
Even the shot composition of him touching the girls deliberately emphasizes the creepiness of the action. The camera holds a straight-on shot focusing on Dr. Ver’s huge height as he has to stoop over the tiny girls to fit into frame, then the camera transitions to an above-head angle at a sinister diagonal, to again frame a power-disparity over Kirika and Shirabe.
He pets Kirika on her armor, but the most direct touch falls on Shirabe, who always came across as the youngest of Team Black. He pets Shirabe’s hair directly, instead of her armor. Yikes.
Symphogear, was this Necessary? Ver is despicable for a swarm of other reasons. He’s a coward, a liar, a traitor, a manipulator, he kills people needlessly, he killed kids, he crows at seeing people in pain, he treats the lives of his own allies as tools, and even his comportment is completely undignified and un-respectable. He is 100% unlikable as a person. Was the anime honestly worried we viewers would sympathize with him too much or something, so it threw in some sexual predation just to make him that Extra Unsympathetic?
Why did the anime decide we needed to watch this happen to our soda girls?!
CAN’T WE JUST GO BACK TO THEM KICKING ASS AND SINGING J-POP?
Shirabe and Kirika are uncomfortable with his touch. But, they don’t recoil, they only go still and flat-faced. Their non-reaction leads me to believe he (or someone at their orphanage, yuck) did this often enough that the girls convinced themselves ignoring it was the safest option.
Maria watches Dr. Ver being creepy. She’s displeased, but says nothing.
Even worse, Mom knows this is happening, and also does nothing!
You soggy sock, you are letting a 288 near your teenagers. There is no excuse. I don’t care if you need him, your daughters need you more. You fail as a parent and a leader.
Mom talks big about protecting the world from the falling moon, but she doesn’t even protect the people under her care. How do you expect to save the world when you’re the kind of person willing to chop up your own kids into bait? Maria is just another flavor of bait for Dr. Ver in Mom’s eyes, with the whole fake-Finé thing. And, Mom already allowed Serena to straight-up die for her plans.
Mom’s been trying to get her Redemption on lately, but holy moly does she have much to atone for.
After that oh-so-pleasant flashback, we return to the present, with Maria flying the Osprey over the sea.
I wonder what changed. Why did Mom decide Dr. Ver is no longer needed?
The plane’s topo map alerts us they’re approaching some kind of island.
So, that’s the “Frontier” the terrorists keep talking about?
The anime still doesn’t reveal what Frontier is, only that it’s something on this island.
Kirika gets a checkup after that LiNKER injection Dr. Ver forced on her and Shirabe last episode to fight Hibiki.
Why are her B/W/H measurements included in her patient chart, what the hell kind of EMR is this? Oh wait, it’s Dr. Ver’s EMR. I shouldn’t be surprised he would input this information.
AGAIN WITH THE CREEPINESS, MAN
If you listen to his “I’ll take care of you” line toward Mom, he says he’ll take care of anata no karada, meaning take care of your body, not just a general take care of you in a medical sense. Judging by Mom’s grimace, the wording isn’t lost on her. He even lowers his voice and smirks rudely at her.
Where is this COMING from?
He’s never pulled this perviness before this episode. It’s so abrupt and u n c o m f o r t a b l e. Didn’t we get enough inappropriate sleaze last season from Finé, who is officially Coming Back Now Y’All, Cha-Cha Real Smooth? With her, the sleaze was a consistent trait even when disguised as Ryouko. With Dr. Ver, it comes out of nowhere.
The above scene chronologically takes place before the season starts, but the anime chose not to display it to us until now, past the season’s midway point. Ver’s been in close proximity to Mom and the three girls the entire first half of this season, yet only now are we seeing him be inappropriate about it.
Heck, there was even that scene where Team Black came running out of the shower in their underwear/bathrobes, dripping wet, and he didn’t make the kind of remarks and touches he’s making now. What changed for him that he’s now being so disrespectful to Mom, their leader, as well?
Kirika is troubled about the energy shield she conjured last episode. She kept it secret, even from Shirabe.
IS THAT HER?
HOLY SHAG-CARPET ARE WE ACTUALLY GOING TO SEE HER AGAIN?
I don’t want Finé to come back, but by Jove if it has to happen, then I’m going to force myself to enjoy every frame of her sleazy, evil magnificence. With Dr. Ver getting his Inappro-pro on now, we might as well ring a gong for Finé to join in. She was far more hideous a soul than he could ever be.
Kirika is less than happy about these visions of Finé in her head and what they must mean for her.
We swap to Section 2’s submarine base. Hibiki is in recovery from last episode’s Gungnir fusion flare-up.
They’re finally telling Hibiki about her condition and no longer trying to hide it to “protect” her. Where’s Miku? Miku should be here to tell Hibiki, too.
Hamster tries to put on a brave face and laugh it off. But, everyone can hear the quivers in her voice when she talks about how Gungnir is corrupting her from inside every time she uses it.
Team Rainbow always holds hands with each other to show intimacy. It was how they became a team:
But now, hand-taking comes as a forceful, desperate plea from Tsubasa. It’s clear she can’t bear to see Hibiki hurt. Even so, “forbidding” Hibiki from fighting isn’t the solution.
Chris gets Tsubasa to back off.
This doesn’t mean Chris cares for Hibiki any less than Tsubasa does. It only means Chris recognizes that the whole fusion-threat and how to handle it is Hibiki’s decision to make, not theirs.
Tsubasa storms off, eyes wet.
Snoop Oni tries to cheer Hibiki up. Like her, he’s an optimist. He tells Hibiki that Section 2’s medics are hunting for a cure, studying the research left behind by Ryouko-Finé, in hopes she knew more about this Relic fusion.
This is yet another example of the stark disparity between Symphogear’s heroes and its villains this season. The FISters also have access to this information, but they use Finé’s research, Finé’s legacy, to shit on people’s lives and create violence. Section 2 instead tries to find something positive out of the terrible things Finé did, and use it to help a person.
Hey look, more disparity!
Snoop Oni and Dr. Ver do the exact same thing. Tall adult guy in position of power pats a teenage girl.
However, the anime frames it such that Dr. Ver’s touch is an unwelcome violation on girls he has no regard for, intended for his own enjoyment, while Snoop Oni’s touch is comforting and encouraging, intended to cheer up a girl he cares about and respects as an individual. The exact same physical action takes on two completely different meanings.
The anime deliberately flips the camera angles. Dr. Ver is shot from above, to make him look intimidating as he dwarfs the girls. Snoop Oni is shot from below, an angle intended for the viewer to be looking at him from Hibiki’s perspective as she sits in the bed. Dr. Ver’s smile at the girls is sinister. Snoop Oni’s smile is warm.
Dr. Ver is a hateful person, but dang did the anime plan his contrast to the heroes well. I love character structural contrasts like this. Good job, Symphogear.
Outside Hibiki’s room, Tsubasa decides the best way to handle her current turmoil is to punch a wall.
Tsubasa berates herself. She tries to erase her feelings and insist she is only a sword who has “no need for tears”.
QUEEN, DON’T DO THIS TO ME
Oh, Tsubasa. Oh brave, battered Tsubasa. Your comrades don’t need you to be just a sword. They need you to be a friend. You’re worth more as a person than simply a weapon.
We need you, Tsubasa. I mean, you single-handedly keep the motorcycle repair mechanics in business.
Tsubasa blames herself for everything. Her self-esteem is so crushingly low that it has flat-pressed her into the grave of believing she doesn’t deserve to have these friends, yet simultaneously being terrified of no longer having them. If Hibiki or Chris or anyone dies on her like Kanade did, Tsubasa will only see it as her own failure to protect what she loves.
Brown-haired guy comes across the crying Tsubasa. I keep forgetting he exists.
He’s a Section 2 agent, and also Tsubasa’s manager for her idol career. He makes the unwise decision of trying to Give A Crap about her right now, when she really can’t cope with affectionate concern from anyone at the moment. So, she brushes it off and pretends he was talking about business, instead.
I wonder if Tsubasa’s done other interviews since her failed concert with Maria. Pretty awkward that must’ve been.
“Kazanari-san, how do you feel about the fact you finally tried performing with another artist again for the first time in over two years, only to be betrayed by her, have your concert disrupted by terrorism, watch her threaten the lives of your fans, and then have her violently attack you on stage and kick you into a horde of Noise, all on worldwide television?”
“…Next question.”
Tsubasa parries brown-haired guy’s attempt at concern. She’s talking about her interviews, but Go It Alone is also her overall attitude right now.
She’s fallen completely back into her Season 1 mentality. This can only be bad news for her and the rest of the team. Even the framing of the above line is a callback to Season 1:
We cut back to the FISters. They made it to Frontier’s location.
Frontier is hidden on this island. The island itself is also hidden underwater, not a raised terrain they could land the plane on.
While the soda girls and Dr. 288 observe, Mom orders Maria to gather energy from the plane’s invisibility Relic, Shenshoujin. Mom tells us about Shenshoujin’s origin.
Mom monologues over a scene of Kanade’s family, who were part of the archaeology team who unearthed Shenshoujin.
Lookit babby Kanade!! And a little sister, too! Seeing Kanade again after so long is wonderf–
Never fucking mind, instead we get to watch the Noise slaughter everyone Kanade cares about while they flee in terror. Symphogear Is Suffering.
Ryouko-Finé then flutters into the massacred dig site and steals Shenshoujin. Presumably, she gave it to the Americans she collaborated with, and that’s how it ended up in the current FISters’ possession.
Mom prepares to fire Shenshoujin’s energy. Its magic will unseal Frontier from the underwater island.
Mom puts out a Ready Check for her raid group, but one player (there’s always one freaking player) doesn’t want to start yet.
Uh, what preparations? You have the activated Nephilim heart, you have Shenshoujin, you have extra stuff like the Black Symphogears and the Staff of Solomon…
…what else does your Frontier plan need?
I am afraid.
Again with Ver’s invasive touching. He grabs Mom’s wrist to physically stop her firing Shenshoujin. I can’t remember if we’ve ever seen him touch Mom before, even when treating her illness.
Mom overrides Dr. Ver’s request. She’s the one in charge, and this raid is goddamn starting even if that one useless warlock isn’t ready yet, he’s one vote from getting kicked out of the raid, anyway.
Dr. Ver is upset, but lets go of Mom’s wrist and backs off. So, she Fires Ze Missile.
Mom shoots the laser, pew pew, into the water, hitting the underwater island with Shenshoujin’s full force. Despite his earlier protest, Dr. Ver bounces in childish excitement that their plan is finally Happening.
The music swells to a dramatic peak, bursts of displaced terrain explode water and steam-clouds into the air, the sea roils beneath their hovering plane… Whoa, something Big is happening right now, folks, I don’t know what, but it’s going to be amazing!
And it…
…it doesn’t work?
Are you joking.
For real, you guys. The laser fades, the water calms, the clouds of steam and sea-spray quiet back down, the epic music trails off, and Nothing Frickin Happens.
HAHAHAHH
Every gland in my mouth is going to shrivel from laughing this hard. Not gonna lie, I take a sadistic pleasure in seeing these bastards’ big, epic, mysterious plan fail.
But… it’s also kind of panicked laughter. I mean, they killed people for this plan. They ripped Hibiki’s arm off. They ruined that awesome Tsubasa concert I totally wanted to see more of.
Was the enormous suffering the terrorists caused in the name of Frontier all for nothing?
Mom says even Shenshoujin’s magic isn’t strong enough to unseal Frontier.
Well dang, then what will be powerful enough? More Relics, maybe? A Climax Song? Another of Hibiki’s rainbow gaynados? Or, do they need to start throwing human sacrifices into the sea to appease whatever underwater volcano god is hoarding Frontier from them? I nominate Dr. Ver to be the first sacrifice.
Ver rages. He accuses Mom of knowing this attempt would fail, that she only brought the group out here to give them a painful reality check.
Mom handles his tantrum calmly.
Sadly, we don’t get to hear what important thing Mom actually tells him. We only get a shot of him clenching his teeth and hear him letting out a frustrated groan-whine like a donkey with its molars glued together by peanut butter.
I know what my phone’s new Text Alert tone will be.
We transition to a later time. Establishing shots present a massive tower in the city.
My neck hurts.
This looks like Sky Tower from last season, where Hibiki and Tsubasa first teamed up with Chris to defeat a bunch of Noise sent by Finé.
Inside Sky Tower, on one of its bajillion levels, we see…
WHAT ALTERNATE REALITY DOES THIS SCENE TAKE PLACE IN?
ARE THEY BACK IN THE HOLOGRAPHIC SIMULATOR?
How in fuckshovels is Maria just casually pushing Mom around in a highly public place in the middle of the city?!
Maria is an international terrorist, for goodness sake. It’s only been a couple weeks since the concert, since she declared war on every country on the planet during a worldwide television broadcast showing her face.
Every government in the world has a stake in hunting down Maria, not just here in Japan and in America where she came from. She threatened to flood the capital of every nation with the Noise.
Even before Maria revealed herself as a terrorist in front of Everyone, she was a world-famous idol, so she’s recognizable for that, too. Yet, she just strolls around Sky Tower, where anyone could see her and create an international disaster if the authorities try to take her into custody. How are Maria and Mom not bothered by such an enormous risk?
Maria asks what Mom meant about Maria no longer needing to play the role of Finé. Mom says the FISters should stop playing terrorist and remember their true goal: to save people from the falling moon. And, they currently can’t fulfill their Frontier plan, as their failed experiment with the Shenshoujin laser demonstrated.
The FISters must pursue other options to save the world from the moon-fall. What is Mom’s plan B?
ABORT PLAN B.
These MIBs are American government agents, Mom tells a shocked Maria.
Good frilly luck with that. Even other FISt Americans riddled Ryouko-Finé with bullets when they decided they no longer needed her. Why wouldn’t these guys do the same?
These peace talks smell like a big, rotten backstab. I’m scared Mom and Maria won’t make it out of this boardroom in one piece. Why are they meeting somewhere like Sky Tower for this?
I suppose that was the “something very important” Mom told him earlier. Meh, he’s still a lil’ shit.
The scene closes on a shot of Maria looking optimistic about the peace negotiations.
Did I say optimistic? I meant worried to her bones that she and Mom are about to get black bags put over their heads and endure some Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.
The scene rolls over to Hibiki hanging out at what looks like a zoo or aquarium.
Given how important singing is in this anime, I’m waiting for the fish to bust out a Disney song to cheer her up.
This must be the vacation Snoop Oni wanted Hibiki to take until they find a Gungnir cure.
I don’t know what all the hype was about, Finding Dory looks awful.
Hibiki clearly isn’t enjoying this vacation. Existential crisis about her purpose in life, you know, all that Joy.
Hibiki forces herself to accept the reality that she will Fucking Die if she keeps using Gungnir, it’s not a remote possibility, anymore.
This super serious monologue of Hibiki’s anguished internal struggle is REALLY HARD TO FOCUS ON because I’m so distracted by the anime’s placement of that huge, vapid-eyed, gaping Dopefish staring at Hibiki from the other side of the glass like it wants to chat.
Hibiki flashes back to things she’s done as a Symphogear wielder, and wonders what will happen if she stops wielding it to save herself from the fusion.
CEASE AND DESIST IMMEDIATELY
Hibiki, like Tsubasa, is so bruised up inside that she can’t see her own value and what a difference she makes for other people.
Hibiki only flashes back to scenes of her using her fists. I’ve said this before, but Hamster’s true power has always been her open hand, not her fist. Her valor and her worth and her lovable-ness come from her compassion and determination, not her physical might. She didn’t punch people into wellness. It was her kindness which saved her friends and inspired them to overcome their challenges.
If Hibiki worries about whether she’ll still be needed if she doesn’t fight, she should instead flash back to scenes like these:
Hibiki has touched so many lives, through much more than just fighting.
Same as Tsubasa, who cried in shame earlier this episode because she thinks she’s no longer a sword to protect her comrades. In reality, Tsubasa is brave, self-sacrificing, protective, devoted to the people she cares about, wants to use her music to heal people’s hearts, and is an all-around Good Person.
Hibiki and Tsubasa are worth so much more, and I want to screech hideously outside their windows in the middle of the night and chuck paper airplanes that say Love Yourself at them until the girls realize what heroes they are.
Miku pops in and startles Hibiki out of her worries.
Our savior, everyone.
Miku took Hibiki out on vacation, but can see that Hibiki isn’t really Here. Hibiki is far away, too distracted by her own fears to enjoy time with Miku.
Before this, Hibiki and Miku hadn’t gotten much Couple Time this season. Despite Hibiki being distracted by doubts, it still warms my little lesbian heart to watch them doing normal, peaceful stuff together like this.
Hey, look over there, I think this aquarium has a seal enclosure next to Fish-chan’s tank! I wonder what the seals have to say about this.
Hibiki and Miku are a treasure, like houses that give out full-size candy bars on Halloween.
Hamster yanks up some cheerfulness from her endless inner stockpile, and insists she and Miku make the most out of their date.
The rest of their date will be fun to watch. I’m looking forward to a refreshing change of pace from the heavy misery of the past few episodes!
Am I being trolled. Am I actually being trolled right now.
Of ALL the vacation destinations in ALL THE CITY, you breaded nuggets just HAD to pick the ONE PLACE the terrorists chose for their secret peace negotiations.
I’m gonna sneak into Symphogear’s house and tangle all its power cords to punish it for not letting Hibiki and Miku enjoy some nice goddamn peaceful time together for once.
Rage aside, this is turn of events is exciting, with the prospect of Hibiki and Maria bumping into each other. They’ve barely interacted, so it’d be great to see them stumble across each other unexpectedly and force out an oh wow fancy seeing you here.
Like, how will they even deal with it? Will Maria and Hibiki awkwardly greet each other, before remembering they’re enemies and getting into fisticuffs, while Mom and Miku just kinda sit on the sidelines watching the tussle and bonding over how silly their Gungnir girls are?
On the other hand, Sky Tower was where the good guys officially converted Chris to the team. It would be awesome if Hibiki convinced Maria to do the same.
We leave Sky Tower for now, and check in with the other FISters, who stayed behind from Mom and Maria’s mission.
Does this mean Mom left Kirika and Shirabe alone in the plane with Dr. Ver? More of Mom’s signature style A+ parenting right here, folks.
Alternatively, in light of the Finé reincarnation thing… I suppose Shirabe is alone with two predators. Crap.
Inside the Osprey, Shirabe is wearing an apron and taste-testing something.
Oh cool, I didn’t know she could cook. Same as last episode when the soda girls went grocery shopping, it’s nice to see them doing ordinary activities like this.
It adds a calm, humanizing atmosphere to soothe the chaotic terrorist lifestyle the girls are forced to endure. Getting to see Shirabe actually putting effort into cooking up a full meal, spending ages working over a stove to get it just right, all the time and energy this must’ve taken her, and…
…aaaaand forget it, all she did was microwave two bowls of instant ramen.
(Only two? Her and Kirika, must be. Dr. 288 can squelch right off and make his own dang food, good job Shirabe.)
In the woods surrounding the plane, Kirika sits alone, hunched up.
The anime wants us to focus on Kirika right now, but all I can think is that Maria must be a frickin surgeon of a pilot if she managed to land their plane so precisely between the trees.
Even VTOL planes like their Osprey can’t park that smoothly. The trees aren’t scraped, there are no branches knocked to the ground, there aren’t even any dings on the plane! I’m in awe. I can barely parallel park my car.
Kirika frets about her visions of Finé after the energy shield incident.
I can’t fathom how lung-shriveling horrifying this must be for her. It proves Kirika’s resilience that she’s keeping her shit together at all, and not running screaming off into the woods.
Kirika realizes something doesn’t add up.
She tries so hard, you guys.
Kirika doesn’t connect the dots that Maria Lied, People (me) Cried.
Cherry Coke comes to tell Sprite their extravagant, gourmet, two-dollar lunch is ready.
He’s not there with the girls? Then where the heck he at?
Dr. Ver is a spider, in that he’s actually scarier when you can’t see him. You only know he’s somewhere nearby, waiting for the right moment to crawl into your eye socket before you realize what’s happening.
Is his face really that bad to look at, Kirika?
Actually, you’re right, I’d lose my appetite, too.
At Sky Tower, the peace talks between Mom and the American MIBs intensify.
At Mom’s direction, Maria hands the American MIBs a computer chip containing the terrorists’ Relic technology information. Mom says she’ll reveal how to decode the chip once their deal is finalized. Mom is trying to safeguard herself and Maria to get out of these negotiations alive, but…
…but once the computer chip is in their hands, the MIBs pull guns on Mom and Maria, unsurprisingly. It’s a mark of how desperate Mom is that she attempted these negotiations in the first place. It was never going to end well.
Okay, but can a bullet do this:
Yeah, I didn’t think so, Mr. Gun-Happy. Think before you speak.
They’re about to pull the trigger, when outside the window flies up:
Never thought I’d utter the phrase, “Dr. Ver to the rescue.”
Looks like Mom was clever enough to have a contingency plan in case these negotiations failed. Dr. Ver can bail them out, but sheesh this will create a huge public spectacle to have the Noise raid such a populated spot.
Ver controls the Noise from a different building which looks out toward Sky Tower.
Ver’s not famous like Maria, but it raises the same question as with her… He’s just hanging out in public, with the Staff of Solomon in full view, even? He gives zero shits if Section 2 finds him? These are the least stealthy terrorists ever.
What good are your bullets now?
This same thing happened to the Americans who tried to raid the terrorists’ plane a while back. It was a curb-stomp. The American government somehow keeps forgetting the terrorists have Noise at their command.
YAAAS TRANSFORMATION TIME HERE WE GO
I have no idea why Maria is transforming, but I’m not complaining. LOOK AT THAT GLORY. LISTEN TO THAT SONG.
I freaking love transformation sequences. Especially when paired with a Symphogear battle song. We haven’t been gifted with Maria’s transformation since the first episode of the season, so it’s great to see it again.
Come to think, we haven’t seen Shirabe and Kirika’s transformation sequences. Something to look forward to!
Huh, she’s fighting the Noise? But, they weren’t targeting her and Mom. Only after Maria transformed did they shuffle toward her threateningly.
Hang on… is this not a rescue by Dr. Ver, after all? Was assassinating Mom and Maria the real reason he sent these Noise? Is he striking a coup against Mom’s leadership and taking power for himself?
I can see why he’d want Mom dead so he could take over, especially if she planned to negotiate for peace. But, if he wants Mom and Maria dead, why send these Noise? Those MIBs were one trigger-squeeze away from killing the ladies, anyway.
Besides, the FISters all live together in their plane. Ver could’ve just assassinated Mom and Team Black while they slept. We know he has that red poison gas which weakens Symphogears. Why not use that to disable Team Black like he used it against Team Rainbow, leaving them easy prey for his Noise?
Maybe he picked the peace negotiations to make his strike because he wants to send a message to the American government, too.
Or maybe he picked this place because he was targeting Maria and Mom specifically, and he wanted to keep Kirika and Shirabe safely out of it. But why? Dr. Ver clearly has no qualms about killing anyone, why would he specifically keep Kirika and Shirabe alive, what does he want the two of them fo–
Oh god fucking dammit.
More Noise swarm Sky Tower. The destruction and explosions from their attacks resound through multiple levels, not just Mom and Maria’s level.
People panic and flee for their lives. Hamster, being Hamster, immediately runs toward the source of danger to protect people.
She pulls wife aggro.
Miku refuses to let Hibiki join the fight. The Gungnir fusion could kill her.
Miku is usually so timid about speaking up about her feelings. It’s a shock to Hibiki that Miku finally takes a stand. But, I suppose it was only a matter of time before “please don’t go” became “I won’t let you go”.
Hibiki and Miku make a hasty compromise while the building continues to shatter around them. Hibiki will go help people, but she won’t use Gungnir, and Miku will come with her. Together, they help people evacuate.
Mom and Maria try to escape the Noise down on their level of Sky Tower. They’re in such a rush, they ditch Mom’s chair, and Maria blesses us with an OTS Lift And Carry.
Even with a person slung over her shoulder, Maria kicks serious ass and looks fabulous doing it, all while singing her battle song.
From his safe vantage point in a different building, Dr. Ver giggles with glee, watching the chaos he spawned.
Although Maria dispatches the Noise on her level, she’s not in the clear. American commando reinforcements charge into the fray to stop Mom and Maria escaping the fake-negotiation trap alive.
Maria, still holding to that personal line she refuses to cross, doesn’t kill these commandos. However, she’s quite willing to kick a fool in the jaw.
Dude will be eating through a straw for the next eight months.
“Avoid” an ambush? It’s a bit late for that. You were ambushed by the American MIBs, then ambushed by Dr. Ver, then ambushed again by more American commandos in the corridors.
Higher up the tower, Hibiki and Miku escort a little kid to safety. Hibiki sticks to the compromise of helping without using her Gear, to prove to Miku she can do it. Also probably to prove to herself that she’s still a hero even if she doesn’t fight, something Hibiki was torn about in the aquarium earlier.
That freaking Fish-chan oh my god I keep getting distracted just remembering her.
Hey now, Miku, that’s not cool. Don’t saddle the kid with harmful gender roles. Guys can cry, too!
Okay, maybe not the best male role model. Still, the point stands!
They help the kid find his family, leaving Hibiki and Miku the last people to evacuate this level of the tower.
Many levels are destroyed by now. Fires spread as more and more Noise crash explosively into the tower and wreck its structure. Miku gets a turn to save Hibiki, tackling her out of the way of a collapsing ceiling.
Several levels down, Maria holds off more commandos. They empty magazine upon magazine at her, cruelly uncaring that they’re also gunning down fleeing bystanders.
The murder of helpless people upsets Maria so badly that her battle song drops to a breathy halt.
Maria was devastated when she accidentally killed that guy at the start of this episode, even knowing it was a mere simulation. Now, confronted with the gruesome reality, she stares at the bloody corpses, while Mom can do nothing but look up at her in anguish.
Maria does what everyone in this anime does when confronted with trauma.
She blames herself as not being good enough.
Diva… seeing you in torment like this makes my entire spine droop sadly. But, at the same time, you aren’t talking sense.
What if Finé did possess you, how would that make you feel better? I know you feel guilty that these innocent people were killed as collateral damage by bullets intended for you, but Finé killed countless innocent people! If you were able to bear Finé’s soul, all it would mean is your body would be used for much more killing than what you just witnessed.
Were the Receptor Children in that orphanage brainwashed into believing Finé was, like, a good person they should look forward to possessing them? Are they not aware Finé was Shitlord Maximus?
Self-blame born of an ingrained sense of failure isn’t exactly Rational, however. Like we saw with Hibiki, like we saw with Tsubasa, we see it even worse with Maria.
Maria slams right into stage two of the grief process: Anger. Oh so much Anger.
Wh– whoa there, Maria… uh, I think that’s far enough…
Holy shit MARIA YOU’RE KILLING THEM
MARIA STOP
WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ONE BATMAN RULE
In her rage, Maria destroys the commandos. With none left alive, she grips her bloodied spear and sobs.
Oh no… oh Maria… what have you done? I’m worried less about the commandos’ deaths (I mean, come on, we just saw them shoot unarmed people in the back, not a way to win viewers’ sympathy) and worried more about how this will affect Maria’s already fragile state of mind. If she felt guilty simply from witnessing deaths, the reality of what she just committed will break her.
Hibiki and Miku aren’t having a good time, either. Worst vacation ever.
The floor snaps, dividing the two girls physically and symbolically. It nearly drops Hibiki off the edge.
MIKU DOIN’ WORK THIS EPISODE, BRUH
This makes the second time she saved Hibiki in only a few minutes. Girl doesn’t joke around when she says she wants to protect someone.
Hats off to our non-magical girl! Seeing the Symphogear wielders kick ass is always awesome, but so is seeing our Ordinary characters show us that just because they don’t have superpowers doesn’t mean they’re powerless.
Symphogear leaves us hanging… literally… as we slash back to Maria.
Freaking gallons of blood she painted the corridor with in her fury.
The background music is harrowing as Maria looks at the dead commandos. She’s panting, probably more from trauma than exertion. The few surviving civilians cower in fear she’ll slaughter them next.
Maria saw thousands of fearful faces staring up at her when she took hostages at her concert, but these hit far harder. Even Mom is lost for words as she watches Maria.
Maria resolves never to hesitate again. She still blames today’s deaths on her own lack of determination, somehow.
She picks up Mom and wraps the two of them in her cloak. Maria launches upward, drilling through the ceiling with her spear, following Mom’s idea to escape via the upper levels.
On said upper levels, Hamster dangles over the edge.
Hibiki begs Miku to let go and save herself, instead.
Miku refuses to let Hibiki go, knowing the only way Hibiki could save herself from such a fall would be to use Gungnir.
Hibiki looks up at Miku’s crying face, and smiles in reassurance. The music softens to a peaceful piano.
Hamster is such a gentle person. I’m gonna tear up. Her smile is so loving. She isn’t rejecting Miku’s offer of protection, nor saying Miku isn’t strong enough to protect her. Hibiki isn’t saying no, she’s saying not now.
As badly as Miku wants to protect Hibiki, she can’t stop Hibiki being a hero. Hibiki isn’t trying to stop Miku being a hero, either.
Miku still refuses to let go.
So, Hibiki pulls her hand out of Miku’s.
Poor, tragic Miku. She just wanted to HELP, god damn it, why must Symphogear PUNISH HER LIKE THIS.
This is not at all how Miku wanted things to turn out.
Hamster does the Falling With Style thing, Gearing up midair.
She sticks the landing like a pro, sending out a shockwave from the impact. Of course, no awesome moment would be complete without dramatic posing!
I’m overwhelmed. This episode gave us so many close-ups of powerful, gorgeous women!
Hibiki then realizes whoops, she needs to launch right back up the tower.
Whatever, that dramatic landing was worth it. Tsubasa would be proud.
Yeah, Miku could really use a rescue from the fiery chaos right about now, Hibiki.
One of the gaping wounds on Sky Tower explodes. Either from more Noise attacks or from Maria drilling her way up to the top level.
Hibiki realizes this explosion came from the exact spot she and Miku were just dangling from.
Relax, Hibiki. She’ll be fine.
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What a great episode.
It had gayness and ass-kicking. What more could we want?
Things are heating up as we forge deeper into the second half of the season. I can smell Symphogear loading gunpowder into the cannon, preparing for a blast I’m sure I’m not ready for.
I’m glad this episode stuck with the Kirika-Finé thing. I worried we would get faked out again. It’s like the anime is holding out its hand to me, going No It’s Real This Time I Promise, but I’m only sniffing cautiously and refusing to take what the anime offers because it tricked me too many times before.
Other mysteries continue. This episode pulled the amazing feat of showing the terrorists go to Frontier and interact with it, yet still keeping us in the dark about what Frontier actually is and how it will save the world from the falling moon. All we know is Frontier is on that island, or Frontier is the island, but I don’t see how an island could save us.
Another mystery is how and why Maria pretended to be Finé. Mom said it was to convince Dr. Ver to help with The Plan.
Why does Mom’s plan require him? Like really, what does Ver do?
He wields the Staff of Solomon, but anyone could wield it. Dr. Ver himself called Mom “an authority on Relics”, plus we know she has access to Finé’s research. Chris and Ver learned to wield the Staff, so Mom could as well.
And why does Mom need the Noise from the Staff? Her plan involves using Shenshoujin and the Nephilim to unseal Frontier to save the world. How do the Noise factor into that?
Okay, so Dr. Ver keeps Team Black functioning. But, does Mom really need Team Black?
She needed a Symphogear’s Phonic power to activate the Nephilim. However, Mom leeched Team Rainbow’s Phonic power to do that, not her own girls. Mom could’ve found a way to induce the good guys to activate the Nephilim for her without using Team Black or the Noise.
Maybe there is much more to her plan. But so far, the only Necessary thing we’ve seen Dr. Ver do is keep Mom from dying to her illness.
So, based on what we viewers have seen at this point… Great job, Mom. You let a murderer run rampant, and let this same murderer creep on your kids, all so you could stay alive to carry out some unnecessary terrorist plot which massacred people and which didn’t even unseal Frontier for you in the end. I hope that knowledge keeps you cozy during the chemo.
Shenshoujin failed to unseal Frontier as hoped. On the bright side, Mom told us Shenshoujin has another power:
We happen to know someone who could really use an evil spirit exorcised from her.
This was the episode where no one thought they were Good Enough.
Tsubasa continues to self-flagellate over being unable to protect Hibiki from Gungnir, Hibiki keeps doubting her value to the people she cares about, Maria has “I’m a Finé failure” pretty much tattooed on the inside of her eyelids at this point, and Miku Tried So Hard And Got So Far, but in the end couldn’t protect Hibiki the way she wanted.
Hibiki tried to be a hero without using Gungnir, but fate (meaning this wretched fucking anime) conspired to place her in a situation where she had no choice but to use Gungnir. However, it might not feel that way on Miku’s end.
On Miku’s end, well… this might feel a lot like abandonment.
Hand-holding in this anime is used to show a bond between characters. Today, Hibiki deliberately forced her hand out of Miku’s, a symbolic severing.
This isn’t an idle worry. Hibiki could For Real die from the Gungnir fusion. Hibiki could For Real leave Miku.
She already did.
Miku nearly lost Hibiki two years ago, when Hibiki took that chest injury that embedded Gungnir in her to begin with. Miku nearly lost Hibiki again numerous times once Hibiki became a full-fledged Symphogear wielder. And then, Miku did lose Hibiki to the falling meteoroid, spending three weeks weeping over the grave and believing her beloved Hibiki was dead.
It’s no wonder Miku fears it will happen again.
Hell, Miku had to stand by helplessly and watch other people she cares about die on her last season, too.
Everyone else is rowing the I’m Not Good Enough Am I boat this season. We might as well toss Miku an oar.
Hibiki’s been too busy to go on dates and spend time with Miku. Then, once Miku finally drags her out:
Hibiki isn’t bored with their relationship, she’s just preoccupied worrying about all the Krazy Krap happening lately. But, Hibiki is doing a poor job communicating this to Miku. And, Miku is too timid to speak up about her fears and let Hibiki know.
Miku wants to help, but with all these powerful magical girls to compete with, how is she supposed to feel useful to Hibiki?
The one time Miku does try to help Hibiki, their mutual friend holds Miku back for her own protection.
This sense of powerlessness is going to keep swelling in Miku’s throat until she can barely breathe.
Miku is useful to Hibiki. Like Snoop Oni said, the peaceful time Hibiki spends with Miku is the only thing keeping Hibiki human. Even the sturdiest Tanks are flimsy without enough Support Players. Protecting people she loves, like Miku, is Hibiki’s reason for fighting.
Despite that, Miku AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS ANIME WHO NEEDS TO RECOGNIZE THEIR OWN WORTH still believes she isn’t good enough.
I thought Maria showing up at Sky Tower near Hibiki and Miku might mean Maria would join their side, like Chris did in this same place.
Instead, it’s where Maria crossed a line and damned herself further, from her tangled perspective.
I can’t fault Maria too much for these deaths. These people betrayed her during peace talks and tried to kill her.
Also, they callously gunned down bystanders. Not only did Maria need to protect herself and Mom, she needed to protect the innocents being massacred. Laying down her spear in surrender wasn’t an option, the commandos would’ve just shot her like the MIBs tried during the negotiations.
Regardless, Maria won’t easily forgive herself. Besides, who knows if she hit some bystanders herself while she drilled up through the tower to escape.
Gungnir girls. The calmest, most peaceful people you will ever find.
FISt originally intended to save people. The hologram in the opening scene made the girls fight Noise and protect civilians, and they fail the hologram’s test when Maria accidentally kills someone. They were specifically training to fight Noise while protecting people, not training to be terrorists. Something went horribly wrong on FISt’s path.
Mom feels like a failure in this episode, too. She’s a bad leader and a worse parent, but I still feel heartache for her. Mom honestly wanted to atone, wanted to put an end to the terrorism and remember her true goal of saving the world. But, she couldn’t even make peace successfully. Nothing stings more than trying to do the right thing and getting betrayed for it.
Will today’s failure roadblock Mom’s redemption journey? Or, will she be even more determined to set things right, for the three girls’ sakes? It hurt so much to watch the way Mom looked up at Maria with complete sorrow, unable to even stand up and comfort her daughter in this trauma.
Mom repeatedly incited Maria to kill people.
YEAH, YOU ZUCCHINI, MARIA FINALLY DID THE THING YOU’VE BEEN TELLING HER TO DO
And now, Mom can only look at what she’s wrought, and realize what a mistake it was.
Good frolicking grief.
Only one person in this anime isn’t self-blaming.
Hoo boy. I’ve got 288 problems, and Dr. Ver is all of them.
He takes no responsibility for his crimes, for his endless buckets of manure dumped into our water supply. He then turns around and calls everyone else selfish.
Dude, the majority of your problems are entirely your own fault.
I suppose Ver must’ve been plotting this episode’s coup against Mom for a while. Must be why he was so disrespectful to her earlier, with the crude remark and the invasive grabbing of her wrist. He was planning to seize power, so he felt arrogant enough to start defying her authority.
Forget Kirika. Dr. Ver is the one displaying Finé’s personality and mannerisms. The selfishness, the lies and manipulation, the forcing others to fight instead of risking himself, the obsession with Relics, the uncaring murder of bystanders, the harmful scientific experiments on Symphogear wielders for his own benefit, and as of this episode, the predatory creepiness.
Maybe not to the intended Japanese audience, but to me this scraped old wounds. Flying things crashing themselves suicidally into a giant tower, smoke and fire billowing from it, civilians killed, others fleeing in panic, people falling from the burning heights, all while some manipulative, murdering, mastermind watches gleefully through a screen from a safe distance. It hit hard.
You make it SO TOUGH to root for your redemption, man. I’m gonna keep doing it, just to spite your narrow ass.
I rooted for Finé’s redemption, I’m rooting for Mom’s and Maria’s, I can spare a few little sprouts of hope for Ver’s, as well.
Besides, same as with Finé, a bad person is a great villain. Just because he’s hateful doesn’t mean I hate that he’s part of the story. Dr. Ver creates incredibly challenging tension for our heroes to overcome. We’ll have to see if that tension snaps around his neck hard enough to hang him in the end.
I don’t buy this episode’s ending for one hot second.
Bullshit, Symphogear. You didn’t kill off Miku. If this happened midway through an episode, I’d be more worried, but this ending seems like just another cliffhanger hook. You’ve lost my trust regarding cliffhangers.
I know without a doubt Symphogear will keep Miku alive, at least for now. Only because Symphogear needs to feed its sadistic desire to make its girls SUFFER. Death isn’t cruel enough, oh no, not for this wretched fucking anime.
Miku is alive, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of danger. For all Hibiki knows, her most precious person just got blown to breadcrumbs. If that doesn’t set off her Frothing Berserker mode, I don’t know what will. Rage and grief over Miku would severely worsen Hibiki’s fusion.
Miku could be seriously injured by this explosion. She also might be captured by Dr. Ver’s Noise, or even by Maria. I’m not sure if the FISters know who Miku is and her relation to Hibiki. Ver has reason to want personal revenge against Hibiki for defeating him. If he finds out who Miku is… Well, we’ve seen how much he enjoys hurting people to get what he wants.
Please be safe, Miku, you’re still our lovable little green garden gnome. This season has been so painful and depressing already, and we’ve got quite a bit left to endure. Please let Miku be spared some of the torment to come.
The failed Shenshoujin experiment earlier in this episode proved the FISters need more magical power to unseal Frontier. They could hold Miku hostage and demand Hibiki use her vast Gungnir power to unseal Frontier for them.
The terrorists might have their hands full if they do capture Miku. She is one brave cookie. She’s not afraid to shoulder-check a bastard if they threaten people she cares about.
So yeah, I’m not worried Miku might be dead.
There’s only one life I worry was lost in this attack on Sky Tower.
DID FISH-CHAN SURVIVE???
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