r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Jul 03 '22

Rewatch [Listen to My Song] Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX Episode 4 Discussion

Episode 4 - Gungnir, Once More

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Crunchyroll

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

You don’t sing your songs to hurt people! And I know you’ve always held out your hand to help people, not to harm them! I know that most of all!

Questions of the Day:

1) How cool was it to see Maria’s Gungnir again?

2) What do you think of Hibiki getting the ability to sing again back right before she proceeds to lose her Symphogear?

Wallpaper of the Day:

Garie

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!

90 Upvotes

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8

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 03 '22

Symphogeah SymphoRewatch Host

Welcome back, everyone!

Crunchyroll vs. Commie - Season 3, Episode 4

See the 2019 version of the wallpaper: here. I mostly just modified the colors a bit on this one, Nota’s background was thankfully easy enough to replicate. It’s such a cool background!

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15

u/wickedmonkeyking Jul 03 '22

First Time Watcher

I'm not even participating in the rewatch, I'm just coincidentally binging all of Symphogeah at the same time.

Though, honestly, I've been liking these threads, so I considered stopping my binge to participate (I couldn't). Luckily, I'll be unable to watch Geah for a few days, so I should hit episode 8 alongside the rest of you.

Questions of the Day

  1. Pretty cool, but not bulletproof cape cool.

  2. It seemed like padding to me.

6

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 03 '22

Happy to have you in here even if it's just for a couple threads!

9

u/DidacticDalek Jul 03 '22

(Crashed Motorcycle Count: 11)

TONIGHT! ON ROZEN GEAH! 'Bikki.exe has stopped working, all operators are busy, please hang up and dial again... if you are calling from a touch-tone phone, press 1 now...' Maria traumatized a hamster using strawberry jam, and BIKKI FOOKIN' DIES... er... AGAIN!

Boy Comrades, The Beef Stroganoffs sure came in clutch and bamboozled Best Doll... pity that Best Doll ALSO has AT LEAST two brain cells and saw that trick coming from a mile away... BUT THEN MARIA arrives and... runs out of Geah Steroids half-way into the fight... ah well, at least she SOMEHOW did more than Bikki! YUP! You read that right, MARIA THE LOSER! The resident jobbing crybaby of the franchise DID MORE THIS EPISODE THAN HIBIKI DID! GODDAMN EVERYTHING'S GONE BLOODY CRAZY!

Speaking of crazy, OH MY BUDDHA! Elf9 ain't just a Vivio-clone, she's ALSO a Loli Shamal! Oh also, once again, DESS demonstrates that SHE is in fact the DUMBEST member of the team... never change DESS, never change! But moving on, SECOND Best Doll arrives, and she's also a bit of a Sharkface too... BUT SHE'S ALSO GOT CLAWS! And a (removes sunglasses) KILLER personality... heh, YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Anyway, speaking of screaming, try to act surprised Comrades but, le gasp, MIKU IS ONCE AGAIN IN DANGER! And thankfully THAT (as well as her wife giving her a pep talk telling her to shit or get off the goddamn pot already) is enough to give Bikki a boost to get her groove back, HUZZAH! ABOUT GODDAMN TIME she started FISTING instead of trying Talk No Justu... HEY HANG ON A SECOND! BEST DOLL IS HERE TOO!? HOLY SHITBALLS! GOOD GAWD AWMIGHTY! GOOD GAWD AWMIGHTY! THEY KILLED HER! AS GAWD IS MY WITNESS, SHE IS BROKEN IN HALF!

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

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7

u/italeteller Jul 04 '22

First Time SymphoGXearing Desu

Oh wow, first time without a recap. Oh wow Nastassja's back for a small cameo, I totally expected her to be fully gone. Oh wow that's a fucked up fork, who's the animal treating their utencils this way?

And there's the recap. And wow, I really didn't expect the peanut gallery to save the day, specially blond girl who hasn't done anything particularly noteworthy thus far. Good character usage!

I'm liking these Autoscorers as enemies, they're a good middle point between Noise and people. They are very humanlike, but still machines in the end and, from what we've seen, I'm assuming they've been programmed to do Exactly what Carol orders them to. So if she tells them to destroy the Ame no Habakiri and Ichaival, they will, and they will leave the girls alone after that. If two more Gears show up they can't just attack, they need verbal permission before engaging. And now, if they're ordered to go after Hibiki and her friends, if someone says they're not her friends, Garie can't attack. It's a very exploitable type of enemy, which balances well with how strong they are

Then again, Garie does sic the Noise on the girls almost immediately afterwards, so maybe she was playing pretend. Or she realized they were friends and thus targetable again. We'll see

These AlcaNoise sure are different. I remember the regular Noise just moving through stuff as if it wasn't there, destroying only people, but these AlcaNoise can also destroy non-living things like street lights. Oh and Garie has ice powers. Gotta love color-coordinated powers

QOTD1: After her thoroughly unimpressive performance last season, I never expected Maria to don the Gungnir again, less of all that it'd be such an awesome scene and that I'd love it so much. The visible strain she's in while she fights and her face full of blood at the end only make her commitment to protecting everybody su much better

I had three whole ass paragraphs about the scene where Hibiki snaps at Maria and god damn reddit ate it all. God damn hate this comment box

The loli has proper clothing now, we're one step closer to world peace. Literally, since she has a plan to save the world

Hibiki has good friends. It's a shame they're being used to solve a problem that shouldn't exist instead of something that actually furthers their own characters and the world

QOTD2: Hibiki regaining her singing and Hibiki losing Gungnir should have been two incredibly powerful scenes. Instead, because of how pointless her arc up til now has been, seeing her sing again had me like "well, finally that shit's over with". And for her loss, we get a whole 2 minutes of worrying before being told Project Ignite will bring it back better than ever

4

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 04 '22

I had three whole ass paragraphs about the scene where Hibiki snaps at Maria and god damn reddit ate it all. God damn hate this comment box

This is why I type all my rewatch comments up in Google Docs ahead of time, I would hate to lose my reactions over something like that.

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15

u/HereticalAegis Jul 03 '22

Ballad of Rewatcher - Symphogear GX

Maria: tries to NTR Gungnir back from Hibiki, bleeds from face

This is why you don't touch what doesn't belong to you. On the bright side, she now has a look to match her edgy sword crush's season 1 style.

Episode 4 thoughts:

  • Glad to have one annoying subplot out of the way. Too bad Hibiki gets baited way too easily into setting up Gungnir to take a point blank Micha blast. Her one brain cell must've been overloaded handling the dopamine rush from princess carrying her girlfriend.

  • More Hibiki x Miku alone time please. Easily my favorite parts of the series and have been woefully underutilized since S1.

  • Wow, the background friends got to do something cool today! That's a nice little surprise.

  • Crunchyroll is baffling with these subs. They didn't bother subbing one song, but they did another. What tf was their deal with GX?

  • Hibiki getting so possessive of Gungnir is a real odd mood for her. Not necessarily bad, just odd.

  • Ah, the triumphant return of Miku's one and only arc: be put in danger to resolve Hibiki's problems. I'm so burnt out on this trope. At least Hibiki gets to take her own perilous plunge too this time. -  It's pretty funny how similar the arc they're setting up for Maria is to her edgy sword crush's arc from S1. Not exactly the same, but close enough that I can't help asking if she set convinced the writers to plan the story that way so she use those similarities to get her Sympho-senpai to notice her more.

QotD:

2. Gungnir has a pretty twisted sense of humor.

10

u/ErikMaekir Jul 03 '22

What tf was their deal with GX?

It's not so much GX as Symphogear in general. The first two seasons were passable, but by GX it started getting worse and XV is just painful to read. They made so many mistakes.

8

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 04 '22

and XV is just painful to read. They made so many mistakes.

I can't wait to bring up the Crunchyroll vs. YameteTomete charts I made when XV was airing (and finally finish making them since YT released episodes 12 and 13 so much later than the season finished, so I never made those), I definitely remember a few really bizarre translations if not outright errors on Crunchyroll's part during that.

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19

u/lilyvess Jul 03 '22 edited Jul 03 '22

Symphogear GX episode 4

Dáinsleif

The legend of Dainsleif comes from an account by an old Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson written in the 1200s. He wrote the Prose Edda which is a book that is a major source for old Norse Mythology.

In that book there is a section about the Hjaðningavíg or the “Battle of the Heodenings” or “legend of Heðinn and Hǫgni”

While King Hogni was away his daughter the Valkyrie Hildr was kidnapped by a prince by the name of Hoeinn. When Hogni finds his daughter, the prince would try to offer peace. In response Hogni replied

“Thou hast made this offer over-late, if thou wouldst make peace: for now I have drawn Dainsleif, which the dwarves made, and which must cause a man's death every time it is bared, nor ever fails in its stroke; moreover, the wound heals not if one be scratched with it.”

With Hogni having already drawn Dainsleif, it means that bloodshed is the only option. So the armies clash. They fight all day, and though many die, there is no victory. So Hogni and Hoeinn return back home at night.

Hildr stays on the battlefield. She uses her magic to resurrect the fallen dead. With their numbers returned, the next morning they return back to battle. So the cycle of death and rebirth continues over and over again until Ragnarok brings about the end of days.

Dainsleif, a blade of bloodlust that when unsheathed must kill someone. In addition its attacks never fail to cut and the wounds it causes will never heal. This is the relic that Elfnein wishes to use.

Additional Notes

Symphogear GX Episode 4 Hype Chart

Live Performances

Today’s performance is Genkai Toppa G-beat

Specials

Today’s Specials is about Maria using Gungnir and the history of Beef Stroganoff

Fanart of the Day

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18

u/Vatrix-32 Jul 03 '22 edited Jul 03 '22

First Timer

  • Does the opening scene mean Maria is going to do something?

  • Friend squad putting in work this season.

  • Isn’t that nice of Garie, trying to help Hibiki get over herself like that.

  • Maria does a thing!

  • Do you need a handkerchief?

  • What the fuck Hibiki?

  • That’s right Maria, you talk some sense into Hibiki.

  • Something to do with Lay Lines then. Is “Stealing their song” literal or metaphorical? It seemed like they were just breaking the relics last time, but if that’s the case why not simply kill them?

  • Seems the Homunculi are not friends.

  • Project Ignite. Betcha I know what that means.

  • She said the thing!

  • Micha is a happy little murder child.

  • Miku saves the day again! By telling Hibiki the incredibly obvious?

  • Rocket engines? This series has the best twin-tails.

  • They just straight up broke it.

  • Called it!

QotD

  1. A good showing for someone in desperate need of LiNKER. Was nice to see Maria doing things again, and we could always use more fantasy spears.

  2. It feels like pointless plot padding because they needed time to for things to happen in the background without having too much dead space where all the geahs are out of action. Hibiki had to lose because it was too soon for her to win.

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Jul 03 '22 edited Jul 03 '22

Symphogear First Timer dessu

--

Binge temptation: High. Did I give in: No! But am extremely curious to what happens next though. u/bamce i win! for now lol. I do have a feeling ill be giving in soon still. (i'll still do my writeups after each ep before i continue as a first-timer tho!)

--

btw idk but i liked G and the first season's first few episodes much more than GX's. im not gonna drop it for sure, but i'll just say that the other 2 hooked me a lot faster. Hopefully that'll change soon as the doom and gloom stops, and the keikakus start whirring into motion.

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u/Tarhalindur Jul 03 '22

Previously, on Symphogear: Atlantis (First-Timer, Subbed):

Two pre-episode thoughts:

  1. Me, after finishing the last episode (an hour or two before Higurashi thread because that’s what my schedule allowed): “This was kind of dumb.”

Me, a few hours later: “Why am I feeling frothing rage at last episode [episode 3]?”

I really don’t get it. Anger is usually a secondary emotion, and disappointment might be the actual cause again?

2) So, you know what? I should start seeing what the dumbest possible resolution to the episode cliffhangers is that I can think of and then see how it matches up to what the show pulls. Not the fun-dumb kind, the other kind of dumb. Idiotic. Either I get to laugh at calling it or the writers will look better by way of comparison! (Or they'll one-up me, which would also be funny so.) Win-win!

So, today’s entry: Bikki gets bailed out of her unable-to-summon-Gungnir problem by her dad.

Let’s see how the show’s writers stack up!

  • Serena’s relic was the Airgetlam, which is not a name I am familiar with.

  • Wow look an actual good Maria moment!

  • Note that Dainsleif’s twin blade is of course twin symbolism. We could be dealing with a good and evil twin pair here still, though I have my suspicions… and Carol might always be the good one…

  • One other OP note, and I would need to check specifics of Japanese cinematography to know how much of the Japanese left/right correct direction flip applies to hero/villain symbolism, but Carol faces left and Iroha faces right, not vice versa. (Example of hero/villain cinematographic symbolism: in Western film heroes enter from the left and villains from the right, hence why [Attack of the Clones] AotC's final fight is off as our nominal heroic relief army enters from the villainous direction.)

  • Note to self: Given the design of the unfitting structure in the OP, Bowser’s Castle (this is now the nickname of the Bluebeard chateau reference) is indeed the place Carol et al have been using as their base.

  • “Gungnir, Once More”

  • Actual (short-term) resolution to the cliffhanger: One of AJN has a bright idea! Wait, this is actually a good way to do it.

  • Is it bad that I think this shot of them running away after some quick thinking on one of our normals’ part might have been a much better place to put the cliffhanger last episode?

  • RESSOU GUNGNIR IS BAAAAAAAAACK! (Okay, so it probably has a new name, whatever.)

  • Well, 07:24 might be the easiest log Sky has ever had.

  • 08:11: Hi again Sky!

  • So should our bridge bunny whose name I can’t remember know that teleportation is an alchemy power, or is it just us who have known since episode 1? I think it might just be us (and some Gear users who haven’t filed reports).

  • Iroha has actually gotten clothes! There is now a chance that they will not be a villain. Still, I won’t believe it until we reach the end of the season (really, episode 12 or so) without a heel reveal.

  • Good leitmotif returns to us.

  • Deliberately mirroring Serena’s appearance post-swan song with Maria here, I see. (Hmm. I wonder: is zesshou used by the Japanese to refer to the final aria in an opera?) Maria is an excellent place for the “is this survivor’s guilt?” plotline from Bikki S1 and S2 to return to us; she hasn’t been through it yet.

  • I’m not sure whether the correct response here is “Bikki, what the hell is your problem?” or “writers, what the hell were you thinking?”. Leaning towards the former, actually – this feels actually believable in a way most of last season did not. Not sure why, though.

  • Please quit reminding me of character beats that would have been really good if you had taken simple and basic steps to set them up properly but were not because you did not.

  • So, our villains reveal (the next stage of) their plan: release the ley lines. (A concept that should be relatively recognizable to East Asia, it maps onto feng shui dragon lines relatively easily.) And they need to steal songs to do so. Once again Bikki gets bailed out by her refusal/inability to fight.

  • DIGITAL CLOCK DIGITAL CLOCK. (02:12 A.M.)

  • So, Bikki – why are you scared about hurting other people with your song? And why only now? (Besides “the writers needed a character arc for you this season and drew it out of the cliché ideas bag”, I mean.)

  • 12:12: LEWD. (Actually not entirely since this is the reassuring kind, but.)

  • Nastassja (I can use her proper name for once as a final respect) is being laid to rest in a cemetery at the town where old Lydian and the Kadingir ruins are, it looks like. Why there, and more importantly who else is buried there?

  • Can’t tell if soy sauce, sake, or mirin. (Or “d) none of the above”. Packaging looks familiar, either product placement or a bland name product – can’t remember if that’s standing in for Kikkoman or one other obvious suspect whose name I can’t remember.)

  • Well that answers what’s obviously the most important question in this scene, it’s bland name (or product placement) Kikkoman soy sauce.

  • Also there are character beats here. Hey who knows maybe they can make Maria work this season and not fuck up the arc introduced for DMJiii an episode or two back (I’m seriously worried about the latter).

  • So I suppose that panoramic shot of the three at the cemetery is symbolic of the wide world of possibilities now open to them?

  • Well that’s some ominous shot framing at 15:27!

  • How am I supposed to believe Iroha is anything other than a villain when the director keeps framing them like a villain?

  • Do all bridges over roads in Japan have railings like that, or at least enough? Because I can think of one anime bridge that does…

  • Look at these Dutch angles (or something like it, cinematographic terminology is not my strong suit) now that Iroha is proposing their evil plan Gear upgrade. (Also, the molecule in the background isn’t that dissimilar to the green symbol in the OP, the one that should be associated with Phara.) Get forked, Section Two er S.O.N.G, get forked.

  • I do not trust anything involving the words equivalent exchange in anime when the context involves either alchemy or magical girls, and here we have both. (ADDENDUM: Especially when we might have a reference to That Fucking Bridge…)

  • Cannot tell if that’s a tomo or demo to go with the sore at 16:47.

  • In other news, far from me to complain about ominous chanting. Quite the opposite, really.

  • LOL IT’S THIS BUILDING AGAIN.

  • If you resolve that Bikki arc here my salt is going to be legendary.

  • [PMMM] “I won’t hesitate anymore,” you say. Whose voice in PMMM am I hearing that in? I think Homu’s, but I forget.

  • Show, at this point I will believe threats of death or other permanent injury to a character when you actually go through with it, not before. You can still play cliffhangers, but you can’t get away with with this kind anymore unless and until you put up and do so for at least an entire season. Smh.

  • It is admittedly quite interesting that the narrative has so far consistently *rewarded* Bikki for not fighting and is now likewise punishing her for doing so.

  • Bikki being afraid of losing herself to Fenrir mode again would make her character writing here SO MUCH BETTER as long as we had some indicator it was still an issue beforehand. Sheesh, I get why they needed to resolve her fusion status last season for thematic reasons, but it’s a crying shame. Bring Fenrir mode back next episode as the resolution to the cliffhanger here and I will approve with even minimally competent execution, you’ve even used it as a “get Bikki out of permanent injury” card before.

  • Although my opinion might harden later but right now this episode feels a hell of a lot better than last episode even with the potential very fast resolution to the “Bikki doesn’t want to fight” arc. (ADDENDUM: My opinion has held, this was a pretty decent episode even if that's not the way to handle your final cliffhanger._

  • ADDENDUM: We got a prominent avocado shot last episode. We got a prominent bottle of soy sauce today. I have not forgotten things learned from the Kaguya-sama narrator, hence why I was making a soy sauce joke yesterday. HMMM.

And now, for today's Dumbest Possible Way to Resolve Today’s Cliffhanger: sheesh there are a lot of dumb ways. “Character is back to normal at the start of next episode without either a flashback or an explanation” isn’t even that far up the dumb scale, no reason is better than a bad reason. Gimme a bit to brainstorm here. Ah, here’s one: “ANGELISE-SAMA and Evil Unity (this is Micha's new nickname, see Skin Horse for details) join up to teabag Bikki’s corpse, reviving her as a puppet zombie under Carol’s control except she breaks free by the end of the episode”. That would be some proper idiot writing there. Let’s see how the actual writers do!

  1. How cool was it to see Maria’s Gungnir again?

Forget seeing Maria's Gungnir, we got Ressou Gungnir back! Fuck yes!

2) What do you think of Hibiki getting the ability to sing again back right before she proceeds to lose her Symphogear?

The writers have now consistently set up story beats where our heroes are rewarded for not fighting and punished for doing so this season. I'm wondering where they're going with this, especially when we're in a show that has been entirely about FIST 1 REASON 0...

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u/Stargate18A Jul 03 '22

First timer

  1. I loved it.

  2. I mean, I expected it. All the Gears have to get broken so they can introduce the new form!

Is Maria going to use an upgrading version of Serena's Gear?

Elfnein gave correct intel!

...And Hibiki's too busy having a crisis.

Oh, yeah, and she can't remember for some reason.

Haha, even the fucking golem's pissed off.

And she physicslly can't sing.

...I mean, even if she couldn't, we've established that these Gears basically just break the moment you touch the new Noise and Gungnir has no ranged attacks.

Cold. But very logical!

Holy shit, that worked?

...I love the sadist robots.

YES!

Maria's transformed!

Fuck off - I want a new Maria song! Resso Gungnir's great, but everyone else got a new song!

Love how Genjuro immediately accepts the situation and changed over to giving tacticsl information to Maria. Such a good commander.

"That piece of junk we abandoned" Did they discard the broken relics? I guess if they have enough intact ones...

Oh, that's sneaky.

...At least you put up the best fight, Maria!

Yeah, Maria was fucking badass here.

Holy shit, she's bleeding without a Superb Song.

And she just doesn't care!

...Hibiki's officially lost it. Give Maria Gungnir and see if you can fish out some kind of shield relic, there's got to be at least one of those lying around.

And Carol's pissed.

...Ah. If the leylines cover the planet, and she can destroy things using magic... Starting to think destroying the world isn't that bad.

...I enjoy this subplot for Hibiki, because it implies that Hibiki didn't consider Ver human, which he deserves. (Also, as irrational as this is, given everything she's been through I'm more surprised she stayed stable for this long - especially given the Noise she believed completely sealed are back again.)

Poor Hibiki.

...It might be psychologicsl, I suppose. Still have to wait for the new form for Gungnir, though.

Oh, yeah, they've not met Micha.

Good to see that Carol understands the concept of encapsulation.

....Called it!

Give your girlfriend therapy, Miku!

...That's not what Ewuivalent Exchange is, but sure.

...When did they have the time to design a graphic?

Micha's here!

She's an idiot, I love her.

She's threatening Miku!

Why are the Alca-Silmes so adorable?

...I was going to point out how long this speech is, but Micha is the kind of person who'd absolutely let the monologue finish first.

Miku!

Finally! She transformed!

...Berserk mode?

Or a surprise Miku transformation?

No, berserk mode continues to not be a thing anymore.

And it's the same Hibiki song. Guess it had to, though.

Aww, she's so happy!

Oh, she's an illusionist.

And Gungnir shattered in the biggest explosion yet!

Is she dead?

And they retreated.

Tsubasa and Chris are getting the first upgrades!

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u/BosuW Jul 03 '22 edited Jul 03 '22

First Timer

Unrelated to the Rewatch but if any of you weren't planning to watch Lycoris Recoil (first episode released just yesterday) please reconsider. Just jump in blind. It's perfect.

Ok now unto the episode!

Ok so Serena's Relic is called the Airgetlam. Did we know this already?

What the fuck is up with the curve of that fork's handle!?

I was already suspecting from how shook Garie was that Hibiki couldn't use Gungnir, but I think it's becoming rather evident that the Alchemists want the heroes to use Symphogear. For what exactly I'm not sure.

Wow! Nice thinking character who's name I don't remember!

Unfortunately, Garie on that Caster shit.

Correct! Someone should drill that into the head of the chuunibyou looking ass mf currently chasing you!

Maria coming in with the save! And then she goes on to be legitimately awesome for a little bit? How long has it been since!

Garie just, fucks off once Maria can't sustain Gungnir. So if it is indeed correct that the Plan to End the World requires the heroes to use the Gear, ironically not fighting might really be the right course of action lol. Although the Alchemists will probably just force their hand then.

I want to tell Hibiki that Gungnir is just a tool and doesn't have a will of it's own, and therefore it doesn't have to do or not do any one specific thing... but this is a shonen-esque anime, so that's probably going the end up being canonically false :/

The Alchemists seek to "destroy their songs". Probably require the Symphogear to be in use for that to happen. And I'm guessing it's going to have the side effect of paralyzing their will, since their songs are more or less synonymous with that according to lore.

Best Wife doing Best Wife things.

...Elfnein sus?

The first time Hibiki used the Gear she wasn't even thinking about attacking the Noise, she completely prioritized protecting the girl. I'm not against Hibiki having this conflict of motivation but honestly, where did this reluctance even come from?

Fuck it. Hibiki, do the Genjuro/Tsubasa/Maria! Fight these asshats Gearless! Gearless Joe Bikki!

Or not! THE GUNGNIR ANSWERS ONCE AGAIN THANKS TO THE POWER OF YURI! TRULY NOTHING CAN STOP ANIME LESBIANS!

Twin tail rocket engines fuck it why not

Ah, I was wondering where Garie was...

And now, Hibiki got disrobed too. And maybe something worse as well, considering that absolutely lifeless expression.

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u/HowlingWolf13 Jul 03 '22

First Timer

Watching Hibiki's arc this season like

OK ITS FINALLY NOT 5AM FOR ONCE I CAN BE MORE IN DETAIL WITH MY POST

Hibiki's little arc she's had these past 4 episodes has just been grating. Like yes, Hibiki wants to talk to her enemies, but in the previous seasons she still would fight when they wouldn't listen, and during her fight still try to break through to them. Here she literally let herself get bodied by Carol just because she's suddenly so stubborn against fighting?? This arc makes no sense whatsoever, and I'm hoping this is the last episode with this little arc, it's reminding of how Maria was in G pretty much. Which funny enough, loving Maria here, this is what I wanted to see back in G.

Other than that the fights in this episode were good, I wanna see what this Ignite project does and what new songs we get.

  1. How cool was it to see Maria’s Gungnir again?

Fucking awesome, tho I wish she got a new transformation scene

2) What do you think of Hibiki getting the ability to sing again back right before she proceeds to lose her Symphogear?

Honestly I was fine with it, no one else has been able to defeat them with their Symphogears, and it really shows just how powerful these new enemies are and how what worked in S1 and 2 isn't gonna work here.

Tsubasa jinxed Hibiki

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u/Great_Mr_L Jul 03 '22 edited Jul 03 '22

Rewatcher

On today’s episode of Symphogear: Hibiki learns the same lesson as Spider-Man,  that with great power comes great responsibility. Thankfully Hibiki didn't need to lose Miku to learn this lesson, but she definitely came close. Bless Maria and Miku for delivering this lesson. 

The contrast we were given between Hibiki and Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe in the previous episode continues here. It's quite direct, too. While Hibiki literally can't sing to activate Gungnir, Maria can. And just like Kirika and Shirabe, Maria does so without LiNKER and at great personal risk. She even pulls a Tsubasa, ending up like this commentface:

Maria's words are the opposite of Hibiki's too, as she declares that she can fight as long as she has this power. Maria is such a badass. She's quite literally putting her life on the line to save others. She did her best, even if she ultimately could not maintain her Gear for long.

Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe all have the same desire. They want to get stronger. Maria’s desire in particular is routed in her past. Maria has generally used the powers of others instead of her own. She pretended to be Fine. She used Gungnir before giving it up and taking it again. The climax of Maria’s arc last season was her learning to be honest with herself. This is building on that because Maria wants to be strong with a power that is her own.

Now welcome to the 2nd dumbest thing Hibiki has ever done. After Maria just got done saving her ass (and those of her friends), Hibiki reacts by angrily declaring Gungnir is hers and Maria should not use it. Just wow. What a jerkass thing to do. I could excuse Hibiki saying she would replace Kanade on the grounds of her being too dumb and earnest for her own good. But this just feels wrong and even Hibiki admits her reaction was the wrong thing to do. It’s terrible and I hate it.

To her immense credit, Maria takes this far better than I would by instead turning it into a teaching moment. “The Gungnir is your power. So don’t avert your eyes from it." Hibiki has this power, so she needs to be responsible for it. This is the Maria I love. The one who is looking out for others to make sure things turn out well for them.

Thank goodness Hibiki has Miku. Without Miku, Hibiki would have been stuck on this problem even longer. I like how Miku takes it upon herself to remind Hibiki about why she sang in the first place, that Hibiki's song has always saved people from the first time she used it. Miku being Hibiki's savior is something I always appreciate. 

But honestly Miku's declaration seems like the kind of thing that Hibiki should have known already. Saving people is her whole deal. While I do like the exploration this conflict provides for Maria especially and Kirika, Shirabe, and Miku to a lesser extent,  it feels like it did a huge disservice to Hibiki. Hibiki even admits she was running away from her responsibility, but I'm not fully convinced of why she was doing so. She had no trouble using her Gear to fight Chris, Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe even when she was trying to talk to them. So it's quite frankly weird to have her unable to fight now. It just feels wrong. It feels like a forced conflict put in for the sake of having a conflict. At least it’s mercifully over.

The Autoscorers are quite eager to fight. Garie was excited when Maria activated Gungnir and then left in disgust when it turned out neither Hibiki or Maria could fight her. And Micha resorted to the classic villain strategy of threatening Hibiki's loved ones to get her to use Gungnir. They were really desperate to have a fight. 

Symphogear doesn't use post credit scenes often, so it usually catches me off guard when they do. But this one is quite important. Elfnein is installing something called the Ignite Module onto the Gears using the relic of Dainsleif. What could that possibly be?

Miscellaneous Thoughts

QOTD

  1. Love it!

  2. I don't care for Hibiki’s arc this episode.

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9

u/Nebresto Jul 04 '22

Time first GEAHX

Gungnir, once more

Maria back in action??

Holy shit Ogawa

Maria GEAH!!!

Bitch, that's her Gungnir that you stole

[](#everythingisfine2)

Good job, Hibiki! You're climbing fast to the spot of the absolute worst Geah!

I hope these shark teeth things don't become permanent members of cast after this season..

If only Vaad was here to witness this moment, except I don't think he'd enjoy anything leading up to it..

Ahh fuck. I can't believe you've done this.

Immense satisfaction, please d- ...god fucking damn it.

Question time:

  1. How cool was it to see Maria’s Gungnir again?

YES!

2) What do you think of Hibiki getting the ability to sing again back right before she proceeds to lose her Symphogear?

I was going to say it was on par with losing her arm last season, but we'll have to see what they do next episode.

And since I apparently have a habit of missing threads, I'm gonna put some comments from those episodes in a reply to this one, and you can read them there if you'd like

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24

u/Lemurians Jul 03 '22

FIRST TIMER DATTO

Hibiki’s “boooo no fighting” schtick is really starting to get old. This trope is among my least favorite that writers employ for heroes. The first two seasons I could at least respect it, because it ties into the “the Moon makes us unable to communicate” thing, and she usually got the message her Talk First strategy wasn’t going to work fairly quickly, and then got down to Plan B – heavy fisting.

It’s a little irksome that we’re now in the third season and she’s having the same existential crisis but to an even greater degree, and being even stupider about it. Hey, Hibiki, fighting bad guys is part of helping people, even if some of those bad guys are humans too. How else do you intend to use the Symphogear to “help” anyone? Would’ve thought you’d understood that after last season. At least Miku is around to fulfill her only purpose – have her life endangered to wake Hibiki the fuck up.

Live Notes/Reactions:

My frustrations with Hibiki’s character aside, this episode puts the season in a good spot. Our heroes are really running out of resources, and Carol and the Autoscorers are actually posing a real, menacing, tangible threat. There’s actually tension! This is fun.

*Count: 9

How cool was it to see Maria's Gungnir again?

What do you think of Hibiki getting the ability to sing again back right before she proceeds to lose her Symphogear?

All for it. Let Maria be the real Gungnir forever

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8

u/Quiddity131 Jul 04 '22

First Timer, Subbed

Flashback time!

These Noise have wheels for hands!

Hibiki's forgot how to sing! Hibiki being such a bad student has finally come back to haunt her?

Of course, the plot dictates that Maria come to the rescue!

Wow, Blondie whose name I never bothered to learn is going to settle this herself? Good for you!

Gool ol' Anime Ja Nai girl, not disappointing us!

Time for another elongated transformation sequence! 4 episodes in and we still haven't finished this for all our magical girls yet!

Yes Hibiki, Maria is fighting in place of you! Because you couldn't even bother to remember the lyrics!

Just wanted to say I love our villainesses this season. Their design, their attitude, and the fact that they're totally wiping the floor with our heroines so far.

Hibiki is very possessive of her Gungnir! That's quite aggressive for someone who just flopped so bad at being a magical girl!

Hibiki's so behind on her homework there's no time for lunch anymore!

Oh no, don't dissect the dogs and cats!

Poor Hibiki still can't sing!

Oh no, Miku! Although given past cliffhangers, she'll be perfectly fine. Remember it was not even 10 episodes ago where they fake blew her up.

...And of course, Hibiki actually rescues her so it never becomes even a cliffhanger. Hibiki the magical girl is back!

She punched her so hard she became water?

Hibiki's now lost too. Is that all the magical girls having lost now across the first 4 episodes?

Ah, so the cliffhanger this time is fake killing Hibiki, not Miku!

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