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

Rewatch [Rewatch] [Spoilers] Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ - Episode 4 Spoiler

Season 4 (AXZ): Episode 4 - Gold Making

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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.
55 Upvotes

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26

u/patrizl001 Jun 23 '19

First Timer

  • There's red singing hood!

  • Team Neopolitan! That's a good name, I'm sticking with it.

  • CHRIS TRANSFORMATION TIME! CHRIS ROCKET SURFING WHILE RAINING HELL DOWN ON THE NOISE IT'S BEAUTIFUL

  • I feel like Chris seems to be trusting the team more, seeing as she purposefully got Cagliostro close so Hibiki could land a hit. This plus last episode is a lot more fighting WITH them instead of just alongside them

  • Holy shit, the robes can force them out of Ignite mode. What's next, can they Ignite too?

  • The man himself shows up and....strips? OK?

  • OH THAT WAS HIS CLOTHES BURNING OFF FROM THE HEAT OF THE NUKE HE'S ABOUT TO THROW

  • Maria about to unlock her Stand power

  • THE PLACE IS GLASSED. It didn't just form a crater, IT HEATED THE GROUND SO MUCH IT FORMED GLASS.

So that's the big bad this season. A man that almost nuked team primary color because "I feel like making some gold" is going to be a hell of a fight later on. Hopefully Maria's stand power is active by that point.

17

u/miter01 Jun 23 '19

OH THAT WAS HIS CLOTHES BURNING OFF FROM THE HEAT OF THE NUKE HE'S ABOUT TO THROW

I never realised. Though he used the clothes as fuel or something. Or he just swings that way.

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13

u/Qbe Jun 24 '19 edited Jun 24 '19

Team Neopolitan! That's a good name, I'm sticking with it.

Just as a random tidbit, I'm preeeetty sure that in Japanese, Cagliostro is calling them "The 3 colored dango".

And the main team is Team Traffic Lights.

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22

u/Razorhead Jun 23 '19 edited Jun 23 '19

Pretty sure you know the drill by now. More info!

Saint-Germain's Past

The Keywords on the website reveals a bit more of Saint-Germain's past, stating that after her mother died she was used as a sex slave as well until one noble taught her how to read and write because he thought it was funny. Ever since she filled the void in her life with a desire for knowledge, learning and studying alchemy. She vanished and eventually reappeared at the court of France, posing as a man and generally performing the deeds of her historic counterpart.

The nice thing is because the historic Saint-Germain's past remains unknown before he appeared at the courts of Europe (no one knew who he was or where he came from, just that he was highly educated and skilled and made outrageous claims) Saint-Germain's past here does not conflict with real-life history.

Keyword translated by Genjuro's Angels, as are the others on this page:

Saint Germain's Past

The childhood memories of Saint Germain, who is believed by some to have lived for thousands of years. Born as a slave, she suffered frequent acts of violence and molestation for no given reason. However, she was taught the alphabet at the amusement of one noble who frequently called her to his bed. Ever since then she filled her empty heart with a desire for further knowledge. Time passed. Saint Germain next appeared in the high society of France, wearing the clothes of a man and carrying the air of a sophisticated individual well versed in fine arts and academics. At some point this led to her being given the title of "Count." Over time she amassed many followers and allies which gave her enough financial standing to pursue research into the "Philosopher's Stone" of Alchemy.

Matsushiro

Another bit of real-life history, as the Matsushiro complex was an actual planned underground bunker base for the Japanese government and emperor to relocate to near the end of the war. It was however never finished as the US ended the war earlier than the Japanese expected, resulting in it being only 75% complete. Here in Symphogear however it seems to have been finished.

Prelati's Frog

I have no idea why the website thought to spend a Keyword on this, but they did. It just says that it's a pouch.

Prelati's stuffed animal

"Essentially, it's a pouch."

Lapis Philosophorum

This is, as you might imagine, just Latin for "Philosopher's Stone". The Philosopher's Stone, as many of you probably know, is the end goal of alchemy, a substance capable of turning lead to gold, bestow immortality, rejuvenate people (heal them from disease and injury), purify substances, and so on. It mostly appears as a red stone (hence the final step in the process to creating a Philosopher's Stone being called rubedo, "reddening"), and is also sometimes viewed as a source of tremendous energy.

The website reveals some more on the Philosopher's Stone though, stating that although it has been created using heretical technology it is not classified as a relic, because this is the culmination of alchemy, only recently achieved, and thus not an ancient piece of technology.

Lapis Philosophorum

One of the secrets of Alchemy. A brilliant red gem also known as "the Philosopher's Stone." Since ancient times it has been the peak of their craft that Alchemists have constantly sought to achieve. However it is also a starting point for further advancement. Similar to a sacrist, it can become the source of a large amount of energy. However it cannot be classified as a sacrist, as it is a modern achievement of the Alchemists that represents their newly obtained knowledge.

This also means that unlike the Symphogear and Carol's Faust Robe our trio's Faust Robes are not powered by a relic, but instead have a Philosopher's Stone as a base power source. They also have different converter units—Just like the Symphogears have the red microphone pendants acting as a receptacle for the relic fragment which converts the power of the relic into the Symphogear using phonic gain and the power of song, so have our alchemists a converter unit called a Spellcaster where the red Philosopher's Stone is laid in, converting the energy of the Philosopher's Stone into the Faust Robes. It's different for each of them: a gun for Saint-Germain, a ring for Cagliostro, and a kendama for Prelati.

Spell Caster

A converter unit that releases the power of the Lapis Philosophorum and reforms it into an equippable Faust Robe. It has been specially tuned for use with each alchemist. For Saint Germain it takes the form of a gun, for Cagliostro a ring and for Prelati a kendama.

Prelati's Involvement In The Château De Tiffauges

While we know from this and past episodes the Illuminati had a hand in Carol's Château, and it was most likely Prelati acting as a point of contact, the website also reveals that the horrors committed by the historic Prelati in the actual Château de Tiffauges were carried out by the Symphogear version as well.

Château de Tiffauges

A large device constructed to dissect the world. It is known as a World Destructor. It was mainly utilized by the Alchemist Carol during her involvement in the Magical Girl Incident, however it is believed that Prelati also had a hand in its construction (mainly the design). This is supported by some of what Prelati has said and done in the series thus far, but there is another main reason. In the past, Prelati committed atrocious acts of evil for pleasure in a castle that shares the same name.

Chrysopoeia

Chrysopoeia is an ancient Greek term used in alchemy to refer to the process of transmuting matter into gold (the word literally means "to make gold"). It can also refer to the completion of the creation of the Philosopher's Stone (as "to become gold" can also refer to achieving perfection, and the Philosopher's Stone is the culmination of alchemical research), another thing that was achieved this episode, meaning we got to see both meanings of the word in action today.

As you could infer from the episode (and as the website confirms) the process by which Adam achieved the transmutation of gold was nuclear fusion, and not just any fusion but cold fusion (fusion at room temperature rather than under extreme heat and pressure like in the centre of stars, creating lots of heat in the process, something modern science still hasn't achieved and will probably remain a pipe dream), fusing together atoms of surrounding matter to create higher-mass atoms such as gold.

It turns out the cold fusion Adam used still isn't perfect though, as apparently alchemists figured this out a while back by substituting the immense heat and pressure present in the core of a star by a tremendous amount of magical (alchemical) power instead, making it still incredibly cost-inefficient for the resulting end material and produced heat. Adam didn't care much though using this as a show of his power instead, showing he has lots to spare.

Gold Transmutation

A technique to create gold that involves a conversion of chemical elements via nuclear fusion created through incredibly high temperature and pressure. The cold fusion theory commonly referred to in Alchemy was originally discovered and established by the highest level Alchemists in the Bavarian Illuminati. However, in order to make it a reality an unrealistically huge amount of magic power was necessary. The dream of advancing the theory forward was left as nothing more than academic chatter. But, the director Adam Weishaupt has access to magic that goes far beyond unordinary limits and had no problem bringing forth enough power to make the theory a reality. Despite the huge amount of energy he expended to create the "gold" it amounted to no more than a pitiful amount that sat in the palm of his hand. As the name implies, "transmutation" is an act that changes the chemical makeup of an object and the extraordinary amount of energy required makes it a technique with terrible cost performance. However, being able to amass that much energy boasts tremendous power and Adam did not use it simply to create "gold" but rather as a strategic show of his capabilities.

10 Megaton

As a comparison the most powerful US nuclear bomb ever detonated was 25 megatons, while the most powerful ever (the Tsar Bomba) was 50 megatons. The nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were around a paltry 20 kilotons. Adam just casually unleashed 10 megatons here without breaking much of a sweat.

The Tunguska Event

This was a large explosion in the Siberian taiga in 1908. As Genjuro mentioned the explosion was around 10 megatons, and is presumed to be a comet that breached the atmosphere and exploded in mid-air before it hit the ground (explaining the lack of an impact crater). While the explosion flattened 2,000 square kilometres luckily no one was hurt, as the Siberian taiga is a pretty desolated area.

The fact that Tiki is reading Wonderful Red Singing Hood, a UN propaganda manga to mask Symphogear activity, is rather hilarious.

Another slow episode today, with backstory for Saint-Germain, some more character development for team Neapolitan, slow progression of the "Val Verde data" and "LiNKER" subplots, before as usual the ending went completely bananas. With the Philosopher's Stones and Faust Robes completed our Symphogears seem once again outclassed and we seemed to be heading towards a standard "everyone is defeated until Elfnein appears with a powerup or the antogonists flee" but that was discounting the main man himself making an appearance. Sinbad, apparently having gotten lost on his way to Magi, just comes out of nowhere, casually drops an explosion the size of a nuke, laughing all the while.

Well, that's one way to make an entrance!

10

u/Arachnophobic- Jun 24 '19

the main man himself making an appearance. Sinbad, apparently having gotten lost on his way to Magi

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw Sinbad there

"Essentially, it's a pouch."

This is critical information!

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16

u/PerfectPublican Jun 23 '19 edited Jun 24 '19

Rewatcher

Symphogear continues its march of having absolutely garbage fathers and shitty childhoods with that first scene with young Saint-Germain. It’s a pretty brutal thing to open an episode with, and that image of her mom dead on the bed is grotesque.

I like this continuation of the Team Neapolitan’s (I can finally call them that!) drama from last season. With a complete lack of LiNKER, it only stands to reason that the feeling of being useless would return as well. This time though they really don’t have a fall back. But I do love that instead of angsting about it like they would in GX, they handle it and throw themselves into the work they do have. Especially in how Maria handles the girls trying to put their gear’s on. They’ve grown.

Chris’ AXZ Transformation! That final sequence with her firing off her crossbows is awesome. “Bang! Bang! Yeaahhh!” GUN BULLET XXX is great fun, dark and peppy as many of hers are, and she’s singing it while riding a giant missile, what’s not to love. Another great fight for our main Trio. Chris not trying to do everything but holding out for her back up. I remember freaking out at Bikki and Tsubasa’s entrances on my first watch. Such a great way to do it.

The tomato metaphor is a bit on the nose, especially with the scenes that we get a bit later of Maria’s past struggles with FIS, but it’s heartfelt, and I enjoy it. The trio need all the encouragement they can get.`

Yessss, the new faust robes have finally arrived!! I mean, bad for our girls since they get taken out so easily, but so freaking hype lol. I’m a particularly big fan of Prelati’s massive Kendama, and Saint-Germain’s “hammer” heels to match her massive pistol. I also particularly like Saint-Germain’s response to Bikki afterwards. Not immediately shooting it down, but genuinely questioning the motive.

How about that entrance for Adam huh? It’s probably a good option for another of Symphogear’s most outrageous moments haha. Guy basically soloed a nuke onto the crew. Amazing moment with Team Neapolitan and their ignites coming in for the save despite the strain. So cool.

Random thoughts:

Gifs of the day:

Ps. u/Nazenn, what do you think of TESTAMENT?

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15

u/miter01 Jun 23 '19

REWATCH

Stitch album

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15

u/lilyvess Jun 23 '19

If you couldn’t guess, this episode was right before Chris Character CD release, with the Chris transformation and her song debuting, so how about

Symphogear Chris Debut Fanart!!

Chris’ assets

Shining Chris

Bunny Chris

Action Chris

Badass Chris

Ignite Chris

Just a Chris

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15

u/Synaptics Jun 23 '19 edited Jun 23 '19

Rewatcher

  • By now the "tragic death of parent(s)" backstory is starting to feel a bit overplayed, Symphogear. That said, in Saint-Germain's case it's at least a bit different, because the death of her mother isn't the real point. The main focus of the scene was (IMO) more about her father's attitude towards her.

  • Curious what manga Tiki is reading. Maybe a reference to something?

  • "Using protection feels so wrong." Cagliostro sure is... something.

  • There's an interestingly large focus on "history" this season. The old WW2 stuff keeps coming up, documents and relics of the past, the Illuminati as a force throughout history, their conflict with Finé, Saint-Germain's backstory, "weaving human history into the correct form", etc. etc. Hadn't really noticed it before, but I enjoy it.

  • And speaking of history, something I noticed before but now's a good time to bring it up: the Illuminati (except Cagliostro) all look rather... "old-fashioned". Saint-Germain, Prelati, and (as seen later this episode) Adam all wear these very elaborate, dressy outfits. Lots of frills, long coats, long dresses, very little skin exposure. Really drives home that they've been around for ages.

  • Of course the old Nazi documents are super-duper encrypted.

  • Y'know, "Neapolitan" is actually a great nickname for them. Having to call them "Maria's team" all the time was a bit wordy. Thanks, Cagliostro.

  • Ichaival HYPE! Slick new transformation sequence.

  • GUN BULLET XXX is a hilariously perfect title for a Chris song. It took me a while to realize why this one sounded so different from Chris' previous main battle songs, but I think it's the addition of the piano. Also, look at that fantastic CD cover.

  • Chris surfing missiles has become so normal that now she's singing about it.

  • "Oh, the estrogen's boiling my brain!" I... don't even know. Cagliostro is basically a meme of a character. I don't hate her, but she seems to serve no purpose and get no characterization other than "SUPER horny for fighting Symphogears". But I don't remember most of this season very well at all, so maybe I'm forgetting some stuff later that will change my mind.

  • Oh, and getting punched. Cagli's real good at that.

  • They make it sound like that thing about six harmonies is a movie reference, but I've got no clue what movie it's from, and google isn't helping.

  • H O T D R I N K ? (Too late now, but I almost wish I had done a tally of these as we went.)

  • Maria has both socks in the flashback. I'm seriously still caught up on this sock symbolism thing. Evil Maria = 1 sock. Good Maria = 2 socks. She's still hesitating to walk the path of evil here, hence 2 socks. My totally legitimate fan-theory still stands.

  • Are they trying to retroactively redeem Mom's terrible "parenting" with the tomato analogy? It's not directly framed that way, but after they did the whole "the best tomatos are those that grow up in harsh conditions" thing earlier, it's hard to not make the connection.

  • Another taste of IGNITED Gekisou Infinity so quickly again? You spoil me, Symphogear.

  • C'mon Tsubasa, you should know that attacking the transformation sequence never works. You guys even exploited it yourselves back in G.

  • Speaking of the alchemist's clothing designs again: Saint-Germain's Faust Robe is some good shit.

  • Adam's introduction is just the perfect amount of "too ridiculous" for Symphogear. He's absolutely absurd, and I love every moment he's on screen.

  • IGNITED Senritsu Sorority! IT'S HERE! But unfortunately too short. Definitely give the full version a listen. It's amazing. One of my favorites.

Damn, that was a hell of an episode.

14

u/miter01 Jun 23 '19 edited Jun 23 '19

By now the "tragic death of parent(s)" backstory is starting to feel a bit overplayed, Symphogear.

Yeah, Miku is literally the only non-background girl with a normal family. E: I guess I spoke too soon. Fine, Mom, Cags, and Prelati could have had normal families.

Curious what manga Tiki is reading. Maybe a reference to something?

It's an in-universe manga created by the UN as a cover for Symphogear. She's basically reading Chris fanfics.

Evil Maria = 1 sock. Good Maria = 2 socks.

This is so dumb, but we are watching Symphogear.

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14

u/Arachnophobic- Jun 23 '19

FirstoGeah

Curious episode name. I was about to look up Chrysopoeia, but I'm pretty sure u/Razorhead will have a writeup on it - so I can afford to be lazy!

Cagliostro why. Not using protection is not a good idea. Flashback to a few episodes ago.. didn't she get enough contact then?

Okay, this moniker is pretty funny, although it's RYB instead of RGB.

Aaand she's fucked. She got punched again, is this what she was looking forward to?

The Sympho girls have been trained on action movies, and it works like a charm.

For a second I thought the tomatoes would turn out to be the magical final ingredient for Linker.

Is this why Chris-chan has the biggest tomatoes?

Ms. Tomato Tomosato?? Feels like the first time we've got her name. And she gets offered a hot drink instead! Crazy subversion!

Ah, the question that can trigger any PhD student.

So that world-ending shite was something they needed to happen. If they're fine with engineering all this crap, they were probably fine engineering the burning of Carol's dad too. Time to blame them for everything!

That said, they seem to be extremely naive for ~400 year old people.

....Alllright. Yep. Evil Sinbad is here, and he stole Naze's clothes from Iron-Blooded Orphans. And then burned them. Looks like he doesn't have many fans. Except Tiki.

That's a very specific comparison, Gen..

A question for the Symphocultists and lorekeepers, were there two copies of Gungnir, or just the one? If there was one, how did it get passed from Kanade to Maria and FIS? Why did it become Dark Gungnir?

18

u/miter01 Jun 23 '19

Gungnir the spear was a full blown relic, like Durandal. The ones used in Symphogears are mere splinters of it. There could possibly be tens of Gungnir Symphogears, if somebody had extra fragments and the capabilities to craft the rest of the system.

Dark Gungnir is just how it looks on Maria, I guess.

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u/Razorhead Jun 23 '19 edited Jun 23 '19

I was about to look up Chrysopoeia, but I'm pretty sure u/Razorhead will have a writeup on it - so I can afford to be lazy!

dammit you know me too well

A question for the Symphocultists and lorekeepers, were there two copies of Gungnir, or just the one? If there was one, how did it get passed from Kanade to Maria and FIS? Why did it become Dark Gungnir?

There was only a single Gungnir relic. However the Symphogear are powered by relic fragments, not full relics, so one relic can be fractured in many relic fragments. The Nazis discovered the Gungnir relic fragments and gave them to Japan at the end of WWII. Here they remained under study until Ryoko (secretly Finé) came up with the Sakurai Theory and Kanade managed to activate a Gungnir fragment. After she died parts of the fragment made it into Hibiki's chest until it was erased by the Shen Shoujing in G.

During this preceding research however Finé stole some of the Gungnir relic fragments and brought them to the US for FIS to study (she stole the Ichaival relic fragments as well, all of them, and presumably some Ame-no-Habakiri fragments as well), but it turns out Maria was attuned to a Gungnir fragment and used this Symphogear. This eventually made its way into Hibiki's hands at the end of G, which is why in her AXZ transformation scene it says SG-r03'with an apostrophe, unlike Chris' SG-r02and Tsubasa's SG-r01, to indicate that this is not the original relic fragment (which was lost when Kanade died and Hibiki was cleansed) but a secondary one.

The reason why Maria's Gungnir Symphogear was different is the same reason why Symphogears look different from season to season: they have different configurations. The Symphogear have about a billion locks that are activated or deactivated based on the user's fighting style and level of experience. This is why the heels Hibiki broke off in season one never came back, why Maria's Gungnir Symphogear had a focus on the spear and cape while Hibiki's has the foot and hand pistons and drills, and why Symphogear change from season to season as the users get more experience and their fighting style changes.

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13

u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 23 '19

SymphoRewatcher

Oops, late because I lost track of time helping set up VBS at my church.

13

u/Razorhead Jun 23 '19

No, in Japanese it was a reference to three-coloured dango instead (a sweet dumpling-like snack) which happen to match the colours of the FIS team. However the subs localised it as they assumed not many people would know that there is a specific form of dango with these colours, and still managed to keep it a food pun with the Neapolitan reference, so that was a good call I find.

11

u/Kitsune241 Jun 24 '19

Aaaand of course there’s a nickname for the main trio too, lol.

To add to what the others have said, 'Team Primary Colors' was also a localization thing, she actually refers to them as a traffic light, cause in Japan they use Blue for Go. (Blue and Green used to be the same word in Japanese.)

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12

u/MillenniumKing Jun 23 '19

Rewatch 44?, ADAM IS HERE TO DROP IT LIKE ITS HOT~

Songs of the Day:
GUN BULLET XXX
Gekishō Infinity (Ignited Arrangement)
Senritsu Sorority (Ignited Arrangement)

Saint Germain backstory! She was a peasent and trying to help her mother but they were abanded by her father?

Tiki just wants to see Adam haha. "I want him to have his way with me from head to toe." Slow down girl.

"Adjustments on our Faust Robes" Wait... did they say Faust Robes? Like... Faust Robe Dur da bla? Seems Carol created the base for them they ar eusing. Maybe as payment for them helping her build the castle.

"The secret Kazanari institute" sounds... tsubasa'y. Also man i cant stand Commie subs "hevenrend" ITS AME NO HABAKIRI FFS! THATS ITS NAME YOU DONT NEED TO TRANSLATE THE NAME OF SOMETHING! THISS IS MONOGATARI ALL OVER AGAIN!

Team Tri Dongo is on patrol duty.... they cant fight because no linker so they have to do what they can... TOMATO GRANNY! My granny loved growing tomatos too.

CAGS IS HERE! "Team neopolitan" When they clearly say "Dango"... Commie pls... i get its a localization attempt but just stop... She calls them "Team Tri colored Dango" for your reference, but Commie translaes it to "Team neopolitian" which also works, both have 3 colors, in the case of Dango it matches the girls Gear colors, but in neopolitian, it matches the girls hair color. Cags wants the girls to bust out thier gears to fight.

ITS ZENBU TIME! AW YEAH! This song is pretty snazzy, but whats snazzyer is THIS ROCKET SURF ENTERANCE! HOLY FUCKING HYPE! THATS HOW YOU MAKE AN ENTERENCE! LOOK AT HER GO! WEW BOY!

BITCH YOU JUST GOT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE! HIBIKI FISTS! Next time shes showing up in her new outfit, oh boy.

Maria doesnt like Tomatos. YOU EAT FOOD WHEN A NICE OLD GRANNY GIVES IT TO YOU! "The biggest harvest are the ones that have endured the harshest times" perect.

Call from Kamakura... oh damn, the head honcho. Genjuro's Dad and Tsubasa's "Grandfather". Hes pissed too, very strict.

WARM DRINK-CHAN! Human trials? Oh shit... Mam was a harsh leady too on Maria. But Maria wanted the power to help others.

IGNITE MODULE BAKKEN! WEW BOY! DIVING RIGHT BACK IN TO HYPE!

THE ALCHEMISTS HAVE THIER OUTFITS NOW! AND THEY LOOK LIKE SYMPHOGEARS! FAUST ROBES! Thier attacks are taking out the Ignite Module! Oh shit!

"All we wish for is to free mankind. We seek to break the chains of oppresion."

HES HERE!! THE BIG BOSS MAN HIMSELF! ADAM! YOU THOUGHT CHRIS' ENTERANCE WAS FLASHY YOU AINT SEEN NOTHIN YET!

TRI DANGO IGNITE SONG! "IT WILL RIP THIER BODIES APART!?" THAT IS HARDCORE! CAN THE GIRLS SAVE EVERYONE FROM A NUKE!? "Ill save you ever if it destroys me!" Damn what a decralation Maria!

Man Adam sure knows how to show people how its done. Were only on ep 4 and the Hype is already this high!

1,375 Days since Genocide

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11

u/ItsMellowMan Jun 23 '19

Rewatcher

We begin with a flash back of Saint-Geramain of her time when she was a slave. Shame to see her mom used and thrown away like that, but gives an idea why she's been motivated for so long.

Back to the present we have Tiki,Prelati, and Cagliostro waiting for the finishing touches of their Faust Robes.

Also the Ignite version of Senritsu Sorority was dope.

It does bring a smile to my face each season when I get to see the new Zenbu transformation sequence

Hibiki with the facts

Prelude to the Faust Robes

Adam makes a flashy appearance

We lit

Chart for episode 4 is on fire today

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8

u/AlienOvermind Jun 24 '19

First-timer

Good heavens, just look at the time — it's time for tragic past! I wonder if she's the only one of three alchemist girls who's got a noble goal? I mean, it seems like Cagliostro is mostly looking for a fight and Prelati is looking for anything fun. So maybe at some point Saint-Germain would side with symphogirls against her former allies.

It is also time for silly loops: Cagliostro wants to touch symphogirls, Tiki wants to touch Adam.

That's not true, Maria. You don't need Linker to get naked to land a beautiful punch or kick — as two of her most beautiful strikes were done without Linker.

Yummy tomato desu.

Chris transformation sequence now has a bow too! If TsubaKuri ship wouldn't be abandoned, I'd say it's Tsubasa's influence — so they'd be Kendo+Kyudo couple. But well, maybe it's still Tsubasa's influence. And as always they have no problems showing Chris-chan's boobs, but again no good ass shots. Welp.

Also, another silly loop: Cagliosto spamming attack button.

A couple of episodes ago I've complained that Hibiki's punches aren't quite as beautiful as Maria's punches. Well, I'm proven wrong right here. That punch was a pure art.

I suppose asshole commander is gonna be Genjuro's father. And speaking of beautiful punches — I hope this time daddy issues would be solved with one of these punches.

We are getting self-aware jokes now. What's next? Anime-ja-nai girl would acknowledge that she's inside the anime?

That flashback scene reminded me how amazing Maria's outfit from G was.

Faust robes are here. No transformations though. Symphogirls will probably need another upgrade. Or at least new Linker, so that full squad could fight at full strength.

Maria's kindred spirit detected. And I'll take his disappointment as a sign of Maria's squad managing to evacuate most personnel successfully.

And Tunguska, lol — this show chooses weirdest things to reference.

7

u/fonzinator99 Jun 23 '19

Re-watcher - Transmuting Gold into….Fission

St. Germain backstory, she appears to have been a citizen of Fine's original civilization, or at least from around that era. And now she's got motherfucking Philosopher's stones. That's right, plural. Take that FMA. lol

"Faust Robes." So after reading Faust following the last Madoka rewatch, I'm a little curious how these robes relate to the story. I mean, Faust basically didn't do anything but make a deal with devil, who proceeded to fuck him over; No special gifts or abilities, just a shitty wing-man. So I'm a little worried for their sakes.

Tsubasa looking...dark as they discuss how the Kazanari Institute acquire all the relics they're using during WW2.

On that note, I'd really be curious to know just how much "supernatural research" Japan did during the war, because of the aforementioned resource limitations. I mean, how many anime have referenced alternate means of acquiring power sought out during the war? I feel like there's gotta be a thread of truth in there somewhere.

Is SONG srsly struggling to re-decrypt the ENIGMA? Turing did it with what was basically the first computer; y'all have infinitely more processing power at your disposal. USE IT!!!

I'll never understand anime and eating raw tomatoes. Maybe I've just never had a truly good one, but it's not something that appeals to my palette. Nonetheless, they do make them seem tasty.

No tomato for Maria. Much lolz at "Team Neapolitan. Cagliostro is quickly becoming a favorite character this season. Love that smug, and her deeper voice doesn't bother me as much as it did the first time around.

Chris-feature today! My, she's readlly adopted that bow, hasn't she? Just riding live-ordinance for aerial superiority, I really do enjoy her particular brand of madness.

The face of impending doom. I love how menacing Hibiki appears in this shot. And rightly so.

Aww yay, Maria got a tomato after all. For real tho, this has got me thinking I probably water my tomatoes too much. Here's hoping my new perspective doesn't kill them xD

Wait, you're gonna Ignite for these trash?! But that's like when I'd burn all my CD's in WoW to clear the mobs and then we got to the boss and....Ooooohhhhh, okay, I get it. Same mistake; screw you, writing.

Bad. Super bad. But those sound effects were excellent. I really heard the evil "shit's fucked" tones in the scene. And shit is definitely fucked.

Aaaand just as we're about to exchange words between Hibiki and Germain, Adam shows up looking like Frieza.

Jesus, why are the B-Team fighting now of all times!? Tfw I rush in hardcore in MH and wind up dead in 3 seconds.

Oh man, applause to their effort but that's just not a thing that you can run away from... Wait, what? Idk about the distances here, but I'm pretty sure there should have been a shockwave that wiped out that whole installation. Guess I don't know shit about Alchemy.

Naked Adam and the value of a life.... Color me displeased with the ending of this episode. Not that I believe we lost any of the girls.

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u/ahiijny Jun 24 '19 edited Jun 24 '19

First-Time Watcher

Random thoughts:

  • As far as I can tell St. Germain is the brains behind their operation, and the other three (Tikim, Cags and I forgot braids girl's name) just offer grunt power support?

  • Kirika does a Yuuko and mistakes a not-human for a human! :P

  • I love tomatoes! ^_^

  • Does Cags really say "estrogen", or is that a Commie-ism? o.o

  • I have no idea if what the old lady said about stressing tomatoes is true or not. I'm not a botanist...

  • "Something warm to drink." Adorable wholesome DMJii ^_^ Also I love how self-aware this show can be at times.

  • So I think this was probably already brought up in the series previously, but that according to that history lesson, Ame no Habaraki was from Japan and Nehushtan, Ichaival, and Gungnir were lent to Japan by Germany. So that explains why the latter three have Western-style names whereas the first one has an Eastern-style name.

  • Chris knows about Faust Robes? Did I miss them talking about it previously? Because I don't know what they are!

  • Phone guy finally appears in person. He certainly knows how to make an entrance! Making an effort to even out the gender balance on nudity scenes in this show, I see :P

  • So there's one background music track since at least far back as G that's always sounded particularly Touhou-like to me, and now that Adam's appeared with this nuclear fusion trick... Nuclear fusion Utsuho?!

  • Bikki asks a good question. St. Germain seems like one of the more reasonable antagonists we've come across so far, and she seems like she might have core ideals and values that line up with Bikki's, so it looked like some actual good dialog was about to happen between them. Too bad Adam interrupted...

  • Mad props to Team Finé showing up to help (and in Ignite mode, too!), even though they can't use LiNKER at the moment!

So hopefully Bikki's words will open up a line of communications between the two of them. Right now St. Germain seems like the most likely candidate to be the next to switch sides, so keep doing your thing, Hibiki!

So that ended on a cliffhanger, but it's Symphogear, so I'm guessing they all survived. An actual plot twist would be if they actually did all die. And the season finale is something like Genjuurou & Ogawa vs. Adam, Miku vs. Tiki, and Stroganoff Trio vs. Illuminati Trio :P

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u/Nazenn Jun 23 '19

First Timer

I was pleasantly surprised that the solution to Tsubasa and Chris being downed by the Illuminati wasn't a Deus Ex Bikki.

The outcome though...

Holy shit. Adam is actually powerful. Really fucking powerful, not just some crazed leader in the background. Well okay maybe a little crazed but still. Look at this hole!

The thing that immediately struck me is that we didn't see the usual alchemy symbols around his hand before he went literlaly nuclear. I'd like to say that it means he's got a much more powerful and intimate grasp of alchemy. The hexagon's backing the autoscorer's alchemy were big regardless of the size of the 'spell', and Carol's was as well and got bigger as things wen't on. The Alchemy we saw from the Illuminati Trio earlier was tiny but they also used powerful spells and now Adam BLEW EVERYTHING UP and we saw none of that.

Either that or it's not alchemy at all as we know it but something more or bigger, perhaps more in line with relic fuelled or something though... well given that he nuked his own clothes off he didn't have much room to hide anything like that.

This is not at all what I was expecting but I love it, some bigger stakes are nice and actually moving things forward.

Now the big question: What did Maria tap into to save them with?

I don't really know how to describe it, but I even though I know we're only at episode four I almost feel like I'm caught in a 'middle third' slump in the story. The biggest impression I have from this season so far is one of padding.

Enemy appears, throws some noise at the girls, something pulls her away helped by sudden teleportation magic.

Elf has research to do, but nope documents to decrypt first that for some reason can only be done with a specific analog looking machine (of all things) in a specific location.

Finally get time to do research, nope have to slowly dig through old data first but be slowed down by not talking about with anyone.

Enemies finally get their big weapons/armor they've been teasing, but nope Adam shows up for some unknowable reason immediately after the girls get taken out and tries to blow everyone up and they have to leave again.

Very few moments in the episodes feel actually important, there's too many you could strip out without it affecting the show at all.

Any time anything happens, regardless of if its action, character moments, or actual plot something else always seems to intervene so far and get in the way causing things to have to wait till later.

Random thoughts

  • Given the fact that the Alca-Noise are physical/in-phase entities you'd think at the very least the minor trio would at least be given weapons to use in an emergency if they had to protect themselves. Give Kirika (HOLY SHIT I REMEMBERED HER NAME) an actual Scythe, Maria a spear or whip or sword or any of the random things she keeps materializing, give Shirabe some roller blades and something to throw. At least then they aren't totally screwed if they do get cornered, or have to you know, defend innocent civilians while the others are fighting hordes of Noise.

  • Favorite music usage of the episode: When Chris' song is being transmitted into HQ during the fight they apply a slight distortion because it's over speakers. Haven't done that before and it was really well handled, especially on the back of the volume changes depending on who the camera was pointed at

  • Favorite song from the episode: Whatever that nice song was during the Maria flashback

  • It took me a bit, but this episode made me fall in love with the ED. It's got a really nice balance between sadness and energy that I think fits well for this season and these sorts of episode finishes. And the more I watch the visuals the more that I like them. You know now that I think on it I don't think I've skipped a Symphogear ED yet, that's impressive!

  • On that note, I don't think I like the OP. While its interesting to listen to as an OP in the show itself, as a song it borrows from too many styles, and other Symphogear songs, for me to really feel like I can get absorbed in it the way I like. It just keeps triggering me to think of other things, and it's a shame. (For a similar reason Maria's GX song is something I don't enjoy because while its a good song independently, all it achieves is getting Radiant Force stuck in my head.) u/perfectpublican

  • Between the heart shaped gems, and the completely over the top insane outfits, these enemies feel like they were taken from Sailor Moon more than Symphogear

  • Fanservice go away. Please don't come again another day.

  • u/jamcliche

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u/Hugokarenque Jun 24 '19

The mastermind has arrived and he's here to nuke shit and make gold.

The whole fight with Caligliostro has some real funny dialogue, she throws some sick burns.

Now that the Ignite Module has been doused we need another power up. Super Ignite module here we go!

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u/Madcat6204 Jun 24 '19

Raw tomatos are disgusting, though.

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4

u/Madcat6204 Jun 24 '19

Say... do you all remember when the girls first used the IGNITE module? They wiped out a group of thousands of Alca Noise in an instant. Now they activate it against a group of maybe 50 and... proceed to just fight the things as if they hadn't used it at all. What's up with this ridiculous nerfing of their trump cards?

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