Senki Zesshou Symphogear – 09

They must be watching Hotarubi no Mori e.

Ahh! It’s march already! My first season at Metanorn is coming to an end … I’m happy though, because I got the opportunity to blog two really awesome shows and I got to meet a lot of new people through comments. Thanks for all the discussion you’ve added over the weeks everyone! It’s really helped me settle into this amazing blog and I hope we’ll get to discuss much more in the future. (Surprise mushy moment!!)

Flashback mode! Tsubasa hums a tune as she diligently works on her bike. Kanade sneaks up from behind and is happy to hear here singing outside of her job, much to Tsubasa’s embarrassment. Kanade says she wants to her hum again in the future and waves goodbye as she leaves the garage they’re in. Back in the present a scanning test finishes and Tsubasa learns she’s back to full health. With the confidence to sing now behind her she happily tells Kanade that she’s back.

Hibiki and Miku meet up with Ogawa and Tsubasa and for the first time Miku gets to introduce herself. We learn from Tsubasa that strings were pulled to allow Miku partial freedom at the second branch, which means no more having to keep secrets. Ryoko walks up on the group interested in their discussion and says she has an epic love story she could share. In the middle of some lovey-dovey talk she almost begins to tell the group about how she became interested in Relics, but stops herself mid sentence. After saying goodbye she walks away alone, wondering what’s changed in herself.

Tsubasa and Ogawa tell Miku and Hibiki about her up-coming work. After Tsubasa tells Hibiki that she’s not too busy at the moment, Hibiki tells her they should go on a date. Elsewhere in town Genjurou walks through the rain and into an apartment complex to find Chris alone, cold, and hungry. He tells her that it’s up to him to take care of her and hands over the food. From Genjurou we learn more about Chris’s past and her parents. Both of them were musicians who helped refugees, however they died in battle and their daughter went missing. She was eventually saved and brought to Japan. Genjurou first learned of her when he was trying to find matches for music, but she then disappeared once again. Angry at Genjurou, Chris jumps out the window and activates her Symphogear allowing her to escape alone.

“This milk will give me the strength …” 

“… To do anything.”

At the park Hibiki and Miku meet up with Tsubasa for their date and they’re surprised to find her wearing some stylish casual clothes. They spend the rest of the day together playing games, eating food, and having fun. The eventually arrive at a karaoke place where Tsubasa belts out the dramatic lyrics to “A Bucketful of Love.” Later in the day Tsubasa tells Miku and Hibiki that the day was like an entirely new world, but Hibiki reminds her that it’s the same world she’s always been fighting for. Tsubasa finally realizes the world Kanade had seen as a Symphogear and smiles.

(́ಢ.◞౪◟ಢ‵)

The next day Tsubasa gives the them two tickets to her up-coming concert, which is being held at the same place the original concert was held that led to Kanade’s death. At the concert hall Ogawa introduces Tsubasa to a man from “Metro Music” who wants to bring her music to the international stage. She tells him she still needs some time to think it over. In town Hibiki is running late for the concert when she gets a call from Genjurou alerting her of Noise. Hibiki asks him not to call Tsubasa because it’s her big day and it shouldn’t be interrupted.

Tsubasa performs her song at the concert which is packed with people. They cheer her on excitedly as she dances and sings. The man from before looks on seemingly happy with her performance. When the song is finished she confronts the crowd. She tells the crowd about how long it’s been and how much she’s missed the feeling of performing. She then tells them that she’s accepting the offer to wing worldwide so that more people can hear her songs and hopefully they will change their lives for the better. No longer will she sing for only others, she’ll sing for herself as well. The crowd cheers on in support.

Meanwhile Chris battles against a pack of Noise led by a fortress-like variety that gets the better of her. Hibiki arrives and manages to fight them head on. Using her improved fighting style, a mix of kicks and powerful energy based punches, she takes out the fortress-Noise. Later on Chris regrets ever helping Hibiki and slams her fist against the wall in anger.

This post is lacking Hibiki. That’s better.

Why am I all teary? Get yourself together Hawthorne! After weeks of slight disappointment we finally get an episode that, to me at least, brought together all the best parts of the show that made me so hyped in the beginning. Honestly, there wasn’t one thing I could point out and say I didn’t like. The producers did a wonderful job bringing together the slice of life moments, music, and action into what I would say is a culmination of the series. After all, for the last nine weeks Tsubasa has been coming to terms with the death of Kanade and finally with the concert she’s able to move on, so to speak, and embrace singing once again.

Symphogear delivered on the music this week, as expected, the song was beautifully song (and also beautifully written), so props to Nana Mizuki on the singing! I love how the song related to the show too, though I could be wrong, I thought it was about her past (“gravity”) holding her down and though she can’t escape those memories there is always the chance (“possibilities”) that she can fly on her own while still holding onto Kanade in her heart. I’m probably off. XD Anyway, likewise the producers definitely delivered on the animation this week, especially for the performance. Though there was a lot of standing around in comparison to the first concert, it’s a step up from the quality I’ve gotten used to the weeks following episode one. (That walking seen with Ogawa will forever torment me.) Overall, it was impressive and I enjoyed it.

Hibiki also got a lot of positive developments this week. She’s finally mastering her fighting style and even picking up new techniques without having to rely on her “berserk” mode, as cool as it is. Honestly, I can’t see a berserk Hibiki happening anytime soon now that everything seems to be going her way. Hibiki has definitely grown on me, her optimism at first annoyed me, but now that it feels toned down and also less selfish (“replacing Kanade” being a good example of that) I actually like her character. It feels almost as if a lot of the flaws in the cast’s personalities are slowly being overcome thanks to Hibiki’s optimism, including her own flaws, and is that not what a protagonist should do?

And then there’s Finne … wait, who’s Finne again? Just kidding, but really, she still feels like such a small part of the show. There’s still lots of time left, four episodes, so I’m sure she’ll be back soon enough. One thing that kind of piqued my interest was Ryoko not finishing her story about how she got involved with Relics. There might be something very revealing about her character there, so I’m not dropping the possibility of her being involved with Finne in some way. (What with the bloody suitcase, strange powers, and ominously similar appearance/behaviors.)

Even if you didn’t like this week’s episode, I hope that Tsubasa’s smile at least brightened your day! ;D