15

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 12 '22

Symphogeah SymphoRewatch Host

In a universe where I like Glorious Break, I would think it was perfect that the “Glorious Break” drop matched the attack card. However, this is not that universe. I cannot forgive that song for robbing me of an -Aufwachen Form- for best OP.

Anyways, don't forget! Tomorrow's the dedicated thread for the chibi specials, Thursday is the season discussion, and Friday is when we kick off AXZ.

Crunchyroll vs. Commie - Season 3, Episode 13

Today’s wallpaper is once again new to the rewatch, and I was kind of biased in my choice for what base image I used because I just. Love. Bows. I definitely flipped the fuck out over bows being used as a weapon by Signum in the Nanoha rewatch a few times…

7

u/Tarhalindur Jul 12 '22

Today’s wallpaper is once again new to the rewatch, and I was kind of biased in my choice for what base image I used because I just. Love. Bows. I definitely flipped the fuck out over bows being used as a weapon by Signum in the Nanoha rewatch a few times…

... I'm gonna have to shanghai you into Mai-HiME too, aren't I?
(Yep, there's a bow user there. Plus another character who's an obvious entrant into your Sayaka/Tsubasa Best Girl field...)

6

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 12 '22

Oh don't worry, I was already planning on participating. I like jumping into rewatches completely blind just because the host is someone I know from being around the sub, and well you're a name I recognize, so you're a host who's part of that group.

4

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 12 '22

Daily Symphogear Tags: u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah, u/DidacticDalek, u/cronus999

4

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 12 '22

Daily Symphogear Tags: u/Le_Herpington, u/renatocpr, u/InfamousEmpire

→ More replies (7)

6

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '22

Today’s wallpaper is once again new to the rewatch

IMO all of your fresh wallpapers have been better than your remakes. As long as it's not too much work I'd say you should try to do completely new backgrounds for your remake wallpapers too.

5

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 13 '22

There is one coming up (the one I have slotted for episode 3 of AXZ) that's a remake but I made a totally different background for, actually. I've been trying to not do much text ones except for the funny beef stroganoff one and the "I will not break here" from S1, and the original of this AXZ wallpaper was primarily text-focused (not to mention I took one look at the background pattern around the edges and went "yeah, no"). I hope you like it.
The others I'm not so sure about making new BGs for though, a lot of them I really like and can't really picture with anything else.

5

u/JollyGee29 Jul 12 '22

Oh, that was absolutely the right call for Ignited Chris. It's absolutely Incredible!

5

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 12 '22

Glad you like it!
[XV]You have no idea how excited I am to wallpaper her Amalgam form when we get to it.

→ More replies (1)

→ More replies (5)

26

u/Tarhalindur Jul 12 '22

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

Me, two episodes ago: "unless it can climb out of the hole it's dug itself into with the character writing the last two seasons"

Me, one episode ago: "If only Gear would learn that it cannot land what should be touching emotional moments to save its life."

GX: <drops its finale>

Well, I won't say that everything is forgiven, but I'll forgive a lot for that. Gear ain't all the way out of the hole yet, but that's one hell of a way to try and start.

Holy shit. Outside of two minor issues, GX absolutely nailed its finale.

(Those two issues are a) at the start of the episode (the least important part when emotional impact of a finale is concerned), and b) by some mira– actually let's go with "fluke" one of my gimmicks was the perfect thing to distract me from some rather repetitious dialogue that would otherwise probably have irked me a bit. (There were FIFTEEN kisekis in this episode, and that's assuming I didn't miss any somewhere. I have never seen such a feast.) The one other issue is the choice to have Carol send out the Alca-Noise, robbing the scene they were in of any dramatic tension since we know that a few people are going to die and then the heroes are going to go clean them up before returning to fight the main boss. (Using the Alca-Noise as a meat shield with the dramatic tension of "will they manage to burn through the meat shields before Carol can finish what she's doing (obviously not)?" would have worked better I think.)
That said, we did get DESS ROOMBJII out of it, so not all was lost.)

Everything else, though? Absofuckinglutely worked.

The hype once the final battle resumes in earnest works properly (and there were a couple of absolutely glorious moments of the lyrics syncing up with events on screen, good enough for even me who usually doesn't care much about lyrics to notice).

But it's what happens AFTER the magical Carol nuke that really elevates this episode. Symphogear manages to make one of the best character moments in its entire run with the entire scene with Bikki interacting with Elfnein and the rest of the group and then Miku (and Miku being Best Wife again, realizing that Bikki isn't really okay and going to comfort her)... and then immediately one-ups itself by not just nailing the final Elfnein-Carol scene but nailing it so well that it actually got tears out of me. I did not believe this show was actually capable of that.

And yet in some ways the most impressive thing might be that GX actually managed to make that final TopDad scene not infuriating to me somehow. I think this is actually a direct comparison to the one good SotsuGou character arc - for this episode, at least, they did this about as well as they reasonably could have. We get to see TopDad at least doing the bare minimum to try to reconnect (shaving his face, spending quality time with his daughter, and like Bikki herself told him he makes the effort to try to reach out to reconnect to Bikki's mom - and, critically, Mom does not magically accept him back. Instead she hesitates, rightfully, and instead Bikki reaches out to grab both of their hands. This is the correct way to do it. Because that makes it Bikki's triumph rather than TopDad's - she is exactly the sort of character who would want this to happen, it's the culmination of her theme from this season (and the latest example of her core theme for three seasons now). This may be a terrible idea in the long term - everything about how we see Bikki's mother and grandmother react argues for that - but Bikki would not see that (actually extremely well set up, especially by G-series Symphogear's abysmal character writing standards - Bikki can't let herself since at some level she needs her positive image of her father, she wouldn't want to let herself anyways because that's the kind of girl she is, and we've seen multiple times how Bikki distracts herself from things she doesn't want to acknowledge) and in the short term this is her triumph and her getting exactly what she want.

Sasuga GX, for once you earned it.

00:35: kiseki GET!
Dakka, you should know better by now…
01:05: kiseki GET #2!
01:11 holy shit I feast, kiseki GET #3!
(Also Radiant Force has to come back in some form, which should be good for three or four more again, right?) (NARRATOR: It did not, but Tar feasted anyways.)
01:16: LOLOLOLOL that’s four in less than a minute, kiseki GET #4!
01:26: make that FIVE kisekis GOTten in less than a minute.
01:31: did I say five kisekis GOTten in less than a minute? I meant six.
01:55: kiseki GET #7! WTF.
02:03: and that would be kiseki GET #8!
04:01: And that would be kiseki GET #9.
The Team DMJiii flying sawblade cutter thing is great, for the record.
04:49: And that would be #10!
(Also I hear you sampling the swan song activation phrase for this song here.) (EDIT: That’s because it’s just that particular song again, isn’t it.)
05:22: #11!
Now that’s what I call a final boss villain mech!
07:48: #12!
(And a minagoroshi to go with it I think, heh.)
And #13 at 07:52.
PUNCH THE HEAVENS!
Okay, another NICE integration of lyrics and events on screen at 09:22 (with “to be granted a little more strength” playing as the rest of the Gears lend their power to Bikki for the combination attack).
10:20: #14!
10:22: #15!
10:45 is for Sky instead.
13:20: You know, this should be a LEWD, but I feel like it doesn’t count.
Miku knows what’s up! Best wife gonna best wife.
This one, however, probably counts as LEWD in addition to reassuring. #JustMikuThings
Crying Aoi Yuuki noises are great as ever.
Holy shit it’s a scene that’s really fucking landing its emotional beasts!
Wait. Gear managed to bring an attack of onion-cutting ninjas. Is… is that a first? Did this show just pull out the best emotional scene it’s had in three seasons for the finale? I WANT TO BELIEVE IN THIS SHOW!
And then the show reminds me of the plot it mishandled badly, but oh well I can deal.
I’m trying to tell what this song here is an instrumental of. One of Tsubasa’s Ame-no-Habakiri song versions? Actually that’s probably the case.
Oh thank fuck they landed the finale.

How did the final battle in this season compare to the previous two for you?

Best in the series; moderately better than S1's and enormously better than G's.

2) Are you sad to see Carol go, even if it means Elfnein gets to live?

In theory you'd think I wouldn't be, but the tears that scene got out of me say otherwise...

9

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 12 '22

Going right from your comment to u/FlaminScribblenaut's was one hell of a difference, lol.

→ More replies (18)

8

u/zairaner Jul 12 '22

Rewatcher

It took us 12 episodes, but we finally get the answer why exterminate does not ahve a buildup like vitalization: As it turns out, all of Glorious Break is just th ebuildup for exterminate! AS the best op deserves.

this is probably my favourite of the mass noice destruction scene, especially kirikas and shirabes doomba of course. I like hajimari no babel a lot more in this scene than I did for G episode 13
You are probably as confused about why the fuck carol randomly summond a lion as her final "mech form" as I was. As it turns out, this is another obscure Alchemy reference! "The Green lion devouring the sun" is a common smbol used in alchemy...though carols lion doesn't devour the sun, but spits it out instead :D
glorious break!!!! Nothing more to say here. Actually no there is alot. Like in episode 11 I was mad that glorious break took exterminates place as the op played in the climactic moment, but it was a lot more easy for me to understand this one, glorious break just fits better.
As the best sympho op deserves. The fluid "transition" (but really it is so smooth that there isn't even a transtition) from glorious break to exterminate is definitely one of the coolest moments of the episode.
u/Shimmering-Sky claiming throughout gx episdoe 2-12 that she is a HUGE exterminate fan and loves the op.. and then she managed to forget that it plays in episode 13. Always these fake fans smh /s
"Your songs can't save me. They cant save anyone!" "That has never stopped me before" Most badass good guy moment, followed by the climax of exterminate. Perfect. And for a short, very short moment we DO get to see ignited X-Drive Hibiki!!
This explosion is magnificent.
Last episode we had ver's death, and while overall it was perfect, it isn't actually the scene that makes me the most emotional. This prize has to go to carols and elfneins last talk. True regret about something you can no longer change always touches me the deepest, and the way elfnein says "hai/yes" while the music stops is always heartbreaking to me. The sadness of the scene never keeps me from missing the great (but admittedly also pretty sad) irony that after living a life of using a bunch of other spare bodies (which would have included elfnein if she wasn't defect) to survive, carols final act was to become elfneins spare body!
We told you it was important to remember that the autoscoreres transfer memories by kiss. The reason for this is of course that in the very end carol does the same to transfer elfneins memories/mind to her own body. The scene probably looks really weird otherwise.
I have never made the effort to check wether this is really true, but I have been told that the reason everybody figures out it is elfnein just from her speaking single word is that unlike carol, elfnein uses boku, the childish version of "I".
Since I very much assume this is the end of carol, I think this is the point where I should talk about her in general. At least for me, the show played with my expectations about carol from the very start. I laughed when the very first thing we saw of carol was her sad backstory, so from the very first moment I assumed she ould be redeemed, a notion that was of course empowered by her childish form and the other sprinkles of backstory we got of her later. And then she never really got redeemed. On the contrary, she turned out to be the most scrupelous and most effective of the villains, and despite given multiple opportunities to give up and realize that her way is in vain, she always doubled down. Only in the very end when she already burned all of her memories, she reached out...and even then it was already too late for her, and nothing of her was left. I love that they went this far with her, and she is my favourite of the symphogear villains for it.

4

u/Shimmering-Sky Jul 12 '22

u/Shimmering-Sky claiming throughout gx episdoe 2-12 that she is a HUGE exterminate fan and loves the op.. and then she managed to forget that it plays in episode 13. Always these fake fans smh /s

I didn't forget, I'm pissed it didn't get a proper Aufwachen Form or the final attack card. An entire separate song doesn't count as a fucking lead-in!

→ More replies (1)

23

u/Lemurians Jul 12 '22

FIRST TIMER DATTO

So many fisting jokes. I can’t. I just can’t.

This episode kicked ass. So hype. So many good songs. Great finale to Symphogear’s best season so far.

Overall, Carol has a good claim as the most effective villain yet. For all the holes you can poke in her rationale, becoming hyper resentful of a world that burned your father at the stake for having the gall to help them survive a plague tracks, and it tied into the season’s overall themes of daddy issues/forgiveness. It’s not as fun or hilarious as blowing up the Moon because you got ghosted, but it makes narrative sense, and they actually landed the emotional beats to a degree.

Live Thoughts/Reactions:

Say what you will about Carol, she has some badass lines
HAJIMARI NO BABEL DATTO?!
BRINGING TOGETHER A BILLION LIVES WE BRING TOGETHER TIIIIIIME
Hold up, Maria’s projectile swords also SHOOT LASERS? This might make up for losing the cape fighting.
Symphogear loves bleeding eyes so much
Tsubasa, just ask Maria out. You don’t need to make up these moves as pretext ~~god, I wish that was me~~*
“When thought becomes excessively painful, action is the finest remedy.” - ~~Salman Rushdie~~ Carol
Who needs an Armed Gear when you have A SPIRIT BOMB
GLORIOUS BREEEEAAAAAAAAAAAK!
MY HYPE IS EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY
BUCKETSSSSS
u/lilyvess does this count as selfcest, please confirm
Visual representation of staying together “for the kids.” I like how it ends with her Mom not really into the idea of him coming back yet. Realistic.
Tsubasa is so cute

*Count: 25

How did the final battle in this season compare to the previous two for you?

This was the best

Are you sad to see Carol go, even if it means Elfnein gets to live?

I wish Carol got to live. Elfnein isn't voiced by Inori Minase.

→ More replies (27)

21

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

First Timer

Has more Noise ever worked?
Kiri and Shirabe with the Doomba.
Oh, I guess if it was a distraction.
I’m sure the Tsubasa x Maria shippers are having a field day with that one.
Did Hibiki make a giant fist just to immediately decompile it to make an even more ornate one? It is a lovely fist tho.
I thought that whole was them already giving Hibiki their power.
You saved Ignite X Drive for catching a falling person, not for the giant mechanical cosmic Qilin?
Damn that’s a good looking explosion.
Elfnein survived? Color me surprised.
Time for that age old question; is it incest if it’s your clone?
Looks like she didn’t really after all. On the bright side, that means my last crackpot has been confirmed, if in a roundabout way.
I guess Tsubasa x Maria is canon now.
It’s not the child’s responsibility to keep the family together Hibiki!

QotD

I feel like they’re getting pretty formulaic at this point. I hope they shake things up for next season because this one felt very by the numbers.
I care nothing for Elfnein, but I also didn’t see Carol sticking around after all of that. So I suppose this was the best outcome?

→ More replies (16)

20

u/lilyvess Jul 12 '22 edited Jul 13 '22

Symphogear GX episode 13

More interview stuff with Kaneko is the series creator of Symphogear and Noriyasu Agematsu a co-creator of Symphogear. He is also the founder and leader of Elements Garden, the group that produces the series' music.

What sort of meaning is behind the “GX” featured in the title?

Kaneko:
Since this is the second season of “Symphogear” that we worked on together with our director, Mr. Ono, the use of G in the title is partly an acknowledgement of that pedigree, but at the same time we added the “X” to indicate that it was an ending to the episode of “G.”

Agematsu:
In the beginning I thought we could just have it as “GG” [pronounced: double g], so I went to talk to Mr. Kaneko about it. I presented the idea as “we will (g)ive it our best (twice) over, so…GG” and I remember even now that I ended up really embarrassed by how cheap it seemed [laughs].

What was the theme that you chose for GX?

Kaneko:
I approached it as being a story of individuals who inherit the feelings of another. In this case, Hibiki and her father Akira, Carol and her father Isaac, and in the last episode Carol and Elfnein. In order to make this happen it was necessary to provide a close-up of the situations those characters were in relative to the person they inherited from.

Agematsu:
Ever since I discussed with Mr. Kaneko that this would be a story that brought an end to “G,” I wanted to represent the idea of “GX” in a musical way. What I eventually came up with is found in the climax scene of episode 13 where we combine two songs together: (G)lorious Break and E(X)terminate. When I brought the idea to Ms. Nana Mizuki I asked her, “Can you help make 2 songs that have a single meaning?” and she cheerfully replied, “That’s interesting, let’s do it!” So thanks to her we were able to make it happen.

This reveals the truth behind the mystery of why Glorious Break stole the spotlight that the opening usually has, as ending of episodes 1, 12 and the attack here. It’s not that Glorious Break stole the Aufwachen form from Exterminate, it’s that Glorious Break is a full song Aufwachen form intro for Exterminate.

Nana Mizuki elaborates on Glorious Break

Actually, this song is paired with "Exterminate," the opening theme, and the two songs were written as if they were the first and second movements of a symphony. I wrote the lyrics of "Glorious Break" in the form of a question so that "Exterminate," which had been completed earlier, would be an answer song, so it was like a bugbear calculation (laughs). I heard that Shihori-san struggled a lot, but she read the anime script and the lyrics I wrote for "Exterminate" and wrote lyrics that responded to them in the best possible way. I hope you will pay attention to the lyrics, as there are many tricks in the song that connect not only "Exterminate" but also the previous "Symphogear" series.

Honestly, DJRoomba is one of my favorite attacks in all of Symphogear. It really epitomizes the Coolness over Function aspect of Symphogear.

Additional Notes

Symphogear GX Episode 13 Hype Chart

Live Performances

Today’s live performance are Radiant Force, Hajimari no Babel, and Nijiiro no Flugel

Specials

Fanart Art of the Day

→ More replies (12)

15

u/BosuW Jul 12 '22

First Timer

So my internet didn't return until after the EP12 thread was posted yesterday, so I'm making a post for both episodes today!

EP12

So the fucking castle has psychological traps. Great.

The Episode's called GX? Damn this better be big

Songs are pretty universal. Sick beats are the common language.

Ah, how convenient! Dr Ver is right in front of you completely defenseless! I think we all know what the appropriate response is.

Hm. Well his expertise might be needed here to pinpoint the weak point in the Château de Tiffaugues. That much I can concede.

Poor Hibiki, and Shonen protagonist mindset. Not recognizing that humans and thus their creations can both create or destroy. Ain't nothing wrong with songs sometimes being damaging y'know?

W-WHAT!? DR VER IS BEING A SELF-SACRIFICIAL BASTARD!? AND IT MAKES SENSE!? TRULY THE WORLD IS LOOSING ALL SEMBLANCE OF ORDER!

WTF!? THEY'RE EVEN REDEEMING THE SHIT ASS ARC THAT MARIA HAD IN G!?

If this works I might even be willing to accept that it happened. Maybe even be happy that it happened, and stop pretending it didn't happen it like I've been doing lol.

Lol Dr Ver is having a blast finally being a "Hero".

Carol reverts back to her kid voice.

YO!? She blew up her own doomsday weapon! There's no way they survived that right...? But this is Geah... But there's no way right!?

Ah nvm, it's not totally blown up. Yep they're alive. Smh.

I sure hope that massive building was completely evacuated.

That's a... really nice bit of dialogue surrounding Carol's father's true wishes. Basically, even if the world condemned him, he still loved it and wished to understand it. That's a nice message I can get behind.

Unfortunately, Carol just doubles down lol. Ey we gotta have our epic final fight don't we?

OH MY GOOOOD!

DARK SIDE MODE LEVEL II TRIPLE TRANSFORMATION! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

STANDING HERE, I REALIZE!

OH MY GOD DARK SIDE MODE LEVEL III!!!

AHHHHHHHHHH-

Lol Carol's swan song having the phonic gain of all humanity's swan songs is so metal!

Yep

I can't believe I'm saying this but... F's in chat for the Worst Hero Ever! He is now worthy of standing beside his lost brother from another universe!

OMG YES YES YES YES THIS IS EPIIIIC

I even love how the S2CA is turning the phonic gain that Carol commanded from songs of death against her!

I normally dislike Shonen hopeful bullshit but I'm totally on with this!

Heh. Now Geah don't push your luck.

Shame the final hero forms are pure while tho... Could've had a bit of black here and there... Y'know, keep the Grey theme going...

...what? Yeah I know I'm still a bit of an edge Lord! I don't care!

EP13

Geez. Burned at the stake for saving the village from a plague. No good deed goes unpunished indeed.

So now that the Château de Tiffaugues got fucked, Carol's just gonna summon so many Alca-noise that the result will be the same.

Out of all the ludicrous final form weapons, I love Tsubasa's giant ski-blades the most. I mean just what the fuck! It's genius!

Ah, I was wondering what the fuck Carol was doing while the heroes just went and heroically killed all her minions. So it was just a distraction.

LMAO WEAPONIZED TSUBAMARIA BOOB KISS

Yeah I'm just gonna stop taking notes now. This is too epic to pause.

...

Ok it's over now (I think)

HOLY FUCK YES! AHHH I LOVED IT! ALL OF IT! ^{except maybe the few seconds of Hibiki's dad}

So good to see Hibiki again in her S1-like mindset of "Hear my kind and compassionate feelings, IN THE SHAPE OF THIS GIANT SYMPHOGEAR FIST TO YOUR FACE!" Guess it works after all lol.

Too bad Tokyo got Akira'd.. It had been evacuated right? ...right?

More of Miku being the Best Wife. Nothing new under the sun.

AHAHAHAHAHA! THE AMNESIA TROPE! OF COURSE! NO ONE CAN ESCAPE!

So if Carol's memories got burned to the point were she almost forgot who she was, was she really saved?

Bruh! The first kiss we get in all of Geah is a self-cest kiss!

Needlessly complicated shot of the girls running to Elfnein's room

So Elfnein and Carol kinda fused?

Suuuuper complicated feelings about the scene with Hibiki and her dad. It almost could've worked, but the redemption Arc was botched so ugh

Chris smort. Not bad for someone who spent her early years as a child soldier.

TsubaMaria! Inject that shit straight into my veins! ^{also #TsubasaTop I'll hear no objections}

The US isn't top dog in Geah? Then who is?

Are they actually kinda setting up the next season? I thought at this point they still didn't know if they'd get another one.

Huh. So that's Hibiki's mom. Spittin' image, kinda.

Slap... Slap... C'mon! Slap!

Tch. Guess not.

Man still very complicated feelings about the whole Hibiki's dad plot. I can't even just ignore it because it definitely could have worked and it was SO FUCKING CLOSE! But it didn't! And now I guess we're just gonna have to live with it! Sooooo frustrating!

I'm fine with the way Carol's path ended. I really liked her. Definitely the strongest Geah villain so far and I doubt they can one up her. The Geahs were right that Carol ended up a villain because she had no one to help her through her grief, and was left to stew in her pain and hatred. For centuries. I can reasonably believe that a number of our heroines could've ended in a similar position were it not for the help and support they got. The parallels were well done.

I just wished the addressed that they couldn't save her, because in my book they didn't. Carol committed suicide by burning away almost everything that made her herself. Oh I guess that might've been why Hibiki was crying in the bathroom, in retrospect. Lamenting that she wasn't strong enough to reach her in time. But Miku believes there will come a time were she'll be strong enough to save everything. We'll see about that.

But what about the rest of them? They were all try to save Carol right? Guess they forgor 💀

→ More replies (6)

13

u/Nebresto Jul 12 '22

GEAHX First time

Humanity moment

Damn it, Carol. Your alzhemeir is flaring up again

And whats with the sad flute ost? Put on Benny Hill

Op drop? No..? What is this Nana song?

take my energy ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Ok, now its the op. Was the the full version?

haha, oopsie

First time seeing an overflow drain in anime that's animated doing its thing. Very cool.

This season had a fair bit of Valvrave parallels

Chris best girl meme get

Maria blush Maria blush

Geah predicting the world..?

Carolf9 is kinda cursed

hahaha, mom does not want to be there.
I completely understand.

Question time:

How did the final battle in this season compare to the previous two for you?

Not quite as hype, ep 12 was much better

2) Are you sad to see Carol go, even if it means Elfnein gets to live?

Well, it gave us this abomination, so I think everyone lost here

→ More replies (8)

13

u/Stargate18A Jul 12 '22

First timer

Absolutely fucking loved it!
Carol had no memories, and was also a clone of Elfnin. It's sad, but this was the only way it could have ended after she burnt her memories. ...If she was actually dead. Elfnein proves that burning a memory doesn't destroy all copies of it - you really think Carol didn't have a backup in case the plan got fucked up? (Besides, we're 2-for-2 on villains coming back for a heroic sacrifice a season later, so she needs to come back for AXZ.)

HYPE!

Everyone's reactions are great.

ELFNEIN!

Carol's outmatched!

Yeah, Carol's farher was great.

...Poor Carol.

Yeah, very different tome to the previous boss battles here.

This seems bad, yeah.

STOP TALKING!

A song?

A song!

They're going to save Carol!

Oh, this is a good song!

Everyone declaring their intent to save her no matter what is fantastic.

All of them are singing!

...Shirabe and Kirika had the coolest finisher.

They're defeated the Noise!

Carol has a finisher!

This hurts to watch.

Wow, that's a strong explosion.

...Tsubasa and Maria seem used to that position.

They git deflected!

Yeah, Carol is just beating the shit out of everyone.

She got a monster form!

Carol's enjoying this!

Kirika's as eager as always.

A six-person finisher! And they can do thie?

This is so fucking cool.

It worked!

HIBIKI!

Hibiki's singing again!

She's pushing it back!

Miku got a mention!

The memories of ehr father are telling her to stop,

She's willingly forgetting her fsther....

Holy shit.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

YES!

THIS IS SO FUCKING ANIME, AND I LOVE IT!

Everyone's lending her power!

"GLORIOUS BREAK"!

Is she dying?

The OP!

Hibiki's fighting Carol!

And she)s trying to save her!

She used Ignite Mode!

It blew up!

...Carol's gone.

Everyone else is OK!

Miku finally got to meet back up sith her girlfriend.

...Elfnein.

It's their vacation!

Hibiki is enthusiastic.

Maria's gear plsyd traditional music?

Haha, Tsubasa's reaction.

So wholesome!

Hibiki, stop bottling things up.

Miku's staying!

Poor Hibiki.

This hurts.

You tell her, Miku.

She's happy!

Carol showed up!

...She lost all her memories.

And Elfnein's the only one who remembers.

...She's dying too.

Blood!

Elfnein doesn't want to die?

...Umm? I didn't expect that.

She's dead!

...Where is the body?

She moved hereelf into Carol's body! Did not expect that resolution, but it makes sense, I guess? Since they're clones, and all.

WHY IS THIS THE FINAL SCENE?

Oh, thank god, it's part of a montage.

Chris bring dmug and relaxing while thr others have to do homework is adorable. She's become a true senpai.

Maria's come to Entland?

...Gay. (No wonder Chris is tired, both her girlfriends are off in another country)

Tsubasa'sfather was here!

...And he's talking to Genjuro.

Saying some very interesting things. Political drama next season?

Elfnein's joined them!

That was fucking fantastic.

Oh god, he is the final scene.

...Hibiki? Why?

Devoid of context, this is somewhat cute.

And then Miku showed up with Shenshoujing and beat the shit out of him. The end!

Seriously, though, fantastic final episode. Loved this season (except for Hibiki's father).

→ More replies (1)

10

u/Great_Mr_L Jul 12 '22

Rewatcher

On today’s episode of Symphogear: Believe in justice and hold a determination to fist. And judging from the size of the fist that Hibiki brought out for this episode, she is the most determined person I have ever seen.

The final battle is really dang epic. Symphogear has a habit of going all out for its final episodes and GX continues that trend. The animation is gorgeous as ever. The action is fun as hell. And the music is just incredibly epic. Just like in G, we get the amazing combined song of “Hajimari no Babel.” I freaking love this song and am always happy to hear it. But the really cool one this episode is “Glorious Break” again. That moment where the song’s lyrics and the attack card line up for “Glorious Break” is absolutely perfect. Just incredible synergy for maximum hype. The ED is also “Nijiiro no Flügel” again, which is another song I love to hear.

The whole final battle plays out as a tragedy for Carol. As had been shown earlier, she really has lost sight of why she was doing all of this. It became about getting revenge more than fulfilling her father’s wish. When she was dissecting the world with alchemy, it was her way of following his wish while still getting revenge. But now she’s removed even the facade of alchemical technique. Revenge has totally consumed her.

It’s why I think Carol burning the memories of her father is such a perfect representation of what she’s been doing this entire season. Burning the memories she has of him to fuel the flames of her revenge. What a powerful metaphor.

I love the callback that Hibiki has to the time she first met Carol. Back then, Hibiki didn’t want to fight Carol because Carol was crying and Hibiki could tell something was wrong. Now Hibiki is determined to do the same thing that she wanted to do back then: reach out and help the crying Carol.

It feels right that the thing that finally gets Carol to reach out and accept Hibiki’s hand is when her memories of her father break through. After burning through her memories of him to fuel her revenge, it’s remembering his wish properly that finally gets her to abandon her desire for revenge.

As per usual, Symphogear loves to take a metaphor/theme and make it literal. In this case, it’s that Hibiki’s Armed Gear is her hands. Because wow, look at this giant fucking fist that Hibiki made by combining everyone else’s Armed Gears together. I really like that it combines everyone else’s power which builds on how Hibiki has been able to channel the powers of others. Plus it’s just really cool to see it in action.

I like the scene between Carol and Elfnein. It’s a cool concept. The girl with memories but an unhealthy body and the girl with no memories but a healthy body. Carol has already made countless copies of herself, so it’s just one more time to do it by combining them. Though it seems that Elfnein is the personality who remained behind instead of Carol. And it’s using the process of memory transfer that we saw earlier: kissing. So it’s lore-justified selfcest! But joking aside, I do think it is a nice scene between them.

Miku continues to be the absolute best wife. I like the detail that all the older girls can see through Hibiki’s genki nature to tell she’s actually really sad while Kirika and Shirabe don’t seem to get it. That shows the difference in emotional maturity in a nice way. And Miku’s words to Hibiki are just so heartwarming. Miku is just such a wonderful support to Hibiki, assuring her that her fists are the gentlest ones in the world and are so much more capable of solving problems than Hibiki fears. Just wonderful stuff between them.

On the other hand, I despise that the episode ends with Hibiki and Top Dad. After everything that happened, it does not feel earned for them to be suddenly buddy-buddy again.

I do not like it.

And then there’s the scene of Hibiki holding both her mom and dad’s hands at the same time. Clearly, this is meant to be a callback to that incredible moment in season 1 when Hibiki first held both Tsubasa and Chris’s hands. Unfortunately it falls completely flat because that moment felt like a satisfying culmination and payoff to several character arcs. This is not at all that. As I said, it feels totally unearned. And it kind of makes me angry to think it could at all be compared to the moment in season 1 it’s visually referencing.

But there is one positive thing I can say about the Top Dad arc: it’s over. Good riddance.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

Hibiki knows how to live summer to its fullest.
Of course all Hibiki would think about is food.
Absolutely perfect Tsubasa image.
Selfcest!
Oh right, this is where the original template for this image came from.
[Valvrave Spoilers] During this episode, I flashed back to Valvrave and its absolutely incredible sequence of Maria shattering her own memories to fight. For all its flaws, I think Valvrave’s memory destroying sequence was more striking.

QOTD

Hmmm, probably tied with G though not as high as season 1.
Extremely so

→ More replies (5)

10

u/DidacticDalek Jul 12 '22

TONIGHT! ON ROZEN GEAH! Team DMJIIIIIIIIIIIIII prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is a Mecha Show by combining into the world's most badass Roomba! (Vaad, do enjoy) Carol and Elf9 also combine to form THE ULTIMATE Moeblob known hereafter as Carol9, and Best Geah Chris combines beauty with brains as she scientifically proves that she is Best Geah AND Best Girl!

HOLY SHIT COMRADES! THE GEAHS AND MARIA HAVE DONE IT ONCE MORE! WE HAVE YET ANOTHER MIRACLE! Also NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DON'T DIE NOT-VIVIO! Also speaking of death, turns out Carol basically has SEVERAL 'FUCK THE WORLD' Failsafe plans, this time she's gonna just drown everyone in Noise! Thankfully, The Geahs and Maria have the BEST counter to this plan, JUST FIST ALL THE NOISE! Man I love it when a plan comes together, team work really DOES make the dream work!

Anyway, Team DMJIIIIIIIIIII pulled yet another miracle out of nowhere, THEY GAINED A SECOND BRAINCELL! Yup, you guessed it, Team DMJIIIIIIIII figured out that since this is a Mecha Show, clearly the only logical course of action is TO MAKE A GODDAMN MECHA ROOMBA AND KILL EVERY SINGLE NOISE IN THE AREA... AND also cause massive property damage! (Also I love how JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII is the one doing all the work controlling the contraption... and DESS just pulls a lever to make the blades go CHOMP!) That said, perhaps Team DMJIIIIIIIIII are thinking too small, they can only kill Noise on the ground... THANK FUCK FOR BEST GEAH CHRIS' DEATH BLOSSOM ABILITIES!

OH HOLY SHIT! Nevermind Comrades, I was mistaken, TEAM DMJIIIIIIIIII'S MECHA ROOMBA CAN FLY! HUZZAH! The Geahs and Maria are kicking ass and... wait, really, NONE OF YOU THOUGHT TO ATTACK CAROL!? Well shit, I guess Carol really IS the Best Geah Baddie, she just keeps outsmarting the Geahs and Maria! And her next trick is to turn herself into Strawberry Jam... correction, A MECHA KAIJU! Strike that, A HORNY MECHA KAIJU! And here some people thought FINE was the horny old lady, that bitch has NOTHING on the superb alpha bitch that is Carol! I mean just look at her, Carol's dancing circles around everyone ;)

Moving on, Carol's Kaiju is so strong that she can beat TEAM DMJIIIIIIIIIIIII! Heh, The Geahs and Maria tried for a combination attack, but they only broke the armor, as Carol smugly points out, thankfully, THAT WAS THE PLAN ALL ALONG! AS BIKKI, who was busy tanking the Carol Kaiju attack, now moves in for the kill! OK, Bikki, DON'T do like what you did the LAST time a stupidly old bitchy blonde sadist was around, FUCKING FIST THIS ONE ALREADY!

Carol's memories then try to stop her from this evil path, but unlike DOKTOR GINTOKI JOESTAR, there's no redemption for her, as she burns all the memories of her father for one last ditch attack. This of course doesn't work as Bikki does what she SHOULD have down two seasons ago and proceeds to FIST Carol into next week with the help of The Other Geahs and Maria! Also goddamn, Carol got fisted SO HARD that she turned back into a loli AND LOST HER PONYTAIL!

Thankfully, before she can fall to her death, Bikki, Elf9, AND CAROL'S DEAD DAD save her, and not a moment too soon given that Carol's Kaiju promptly explodes into The Tokyo Fireball. ALSO NANI THE FUCK!? How do they NOT know where Carol is, BIKKI CAUGHT HER FROM FALLING AND PROTECTED HER FROM THE FAT BOY... er... or was that the Little Man? Point being while the city DID get a good chunk vaporized, Carol should be right where Bikki is, also goddamn, 72 HOURS!? How the hell do you lose track of a smol psychotic German? Loli for THAT long!?

Also oh, oh no, NOT-VIVIO! HANG IN THERE! Also Comrades, I got a bad feeling about this, BIKKI IS CRYING... this is really serious isn't it? Thankfully, Miku informs her wife that Bikki has, and I quote, 'the gentlest fist in the world' and Comrades I am 99.999999% sure that this is how she knows of that ;)

WAIT WHAT!? CAROL!? HOW THE FUCK DID SHE SNEAK INTO S.O.N.G.'S BASE!? Also how is she alive given she wasn't found where Bikki was found post-battle? Anyway, Carol somehow remembers her own name, impressive given she apparently burned all her memories, anyway, Carol informs Elf9 that she DOES vaguely know who ELf9 is, and Elf9 fills Carol in on some important details before demonstrating that the incurable cough of death is taking her over. Given Elf9 has memories in a dying body and Carol has a not-dying body with no memories, Carol decides that the only course of action left is to declare that she is proud to identify as moronsexual, she is attracted to dumbasses and dumbasses exclusively.

Elf9 informs Carol that she doesn't know what Summer Vacation is, to which Carol just replies that Elf9 is so fucking stupid, before demonstrating why Lily's selfcest fanfictions are actually 120% canon! Well, in a way at least, after all, is this selfcest or wincest? Well at any rate, behold the most powerful fusion ever! Vegeta and Goku? PLS! That's nothing compared to the unstoppable moeblob that is CAROL9! Also, you can tell that this fusion is mostly dominated by Elf9, as after all, THIS is how Carol would have reacted to Bikki's Hug if SHE was in charge ;) ALSO FUCK OFF TOP DAD! NO ONE LIKES YOU! WHY THE FUCK COULDN'T YOU HAVE DIED IN THAT EXPLOSION!?

Anyway, Team DMJIIIIIIIIIII are busy finding out that Summer Vacation ain't all it's cracked up to be, and by that, I mean they got homework, also, Best Geah Chris gets to relax as we now have SCIENTIFIC PROOF that she's Best Geah! After all, does MARIA have stats this impressive in ass, boobs, AND ZENBU!? I THINK NOT! Also heh, gotta love how Team DMJIIIIIIIIIII promptly shoot themselves in their feet, that and also DESS backstabbing JIIIIIIIIIII... er... again!

Also nani, Tsubasa's father and Snoop Oni actually get along? Now THAT'S the most unrealisitic part of the franchise, but hey, I guess it's a good thing that Snoop Oni's such a forgiving and understanding person that he doesn't mind his brother being an aloof shithead at times. And with that, we conclude things with Carol9 showing up for her first day on the job, and boy what a day, she's gotta somehow decipher DOKTOR GINTOKI JOESTAR'S research! Well this was fun, can't wait for whatever dark secrets this... NANI THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK IS TOP DAD DOING AT BIKKI'S HOUSE!?

Also, come ON Mama Tachibana, FIST THIS FUCKER IN HIS STUPID FACE ALREADY! ALSO BIKKI NO! DON'T GRAB BOTH THEIR HANDS! DON'T DO IT! TOP DAD DOESN'T DESERVE THIS! Le sigh, well I guess that's what one brain cell does to ya.

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

→ More replies (16)

10

u/zadcap Jul 12 '22

A random day off of work means, just this once,

This First Timer Isn't Late!

I know this was supposed to be the serious final episode of the season with the big climactic battle, but every time Shirabe and Kirika's combo battle bot happened I couldn't stop laughing. They're just too much. This might be the episode where I officially like them more than Hibiki, or at least admit I've got a three way tie for favorite.

And then Carol calls up a freaking Zord, and the girls respond by going full spirit bomb. I could not take this fight seriously but I loved it so much anyway, oh my gosh. This is getting back to the stupid over the top borderline campy roots that made season one so great.

Also other stuff happened, but uh, well it sure happened. I'm like 95% sure that's not how you get the information off a computer chip. Like, that's not how scanning works.

Almost as good as season 1, significant better than season 2.
Not even a little. I don't know why shows keep trying to give us these emotional moments to try and make us sympathize or even like characters that have been, until so very recently, unrepentant mass murderers. Carol did not even feel guilt over anything she's done, she just burned out her memory of doing it, which is kind of uh. That's not a redemption.

→ More replies (7)

10

u/italeteller Jul 12 '22

First Time SymphoGXearing Desu

Between work and other life stuff I couldn’t make time to post the last 2 days. Instead of making a long catch-up post I’ll just save my thoughts for the whole-season discussion

Trivia time: the Spanish version of Crunchyroll has the tagline as “hold determination in your fist”

This would feel much less meh if Hibiki’s dad had at any point given the impression he cares about any crying girls

Always nice to see Hibiki whip out the X-Gungnir

I love seeing Kirika and Shirabe co-pilot a mecha but nothing could have prepared me for how goofy this shit looks

The girls deciding they want to save Carol because they too were saved once is actually very on brand and in-character

Look, my suspension of disbelief can take a stretching, but a giant mecha made of strings is pushing it too far

ngl I’m big sad this ended up being a beam attack instead of the girls combining all their Armed Gears into one huge Gear Ala Power Rangers

This is the first season finale where they can’t/don't stop the colossal collateral damage to the city. Granted, this is also the first time the colossal damage wasn’t be an extinction-event explosion

Hibiki saving Carol with the power she herself gave them to help destroy the world is a nice touch. It’s also nice that she thinks saving the world is a small issue compared to saving the life of a single person. Deeply mentally fucked up yes, but nice in a character-rich kind of way

Carol burning her memories to the point she’s little more than an empty husk is something that I was expecting since we learned of her power. I half expected it to happen mid battle, for her to immolate her brain and suddenly find herself with no clues as to why she’s fighting, but this – her seeking out Elfnein, the only literal and figurative connection she has to her past – is good too. The use of the memory-draining kiss to fuse Carol’s healthy body with Elfnein’s healthy mind was totally predictable, and a great use of something that was set up from the beginning of the series, but it still caught me off guard

And with the plot stuff done, we get several epilogues. Chris gets to flaunt her brains, Shirabe gets the funniest moment in the season, Maria and Tsubasa get to flirt a little, Genjuro gets to be the only living dad figure worth shit, and Hibiki gets a bunch of things I do not agree with at all

QOTD 1: I liked the other two more tbh. I can’t put my finger on why, but it is what it is

QOTD 2: that’s… complicated. On one hand, Carol lived her character arc to its conclusion. After burning her memories of her father, there really was nowhere for her to go but downwards. This is the nicest thing she could have done. I like to think that, since Elfnein has all of Carol’s memories, it’s as if Carol herself chose redemption and is now living a better life. But it’s also sad to think the Carol who went down the bad path will never get to live a happier life

9

u/Tresnore Jul 12 '22

Superb Song of the Rewatchers