Symphogear Episode 09: Protector's Song

Episode Summary:

We start back in the past in a brief flashback where Tsubasa remembers Kanade encouraging her to sing more outside their work of fighting Noise. Tsubasa wakes up a short time later in the present after having one last scan to determine that she has finally recovered from her Superb Song.

Miku is being let into the secrets that Hibiki has had to live with the past few months. She meets Tsubasa and they have a laugh at how accident prone Hibiki is. Ryoko walks up and starts to regale the girls with a tale of a time she fell in love, only to oddly cut herself off when she being to link that past love to the reason she started researching the Symphogear relics. As the conversation with Ryoko ends, Hibiki suggests that she, Miku and Tsubasa go on a date out. Tsubasa reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile, Genjuro has taken a brief leave of absence saying he is returning one of his rented action movies… but he’s been gone longer than usual. It turns out he has tracked down Chris Yukine and is working to slowly gain her trust by just talking to her and bringing her much needed food. Chris is still angry at all the adults that failed her, but converses with Genjuro a bit before fleeing the uncomfortable conversation. Still, it’s a start.

Tsubasa’s day trip starts out on the wrong foot as Hibiki and Miku are late because Hibiki overslept. But things soon get better as Tsubasa is given the chance to do regular everyday activities for the first time in as long as she can remember. The three go shopping, watch a sappy romance movie, buy clothes, and sing karaoke. Tsubasa surprises the other two when she begins to sing. Instead of choosing one of her j-pop songs, she instead goes with something that sounds like a Samurai-era song of passion and regret.

As their trip comes to an end, Tsubasa realizes that this is the world that Kanade saw. One of just normal fun outings with friends beyond the pains and struggles of war against the Noise. Hibiki agrees, but reminds Tsubasa that the peaceful city vista before them would not even exist if Tsubasa hadn’t fought to hard for it. Tsubasa make the decision to return to her singing career and gives Hibiki and Miku tickets to her next event.

A few days later, Tsubasa is back on stage, back at the theater where she lost Kanade. Hibiki is, of course, running late, but then gets a call that Noise have appeared elsewhere in the city. At Hibiki’s request, Genjuro does not call in Tsubasa, opting to let her continue her performance while Hibiki handles the noise alone. Except, it turns out Hibiki is not alone. Chris is there, too, fighting a giant fortress Noise for her own reasons.

What follows is a gorgeous song by Tsubasa intercut with Hibiki and Chris’ battle against the Noise. Though the two former enemies barely interact, Hibiki and Chris do end up supporting each other and eliminate the Noise all without getting in each other’s way.

In the end, Tsubasa admits to her audience how much singing means to her and asks them if they’ll allow her to expand abroad and bring her songs to more and more people. She is delighted when they give her a cheer of support. Tsubasa is finally back where she is meant to be… Meanwhile, Chris is alone back in an alley confused as to why she helped Hibiki fight the Noise.

Episode Impressions: 

This is a good episode. The show is still moving things into place for a big finale, but that doesn’t mean important things aren’t happening. Tsubasa seems to have finally come to terms with her role in fighting the Noise. She isn’t abandoning being a warrior, but she has accepted that her songs can be used for other, better purposes than fighting.

At the same time, Chris has gone from an outright enemy to a reluctant ally. She’s still struggling with the twisted worldview Finé forced on her, but she is no longer out there hurting people or doing Finé’s dirty work. Chris is actually out alone risking her life to protect others!

With Tsubasa healed up and her relationship with Hibiki turned around, I think all we have to do is bring Chris into the mix and we’ll have a powerful trio to fight Finé and the Noise.

Specific Scenes I Loved: 

Genjuro demonstrating to Chris that the food he brought her is not poisoned by eating and drinking a bit of it before he hands it over to her. Chris has spent the last several years of her life being abused by the adults around her. Genjuro is taking it one small step at a time to gain Chris’ trust.

Tsubasa’s concert. Her song is so obviously about herself. And the way it is used as the combat music is great.

Songs In This Episode: 

Koi no Okehazama – This is such a Japanese love song. One that is seemingly being sung by a maiden warrior in love but also alight with jealousy and emotion. The full song doesn’t seem to have a ton of relevance to the episode or show. It’s just something that might have been written by a young warrior similar to Tsubasa hundreds of years ago.

FLIGHT FEATHERS – Wow. This is a song from Tsubasa to and about Kanade. In it, Tsubasa sings about being drawn to Kanade. About losing her but not wanting her memory to disappear. And about remembering the lessons Kanade taught her. There’s also strong implications that Tsubasa has accepted everything that’s happened and plans to continue confidently down her road.

Themes In This Episode: 

While it’s not really spoken, we see Chris struggling at the end with the reality of her wish to bring peace to the world through strength and violence. Mostly, we see that Chris is distraught and confused because Finé taught her she needed to have no friend and get no help from others… and yet during her big battle with the Noise not only did she fight alongside Hibiki who believes fighting is a last resort, Chris actually helped Hibiki out in a couple of instances and got help in return. Chris is dealing with a bad worldview that has been shattered by Hibiki’s good actions. And she hasn’t quite made it through those struggles yet.

There’s a lot in this episode about Tsubasa finally finding herself in the world that Kanade found. The world beyond the fighting. Kanade, as we know, was a very messed up kid who had watched her family die to the Noise. But, over time, she realized that helping people was more important than her personal revenge. It’s probably why she loved her concerts with Tsubasa so much. It was a chance to help without having to fight.

Tsubasa mostly just seemed shy and overwhelmed before Kanade died. Afterwards, she was angry and mournful. She dedicated herself to the combat side of helping people and neglected everything else. But now, with Hibiki showing the way, Tsubasa has found her way to where Kanade was before she died. Tsubasa now understands that the war against the Noise is just what is necessary to create and preserve that world of shopping and singing and goofing off that Hibiki has been trying to show her.

There’s one last theme that’s interesting in this episode. Tsubasa, then Ryoko, and Finally Chris all wonder why something about them has changed.

For Tsubasa, it’s her being polite and welcoming and even making a joke where before she was emotionless and no-nonsense when down in their base. How Ryoko changed is not completely clear. But somehow she changed from a girl in love to one that studies relics without a loved one in her life. To the point that she decided not to reveal her entire love story to the others. For Chris, it’s the aforementioned helping others combat the Noise. A complete reversal of her earlier role where she was the one who controlled where the Noise attacked.

Tsubasa and Chris’ change in character are both important. I think maybe Ryoko’s is, too, we just don’t know her whole story yet.