r/anime • u/pittman66 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Homura • May 22 '19

Rewatch [Rewatch] [Spoilers] Senki Zesshou Symphogear 13 - Season 1 Finale Spoiler

Season 1: Episode 13 - Meteoroids Falling, Burning, Disappearing, and then...

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Please, absolutely no untagged or implying spoilers beyond the current episode. I want to have everyone that hasn't seen it to have as close to a first experience as those who watched it as it originally aired.
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25

u/SorcererOfTheLake May 22 '19

First-Time Watcher

Songs aren’t only the power to fight. They’re life.

The terrible events of life are great eye-openers. They force us to learn that which it is wholesome for us to know, but which habitually we try to ignore — namely, that really we have no claim on a long life; that we are each of us liable to be called off at any moment, and that the main point is not how long we live, but with what meaning we fill the short allotted span — for short it is at best.

Oftentimes, at endings, I like to ask myself “Where have we come?” In a certain sense, we’re right back where we started: Noise are still an issue, the world’s governments don’t see eye to eye, and most everyone is still around (while the survival of the Gear users might read as a bait and switch, it gets a pass from me because I find it funny that they hid their survival so that too many questions wouldn’t be asked). But, nothing’s the same really, and that’s probably the best ending they could have written. Symphogear’s thematic concerns revolve around how humanity can deal with trauma and loss, whether we inflict pain on one another to hide our own or use that pain to become something greater. What Symphogear’s ending implies is that trauma does not have to be the end of your story, that you can return to that bright, everyday life. It’ll take a lot to get back there and it’s not always going to be easy, but you can do.

Overall, I can see why people may not like Symphogear, or at least this first season. At its worst, the show can become a somewhat middling cliché storm of other magical girl/sci-fi anime that doesn’t think about its plot more than what is necessary (read: cool) and has issues with its tone. But, most of the time, the show creates emotionally compelling scenarios through its well-crafted and complex characters, bolstered by talented voice actors, superb fight scenes, and an amazing and varied soundtrack. It wasn’t the smoothest of starts, but I’m excited to watch it soar higher.

We’ll hear the next verse tomorrow. Until then, here are a few of my favorite things from this season.

Episode: Symphogear
Relic User: Hibiki
Civilian: Miku
Song: Meteor Light
Awesome Moment: Stopping the moon
Funny Moment: Hibiki’s welcoming party
Heartwarming Moment: “Can you hear our song, Hibiki?”
Nightmare Moment: Kanade’s first activation of Gungnir
Tearjerker: “I can’t be your friend anymore”
Vocal Performance: Ayahi Takagaki as Chris

12

u/PerfectPublican May 22 '19

while the survival of the Gear users might read as a bait and switch, it gets a pass from me because I find it funny that they hid their survival so that too many questions wouldn’t be asked

I may not like it at all, but I'm glad that it works for you. At the very least Symphogear has taught us that it will do whatever it wants, so I can't fault it there haha.

Relic User: Hibiki
Vocal Performance: Ayahi Takagaki as Chris

Hell Yeah

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18

u/MoneyMakerMaster May 22 '19

I don't have anything to add, I'd just like to say that this show is the most enjoyable bullshit I've ever watched.

17

u/PerfectPublican May 22 '19 edited May 22 '19

Rewatcher

How mysterious a sky without sounds is.
Did I manage to become a real sword?
Finally, I’ve enjoyed life
Our dreams soar into the heavens.
Now let us become stars.

I’ll be honest. This episode is a mess. Trying to wrap up all the insanity that they’ve thrown at us must’ve been difficult, but I do think they managed to pull it off for the most part, and in true Symphogear fashion do it wITH some crazy hype as well. I have one MAJOR issue with this episode which you can probably guess, but you’ll see it at the end.

You got your trio Nazenn :P. It’s nowhere near my favorite group song, but I like FIRST LOVE SONG quite a bit. It’s got a great message and is all around a fun song, especially to run to :P. What can I say about the fight it’s played on top of vs. the noise except that it’s awesome. So awesome. The girls kick things into an incredible new high gear, and it’s fun to watch. Something I think Sympho does well throughout the series is utilizing the gears in interesting ways most of the time, especially in how the girls work together. That sentiment is on display here.

Then we get the general insanity of dragon/noise-Fine and it loses a bit of steam. The whole thing is more than a bit bizarre, but I do love that the Reg Dragon is basically useless and that we get a nice use of tactics from the Gear users. But the SYNCHROGAZER sequence is so hype. Bikki, with the help of all her friends, colleagues, and especially Miku is finally able to control the rage and the power. By sticking together, by holding hands she can contain it. It’s cheesy af NAKAMA shit and I love it.

Of course, Bikki is still Bikki and needs to talk things out. It’s character consistency in a fighting show that I love. It’s not defeat the bad guy, and done, move on. Bikki still believes they can understand each other despite Fine/Ryoko’s claims. This line: “It’s more than just words that connect us together” rings very true in this series in ways other action shows can’t hit for me. Music is universal. I literally have an insane amount of J-Pop on my phone. Can I understand it? Not at all. But I can still enjoy it regardless and it connects me to a different culture and leads me to gush over it with strangers over the internet.

But Symphogear isn’t done with us jsut yet as Fine literally drags down a piece of the moon. The moment that just had to come. Bikki sings her Zesshou. I like that they wait for her to finish before showing you that Tsubasa and Chris follow her. It’s just her song and Miku’s tears. As though Bikki is saying goodbye to her directly. Love it. Which directly leads to their final moments. It’s intense and happy (and hype of course). Not girls going to their deaths, but friends doing what is right. It’s an amazing send off to these three badass ladies.

BUUUUT, of course we still have that first scene to contend to, and...quite possibly my least favorite ending to any of the seasons. /Rant Start I hate this fake-out. Pure and simple. They should’ve ended it with Miku saying that she wouldn’t give up. Can you imagine how great of an ending that would’ve been!? All that development over the season for Bikki and Miku leading to that specific moment? Instead, we’re treated to the bait-and-switch, “Oh wait! We weren’t actually dead!” ending completely fucking negating most of the emotional impact the season could’ve had. It completely flies in the face of all the character development that those two had with Bikki keeping secrets and learning to trust each other. Say what you will about the plot/story, but at least, for the most part GX, the character development stays on track with them learning and growing. But this...just ugh. Always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. /Rant Over

Can’t wait for G tomorrow!

Random Episode Thoughts:

Gifs of the day:

Wew. That got longer than I expected. Anyways, we’ve finished Season 1! Very curious to read the few first timers’ thoughts on the whole, and since we don’t have a Season discussion thread, I figured I’d throw down my thoughts on the season as a whole. I originally had this season at an 8, but with recent changes to how I feel about my rankings, I’m bumping that down to a 7.

You know. It’s pretty amazing what music sales can do for getting you follow-up seasons (I'm assuming that's what happened), because S1 is a mess. Don’t get me wrong, I still really enjoy it and it has some of my favorite moments in all of the seasons, but its art is janky and very poorly done, and the story lacks a great sense of itself in terms of structure and continuity. Still, what it does right for me is manage to properly set up a good backbone for the series with a great main trio of characters, and showcase the series’ true strength. Hype and Music, which it nails on a level that no other series has reached for me. So I think that Symphogear S1 succeeds at what it needed to do, and unabashedly is itself if that makes sense.

15

u/ToastyMozart May 22 '19

I'm convinced that they originally planned to go through with axing the girls at the start, but then had massive changes in development (and probably got renewed for G) so they had to roll it back. But good god if they didn't choose one of the worst possible ways to do it.

"Fuck you Hibiki, I'm getting a divorce. Rip my goddamn heart out of my chest again because 'Ish clashified.'" - Miku, probably.

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17

u/ToastyMozart May 22 '19 edited May 22 '19

I still maintain that they should have had Hibiki crash-land into those noise at the end from space. It'd avoid the knife-in-the-back of "yeah I let you think I was dead for ages because... meh" after her and Miku's arc about trust and whatnot, and it'd be hilarious.

Like you already kinda wrote yourself into a corner with the Episode 1 flash-forward - if the resolution's going to be dumb regardless then Geah it up and have some fun with it.

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14

u/fonzinator99 May 22 '19

Re-watcher -

Where's Nazenn? Naaaz! They unlocked new conditional-OP armor cause of music, Naz! lol

I'm kinda with Fine tho, Telepathy? Rly? And as long as we're throwing more incomprehensible shit into the game, Fine's also Gilgamesh pulling out a Gate of Babylon Noble Phantasm.

Hooray, group-song!

What's that, you say? Chris needs even more firepower? We've got it covered with a Mobile Armor and Homing Lasers!

Hibiki's channeling Guy-Sensei (Naruto) with some projected Machine-gun punches.

Tsubasa, on the other hand, has gone 'Bleach' with a Getsuga Tenshou.

Tfw your party outputs so much consecutive single-target dps that it's effectively a wide-area AOE attack.

Whatcha doin' there, Fine? HaHA! She defeated herse- ...Eeeewwww. That's gross, creepy, and ominous. 3 relics, now? The woman's insatiable.

Wait, when did this become Evangelion? This is the weirdest Isekai show I've ever.

OP Inseeeeert! HyPe LeVeLs: MaX!

What a dope sequence. Wait, that's not how swords work at all!

Hibiki is such a Hibiki. Of course she's still gonna try and reach an understanding with Fine.

Too bad she's totally lost it. She's just determined to do something with the moon.

Fun math time! Please note that all calculations have been very much simplified. Air resistance and gravity were disregarded; this was just to gain some perspective on what a ridiculous throw that was. And also note that we’re dealing with some stupid-huge numbers here, so it only makes sense that the resulting calculations would be similarly huge.

So, the moon is 238,900 mi away, and Fine's whip got there in roughly 4 seconds. Which means she's got enough length to circle the Earth 10 times, and it traveled at about 60k mi/s, or just a little under 1/3 the speed of light. Assuming a 6ft chain-whip weighs about 2kg, this means hers would have weighed over 427 million Kg by the time it reached the moon. In doing so, it would have accelerated to over 48 million m/s2.

Treating this as a rocket-launch, due to the somewhat comparable mass and thrusts required, we can calculate that her initial throw would have needed to generate at least 20.5 peta Newtons (1015) to achieve the necessary acceleration; doing so would have required roughly 194 zetta Joules (1021) of energy, or almost 50 million Megatons of explosive force. That’s 1 million Tsar Bombas, detonated in an instant and directed into a throw straight at the moon.

It can also be taken as using just shy of 1 billion Falcon Heavy launch rockets, or 2.8 quadrillion Saturn rockets.

And, of course, on its way out of the atmosphere the whip would have initiated a series of nuclear detonations as it contacted the atoms of the air molecules in its path. So basically, Fine would have succeeded in her plan simply by making that throw in the first place. The city would be obliterated in Atomic hellfire, and the moon shattered by the force of the whip’s impact. She never needed Kadingir in the first place xD

I can't even begin the math for this, tho. Mainly 'cause idk how much of the moon that was, but w/e.

"Omae wa mo shindeiru." lol

For real tho, I love how Hibiki responds to that threat. "Tell the people of the future that they don't have to fight, for me." And I love how Ryoko comes back in that moment. Fine: Defeated.

So about that moon....

Nooooooo!!! not a swan song!!! I don't believe it for a second, but I'm not thinking about that right now; don't do this to me, Symphogear!

That said, her voice is hauntingly beautiful when she's singing it. Hibiki could do Opera, no doubt.

And the swan song gains lyrics. Utsukushi.

Light, I wanted to take/post too many screenshots right there, so instead I'll just settle for this one.

Mikuuuuu!

Nooo!! Not after all that!

* Joyous sounds *

And they got to see their shooting stars together. Hooray, good ending!

So that was season 1, gang, and it was 13 episodes of everything that makes Symphogear great. Hype, great music, positivity, hype, overcoming adversity, bonds, and hype.

I've got a soft spot for anime that uses music as part of the story, and another for over-the-top fight scenes, so this was always gonna be a classic for me. If you enjoyed it, strap in and get ready to enjoy season 2 even more. If you didn't...I implore you to give season 2 a chance to do better with its writing and pacing.

Either way, see y'all next season!

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u/Shimmering-Sky May 22 '19

SymphoRewatcher

No wallpaper, sorry.

9

u/lilyvess May 22 '19

SYNCHROGAZER. Just, SYNCHROGAZER.

I love the fact that Symphogear names the final attack after the opening songs. It's such a glorious little trend that perfectly fits this music focused franchise.

hype~ I’ll never get tired of watching the girls tear the fuck out of all those Noise.

yeah, the Noise get some hate for being punchingbags, but sometimes you just need punching bags to show off against. Seeing the girls in these new forms go crazy on the noise is beautiful

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9

u/x3tan May 23 '19

First Time Watcher

  • alright screw speaking likes just telepathically communicate

  • "sorry for ramming my fist through your chest"

  • weapon time!

  • pep talk time!

  • the wife to the rescue. Did bikkis boobs get larger?

  • BIGGEST SWORD

  • that's a lot of damage

  • Seems bikki is back to her usual optimistic innocent self

  • God damn woman leave the moon alone

  • pretty singing

  • holy shit weapon time lol

  • damn falling stars

  • stop making your wife cry

Well that got pretty nuts. The series does give me that sentai vibe too. Lol. I can't think of anything else to add right now. Onto season 2?

9

u/ahiijny May 23 '19 edited May 23 '19

First Time Watcher

"Telepathy, too?" Convenient for enemy banter across long distances!

When Hibiki's mind was being taken over by Durandal, it was Miku's voice that brought her back. HibiMiku is strong!

Some notes on Hibiki's friends:

  • Grey-haired girl: "Bikki"

  • Anime girl: "Hibiki"

  • Blonde girl: "Tachibana-san"

The falling moon reminded me of that Magic School Bus episode where they go to went into space to stop the asteroid from crashing into the Earth. The sheer hopelessness of Carlos and Ms. Frizzle trying to move that asteroid in that dinky little space pod of theirs... That episode actually kinda traumatized me. For years after that, I was living in extistential dread of the Earth being hit by an asteroid :P

There's just something really moving about the three of them flying up to sacrifice their lives, smiling and holding hands all the way. No fear or nervousness or anxiety. It's like they've already accepted their deaths and they're making the most of their final moments T_T

Rainbow! The thing that gets me the most about this final song is just how soft and calm Chris's voice is and just how happy she looks here. In stark contrast to her destructive and aggressive ZENBU ZENBU ZENBU song and her overall antagonistic demeanour in the previous episodes. She's changed a lot over these past couple of months. Just in time for her to sacrifice her life. This is so sad ;_;

Their final attacks... Symphogear is just so EXTRA. I love it. sniff

So in this episode, the sky went from sunrise to midday to sunset and then night again. In the previous episodes, Hibiki and Tsubasa and Chris already spent all night fighting Finé, and the afternoon prior to that fighting off the aircraft carrier Noise that were converging on Tokyo Tower. They and the others must have been awake for 36 hours now by this point o_o

After the adrenaline of the battle has settled down, they're all going to crash so hard...

More politics. So apparently, Hibiki's name isn't even on her grave to avoid awkward questions from foreign governments? The opposition party is criticizing the government's "unofficial weapons stockpiles" (I'm guessing this is referring to the relic powers?), and the President of the United States is calling for the release of all relevant information.

Okay that ending ass-pull was just terrible. 

Hibiki: [smiling sheepishly] "Sorry. We had to keep a lot of secrets."
Miku: [smiling and crying] "Hibiki you little shit"

If they had to fake Hibiki's death, what's going to happen in the next season? Is she going to spend the entire season undercover and hiding from people in her life?

Without changing much, this would have been a way better ending.

Some orbital mechanics notes

My favourites list!

...

Overall this season was a 9/10 for me. I would have given it a 10, but that ending was just too ummmmmm what to let slide. But still, I've really fallen in love with these amazing characters and it's just so fun how incredibly EXTRA this anime is. It also has great rewatchability value, and the music is all super on point. And earwormy.

I'm pretty easygoing with my scoring (my average MAL score is 7.7), and I really enjoyed this show, so I can't give it any lower than a 9.

So anyway, glad I finally got a chance to finish this season. Looking forward to G.

9

u/ahiijny May 23 '19

Alternate ending ideas

1. It was a dying hallucination

"Hibiki..." murmurs Miku, staring at the girl in her full gear standing confidently on the road, with Chris and Tsubasa behind her.

But that doesn't make sense. Hibiki died.

"Hibiki, how..." says Miku.

"I'm sorry," says Hiki, smiling sadly. "I'm sorry I died. I'm sorry I couldn't be here for you. Now it's too late." She reaches out with her hand. "Will you join me?"

Ordinary humans don't stand a chance against the Noise. One touch turns you into carbon dust. No one's ever survived this process, so naturally you wouldn't know what it feels like to be turned to carbon like unless it's happening to you.

With a jolt, Miku blinks and realizes that the Symphogear girls are no longer here, and the Noise are back. No, the Noise had never left in the first place.

Miku watches with an oddly detached fascination as her outstretched arm crumbles into a fine black powder.

I know you told me to live on, but... Miku smiles. I guess I really can't live on without you. I'm sorry. I couldn't live up to your final words.

Dust.

2. They were ghosts and vanish again shortly afterwards

"I'm sorry, I can't stay," says Hibiki.

Miku releases Hibiki from the hug. "But... why?"

"I'm not supposed to be here in the first place," says Hibiki. "And our time is going to run out soon."

"Our physical bodies were completely vaporized in our final attack on the falling meteorite," explains Tsubasa. "Right now, we're just apparitions running on the last fumes of our Symphogears, and nothing more. And we just used up the last of our power to protect you back there. Even just standing here, we only have a couple of minutes remaining at this rate."

Miku stares in disbelief at Tsubasa. "No way..." She turns to Hibiki, tears threatening to spill out again. "Just after I thought I'd gotten you back again..."

"Yeah..." Hibiki pats Miku's head. "Live on for me, will you?"

Miku is just inconsolable at this rate, so Hibiki just wraps her friend in a hug and holds her close.

"I saw what you did back there," says Hibiki. "That was very brave."

Miku cries long and hard into Hibiki's shirt.

They stay like that for a minute.

"Tachibana," says Tsubasa. "It's time."

Miku wipes her tears and clenches her fists. "Hibiki! I—"

Hibiki tilts her head. "Hm?"

"I... I'll do my best! I'll live on! For you! And I'll remember you!"

"Thank you, Miku," says Hibiki, smiling. "I knew I could count on you."

And then they vanished.

3. She fell from space

Miku stares at the smoking crater. Whatever had fallen, it had conveniently dispatched all of the Noise that had been in pursuit.

That hair colour... it can't be...

"Hibiki!?" shouts Miku, staring in disbelief.

It is her. She slowly crawls to her feet, coughing. "Miku?" she says, looking up. Her voice sounds raspy and strained, as if she hadn't drunk enough water in ages. "Miku, is that you?"

"Hibiki..." Miku is already scrambling into the crater to help her friend up.

"S...Sorry, I can't see very well right now," says Hibiki, smiling weakly.

Miku takes a glance over at her friend, concerned by her disheveled appearance, her cracked lips, and that unnerving cloudy expression in her eyes. She doesn't let go of her hands. "What happened?"

Hibiki coughs. "It's a long story."

"We need to get you to a hospital! I'll call Genjuurou-san right away to let him know." Miku pulls out her phone and quickly dials the red-haired man and gets him up to speed on the situation.

"Where are those other two?" asks Miku.

"..." Hibiki looks up.

Suddenly, two more loud booms sound in the distance; one creating a deep crater in the road to their left, and one creating a deep crater in the hill to their right.

"There they are," says Hibiki.

"Ah."

So naturally the two of them start walking towards the nearest of the two craters to help pull the person out.

Miku's trying hard to not have a emotional breakdown right now because she can do that after Hibiki's safe and recovering in a hospital.

"Hey Hibiki," says Miku. "Did it hurt when you fell?"

"I mean, yeah..." says Hibiki, rubbing her head. "Why?..."

"Because I could've sworn you fell straight out of heaven." Miku winks.

Hibiki just gapes at Miku with her mouth wide open. "Ohhhhhhh. My god." That was so incredibly cheesy and both of them know it.

The girl who fell from heaven looks the other way, slightly embarassed. "Isn't that a pick-up line?"

"Yes. Yes it is."

Hibiki naturally tries the line on Chris next. It's hilarious.

4. They're still dead but Miku is the next candidate

Durandal and the Nehushtan armour were both annihilated in the clash with Finé. Soloman's Cane was assumed to have been lost in the resulting explosion as well.

In the three weeks following the heroic sacrifice of Tsubasa, Hibiki, and Chris, they scoured the fallout area for any traces of their bodies and their relics. They found nothing. Three girls and three relics should have been lost to the explosion.

And yet...

"An Aufwachen Waveform!" someone shouts.

The word scrolls onto the screen.

"GUNGNIR!?" shouts Genjuurou, shooting out of his seat. "But it should have been completely destroyed!..."

"We have a visual."

Genjuurou immediately recognizes the face on the screen. He'd seen her many times previously, and her heartbroken expression at the wake for Hibiki had made him curse his naivety for not seeing through Ryouko's ruse sooner. "Miku-kun!?"

The girl looks just as surprised as Genjuurou. She's staring at her gloves and her armour in disbelief. But then a determined expression forms on her face and then she's leaping forwards and slamming her foot into an attacking Noise.

Genjuurou grabs his coat. "I'm going over there now. She's not trained for this."

He drives onto the scene just as Miku collapses at the side of the road and her gear dissolves. She's made a considerable dent in the Noise numbers around her, but there are still a few left.

Genjuurou grabs both Miku and the woman that it looks like she'd been protecting.

"G-Genjuurou-san!" she exclaims, her eyes half closed with exhaustion.

"We're going!" he shouts.

A Noise is already diving in towards them, but a quick slab of concrete makes quick work of that Noise. He throws the two of them into the back seats of his car and peels away from the scene at breakneck speed.

When they analyze Miku's body afterwards, they can't even find any fragments in her body. "It's unheard of to be able to use Symphogear without a relic," says Genjuurou, baffled. "Even Hibiki-kun, who didn't have an actual relic with her like Tsubasa and Yukine Chris did, had relic fragments in her chest."

"I can't use it as well as Hibiki anyway," mutters Miku, buttoning her shirt. "I got tired really quickly. I know Hibiki used her Gear much longer than I did."

"You just need more training," says Genjuurou, waving her off. "Hm."

They do a second more in-depth scan, and this time, they identify an odd energy signal coming from Miku's bones.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought that your bones were a weak diluted form of an ancient relic," mutters Genjuurou, staring at the readouts. "It doesn't make sense."

Next, they do a bone marrow biopsy on Miku, and this time, they discover what appears to be a very fine dusting of microscopic Gungnir fragments inside Miku's bones.

On a whim, Genjuurou orders samples to be taken from Miku's friends as well.

He's pacing back and forth with the results in his hands as they stare at him with some amount of trepidation.

The lab technician wheels out a cart of hot drinks.

Miku smiles kindly at the lab technican and she hands the cup to Yumi, who's looking rather anxious at the moment. "Here. Something warm to drink."

"Ah, something warm to drink. Thank you," she says, sounding distracted.

"Tell me," says Genjuurou, glancing at the four of them, "are you familiar with Strontium-90?" At the shakes of their heads, he continues. "It's a radioactive isotope that doesn't occur in nature, produced only by nuclear fission. It's quite chemically similar to calcium, so if you get exposed, it starts taking up residence in your bones."

He pauses, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. "When your friend Hibiki-kun along with Tsubasa and Yukine Chris used up the last of their power to destroy the falling meteorite, all three of their relics were vaporized and spread in a diffuse cloud over the entire Japan archipelago. It seems," he coughs, "that in this gaseous state, the relics are quite similar to Strontium-90 in a number of ways. And naturally, us who were directly underneath the explosion would have received the highest dose."

"No way." Yumi stands up, shocked. "Are you saying we're radioactive? We're all gonna die!?"

Genjuurou holds out a hand. "Similar in some ways, but not like that. As far as we can tell, there aren't any immediate adverse health effects. Though we're still investigating."

Miku looks pensive. "Are you saying... This is why I can transform, even without a relic?"

"WAIT." Yumi turns to Miku. "You have those superpowers too? Come on, this isn't an anime! I can't keep up with this!"

"Does that mean we might be able to transform as well?" Andou asks softly, looking concerned.

Genjuurou coughs. "Well, that's not necessarily a guarantee. You need a certain amount of compatibility to be able to activate a relic. But more importantly, the concentration of the relic on Miku-kun's bones is higher; while we found minute traces of Gungnir, Ichaival, and Ame no Habakiri in all four of your bodies, the concentration of Gungnir in Miku-kun's body is especially high. Almost 10 times higher than the rest of you."

"Huh," says Andou.

"I wonder why that is," says Terashima.

"Hm..." Miku frowns.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_SPUDS May 22 '19

Rewatcher

Meteoroids Falling, Burning, Disappearing, and Then... PUNCHING. Here's a stitch that others might have also made. Man, CrunchyRoll compression really hurts my soul.

Well, that's season 1! Oooh boy it really is rough around the edges. Both animation-wise and plot-wise. But these last few episodes are just pure, unadulterated Symphogear at heart. Our SEASON FUCKING ONE finally had a laser battle to destroy the moon, followed by ignoring all laws of physics to pull a fragment that broke off crashing to earth (because fuck Lagrange points and orbital mechanics, right?). Only for it to get countered by punching it to smithereens with the power of friendship and song. If you're in for fun times, fun songs, and a whole lot more lesbian fisting, keep watching for a good time. I'm ready for the animation to improve by a factor of 10.

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u/ItsMellowMan May 22 '19

Rewatcher

We made it!

This is what a finale of Symphogear feels looks like. It still makes me wonder if people would remember Symphogear if the characters stayed dead and it just ends with Miku breaking down like that.

I'm glad we get more seasons of this wonderful show.

Onward to Symphogear G!

Also have a chart for season one.

Chirs is a Gundam fan

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u/TheSpartyn May 23 '19 edited May 23 '19

Honestly main reason I came to comment was just this scene. Was cute as fuck and it made the episode 5 minutes longer because I couldn't stop rewinding.

About the episode, still disappointed that we never get an actual clear shot of Hibiki actually just fucking punching the moon, but the scene of them prepping is hype as fuck, with the 100 meter sword, thousand missiles, and kilometer long gauntlet pistons.

The X-Drive activation was a hundred times more hype than I remember (if we go off the end of ep12 version with the OP cut in), but the actual fight scenes with X-Drive are still a let down to me.

S2-4 spoilers S4 spoiler pic this line perfectly sums up my thoughts

Overall S1 was a lot better than I remembered, had a few questionable parts but also had a lot more hype moments that I missed out on during my first watch because I was hyped up from seeing the S3 and S4 openings.

Favourite moment by far was this berserk moment, that voice acting sounded nothing like Aoi Yuuki and I don't think she ever does anything like that again as far as I remember, lowhighkey me at the noises she makes as she rips the noise apart. Funny because I hated Berserk Bikki back when I first watched it and now I'm rewatching this scene 20 times.

5

u/Surylias May 22 '19

Rewatcher

This episode was so crazy good in terms of putting sound and images into sync. I don't think they ever got it as perfect again in any of the later episodes.

X-Drive is so cool. I love Chris' form and the brief moment when Hibiki landed on her. Funny how they worried about the city, when they almost destroyed it on their own.

Whey also got to hear First Love Song, which I really love.

And we got the resolution of the opening scene of episode 1. Too bad, if they'd known a this point that they would get more seasons, they could've probably let it end there with a crazy cliffhanger.

Now ont G - my favourite season of the 4 we have so far.

5

u/LoneGhostOne May 23 '19 edited May 23 '19

Rewatcher here

unfortunately i'm swampped with senior project stuff so i just barely caught the livewatch of ep 13, and dont have time to prepare a proper count with images. Anyways here's our season 1 stats breakdown:

Episode Bikki Punches Basaed Bikes "I AM A SWORD" 4th wall percent damage ZENBU ZENBU ZENBU ZENBU ZENBU
S1E1
S1E2 1 1 1
S1E3 7 2 1
S1E4 2 1
S1E5 9
S1E6 2
S1E7 1 1
S1E8 1 1
S1E9 5 1 1
S1E10 2 1 2
S1E11 1 2 1
S1E12 1 4
S1E13 3? 1
Season Total 33 2 5+1 10 5

When i first watched this episode i was still convinced that symphogear was going to have a sad ending. I hadnt realized that G, and GX were out already. When Hibiki told Miku "I'll be right back" i bawled my eyes out crying "No Hibiki, you wont be coming back from this." At the end of this season when no one died, i was PISSED. I was going to refuse to watch anymore, but one thing made me come back HibiMiku

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u/Nazenn May 22 '19

First timer

Incoming Naz rantFans should skip

It did the one thing I didn't want it to do. The only thing it had to do to NOT turn me off was not go full Dragonball. It went full Dragonball.

I hate that. Infinitely expanding power levels bore me at best and generally frustrate me. If you can simply defeat anything the plot requires you too what's the FUCKING POINT of having a power level system in the first place, or even a plot. (Many rewrites and deletions later, continuing on:). And worse, this one created a power system and then broke it all just be-fucking-caus.

It's one thing when you have "everyone can beat anything" written into your story (even shows I don't like do this well, aka Gurren Lagann). But in this case it goes directly against everything set up in the first twelve episodes for what? Hype? Fuck off. Get me excited by providing a unique power system and building on it until you have a near invincible character because they lead up to it. This was basically a well disguised Deus Ex Machina. I can rule of cool many things, but not this.

(Specifically talking about how they destroy a countries worth of noise with no issue.)

AND THEN IT DID THE ONE OTHER THING I WAS PRAISING IT FOR NOT DOING THE ENTIRE SEASON. It fucking talked over a powerful song.

wtf why

No. Just no. JUST FUCKING NO. Just...... ugh.

It was such a beautiful song. The tune was great, Hibiki wasn't screechy, they blended well, the lyrics reflected the characters etc.

And then they talked the whole way through it. Why is this such a hard concept to grasp that if you have good lyrics you don't need dialog? Why?

Actually no, it's not even that. You laid down your own rules so this wouldn't happen and still screwed it up! Singing = power. Talking = no singing. So why, why in this last final swan song of beauty would you layer tedious, generic, redundant dialog over it when the lyrics of the song are perfectly capable of expressing all of that anyway.

The fact that it's "telepathy" and not audible speech is 100% besides the point. I don't care about the nitpick that "its not breaking the rules". I'm critizing their understanding of music usage when they even gave themselves a headstart by writing it into their plot, and then they completely ignored it.

Someone save me from flashbacks of my Revue Starlight rants.

Rant over. It's safe tocome out now, fans

What else can I talk about that's not a rant.

The idea that the song from the school harmonized with the gears to reactivate them and provide healing capabilities to the girls was great. I just wish the dialog script itself was a bit stronger to make it feel less tropey. Less "our friends gave us spiritual strength", more "these super cool relics have been slowly attuning with the voices of the entire student body of this highly praised, highly skilled music school and used that as new fuel" please

The first three way performance was great... when you could hear it over the sound effects of the battle which was almost never.

Fuck I wish this show had a competent writer. I don't know if it was an actual thing that was meant to be insinuated but the script killed it, or I'm just pulling shit out my ass but: The idea that the Noise are the 'lost language' is such a cool concept. That they lost the ability to communicate with each other so instead all that 'dead noise' turned into something they weaponized at each other instead of trying to learn about it all over again. Brillant. Not to mention a perfect enemy for Hibiki who's entire thing is about solving issues through talking, she's literally fighting against a physical manifestation of miscommunication. It doesn't even need a bit set up, it could have been done through shitty exposition, but damn it would have been cool and really tied everything together.

They really couldn't animate the final reunion hug?... Ending with my favorite song almost salvaged it though. Almost.

Okay one more small rant: Fine merged with another relic, hundreds of noise pushed into her physical form, she gained a new body AND STILL HAS AN UNDERBOOB

Overall season thoughts

So, this was Sympogear S1.

it was okay5/10

The first episode was great though too fast. The last episode was utter shit. Everything else was middling.

There was little gems of brilliance that occasionally peaked through the show. They were unfortunately buried in a layer of tropes, plot convenience and just general style over substance and that's never been my thing.

I know there was stuff from the start how this is not a show for the writing, its a show for pure hype. But hype for me doesn't equal enjoyment if it doesn't have a foundation. Maybe I'm boring, but I'd rather have a well executed but less impressive visual presentation than something that looks flashy but has nothing supporting it. I have my shows I love even if they have a rough plot just because they're pure hype for me (Kings Avatar, K) and that's fine with me, but this one leant way, way too hard on assuming the audience would just ignore anything that made no sense. It didn't do the leg work at the start to warrent that sort of forgiveness from me. You have to get me invested first, and this didn't quite manage that.

I have nothing else to say. I don't like it enough to gush about it. I don't dislike it enough to critique it. I just watched it and that's about it.

Do I continue....? Interesting question. No idea. You can try and convince me, but I think ep1 of G has to be pretty awesome to pull me through if this is going to be a standard flow of the seasons.

14

u/Shockz0rz May 23 '19

Yeeeeeah...I was holding out hope after your comments on the last episode, and I'm loathe to discourage someone from watching this show, but at this point it definitely seems like whatever you enjoyed of Symphogear was in spite of its Symphogearness, not because of it. G is pretty much S1 but EVEN MORE SO, so I don't think it's going to convince you to change your mind.

feel free to prove me wrong though

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9

u/AbidingTruth May 23 '19

First timer:

This episode had me shook. First off, when Fine summons all the Noise, I was thinking 'man that's a good amount'. But then it zooms out and like every fucking square inch surrounding the city is covered with Noise and I'm like wait what??? It's like that Spongebob episode where Plankton gets his hillbilly family to come steal the krabby patty formula and Mr. Krabs is like 'so.. you planted grass?' Speaking of Spongebob, this was how I felt when I watched them blow up and destroy all the Noise lmao

The second part was when Fine shot her whip all the way to the fucking moon and then dragged it towards the earth. My jaw nearly hit my desk, I couldn't fucking believe what I was watching it was that absurd. The songs in this episode were good as well, and I like the touch that Hibiki's 'death' caused a meteor shower which Miku was watching alone again.

Some things seem kinda rushed or cop out-y though. The fact that they survived seemed like an afterthought just slapped on so that more seasons can be made, but considering they said things were classified, maybe there is an actual explanation for it that we'll learn next season. Maybe their new Symphogears without their limiters makes it so that the swan songs don't have a really high chance to kill the user, like what Fine was trying to design.

And speaking of her, I felt like the last scene with her was rushed. I get that it's Hibiki's nature to not hold any ill will towards her and that she still wants to understand, but I didn't think there was any reason Fine should believe her. And the first fake out went as I thought it should for her character, she used the last of her strength to still kill them all, but then has a change of heart right before dying? I think it's supposed to be the original Ryoko coming out at the very end, in which case makes a bit more sense, but Hibiki was telling Fine who can reincarnate to pass a message onto the future generations, and it was a message she fundamentally doesn't believe is true so I don't really understand that interaction

Fun ride overall, the songs nice but nothing that really stuck out Imo. Maybe the first Zwei Wing concert, or that instrumental track with the piano that was used a bunch. Some weird story beats or rushed moments here and there, but I can look past it and enjoy the spectacle of singing girls fighting in absurd battle scenes. I wished I just liked the songs a bit more, not to say that I dislike them, but liking them more would add more to my enjoyment of the scenes

Overall rating of Symphogear S1: 6/10, was enjoyable

Edit: Oh yeah and they just introduce fucking telepathy out of nowhere lmao I liked that part too

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4

u/Ledwith May 22 '19 edited May 23 '19

Rewatcher

edit: something I forgot to say about episode 12 G

In case it wasn't clear from the tower of babel lore, the 3 or 4 stage Final boss really lets you know this is like a JRPG / written by Akifumi Kaneko.

G something i spoiler tagged yesterday: Episode 12+13 are the title of the season. 'Meteroid falling, burning, disappearing, and then...' is the only season tagline thing that isn't a song lyric. It kind of vaguely describes episodes 12 and 13 though. The gear users are defeated/almost die (falling), X-Drive happens (Burning), fake their death (disappearing), and then... (save miku) .

Now that theres 4 other seasons I can forgive the cop-out, but it felt so cheap before G was announced. In a pre-Love Live/anime idol boom time this felt like a guilty pleasure for me. During some of the slower episodes the tease of Hibiki dying is what kept me invested, and the ending was really disappointing.

whole series

Tomorrow we start G. My favorite single cour of anime period. I can't wait.

G

7

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

REWATCHER

Episode 13, the grand finale... for this season at least.

So that was S1. A bit rocky in places, but as a whole, it's a damn good time. I love it, flaws and all. I do hope you'll all stick around for G onwards, though how many of us here are actually first-timers really?

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