Anime

Episode Summary:

We start this episode five years before Tsubasa and Hibiki stare down the mystery girl wearing the Nehushtan armor. 2nd Division has just rescued Kanade Amou from the aftermath of a Noise attack on an artifact dig site. This isn’t the same calm, collected Kanade we first met three years later at the Zwei Wing concert in episode 1. As judged by the straight jacket she is strapped into, this Kanade is enraged to the point that she might even be a danger to herself and others. Through angered shouts and expletives, she makes clear that the only thing she wants is a way to kill the Noise who killed her family. No matter the personal cost to herself. All while a young Tsubasa watches timidly tucked away in her uncle’s shadow.

Genjuro and Ryoko put Kanade through a series of experiments meant to see if she can link with a Relic. While Tsubasa can naturally link with her Ame no Habakiri, it at first it seems like Kanade is unable to do the same. It’s only after Kanade takes matters into her own hands and injects herself with a dangerous overdose of the drugs they were testing on her that she is able to form a bond with Gungnir. In a dramatic scene she coughs up quite a bit of blood but successfully summons her Symphogear in the end.

From then on, Kanade fights for revenge along side Tsubasa. Until, after one battle, some soldiers the two saved note how nice it was to hear Kanade’s singing in the midst of battle. This has a transformative effect on Kanade. Her worldview that only contained thoughts of revenge shifts to one of using her abilities to make people happy which leads to the creation of Zwei Wing.

Back in the present, Tsubasa stares down the mysterious girl in the Nehushtan armor. The two begin a battle, and while they are closely matched, the mystery girl seems to have a small but notable advantage in power. At one point during the battle she pulls out some sort of weapon and fire it at the ground in order to summon Noise! A few of the Noise trap Hibiki while the rest serve as an obstacle for Tsubasa.

The battle looks like it is near its end when Tsubasa is knocked to the ground. The mystery girl taunts her, saying that Tsubasa isn’t even the reason she’s there. Really, she came to capture Hibiki, but she doesn’t say why. In response, Tsubasa vows to defeat the mystery girl before pinning her shadow to the ground with a small dagger. She then make a point of reminding Hibiki just how far she’s willing to go to achieve victory against the Noise and this new opponent.

Then, Tsubasa sings. She puts away her sword and slowly walks towards the mystery girl while singing her Superb Song. Blood flows from her mouth as she looks the frightened mystery girl directly in the eyes. The resulting blast destroys all the nearby Noise and seemingly badly injures the girl as well. The mystery girl flees just before Genjuro and Ryoko arrive. Tsubasa claims to be all right. That, as a sword, she won’t break now… but her claims are obviously a lie as there is a pool of her own blood forming below her all flowing from her mouth and even her eyes. A moment later Tsubasa falls to the ground.

We find out that singing a Superb Song is not necessarily fatal as Tsubasa is apparently rushed to a hospital and the doctors manage to save her life. It seems like she might even be able to fully recover in time. Meanwhile, Hibiki is beating herself up over her role in Tsubasa’s fall. She finally realizes that offering to replace Kanade was the wrong thing to do. Ogawa helps her understand more about Tsubasa and her need to fight after Kanade’s death.

Later we see that Hibiki is still working through the suffering Tsubasa must have been going through since Kanade’s death. First in a meeting with 2nd Division’s leaders, and then on the roof overlooking the hospital where Miku helps encourage her. Finally, after a month or more of trying to be Kanade’s replacement, Hibiki decides to be herself and protect the things she cherishes as herself.

We then get a fantastic training montage as Hibiki trains hard under Genjuro all while Miku watches in secret from the shadows. The episode actually ends on something of an ominous note as Hibiki promises Miku that she’ll never keep a secret from her…

Episode Impressions: 

Although I enjoyed the first three episodes of Symphogear, this is the one that really sold me on the series. Kanade’s destructive determination to kill the monsters that murdered her family was really impactful. But so was her shift to the calm, encouraging Kanade that we knew from the first episode.

Tsubasa’s fight with the mystery girl was impressive. There was some nice choreography in there. Tsubasa’s solution was chilling and had a great buildup.

Afterwards, it was great to see Hibiki really work towards understanding Tsubasa’s thinking and her own role in Tsubasa’s fall. That Hibiki’s solution was to actually train for her role as a Symphogear user for the first time was great to see. There’s a good number of easter eggs in that training montage and it had me laughing out loud.

Specific Scenes I Loved: 

Kanade trying to sync with Gungnir. Her near insanity. Her willingness to risk death for the slim chance at getting her revenge. That bloody hand and handprint as she finally synced up with the relic. Her sheer frightening joy when she completed her first transformation and knew she could finally kill Noise. It was a great scene. Like I said above, it’s the scene that sold me on Symphogear as a show. The writing and emotions there had me convinced the show really knew what it was doing.

Tsubasa’s fight with the mystery girl. The Blue Flash attack being blocked and redirected. Tsubasa’s sword skills being bested. And her comeback with Shadow Weaving and her Superb Song. There was a great flow to the entire battle and also some great tension near the end. The musical buildup to the Superb Song was almost a little frightening. I knew that Tsubasa’s chilling, echoing song was coming, and I knew what singing it had done to Kanade. There was at least a chance Tsubasa might actually die which made it a very impactful scene.

Hibiki’s talk with Ogawa. Especially that moment where Hibiki asks if Kanade died to save her and Ogawa pauses and then takes a sip of his drink instead of answering. Brad Bird once said it about his movie The Incredible, but I think it’s true of every medium: One of the hardest things to do well is just having two people in a room talking about serious things. No jokes. No quips. No fights or explosions. To get points across and keep things interesting requires good writing and good characters. This scene had both. And this scene sets Hibiki and Tsubasa down a path towards a better relationship, which is nice.

Hibiki’s training montage. I probably missed some references, but at the very least it has Hibiki and Genjuro dressed as Bruce Lee. It has them dressed as fighters from Street Fighter, too, among all its silly looking exercises. I loved it!

Songs In This Episode: 

Zettō Ame no Habakiri – This song has the same meaning as before. It’s about Tsubasa grieving for and deriving determination from Kanade’s death. But now, it is directed at someone who might have played a role in that death. So, there’s another little layer of meaning on top of the dark themes already contained within Tsubasa’s iconic song.

Gekisou Gungnir – Hibiki’s song is used as the slow background music for her talk with Ogawa, and then as part of her training montage. A lot of meaning here? Maybe not. But Hibiki’s focus on bridging gaps and looking to the future does fit in with what she is trying to do with Tsubasa.

Themes In This Episode: 

The better world Kanade saw. The first theme we get in this episode comes from Kanade. Her initial, self-destructive rage at what the Noise did to her family and then later her revelation that her songs are useful for more than killing Noise. That they can help and inspire people, as well. I bet we’ll see more on this later, but it’s already pretty clear that Kanade shifted from someone only focused on revenge to a person who discovered a better way of living and was trying to help Tsubasa find that better way as well.

If anything, Tsubasa is sorta in early Kanade’s place right now. We don’t know what her childhood was like except that she was present at 2nd Division even when she was younger. But now, and for the past two years, Tsubasa has been caught up in a slightly more controlled cycle of rage and despair caused by Kanade’s death.

Tsubasa’s self sacrifice. I think we also got a little aspect of self sacrifice from Tsubasa. Was her Superb Song fully necessary? Could she have maybe retreated with Hibiki? Sure, she sang it to defeat the Noise and the mystery girl, but she also sang her Superb Song to make one final point to Hibiki about how Hibiki lacked determination to combat the Noise. It was almost a cruel jab, as if saying: “you’re so weak that I have to sacrifice my life to save yours… just like Kanade did.”

Hibiki finding her purpose. In the second half of the episode, Hibiki is finally able to come to understand both Tsubasa and herself. Ogawa helps her understand Tsubasa’s need to fight, and through that, Hibiki realizes just why it was so wrong to try and directly replace Kanade in Tsubasa’s life. It was never healthy for Tsubasa to channel her anger and sadness into nothing but fighting Noise, but for someone new to come along and try to fill that void without understanding it was only contributing to the problem.

But Hibiki also learned something about herself. She’d already figured it out a bit, that she too had something she wanted to protect. She speaks it directly in this episode. “It might just be a tiny promise or my bland everyday life, but I want to become stronger to protect them and still be myself.” Even if she knew she wanted to use her Symphogear to protect people, Hibiki had not yet really acted to gain the skills necessary to do so. Sure, she was fairly powerful when she went into that little rage at not being able to see the meteor shower with Miku, but she hadn’t even tried training to improve her skills. Finally, she has committed herself to actually learning to wield her Symphogear effectively. I can’t wait to see the results of her training montage.

Finally, let’s think about the episode title: Falling Tears. There were a lot of tears that fell in this episode:

First we need to think about who hadn’t let any tears fall. Both Kanade in her enraged state, and Tsubasa after Kanade’s death refused to shed any tears. Kanade was in a mad rage for a long time. Tsubasa’s rage and despair was more channeled or maybe more controlled, but she too didn’t cry for almost two years after Kanade’s death.

Next we have Tsubasa’s tears of blood flowing from her eyes after she sings her Superb Song. Her final statement before she collapses is her declaration of her current way of living. That she is a sword dedicated to defending people and that she will not break… which she must know is a lie. There’s blood flowing from her mouth and eyes and pooling at her feet. Maybe she is letting tears fall for herself, knowing that she has failed even in her desperate role of self sacrifice?

Then there’s Hibiki’s tears as she finally grasps the realization of Tsubasa’s cruel fate. Hibiki feels bad about what she’s done and at her lack of understanding. But, she isn’t crying for herself, rather she is crying at the tragic situation Tsubasa has been forced to live with the past few years.

Hibiki also sheds tears of joy as she and Miku share a moment of friendship on the roof. These kind of tears are important, too! Not all tears come from sadness and despair.

There’s one last instance of tears that’s a bit more subtle because its heard rather than seen. Hibiki’s Symphogear song, Gekisou Gungnir, includes a line that says something like: “I have no time to shed tears, I have things I want to protect” Unlike Tsubasa’s song, Hibiki’s has never been about channeling rage and despair. It’s always been an uplifting song of looking to the future and helping others. Tsubasa and Kanade refused to shed tears because to do so would be to show weakness or admit their sadness. We’ve seen Hibiki cry plenty, but the times she refuses to cry aren’t because she is holding in her sadness, but because she’s putting it aside to help others. Hibiki has been free to cry when she’s needed to while Kanade and Tsubasa weren’t. It’s an interesting distinction.

Special Attacks In This Episode: 

Episode Summary:

For the past month, Hibiki and Tsubasa have been fighting the Noise, but they still haven’t been able to get along. Their fights against the Noise mostly seem to involve Tsubasa slicing through the enemies while Hibiki tries to fight but mostly ends up running from attacks or getting knocked around.

Back at her dorm with Miku, we find Hibiki trying to stay awake as she is writing a report on the Noise, of all things. But really, Hibiki is remembering the time she and Tsubasa almost fought.

In Hibiki’s flashback, Tsubasa insist that she doesn’t accept Hibiki’s attempts to replace Kanade at all. She says hell will freeze over before she accepts Hibiki and then jumps high in the air and launches one of her most powerful attacks at Hibiki! But right before her “Heaven’t Wrath” connects, she is stopped by a powerful punch from… Genjuro?!

Genjuro’s attack rips the road up and sends Tsubasa flying. In the aftermath, water spews from a broken pipe drenching Tsubasa and helping cover the tears now flowing from her eyes. Hibiki once again tries to console Tsubasa by saying she will do her best to replace Kanade… which is the exact wrong thing to say… and earns Hibiki a well-deserved, angry, tearful slap from Tsubasa. It’s only a month later during her evening daydream that Hibiki finally realizes why Tsubasa was crying.

That same evening we see Tsubasa reliving her memory of Kanade’s final moments. She is there at the stadium again holding a near comatose Kanade in her arms. Instead of impactful words of wisdom, all Tsubasa receives from Kanade are pained, glassy-eyed babbles before Kanade’s body crumbles. In the present, we find that Tsubasa blames herself and her own lack of strength for Kanade’s death.

Both Hibiki and Tsubasa are called to 2nd Division headquarters for a new briefing on the Noise attacks. We learn that the Noise were first recognized by the world 13 years ago, but have existed all the way back to ancient times. All the recent attacks have been around the school, and Ryoko wonders if someone might be controlling the Noise. Tsubasa thinks that they are trying to get to Durandal, an almost completely intact relic stored below headquarters. We’re told it is much more powerful than the Symphogears Tsubasa and Hibiki wear since their relics are just mere fragments. Interestingly, it seems that an intact relic can be used by more than just the limited few Attuned who can operate a Symphogear. If 2nd Division could activate Durandal, anybody could use it.

Tsubasa leaves with Ogawa to work on her album, once again noting her goal to have no emotions, while Hibiki stays with the others where Ryoko actively flirts with her! More importantly, we find that the headquarters and its mix of modern and ancient technology was designed by Ryoko same as the Symphogears. Meaning that headquarters should be safe from all Noise attacks.

At school the next day, Hibiki finally finishes her report and it is accepted by her teachers leaving Hibiki free to see a meteor shower with Miku that evening. Both are excited to finally have time to spend together, but then a Noise outbreak calls Hibiki away and she has to cancel her plans with Miku. Frustrated and angry, Hibiki tears into the Noise, quite literally at one point, showing an aggression we haven’t seen from her before. It’s almost a bit scary as she chases down one final Noise that escapes the subway tunnel they’ve been fighting in.

The Noise is about to get away when Tsubasa drops in like a shooting star and destroys it from the air. Hibiki tries once more to get through to Tsubasa, saying that she too has somethings she wants to protect, but before the two have any chance to talk, someone new interrupts them! The new girl that appears is wearing the Nehushtan armor that was stolen during the concert two years ago!

Episode Impressions: 

This was another episode pretty heavy on info dumping. We learn about how the Noise have probably always existed, how 2nd Division is protecting a powerful relic, and a little more about why Tsubasa has grown so cold and emotionless since Kanade’s death. We also see that Hibiki is having her own issues with being a superheroine, but she has finally started to realize why Tsubasa won’t fight along side her.

In a lot of ways, it felt like this episode set up things to come. Surely, we’ll hear more about Durandal, for instance. It also seems likely that 2nd Division headquarters will be attacked directly. Oh, and we end on a cliffhanger with a new girl wearing the armor stolen from the concert.

Specific Scenes I Loved: 

Genjuro stopping Tusbasa’s rocket sword kick aimed at Hibiki! How the heck did he do that?! Maybe he didn’t… at least not entirely? I’m pretty sure that even though Genjuro did block it temporarily, it’s also true that Tsubasa cancelled her attack in order not to hurt him. Look at the way her giant sword vanishes and she sorta falls awkwardly away before the street is ripped up.

The scene where Hibiki is on the school lawn working on her report while accepting friendship and food from every direction. It’s just a cute scene.

Hibiki going berserk against the Noise in the subway! She stomps one’s face in! She rips another’s head off! She is not happy. We focus a lot on Tsubasa’s emotional state, but I wonder if Hibiki’s might play a role in future episodes. A stoic and controlled Tsubasa vs an out of control Hibiki?

The appearance of an actual villain. We don’t know who is in that armor, but we seem to have someone willing to talk and taunt at our heroines.

Songs In This Episode: 

Zettō Ame no Habakiri (Ame no Habakiri, the Ultimate Blade) – For Tsubasa, we get her theme song at the beginning and end of the episode mostly just as a show of her power. The meaning hasn’t really changed.

Gekisou Gungnir (Gungnir, the Striking Spear) – For Hibiki, I can’t help but note the cruel irony Hibiki’s song talks about never letting go of someone’s hand when just hours ago Hibiki was forced to leave Miku behind.

Themes In This Episode: 

Tsubasa as a sword. After Kanade’s death, Tsubasa seems to have closed herself off to everyone. She keeps referring to herself as a sword or a weapon. She sees herself as someone who only exists to fight the Noise and who has no need for emotions. And yet… we see that Tsubasa still has those emotions she does not want. She attempts to fight Hibiki because she is so angry at the cheerful girl’s insistence that she can replace Kanade. She seems to often think back to the moment where Kanade died. She insists she cannot even be upset, but she clearly is often mad at everyone when she isn’t able to hide her emotions from the world. Just fighting against the Noise is not enough for Tsubasa, but she hasn’t been able to admit that she needs more than fighting to be a full person.

Things Hibiki wants to protect. Hibiki isn’t helping things. It has taken her more than a month to start to grasp why Tsubasa refuses to fight along side her. I think what Hibiki says near the end, that she too has things she wants to protect, is her first real attempt to reach out to Tsubasa. It may not be the best attempt, but Hibiki seems to have realized that one of the reasons Tsubasa is so cold towards her is that Tsubasa thinks she has no real reason for being a Symphogear user. Of course, the only response that declaration got from Tsubasa was an emotionless glare, so we don’t know if Hibiki got through at all.

Hibiki lying to Miku. Over and over again Hibiki is abandoning Miku to fight the Noise. It is making both of them frustrated and we’ve already seen Hibiki take out that frustration on the Noise. It was actually kinda scary watching Hibiki literally tear apart the creatures that pose an unstoppable threat to humanity! But we also have to wonder how much longer Miku will keep covering for Hibiki. Or what might happen if Miku finds out what Hibiki is doing. Miku also seems like a good target to capture in order to force Hibiki to do something…

Special Attacks In This Episode: 

Episode Summary:

We rejoin the action from last episode with Hibiki completing her transformation sequence. She is now clad in the same type of armor that Kanade wore two years ago. Even the instruments at 2nd Division headquarters identify the signature of her armor as Gungnir, much to everyone’s surprise!

A new song springs to Hibiki’s lips as she takes hold of the girl she’s been trying so hard to protect. Hibiki makes a superhuman leap off the top of the building she and the girl were on and lands unharmed on the ground far below. From there, she manages to first evade and then even fight back against the Noise. Where before, the Noise would have turned Hibiki to ash on contact, now Hibiki is even able to punch one with no problem. Hibiki clearly doesn’t have a feel for her new powers, though, as she crashes into buildings left and right unintentionally as she tries to get away. Despite that, she manages to keep herself and the little girl in one piece until Tsubasa can make a flashy entrance.

Tsubasa easily deals with the Noise, but then she and the staff from 2nd Division arrest Hibiki! They take her back to their headquarters which, it turns out, is located below Hibiki’s school, Lydian Private Music Academy. Although Tsubasa treats the moment as a somber, serious one, Genjuro and the others at headquarters upend the serious mood by throwing Hibiki a surprise welcome party.

Hibiki says an awkward hello to everyone, but is quickly carted off by Ryoko for a medical exam. Hibiki returns home to her dorm that evening worn out only to find a worried Miku waiting for her. That night, as the two fall asleep together, Hibiki tells Miku not to worry to which Miku responds that of course she is going to worry over her friend. Unfortunately, Hibiki is not allowed to tell Miku the truth of what happened.

The next day, we see that Tsubasa is not at all happy with the fact that Hibiki has somehow inherited Kanade’s powers. Back at school, Hibiki wants to go eating with her friends but instead has to report back to 2nd Division to get the results of her medical examination and an explanation of her powers.

It turns out that Ryoko Sakurai, the self described brains of 2nd Division, crafted special pendants from fragments of ancient relics which can only be used by a small number of Attuned individuals. They use songs to harness the power of these relics and form Symphogear armor. This special armor lets its user fight against the Noise who are impervious to seemingly all other forms of attack.

We further learn that the reason Hibiki can transform, even without a Relic pendant, is that she still has tiny pieces of Kanade’s Gungnir embedded within her from the Noise attack two years ago. Upon learning this, Tsubasa leaves the room, unable to handle her mixture of outrage and grief. Hibiki soon follows her and joyfully promises to help her fight the Noise, not realizing that she herself is part of the reason Tsubasa is so distraught.

At that moment a collection of Noise appear nearby and both Tsubasa and Hibiki go to confront them. Tsubasa engages a giant noise that forms when a bunch of smaller ones merge together. Hibiki manages to help out a little before Tsubasa destroys the giant creature.

In the aftermath, Hibiki begs Tsubasa to be allowed to fight alongside her, to which Tsubasa aims her sword at Hibiki and angrily says that yes, the two of them really should fight…

Episode Impressions: 

This was a rather subdued, exposition-heavy episode. We got a few minutes of combat at the beginning and end, but for the most part this episode was about two things: Explaining how the Symphogear armor works, and showing us Tsubasa’s mental state following Kanade’s death two years prior.

I like that the Symphogear armors are, in essence, technological. They harness a not very well understood power, sure, but they do so via technology. That Hibiki and most others barely understand how it works doesn’t really matter. Ryoko does, and that’s what’s important.

It was also good to see that the tragedy at the concert did have a major effect on Tsubasa. She doesn’t appear shy anymore, but she seems to have traded that shyness for a not entirely successful attempt at being an unfeeling warrior.

Specific Scenes I Loved: 

That brief moment as Hibiki holds out her hand to the little girl and cradles her in her arms. There’s a powerful strength there that I really liked.

Tsubasa’s final, as yet unnamed, finishing attack when she arrived to rescue Hibiki. She took out that large noise by impaling it with a sword the size of a medium sized building!

Hibiki’s admission that she barely understood any of the information she’d just been given about the Symphogear. Her voice and bemused, closed-eyed smile is just so cute in that moment!

The way Tsubasa had to leave the room as they started talking about why Hibiki could summon a Symphogear. Tsubasa is clearly not doing ok with her loss.

Songs In This Episode: 

Gekisou Gungnir (Gungnir, the Striking Spear) – This is Hibiki’s first song as a Symphogear users. Like most of the songs sung during combat, it is the voiced expression of her current thoughts and emotions.

Her song here is pretty neat. She’s basically saying that her singing is enough to bridge the communication gap between people that words sometimes cannot. And, that she’s going to use this newfound power of song to push forward into the future. Her song is kinda simple and straight forward, like she is. While there’s a line about not crying, this isn’t a song full of the pain / regret / suffering that Tsubasa’s was last episode. It’s a song of hope and bringing that message of hope to the future.

Also… I love the bagpipes it kicks off with!

Zettō Ame no Habakiri (Ame no Habakiri, the Ultimate Blade) – Tsubasa’s song continues to be awesome. I like its power and the way it feels like something spectacular and imposing is about to happen.

Themes In This Episode: 

Tsubasa vs Hibiki: One of the largest themes throughout this episode is Tsubasa’s reaction to Hibiki inheriting Kanade’s Symphogear. Tsubasa expressed the idea to herself that Hibiki is using a power that should still be Kanade’s. We also see something of a repeat of Kanade’s words about everything being ok as long as she and Tsubasa are together. Obviously, they aren’t together anymore… So, obviously things aren’t ok?

Does Tsubasa see this as Hibiki’s fault? Would she rather Hibiki have died if it meant Kanade could have lived? Hopefully Tsubasa is a better person than that, but it’s possible that kind of negative response is her first, grief-tinted reaction to seeing Hibiki using Gungnir. Or, could it be that Tsubasa doesn’t think Hibiki is up for the hard, life threatening role of being a Symphogear user? Again, we just don’t really know because Tsubasa hasn’t really expressed her feelings at all.

Hibiki, for her part, isn’t doing a lot to win Tsubasa over. Hibiki seems to think promising to fight the Noise alongside Tsubasa is what Tsubasa wants to hear, but it probably isn’t. Hibiki feels like a very energetic personality who tries to fix things by throwing herself into a situation, but so far Tsubasa doesn’t need help. She needs Hibiki to understand what Kanade’s death meant. Hibiki simply saying “I want to help!” isn’t enough. There’s emotions of sadness and grief radiating off of Tsubasa that Hibiki hasn’t even acknowledged yet. Things will probably stay bad between the two until Hibiki gets a clue.

Tsubasa’s offer for herself and Hibiki to fight isn’t a good sign. I don’t think Tsubasa means to actually harm Hibiki, but she might try to scare her away. Or, Tsubasa might take her anger, grief, and frustration out on Hibiki. I think it’s too early for anyone to actually be injured in such a fight, but it is going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

Special Attacks In This Episode: 

Welcome to the Senki Zessho Symphogear Episode Guide. Symphogear is one of my favorite anime of all time and I’m thrilled to share it with you! First off, a quick programming note. For this season, we’ll be using the Deetruck fan subs. I recommend these because of the way they separate the many songs from the spoken dialogue during episodes.

Episode Summary:

This first episode opens abruptly to the sound of heavy rainfall. We see a girl standing at a bus stop soaked by the rain. We soon see that she’s holding a bouquet of flowers… lilies, most likely… which is soon confirmed as she gets on a bus and travels to a traditional Japanese gravesite. Lilies, if you don’t know are associated with death and remembrance. Oddly, there is destruction all around her in every scene from the bus stop to the gravesite itself. Something bad has happened. Some sort of disaster! Along the way, the girl thinks of an old proverb about a cuckoo and the way it was thought to cough up blood as it sang. The girl narrates that her very best friend, the one whose grave she is apparently visiting, did much the same thing. That she sang on a battlefield even as blood spilled from her mouth!

We cut back to two years prior. The girl that died, whose name we now know is Hibiki, is standing in line for a concert of some kind and her friend, who we now know as Miku, is apologizing for being unable to join her because her family is having to take a trip to visit an ailing aunt.

We cut again, this time to the two singers of Zwei Wing who are about to give their concert. Blue-haired Tsubasa is sitting against a crate nervous and shy with her hand’s folded in worry. She is quickly approached by her partner, Kanade, who is much more relaxed and eager to go on stage. After a brief appearance by their manager, Genjuro, Kanade shares some words with Tsubasa. That she needs to be more flexible, that their audience won’t have much fun if they themselves aren’t having a good time. Pulled free of her shell, Tsubasa, too, is looking forward to performing in the concert. She and Kanade move forward hand in hand.

Meanwhile, Genjuro and spunky, upbeat scientist Ryoko Sakurai are setting up some sort of experiment with a strangely shaped object labeled Nehushtan. There are strange projectors pointed at the object. When Genjuro said that the concert will decide the future of mankind, he might just have meant it!

And now we hit the concert. The light dim, the impressive stadium-spanning stage is lit, and both Kanade and Tsubasa come falling from the heavens to an enthused landing as the crowd goes crazy. The two stand waving to their audience and start in on the impressively paced “Gyakkou no Flugel” (Backlit Wings). They dance and sing in perfect time to the melody until, partway through their song, the lights go out and the music swells and the roof of the stadium splits open into shards to showcase the sunset sky beyond! Our blond-haired girl, Hibiki, is having the time of her life at what is apparently her first concert.

Back at the experiment, it appears that Zwei Wing’s song is charging or empowering the Nehushtan object and that everything is going well. The song ends and another begins, but this time something has gone wrong. The object being empowered grows unstable and an explosion rips apart the middle of the stadium. It appears that the experiment area collapses due to the explosion and that only Genjuro and perhaps a few others survived. Then, from above, come strange flying creatures that look like they don’t quite belong in our world. Both Kanade and the audience recognize these creatures as “Noise” and the concert-goers immediately panic and begin to flee. As they do so the Noise descend and start attacking the audience members. Each person touched is quickly and painfully turned to ash!

Unwilling to let the attack continue, Kanade leaps off the stage and sings a short, echoing chant. A pendant around her neck glows and suddenly she transforms into a form-fitting orange, white, and black suit adorned with armored pieces that form around her. In her hand is a giant spear. She begins singing a new song and, at the same time, beings cutting into the Noise left and right. She takes out individual Noise with powerful swipes of her spear and takes out dozens at a time with powerful ranged attacks. Following behind her is Tsubasa who has also transformed into a blue set of armor and is cutting apart the Noise with a nodachi.

Back in the now empty bleachers, Hibiki has apparently become too shocked at the sight before her to flee. Something happens to Kanade and her power appears to dim. She even makes a comment to that effect, that she can’t go any farther. Above her, the rows of seating smash and crumble and send Hibiki tumbling painfully down to the ground floor of the stadium. The nearby Noise being rushing towards her only to be intercepted by Kanade who is then forced to block a spurt of vile liquid ejected at her by one of the building-sized Noise in front of her. Another Noise joins in and Kanade’s armor cracks and parts of it shatter. A few pieces are blown backwards and strike Hibiki directly in the chest! She falls to the ground in a pool of her own blood.

In a dramatic and chilling moment, Kanade rushes to the blond-haired girl’s side and urges her to keep on living before she then stands and walks calmly towards the large group of Noise arrayed in front of her. With a tear streaming down her face, Kanade lifts her crumbling spear high and sings a soft, chilling song even as Tsubasa yells in desperation for her not to. Back against the wall, our fading, glassy-eyed, Hibiki listens to the beautiful melody. A flow of blood escapes from Kanade’s lips as she finishes her song and then all the Noise present in the stadium are blown away in an instant. And, just like that, Kanade topples sideways to the ground.

Our blond-haired girl is in bad shape. She’s barely able to keep her eyes open now, but she does so just long enough to see Tsubasa embracing her partner. Shockingly, Kanade’s entire body disintegrates and is blown away by the wind as Tsubasa cries painful tears above her. When Hibiki next awakens she is in the middle of an operating room, surprised that she is still alive.

We jump forwards almost two years and find our blond-haired girl, whose full name is named Hibiki Tachibana, attending school with Miku. The two return to their rather spacious dorm room where we find that Hibiki has always had a thing for going far out of her way to help people. And that she choose to attend Lydian Private Music Academy along with Miku because it is the school Tsubasa attends. Two years prior, Hibiki didn’t even know who Zwei Wing were, but now she is a huge fan of Tsubasa’s who has continued her music career solo after Kanade’s death. We find that Hibiki isn’t actually sure of what she saw that day at the concert. She only knows that many people died and that she barely survived with a large scar on her chest.

Elsewhere, members of the Japanese Self Defense Forces are engaging a group of Noise, but find that their bullets and missiles have no effect on the otherworldly creatures. But then, a helicopter flies low overhead and drops a serious, emotionless Tsubasa to the ground right in front of the Noise. Defying Genjuro’s orders, Tsubasa engages the enemies before her, and in an impressive display of power, she strikes them down with a quick combination of powerful close and long ranged attacks.

The next day, Hibiki finally gets her chance to meet Tsubasa, but their encounter doesn’t go like she hoped. Tsubasa, still emotionless, merely points out that Hibiki has some rice on her face before moving on. Later, Hibiki races to a music shop in the nearby city eager to pick up Tsubasa’s latest CD when disaster strikes. It seems the Noise have been rampaging nearby and have already killed several civilians. Hibiki hears a scream and runs to assist a little girl cornered by them. The two flee across a stream and up a highway as Hibiki remembers a little bit more of what happened to her at the concert. Hibiki and the girl manage to reach a high rooftop in what looks to be an industrial complex. For a moment it looks like they are safe, but then they see that the Noise have surrounded them.

With the Noise nearly upon them, a familiar chant springs to Hibiki’s lips. Her voice echoes as she sings it and then she falls to her hands and knees as the same orange, white, and black armor that Kanade wore encases her! Hibiki stands up with a frightening look of power in her eyes as the episode ends.

Episode Impressions: 

I thought this was a pretty strong opening episode. If it’s job was to get me hooked for a second episode, then I’d say it did a great job. The concert scene and battle scene was almost custom made for me seeing as I come from a Macross background where of course singing and combat go hand in hand. And Hibiki’s transformation was a great mini cliffhanger that promised more cool things to come.

I also thought this episode did a good job establishing characters. Hibiki as the goof with a heart of gold, and Tsubasa as first a shy girl and then as a no-nonsense warrior. And I liked the way they did both of these. So much of Tsubasa’s character was established just by her sitting nervously in her cloak. And Hibiki, her little chant about buying the CD as she ran was almost all we needed from her.

Technically the episode had a couple of blemishes. Both the bus Miku gets on and the oil tanker coming into port in the beginning just looked a bit off. A couple of the 3d camera moves in the concert scene were a bit unnatural, as well. But beyond that, the art, animation, sound, and music were all somewhere between good and excellent. If the show can keep itself at this level all the way through then I think it will be very enjoyable.

Specific Scenes I Loved: 

Kanade and Tsubasa’s introduction. All it took was a sit and a hug and a few words to set up Tsubasa’s reserved character and Kanade’s far more outgoing personality. Sure, Tsubasa’s declaration that they could do anything as long as they were together instantly made me fear things would end badly, but it was pretty cool seeing a relatively small amount of animation do so much work in establishing two characters.

The concert, of course! Symphogear was produced by a studio called Satelight who has plenty of experience combining anime and music. Their work in this episode was near the top of their game with only the concert scenes in one of their previous series, specifically the Macross Frontier movies, potentially topping this one. Here, the hand drawn animation was downright excellent and the computer animated stadium in the background and camera movements that put the two together were pretty good, as well. The opening couple of shots of Kanade and Tsubasa dancing are a little stiff, a little unnatural in the way the camera moves in exactly one direction and doesn’t vary the speed of its movement much. These first few shots feel just a bit too mechanical, and the zooms are a bit too abrupt to start and stop. But the animation of Kanade and Tsubasa keeps up to even those somewhat jerky movements perfectly! That shot a little later on where the camera spins out into the audience is pretty darn cool. As a first try at a dynamic, engaging concert, this was pretty good, if maybe just a tad too ambitious for what they were able to pull off. But you can see the high bar they are aiming for. And they got pretty close to achieving it!

That brief moment during the concert where the roof lights up with Kanade and Tsubasa’s colors then opens to reveal the sunset is surprisingly powerful. Great combination of animation and music.

The battle against the Noise at the concert. So many cool things happen so quickly. Kanade taking out dozens of Noise with her special attacks. Her and Tsubasa’s cool run towards the camera where they destroy the Noise standing in their way. Kanade’s Superb Song and the way it saves the day at the cost of her life.

Tsubasa’s present day fight against the Noise. She disobeys orders to engage, but there’s no sign that she finds much joy in her victory. She wasn’t in a revenge rage, either. It was more like she was fighting out of a sense of duty but without a sense of satisfaction. As if the duty was her only reason for fighting now. Also, note her “One Thousand Tears” attack. It looks very similar to Kanade’s “Stardust Foton”. I think it is basically the same attack performed by Tsubasa in tribute or remembrance of Kanade with a new name that expresses Tsubasa’s sorrowful feelings.

Hibiki’s flight from the Noise. She is doing everything she can to keep herself and the little girl alive and in doing so she remembers that similar order that Kanade gave her two years before.

Hibiki’s first transformation. With Kanade, the transformation looked intentional and almost mechanical the way her armored pieces attached themselves to her. With Hibiki, all that techno-crap emerging from her body looked uncontrolled and painful! Is that the way she will transform every time, or was it a one off because it was her first transformation? Or do these heroines always transform like that and we just didn’t see it from Kanade or Tsubasa’s point of view?

Songs In This Episode: 

Gyakkou no Flugel (Backlit Wings) – This song was a fantastic choice to open the series and a great way to open the first concert. Its concert version is exciting, and it was great to see that the audience knew the song and was able to shout out some of the key lyrics. The song itself is about friendship, possibly even romance, and the way music can inspire people to support each other as they reach towards lofty goals together.

Orbital Beat – We only hear the very beginnings of this song as things start to go wrong at 2nd Division’s headquarters. Unfortunately, it is cut off by the explosion before we get to hear any of its lyrics. It’s actually a pretty cool song and we’ll get to hear it someday. For now, it is important to know that practically all of the voiced songs you hear in Symphogear have full length versions. Even Gyakkou no Flugel above was just a shortened two minute version of what is a five minute song.

Kimi to Iu Oto Kanade Tsukiru Made (Play Out the Sound That Is You to the Very End) – This is a personal song of Kanade’s that is all about her friendship with Tsubasa. It starts with reflections on her past days before the horror with the Noise began. Then it moves to talk about how the two of them can go anywhere they wish, even above the sadness they both face. The most chilling part is the idea put forth that maybe she and Tsubasa met so that they could survive these tragic days together. This shortened versions then ends with Kanade promising to sing along side Tsubasa until her very end… which of course comes a short time later.

Like all the Symphogear songs sung during combat, Kanade’s final song is an amplified reflection of the thoughts and feelings flowing from her heart. The two things she is thinking about are her gentle past that now seems like a miracle to her in its normality, and her relationship and partnership with Tsubasa. For a song that Kanade charges into battle with, it’s almost like she somehow already knows that things aren’t going to go well.

Zessho (Superb Song) – The lyrics here seem entirely meaningless. They read:

Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl

At this point in the series, this song’s power and weight comes from Kanade’s tragic end. We’ll hear this song again at some point and learn some more about it. This is a key song in Symphogear, and you’ll hear bits and pieces of its melody spread all throughout the series. There will be more to say about the Superb Song in this season and beyond, but I’ll leave it at this for now.

Shiritsu Lydian Ongakuin Kōka (The Lydian Private Music Academy Anthem) – This is a fairly simple, straight forward song about greeting the sun and believing in one’s self even if you find tears at some point in your future. It’s kinda a classic Japanese school song. You can hear similar songs all across anime given so many shows feature students at school. Again, we only hear part of this song, the first half or so.

Zettō Ame no Habakiri (Ame no Habakiri, the Ultimate Blade) – This is Tsubasa’s main character song this season. We get a pretty abbreviated version of it here, one that even skips some of the lyrics to fit in the bits important to the scene. I found three fairly different translations of the lyrics, but they all point to Tsubasa singing her grief at Kanade’s death along side the possibly suicidal resolve that the loss of her closest ally has given Tsubasa as she continues her fight. It all ties together by saying that the bond she had with Kanade is what now powers or drives her blade.

This song will quickly become synonymous with Tsubasa, and we’ll hear it again in multiple different versions thought the season.

Synchrogazer – Although it is heard at the end of the first episode, this is actually the opening song for this season. One of the things I’ll do is save discussion of the opening and ending songs for the end of each season so we can talk about both the songs and the imagery they are paired with, without going into spoilers.

Themes In This Episode: 

Self Sacrifice: Right out of the gate we have Miku talking about how Hibiki dies on the battlefield with blood spilling out of her mouth. I think the implication is that Hibiki will sacrifice herself singing her Superb Song much the same way Kanade did in this episode. So, I think our first real theme in Symphogear is the willingness to sacrifice one’s self for others. If anything, Kanade sacrificed herself to save just one person. It seems she could have withdrawn if Hibiki hadn’t fallen near her. She definitely knew she was at her limit, but she stayed and died for Hibiki’s sake.

Being Flexible: Kanade and Tsubasa’s early conversation before the concert gives us at least a couple more themes. We have Tsubasa being shy / frightened / worried because, in Kanade’s words, she was taking the concert (and the simultaneous experiment?) too seriously. But maybe more profound was Kanade’s statement about oaks falling in the wind while more flexible reeds will live on. Given the harder edge we saw demonstrated by Tsubasa in the present day, could she have become even more inflexible after Kanade’s death? Finally, I think Kanade’s idea that the audience won’t have fun if the performers aren’t might come back, too. Really, I think everything is pointing to Tsubasa having to learn or relearn these lessons after Kanade’s death.

Don’t Give Up Living: Another bit of wisdom from Kanade is the phrase that has saved Hibiki twice now. “Don’t give up living” seems like something that might come back up again. Certainly, Hibiki remembered it as she was on the run from the Noise, but I can see her giving that advice to someone else in the future, as well.

Helping People: It’s mentioned a couple of times that Hibiki just likes helping people. I think that’s going to be her early motivation. Not to be a hero or fight evil, necessarily, but to help those in need. Presumably, she’ll be much more able to help people, even against Noise attacks, once she completes her transformation.

Special Attacks In This Episode: 

I love the title cards that pop up as various characters pull off their powerful special attacks. We’ll see repeat attacks, for sure, but there’s always the chance that we’ll come across a new one.