Six Gears a-slaying
(Read the full episode below, or click here for the list of other episodes)
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If you missed the previous episode, here’s a quick summary:
Mom explained that the moon, currently on a fatal collision course with Earth, is actually a spy satellite set up by the ancient aliens who invented Relics.
Speaking of Relics, at the close of last episode, Hibiki claimed Maria’s Gungnir for her own. “Anything you can wield, I can wield better ♪♫…”
Ladies, please don’t fight over who gets to be the true Gungnir Girl. Kanade wouldn’t stand for this.
Oh who am I kidding, Kanade would have a blast watching this.
Team Rainbow and Team Black have been at odds all season. Shirabe was the first to break from that and work with the good guys. Will Maria and Kirika follow suit?
Mom believes if we “reboot” the moon-alien-satellite, that will correct its orbit and stop it from crashing into Earth. The key to Mom’s plan is for the girls to sing. Because of course it is. This is Symphogear. Every problem can be solved by A) singing, B) hand-holding, or C) both at once.
Ver ain’t about all that Helping Other People stuff. He doesn’t want the world to be saved. Pissbaby that he is, he ejected Mom’s capsule from Frontier, rocketing her up toward the moon.
I don’t think Ver’s going to make it out of this episode alive. Or at least, not make it out human.
Ver partially fused his body with the gluttonous Nephilim. I imagine we’ll see some fully monstrous, larger-than-life metamorphosis from him for this finale. Same way Finé metamorphosed into the giant, apocalyptic Red Dragon for Season 1’s finale.
We need some Big Bad to fight for the season’s climax. The six wielders ganging up to beat the shit out of a still-human Ver would be hilarious, sure, but not particularly heroic or epic. However, the six wielders teaming up to take down a massive Ver-Nephilim monster and prevent the apocalypse would be a way cool final fight.
Who knows? The power of Hamster-Jesus managed to save Finé from the Red Dragon. Maybe Hibiki can somehow save Ver’s humanity, too.
Here we go, the season finale of Symphogear G!
Still can’t get over the fact the entire planet saw Hibiki and Maria naked on worldwide broadcast.
Heck, that broadcast is still rolling.
At least Maria got her clothes back.
Maria collapses into Hibiki’s arms. Maybe from the strain of having Gungnir torn from her, or maybe just swooning from the awesomeness of witnessing Hibiki’s epic moment.
Hibiki’s badassery scares Ver so much he flees the bridge room. Falling ingloriously down the stairs in the process.
This man has fallen down every vertical incline he’s come across.
I could say something deep, like this is a metaphor for how Ver constantly tries to aggrandize himself and “reach higher / ascend”, but always comes toppling down because those heights are beyond his pathetic grasp because he’s a shitty person, and that’s why the anime made so many scenes of him falling on the dirty ground where he belongs…
…But, I’m just going to laugh at him and move on.
Genjuurou and brown-haired guy make it to the bridge, but not in time to stop Ver escaping.
Ver’s Nephilim-fused arm is linked to Frontier’s spaceship controls. At Ver’s command, Frontier begins to levitate, higher and higher into the sky. Section 2’s agents feel the tremors from their submarine, beached on Frontier’s landmass.
I mean, spaceship gonna spaceship. It’s not a groundship.
Maria, still weak from her swoon, tells Hibiki that they need to stop the Nephilim’s heart, which powers Frontier’s generator.
Maria, ashamed of her failures, doesn’t feel she’s worthy to join the fight to save the world, and thinks that’s why Gungnir dumped her for Hibiki.
Hibiki doesn’t rub it in. She takes time to give Maria some gentle encouragement. Hamster-Jesus is such a kind soul.
Hibiki dashes off, leaving Maria on the bridge.
En route to the Nephilim’s heart chamber, Hibiki meets up with the other two members of Team Rainbow.
Season 2 has been chock full of callbacks to Season 1. And they’re MAKING ME CRY. Symphogear’s pulling out all the stops for this finale.
Chris hangs back shyly. Will Hibiki be angry at her for betraying the team?
Holding a grudge is an alien concept to Hamster-Jesus. She’s just happy her friend is back in one piece and that Chris recovered the Staff of Solomon before it could harm any more people.
Now that all three members of Team Rainbow are back together and fully Geared up, they’re determined to reach Frontier’s generator room, where the Nephilim’s heart beats.
Of course, Dr. Ver won’t make it easy for them.
Shit. Knew this’d happen. The Nephilim devours any energy it encounters, so it devoured part of Frontier’s energy.
Feeding off Frontier, the Nephilim transforms itself from a small, beating heart into a big, scary monster yet again.
WELL THAT CAN’T BE GOOD FOR US
The Nephilim fires green rockets from its shoulders at Team Rainbow.
The Nephilim always takes on aspects of whoever’s energy it devours. It was last activated around the mid-season by a three-person Climax Song from Hibiki, Kirika, and Shirabe. This version of the Nephilim is an amalgam of all that – it has Kirika’s green shoulder-rockets, its black hammerhead extensions are shaped like Shirabe’s head-Gear, and its huge fists (like Hibiki’s) are now mechanized from devouring Frontier’s machinery as well.
IT’LL JUST AS EASILY DEVOUR YOU TOO, MORON.
On Frontier’s bridge, Maria mopes, all alone. She feels hopeless. She wanted to carry on Serena’s legacy and save humanity from the falling moon, but she failed. What can she do from here?
Maria starts crying for, what, the 6th time today? Girl must be dehydrated by now.
Maria’s ever-present Gulf Stream of tears gets interrupted by a vision of an… unexpected visitor. Hovering above her like a guardian angel.
Serena!!
The spirit of Maria’s little sister literally came down from heaven to tell her to get her shit together.
Serena asks what Maria wants to do. Maria responds, to save the world with her songs. That’s all Maria ever wanted. Maria believes songs have power, but she doesn’t want to use that power for her own ends. She wants to use it to save others, like Serena did for her.
Serena takes her sister’s hand. Wow, Symphogear’s hand-holding theme is so strong it surpasses death.
Serena coaxes Maria to sing with her. The song they sang as children.
Through Frontier, the energy of the sisters’ song is broadcast all around the world for everybody to hear. The song-energy inspires the watching crowds, wrapping them in a warm, magical golden glow.
…Can the worldwide watchers also see Serena’s spirit? Or, is talking to an imaginary little sister just the latest display of weirdness they’ve come to expect from Maria Cadenzavna Eve?
The energy from Maria and Serena’s song reaches beyond Earth, up into space. It makes it all the way to Mom’s ejected building-capsule floating up there, where Dr. Ver banished her.
Mom’s wheelchair has a BUILT-IN TRANSFORMER MODE???
SICK. I definitely did not have “Mom dons a Ripley mech-suit” on my Season Finale bingo sheet.
Why hasn’t Mom been using this kickass mech-suit all season? Automoms, roll out!
Mom patches in on the communicator to tell Maria the good news:
Mom believes all this energy gain from Serena and Maria’s song will be enough to reboot the alien moon-ruins and correct the moon’s orbit, saving Earth.
Mom promises to take responsibility for coding her capsule’s computer to help reboot the moon-ruins. Maria just needs to keep that song-energy going.
Mom says:
Maria starts crying. I mean, she does that a lot, but…
…Is this goodbye? Is Mom not making it out of this?
Maria realizes this will be Mom’s final act. Can’t have Mom’s dying memory of Maria be her crying like a baby, so Maria takes heart and vows to do her part by continuing to sing.
Great bookends with the first episode of Season 2. Serena singing that childhood song, Maria saying this line. I’d love if, to round out the bookends, Maria and Tsubasa get to sing another duet. I really wanted to hear the rest of their concert in the opening episode before all hell broke loose.
On Frontier’s outdoor landmass, Team Rainbow fights the Nephilim.
The monster’s armored hide is impervious to their weapons. Tsubasa’s sword, Chris’s missiles, Hibiki’s fists. Jeez, what will it take to kill this thing? Another three-person Climax Song, like before? Or, something even more?
Not to worry, the soda girls arrive to help!
Gotta love Shirabe and Kirika rolling up to the party so casually, as if both of them didn’t almost Fucking Die just a few minutes ago from their LiNKER-Climax, scythe-in-the-back, soul-split, attempted-suicide duel.
A flutter of melodramatic emo black outerwear announces the arrival of our final remaining wielder.
Yes.
YES.
YES!
GET THE BAND TOGETHER. ALL SIX SYMPHOGEAR WIELDERS WORKING AS A TEAM. This is the first time we’ve had this many wielders fighting on the same side!
There we have it, people. Team Rainbow has officially adopted Team Black into their ranks.
Maria has grown so much. Last time she said those words was at Sky Tower, after she massacred a bunch of commandos. She swore to herself she’d never again hesitate to do evil to save the world.
Now, Maria has learned that evil doesn’t succeed in the end. When she says she won’t hesitate anymore, she means to never give up on doing good to save the world.
Ver, goading the Nephilim on from inside Frontier’s generator room, scoffs at the wielders.
Bro, you’re a bigger failure than me struggling to open a jar of cashew butter in the dead hours of the night. (When the sugar cravings hit, they hit, okay.)
Seriously, what has Ver accomplished long-term?
All he’s accomplished is killing a bunch of people. All of whom were helpless against his Noise, so him killing them wasn’t some battle-triumph. Ver’s never faced an equal foe and won.
The Nephilim shoots a fireball from its mouth like a dragon, right at our six girls.
Something something, dragons exist to teach us that dragon slayers exist, something something.
And so, a brand new Symphogear activation phrase sings out:
Airgetlám! Is that the name of Serena’s Symphogear, at long last?
Extremely ready for this.
THE GIRLS ALL JOIN HANDS AND SING TOGETHER
THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANTED THANK YOU SYMPHOGEAR
Shielded by the energy of Maria’s new Symphogear, of Serena’s living legacy, the girls link their power.
Team Rainbow joins hands with their Shadow Selves. Shirabe overcomes her disdain and realizes Hibiki isn’t a hypocrite. Kirika and Chris realize they have more in common than they thought, and can fight for the same goal.
This is great. The Shadow Self matchups that’ve been ringing strong all season are coming to fruition. That means Tsubasa and Maria will join hands now too, right?
Or… not. Tsubasa and Maria completely ignore each other.
Okay, then. Fuck me I guess for wanting these two to acknowledge each other’s existence, considering they spent the first third of the season developing so much tension and chemistry and excellent character similarities/contrasts with each other.
Tsubasa and Maria haven’t interacted since… hmm… Episode 4? Episode 4! Eesh. I really thought the anime was setting these two up as a pair. Another of my many mistaken guesses.
This line references the name of the Season 1 episode where Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Chris became an official team. Now, their team has grown to six.
Joining hands, they are more powerful than individuals, more powerful even than the Nephilim.
Dr. Ver could never understand that. He uses his hand to mutate into a vile monster appendage and hit people. He never uses his hand to connect with people and make friends.
In the past, Ver disparaged friendship:
Now, friendship will undo him and his evil plan.
Ver boasts that even six Climax Songs together can’t defeat his Nephilim.
Everyone’s Climax Song. Everyone who lives in this world, everyone who wants to save it. The Symphogear wielders are championing the global Will to Live.
Hey, WAIT A SECOND!
That’s Hibiki’s teacher in the crowd! The one who’s always scolding Hibiki for spacing out in class. Hibiki better get some Extra Credit for saving the world.
And look, it’s the nice lady who runs Hibiki and Miku’s favorite noodle restaurant!
And…
…IT’S THE LITTLE GIRL HIBIKI SAVED IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE OF THE ANIME!
I was delighted when Symphogear brought back this girl for a cameo in Season 1’s finale:
And now, this girl comes back once more for the Season 2 finale.
I’m in tears. This was the first life Hibiki ever saved, when Hamster was a dumbass with no idea what to do or how to wield power, but she put her whole spirit into saving this kid from the Noise.
It counts. It matters. Saving the world is cool, but it only takes saving a single person to be a hero. “Who saves one life, saves the world entire.”
Seven billion Climax Songs pack a hell of a punch. With the whole world as witness, all that song-energy boosts the Symphogears’ power. They transform into ultra-powerful, winged, white versions of their Gear.
Hibiki and Chris look godly! As does Tsubasa. …Though, Tsubasa’s powered-up Gear takes the form of beefing up her ankle-swords until they could pass for pontoons.
Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Chris went through this winged transformation, called X-Drive, last season in the final fight against Finé. This the soda girls’ first rodeo finale, so they’re pretty shocked by their new Gear.
For Maria, it’s…
AHHHHHHHH
Maria looks fantastic in Serena’s Symphogear! Angelic. I’m sure Serena is watching her sister with pride right now.
Hibiki guides their energy. Together, the Symphogear wielders, powered by the willpower of the entire human race, release a blast of rainbow energy strong enough to defeat the Nephilim once and for all.
A Climax Song encompassing the entirety of planet Earth. All humanity, come together to defeat an inhuman monster.
Love wins. The Symphogear wielders’ joint song, our world’s joint song, destroys the Nephilim.
Goodness gracious, that was a beautiful finale.
So many threads came together. Maria becoming the hero she was meant to be, the hero Serena always believed she could be. Team Black learning to join hands with the good guys and fight for a common goal. Hibiki embracing Symphogear’s theme of no one can do it alone, channeling the energy of the entire world to save us all from the Nephilim. The embodiment of teamwork and love defeating the embodiment of selfishness and greed.
Truly, a wonderful end to the seaso–
That…
That’s the “halfway mark” logo. We’re only halfway through the episode?
But… the Nephilim’s dead, right?
…RIGHT??
WELL, BUTTER MY BALLISTAE
If SEVEN BILLION SIMULTANEOUS CLIMAX SONGS weren’t enough to destroy it, what more can we do?
Genjuurou and brown-haired guy catch up to Ver in Frontier’s generator room, where the Nephilim’s heart beats on. Though Ver is defeated, he throws one last spiteful twist at us.
Now that the Nephilim’s heart is fully unleashed, it’ll devour all of Frontier and then use the consumed energy to superheat itself and go on a world-destroying rampage.
Great. Just great. Fan-fucking-tastic.
The wielders will have to deal with whatever monstrosity the Nephilim is about to transform into. Genjuurou and brown-haired guy can’t do much to help, unfortunately.
The best the boys can do is capture Ver. They drive him back to Section 2’s beached submarine.
Hold on…
…Ver’s Nephilim-corrupted arm is fine?
He’s totally back to normal? Zero negative consequences nor lasting effects from fusing himself with a live Relic?
YOU’RE TELLING ME VER FUSING WITH THE NEPHILIM WAS ANOTHER FAKE-OUT??
God fucking damn it, Symphogear. Why am I surprised. Why am I even flipping surprised with this season anymore. What more fitting way to cap off a season of disappointing fake-outs than with one last mega-screw-you of a fake-out?
Ugh. Anyway. Ver whines that he’d rather die than be a prisoner.
Genjuurou figures it’s a more effective middle-finger to keep Ver alive and force him to suffer the ignominy of being put on trial and sentenced to prison for his crimes, instead of allowing Ver to die in battle.
While I’m darn disappointed my Ver Gets Crushed To Death By A Heavy Object prediction from a few episodes ago didn’t come true, I appreciate the harsh justice of Genjuurou’s decision. Ver tried to exalt himself over all other human beings, not caring how many billions of innocents he killed in the process. It’s fitting to “bring him down” to this level and remind him he’s just a human, and a shitty one at that. I hope Ver rots in prison for the rest of his life.
Dr. Ver has committed the gravest sin a Symphogear character can commit: he Gave Up On Life.
No one can make you a hero. You make yourself a hero, through your own deeds of bravery and self-sacrifice. Two traits the cowardly and self-serving Ver could never understand. Look at Hibiki! Kanade provided the spark that made Hibiki a Symphogear wielder, but it took Hibiki’s determination and fighting spirit to truly transform herself into a hero.
Genjuurou radios the Symphogear wielders, letting them know about Ver’s latest shitbaggery. The girls’ new objective is to stop the Nephilim’s rampage before it destroys Earth.
The Nephilim’s heart consumes all of Frontier the spaceship and the surrounding landmass. Forming itself into yet another body.
(This is, what, the Nephilim’s seventh form that we’ve seen throughout the season?? Thing changes its loadout more often than a min-maxing esports competitor.)
Well, at least it’s not Ohio.
With Frontier devoured, all that’s left are the Nephilim and the six wielders floating in space above Earth. Because, same as Season 1, we need a finale IN SPAAAACE. Wouldn’t be a true anime, otherwise. Space is just cool.
The Nephilim’s new form is massive. It glows fiery red with volcanic levels of heat-energy.
The monster’s body is so superheated, it now looks like one of those “where it’s okay to touch me” charts.
The Nephilim just keeps regenerating, no matter how many attacks the heroes throw at it.
We gotta figure out a way to kill it, and fast. That burning thing hovering above our atmosphere is worsening global warming by the minute. I can feel the heat from here. Unless that’s my PC overheating from the fiery action epicness unfolding on my monitor right now.
As always, the Nephilim copies its form and energy from its opponents. This latest version has Hibiki’s mighty hands, and a six-pronged tail to represent the six Symphogear wielders.
And yet, it’s a twisted version of those traits. Hands only to destroy, not to connect. Six prongs firmly separated, and too sharp to join without pricking each other. Not a unified team of six like our girls and their joined hands.
The Nephilim keeps absorbing aspects of the people it encounters. But, the monster never understands why those aspects made those people strong, so the Nephilim just ends up a twisted, evil reflection of whoever creates it. Always transforming, but never growing.
The girls throw their mightiest attacks at the Nephilim. Their efforts do no good. The Nephilim simply absorbs the energy from their attacks, regenerates its wounds, and grows even more powerful. This monster is unkillable.
So, if we can’t beat the Nephilim, what do we do?? Make friends with it???
LITERAL GALAXY-BRAIN IDEA, CHRIS. If we can’t defeat the Nephilim here, just send it to another galaxy!
Chris uses the Staff of Solomon to open a magical gate to the Treasury of Babylonia, the alien dimension Noise originate from. Her idea is to push the Nephilim through that gate and then use the Staff to seal the gate behind it. Imprisoning the Nephilim there for eternity. That way, it won’t be able to return and threaten Earth.
Sure, the Nephilim’s regenerative powers make it unkillable, but killing isn’t always the solution. Chris figured out what every Blizzard gamer knows:
…If you can’t beat it, CC it!
Beautiful. Chris was the one who activated the Staff of Solomon. Since then, the Staff’s been used for nothing but Evil, by summoning Noise to kill people. This is Chris’s greatest burden, her “cross to bear” as she called it a few times.
Now, it’s Chris who devises a way to use the Staff for Good. To save lives instead of killing. Chris is speaking to herself as much as to the Staff, wanting to prove to herself that she can be a hero who saves lives, that she’s more than just a Finé-molded villain who kills and causes pain.
I really like that Symphogear had the respect to give this breakthrough plan to Chris, instead of having it be Hibiki who swoops in as the big Main Character and figures out the solution to our invincible Nephilim problem.
Chris’s plan emboldens Hibiki and the rest.
The Nephilim swipes at Chris, knocking the Staff out of her hands. Maria flies in and grabs the Staff, but gets ensnared in lava-ropes by the Nephilim. The monster begins to fall through the open Noise-gate in space… dragging Maria with it.
Maria bravely says she’ll let the Nephilim drag her into the Noise-dimension so she can seal it from inside. This will trap Maria there, but ensure Earth is protected from the Nephilim.
For all its epic action and beautiful character peaks, Symphogear will always be Symphogear. Yes, anime, it was totally necessary to give us a shibari-tie of Maria’s breasts in the moment of her heroic sacrifice. Not at all distracting from the gravity (lol, gravity, ‘cause they’re in space right now) of the situation.
Maria resigns herself to her fate. If her death will save others’ lives, like Serena did, she accepts it.
Hibiki, of course, won’t let her new friend Give Up On Life so easily. She promises to protect Maria.
All six wielders agree to work as a team to trap the Nephilim inside the Noise-dimension. They believe that together, they can find a way to make it out of that hell themselves once they’ve dealt with the Nephilim. They won’t leave Maria or anybody else behind. No one can do it alone.
Even though Noise are faceless, I love the “Fuck is this shit?!” emotion so clearly portrayed when the Nephilim and the Symphogears come through the magical gate.
After millennia of Noise invading humanity’s dimension and eating us, for the first time, humans now invade the Noise-dimension with a monster that can eat Noise.
The gate swallows the Nephilim and the wielders, then closes behind them.
Problem. Section 2’s submarine was beached on Frontier. Now that Frontier’s been levitated into the atmosphere and devoured, the people on the sub have nowhere to go. Their only option is to fall back to Earth and hope to stick the landing.
Wh…
Why did they build their sub with an ejectable bridge segment, complete with parachutes? Were they expecting the submarine to become airborne at some point?? That is the precise opposite of what submarines are supposed to do.
Heck, the ship designers must’ve figured Anything Goes when you’re dealing with Symphogears, so they prepared for any eventuality, no matter how unlikely.
And thank goodness they did! Thanks to the parachutes, the ejected bridge will land safely back on Earth. Miku, Genjuurou, and the rest of Section 2 inside it will be safe. Whew.
Unfortunately, Mom’s not so lucky. Her capsule floats in space, no way to return home.
Mom doesn’t worry about herself. Regardless of being banished to space, her terminal illness is about to claim her.
Mom white-knuckles it. Not much time left. By golly, she’s gonna spend it wisely. She makes sure to properly direct the worldwide song-energy toward the moon to stabilize its orbit.
Be a lot easier to read the moon-status-dashboard if you didn’t cough blood all over the keyboard, Mom. Hey, not judging, we’ve all been there.
(Readers, this is your reminder to clean your keyboard. How long has it been? Yeah, that’s what I thought, you filthy animal. Clean it right now.)
Using all that song-energy, Mom manages to input the code to fix the moon’s orbit.
Mom succeeds. The moon’s orbit returns to normal. We’re no longer in danger of it crashing into the planet.
Mom’s last words are the season’s tagline:
Mom collapses. She held off her disease just long enough to help save the world, and her daughters in it. She dies in peace.
Wow, this is… this is hitting harder than expected. Mom got a great sendoff.
I like that Mom’s final words are the season’s tagline, but I like even more her final words to Maria earlier in the episode:
Maria personally believes that songs have power, that songs can change the world.
But, Maria also believed she herself was too weak to do so.
Mom saying to Maria Let me hear your songs, is Mom saying I know you can change the world.
It’s an “I’m proud of you” and an “I believe in you” wrapped into one. Mom expressing love without saying the word love, in a manner more personally relevant to Maria than a generic “I love you” would be. Mom truly does understand her daughter.
This was exactly what Maria needed to hear at this moment in time. Being loved by your parent is important for a child. Being understood and believed in by your parent is more important for a young adult. After an entire season of shitty parenting to her three girls (four if we count Serena in the backstory), Mom came through at the very last.
Mom had less contact with Kirika and Shirabe…
…Er, maybe for the best. In any case, Maria is the daughter Mom spent the most time with. It’s fitting Mom’s release is about making peace with Maria specifically.
Farewell, Mom. You will be remembered.
The moon is fixed, but we’ve still got the Nephilim to deal with. Over in the Noise-dimension, the six girls battle the ginormous monster.
The girls fight fiercely, trying to make it release its grip on Maria, who’s still holding the Staff of Solomon.
Hibiki transforms her fist into a pointed spearhead. Merging her regular fist-attacks with Kanade/Maria’s spear, combining the three Gungnir wielders’ weapons into one. Love it.
Does Hibiki’s new Gungnir mean no more Frothing Berserker mode, since that was caused by Kanade’s Gungnir embedded in her chest?
Dang. I’ll miss it. Still, I suppose no more Frothing Berserker mode is better for Hibiki’s well-being in the long run. And the safety of people around her.
Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Chris fight the masses of surrounding Noise. Kirika helps Shirabe saw through the lava-ropes binding Maria and the Staff. Together, the soda girls free their big sister from the Nephilim’s grip.
The Noise-dimension is more packed than a Taylor Swift concert. Even the Staff of Solomon can’t control this many Noise at once. Strong though they are in their X-Drive Gear, the wielders will be overwhelmed before long.
Their plan is to use the Staff to open another gate, this time an exit from the Noise-dimension, so they can skedaddle back to Earth and leave the Nephilim trapped here in this dimension.
Extremely funny that the other girls needed to explain to Maria that a gate can be used for entry or exit. Maria strikes me as the kind of person who’d Push a Pull door.
Listen, Maria only knows how to do three things. Sing, flirt with Tsubasa, and look pretty while crying. Wielding complex, hermetic Relics like the Staff of Solomon is a big ask of her.
I like the design of the Noise-dimension. We’ve only seen glimpses of it before. The jarring geometry, the bright colors, the unnatural gravity, the misshapen bodies of the Noise… it’s all quite cool. Manages to look alien without being an eye strain or headache-inducing, which a lot of sci-fi falls into.
Cool as it is, we gotta leave. Despite her… limitations, Maria manages to open an exit gate from this dimension back to the blue skies of Earth.
The wielders fly toward the exit gate. Unfortunately, the Nephilim gets there first. It tries to force its way out so it can go devour Earth like it wanted.
With the Nephilim blocking the exit gate, the girls’ only way out is through. They need to cut right through the Nephilim’s body if they want to make it out that gate and close it behind them before the monster follows them home like that raccoon I never should’ve given my Twinkie to.
Hamster’s solution to literally everything, everywhere, every situation, all the time.
The wielders link hands once more. Maria UTENA-PULLS A SWORD FROM HER OWN CHEST.
COOL.
Maria doesn’t actually use this shiny new sword, however. Instead, she and Hibiki link hands. The two girls detach pieces of their Gear to form huge gauntlets that cover them and their fellow wielders in protective hands.
What Clasped Hands Can Create!
Hibiki and Maria’s giant gauntlets work both as a weaponized fist and a protective shell for the wielders cupped inside. Hands can harm, but also can protect. A visual representation of the essence of power itself – power can be used to hurt or to help.
The Symphogear wielders understand that duality. They choose to wield their power to help other people, whereas villains like Ver only wield power to hurt other people.
Together, the six girls charge forward, using their massive gauntlet-hand-shell to punch through the Nephilim’s core and out the other side like those hole-binders you used in middle school.
(Shit, do schoolkids even use papers and binders anymore? Or is it all electronic nowadays? Back in my day, having a whiteboard instead of a chalkboard in your classroom meant you were bougie. I am old.)
Who am I kidding? If kids these days aren’t familiar with hole-punchers, they sure as shit haven’t seen Death Becomes Her.
Having punched their way out of the Noise-dimension, the Symphogear wielders make it through the magical gate. They land back on Earth. …Rather worse for wear.
But hey, considering they just hyper-lanced their bodies through the torso of a monster even bigger than the crushing self-doubt that hits at 3 A.M., the fact all six wielders are still breathing is a feat!
Yeah, they gotta close that gate right now, else the Nephilim will simply regenerate its open stomach wound and follow them right back to Earth, and this whole process will repeat. Rad as that sequence was, I don’t want it to happen all over again. Give our heroes a rest. They’ve had a long day.
The wielders are too exhausted from their battle to grab the Staff and close the Noise-gate. Who’ll come to the rescue? Genjuurou? Ver with a last-minute change of heart?
MIKU SAVING THE DAY?!
Unexpected, but thoroughly welcome. Hell yeah!!!
Thanks to the submarine’s parachutes (still can’t believe they installed those), the bridge section of the submarine and all the agents inside it landed safely on the beach after being dropped from Frontier.
Miku runs from the landed submarine, all the way across the beach, toward the Staff of Solomon sticking out of the sand. Major kudos, girl. Anyone who’s tried to sprint on sand, in shoes no less, knows how diabolically difficult it is.
Miku grabs the Staff and fucking javelin throws it into the sky toward the Noise-dimension gate.
INCREDIBLE
This is up there for the coolest moment in the entire episode, and that’s saying a shit-ton!
Miku’s saving throw (...literally…) works. The magical gate in the sky closes, sealing behind it the Nephilim and all the Noise. Miku heaves a sigh of relief.
Farewell, Nephilim. Enjoy your eternity imprisoned in the hellish Noise-dimension. The Nephilim will keep endlessly fighting Noise, eating them, being wounded by them, and regenerating, on and on. What a fate!
The Staff of Solomon gets sealed in there, too. It’ll no longer be used to harm human beings. Random Noise attacks will still occur, I’m sure, so our Symphogear wielders will still be needed in this world, but the apocalyptic threat of the Nephilim is solved.
In the lovely sunset glow of the beach, our heroes bask in their victory.
A happy ending. The monsters are defeated, the moon’s orbit is fixed, and Dr. Ver is led away in chains. Our world is saved.
They did it. Through teamwork and the power of yuri, the good guys overcame.
Team Black is sad they lost their mother, shitty parent though she was. Still, they see the honor in her giving her last moments to help correct the moon-orbit and save the world.
Now that the battle’s won, Hibiki tries to return Gungnir’s amulet to Maria.
Maria declines. Diva Kitty-Ears now has Serena’s Symphogear to wield. Besides, Hibiki truly embodies the Striking Spear that Gungnir deserves to be. Maria says Gungnir belongs with Hibiki.
Hibiki is glad at this happy ending.
That wet gurgle you just heard was the unsanded wooden stake plunging into my heart and gushing blood. These callbacks to Season 1 will be the death of me.
To complete the circle, Shirabe passes on the message Finé’s spirit gave her. That someday, all people will be connected, but until then, it’s enough to share in the bonds of love and friendship. That’s worth fighting for.
After the credits, we get a final denouement.
Hibiki, Miku, Tsubasa, and Chris are back at school for a normal day.
Chris is being very shy about the whole “senpai” thing toward Tsubasa. The other girls tease her good-naturedly.
Hibiki gets a bit too cheeky with the teasing, so Chris lays down the law.
Adorable antics. Sorry, Chris. Bluster all you want, you’ll forever be “Chris-chan” in the eyes of Hamster. You two will be gray-haired, wrinkled old dears getting wheeled around the nursing home together, and Hibiki will still call you Chris-chan. Accept it.
Chris and Hibiki roughhouse, much to the exasperation of Tsubasa and Miku. Yeah, Chris may be a confirmed Good Guy now, but her rough edges aren’t going anywhere. Even her teammates aren’t safe.
I love how, in the entirety of the cast, there’s only one person Chris actually makes herself gentle for.
Miku and Tsubasa break up the play-fight.
Look at the difference in poses between these two pairs.
Miku holds Hibiki’s entire forearm and upper arm tight to her body with both hands, pressed intimately against Miku’s chest, with their torsos close together, too.
Hibiki and Miku are relaxed with each other’s bodies, they have been for years, so even a playful restraint like this is a sign of affection and trust.
Miku isn’t violating Hibiki, nor does Hibiki feel violated. These two girls’ “where it’s okay to touch me” chart is fully green for each other.
Tsubasa, in contrast, is very careful to only touch her forearm to Chris’s forearm. Look how the rest of Tsubasa’s body she keeps separate from Chris’s. Unlike Miku, there’s no hands-on-body touching, no entire-arm restraint, and no torso contact.
From Miku to Hibiki, that manner of touching is affectionate, but to Chris it’d definitely feel violating. Tsubasa even turns her upper body away from Chris’s to further indicate she’s being nonthreatening. Tsubasa is restraining Chris in, well, the least restraining way.
I absolutely adore Symphogear’s subtle little character details like this. Though Chris and Tsubasa achieved a new level of intimacy in their friendship with their “senpai” development last episode, Tsubasa recognizes that Chris simply will never be comfortable being touched the way the very-cuddly-couple of Hibiki/Miku are.
Tsubasa doesn’t push that. Tsubasa respects Chris’s boundaries. For Hibiki and Miku, touching is a sign of trust. For Tsubasa and Chris, not touching is a sign of trust. Chris has had too many people restrain her body in bad faith throughout her life. Chris’s Touch Chart is 99% red, even for her friends.
Tsubasa also doesn’t call attention to it and make Chris feel embarrassed at her own boundaries. Nor does Tsubasa expect praise for obeying her friend’s Touch Chart. Tsubasa just… quietly does it. What a gentleman.
Hibiki then embraces Miku happily. She reassures her sunshine that all is well.
IT’S PERFECT, IT’S ALL TOO PERFECT
I CAN’T I JUST CAN’T
PLEASE END THE SEASON BEFORE I COLLAPSE INTO A PUDDLE OF ALEGRÍA TEARS
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Season 2’s finale was ultra-radness on heretofore unseen levels.
After the incalculable SUFFERING this season put me through, we deserved this triumphant, glorious finish. Hell, we needed this triumphant, glorious finish.
Speaking of this season’s many instances of suffering, I note Hibiki clutching her left arm after the battle. The one torn off by the Nephilim earlier this season. I wonder if her arm is truly fully healed, or if it’ll pang Hibiki once in a while, a permanent reminder of that horrible night. I don’t want Hamster to endure more pain, of course, but I do want there to be some lasting impact from an event so drastic as getting maimed in battle, however temporarily.
The ending scene on the beach was lovely. Miku to the rescue! Our non-magical girl showing us she can kick ass like the rest of them.
Miku understands what Ver can’t: You don’t need power to be a hero. You just need courage.
Awesome as it was, this finale wasn’t without cost. So much for the Symphogear wielders’ identities being top secret!
After today’s worldwide broadcast of an epic climax, everyone knows the faces of all the Symphogear wielders.
During the concert duel with Maria, the team worried Tsubasa might not be able to continue her idol career if the public found out she’s a Symphogear wielder. I sincerely hope that’s not so. I want Tsubasa to keep performing publicly. It’s her way of carrying on Kanade’s love, by sharing her songs’ courage to inspire people.
…That said, two of Tsubasa’s three concerts that we’ve seen on-camera resulted in disaster. Not great odds. Maybe it’s best for the general population’s safety that Tsubasa retire from the public eye.
The previous episode gave us most of the big character arc resolutions. This finale episode focused more on epic action scenes. And boy howdy, did it deliver!
“Vitalization”, the girls’ punch attack through the Nephilim’s core, is also the name of Season 2’s OP song, sung by Tsubasa’s voice actor. The same happened in the first season finale, with Durandal’s ultimate attack named after Season 1’s OP.
Will this become a tradition for every season finale? The wielders busting out their winged white Gear, and their victorious Finishing Move being named after the season’s OP song? If so, I have zero complaints. Friggin gnarly.
We’ll have to wait and see how this massive spectacle of a final battle against the Nephilim affects the Symphogear wielders in the long run. On one hand, having their identities publicly revealed to the world could bring massive change to the girls’ lives.
On the other hand, Season 2 has an elephants-to-mice aversion to making plot developments actually stick. So, maybe this public reveal will get brushed under the rug soon into Season 3.
As for what happens next for Nekekur Watches Symphogear? This post was about the finale episode proper. I’ll do a separate post wrapping up Season 2 as a whole. Now that I’ve seen the entire season, I can give my thoughts on it. I have… a lot to say.
Stay tuned for the Season 2 Wrap-Up post. After that, we forge onward into Season 3: GX!
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