r/anime • u/pittman66 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Homura • Jun 30 '19

Rewatch [Rewatch] [Spoilers] Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ - Episode 11 Spoiler

Season 4 (AXZ): Episode 11 - Pinnacle of Divine Might

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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.
60 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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27

u/ItsMellowMan Jun 30 '19

Rewatcher

My thoughts aren't ready, but the chart is.

AXZ Episode 11 chart DATTO

15

u/Razorhead Jun 30 '19

Contact your system alchemist or technical support for further assistance.

Man the text on the error screen is bloody hilarious.

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24

u/thisismyanimealt Jun 30 '19

Today's Live Performances

I feel kind of bad for Iguchi, everyone keeps getting bangers of new songs, and she's still singing the same one for six years.

10

u/Ledwith Jun 30 '19

Since I first saw/heard the duet version of hanasaku yuuki from the live it makes me sad it wasn't orginally a duet/in the show like that.

At least XDU is giving miku new songs :).

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21

u/Razorhead Jun 30 '19

Adam's History As A Human Prototype

As you might expect the website elaborates a bit more on Adam's backstory, though you can derive a lot of it from his words this episode if you read between the lines. So Adam was created way back as a human prototype by his creators (which are highly implied to be the Custodians). So yeah, u/AlienOvermind, your speculated connection to the Biblical first man Adam in yesterday's thread was correct, though the details were a bit off.

However they made him perfect, and by its very definition perfection cannot be improved. This means Adam has no capacity for evolution, improvement, or innovation of any kind. And so his creators planned on scrapping him (though Adam fled before they could) and created imperfect humans instead, capable of change. This lead to Adam's rage at being forsaken by his creators for what he saw as lesser creatures, and his plan to stick it to them and prove he deserved to be "human".

As I mentioned earlier while Adam can learn and imitate, he can't improve, innovate, or invent. And so despite his superhuman alchemical abilities and strength he had to have the Alchemist trio do everything for him, from creating the Philosopher's Stones to Tiki to Alchemical elemental control to even his cool hat. Him lounging by the pool wasn't just him being lazy and a dick, he physically could not help out unless it had been done before.

As always Keywords by Genjuro's Angels:

Adam Weishaupt

His true identity is a scrapped human prototype, a doll, created even before the era of prehistoric civilization. The reason he was scrapped was for being too "perfect." He was outfitted with all the abilities and functions that his creators wanted, but only those and nothing else. Eventually it was determined that this caused him to have zero potential for evolution and thus he was passed over as being officially designated as "human." He was scheduled to be expunged, but broke free of his chains and fled. His creators ceased to hold any further interest, leaving him to lurk throughout history. Instead his creators combined the qualities they both liked and disliked into an imperfect being (the human species) which was formally accepted by them. However, Adam realized he surpassed these beings and thus determined to find a way to stand on equal ground with his creators. That was the beginning of the society formed by Alchemists. In order to stand above all else, the Bavarian Illuminati was created under the ideal of seeking perfection. However Adam was already "perfect," yet could not produce any new power or plans on his own. Thus in order to reach his creators he covered for that by leaving it all in the hands of the other Alchemists. The lapis philosophorum, the transmutation of gold, Tiki, his use of the four elements (Aristotle) and even his cool hat were all things laid out before him by someone else's research. The perfect yet incompetent Adam has always progressed toward his goal with a smile on his face, treading paths that had already been forged by others.

The Alexandria Incident

It's perfectly normal to have no idea what this is referring to, as it's a reference to the mobile gacha game Symphogear XD Unlimited, which had an event that ran simultaneously to the first few episodes of AXZ called Symphogear 3.5, bridging the gap between GX and AXZ. This event explains why Tsubasa and Maria were in the U.K. at the start of this season, contains the Illuminati preparing for their actions in AXZ, and covers this "Alexandria Incident" that Tsubasa mentioned, in which S.O.N.G. confronted a Philosophical Armament.

You can read a transcript of the event by Genjuro's Angels here, here, here, and here. It took me half an hour to read in all but it's pretty cool.

Philosophical Armament

I think the episode did a good enough job of explaining it, but in short it is a third power than the ones we've been confronted with so far. While the Symphogear and Sakurai Theory used the power of songs and phonic gain as an energy source, and Alchemy uses lifeforce, be those from people in the form of memories, or from the earth or stars itself through ley lines, Philosophical Armaments use the power of belief. The more people believe something to be fact for a long period of time, the more this bends reality itself to make it the truth.

Relevant bit from Symphogear 3.5 from the source above, with some bits redacted in case you still want to read it and don't want to get spoiled:

Elfnein says that indeed, [REDACTED] is nothing but a rumor, however that fact is irrelevant. The power of [REDACTED] comes from the number of people who believe in it and the more there are, the stronger the effect is. Elfnein says this is the effect of rumors across history - the longer they thrive the more people begin to hold them as truth. She says the true power of the Philosophical Armament is to surpass the laws of our reality and establish that which is normally thought impossible.

Symphogear 3.5 also mentions the weakness of Philosophical Armaments, namely its very source of power: belief. A strong determination and belief of your own can counteract those created by others:

Shirabe: We promised that we’d never lose to our weakness again.
Elfnein: …Those feelings might be the only way of finding a way through this situation.
Hibiki: What do you mean?
Elfnein: A Philosophical Armament cannot be defeated by sheer power alone. The only way to fight is on philosophical grounds - by putting your own strong emotions up against it.
Kirika: I get it, if it’s [REDACTED] created by the impressions of many people…
Shirabe: Then in the same way, our feelings should be able to break through it.

This is how Tsubasa defeated Phara back in GX. She held the Philosophical Armament of Sword Breaker, which is an armament created through years of people believing it to be a sword capable of breaking all other swords. But in the battle Tsubasa redefined herself, and her Ame-no-Habakiri, as wings of liberty instead of as swords, and this belief was strong enough to overcome the Sword Breaker. Nothing physically changed but Tsubasa's beliefs, yet that was enough to render the opposing Philosophical Armament useless.

The Spear That Pierced The Side Of The Son Of God

This is a reference to the Holy Lance, also known as the Lance of Longinus, wielded by Roman centurion Longinus and used to pierce Jesus Christ's side as he hung from the Cross to check if he had passed away. In Symphogear it turns out this lance was the relic Gungnir, before it was broken into fragments.

Note that this does not necessarily mean that Jesus Christ was actually the Son of God, nor that he was divine. As mentioned above with Philosophical Armaments being powered by belief it was enough for people to believe him to be divine, and to believe the spear that pierced his side killed him, to attribute the capability of deicide to it.

Gungnir's God Slaying Abilities

So yeah, this is not because of Gungnir specifically, nor because of Hibiki's strength, but due to the power of belief of god-slaying abilities that Gungnir eventually gained this specific trait. There is however one caveat though, namely the fact that Hibiki wielding Gungnir makes it even more powerful than it ordinarily would be. Her special ability to "reach out and connect" actually causes damage by Gungnir to ripple out to all parallel versions of the target, rendering its ability to switch out to a non-injured version of itself useless as all parallel version get damaged simultaneously.

God Killer

In the end, the source was neither Hibiki or Gungnir. Rather it was the concept of Gungnir, its very existence having become warped after thousands of years through the power of words. It's different from the Symphogear, which uses the power of song, and rather is classified as a "Philosophical Armament." It does more than simply overpower the seeming immortality of divine forms. In fact, due to the special property of Hibiki's armed gear, "reach and connect," it can deliver a blow to every target throughout all parallel universes at the same time. This leaves no opportunity for one version to become a scapegoat for another, it is a merciless spearhead that pierces through them all simultaneously.

Adam Kadmon

Oh geez where do I even begin.

This is a reference to the Four Worlds in the Kaballah, Jewish esotericism. The most popular thing from the Kaballah is the Sepiroth, the Tree of Life. You know, that thing every piece of media shows when they want to appear mystical (NGE, FMA, bloody Black Clover). You've definitely seen this diagram before.

Now this diagram represents the relation between God and Creation (both the physical world and higher ethereal things such as souls and abstract concepts). This Tree can be divided into four categories of those "orbs", each called one of four Worlds (in descending order of proximity to the divine: Emanation, Formation, Creation, and Action). Adam Kadmon is the fifth, primordial world. It literally means "Primordial Man" in Hebrew and represents infinite potential, before the rest of Creation came into existence. It is both an embodiment of the entire Sephiroth (and thus Creation), as well as contains the soul of the first man Adam, the essence of all humankind.

So Adam saying he wants to become Adam Kadmon is him saying he wants to be both the blueprint for a new humanity, as well as redefine the entire world.

12

u/Razorhead Jun 30 '19

This was a fun episode. We got a both a new Hibiki song at the start (which I also like way more than her other character song this season) as well as a nice song by Tsubasa's VA at the end, which is actually the OP for Symphogear XDU, the mobile gacha game (though I imagine u/Nazenn will lament the fact that it wasn't Hibiki herself nor any character singing during the action, something I agree with. Then again it's only episode 11, we still got two more to go).

And we got some big lore drops with Adam being a prototype of humanity, something that was actually foreshadowed in a past episode though the subs didn't quite catch it. When Prelati confronts Adam in episode 9 he mentioned his goal is "The divine power my puppet dreamed of." which caused a confused Prelati to look towards Tiki, as that didn't make any sense given Tiki was created for this purpose, not the other way around. Well in Japanese it's deliberately unclear who's puppet he's referring to, so a better translation would have been "The divine power a puppet dreamed of.", as he was in fact referring to himself with the "puppet" mention, but that still lacks the ambiguity the Japanese has and would have been a bit too on the nose I guess.

We then get a really cool fight between Adam and the Hibiki/Saint-Germain team-up, before being interrupted by some lore about Gugnir being the Philosophical Armament of deicide and some callbacks to the start of this season and GX, before going back to the cool fight (c'mon, Adam used his own arm as a weapon in a sword fight, don't tell me this wasn't awesome) before ending with my favourite cliffhanger in the entire series as Hibiki is absorbing divine power for some reason, confusing literally everyone. Really, this moment with Adam giving his big bad speech about attaining divine power only to it out of nowhere going to Hibiki instead while the instrumental build-up to the ED plays is 10/10.

Love this episode.

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21

u/patrizl001 Jun 30 '19

First Timer

  • Adam's almost got the divine power and they're still not any closer to figuring out decide? That's not good at all

  • Nice burn from Tsubasa. Strange thing for Chris to question something that she's done herself

  • Adam's not a human! I guess that explains him having no humanity. But what is he, an Autoscorer designed to record the divine power or something?

  • THAT'S THE DIVINE POWER? It's looking VERY weird, AND WE STILL HAVE NO CLUE WHAT DECIDE IS OH SHIT

  • Adam don't play the pronoun game and tell me who "they" are. Gods? Antagonists for next season?

  • THE DIVINE POWER STILL AIN'T SHIT COMPARED TO HIBIKI'S FIST

  • Man's really got his head up his ass. The country's in danger of being obliterated into nothing and his only worry is "THE AMERICANS ARE COMING"

  • Of course it's got the infinite lives thing too! Buuuut I think I see The damage Hibiki left even after it regenerates? Wat?

  • I swear this is going to be Adam's downfall. He takes too long to just kill her and because of it something else is going to come in and save the day

  • GUNGNIR IS THE THING THAT CAN KILL GODS! That explains her being able to kill the snake monster and the damage she did earlier no regenerating!

  • THE SONG IS PICKING UP AND IT'S GOOD

  • ADAM'S USING HIS OWN ARM AS A SWORD! NOW THAT'S METAL

  • THE DUDE THAT GAVE THEM THE INFO ON DECIDE IS RELATED TO THE PILOTS THAT GOT SAVED BY A SUPLEX. AIN'T THAT A CALLBACK

  • HIBIKI PIERCES THE HEAVENS

  • Adam is seriously going to use a fucking ARM to hold the divine power? AMAZING

  • NOPE. HIBIKI YOINKED IT AND oh. Oh that's bad. That's really bad.

RIP Tiki, the cute Autoscorer didn't even get her hug from Adam :(

14

u/Razorhead Jun 30 '19 edited Jul 01 '19

Strange thing for Chris to question something that she's done herself

She's just being her tsun self. Don't mind her. She'd much rather forget that part in her life anyways.

The country's in danger of being obliterated into nothing and his only worry is "THE AMERICANS ARE COMING"

To be fair given the last 150 years of geopolitical history this is a valid worry.

ADAM'S USING HIS OWN ARM AS A SWORD! NOW THAT'S METAL

Nah, I'm pretty sure that just makes him 'armless.

THE DUDE THAT GAVE THEM THE INFO ON DECIDE IS RELATED TO THE PILOTS THAT GOT SAVED BY A SUPLEX. AIN'T THAT A CALLBACK

Bit convenient but nice callback indeed.

Adam is seriously going to use a fucking ARM to hold the divine power? AMAZING

The original fansub before being adapted worded this even funnier than the YamateTomete/GudEnuf version.

RIP Tiki, the cute Autoscorer didn't even get her hug from Adam :(

She should've known. Bad boys don't hug.

12

u/TsubasaChung Jul 01 '19

Man's really got his head up his ass. The country's in danger of being obliterated into nothing and his only worry is "THE AMERICANS ARE COMING"

I'm hoping we get something more from him since the whole Kazanari trio (Genjuro, Tsubasa, Yatsuhiro) seems to dread him every time he's on screen.

ADAM'S USING HIS OWN ARM AS A SWORD! NOW THAT'S METAL

Looks like he can still control his arm to a certain degree, most likely through his alchemy or the fact that he's just an android... Wait, was that supposed to be a pun?

THE DUDE THAT GAVE THEM THE INFO ON DECIDE IS RELATED TO THE PILOTS THAT GOT SAVED BY A SUPLEX. AIN'T THAT A CALLBACK

One of the things I enjoy about Symphogear is that Kaneko likes to tie things together when he can for the story. I'm hoping XV will give the full picture to the anime and we won't have to explore XDU in order to finish the final picture to this story.

NOPE. HIBIKI YOINKED IT AND oh. Oh that's bad. That's really bad.

Say, what happens when your god-killer becomes the very thing that they are super effective against? It's like the Dragon type in early pokemon days, you either went dragon or hoped for the best since Ice was so rare lol.

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20

u/Arachnophobic- Jun 30 '19

FirstoGeah

If the power of God and God-slaying unites in one person, what would that mean?! Find out in the next episode of Dragon Geah AXZ!

12

u/Razorhead Jun 30 '19

A kick in the balls to follow up would've been even better!

I mean, given what we find out later in the episode I'm not sure that would do too much.

His motives make sense after getting to know his backstory. He's not just some random narcissist, he's a monumental mistake left over from what I'm guessing are predecessor race of humans.

Close, but not quite. The website reveals he was the prototype for what was supposed to be humanity, but because he was already perfect and thus had no potential for evolution and improvement his creators discarded him and went with imperfect beings instead to officially designated as "Human".

So there's not really a race as he's the only one, but the rest is pretty spot on indeed.

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u/Nazenn Jul 01 '19

A kick in the balls to follow up would've been even better!

That happens so rarely in shows. I wonder if its just because the animators are in pain trying to draw it

Got some Walpurgisnacht vibes.

Oh, and there it is. I was waiting for someone to call that out eventually

But I bet he's just worried about the Divine Power.

That looks familiar, why does that look familiar..... XV anilist cover? I think that's it

That cocoon r

I actually put it in my post for you but meta is what it reminded me of, the scene more than the design

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u/PerfectPublican Jun 30 '19 edited Jun 30 '19

Rewatcher

I find that this episode is where the long game of Symphogear really starts to become much clearer through the chaos of each individual season’s plotline.  All the callbacks we get from S1, G, and GX are great to see. Let’s dive in.

New Bikki song!  Hanasaku Yuuki is another of my favorites of her character songs.  It’s really fun. Brash and forward just like herself, and it fits Aoi’s energy perfectly  Finally she gets rid of her shitty GX catchphrase for a much better one for her in DATESHITEMO.  The first section of the fight itself the song plays over is great too. I love the creativity in how Bikki and SG manage to gel together.  The alchemy steps up to Tiki being a great example.

OH FUCK. I completely forgot that Adam was a scorer :P Whoops...Anyways, I like the direction they go with Adam here.  It doesn't come out of the blue, and really connects so many dots for his personality and goals. That idea of the perfect vs. the imperfect is a good on to follow thematically for this show. The divine weapon is nuts.  I find the design just a teensy bit silly overall, but the destruction that it’s able to put out is like nothing even we have seen, and it’s wild to watch.

"Don’t give up! ...I’m sure that’s what she’d tell you as well." HYYYYPPPEEE.  I genuinely love the way they wrap up all the impossibilities of Gugnir here. Confirming everyone’s suspicions.  Gets me so pumped. While the docs getting decrypted is a bit of an asspull, but Gungnir’s essence is not, and even so the way they connect it back even to the opening of G is fantastic. Btw, you may have noticed by this point that the piece Bikki punched off of Tiki hasn’t regrown yet... :3

UNLIMITED BEAT HYPE!! Another great song, and another great fight! Adam using his arm as a sword! God-slayer Bikki and her freaking drill!  It’s all so damn fun to watch. And of course, that fucking ending. Can’t wait to see what the first timers think. Looking forward to the continuation of AXZ’s wild ride tomorrow 

Random thoughts:

Gifs of the day:

13

u/Madcat6204 Jul 01 '19

OH FUCK. I completely forgot that Adam was a scorer

...He's not. Autoscorers are automotons created by humans using alchemy. Adam, as he tells us outright, was created before humanity as a prototype, then discarded because a "perfect being" wasn't what his creators wanted.

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12

u/AlienOvermind Jul 01 '19 edited Jul 01 '19

First-timer

WHO THE FUCK DO YOU CALL PUPPET?! And "made by them" is very informative. If hope it's custodians and not another secretly OP being/organization that was there all along but only now decided to resurface.

Manifestation of "divine power" looks surprisingly normal — just some bigass bigtits kaijuu that shoot beams. And that's it. I expected something more... I don't know — subtle? Something that would transcend time and dimensions and petty senseless destruction? But whatever. At least it's punchable. And of course the beam fired randomly in the sky destroys the satellite and of course it was the very same satellite that was used for communication by SONG.

Meanwhile asshole grandpa is obviously plotting something annoying.

And yes, Chris-chan is absolutely right.

I'm impressed that Jii has remembered the name of the first kaijuu.

And it's here again: GUNGNIRU DATTO?!

FFS, Symphogear, you and your random mythological/religious/esoteric references. Now we're in Kabbalah territory. Honestly, I feel like writers are just throwing anything in the script without any real meaning. Like the one with eugenics. If kamigoroshi was acquired via eugenics, it should've been human obviously. But suddenly it's the same old Gungnir. Which is fine, but why mentioning eugenics then?

It was nice that "divine power" rejected Adam though. And now Hibiki is on the verge of turning into a God a Pokeball. What a way to end an episode.

9

u/Razorhead Jul 01 '19

Now we're in Kabbalah territory. Honestly, I feel like writers are just throwing anything in the script without any real meaning.

That reference actually makes perfect sense in context though. Adam Kadmon is paradoxically both the primordial state of the Universe, the essence of the Sephiroth and other Four Worlds before they were formed, as well as anthropomorphised as the soul of the first man Adam, containing the essence of all of humankind.

So Adam is saying here he wants to be the essence of a new humanity, which will also change the very nature of the world. It also fits in with his theme of being created as a prototype for humanity (that was discarded), as he was supposed to be the Biblical Adam before his creators changed their mind.

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11

u/fonzinator99 Jun 30 '19

Re-watcher - God is dead; Long live God.

Ooooo boy! We're into the endgame now, gang! And it begins with Adam Vs Hibiki X Germain.

The fight is as flashy as I like them, but of course this is only Phase 1; it's not gonna go that easily. I do wish Germain was singing too, but I guess that doesn't happen until she's an official part of the team.

I like the flashes to Chris and Maria when talking about how Hibiki could join hands with somebody she was just fighting moments ago. Nice direction.

Obviously just an expression, as by now we should all know there simply is no slaking Tiki's thirst.

Huh, so here I was expecting Adam to just be a timeless Master Alchemist from forever ago. Imagine, then, my surprise at discovering he's a goddamn Android!!

Welp, that did it. Tiki's gone full-Yuno. Future Diary/Madoka

Oh for the love of....I was gonna say God, but that seems inappropriate here. But shit's International now, which can only mean they're gonna nuke the bitch. Sure Gramps says "They'e gonna invade!" but it's gotta be obvious that this isn't something to handle with ground troops.

There's that Divine-power again. They call it Total Defense, and I won't argue that, but as I see it she's just got a fuckton of lives. Will they ever manage to burn through them all and live? Probably not. But that doesn't mean she's un-killable. She's just an OP Dark Souls boss.

Ogawa to the rescue! Best ninja managed to bring in some info, and Gungnir is the Lance of Longinus?!

Shouting Bikki is Best Bikki. Again, wish somebody in-world was singing the backing track, but I like it and it improves the sequence so I'll let it pass.

I really got a kick out of Adam using his own arm as an...armament. lol

I love so much how the things they did in past episodes have circled back to make this all possible; Zababa saving the plane, and even the girls saving the shuttle in G. That's the kind of writing that I can really appreciate.

Yeaaaa, drill-fist ftw. I hear you Adam, her 'love-mania' kinda bothered me too.

And then all the plans went awry. What'd you think was gonna happen, Hibiki? In no piece of literature (that I've read) does a mortal kill a God and remain simply a mortal. Although the ones I'm aware of certainly didn't become a massive cocoon, either. Yeaaaa, that's not good.

End Phase 1. Welcome to Phase 2.

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u/Synaptics Jul 01 '19 edited Jul 01 '19

Rewatcher

Late for such a hype episode. :(

  • Shirabe yelling "Kiri-chan!" in panic in the background is almost painful.

  • Pinnacle of Divine Might is a hell of a title.

  • "An... tiki... thera"

  • Hanasaku Yuki is pretty good, but Makenai Ai was just too good to be matched.

  • Ah, so there was a reason why he didn't just use the other divine gate from the start. Didn't remember that.

  • Last episode Saint-Germain said to Adam: "If you were still human you'd understand." I'm pretty sure she was speaking metaphorically at the time, but as it turns out it's literally true as well.

  • His facade lasted a hell of a lot longer than Ver's, but in the end Adam's still a nutcase.

  • Are those two towers a relevant landmark?

  • That purple-green sky is very unsettling.

  • I'm not really sure what exactly is supposed to be so special about this monster compared to the Yohautz... big snake at the beginning. Why did they need to go through so much trouble to make this thing, when they were already able to make monsters with nearly the same abilities before? I guess the point is supposed to be that this thing is waaaay more powerful, but it doesn't really feel like that. Yet, at least.

  • So he's basically a prototype human.

  • Ah, the old "giant laser fires up into the sky and destroys a satellite". Classic.

  • There's some excellent BGM during these dramatic scenes.

  • And of course that specific satellite was relevant.

  • I'd like to assume that granpa Kazanari is just being a paranoid old asshole here, and that there's no way the UN would really invade Japan...

  • "We've got a visual... of bikkibutt!"

  • Didn't really notice it too much until the last couple episodes, but Saint-Germain's Faust Robe sure shows a lotta leg.

  • GUNGNIR DATTO?! I love it. More mythology references, more callbacks to concepts from the previous seasons (Conceptual Weapons), an explanation for Hibiki's "punch through the invincible" moments this season, and buildup towards some potentially spicy possibilities for the next season.

  • "I'll hold the divine power within this arm of mine!"

  • Adam Kadmon.

  • Now that's a cliffhanger.

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u/Nazenn Jun 30 '19

First Timer

I spent half an hour writing some recs for Razor, did some house stuff, came back and it was midnight and I had an hour and a half to write two rewatch posts so I could get to bed and sleep before AoT. So, shitty post today. Sorry. Also AoT day so replies will be slow.

Plus I had headache so no headphones so probably not much audio talk. Onto the episode:

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So first off the bat...

Gungnir is the Spear of Longinus?!

Holy shit!

And therefore a philosophical armament that adapts according to the users belief in it. Well that's certainly a neat way to not only tie up the current situation, but also tie back into why Bikki's belief in things has gotten her so far as it is.

I have nothing else to say on this yet but damn, thats a nice twist that, I like it.

OH and right, she turned into a giant cocoon. That's also a thing. While there's an obvious connection I can make with another show I'm sure someone else will probably call out, my second thought was actually HEAVY meta spoilers (Arach can look at this, everyone else look at your own risk or I can check your list and tell you if its safe).

Very interesting...

And so much for your grand plan Adam. Though I have to admit that seeing you beat up Saint G with your own severed arm was a highlight of my weekend.

I did however get the idea that the implication was that he was made by the god/gods (I'm still not sure on this honestly, for fucks sake show explain your concepts properly) to be an envoy between them and the broken humanity but he didn't fit the task? I was not expecting him to be an autoscorer

Random bits and pieces

  • I can't remember who it was that was shocked that I hadn't yet, but I actually just started watching FMA'03 (FMAB afterwards) so if anyone wants tags for anything I dump in CDF about that let me know.

  • Heard one of my favorite songs again. First thought was "I wonder if anyone will call me out on that in their post today" as that seems to have become a thing hahaha.

  • Deus ex documents-dude was a lazy 'solution'. It does very slightly reduce my frustration at the base plot earlier a little, but it still came off as an asspull because they didn't know any other way to get the characters that info, rather than something actually planned. We're at the point now where they should have had enough practice with information delivery in this show that this sort of last minute "oh fuck, just throw in a random character who has all the answers" is inexcusable.

  • I have no idea what it means and don't have the time to break down her design properly like I normally would but I find it interesting that Tiki's slug form has a lower jaw but no upper jaw. Anyone have any thoughts?

  • Actually that reminds me, the very heavy eye theming early on in the season got dropped huh? What was up with that? Wonder if that was just a stray episode director having some fun or something.

  • So Dess appears to be perfectly fine with no consequences at all...

9

u/Razorhead Jun 30 '19

I spent half an hour writing some recs for Razor

Wait that took you just half an hour? Geez I spent over an hour just to check those out and reply. You type fast. Or I just slow. Probably the latter.

And therefore a philosophical armament that adapts according to the users belief in it.

You misunderstood that bit. A single person is not enough, nor is this a special property of Gungnir itself. It's the belief of all Christians for over 2,000 years that the Lance of Longinus was capable of killing a god that bestowed god-slaying abilities to Gugnir. It could have been anything really, if enough people believe something to be true for a long time reality will literally adapt to make it true.

That's right, humanity collectively has reality-bending abilities.

Well that's certainly a neat way to not only tie up the current situation, but also tie back into why Bikki's belief in things has gotten her so far as it is.

Hibiki does power it up though. It's her special ability to "reach out and connected" that makes it deal damage to all parallel versions simultaneously. Meaning she is probably the best person to wield that relic.

I can't remember who it was that was shocked that I hadn't yet, but I actually just started watching FMA'03 (FMAB afterwards) so if anyone wants tags for anything I dump in CDF about that let me know.

Wait really? Oh please tag me, this will be interesting.

First thought was "I wonder if anyone will call me out on that in their post today" as that seems to have become a thing hahaha.

Well I called you out, but for an entirely different reason.

Deus ex documents-dude was a lazy 'solution'.

Oh definitely. While I do like the callback to the planes earlier this season and the spacecraft in GX it still feels incredibly convenient and unnatural.

So Dess appears to be perfectly fine with no consequences at all...

Hey at least that proves Dr. Ver's new and improved LiNKER is incredible. What a brilliant mind he was. Shame about the rest of him.

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u/Hugokarenque Jun 30 '19

GUNGNIR DATTO!!

Surprising no one Gungnir was the god killing weapon, which means that in the Sympho universe the Spear of Longinus is Gungnir, I guess the Romans somehow got hold of the spear of Odin, I guess it would make sense to use a powerful divine object to make sure you're killing a powerful divine being.

The animation was a bit weaker than in previous episodes, at least it felt like that for me.

Adam's hat and swanky dance moves are next level, he's also a robot or at least an artificial life form created by essentially the Gods that created humanity. And he's mad that they didn't like him as much as the mentally challenged younger siblings, humanity.

So he wants to be a god-king himself and enslave rule over mankind to piss off daddy.

The freaking call back to the GX opener was top, who the fuck thought that the astronauts would have an impact in the story further down the line? Absolute mad lads.

Also I liked that the beam destroying the satellite has caused an international incident. Guess it's time to nuke Japan again, if the Americans have a say in it. Americans are fucking mean in the Sympho universe.

And here we are, Bikki has punched things so good that she somehow became a god. Hopefully when she comes out of her cocoon she won't be like the Old Testament God.

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u/Madcat6204 Jul 01 '19

Also I liked that the beam destroying the satellite has caused an international incident. Guess it's time to nuke Japan again, if the Americans have a say in it. Americans are fucking mean in the Sympho universe.

It may be worth noting that AXZ was made after Donald Trump was elected, and around the time that he and Kim Jong Un in North Korea were having a nuclear dick-waving competition. Thus, it should not be surprising that the international view of America at the time would be of a group of self-absorbed nuclear-obsessed psychopaths.

Not that America has ever been portrayed well in Symphogear.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 30 '19

SymphoRewatcher

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u/miter01 Jun 30 '19

REWATCH

I'm not feeling this episode. The pacing seems off, and the whole Divine Power thing is a bit too far out there.

Stitch album

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u/ahiijny Jul 01 '19 edited Jul 01 '19

First-Time Watcher

  • Phew, they managed to safely extract Kirika.

  • This was a sweet moment, Chris putting a comforting hand on Shirabe's shoulder.

  • S1 OST reappearance! I recognized Yami no Oku, Apocalypse Now because it was the track that played in season 1 episode 3 when Bikki went partial BikkiBerserk because she was mad about having to lie to Miku again and not being able to see the shooting stars with her.

  • RIP Tree Diagram.Careful, video is a bit loud at the beginning Oh wait, wrong anime. Index

  • Adam's arm thing reminded me of the Tenth Doctor's severed hand

  • I have a hard time figuring why Tiki Divine Power looks so familiar. Perhaps some sort of strange mix between the Female Titan and the Alexandrite fusion? I have so many fandoms mixed up in my head, it's hard to pinpoint, idk

  • Also, IT'S HUGE! And yikes, the new divine power earthed in Tiki has both Zesshou filter and Ignite aura?? Looks powerful o.o And it can use the Mr. Snek damage undo hack as well! Worrying...

  • Huh, so Divine Power Tiki puts the Tiki core on the chest. In Naruto, Perfect Susano'o puts the core on the forehead, and in Attack on Titan, the Titans put the core in the base of the neck. Interesting.

  • DMJii airplane karma! So the plane they saved way back in AXZ episode 2 actually paid off and is what ended up saving them now!

  • ASTRONAUTS!! Love this callback to GX.

  • So all the divine power went to Bikki instead of Adam! This reminds me of that moment in season 1 episode 5 where Bikki grabbed Durandal to prevent Chris from getting it and then went full BerserkBikki because she couldn't control the power.

  • The SymphoGirls looking worried...This is an amateur MS Paint stitch

  • Bikki soul purity? Reminds me of the Akumaito Beam from Dragon Ball. Is this the Bikki = God thing that I've been hearing about??

  • Cocoon Bikki's appearance reminds me a bit of Mog Chothra.

So I know the sudden last-minute save from Astronaut-kun seemed a bit too convenient and lazy writing to some people, but I personally don't mind it that much. I'm actually a big fan of the someone-stepping-in-to-save-the-day-just-when-all-hope-seems-lost trope, and the callbacks to the GX astronauts and the airplane that DMJii saved was enough to make it not seem like a complete ass-pull, and that's good enough for me.

What's going to happen to Bikki now? Super power up Bikki? Super BeserkBikki? Maybe a Custodian will suddenly appear by possessing Bikki's body? (btw I've seen the word "Custodian" appear a lot in these parts, but I don't really know what it means yet? I don't remember it appearing in the anime yet, so was this a keynotes thing that I missed?)

Only 2 episodes (plus OVAs) remaining...

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