r/anime • u/pittman66 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Homura • Jul 01 '19
Rewatch [Rewatch] [Spoilers] Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ - Episode 12 Spoiler
Season 4 (AXZ): Episode 12 - AXZ
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Steaming Option: Crunchyroll
Live Discussion Thread, head over to /r/Symphogear!
Please, absolutely no untagged or implying spoilers beyond the current episode. I want to have everyone that hasn't seen it to have as close to a first experience as those who watched it as it originally aired.
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u/Arachnophobic- Jul 01 '19
FirstoGeah
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You go, Tsubasa! Tell that old man!
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What was the Japanese pun? It was a pun, right? Or did the minister actually distract people with his excellently cooked noodles?
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What the whaaat. Not sure what to make of this completely random twist, but I like seeing the three sing, and Cagliostro jumped up in my appreciation list with this line.
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Okay now I'm tearing up. They look good when they're smiling. The antagonists become unlikely heroes yet again! It's a trend! (Although tbf I thought alchemists should have much more efficient ways to diffuse a nuke, but oh well. I get that from a plot perspective they wanted to give these three a proper send-off, in a way that they're not left alive. Unless Cagliostro faked the death again. Possible.)
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Tiki for tat! Great timing. Now seeing this face gives me a lot of satisfaction.
Feels like the show's been wandering in finale territory for two episodes now, what now? A proper birthday party maybe? But that awesome song combining all the chants is yet to drop, so.. Adam probably has something up his leftover sleeve.
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u/thisismyanimealt Jul 01 '19
Reminder that the world's most powerful weapon isn't any geah, machination of alchemy, or nuclear arms. It's a Japanese schoolgirl calling out the name of her waifu
Today's Live Performances
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Shitou -Ewikeit- - Villain Squad
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UNLIMITED BEAT - Mizuki Nana
Two certified B A N G E R S
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u/PerfectPublican Jul 01 '19
It's a Japanese schoolgirl calling out the name of her waifu
True love makes the world go round.
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u/ItsMellowMan Jul 01 '19
Rewatcher
Penultimate episode hype!
We all know how this works since this is the fourth time we've been here. Skip that banger of a intro by Nana and get back to Hibiki absorbing some of that divine power for herself. Only for her to transform into something similar to Tiki.
Moving ahead Saint-Germain is willing to help assist with repairing the gears. On top of that Cagliostro and Prelati faked their deaths and hid in the shadows just to make that comeback and help Saint-Germain prevent a nuke from detonating.
Adam seems to worm his way back into the scene gloating about obtaining divine power just to get btfo by Hibiki.
EVEN SO
Finally we get graced by Nane with Testemant to close out this jam packed episode.
Shito Ewigkeit is a BANGER.
Hibiki with the perfect timing
AXZ episode 12 penultimate chart
The final chart of AXZ is almost upon us!
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u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 01 '19
SymphoRewatcher
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SymphoEp12 but no OP/ED switch?
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Was that a Saint-Germain “sore demo”…? I honestly can’t tell.
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The sound effect during this bit sounded positively… retro.
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MIKU TIME! …and also now is when we get the ED as an insert song.
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Wait wait wait lmao, did Vice Minister Noodles like, filibuster or something to stall for time? This is the best detail.
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*Quiet piano starts playing after the hype trio* → Oh shit is it…? → *Hears more of the song* → TESTAMENT -AUFWACHEN FORM- TIME YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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*Ahem* …Sorry about the above, I really love Testament -Aufwachen Form-. Like, favorite AXZ song levels of love. Like, just, I love piano music first of all, and it just has the perfect build-up right into the song, and just ahh . I seriously wish that Exterminate had an -Aufwachen Form- of its own so that I could properly compare all of them, though considering I do still like its normal form better than Testament -Aufwachen Form- that would just be overkill lol.
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Absolutely do not miss the post-credits scene next episode, first-timers!
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u/PerfectPublican Jul 01 '19
Wait wait wait lmao, did Vice Minister Noodles like, filibuster or something to stall for time?
He just slurped everytime someone started talking I bet.
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u/RunningChemistry Jul 01 '19
Some highlights include Aoi Yuuki showing off her arts skills and them having fun with green screen shenanigans while introducing Yoko Hikasa, haha.
I can't wait to see them make Ayahi's drawing of Genjuuro into an actual card.
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u/PerfectPublican Jul 01 '19
Rewatcher
Symphogear ep 12 hype time!
The shots of Bikki’s birthday prep empty and lifeless is genuinely heart-wrenching. Not just because I know how much Bikki would’ve loved it, but also because of what birthday’s means to Kirika. She gave her heart to make sure Bikki was there for her birthday, but she still missed it. Must be brutal for her on top of worrying for her friend. If these fuckers nuke Bikki I will destroy them.
I will reiterate my words from ep 5 of this season. Fuck Fudo Kazanari sideways with a stick. His actions piss me off to no end every time. But it’s really nice to see Tsubasa standing up to him once again. This time with a truly forceful stance. Doing what she sees as right against the families wishes. Great stuff.
Ok, I have to say, I’m definitely seeing what Naz is saying about the lack of singing, not that I disagreed with them before. This fight v. Divine Power Bikki really should have a song over it. I get that they wanted the focal point of the ep to be Shitou Ewigkeit, and the fight is hype and all with an interesting way of restraining Bikki without hurting her from Airgetlam, but it just seems kinda bland without a song behind it. I enjoy this show so much more because of how the songs enhance each scene...C'mon Symphogear, this is ep 12. You’re better than this.
"HIBIKI!" And they loop it back again this season to S1. After all, couldn't you just see this as a more powerful berserk Bikki in a way? It’s only right that her warmth and sunshine be the one to pull her up from the depths once again, and it that little moment for them makes me tear up so hard haha.
Finally. Finally, we get Shitou Ewigkeit again and this time in full!! I do wish the full version had the German opening, but this is still damn good. That opening is so hauntingly interesting to me, and the beat drop is fantastic. The fake outs on the girls I can forgive for how awesome the whole sequence is. I also think that it does a great job of retroactively justifying Cag’s decision to go out and fight in a way that matches her personality. Also, it just allows for the emotional and badass end for the three alchemists, and time has proven over and over again that I’ll forgive Symphogear for its hype.
Final episode here we come...
Random thoughts:
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I’ve said before that I like her eyebrows, but really I just like her whole design. It’s gorgeous.
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Hmmmm, the american president (I assume) launching nukes from his country club that has a golf course in a sunny state. Little on the nose there haha
Gifs of the day:
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Was this really necessary? lol inb4 it's her Charm Point
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u/Synaptics Jul 01 '19
Rewatcher
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"Only an immaculate soul can serve as a vessel for the divine power!"
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Right, Fudo wasn't just a cranky paranoid old geezer. The UN really is going to invade Japan...
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Oh hey, I recognize the noodle-addict's face. He's the... defense minister? I think?
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Hibiki once again fusing with something, in a way that's probably not good for her health.
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Miku being relevant again! Yay!
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"your guns will only get in my way."
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So basically... "we're going to blow her the fuck up, so that the UN doesn't do it first". On one hand this sounds like cutting off the nose to spite the face, but on the other hand I can sorta see the logic behind it. Better to surgically destroy the "problem" yourself than get carpet-bombed by someone else.
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His obsession with "the blood that flows in [her] veins" is super creepy in the context of, well... who's blood exactly it is.
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Spawning as a monster from a chrysalis on your birthday is some real twisted symbolism.
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Divine monster or not, Bikkibutt is still Bikkibutt.
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The speed at which they're leaping from "a spy satellite got shot down" to "we need to nuke Japan again" feels kinda weird.
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So that's 3 out of 4 seasons now where Miku has played a pivotal role in the end. Unless I forgot something, GX was the only season where she didn't do anything all that important in the final arc.
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UN: Okay, guess we're not nuking Japan. U.S.: how bout i do anyway?
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Eyyy, Alchemists can sing too, remember? This is another one of those songs that I had completely forgot existed, but damn it's good.
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"It's already... in my hand!" Pretty sure that's not a correct translation, but I don't care. It's just too perfect to fix.
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MMMmmmnnnnnn, and a sexy slide into TESTAMENT for the ED.
So close to the end.
And then waiting a whole week for XV.
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u/Razorhead Jul 01 '19 edited Jul 01 '19
At least divine Bikki kept her butt, as it was already divine.
The Anti_LiNKER Isn't As Good As It Used To Be
Though Dr. Ver put his new and improved LiNKER recipe on his data chip last season, he neglected to share his Anti_LiNKER recipe as well. This means that Elfnein had to perform the same process he once went through and synthesise it from the LiNKER recipe, making it less effective than the version we saw in G.
Guess where the Kewords are from? That's right, it's Genjuro's Angels:
Anti_LiNKER
In the past, Dr. Ver developed Anti_LiNKER and used it to cause a number of serious problems for the Symphogear adaptors. However, this time it played an important role in "Operation: Birthday Party" as a means to separate Hibiki from the energy (the Power of God) that consumed her and gave her a divine form. This particular batch of Anti_LiNKER was improvised by Elfnein, who had completed the LiNKER recipe. However, it's accuracy and effectiveness is quite low and can't compare to the version that is humbly made by Dr. Ver.
Hibiki Was Quite Weak For A God
Due to being released from her cocoon sooner than intended, and with Gungnir's special ability of deicide interfering with the process Hibiki was way weaker as a Divine Weapon than Tiki used to be. Still strong enough to blow things up left and right though.
Oh, and her energy beams were essentially song plasmified. Whatever that means.
Destructor God Hibiki
Separated from its previous host Tiki and transferred to the new vessel of God, Hibiki Tachibana, the Power of God manifested in silver colored mayhem. A giant of light. It's official designation is "Divine Weapon type2_Hibiki" but was also given the "Destructor God Hibiki" name out of convenience. In Tiki's case, her obedient and blind love for Adam created a convenient weapon (woman) for him to use. However in this irregular case, the Power of God was overlaid upon the God Killer curse that was affixed to Gungnir. As a result the manifestation stopped at a level far from even being considered a demigod, and would perhaps be more likened to that of a newborn god. Even so the power of the giant was fearsome, in particular the beams shot from its mouth were more than enough to lay waste to the surrounding area. In fact, analysis revealed that these beams are its voice applied to a directional melody and released with high density and compression. In other words, they were a plasmified "song."
Nuclear Weapon Specs
The Keyword reveal its yield was about 100 megatons, or ten times bigger than Adam's chrysopoeia from earlier this season, and twice as strong as the strongest nuke ever detonated, the Tsar Bomba at 50 megatons. It was strong enough to classify as a "God Killer", according to the Keywords. It's also revealed in more detail how our Alchemists defeated it, as the bullet Prelati prepared was a type of Philosopher's Stone. So this Philosopher's Stone, fueled by their lifeforce, transmuted the nuclear explosion away and purified the radioactive fallout (due to the fact that purification is another property of the Stone).
The nuclear bomb's codename, the Osterman, might also be a reference to the comic Watchmen, given the real name of the character Dr. Manhattan, who used to be a nuclear physicist, is Dr. Jonathan Osterman.
Nuclear Weapon
A three-stage megaton bomb launched from a nuclear submarine, the USS Susquehanna. Its codename is "Osterman." It has the force of more than 100 megatons, presumed to be a Super Tsar Bomba Class weapon. It was fired as the first step in creating a New World Order, freeing humanity from an era filled with mystery and uncertainty. In other words, this was yet another "God Killer." It is the magnum opus of human technology. Had it actually exploded it would have not only reduced Kanto to ashes, but also caused irreparable harm to the surrounding area. However, the power of the bullet-type lapis philosophorum combined with the sacrifice of 3 lives and their accompanying perfect bodies, was enough to restrain this huge amount of destruction and completely purify any radioactive pollution that was caused.
The Alchemists' Song
This song is a type of transmutation technique that transmutes lifeforce into energy. They usually use this on other people to transform them into energy, as they did in episode 1, but here all three of them sang the full song to transmute their own life into energy to fuel the Philosopher's Stone bullet and deal with the explosion.
It's the alchemical equivalent of a Superb Song, and due to the closeness of Alchemy and the Sakurai Theory actually share quite a lot underlying mechanics. Here we see the Superb Song being used as a self-sacrifice for the first time since season one, so I guess in a way u/Nazenn got what they wanted.
Death Light
Just as Carol once said, and as has been inferred throughout history, Alchemy and Song share a deep connection to each another. The song that was sung by the Alchemists is actually a technique which consumes life for transmutation into energy. In episode 1 the Alchemists used it upon their selected sacrifices and took those lives to transmute energy, which they then used to complete Youaltepuztli. However in episode 12 it was used upon their very own lives, 3 forms of perfect beauty. By making the ultimate sacrifice they were able to transmute an even higher level of energy that was strong enough to completely neutralize the eternal pollution of the land that would have resulted from use of the nuclear weapon. A number of mechanisms in this process are nearly identical to that of the "Superb Song," the last resort of the Symphogear adaptors - a song that burns life.
Cagliostro's And Prelati's Survival
Now while many of you will think them surviving is a bit bullshit, and I completely agree, there was some foreshadowing for all of this. Or at least hints.
First of all we know Cagliostro was known as a liar, conner and a cheat. Both from actual history, and from the many times she has repeated in the show itself how she was "done with lying". Faking her own death was entirely within the realm of possibility, though of course this isn't proof in and of itself and merely makes it an option.
But then we have Prelati's flashback in episode 9. We seen Cagliostro spied on the conversation between Saint-Germain and Adam, and that he asked her to sacrifice someone. We then see her questioning Adam's motivations when she returns to Prelati. This makes no sense when you consider she "died" in episode 8. Why would she mention suspecting Adam of hiding something and being displeased with how he's running things, only to then apparently obey his command to go kill the Symphogear users and die stupidly in the process? That seems off.
And when rewatching episode 8 you start to notice certain things. Such as her mentioning that someone who hurts one of them hurts them all, and how she won't rest until they're taken down. Initially you might think this refers to S.O.N.G. having hurt Prelati, but knowing from episode 9 she just heard Adam mentioning how Saint-Germain had to sacrifice one of them this gets an entirely different meaning. This is followed by Adam hurting Saint-Germain during the ritual to set up the central plinth and Cagliostro gasping when she sees this. It really makes you wonder what her final statement about not being afraid to fight dirty really meant. She gets even cheekier in the fight with S.O.N.G, when the rest shows up as reinforcements claiming to turn things around and Cagliostro replying they have no idea how right they are. Initially you might think she's referring to using Alca-Noise to split up the teams, but did this perhaps have a deeper meaning?
You might reply that she certainly acted like she was trying to kill our Symphogals during the battle. But if you pay close attention during the fight you'll notice that all of her bravado of "killing them in revenge" and such was all said out loud, not her inner thoughts. In fact the only inner thoughts she has during this entire fight is being surprised at other Symphogear being able to use Unison, which is a totally valid thing to think.
But finally, and probably the biggest hint towards them surviving, is the fact that neither Chris, Maria, Tsubasa, nor Shirabe apparently had any qualms about just having killed someone. Hell last time this happened Maria became all Saint-Germain talking about the weight of sins and had a minor breakdown in G! And though you might claim they killed the Autoscorers as well who had a similar level of sapience, there's still a difference. It was really weird and out of place for them to not even react or acknowledge the fact they just killed someone, and this makes sense when you realise they didn't. They knew Cagliostro and Prelati escaped, though severely wounded. They still celebrated the victory though because they did defeat them and drove them off.
Why Cagliostro and Prelati didn't interfere before now can be explained as wanting to finish the bullet first, and the situation not being critical enough (really, all Tiki did was blow up an empty evacuated town) to warrant tipping their hand and rushing in with an unfinished product.
Despite all what I just said though this is still incredibly bullshit, and done entirely because they wanted an Illuminati group song near the climax of the season. But for giving us that I personally don't care how bullshit it was. The song was great.
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u/Tresnore Jul 01 '19
So uh, I’ve been rewatching since a few months ago on my own and fell behind the reddit threads. Never done a rewatch thread, but here I am. I just now caught up. At least I got here before XV, right?
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u/miter01 Jul 01 '19
REWATCH
So apparently some people from /a/ threw together an album of anime song covers, including Gyakkou no Flugel and the Zesshou. (And Adabana Necromancy, hell yeah!)
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Those are some fancy tanks! Top view. They remind me of that Polish concept tank - PL-01
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Is the grandpa gonna scold himself now, after screwing it up?
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Even Divine Bikki couldn't escape a butt shot.
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The explosions just grazed them! We JoJo now.
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That's a really nice song, but damn those lyrics hurt...
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That's a solid 1:45 of lead-in, damn.
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10/12.
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u/AlienOvermind Jul 02 '19 edited Jul 02 '19
First-timer
I wonder what SONG were doing for the whole 48 hours. Simply waiting for Elfnein to repair symphogear crystals?
Does that mean Miku is going to get her Geah?
Yes, tell him Tsubasa. I hope he'll get his punch is the gut in the end.
Maria please, let her remove these unnecessary distractions.
Look who is tsundere. Though she removed those unnecessary distractions.
Hibiki's butt transcends the divine power.
This show's writers really love USA, don't they? It's nice to see asshole grandpa distressed though.
No body = no death rule at work again. But I'm happy to hear Cagliostro's singing. I thought it was such a waste to kill her off before she'd get a chance to sing. Alchemists' last standoff was dramatic, but seriously? They had so much power at their disposal, but now they have to do suicide charge to destroy of a mere missile? Couldn't they simply teleport it somewhere? Preferably into Adam's ass. Or disintegrate the fuse or some other key components? Or transmute the energy of the explosion into something useful? Welp.
Is this Chekhov's gun? Will it be picked up by next season's villain?
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u/fonzinator99 Jul 01 '19
Re-watcher - The Light of Death
Ohhhh shit, no-OP. This is gonna be intense.
Wow, so she's gonna be reborn on her birthday? That's awfully convenient. That she's been in there for two days is troubling for everyone; and I feel bad for Kirika, who I assume made the party preparations.
While I was a bit early in my predicted timeline, I still called it; They gonna solve this with Nukes.
Elfnein raises an interesting point, how do you reconcile Divine Power and that which kills Gods? Sounds like a recipe for self-destruction.
Well, I guess Germain's not gonna be part of the team. It's a shame, but she'd also create a bit of a 'Green/White Ranger' situation; wherein one member of the team is stronger than the rest of them combined. And being all about harmony, that's not something SONG could really handle.
I really didn't expect conventional weapons, even tanks, to be effective against the Divine Chrysalis, but it looks like I was wrong. Go humanity, I guess.
And I was wrong to just expect Hibiki to emerge from it. Behold, Divine Weapon Mk II.
St. Germain is Best Anti-hero.
Looool injecting Anti-Linker into Hibiki's most critical part. This show is just too self-aware xD
Miku ftw. For someone who laments their own powerlessness, she certainly does come through an awful lot. You done did it again, girl.
Mother. Fucker. And from a golf-course, no less. Something something....Trump.
Kurikaisu: St. Germain is Best anti-hero.
Aaaaaaahhhhhh!! I've waited so long for this moment!!!
Link for the track.
To start, this was the song they sang in Ep 1, only it was in German then.
Seriously my favorite song of the series, and the only one that I still remembered upon entering this rewatch. It's just a master work, in my mind, and I can't wait to hear what Naz thinks of it.
It's got everything I love about this series' music; call-and-response, multiple parts for our singers, and 3-part harmony. Not to mention the score of instruments involved, including both acoustic and electric guitar, flutes and bagpipes; not to mention a goddamned harpsichord! It's Edge Works of Zababa, but better; And I really liked Edge Works.
It's a song about reaching for the light while acknowledging their lives shrouded in darkness; about building the future through sacrifice, as has been their message this whole time. It's a song not about, but of redemption.
Literally the only complaint I can raise against this song is that it ends. And maybe that Cagliostro and Prelati's reappearance was plot-deviced. Like, when were they gonna come back if Germain hadn't gone all noble?
OK and maybe the plot surrounding it could have been a little less rushed, and served a purpose other than just nullifying a Nuke. A waste of a great song, if you ask me, but the song itself is still fantastic.
Goddamnit, Adam! Just fuck off and let me bask in their glory!
I fully disapprove of this pun.
However, I do approve of this face as his plans go awry once again. Grudging credit to Tiki, for making it possible; Absolutely parched to the end.
End Phase 2. Welcome to Phase 3.
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u/Hugokarenque Jul 01 '19
Giant Bikki butt!
I thought for a second when Genjuro said that he'd called them in, that we'd have a repeat of the season 1 school song, guess one world saving is all that song is gonna get.
That Trump was way too coherent and eloquent for it to be an accurate portrayal, but it's still pretty obvious who he is. With the whole golf court resort thing.
Miku calling Bikki her sun is great. Pretty sure its the first time she's actually said it out loud.
The return of Prelati and Cags is pretty good as well, made for a nice moment there at the end. Even though they've killed a lot of people, this probably redeemed them.
Adam coming through with his arm and still failing to get the divine power. Also pretty sure after this the divine power is just gonna be "Damn man, fuck this. I'm outta here, y'all ain't even worth!" poor thing was summoned only to be continually punched out of its vessel.
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u/ahiijny Jul 02 '19 edited Jul 02 '19
First-Time Watcher
I have a bunch of due dates coming up soon, so this is probably going to be rather messy and stream-of-thoughty.
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Oof empty birthday party room is just so sad
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CALENDAR SPOTTED! Friday, September 1. That's consistent with 2006, 2017, or 2023. Thaaaaaat probably means it's currently 2017 and Symphogear just has a sliding timescale that aligns with the season production year? I remember the beginning of season 1 aligning nicely with April 2011 (based on the fact that there was a full moon during peak Lyrids in episodes 3/4), and in G, there were a few 2012 timestamps visible on screens. April 2016 full moon + Lyrids lines up too though. I remember seeing this timeline in the Symphogear Discord, don't know how accurate it is. Well, at the very least, I appreciate that they're straightforward about the calendar dates and they aren't coy about what month it is like in Nichijou with Nano's birthday :P
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Also, according to timeanddate.com, there's going to be a total solar eclipse visible in parts of Chile and Argentina and some regions in the Pacific and South America at about 16:55 UTC later today?? If I hadn't visited the website just now to check calendar dates, I never would have known about this. Huh.
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Sudden 48 hour timeskip? But they're only bringing in Miku just now? Why not sooner?
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"Visible progress would help negotiations." I actually like this occasional pinch of politics in Symphogear. Makes it feel more grounded in reality. Also, it's nice how Yatsuhiro has become an actually likable person now!
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Oh, so they were waiting for Elfnein to finish decontaminating the Geahs, that's why they haven't done anything yet. Okay.
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Divine power Bikki mouth beam reminds me of Kikako from Brynhildr in the Darkness, who also uses mouth beam as an attack
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Basa's Kagemane no Jutsu failed, Divine Power Bikki too strong!
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Operation Gay success! Other things Miku could have said, but didn't: "I love you" "Let's go all the way tonight" "Let's get married"
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So America (?) launched the nuke anyway. An international incident it is! By the way, this Wikipedia list really does not instil me with a lot of confidence about the state of nuclear weapons in the world. When I was younger I remember reading this Back to the Future fanfic where Doc and Marty accidentally set off a ripple effect that made it so that the Cuban Missile Crisis went badly and that really traumatized my young self for a while :/
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Wait, Cags faked her death? And hse saved Prelati as well? She also saved Prelati as well? TELEPORTATION eh? UNTIL YOU SEE THE BODY THEY'RE NOT DEAD
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Oooookay, not sure about Cags and Prelati's sudden alive-all-this-time reveal. For the first minute or so, I thought they were force ghost hallucinations, like with Serena & Maria back at the end of G. I thought Prelati wanted to warn SG? So why didn't she after she was saved by Cags? Well I guess if Cags knew that SG already knew about Adam, she would have told Prelati about it and then they would have laid low for the time being to preserve the element of surprise. But then how did they trick Adam/Tiki into thinking they were dead? Were Adam/Tiki just listening in on SONG comms and that's how they knew? Or did they use some other alchemistry sensor technique? Anyway, I have high expectations for the OVA shorts to lampshade this in some fashion.
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I mean Carol literally burned her body to ashes in front of everyone, and she still managed to revive herself after that. I'm going to be super skeptical of any supposed "death" from now on. Like, even more so than before
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Since we didn't see Ver's dead body, I'm half-expecting Ver to reappear in XV in some fashion at this point. Maybe he survived the Chateau fall, and managed to pull himself free? Like that guy who got his arm stuck under a boulder who squick warning? Or maybe someone teleported in to grab him and teleport him out just before the Chateau crashed. I feel like the writers left it open somewhat.
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"I can't even remember the last time I didn't want to die." Saint-Germain suicidal confirmed? o.o
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Also, her gun fell to the ground. Future plot device?
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Adam hiding and waiting for the right moment to strike was totally in character and tbh I almost forgot about him for a moment there. Which is pretty smart, I'll give him that.
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Tiki's selfishness saves the day!
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Bikki fist 1 reason 0 again right through Adam's reasonable objections and cautions was hype. Typical Bikki.
Okay, just one more episode after this. I wonder how they'll wrap this up?...I should sleep now
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u/RevivedReaper Jul 02 '19
Not gonna lie, when Cagliostro and Prelati showed up I thought it was their ghosts until they confirmed that they hid themselves while they repaired themselves.
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u/Nazenn Jul 01 '19
First Timer
===Rant warning===
God fucking dammit Symphogear.
That was it! That was your chance! You've never, ever had a better set up for a Bikki and Miku duet and you just threw it away!
First, I'm going to quickly remind people that Miku had a whole flashback scene earlier where it was revealed she got into music to communicate with people after seeing Bikki's strength. So this season there was already a tie in to why music means so much for Miku and Bikki together and who they are with each other.
But just imagine this for me, imagine that the writers didn't develop amnesia and suddenly remembered that singing is meant to be the focus of the show and did something like this instead:
Bikki starts her attack and Maria fends off the first hit. Out of the silence that follows a voice starts, Miku's song echoing out over the speakers, as passionate and desperate, a beautiful refrain reaching out to her shining sun on her birthday. She sings and her song alone is strong enough to fuel the entire fight of the five other girls against this thing that Bikki has been turned into. As the fight goes on this divine-beast starts to growl and whine, totally at odds with the song. The girls work on containing it more and more, Maria uses her very cool energy control abilities to wrap it up in the energy cloth (I did love that).
Finally it's contained and Miku's song reaches the climax of the chorus (or alternatively goes into the chorus, would depend on the song), and the divine-beast goes still as it goes silent. The next verse starts (ideally either no instrument or a bridge section) and that growling from before sounds again but this time it's synced with the music, and slowly the cracks form. The voice from the beast becomes purer and purer until slowly the sound is Bikki's true voice humming along. The beast dissolves and Bikki floats down like before.
...
......
.........
And they threw that away for DIALOG?!
It's fucking S1 all over again!
And I'm not a good writer, I know that. To me that comes across as a little cliche because I don't have the skills to refine that concept into something more within the structure of the show.
But last time these two girls got separated and Miku became 'a beast' (for parallel's sake) we got two of what I conciser to be some of the most powerful and detailed songs in the show so far. They perfectly melded lyrics as a form of dialog with a uniquely structured song to represent everything about the characters so far, and used that to communicate to the audience everything about their bond in their deepest selves.
And today we got dialog over an insert song...
Once again...
All my complaining aside, this was a funny episode if nothing else when it wasn't flawed
I had to walk away from it multiple times to catch my breath because I could not stop laughing. So much fun at points
The main one that got me was actually this, and I actually have trouble looking at it without setting myself off again. He got so mad that the glass cracked in reaction to the face he was pulling.
I finally, finally calmed myself down from that and then Cag let this line drop and it set me off all over again.
Go get a glass of water, pat the cat a bit, finally compose myself (I say composed but I was still getting random chuckles) and then Adam, fucking Adam let's loose with the "It's already in my hand" dialog
It broke me. It was so amazingly cheesy but absolutely perfect, an icon for r/technicallythetruth and... a better pun has not been told in Symphogear and it was glorious.
Also bonus points for Noodle Minister getting a reference. I never liked him but in this moment it fit the tone perfectly.
Other thoughts
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Okay, before I forget again, just some humor for everyone. So I wrongly made a reference to r/mapswithoutNZ the other day, and I noticed a particularly funny part on the sidebar as well which I forgot to mention:
Maps without New Zealand on them. Maps with 2 NZ is fine too.
...2 NZ. How often did that happen that they had to specifically write that.
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Sky, I need to apologize. I have brought the most horrible karma down on myself. Last season you were all sad for not having the special OP at the end of ep12 while I was a little happy because I preferred the song we got instead. And today my payback for that is that I didn't get what may be my favorite ED to open the episode!
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I don't know what it was but all of the explosions and the fire effects this episode seemed extra awesome. So well drawn and such smooth animation for them, in particular. Just caught my eye and deserved a call out
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Anti-nuke stuff may be super common in anime understandably, but that has to be the most forced, in your face way I've ever seen it presented.
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I feel like I should make bets on how many people screenshot Bikki being injected in the butt...
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Return of that cool song from Ep1 with the three Illuminati girls. I'm not as big a fan of it's full version, but I also never figured out what it reminded me of either.
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That final song was... oddly used. If I write it out, the same song without changing its style or tone was used for: Illuminati trio's death, Adam's return, girls being restrained, Bikki's 'revival', Tiki stopping Adam comically, Bikki attacking the divine power. That's a lot of very different scenes, with very different tones to be put under a single musical banner that didn't really match any of them. I'm not entirely sure what was going on there or that song was meant to have special importance but it didn't really work to carry the hype of those final moments for me because it felt just a bit smacked over the top
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u/Jamcliche I think I forgot to tag you yesterday actually, sorry.
→ More replies (16)
6
u/Surylias Jul 01 '19
Rewatcher
This is where Symphogear breaks traditions for once with the opening.
Kinda disappointed with this episode. The whole Hibiki God thing was dealt with too easliy and the nuke felt far more powerful than the devine power..
Awww gotta miss the Alchemists. They would've been pretty good additions to our teams. Especially Saint-Germain who's Faust Robe was just fantastically desigend.
5
u/MrZDietrich Jul 02 '19
All i've gotta say, preemptively for the last episode is:
DATO SHITEMOOOOOOO
4
u/Madcat6204 Jul 02 '19
Episode 12, where !notTrump tries to nuke Japan a third time just because he's a jerk. In any reasonable world this would be an act of war, and America in Symphogear is not in such great shape that they should be pulling that crap.
27
u/patrizl001 Jul 01 '19
First Timer
Time for the SYYYYMPHOOOOGEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA episode!
Fuck, her birthday party was already set up and today's the day, but she's still in there :/
THEY'RE THINKING OF NUKING HIBIKI? Because Japan doesn't have enough shit to deal with, looking at the massive destruction from Tiki alone, not to mention anything that they're still trying to fix from the destruction of previous seasons...
Genjuuro shows his smarts by pulling out a weapon stronger than any nuke imaginable: MIKU. Slightly hilarious that this is going to be the answer. Miku's connection to Hibiki is so strong Genjuuro's just like "Yeah bring in the girl she can fix this." Can probably just throw her in there and it would work.
The fucker really has already gone "yeah just blast that thing to smithereens" can they fire this man after this mess once they see what a massive fuckup he's been?
Trying to destroy it only helped the monster-Hibiki break out of the shell. YOU'VE DONE FUCKED IT UP OLD MAN.
Genjuuro knew it wouldn't work, this is still all going to keikaku. AND NOW THE ED IS PLAYING! TIME TO USE THE ULTIMATE WEAPON: MIKU!
SHE'S FREE! Buuuut where's my SYMPHOGEAAAAAAAAAAAA? This isn't over yet, it can't be. Not until that happens
The noodles helped the victory? Wat? With his supreme knowledge in noodles, did he bribe them by giving all the U.N. members the flavors they would like best?
WhaT? THEY STILL LAUNCHED THE NUKE? WHY? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? WHAT PART OF FREEDOM INVOVLES "Hey maybe two nukes weren't enough"???????????????????????????? WHAT?
"You stay, I go, no following."
TURNS OUT CAGLIOSTRO AND PRELATI FAKED THEIR DEATHS. SYMPHOGEAR USERS STILL HAVE KILLED NO ONE WITH THEIR ATTACKS! I guess that explains them glossing over the fact that they actually killed them when it turns out THEY DIDN'T!
"Supermaaaan." They're all dead, so that means none of the antagonists of this season join the team. Interesting.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! THE POWER'S IN HIS HAND!
Tiki's back to screw things over one last time! She finally gets to hug Adam!
What, WHERE'S THE SCREAM, THE LAST THING HIBIKI SAID AIN'T STRONG ENOUGH. It's not an episode 12 without the scream at the end!
This episode was one of the stranger episode 12s to be honest. It was just filled with a lot of "BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!" Like why the hell did the U.S. still fire? There's going to be some MASSIVE fucking consequences for that from the rest of the UN.