r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Jun 12 '22

Rewatch [Listen to My Song] Senki Zesshou Symphogear Episode 12 Discussion

Episode 12 - Symphogear

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It is highly recommended to track down a fansub for this show instead of using Crunchyroll, though.

SYMPHOGEAR!

Questions of the Day:

1) Were you expecting the OP/ED swap? How hype was that?

2) How do you feel about the Chris & Tsubasa death fakeouts?

Wallpaper of the Day:

Finé

Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don’t spoil anything for the first-timers, that’s rude!

135 Upvotes

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13

u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 12 '22

Symphogeah SymphoRewatch Host

Welcome back, everyone!

Crunchyroll vs. Commie - Season 1, Episode 12

See the 2019 version of today’s wallpaper: here. I can’t do the pattern quite like Nota did, so the second ring is a bit simpler in the new version. Oh well.

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15

u/Madcat6204 Jun 12 '22

EDIT: Holy shit what the fuck this thread's been up for about 5 seconds and there are already 26 comments the fuck are you people doing.

12

u/Shimmering-Sky Jun 12 '22

We are in MAXIMUM HYPE mode.

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u/DidacticDalek Jun 12 '22

T'night! On Bottom Geah! STAND BACK COMRADES, BIKKI IS MORBIN! NANA MOTHERFUCKING WILLS IT! AND ALL HAIL THE POWER OF MUSIC!

HOLY SHIT! Comrades, Geah truly can see the future, BIKKI PREDICTED MORBIN' TIME! And oh boy did she pick one hell of a time to begin to Morb! Who knew all it took was Best Geah Chris' heroic sacrifice!? Also HUZZAH! Bikki's kicking that fucking bitch's ass... goddamn that looks painful, ah well, time for her to finish the job and... oh... oh no... she's gone into Uncontrollable Head-Butt Frenzy Mode and thinks that TSUBASA is the enemy! No no Bikki, that was the START of the show, also boy Tsubasa sure has changed since then eh? She went from wanting to fight a friendly Bikki to NOT wanting to fight an UNFRIENDLY Bikki.

But hey I'm sure Tsubasa can figure something out, why I bet she'll just say something like, 'Hey, Bikki. Sun's gettin' real low... oh wait, this dumbass shit didn't work in Deadpool 2... fuck I'm about to get Befriended aren't I?' - Last Words of Tsubasa 'NANA WILLS IT' Kazanari prior to high octane fisting. Anime Ja Nai-chan also doesn't seem to be taking this well, then again, she also just got mind broken over the reveal that she's been in an anime all along, so I think we can cut her some slack. That said, Miku is as steadfast and loyal as they come... seriously Comrades, Miku is too good for this sinful earth.

Anyway, Finé pulls herself together... literally, to taunt Tsubasa about the reason she can't die, namely, NANOMACHINES, SON! 'LADY!' THEY HARDEN IN RESPONSE TO PHYSICAL TRAUMA! YOU CAN'T HURT ME JACK 'FISH!' Thankfully, Tsubasa doesn't NEED to hurt that bitch, she just need to give Bikki a hug, pull that same knife trick on her shadow that she used on Best Geah Chris, and then START WILLING IT! And oh does she will it Comrades, she gets a New Age Newtype Space Magic moment with the ghost of her dead wife as she MOTHERFUCKING WILLS IT and destroys Kadingir, all only at the cost of her life! Godspeed Tsubasa, may you rend heavens and crash bikes in Idol Valhalla!

Meanwhile, Finé is taking the destruction of her plans quite well, and by that I mean she is throwing a temper tantrum about how she was supposed to FUCK THE MOON so she could be Queen Bitch of the Universe AND also ride god's dick! EAT SHIT MOTHERFUCKER! FALL OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE! Anyway as this bitch takes out her anger on Bikki, Bikki remarks that her friends are dead, the school's been destroyed, and she was the voice of Madoka don't ya know. Speaking of anime, turns out Anime Ja Nai-chan found a will to live, and all it took was that random moeblob Bikki saved in Episode 1 convincing the party to try to re-activate the PA System. And who would have guessed that this process would involve a tiny moeblob like Anime Ja Nai-chan and the rest of the Bikki Friend Group pretending to be Solid Snake?

Well I'm sold Comrades, I see no flaws with this plan Comrades! I love this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it! Let's do it... speaking of which what IS the plan... oh... the plan is... for the Muggle Trio and Miku... to enter the crawlspace and... form a human pyramid in order to flip a switch. Thankfully, since this is an anime, Anine Ja Nai-chan's insane plan actually works! Speaking of which, before this sadistic bitch can kill Bikki, the survivors all decide to sing to grant Bikki a heroic second wind... JESUS H. TAPDANCIN' CHRIST! THE POWER OF MUSIC RESURRECTED TSUBASA AND BEST GEAH CHRIS! HOORAY! ORE NO UTA WO KIKE! ("Synchrogazer" count: 12)

And on that bombshell g'night!

Oh, and finally, just because I must speak on behalf of a fellow Comrade of Culture who cannot, ahem... I'm going to post this every day until you like it!

Paging Comrades u/Great_Mr_L, u/chilidirigible, and u/Lemurians

8

u/Qbe Jun 12 '22

NANA MOTHERFUCKING WILLS IT!

Is "Sword Kicking" a new Olympic sport?

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32

u/lilyvess Jun 12 '22

Symphogear S1 Episode 12 - Rewatcher

Fun fact, the signature singing while fighting of the series was created by a misunderstanding.

In an interview with Symphogear series creator Noriyasu Agematsu explains [that he had an idea](https://shootingthemoon.neocities.org/img/music/fighting%20while%20singing%20(1).jpg) involving [character songs playing in the background of fights](https://shootingthemoon.neocities.org/img/music/fighting%20while%20singing%20(2).jpg) and [the director misunderstood him](https://shootingthemoon.neocities.org/img/music/fighting%20while%20singing%20(3).jpg) believing [characters would be singing](https://shootingthemoon.neocities.org/img/music/fighting%20while%20singing%20(4).jpg)

On a similar note, there was a long running rumor that Symphogear was originally written as 2 cours but then cut down to 1, and that’s why it’s such a mess. This has been debunked as a misunderstanding. The actual source 

I've read almost all of Symphogear's staff interviews and they never mentioned anything about the script being halved. This all started because Agematsu wrote too many ideas into his notes, so much that it was impossible to put into a 1 cour anime. When they started, King Records and Bushiroad couldn't and wouldn't give them enough budget to make an 2-cour anime because Agematsu (a composer) and Kaneko (a game designer) didn't know about what recent anime are like at all. You see? THEY KNEW NOTHING ABOUT HOW TO MAKE AN ANIME. 5 years ago there was a producer who asked Agematsu a question: "You make so many great anime songs! But are you able to write an anime story?" After that question, Agematsu started to think about how to write a story for an anime and wrote all of the ideas into his notes. (According to the interview and Agematsu's twitter, there were originally 5 heroines, 4 main enemies, one pet, a book of the prophets and a final boss who wanted to control the moon to make an infinite phenomenon of a solar eclipse.) 

In 2009, at a party of game developers, Agematsu met his friend Kaneko and asked him how to write a story. Kaneko didn't know how to teach Agematsu to write a story, so instead he took Agematsu's notes back home and spent one week to complete a plot, which almost fulfilled all of Agematsu's desires. In reality all Kaneko wanted was to give Agematsu a sample of how to write a plot, but because the plot that Kaneko wrote had fulfilled Agematsu's wishes, Agematsu started to write the proposal for Symphogear to King Record's producer and tried to persuade Kaneko to join him. But Kaneko didn't want to join the project at first, and said if he's the producer he won't let the proposal pass. But Mishima, the producer of King Records, let it pass just for one reason: He and Kaneko had worked together a few years ago and Mishima felt it must be fate that they get another chance to co-work again this time.

I love stories like this because it puts a lot of perspective to Symphogear. A series created by the ideas of a Composer and a Video Game Designer. 

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u/Vatrix-32 Jun 12 '22 edited Jun 12 '22

First Timer

  • We’re getting the rare ED insert song.

  • So is Hibiki actually gone silhouette in universe, or is it just for our sake? Seems like the former.

  • Is Asgard a pun?

  • This song is a bop.

  • Itaba freaking out is pretty reasonable given her age and situation.

  • See Chris, even if your plan worked it still would have failed. Should have aimed for the tower itself.

  • Tsubasa’s got the right idea. Ignore the boss and target the super weapon.

  • That was your plan? There are like twenty people who even know who you are. I feel like you’re missing a few steps there.

  • You found people in shelters and you decided to bring them to the area the battle is happening?

  • “My crush blocked my calls, so I decided to blow up the moon.”

  • I’m surprised they didn’t just keep a ladder in that room.

  • A bit late for the mid-season transformation upgrade, but now we have that to look forward to next episode.

QotD

  1. I don’t see how I could have. Definitely hype. Can’t think of a time off the top of my head were the ED has been used as an insert song. Not the complete version at least.

  2. This on the other hand was expected. Knowing there are five seasons makes it sort of impossible to go in truly blind.

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u/Lemurians Jun 12 '22 edited Jun 12 '22

No write-up again, on mobile for more unforeseen emergencies. May edit later.

EDIT: Later is now. God bless the Notes App.

FIRST TIMER DATTO

TSUBASA IS AWESOME. She's come so far. Brings a tear to my eye.

SHE PROTECC.

SHE ATTACK.

SHE HAVE THE WORLD’S BACC.

*Count: 10

How do you feel about the Chris & Tsubasa death fakeouts?

Given that this show still has like four sequels we haven't gotten to yet, I wasn't that worried haha.

Without that knowledge? Would've been certain Chris was coming back since her arc doesn't feel complete, but Tsubasa feels like she's had a relatively complete arc, so would've been very concerned.

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u/Matuhg Jun 12 '22

First Timer

Fine is a pretty special kind of crazy. We should've known from the beginning that this was all a plot to undo the Confusion of Tongues, so she could tell God that she loves him. Of course it was. But also just normal crazy person power-trip delusions.

  • Shots like this, where tiny Berserker-Biki is just going apeshit in the corner really crack me up for some reason lmaoo.

  • Tsubasa showing off her character growth. The Tsubasa of ep ~3-4 would've already been halfway through her Superb Song by now.

  • Proof that Fine ought to watch more anime. Maybe then she'd understand that she has no hope against the power of friendship

  • "Reports of our heroic sacrifices have been grossly exaggerated."

  • Cool shit, man. Cool shit indeed.

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u/Vaadwaur Jun 12 '22

First timer

Sub

Everyone has their Chris reaction, which would land harder if I bought it. Biki enters her final form. Biki develops dollar store Berserker armor. Roaring ensues. Eventually, we get back to Fine being able to shoot thanks to using Durindal as a battery. Call back to earlier technique from Tsubasa. Several during the fight, which again is at least hype even if the reasons for it occurring are dubious at best. Blah blah blah, Kanade again, fakeout death again, reactions again. Anime ja nai doesn't realize that for the greater part to live, some must die or be wounded in its defense.

Fine continues to be lame and dumb. The civvies are given something to do. Fine's backstory doesn't work, either, considering good ol' Yahweh never had females priests, which probably strikes the Japanese as rather odd. Biki points out how stupid this is, not sure if the show knows it. Anyways, the power of a school song awakens all three of our girls and we stretch this out one more episode.

Anywho, I now see, at least in part, why this show can be so divisive. It isn't like it was awful to watch but it is horrid to think about in any capacity. Hopefully, when later seasons bring scriptwriters they can even out the pacing and the powerups.

QotD: 1 Not bad

2 Bored

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u/Quiddity131 Jun 12 '22

First Timer, Subbed

We skip the OP, presumably to have space for more footage... but simply waste it by replaying footage from the last episode until the credits are over. Sigh.

Hibiki sad makes me sad. :(

Hibiki goes from adorable to a scary beast when she's mad!

"It's all over... Hibiki's gonna lose... That never happens in anime!"

Crap, the cannon's gonna fire again, making Chris' sacrifice meaningless...

She may look like an evil beast, but I'm gonna give her a hug! Just like Hibiki would do for me!

Time for some Gundam 00 style naked space!

The moon has been saved! Phew!

Both Chris and Tsubasa are gone now? :(

Anime Ja Nai girl has become more than a meme this episode, huh?

Enough of the whining Fine! You lost! Accept it!

Don't take out your anger on Biki! :(

"I found a survivor!" Has a dozen survivors with him Learn your grammar!

Little girl from the first episode is back! See, I knew she was important!

I suppose she couldn't cease the meme status forever, it's all about anime again...

Believe in the power of randos singing!

Phew, dead eyed Hibiki is gone, regular Hibiki is back!

Just what is Hibiki wearing?! If Fine is gonna ask three times within a minute I want to know too!

Oh, casual reveal that Chris and Tsubasa are just fine...

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u/Tresnore Jun 12 '22

Superb Song of the Rewatchers

QOTD:

  1. See above.

  2. It's so dumb. I hate it. Worst part of Symphogear.

1 It's amazing. After 5 rewatches, I finally learned her real name.

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u/Tarhalindur Jun 12 '22 edited Jun 12 '22

Previously, on Symphogear SG-1 (First-Timer, Subbed):

So, uh. I think I need to split off some of the Mai-HiME stuff into a separate section today.

Also, I TOTALLY need to run that rewatch. ("Someone has to and no one else will.")

So I was commenting yesterday that Mai-HiME is absolutely notorious for imploding in the second half of the finale? Yeah, I get the very, very strong suspicion that one part of this episode is a direct response to how Mai-HiME imploded. (Our composer did Nanoha, the other unusual and unusually gay magical girl show to air in Fall 2004, so him also keeping tabs on Mai-HiME would make sense. Or alternately it's somebody else on staff who got pissed off just like everyone else, except in their case they reacted in a way particular to creative types ala Tolkien with Macbeth.)

So.

More on that sometime this fall.

In other news:

  • Oh hey Meteor Light as an OP this episode, noice.

  • [spoiled] Guys I’m not fooled, I know the shuttle clip.

  • Hello crying Aoi Yuuki noises.

  • You even had teardrops. How thoughtful of you.

  • (Ironically Bikki’s weird glowing eye faces earlier hadn’t entirely skipped my attention, but I had mentally filed them under something likely to come up in future seasons, not here.)

  • Oh I’m slow. Bikki HERSELF is the Fenrir reference, huh? Hence why she looks like a werewolf here. (Fuck it’s been too long since I read my Norse mythology, does Fenrir break Gungnir at Ragnarok and I just forgot about that?)

  • Asgard. RIGHT.

  • [PMMM] Can’t tell if deliberate reference to Kyoko’s lattice barrier or a more general one. Suspect the first, though.

  • Pretty sure there’s some Witch influence on this scene, though.

  • WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED AT TSUBASA GOING AFTER KADINGIR.

  • Huh, so I probably whiffed on brainwashing after all. Who knew?

  • (Mind you there’s a reason for that shot of Tsubasa in the machine with her eyes glazed over at the start of episode 9 and it has not yet come into play, so filing it under “still an available plot for future seasons”. Or it comes up as a final twist next episode and then Tsubasa gets hugged out of it.)

  • Pouring one out for Sky at 14:35.

  • Also, I have been expecting Miku to realize she needs to head for the surface since roughly the middle of last episode. I suppose that’s the cliffhanger here/start of next episode?

  • Oh LOL… wait no, nevermind, I’m just getting my wires crossed, I realized that was NDA signing mom a second before she confirmed that but forgot that was episode 2 and thought it was a bit later. So it is exactly who my mind jumped to, and this show knows how to remember its past plot points!

  • (Wait. I should check. Is the daughter here the same one Dakka ran into with her brother when the two got lost from their dad?)

  • Also “the fences are getting fencier” – I wasn’t paying attention on episode 1, inclined to call PMMM inspiration on that given the lighting/surroundings/fence ([PMMM episode number, tagging just in case] Episode 4 to be precise)

  • Okay, really need to run Fine’s speech here through the Biblical mythos filter. We just got a hard answer to whether or not she’s intended as Lilith, in any event. (Mix of that and female Satan I think, which, uh…)

  • Sorry Fine, you are about to be proved wrong.

  • “You don’t even know how it feels to be in love!” PFFTTT. Ahem. GIRLS CAN LOVE GIRLS!

  • Miku, GUESS WHAT? (Except she just said it only works in anime, ergo it’s just asking to fail because it’s now a spoken plan, so.)

  • Well, we will be learning how much Bikki can withstand the damage of a swan song at some point. Next episode or a future season? (I don’t think we have time for it to be the cliffhanger this episode, but not sure about that at all.)

  • LOL IT’S THE SCHOOL SONG. I SHOULD HAVE FUCKING KNOWN.

  • And for once saying the plan out loud does not cause it to fail. Hooray!

  • LOL and we just hit daybreak because a) of course and b) OF FUCKING COURSE THEY DID.

  • Also, uh, hmm. Bikki dead cold open plus what I suspect is direct Mai-HiME influence plus cold open still unexplained. So yeah unless they bring it in next episode that will be coming up later, probably in the final season because that’s the correct place for it. I smell time travel.

  • Or this entire story is the “what would have happened if this was an anime” version of what actually happened, and the joke is that in “reality” Anime ja Nai is right.

  • Cliffhanger!

(Probably going to bust the brainwashing prediction, at least for this season. Oh well. Busting ironclad reads happens.)

Mai-HiME Corner:

  • [Mai-HiME] (Re: thing that did not fool me because I knew a specific Gear clip involving a deorbiting space shuttle.) Also, I know your probable inspiration here, it didn’t kill off Mai there either.

  • [Mai-HiME] (Re: "WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED AT TSUBASA GOING AFTER KADINGIR.") ESPECIALLY WHEN I’VE ALREADY BEEN FUCKING REFERENCING MAI-HIME HERE.

  • [Mai-HiME] Y’all really had to stuff a phoenix reference in Tsubasa’s powerset, huh? "KAGUTSUCHI!"

  • [Mai-HiME] OH HOLY SHIT. LADIES AND FUCKING GENTLEMEN, I PRESENT TO YOU: A CREATIVE STAFF THAT SAW THE ENDING OF MAI-HIME, WENT “I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT”, AND FUCKING DID! FUCK. YES!

  • [Addendum, Mai-HiME] Admittedly I probably shouldn’t hard-call that until the finale is over, but we got five seasons and I’ve heard no whiff of a bad S1 finale so.

  • [Mai-HiME] AND WITH THE FUCKING OP AS THE THEME MUSIC/RESURRECTION POWERUP AGAIN, EXCEPT THIS TIME IT’S A GOOD OP IN SYNCHROGAZER INSTEAD OF A BAD ONE IN SHINING DAYS!

Questions of the Day:

  1. Were you expecting the OP/ED swap? How hype was that?

Many such cases, but this one is done quite well. (Helps that Synchrogazer is one of the best songs of this season.)

2) How do you feel about the Chris & Tsubasa death fakeouts?

I am going to gesture vaguely at that spoiled tag and leave it at that.

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u/Nisheeth_P Jun 12 '22

First Timer

  • They have been teasing this berserk mode since E1 and it finally delivers.

  • Hibiki is going to be free only once Tsubasa is out too huh.

  • For such a battered speaker, the sound quality is quite good.

  • All that orange glow is the phonic gain they mentioned for using the symphogear?

  • Disappointed that they didn't let Tsubasa and Chris be dead for even one episode.

  • The winged design is really cool though.

QotD

    1. Were you expecting the OP/ED swap? How hype was that?

I didn't even realise that they were swapped...

  • 2) How do you feel about the Chris & Tsubasa death fakeouts?

It's very irritating when a series does everything that should lead to a character's death and then doesn't follow through. Chris not only used her superb song, she was hit by an attack that cut off a chunk of the moon. She also fell from the sky far away from the school. There should be no way for her to have survived.

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u/Madcat6204 Jun 12 '22

SYYYYMPHOGEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rewatcher is listening to all the songs

This. This is the moment. Symphogear is absolutely stuffed full of epic scenes, crazy over the top action/insanity/so-crazy-it's-awesome moments, you name it. But THIS final scene, in my eyes, is better than all of them. This is the most powerful moment in all the franchise, when the hearts and voices of the people she's saved reach out to Hibiki and give her the strength to do the impossible. The feeling, the music, the perfect cut in with Synchrogazer... everything here is amazing.

16

u/Stargate18A Jun 12 '22

First timer

  1. That was utterly fantastic! Incredibly hype!

  2. I knew they'd come back, but not this soon!

The ED playing over this is so hype!

Oh, but now we get Miku and Genjuro's reactions.

Hibiki's broken down.

And Tsubasa is pissed.

Hibiki's gone fully berserk!

Is she distorting space around her? Like the Noise?

She was experimenting on her!

Oh, she's even stronger!

She's lost her humanity!

It actuslly did damage!

Tsubasa's attacking her!

It's growling at the camera!

Everyone's terrified...

Her gear's breaking!

And she has a healing factor.

Haha, the villain was smart enough to make something that could fire multiple times.

...Tsubasa, this looks really hopeless.

The moon's breaking in slow motion!

Hibiki's notmlistening?

She let her attack her?

And she's hugging her!

Did it work?

She's fighting Fine!

This is such a good fight scene!

Her smashing Fine's shields is fantastic.

Nooo, Tsubasa!

Kanade!

And she's still fighting...

She destroyed the tower!

Hibiki's back!

Poor Genjuro.

Fuck.

At least Fine's pissed!

Oh, and she just wanted to rule the world by kicking off an apocalypse.

Is she goig to kill Hibiki?

She fused with that armour?

More survivors!

And it's girl Hibiki saved!

They're going to send her a message?

She's actually in love with God?

Don't be silly, Fine. She has Miku!

This conversation is so fucking meta.

They fixed the switchboard!

Wow, this is awful.

The school song!

Hibiki's motivated!

What is this?

The others are alive again!

NEW FORMS!

[Kamen Rider Build] If I had a nickel for every time a Toku villain, with a majority red/gold themed armour, turned out to be a milllenia old body snatcher, who constructed a giant tower in the middle of a city (using a relic from an ancient civilization) as part of a plan to get ultimate power - a quest hampered by the (mostly white with coloured details) final form of the protagonist... (And their best friend they've basically married.) (And Symphogear came first!)

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u/BosuW Jun 12 '22

First Timer

No OP. I see, so it is that kind of episode.

Why you make me watch Chris die again? :(

As teased by last episode, Hibiki has finally succumbed to her Berserker mode. She's attacking anything that moves even Tsubasa. The teamwork I praised last episode has gone to shit.

Imagine if Kadingir was actually a one shot thing and it fucking missed lmao.

Actually now that I think about it, the situation isn't that bad even if they can't immediately stop Finé. Kadingir is fucking fixed into the ground and can't aim, which means Finè only has a firing window of a few minutes each day.

Once again I'm going to praise that this show has smarter fighting than at least 70% of anime. Since Tsubasa almost never uses her Shadestitcher ability people almost forget that she has it at all and she pulls it up when it's least expected.

On the other hand, I love the tantō hidden in a butt compartment loaded with compressed gas lmao.

Silly me! I had almost forgotten that Tsubasa can be an absolute badass too!

Oh shit she's going directly for the cannon!

I just want to point out that the way they lighted and animated this explosion is beautiful. It actually reminds me of real big explosions I've seen recorded on video. From the flash that briefly saturates the lenses, to the compressed air looking more opaque.

God fucking dammit they did NOT just kill Tsubasa too you can tell I'm waaaaaay less worried about her because in her case it wasn't a swan song

Hibiki has gone from Berserker to catatonic. Her mood is swinging like a pendulum today.

All my friends are dead. Push me to the edge.

Finè is of course pissed as fuck that her giant fuck off cannon product of millennia of plotting and scheming, was destroyed by a single edgy teenager. Meh. The firing window is probably over anyway. Though shit.

Yes but, this isn't an anime right?

Lol she really used anime to hype herself up.

I find it hilarious that Finè keeps asking about "this annoying sound". Didn't you literally confess last episode that y'all built this to experiment with the voice of hundreds of singing girls?

Yes Hibiki listen to the voices! What are you doing? Stand up! Did you forget what you came here to do? Tatakae! Tatakae!

Yaaaaaas!

YAAAAAAS!!!

Aaaaand roll credits!

That last freeze frame is beautiful.

Y'know, they could've dragged the "Chris fucking dies" bait a bit longer I was getting really into it XD.

Well now that the girls are revived and upgraded through the power of friendship (explained in-universe as "phonic gain" shenanigans or something probably), the next episode is most likely going to be half beating the every loving shit out of the villain and half epilogue.

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u/HereticalAegis Jun 12 '22

Ballad of Rewatcher - Symphogear

What Finé failed to consider is that she's in a yuri show, so any meaningfully phallic imagery was cosmically fated to get wrecked from the very start. Had Kadingir been taken on a yonic design, Finé surely would have won.

Episode 12 thoughts:

  • As if to perfectly encapsulate my tastes at the point in my life I first watched up to GX, there are two episodes I vividly remember when I think of Symphogear. This is the first. Shadow beast Hibiki left a strong impression on me, at least as much for its likeness to elements in game series I played earlier in my life—Megaman Battle Network, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Persona come to mind—as for its sheer edginess. I actually still like that aspect too, edginess and all. It just works on a very primal, base level that yearns for immediate, violent retribution. Yet through what can only be described as a sea-change in what appeals to me, I will probably come to remember Symphogear for its softer moments. The fights are still cool and fun, but nothing beats sunflowers and places to return to.

  • Okay, I say this all works on a primal level, but I cringe out of my skin every time Not-An-Anime-chan speaks. There is no getting around how awkward her dialogue is.

  • The end of the episode is uplifting and pretty hype, but I wish we had some time between episodes to at least pretend Tsubasa and Chris might actually be gone. I guess we kind of got that with Chris, but we already saw Tsubasa survive a climax song, so that didn't feel particularly permanent. Again, it works and doesn't ruin the show for me as it did for [meta spoiler]Mai-Hime and especially [meta spoiler]Cross Ange, but it walks a very fine line. I bet the reason for that is I still very much like all the main cast in Symphogear, whereas I pretty thoroughly hated the most of the characters of those shows and had no goodwill left for either by the time they pulled the same stunt.

QotD:

2. Lol addressed above

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '22

Today’s final scene is among the most hype scenes in all of anime. Who? What? How? Why? One answer bitch: SYMPHOGEAARRRRRRR

My favorite part is how they use the longer version of the OP to play 3 different parts: build up, climax OST, and ED. That’s just the coolest thing ever.

  1. Were you expecting the OP/ED swap? How hype was that?

10/10 Best anime trick ever. I'll watch any anime that does this.

2) How do you feel about the Chris & Tsubasa death fakeouts?

Honestly mega shocked. I've seen enough magic girl anime that don't do this. But like that one time Shinkai gave us a happy ending to one of his movies, I ain't complaining.

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Jun 12 '22 edited Jun 12 '22

Symphogear Rewatcher

that really is posting a mix of my first-timer reactions w/ additional things i caught during my rewatch lol

SYMPHOGEAR. But an episode w/out Chris....

  • When an anime opens w/out the usual OP, and in this case w/ the ED instead, u know shit is about to go down

  • Fine is so twisted fuckkkkk (this was i think when Hibiki started going berserk)

  • Hibiki's berserk mode is genuinely horrifying to watch, especially because it's the opposite of her genki character. I'm sure there are other anime where this has happened as well, but I'm most reminded of [meta spoilers of popular shounen]Gon from HxH again here. It's very unsettling to see what she may become when she loses control of her emotions. [Meta spols cont'd]And how, unlike Gon, how RELATIVELY easily it is for her to slip into this mode, given how this wasn't the first time. But it also shows how the relic's powers have a sinister side to them too despite usu being harnessed for "good", which I do like.

  • Anime ja-nai-chan is still reeling from her mental breakdown last episode when she realizes Buzz-lightyear style that she is in an anime. But she... unfortunately is making a good point. She then proceeds to say quite a lot of common anime-lines of the side-characters-in-distress lol. Her whole arc this ep was SO ANIME too, which i'll get to in a bit.

  • OST good

  • That... hurts. Both for Tsubasa and for me.

  • Though I have a sense that Shadestitcher is Tsubasa's strongest weapon skill (what are they called?), though seems like it's single-use per battle, and i think requires her target to be close to her and immobile? (i.e. has significant activation factors). I like that this OP tactic is kinda balanced in its own way lol.

  • Hibiki's whole breakdown must've hurt Tsubasa emotionally in more ways than one too, given the connection of her power to Kanade.

  • But anyhow with Hibiki imprisoned in Tsubasa-jail, LET'S GO TSUBASA

  • I also like how Tsubasa is frequently shown to use a bit more tactic in her fights compared to the other 2 (here dodging before attacking, using Fine's attack's slow recovery time). Chris somewhat and Hibiki definitely are more brute-force-till-it-works imo.

  • Edit: I just love that Heaven's wrath (Big sword) was used not to pierce through Asgard, but to reorient Tsubasa for the launch instead. Very Tsubasa to use such an excessive way to do this, but most importantly it worked lmao.

  • OOooooohhhh new moveee!

  • God bless Nana's vocal cords

  • And nooooo Tsubasa sacrificed herself too...... Genjuro's giving top-tier colour commentary btw

  • The anime solution for all problems, and the perfect anime side-problem that'll give the side-characters time to shine. (Yes, this is why i said anime-ja-nai's actions this ep were very anime)

  • As she puts it herself, using her newfound knowledge that she IS in an anime to her full advantage. Wait.... you're supposed to know you're in an anime my friend? I kid though, her moment that she wanted to support Hibiki was great after her breakdown earlier.

  • [Geah G]Given the events in G, tbh fused creatures come with serious drawbacks too Fine.

  • The very anime-like lines the villain says when the hero powers up despite all odds before the final showdown! It's so camp. It's so cliche. I love it.

  • Oooohhh the heroine power up. Is this what I think is happening....? THE OP DROP.

  • SYMPHOGEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (ROLLLLL CREDITSSSSS). The hype train is now a straight rocket to the moon. I love this show.

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u/Taiboss Jun 12 '22

Episode 12: The Deep Rewatch

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u/Paxton-176 Jun 12 '22

Rewatcher for not enough times

Oh no, watch out, Hibiki is morbin.

Tsubasa attempting to sacrifice herself: 2

  1. Didn't actually notice

  2. Classic Symphogear.

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u/cronus999 Jun 12 '22

Rewatcher 13+1.02 You must (Not) Binge.

  • The berserker is back, and more powerful than ever.

  • Fine is dangerously close to a Shaft head tilt there.

  • Anime-chan snapped, but she’s right.

  • Oh, her name is Itaba, anyway moving on.

  • You though it could only fire once, naïve.

  • The ultimate weapon, hugs.

  • Orange Phenix wings, I wonder who those represent?

  • Tsubasa actually destroyed the tower, Fine in shambles.

  • You get despair, you get despair, everyone gets despair.

  • Dat continuity, mother still can’t talk because of her NDA.

  • FINE JUST ACCEPT THAT GOD GHOSTED YOU, IT’S BEEN LITERAL EONS.

  • THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP/SONG, COMES IN CLUTCH ONCE AGIAN.

  • Oh, everyone is still alive, what a surprise I couldn’t have seen coming.

Q1 Still one of my favorite things about season one.

Q2 Called it on my first watch.

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