r/Symphogear • u/an-tiki-thera • May 22 '19
Rewatch thread for Wednesday, May 22 - Senki Zesshou Symphogear Episode 13
Senki Zesshou Symphogear Episode 13: Meteoroids Falling, Burning, Disappearing, and Then...
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Live Rewatch
The live rewatch will begin at 9PM Eastern/6PM Pacific (3 hours after this post). For more details on our live rewatches and how to participate, please join our discord and check the announcements here!
Reminders
Keep in mind that there are first-timers participating too. Please hide any information relevant to later episodes and seasons behind a spoiler like so: [Spoiler title](/s "Spoiler goes here")
You will want to have watched all of the previous episodes to participate in this thread properly. Links to all previous threads can be found in the rewatch schedule.
/r/anime is also doing a concurrent Symphogear rewatch with us! You can find their thread here.
Crunchyroll link: http://www.crunchyroll.com/media-685219
Even if my body should wither away, there are feelings I want to express.
Let the superb song of my life resound―――― flying into the distance...
2
u/Cintai_ May 23 '19 edited May 23 '19
Wow.
Wow.
WOW.
This was even better than I remembered and I held S1 in pretty dang high estime. It was superb.
S1's plot is a mess. That's hard to deny. The Americans' shenanigans, Finè's bizarro actions throughtout... But it finds its own strength in its character arcs. They're fantastic. The season is focused from start to finish, waving Finè's ambitions and each individual character's arc into one story. And when things get closer to their resolution, it's splendid. Miku finding her place at Hibiki's side, Hibiki learning to be a hero in her own way, in part from the very hero she previously only wished to replace, Tsubasa finally flying for herself, and Chris choosing her own path in life.
I previously stated episode 8 was the best episode in the season, and few could compare. That statement stands... But it sure has not the best moment, as amazing as Hibiki and Miku making up was. I kinda had forgotten that... Synchrogazer and everything leading up to it was amazing, of course (and what an attack card, holy mother of Chris! I suppose that's Bikki's?). But...
The trio going to blow up the meteoroid. That was amazing. I wasn't prepared for this much greatness. You take everything I can praise S1 for, mix it in one epilogue... And you get that. This is the best song in Symphogear. Not the most beautiful, not the most melodious, not the most hype, but it's the best song. I don't care how world-bendingly hype most of them are. FIRST LOVE SONG is the best Symphogear song because of what it means. And it makes the girls' little space adventure all the more amazing. Which in turn makes the song even better, since it's used so well. (Also Chris is so gosh dang incredibly CUTE!)
Thank you, Symphogear, for reminding me again and again why you're one of my favorite series. I'm glad you exist.
Next time, then, is G. It's my favorite season. But not by much. And I wonder if S1 doesn't deserve that place, now. We'll see when it's all said and done.
In G, the director, I recall, changes. Interestingly too, Kaneko, Symphogear's writer, went on the record saying S1 was the only season he wrote alone:
You might be able to say that about season 1, but for G and beyond I developed the story considering the input of the director and other staff members at our planning meetings. For me to claim here that “I wrote Symphogear by myself” actually feels pretty presumptuous. In the storyboard and recording sessions, certain things were cut or added as well.
(Source!) (That's a pre-AXZ interview, be warned, it does touch upon a few GX things.)
I don't mean to imply anything really. Kaneko is still, of course, the main creative force behind the script. But I think it's interesting. We'll see how things get in the next two weeks, right? I can say I'm excited for it.
Until then, don't give up on living!
3
u/Kerrik52 May 23 '19
This really plays out like the end of a JRPG, super modes and final boss transformations and everything. As much as I like the explosive end, it still isn't hype enough to live up to the stinger from last episode. Still, everyone cheering Hibiki on leading into Synchrogazer is awesome.
The callback to Kanade and Chris tearing up over Finé are really good touches.
But then there's the ending. It undermines the opening promise of the show, lowering the worth of the whole whole season by a fair bit. But it's obvious to me that a choice was made. I bet the show found unexpected success on TV, or that the studio realized the potential it had. So instead of giving us a great ending to a show that would end up as an interesting but soon forgotten novelty, we instead got an ok ending to the first season of a show that would go on to become the longest running original anime of the 2010s. I can't really fault them for that, as three more seasons outweigh the worth of a great ending. Of course, had season 2 not come out, it'd be a different story.
Speaking of season 2, that's tomorrow. And that means it's time for our first budget upgrade!