Symphogear Episode 01: Beat of Awakening

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.