Symphogear Episode 06: Where Omens Lead

Episode Summary:

We start this episode off from Chris’ point of view. We find out that something really bad happened to her when she was a child. There was an explosion or attack that seemed to have killed her parents. Then Chris appears to have been captured and maybe even put into slavery / human trafficking! And, somehow, Finé, the woman who is using and abusing Chris, must have taken her in. But now, Finé is after Hibiki, and Chris is afraid Finé will abandon her and she will be alone again if she doesn’t capture the new Symphogear user. Chris says she can get the job done but she wants to use her own power, not the power of the Noise and Solomon’s Cane.

Back at the hospital, Tsubasa is starting to recover from her near death experience. She is up and walking again. It also seems that her revelation about looking beyond the need to fight stuck with her outside of her dream.

Hibiki is doing some reflecting, too. She is worried about how easily she attacked Chris with Durandal’s power. She and Miku share a moment where Miku notes how buff Hibiki is getting after their post run bath. The two plan to go to lunch later.

Back at headquarters, there is a lot of discussion about the defense minister’s death. In some ways, it is a setback because he was friendly to 2nd Division, but in others, he often shielded them from scrutiny, but that also meant they couldn’t get the funding they needed. The new defense minister seems more willing to fund 2nd Division, but in return their activities will be more closely watched. Interestingly, the new defense minister is more closely allied with the Americans.

Later, Ogawa calls Hibiki and ask her to check in on Tsubasa. This again puts Hibiki at odds with Miku who wanted them to spend time together. When Hibiki makes it to Tsubasa’s hospital room she finds it a complete mess. Turns out it was Ogawa who usually cleaned it up for Tsubasa… much to Tsubasa’s embarrassment.

Hibiki and Tsubasa talk in Tsubasa room and on the roof of the hospital. They talk about why they fight as Symphogear users. For Hibiki, it’s something that she laughs off, but eventually she admits that it’s because Kanade saved her two years ago. For Tusbasa, it almost seems like she is trying to help people but while looking for a way to die. To escape the pain of everything and everyone she’s lost.

Hibiki comes away from their talk encouraged and heads off to Flowers restaurant to meet with Miku. She sees Miku along the way but Chris suddenly appears and attacks, forcing Hibiki to transform in front of Miku in order to save her. With barely an apology, Hibiki rushes off to try and stop Chris, leaving Miku behind to worry about their battle.

Episode Impressions: 

This episode was a little exposition heavy, but that’s not all bad. The talk between Tsubasa and Hibiki appears to show that Tsubasa has finally begun to accept Hibiki as a Symphogear user. That Tusbasa is now trying to help Hibiki, if only to help her avoid falling into the unhappy life of a warrior, is something new. That’s a pretty big turning point for Tusbasa, even if she might not be fully supporting Hibiki yet.

If anything, I think this is another one of those episodes that did the necessary work of setting up that our characters are changing. Hibiki is now able to admit why she fights. Tusbasa is now looking beyond the fighting. Even Chris now has a real reason for why she fights, even if we don’t know all of it yet. If the next episode starts paying off these changes then we’ll be in a good place.

Specific Scenes I Loved: 

Hibiki declaration of what she wants to do when she sees someone in trouble. Moving as quickly, shortly, and directly as possible to help people is pretty much what Hibiki is all about!

Hibiki’s battle with Chris. Hibiki is doing as well or perhaps even better than battle hardened Tsubasa at this point in the battle. We’ll have to see if that holds up next episode.

Songs In This Episode: 

Watashi to Iu Oto Hibiki Sono Saki ni (The Sound Called Me Resonates Beyond) – Now here is an interesting song! Interesting because we’ve both have and haven’t heard it before! This is Hibiki singing her version of Kanade’s final song! This new version is definitely Hibiki’s. It is much more hopeful, even as Hibiki sings about her own stumbles. The key difference between the two is that where Kanade sung:

We might have met in order to not forget the light
The sound called ‘you’ plays until it burns out
I am by your side, so sing out with us

Hibiki instead sings:

Maybe that’s why we were brought together
The sound called me resonates beyond
Sing your kindness, sing out with us

It gives me chills thinking about how Hibiki is the echo that rippled out beyond the end of Kanade’s life! Pretty cool then that “Hibiki” means “Echo” among other things in Japanese. Kanade burnt out her life to save Hibiki, now Hibiki is able to embrace her life and save many, many others.

Themes In This Episode: 

This episode is fairly theme heavy even though not a ton really happened:

– We return to the theme of self sacrifice. Tusbasa is pretty insistent that Hibiki not fight just to find a way to hide the guilt and pain that comes with losing people. It’s unspoken, but Tsubasa is very clearly talking about herself. She felt it was her duty to endlessly fight and fight. To protect people. But really, she was fighting knowing… hoping even… that she would come across a battle that would be too much for her so that she could die and be free of her pains of loss. Tsubasa was too proud to break down and admit her feelings, so dying honorably against an overwhelming enemy force was her only hope of ending the grief she felt over Kanade’s death.

– But, we also have some small indications that Tsubasa is looking for the world beyond fighting. Tsubasa’s near death does seem to have changed her outlook on the world. I think she is just barely understanding that herself, but I’m hopeful that she’ll continue to move forward with her life. She’s been stuck as nothing but a warrior and “sword” for so long, it’s nice that she might see herself as a person soon.

– We finally hear more about why Hibiki really want to help people. Previously she said it was so she could return to her own normal life. But now, we go deeper and learn that Hibiki feels a responsibility to Kanade. Hibiki knows she should have died at the concert two years before, so she wants to justify her survival (and Kanade’s death saving her) by helping save everyone she can in return. In some ways, Hibiki’s reasoning is still based in guilt, but I see hers as a bit better than Tsubasa’s has been. The difference is… Hibiki isn’t filled with grief and has not resigned herself to die.

– There’s also a moment where Tsubasa asks Hibiki what she thinks about when she is fighting. Hibiki answers that she wants to help people by taking the quickest, shortest, most direct route to saving them. Hibiki’s no nonsense, no thought about the dangers way of thinking is one huge aspect of her character. We see it a second time this episode at the end where Hibiki “helps” Chris with a Fast. Short. Straight. Direct. punch to the gut!

– We get good confirmation that Hibiki was terrified by what she did, or almost did, with Durandal. Hibiki seems to be able to tap into a vast amount of power more easily that Tsubasa or Chris, but keeping herself under control when she does is still a problem.

– We’re learning a little more about wants Chris really wants. Something very bad happened to her when she was young, and it appears she wants to crush anyone with power over her. I’m not sure she wants to rule everything. More… she doesn’t want people to abuse their power over others? Still pretty unclear at this point.

Special Attacks In This Episode: