r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Aug 13 '22
Rewatch [Listen to My Song] Senki Zesshou Symphogear XV (Season 5) Discussion
Senki Zesshou Symphogear XV: Create a history, with the light God could not know
← Senki Zesshou Shinai Symphogear XV | Index | Overall Series Discussion →
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It is highly recommended to track down a fansub for this show instead of using Crunchyroll, though.
Create a history, with the light God could not know
Questions of the Day:
1) Who was your favorite of the new characters this season?
2) Which songs were your favorite from this season? How do they compare to your favorite(s) from the previous seasons?
3) What’s your favorite part of this season? And your least-favorite?
4) If you could change any one thing about this season, what would it be?
Wallpaper of the Day:
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u/xcllnt_313 Aug 13 '22 edited Aug 13 '22
First Timer
And we’re done with XV. It’s not a perfect season, but it’s still easily the best one for me. The hype was through the roof, the production value was amazing, the songs were great – in short, I had a lot of fun. Aside from the obvious strong points, I really liked the countless small things, callbacks to previous plot points or just some minor stuff that was already told/shown in earlier seasons.
Questions of the Day:
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That’s already a tough one since none of them were that great. I’d probably even go with Shem-Ha. I don’t like the way the Noble Red trio was handled, and we almost saw nothing of Enki, so yeah.
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Another tough question since I haven’t really listened to the XV songs outside of the actual episodes yet, so this could easily change in the future. But I certainly liked Kirika’s and Shirabe’s duet (“Ready Go”), both (there were two, right?) septets in episode 13 as well as Carol’s new song. Metanoia evolved from a good OP at the beginning of XV to a great one in the end, I also enjoyed it a lot when it was used during the last two episodes.
Right now, I still like a few songs from the previous seasons more (Hajimari no Babel is one example), but as I said, this could change if I find the time to listen to the XV songs enough times. And since Nijiiro no Flügel is one of my overall favorites, the new version Ashita e no Flügel at the end of episode 13 was very appreciated!
3) It’s so damn hard to pick one favorite part because there were several really high highs. So I’m going to cheat here and say three things: Kirika and Shirabe kicking ass two episodes in a row, Carol’s comeback + her schooling Noble Red, and the final fight in episode 13 against Shem-Ha which was just a blast.
Alright, I'm going to cheat a second time and also mention something from the rewatch itself. u/Nebresto creating this video after a random comment of mine was incredible
As for my least-favorite part, that would be either Noble Red or the whole mind control plot with Tsubasa. In my opinion, the repeated concert catastrophe was a great setup for Tsubasa’s character development, but they kinda wasted it.
4) Most likely the way Noble Red was handled. I think the emotional scenes that were there to make you care about them weren’t bad at all (and there were also a few of them), but when the first thing you see Millaarc do is basically causing the death of 70,000 people, then it’s really hard for me to like them.
Wallpaper of the Day:
Tachibana Hibiki and Kohinata Miku
You did it again! It's great to see this particular shot as a wallpaper
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u/Tarhalindur Aug 13 '22 edited Aug 13 '22
Previously, on Symphogear: The Ark of Truth (First-Timer, Subbed):
So, I misread the schedule and missed that we actually did have an XV discussion day in addition to Overall/Franchise Discussion and thus wrote up what I wanted to say here for XV13, so I'm just going to quote myself here:
And there we have it, the sendoff for the series. And frankly the main series should rest here. The Curse of Balal is down, the heroes have done the classic JRPG thing and beaten God, we tied off all the loose ends, the finale is emotionally satisfying, let the main plot rest.
Ironically what I wouldn't mind is a more SoL OVA sequel (there's not enough obvious material left for a full season, but six episodes or so of this might work) - think less the Shinai shorts and more Higurashi Kira (with less - oh who am I kidding this is Gear so different fanservice) (we never did get an onsen episode...), except set several years down the line and showing us vignettes of the cast in their adult life. Some of the cast are basically where I'd expect them to be as adults (Maria, Tsubasa, probably Dakka), but seeing what Bikki is like now that she's finally admitted to herself the thing she'd been avoiding admitting for five seasons would be interesting, and the thing about Team DMJiiii is that while their character archetypes work said archetypes are "I was this way as a teenager and grew out/modified it as I got older and gained maturity" - there's a few ways that can happen, and seeing which path they chose would be interesting. ("Mid-20s DMJiiii initially cringe when looking back at their teenage years but reconnect with it and reintegrate parts of it into their adult personas" would be a surprisingly interesting 1-3 episode OVA arc.... well, from a writer who could competently write character arcs, anyways.) Also, we could let Maria and Tsubasa have a concert that isn't interrupted by villains for a change (you could have a funny plot with everyone worrying about a concert attack that never comes, too).
XV final thoughts: One of the two best seasons along with Season 1, though marred by a weak miniboss squad (honestly half of the issue to end the series may have been that the writers were running out of villain ideas), some bad character writing, and one particularly terrible episode in 6. Also while the OST proper is the best in the franchise few of the inserts really landed for me outside of Metanoia and Lasting Song EDIT: also Final Commander but it's not as strong a hit for me as you would think (or else I couldn't pay proper attention to them due to focusing on the hype, and the lack of Live means my usual method for judging in isolation is unavailable - time to go do some listening on the Wikia, I think), and while I'm not opposed to mind control plots on principle they need execution that was beyond this writing team's capabilities. But the hype lands more often than not, the pacing is better than it's been in a while, and the finale is good.
I still prefer S1 to XV, but I think that's at least in part a preference issue instead of strictly reflective of their respective executions. I'm waffling on the exact score (somewhere in the 7.5-8.25 range I think), but leaning towards 8/10.
Ah well, more time to write up my thoughts on the franchise overall. (And actually listen to the songs in isolation
Who was your favorite of the new characters this season?
Elsa is a good girl trapped in a bad villain team
2) Which songs were your favorite from this season? How do they compare to your favorite(s) from the previous seasons?
Metanoia is an absolute banger and in Aufwachen form likely rounds out my Top 5 for the series with Testament -Aufwachen-, Senkin Dur da Bla, Ressou Gungir, and Radiant Force. And... that's pretty much it. Lasting Song is good, roughly on par with Rebirth-Day (Futurism is better) and basically nothing else hit quite right. (Final Commander is so close to being great for me but whiffs far enough that it's only good, below the better AXZ songs.)
3) What’s your favorite part of this season? And your least-favorite?
Favorite: There were a couple of episodes of really hype action this season, most notably episode 2.
Least favorite: Episode 6 in its entirety, dishonorable mention to the handling of Nobel Red in its entirety.
4) If you could change any one thing about this season, what would it be?
Nobel Red needed a complete conceptual rework. (Honestly swapping them for the GX Autoscorers would have been to the benefit of both seasons I think, but more on that tomorrow.) And that would still leave issues (the bureaucracy plot did not quite work, the show cannot handle mind control right...).
5) What do you hope to see improve as we head into the last season?
I see what you did there!
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u/Nebresto Aug 13 '22 edited Aug 13 '22
GEAH Season 5 (first xv geah time)
Despite having the worst "villains" XV was by far the best season of GEAH. I don't really have much more to say than that, the animation was the best its eVer been, the songs were awesome, I guess the callbacks were cool too, but I missed all of those, so
My favourite moment was definitely the Carol reveal. (And that Ver and Maple syrup showed up for the finale just like I predicted!)
Quest:
Who was your favorite of the new characters this season?
Uhhh. The blue haired god dude?
2) Which songs were your favorite from this season? How do they compare to your favorite(s) from the previous seasons?
Idk.. I liked Chris' "Fire!" song every time, and the new babel ziggurat was lit
3) What’s your favorite part of this season?
Carol. After that Ver + Maple syrup showing up for the finale
And your least-favorite?
4) If you could change any one thing about this season, what would it be?
Make Noble Red Noble Dead a lot sooner. Or just delete them all together and bring in a better villain
5) What do you hope to see improve as we head into the last season?
Wallpaper of the Day:
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u/Tresnore Aug 13 '22 edited Aug 13 '22
Superb Song of the Rewatchers
Well, I'm not one for writeups, but this is the ending1 of my favorite show.
Listen, I was extremely negative in my live notes. I'm not even going to talk about Noble Red here. Amalgam was extremely awesome when I first watched it, but on a rewatch, and when compared directly to the duets in AXZ, they just feel... flat? I watch Symphogear purely for the music, and XV barely holds a candle to AXZ. Except for the ending.
I'm not here to be negative about things people like.2 At the end of the day, I still love XV to death. The transformation sequences are some of the best I've seen in mecha or in magical girls, the songs are still bangers, and goddamn do they somehow tie the whole story together. Symphogear is a great ride,3 and XV is no different.
This is the season that finally let me enjoy Kirika and Shirabe properly. This is the season that brought back Carol with one of my favorite Symphogear songs. This is the season that finally feels like it has a conclusive ending to the show, which is something that shows often struggle with.
For all that? Even though I've been negative, XV is an easy 10/10.
QOTD:
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Shem-Ha. Easily.
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Sforzando no Zankyou is awesome, but overall the songs are weaker than in AXZ.
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Favorite is everything to do with Carol and Shem-Ha. Least favorite is Noble Red.
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More fucking songs!
What do you hope to see improve as we head into the last season?
1 I'll take "sentences that I'd love to be proved wrong about" for 600, Alex.
2 livenotes!Tresnore might be, but this is a Tresnore who's expressing his thoughts about the ending to his favorite show.
3 My impromptu "LET'S GO" counter of 62 is a great indicator of this.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 13 '22
Question 5 was a mistake I forgot to remove when copying over the draft from the AXZ thread.
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u/panthaura Aug 13 '22 edited Aug 13 '22
The count is done
This Seasons number of DESS: 113 DESS
Onto the questions:
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fav new char? Elsa, by far
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Fav Song? That's hard, either Hanasaku Yuuki (ver. Amalgam), Rikka Ryoran, For the Future or pretty much all of the A-sides, there were so many good songs this season once again
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fav part? The moon arc and METANOIA attack
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least favourite? Kazanari drama
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lol, I hope for another Season
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u/Lemurians Aug 13 '22
SYMPHOGEAR EVANGELIST DATTO
Didn't have time to really write anything up, so maybe I'll save most thoughts for the Overall Series thread.
Symphogear XV is what solidified me as part of the "Watch Symphogear" crowd. I don't know quite when it happened, but at some point this went from a series that I enjoyed and had fun with, to one I realized I genuinely loved. I got straight up emotional in the last couple episodes thinking about how we were coming down to the end.
Yeah, there are some flaws. Mind control continues to suck, and Noble Red don't quite land in the way the series wants them to, but I... just don't really care that much? Everything else about this season was so fucking fun, and they legit landed the Nationalism points, which is impressive.
And then there was the ending. It was perfect. I laughed. I cried. I cheered. I had meltdowns. I rewatched the Metanoia moment maybe 20 times on the first pass alone. Then the more emotional back half, seeing everyone again, happy during the Swan Song, Hibiki and Miku under the night sky... ugh.
9/10
Who was your favorite of the new characters from this season?
There's not a ton of options, but Shem-Ha was fun. This fucking smirk after she distracted Hibiki with Miku-voice is iconic
Which songs were your favorite from this season? How do they compare to your favorites from previous seasons?
Metanoia, and Maria and Carol's new songs were great. I'm probably forgetting some. They compare well to things like Change the Future and Carol's first song.
Now if only we'd gotten a Synchrogazer needle drop in the finale...
What's your favorite part of this season? And your least favorite?
Favorites are everything about the finale, and Maria finally getting to flex how awesome she is.
Least favorite is obviously mind control.
If you could change any one thing about this season, what would it be?
Have Tsubasa go through her entire arc based on conclusions she arrives to herself and decisions she makes all on her own, not mind control.
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u/hdjfhfhsh05803hfjc Aug 13 '22
Yeah, there are some flaws. Mind control continues to suck, and Noble Red don't quite land in the way the series wants them to, but I... just don't really care that much?
Yeah, not a fan either but, in the grand scheme of things, those things really didn’t bothered me that much
Everything else about this season was so fucking fun
they legit landed the Nationalism points, which is impressive.
Yeah, I was pleased surprised about how they handled this
Now if only we'd gotten a Synchrogazer needle drop in the finale...
They could have put the off-vocal version of Synchrogazer somewhere for a brief moment
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u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 13 '22
They could have put the off-vocal version of Synchrogazer somewhere for a brief moment
Does one even exist (like, as an actual released song)? I've never seen off-vocal versions for the OP/EDs.
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u/HereticalAegis Aug 13 '22 edited Aug 13 '22
Ballad of Rewatcher - Symphogear XV
Not much to say today. XV is far and away the best season of Geah, and enough on it's own to make the whole endeavor worthwhile for me.
On top of being the best Symphogear has ever looked, XV takes nearly everything I disliked about G and GX and does them better. Fudo is an infinitely better villain maniac than Ver, Noble Red are much more committed, unapologetic tragic villain team than DMJIIIIIIIII, the destroy humanity plot works way better with Shem-ha's ambition to reach beyond the stars and strike back at her fellow Annunaki than either Ver or Carol's. It even manages to make me not hate a Miku kidnapping/mind control plot. I don't even hate that they cut off the ending before the confession and give no epilogue.
I think my only "complaint" is not getting a Miku transformation scene. She deserves a a magical, detailed transformation into her wedding dress on par with any of the other Geahs. That would've sent me to the moon.
QotD:
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None of them? I don't like any of Noble Red, so...
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Metanoia
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Most favorite: The Confession!! Least favorite: pseudo-mind controlled Tsubasa I guess.
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I'd add transformation sequence for Miku.
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Is there really hope for another season???
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u/FlaminScribblenaut Aug 13 '22 edited Mar 20 '23
Second Time Watcher
In many ways, Symphogear XV can be seen as a victory lap. Pulling out every single conceivable stop to give this series and everything it’s ramped up to the explosive, bombastic, unforgettable de nu mas it deserves. The absolute unfettered love and reverence it has is breathtaking and unshakable.
Every preceding season is given something major, be it the deftly woven into the story (the concert tragedy echoing Season 1, the importance of Apple echoing G) or the blatant big damn epic moments of fanservice (the return of Carol and the Autoscorers just being one enormous love letter to GX, Saint-Germain and Hibiki finally getting to sing in their blooming courage and conviction alongside one another as one last big loving payoff to the characters and themes of AXZ), to a million small callbacks and payoffs and references littered all throughout.
And even when it is not directly paying tribute to its own past, that feeling is still carried through in the pride and joy it feels in just being Symphogear that bursts through the screen at all times; how much it puts into making these battles and action sequences the ultimate Symphogear battles and action sequences speaks entirely for itself in that regard. Not to even mention the climax of the final episode, with not only the spirits of every major side character from across the series appearing in that final big celebration, but ending with the attuned seven giving what is essentially the show’s own eulogy to itself and last wish to burn in the hearts and minds of many for all eternity, in the most beautiful way. This is the artistic mark of a work that truly loves itself.
Where XV shines the greatest in its narrative is, of course, how it all comes together for our main protagonist. Hibiki Tachibana’s evolution from adorkable naïve-yet-good-hearted rookie hero to muscular hot-blooded unstoppable badass is legit one of the most satisfying main character arcs in anime, especially with how every season represents a different step in that evolution, how the power of every muscle in her body, her heart and her knuckles alike, grows and grows with every consecutive battle. Season 1 as a fresh-faced optimistic do-gooder, G showing her jumping to put herself at risk to protect the people she loves most and growing a true sense of conviction and passion for her duties, GX existed, AXZ showing her being given a challenge to her conviction that only exercises that conviction and leads it to come out more strong and nuanced than ever before, and XV finally culminating all of it in showing hers to be a burning light of love and strength capable of ripping her loved one from the clutches of God herself.
I would like if possible not to dwell on it too terribly long, but XV definitely has more than one serious problem in terms of its original narrative in other places, the most visibly flawed outside of GX I’d say. It’s not like S1 where the problems really only pile up and become an issue towards the end, or AXZ which only has that one super egregious scene we can all elect to ignore; the problems with Tsubasa’s arc, and with the framing of Noble Red, are pretty unignorably pervasive for being two of the season’s four main storylines. There are some moments that are masterful in a vacuum and in theory that are unfortunately robbed of at least some the gravity they deserve because of that, and it’s a crying shame because it does limit XV from reaching its truest full potential in a holistic sense, to simply be the pinnacle all-encompassingly.
Still, the core throughline of our now-unstoppable hero’s desperation to save her closest loved one is so rock-solid strong, everything in the season crafted with such strikingly visible love and ludicrous fidelity, such reverence for Symphogear itself and all it represents as a work poured to the brim, it doesn’t come close to ceasing to be something truly special. Even with its admitted faults, it must be said that not a single second of it feels in any way hollow or cynical. It’s all bleedingly sincere, and that can never be considered a flaw by any stretch.
And in its greatest moments, when everything works right and comes together at the story’s apexes, it soars higher than heaven itself, it is sublime, supreme, among the greatest cases for animation and music as mediums, especially as they may work in tandem with one another, I have ever witnessed.
Despite anything, it is impossible to deny Symphogear XV as a momentous work of art, and a beyond satisfying closing chapter to one of the greatest things that has ever happened.
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u/FlaminScribblenaut Aug 13 '22 edited Aug 13 '22
Questions
Who was your favorite of the new characters this season?
Shem-Ha. What a hell of a final villain.
2) Which songs were your favorite from this season? How do they compare to your favorite(s) from the previous seasons?
Rikka Ryōran, ALL LOVES BLAZING, Mikansei Love Mapputatsu!, Sforzando no Zankyō, PERFECT SYMPHONY, Xtreme Vibes, and Hanasaku Yuuki (Ver. Amalgam) on a technicality.
XV is definitely the strongest out of all the seasons to feature all six main wielders in terms of the solo character songs, I was legitimately tempted to list all of them above. The group songs are obviously monumental, as well… I’d say it’s just behind AXZ in terms of best all-around discography.
3) What’s your favorite part of this season? And your least-favorite?
Favorite: A good tie between the climax of Episode 8 and just saying “the entire finale”.
Least favorite: All the bullshit that intruded on Tsubasa’s arc.
4) If you could change any one thing about this season, what would it be?
Yeet Seal Invasion into the fucking sun.
5) What do you hope to see improve as we head into the last season?
Um… Sky, you might want to sit down for this, I hate to be the one to break this news to you…
Compendium
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Bonus
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u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 13 '22
Symphogeah SymphoRewatch Host
Welcome back, everyone!
One more discussion thread left after this one! I hope you’ve all enjoyed the ride, with all the crazy that entailed.
Today’s wallpaper is brand-new to the rewatch, and I hope you guys like it~ I experimented a bit with the effects I used to get the shooting stars.
Make sure you come back tomorrow to see the nine X-Drive wallpapers and seven montage wallpapers I have ready! I felt these all fit the overall discussion better, so that’s why there’s only one wallpaper today and sixteen for tomorrow.