First Impressions / Senki Zesshou Symphogear

「シンフォギア」 (Shinfogia)
“Symphogear”

”What’s wrong with using anime as an example?”

Oh, wow! Where do I start? This episode can be described with one word: fantastic.

I was supposed to eat my breakfast while watching this episode, but I completely forgot about the food because I was so concentrated on what was happening on the screen. My oatmeal is cold now, darn it!

Personally, I think this episode is the best one since the first episode. From beginning to start, it delivered good story development, amazing action scenes, and a nerve-wracking cliffhanger.

Last week, I was wondering what happened to Durandal, and it turns out that it was used to fuel Kadingir. With such a powerful energy source, Kadingir will be usable over and over again.

I must say that, despite the plot holes, I find Finé to be a very good antagonist. Her goals are reasonable to me. She wants to reach her deity, to confess her feelings for him. It also seems that she wants to create chaos on Earth. This “chaos” will make her stand out as the strongest and most reliable person on the planet, so people will see her as a goddess.

Something even more interesting that I hadn’t expected, was the fact that she experimented on the girls, especially Hibiki. Because of these experiments, she had been able to fuse herself with her armor, making her invincible. But unlike her, Hibiki’s fusion turned out in a different way.

The berserk Hibiki rampaged on the battlefield. I don’t know whether she stabbed Tsubasa through the heart or not; I rewatched that scene five times and I still don’t get it. Luckily, Hibiki’s attack didn’t affect Tsubasa, who turned the situation around, hugging Hibiki to calm her down.

With that, Tsubasa took off, sacrificing herself to destroy Kadingir, in which she succeeded. For some reason, I expected her to survive that attack, and guess what? – She did, and so did Kurisu, thank god!

“Revived” by Miku and company’s song, the girls, in completely new and powered up gears, are now prepared for their final battle, and probably Hibiki’s death, which we’ve known would happen since the first minute of the show.

I’m expecting some good battle scenes next week. Oh, and I still want to hear a song performed by the trio! Talking about songs – this week had no opening, but, the opening song was used as ending theme with credits rolling. Not many interesting screencaps there…

Anyway, next week will probably be a blast, and I’m totally ready for it!

Full-length shots: 04, 17, 18, 32

45 Comments

  2. SYMPHOGEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAR!!!

    I admit that part of why I enjoy Hibiki so much is listening to Aoi Yuuki use her “Madoka” voice while being hot-blooded and GAR. Its not very effective but she gets points just for the effort.

    And yes Hibiki’s sudden powerup and resurrection of Tsubasa and Chris may be an asspull but at least its one awesome asspull. I’ll miss her when she dies.

    fragb85
    Reply

    1. Same here! I just loved this episode especially the final moments when they got their new gears, as well as Tsubasa’s new technique. I keep on re-playing the part where Hibiki and the others stands up and transforms into their new gear while Hibiki screams “Symphogear!!!”, it’s my favorite part.

      Phoenix
      Reply

    2. I have to agree with Stereoman. This is just as epic as the first episode, it doesn’t matter the it doesn’t make practical sense that the girls from the school signing would power them up. Symphogear source of power is the will of ones heart conveyed through song. I loved the black credits because I was also expc this to be the last episode but no they gave us one great cliffhanger.

      I take back what I said about ep. 9 we need that calm before this storm.

      Ani_BEE
      Reply

  6. oh great look like i guess terms anyone who is not named kanade is still ok.

    after seeing chris fall down hibiki going HULK mode going full attack.
    fine using asgard shield (great mix thor terms on it) to block but got sliced then hibiki go after tsubasa.
    oh fine can regenerate herself after getting cut in upper-half.
    tsubasa let hibiki hit her to trap her go all or nothing on fine.
    with quick talk to kanade go nuke whole tower & down goes tsubasa.
    after tower goes down fine going no while hibiki just gone shock-stun NO!!!
    miku, genjuro & rest wonder to do oh little girl that hibiki save ask to cheer for hibiki?
    so need get place power back on so to power room.
    fine talking about “him” hibiki look like pity fine but fine don’t want.
    power room door is small one of those 3 girls small person do it cause it’s anime doing.
    more anime talks doing form the human pyramid & hit the switch.
    fine looking to finish shock-stun hibiki then choir of songs appear.
    after hearing it hibiki is back & ta-da so is both chris & tsubasa there all ok.
    going now super Symphogear mode.

    finale ep next wonder what might happen give if recall “you know what”.

    CAPTAIN MAR-KLAC-VELOUS
    Reply

    2. & yea hibiki is also 2nd version of Madoka Kaname.

      so yea give one ep left got wonder is all wrap-up?

      give odds wild guesses might be

      1.super Symphogear doing well then fine pull last act of of surprise
      2.then somewhere a small piece of ryoko within fine pull a last second redemption to help hibiki & etc stop fine.
      3.oh piece of moon falling to earth go all or nothing & fast forward to crying miku of ep.1

      give hey already series is mix madoka, nanoha, xenosaga, chris the human gundam, singing, norse mythology, tower cannon, etc & just now super Symphogear!!!

      yea anything guess is possible right now.

      CAPTAIN MAR-KLAC-VELOUS
      Reply

  8. For a few minutes, I thought Symphogear was going to go down the route of killing off most of the cast for a bittersweet ending. After all, they did kill of Kanade in the very first episode. Who knows, maybe they will anyway!

    Hibiki’s wings are awesome.

    The orchestral arrangement of Tsubasa’s transformation song that plays during the battle between her and Hibiki is pretty cool too.

    Moomba
    Reply

  9. Finè’s mistake was to take for granted the Symphogear System. Think of a reverse Evangelion-esque synch system: the higher the syncho, better chances of survive the Zesshou. That’s why Kaname died (lowest of all), while Chris and Tsubasa hold it up (Tsubasa twice). Even better, I think that the SS was a Relic limiter, so Finè wouldn’y have problems dealing with the girls later. That’s why when Hibiki listen the Lyrian Anthem, the Gungir charged up to full power, did a ressonance with the Ame no Habakiri and Ichii Bal for the same efect and woilá!, Completed Relics.
    This is not Sparta. THIS IS SYMPHOGEAR!!

    SeedStriker
    Reply

  10. I like Symphogear the best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously and give us loads of cheese. The show reminds me of Sacred Seven in many ways. Messy and questionable plot, non-stop action, plentiful emotional outburst and most importantly, excellent BGM and songs! I still think the flash forward from episode 1 was a troll and Hibiki and her harem will have a happy ending 😉

    Seishun Otoko
    Reply

  11. Why am I not surprised that they survived a fall from outer atmosphere and a second go at Zesshou…
    Wouldn’t a fall from as high as 50 meters kill anyone instantly?
    Wasn’t the whole point of Zesshou to give one’s life in order to power up one ‘FINAL’ attack?
    But who cares about the technicalities here, as long as the girls are all alive and kickin’, I’m fine with any sort of explanation for their miraculous revival.

    Mixed Milkshake
    Reply

      1. OF COURSE what do you expect give that what her names of 3 girls of hibiki & miku keep it like an anime & etc yet same voice of Yasuna Oribe of kill me baby.

        yea so likely yasuna is anime genre savvy in this anime?!

        CAPTAIN MAR-KLAC-VELOUS
        Reply

    2. Actually, there are reported cases on which people have survived falls way higher than 50 meters
      Also Kurisu had her armor on when she was falling so maybe that protected her

      Alfred
      Reply

  12. SSSSSYYYYYMMMMMPPPPPHHHHHOOOOOGGGGGEEEEEAAAAARRRRR!!!!!

    Epic ending. I loved how the OP song tied into the resurrection of our heroines.

    At 21:34, there’s a minor mistake on the studio’s part. It shows Hibiki alone on the ground in a pile of rubble, and several milliseconds later, a bright green orb of light expands and somehow Fine magically shows up next to Hibiki and gets blown away.

    Islidox
    Reply

  13. I have been replaying the part where Hibiki screams “SYMPHOGEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAR!!!” for over 30+ times now xD. Someone need to upload that part on Youtube ( I would like to do that myself but I can’t)

    OP song suits perfectly with this ep’s ending (and first ep.ending too)

    Also, I really like that Anime girl (Yumi) All of her “It’s like they’re in an anime!” speech are wonderful! 😀 I wish I will see more character like her in another show.

    Marina2
    Reply

  15. While this show is entertaining, I sometimes find myself unable to comprehend the characters thought process and reasoning. I sure I only half got what Fine was talking about here. It’s just to much and too sudden, and most of it feels out of context (or maybe I stumble over the plotholes too much)

    Zreon
    Reply

  17. I thought the swan song was supposed to be fatal. It killed Kanade and turned her into dust. It didn’t kill Tsubasa, but it was near fatal and the anime had her in the ICU for some time. With Chris though, she sang the swan song then proceeded to take a blast from an ion canon(?) and then fell all the way down from god knows how high above the ground, and she gets up at the end like she just woke up from a nap? Maybe someone has a good explanation they can provide me with but as of now it feels exceedingly awkward to me.

    Ren
    Reply

  19. For those who think that the EP1 opening scene might be a troll, here’s food for thought: out of all the Symphogear users (Kanade included), only one of them hasn’t sacrificed her life to attain victory. And for an anime that focuses around “swan songs”, that’s a bit of a no-no.
    Fantastic episode, this. The revival of Tsubasa and Kurisu was somewhat predictable, but I still got spine tingles when it happened. Roll on the EP13 beatdown!

    IcarusFW
    Reply

    1. And it’s also further foreshadowed by Fine contemplating just how someone like Hibiki would be able to take the self-inflicting damage caused by using the Swan Song by being fused, but feeling like it didn’t matter now since she was fused herself now.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

      1. Indeed. Another marker is that, given Finé’s insane regenerative capabilities (demonstrated quite nicely in this episode), the girls are going to have to do something drastic to stop her. While the optimistic side of me wants Hibiki to survive until the end, it’s perfectly set up for her ultimate sacrifice.

        Alternatively, she might actually survive and win the day, but due to the secretive nature of her work, the official story leaked to the media is that she died during the attack, and the EP1 opening scene was Miku playing along.

        Either way, EP13 should be excellent.

        IcarusFW
        Reply

  21. Remember that Tsubasa didn’t only “hug” Hibiki to calm her down. She also stabbed Hibikis “shadow” so that she can’t move. Something we’ve seen a lot in typical ninja move sets.

    ROFLWAFFLELAWL
    Reply

  25. we almost got to see how walpurgis nacht came to existence but seems like her friends stopped her from going down the path of despair.

    now we see the 2nd reincarnation of kaname madoka

    c2710
    Reply

  27. WOW i love this show.
    Now i’m really Hyped to see the Final Episode i hope they win with their new “white” Gear.
    The only thing that could ruin this might be if Hibiki is killed in the next episode 🙁
    Kurisu’s Song to transform i think is by far the best out of the other two users

    Show Spoiler ▼

    AkAtsUbAkI
    Reply

  29. Humans building the Tower of Babel foiled the love confession of a priestess?
    But from last episode it seemed like she herself was involved in building the tower and now she blames it on humans?
    Is a priestess not a human?

    I hope they explain the Gear power up thing or is it just a miracle.
    On to the last ep!

    iron2000
    Reply

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