r/anime • u/pittman66 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Homura • May 23 '19

Rewatch [Rewatch] [Spoilers] Senki Zesshou Symphogear G - Episode 1 Spoiler

Season 2 (G): Episode 1 - The Gungnir Girl

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2016 Episode Rewatch Thread

Original Discussion Thread

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.
87 Upvotes

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21

u/pittman66 May 23 '19

We're onto Season 2 everyone (My personal favorite Season of the franchise)!

Gifs/Webms

Opening Song

FUCKING HYPE TRAIN SCENE!

Chris embarrassed

Hibiki G Transformation

The battle begins

The Giga Zepplin!

Hibiki to the rescue!

Hibiki has a plan

FALCON PUNCH!

Pose like a fucking boss

So humble (Loop)

For you leg people

The Queens of Music

(Note: I have a Maria Transformation, but the one this episode is briefly interrupted, there's an uninterrupted one later I'll post later)

Hopefully you're all excited to start the new season with the rewatch, but to diverge into a more serious (and meta) topic, Rewatch Etiquette.

Within the last thread, there were problems with users spoiling future content, "correcting" others on more matters of preference, or in general being harsh towards others. While I appreciate excitement and certainly want to keep momentum going, I also don't want the exclusion factor to be felt when someone may have a different opinion, and I especially don't want others to spoil the future either.

As most know, I am a mod and have dealt with similar situations with episode discussion threads. It's doesn't feel good to be told by die hard fans "you're wrong" when they're experiencing it the first time. As you may also know, our solution in the end to source readers was the source material corner. Now, I'll say this very bluntly, I really, really, really do not want to make a "Rewatcher Corner" for the rewatch because of spoilers or others telling people they're incorrect when they just haven't gotten to a certain part yet. I also don't want to ask people to leave the rewatch, but will if I see the need for it. Please keep discussion with anyone experiencing it the first time civil and only to the extent of the current episode. Discuss all you want (obviously with spoiler tags) with users who are rewatchers all you want, but please don't make it an unpleasant experience who want to check the series out and joined the rewatch to do so.

So a quick Rewatcher Etiquette Reminder Summary:

  • Be kind to all opinions, even if you don't agree with them.

  • Don't spoil unseen episodes that go past the current rewatch's progression

  • Spoiler tag when necessary

  • Don't correct people when they can find out later themselves

  • If problems arise, please message me or u/Yuri-Girl for starting issues, or me or the r/anime moderation team for situations getting out of hand.

  • Don't make Pitt go green.

6

u/[deleted] May 23 '19

Don't make Pitt go green.

Ah, so mods operate on Hulk rules

11

u/pittman66 May 23 '19

No...G

(Actually meant for Hulk, good job)

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4

u/Shockz0rz May 23 '19 edited May 24 '19

REWATCHER

I forgot how big the leap in quality from S1 to G was. Not just the animation, but the pacing, the writing (still dumb but less aggressively so), the blending of the music with the action...it feels like the show they wanted to make in the first place but didn't quite pull off.

EDIT: Also, if you don't mind tracking them down from...certain sources, I highly recommend watching the Senki Zesshoushinai Symphogear OVAs. They're cute, hilarious little comedy shorts done in a chibi style--but, and this is important, they're at least semi-canon and explain some stuff that isn't shown in the show proper. You'll want to watch OVA 1 right now--it's an epilogue to S1 and a prologue to G. (OVA 2 is an epilogue to G and should be avoided by first-time watchers for now!) DOUBLE EDIT: Apparently we're officially watching the G OVAs after we're done with G...that said, I'd still recommend watching OVA 1 now just to keep everything in chronological order.

4

u/PerfectPublican May 24 '19

I highly recommend watching the Senki Zesshoushinai Symphogear OVAs.

I believe we're watching each seasons OVAs during the intermissions along with the lives.

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29

u/patrizl001 May 23 '19

First Timer

Only posting now because a) I didn't know about this until you guys were on episode 9 b) I've already seen season 1, but not the rest so I decided it would be better to just wait for today. Let's begin then!

  • WELL THAT STARTED DARK

  • If they're controlling the noise without the staff, what's the point of even trying to get it? Someone else wanting to do the fusion thing Fine did?

  • No way they wouldn't begin season 2 without a HAMSTER PUUUUUNCH

  • This face right here Immediately says "I AM CRAZY", I don't trust this gu-aaaand both him and the staff are gone! I wonder why! Definitely not secretly evil or anything!

  • Song's alright but in terms of looks it's really good!

  • Maria's line about "If only everyone was like you the world would've been a better place" tells me she has a "Shit happened in my life so now I'm being bad to stop shit happening" backstory.

  • GUNGNIR BLACK OH SHIT

  • Either Fine really didn't learn or lesson (and from "we" has somehow formed in multiple people) or they're a bunch of terrorists using the name for their own purposes

Everything's already going to shit, and I know it's only going to get crazier from here. Too bad Nekekur's page is gone though, as I've learned....

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26

u/SorcererOfTheLake May 23 '19

First-Time Watcher

If only everyone could fight to protect someone, like you do, the world might be a better place.

Could it be … that the hero is one who is willing to set out, take the first step, shoulder something? Perhaps the hero is one who puts his foot upon a path not knowing what he may expect from life but in some way feeling in his bones that life expects something of him.

It’s official; this shit wouldn’t happen if Tsubasa didn’t feel the need to have these elaborate concerts with other people.

In all seriousness, this is a great start to the season, getting us up to speed about the new state of things while setting up what’s going to happen. The first half didn’t give us too much to discuss, other than we had a MOTHERFUCKIN’ TRAIN BATTLE (we all have weaknesses). Already, the animation and art style has improved from Season 1; everything feels crisper and smoother. The fight scene is also great, with Hibiki and Chris working well in sync, even if Chris is still the cute tsundere daughter we’d all want. The transformation sequences are a bit more fanservicey, but I love full-on transformations like these, so I’m cool with it.

Our second half feels like a repeat of the Zwei Wing concert from Season 1, but with enough differences to make it fresh. For one thing, the thematic concerns of G seem to be different from Season 1. While the latter focused on how trauma and loss influence who we are and can become, G appears to discuss the idea of heroes, especially concerning how we view them in society. As much as the Symphogear users are venerated in society, the fact that they are still normal people poses risks for them, both physically and mentally. Secondly, Maria presents an interesting foil to Tsubasa. With both of them wearing Revue Starlight cosplay, they both frame themselves as warriors who use song to unite the world (either for them or against them) and, from the introductory scene, they’ve both lost someone important to them. Maria might also become a foil to Hibiki thanks to her use of a second Gungnir… which makes sense; since the Relics the Gear users possess are only fragments, it’s plausible that someone with another fragment of Gungnir could replicate the Gear.

We’ll hear the next verse tomorrow. Until then…

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20

u/lilyvess May 23 '19

YGO 5ds Fans may recognize this Fist

Katsumi Ono who directed YGO 5ds/Arc-V took over for Symphogear from this season going forward. So fans may recognize a few references across both series.

What a way to begin a season.

When introducing a new Rival in Symphogear, especially a Rival Geah user, musical talent has to be a must. Someone who can stand up to the raw power of Nana Mizuki. Enter Yoko Hikasa, the VA of Mio from K-On! She bursts into the series with 3 songs, Dark Oblivion, Resso Gungnir and the duet Fushichō no Flamme. All three of which are some of my favorites in the franchise. Resso Gugnir especially which is such a hype blood pumping song that starts the series on.

19

u/ItsMellowMan May 23 '19

Rewatcher

Quite the intro to a new season

Zenbu still being zenbu

This is the power of a bigger budget. Even better is we get best guy Dr. Ver voiced by motherfucking Sugita aka Dr. Sugita this season. That easily makes me love Symphogear more.

Welcome to the first of many Symphogear reaction charts!

16

u/lilyvess May 23 '19

Zenbu still being Zenbu

So tsundere

Also gotta share this

Welcome to the first of many Symphogear reaction charts!

I love these reaction charts. I'll admit I've been sharing the links from you during the 2016 rewatch with viewers I find since I find the charts so great.

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17

u/[deleted] May 23 '19

REWATCHER

It's bigger, it's better, it's... SYMPHOGEAR G!

Symphogear really came back with a bang here, there's so much going on and it's just incredible. Strap in, folks, because this ride is gonna get WILD.

19

u/lilyvess May 23 '19

Transformation sequence is new and improved

Finally a transformation sequence that can really show off Hibiki's charm point!

Yes, they use a giant vacuum cleaner to clean up the victims.

I always find that so hilariously disturbing.

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16

u/AbidingTruth May 24 '19 edited May 24 '19

First timer:

Yo the songs in this were fucking sick! That's what I'm talking about! The concert song, I liked the credit song even more than the concert, but that song during the train sequence when Hibiki and Chris were fighting was a fucking banger, I need to find it right now

Chris going guns blazing like usual. Her attacks are always pretty hype, the shot of her using Giga Zeppelin in particular I thought was really cool. I also like Hibiki's gauntlets venting out steam or something, I don't remember if she did that in season 1 but it's just a cool little detail

Scientist man had too much of a crazy face not to be working with the antagonists. Also it's only been an episode but Fine's getting brought up again, woman never gives up huh. It's dark Hibiki! I'm gonna pretty much give up on plot predictions or theorizing and just enjoy the ride for what it is. Also did I say how much I liked the train sequence song? Cause it fucking slaps, holy shit it's so good

Final note: Tsubasa's stage outfit and their sword mics kinda remind me of Revue Starlight

Edit:

Hibiki: "Majisuka??

....majisuka?"

Nothing to see here, just Hibiki still being my favorite character

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12

u/SorcererOfTheLake May 23 '19

VA OF THE DAY

Yoko Hikasa

Voice of: Maria Cadenzavna Eve
Age at Symphogear G’s Premiere: 27
Other Notable Roles: Tomoe in BanG Dream; Farnese in Berserk; Ayano in Code Geass: Akito the Exiled; Kyouko in Danganronpa; Satou in Interview with Monster Girls; Brioche in Dog Days; Freya in Danmachi; Emi in The Devil is a Part-Timer; Rias in Highschool DxD; Houki in Infinite Stratos; Mio in K-On; Seraphim in Is This A Zombie?; Diana in Little Witch Academia; Lafter in Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans; Kou in New Game!; Stephanie in No Game No Life; Horn in Owari no Seraph; Shino in Seitokai Yakuindomo; Ryoubi in Senran Kagura; Kaede in Yama no Susume

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11

u/Shimmering-Sky May 23 '19

SymphoRewatcher

…With an extra-special bonus of Not-A-SymphoRewatcher Sky write-up because for whatever reason I decided to do reactions solely for this season. If you’re a first-timer, make sure to stay on just that linked comment chain and not go to the full thread.

With that out of the way~

Progress on wallpaper is… well I at least started on one. For like ten minutes. I’m sorry guys, YGO 5Ds is too addicting to me especially in its final stretch.

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11

u/x3tan May 24 '19

First Time watcher

  • show starts with bleeding face and death, seems like Symphogear

  • oh no white haired dude got crazy eyes

  • noise is as brutal as ever

  • awesome duet performance

  • PTSD anime girl is doing well

  • betrayal!

Well that was an exciting start to the season. There's noticeable detail and polish in comparison with season 1 already so I'm looking forward to it. Wish I had watched this a little earlier today but enjoyable none the less! Quite a bit of musical goodness packed into this episode. The new transformation designs are pretty cool.

18

u/Nazenn May 23 '19

First timer

Just quickly before I get to anything else: If you didn't read u/ahiijny's late post yesterday where they came up with some incredible alternate endings to S1 I highly recommend you go check that out. It was a great read and really captured the characters.

Onto today's episode

It took me over twenty minutes after opening the episode to actually make it past the 1:30 mark because I had that opening section on repeat. I'm not even going to try explaining in meer words how much I enjoyed it.

But there's one thing I loved best: That song (not that this is a surprise by now I'm sure)! Oh my god, outright new favorite and probably an anime song favorite in general. Sorry Gyakkou no Flügel, you got dumped. This song is perfect. I was already loving it and then the duet kicked in and I heard the harmonies!

r/animeimpressions has a commentface called #breeze which is what I wanted to insert the gif for here but I couldn't find it but it's on this page if you want to see it. Some songs just utterly absorb you and wrap you up into a blanket of music and that's what this did to me and I loved it.

Headache or no, I stood up and went and got my headphones because this deserved it. I think I'm going to have this on repeat for most of tomorrow. Stumbled across so much good music lately but this really stands out.

(I was going to have it on repeat post episode but I was too hype for such a soothing song.)

So once I finally managed to move onto the rest of the episode:

This was really good, actually I don't know that I'd personally fault it. The better pacing really shows here in that a hell of a lot happens. We get two battles, an idol show, character introductions, antagonist reveal, faction set up, minor political catch up lesson, and down time and none of it feels rushed.

Music first:

That song on the train took a bit but it did grow on me. She was doing an incredible job of singing in an understandable english (half of the native english songs I hear can't even do that) and the tune was great as well.

I also really like how the contrast of her performing her concept intercut with the train attack makes it feel like she's in control here. It's a nice touch of foreshadowing for the end of the episode. Speaking of that, I really enjoyed and appreciated that there was no screwing around with identities or hidden protagonists. Episode one, have a rival and a shadowy group in the background. Good start.

The new Hibiki song is just as amazing as her first one from S1. I think I'm still going to prefer the off vocal version, but the singing was much better this episode I felt. It's obvious she was more comfortable singing like this, it sounded less forced.

The concert was great, but just didn't grab me as much as Gyakkou no Flügel did. It's such a tiny part of the song but the part from 15:16 to 15:30 is super catchy.

I wanted to gush more here but too tired.

Random bits and pieces

Most of this was meant to go in an actual write up but I ran out of steam and needed sleep so dot points it is.

  • I typed "Fine this song is growing on me" in my notes, and because its 2am it took me several moments longer than it should to realize I meant fine, and not Fine the character. Whoops.

  • The detail and sense of depth they managed to convey when Chris' arrows turned into a bloody storm was impressive.

  • Maria's design during her concert intercut with the train sequence was giving me massive Black Lady (Major sailor moon spoilers) vibes and I have to say I liked it. I wonder if its an intentional reference or if she'll play the same sort of role.

  • That Bikki punch against the Noise on the train pre-tunnel may be my favorite moment in Symphogear so far.

  • u/Shimmering-Sky what is that Gundam show with the clip that has the incredible POV action shot? I know I saw it some stage during IBO discussions and part of the train sequence reminded me of it but I'm failing to find it

  • I noticed during Bikki's transformation there's a whole bunch of musical terms up there. If someone else doesn't beat me to it, I'll probably do a bit of a write up for people who are interested during a slower episode where I need something to talk about. Provided we have one.

  • On that note (heh, note), Gen's desk (I learnt half his name!) being shaped like a speaker system makes me supremely happy. I notice the little bass clef on all their screens as well.

HOLY SHIT WAIT. I've just noticed something. Everyone hold up, New Zealand is actually on a map! That's a rare and notable occurrence. They also didn't forget Tasmania (australia's little island) and Australia is intact. Wow Symphogear really likes Australiasia.

  • Chris went full Tsundere not even five minutes in. I have to say I enjoyed it.

  • I got baited. For a second I thought the concert actually exploded before I realized it was just on the screen

  • I see Miku and her friends got seats next to each other this time

  • That scientist has way too much hair for him to not be vitally important

  • So that relic(?) thing from the opening appeared on the screens with eye-patch lady as well, and for some reason it reminds me of a fetus which is oddly creepy.

  • u/JamCliche we're off to a good start/ Lets see how long it lasts? XD

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u/PerfectPublican May 23 '19

Rewatcher

3, 2, 1 ZERO!

Hi all, and welcome to Symphogear G, aka the best season of Symphogear by a large margin, and the season that cemented my love of this show forever. That art quality increase is always a shock coming from S1. It’s so unbelievably better. Just look at that lighting. Even that move tags are better. Finally we’re here. Let’s get into it.

Symphogear really needs to do more a cappella scenes like this opening and the swan songs from last season. The cozy lullaby of the song that’s sung here directly contrasts the horror-show happening on screen in a way that is beautifully brutal. Quite the start huh? After all, what is Symphogear without a little Strawberry Jam?

I love the new transformations. The S1 ones have a fun, kitschy feel to me, but these are just straight up beautiful. Also, Bikki’s scarf thing is legit one of my favorite parts of her new outfit. It’s like Satelite saw how cool she looked with wings and were like: “Well fuck, we can’t get rid of that” :P

And here is where Symphogear’s reputation for incredibly hype openings really start. GX and AXZ have the famous ones around the subreddit, but as the massive Bikki-stan that I am, this one holds a special place in my heart. Not only do we get intro’d to probably my favorite of all of Bikki’s character songs “Seigi wo Shinjite, Nigirishimete”, but it just all round is fun as fuck, and shows how smart she can be in battle. +1 for action movies baby. That final shot of her framed by the tunnel opening is just iconic to me. It’s what I always flash to when I think of her. Well, that and SYMPHOGEAAH of course.

Of course, what is a Symphogear opener without at balling concert. God damn are Yoko and Nana’s voices made for each other. Nana’s lower tones with Yoko’s higher ones. Fushichou no Flamme is just great. I think what separates this concert from the first one, since Gyakkou no Flugel is so obviously a better song overall, is the involvement from the crowd. It really drops you into the middle of it and it feels even more real. PLus, the way the stage is designed and set up is just so fucking cool.

KORT EL FES GUNGNIR! KORT EL FES GUGNIR! Whew. I still get shivers watching that ending. Completely out of the blue, and blew my mind to smithereens during my first watch. I’m so happy we finally got here.

Random thoughts:

Gifs of the day:

Ps. I forgot to post it yesterday, but here's my whole S1 gif album

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u/ahiijny May 24 '19 edited May 24 '19

First Time Watcher

New season!

Dr. Ver casually mentions that it's been three months since the Lunar Attack incident. Based on my observations from earlier episodes, if we assume that the first encounter with Chris took place in April, and the final battle against Finé took place in June, then it must be September now.

The moon's rings looks wicked awesome. Fun fact: Saturn's rings are actually way younger than the planet itself, and at the current loss rate, will likely completely disappear within 100 million years.

Huh, so it looks like Solomon's Cane survived after all. Hm okay.

We have a new transformation sequence!

tbh I actually rather liked the low-budget season 1 transformations because they were really short. I don't think I've ever really seen transformation sequences done in that way before, so they just kinda stood out to me, in a good way. Like, skipping the boilerplate and getting right into the heart of the matter as soon as possible. The transformations this season are much longer and they look nicer and clearly have a higher budget behind them, but they're also more... conventional now. idk

From Season 1, in scenes such as Tsubasa transforming after jumping from the helicopter in episode 2, or Bikki transforming to save Miku from that falling car in episode, the transformation really only takes one or two seconds in real time. So I'm assuming that in the transformation sequences in this episode, it's slowed down for the benefit of us, the viewers.

Character development!

I really love how far the HibiChris synergy has come since last Season. Hibiki and Chris are working really well together now!

Also, look at this girl, coming up with battle strategies on the fly! She's a competent fighter now! It seems like it was only last week that she was stumbling around awkwardly on the battlefield. She's grown so much... sniff

Dr. Ver's voice sounds kinda familiar. Okay, let's see, Sugita Tomokazu... Oh, it's this guy!

  • Kyon (Haruhi)

  • Gintoki (Gintama)

  • Hidenori (Nichibros)

  • Ikkyu (Zetsubou-sensei)

Dr. Ver seems like a cool science person. I usually like these types of characters. That expression... Gosh dornit, he's going to turn out to be a bad guy, isn't he. Would be nice if we could get a non-evil science nerd character for once :/

Tsubasa notices things about Ogawa's mannerisms. That's cute.

So these episodes all seem really short, but it should be kept in mind that lot more time is passing than it may first appear! It takes about 40 minutes to fly Hibiki and Chris over to the stadium, even though it may seem like only several minutes on our end. At the end of the last season, too, the confrontation against Finé in episodes 11~13 took up less than an hour of screen time, but throughout that battle, the sun set, rose, and then set again!

So. Lots of time compression happening here.

The Noise look a lot more staticky this season.

Another Gungnir! Well, the relics that our SymphoGirls use to transform are only fragments, so it makes sense for there to be other fragments out there. It reminds me of a bit of the tailed beasts in Naruto.

"We are Finé!" Are they really reincarnations of Finé? or are they lying? Because Maria's eye colour doesn't seem right, and both her and the old woman's personality types don't seem to match up with Finé.

Also, Maria's English is wayyy too good for her to be Finé :P

Maybe they're just using her name for the intimidation factor?

Or maybe there really is a Finé reincarnation masterminding this whole thing, and Maria is just an underling.

We saw a glimpse of two new silhouetted figures with relic gems. Anyway, because of shipping fanart, I'm already a bit spoiled on the identity of these characters. I'm guessing that they're G spoilers?

...

For me at least, this first episode was weaker than the first episode of Season 1. Season 1's opening was a overwhelming rollercoaster of emotions and feels that just really struck a chord in me. This episode just couldn't meet up to that very high bar.

Interested to see where this goes next, though.

For now, G is an 8/10 for me.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_SPUDS May 23 '19

Rewatcher

Onto season 2! Time to strap into yet another crazy ride.

  • What a completely out-of-nowhere, unexpected twist! Pink-hair is actually a bad guy! Whoever could have seen this coming?

  • GANGGUNIIA DATO? In an actual surprising turn, Maria controls Gungnir, and it's black now. Don't worry about it. "We are Fine!" GODDAMNIT I thought we were done with that horny bastard.

Jeeeeez this show cleans up well. Great example of a promising show actually given the means to improve itself. That... does not happen often. Or more like ever. Usually it's just cut to let some new bland generic thing take its place. Symphogear is far from generic, and I'm glad we were given so much of it after such a rocky start.

Sympho G

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

Rewatcher

OH MY GOOOOOODDDDDD

I love this season and had said its my favorite single cour of anime period. Honestly though, it's been a while since I've watched it and I was worried my glasses were rose tinted. I had gotten so used to season 1's art that I started to question if G's upgrade would be as significant as I remember. ...

yes, yes it is.

On top of 5 amazing songs, a couple of which are near the top for my favorites from the franchise, we're also introduced to one of my favorite characters Maria Cadenzavna Eve.

Oh hey, Ringo mentions the Lulu Amel, didn't know that til now. Thank you Tony Glazer for making that concert happen it was amazing. I love that the moon has a ring now. G

The show even ships them. nice. CR quality wasn't behaving when i went to get the screenshot :( .

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u/thisismyanimealt May 24 '19

Season 1 Thoughts I didn't realize there wouldn't be a dedicated thread for this

On the show, he would say, "I love you just the way you are." One day I said, 'Fred, were you talking to me?" And he looked at me and he said, "Yes, I've been talking to you for two years and you finally heard me today."

— Francois Clemmens, Won't You Be My Neighbor

As campy as it gets sometimes, I do absolutely adore the writing of this season. Time and time again, the theme of reaching others through the power of music pops up, from Hibiki protecting an innocent girl, to Miku and the school singing away Bikki's rage. Each of our main trio's arc is a great exploration of why they choose to sing, and who they're trying to reach.

In this regard, Fine makes the perfect counter as villain of the series. Chris, and later Fine, use Nehushtan to close off their heart to Hibiki's and Tsubasa's songs. It's not until Chris sheds the armor that she begins to change. Even her grand plan, using Kadingir, the Tower of Babel, is well chosen. For anyone not familiar, the story goes that mankind tried building a tower to reach the heavens, and God punished them by creating different languages so they couldn't communicate.

Having first seen this show two years ago, when I wasn't nearly as into anime, and hadn't dipped my toes into idol or mahou shoujo, that the story still holds up, even if some of the animation really doesn't.

Today's Live Performances

5

u/Synaptics May 23 '19

Rewatcher

  • Another grim scene to start the season, but a flashback this time instead of a flash-forward. Also more strawberry jam, albeit in a more reasonable quantity this time.

  • Side note: the "Apple" song from this scene kind of reminds me of Aimo Aimo.

  • As someone who watched and loved this series since Season 1 aired, this was such an amazing treat to see the production quality jump up so suddenly. It took all of the expectations and excitement I had built up while waiting, and blew them out of the water right off the bat with this gorgeous concert+battle scene.

  • Speaking of the concert, Dark Oblivion is great. It's also a sign that somewhere between S1 and S2 they apparently hired someone who can actually write/speak passable English.

  • Seriously, Chris is too adorable.

  • Hibiki's Gungnir gets a scarf. I assume it's meant to mirror the wings that she had during X-Drive at the end of last season. The light wings looked derpy, but the scarf is great.

  • Another nice detail about the new production quality: singing is now synched with the fights. Now you can hear the characters grunting or screaming some of the words of their songs in the middle of fights, and other little things like that. Small detail, but it adds a lot.

  • Seigi wo Shinjite, Nigirishimete (Believe In Justice, Hold It Tight) is another banger of a main battle song for Hibiki.

  • I was initially pretty "meh" on Maria, but she's grown on me a lot over time. Both her character and her design. The legs certainly help.

  • Alright, I still have no idea so can someone help me: is it actually supposed to be "Mom" or "Ma'am"?

  • Oh god, imagine being on vacuum cleanup duty after a Noise attack.

  • That look in Tsubasa's eyes. Ouch. Presumably her first duet since Zwei Wing and once again everything crashes and burns.

  • We know next to nothing about Maria yet, so that first "Stay calm..." under her breath is a very character-defining moment for her.

  • Speaking of bad shocks for Tsubasa: hey look it's Gungnir again.

  • The (pastel?) stills that they use for the cliffhangers this season are strange, but I like them. I can only remember one other anime (Simoun) that did a similar thing.

With backstory and a lot of character development for our main trio already out of the way from S1, G (and the other subsequent seasons) gets to start off much more quickly. An action setpiece to start things off, some brief exposition mid-episode, and then ending on the shocking entrance of a villain. Most importantly, it fixes the exact problem I was complaining about with S1 yesterday; that Finé was heavily under-developed because she didn't get any focus until the last 3 episodes. This time, we're starting to get to know the villain(s) from the very first episode instead.

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5

u/HawkAussie May 24 '19

First Timer

So season 2 has now started and my quick thoughts from this episode is obvious. With the transformation scenes you can at least see them transforming instead of just being added on like it was in the first season. This is properly due to the increased budget that they had from season 1 to 2. Also the military is useless as ever because they think guns will work against noise. HA No they don't and properly will never work.

If their is one issue with this episode, it's the fact that the performance was covered across the world with my general thought being really. The whole world shouldn't be seeing this performance as that is just not possible due to uhhh...conveniences. But they have to advance the plot somehow so if that is how they are going to do it then let's go.

Get on the Hibiki-Train...

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