Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the battlefield of Symphogear, just in time for one of its most distinguished Symphotraditions: the last-second arrival of a former enemy, now forming an unexpected rescue party for our intrepid heroes. Dr. Ver is dead-dead and I’m pretty sure the season four villains disintegrated into pixie dust or something, so it now falls to the once-ruler of the Autoscorers to hold strong. That’s right: Carol Malus Dienheim, Alchemist Extraordinaire and Murderer of Miracles, has joined the battle.
Given the simple fact that it’d be more exciting and dramatically meaningful for this season to end on a reprise of Evil Miku, I’m guessing Carol’s last stand won’t be too effective in defending Hibiki’s wife. But Carol certainly knows how to put on a show, so let’s sit back and enjoy the fireworks, as we surge towards the final conclusion of SYMPHOGEARRRR!
Episode 8
Oh boo, this one’s just titled “XV.” I guess using the season title once isn’t unusual, but when your season title is just a numerical marker like this, it doesn’t make for a particularly impactful landing. Point five Bikis for that one
We open on Miku in the Science Room, suffering untold torment from all the science being inflicted upon her
Goddamnit, must we relive this lusciously animated sequence of Garie being missiled right in the stomach
Elsa might have the least-threatening enemy design in this show, and in a show that’s featured Carol, Shirabe, and Chris Yukine as villains, that’s really saying something
Excellent use of soft focus and wind animation as Elfnein begins her transformation. The contrast in speed of motion between the frantic wind and Elfnein’s slow, deliberate movements enhances the sense of drama – “stillness in the midst of chaos” naturally evokes a sense of calculated power and fury
“Another impossible miracle at the last second?” I feel you, Vanessa. This team is bullshit
Ahaha, I forgot how good Inori Minase’s performance as Carol is. She somehow sounds short, like she’s proclaiming while angrily hopping up and down to see over her podium
Even in the OP, the contrast between Elsa and Milaarc is hilarious. Milaarc is this morphing eldritch monstrosity, and Elsa is like “what if we gave a good doggo some luggage, wouldn’t that be nice”
Excellent jump into the action here, as Carol briefly attempts a sentimental redemption moment, and Milaarc tells her to can it
Vanessa’s body opens up to fire a full missile barrage at Carol. I love the absurd internal design implications inherent in basically everything Vanessa does; at the rate and size of missiles she uses, her body has to be like 95% missiles by volume
“Different octaves of the Aristotle at the same time!?” Betcha didn’t see that coming, Vanessa
Carol’s firepower forces all of Noble Red to shelter in Elsa’s tail-cage. This season’s villains are so sad and pathetic that I can only feel bad for them
Yep, she single-handedly sends all of Noble Red into retreat. Those poor underpowered villains
Carol acting tsundere towards Elfnein’s thankful spirit is also good content
“I simply repeatedly copy-pasted the fragments of memory that it picked up, alchemically rebuilding a stable pseudo-personality.” Yes, but who was the “you” that was doing… you know what, no. It’s fine. Carol rebuilt her personality by copy-pasting fragments of her own memory, sure, that’s great
“Copy-paste? That’s cutting-edge alchemy, huh?” Bless Kirika, roasting Carol with her very obliviousness
The show once again emphasizes how little Noble Red are asking for, as they’re snubbed by Kazanari while once again requesting to be turned human again. You need a certain combination of danger or nefariousness to really enjoy defeating a villain, but these guys are so weak and so sympathetic that their every “defeat” feels more like bullying
Carol explains that because the world and the divine have at times been worshiped equally, “the Chateau is capable of dissecting that concept, allowing you to fight back.” When it comes to technobabble like this, I mainly just ask that it’s either humorously absurd or used primarily as aesthetic flavoring, like how Evangelion’s bridge crew will babble meaningless stuff that generally sounds impactful. The key, non-negotiable rule is that the actual trajectory of your drama absolutely cannot be driven by the nebulous lore babble of the characters, as that essentially divorces the show’s drama from anything us in the audience can genuinely invest in. You might as well just be inventing attack names on the playground; victory and defeat are untethered from anything the audience can measure or relate to, so they cease to mean anything
The gang are going to increase their phonic gain by singing their climax songs. It’s a shame that’s the translation the official subtitles ended up going with, as “swan song” is already an established term, and far more elegantly describes what these songs are supposed to represent
“Our enhanced capability coefficients are lessening the backfire…” “but we won’t last long!” See, there’s a reasonable illustration of “technobabble as aesthetic flavoring.” The purpose of this exchange is not to keep us apprised of exactly how this magical process is interacting with their wielder gear, but simply to emphasize the physical toll this choice is extracting on our heroes. The specific words don’t matter, they’re just a vehicle for illustrating the physical conflict
“We’re not strong! We’re weak and tiny monsters!” “Even so, we don’t want to give up on tomorrow because we’re weak!” Goddamnit Noble Red, you are so bad at being villains
Aw shit, Carol got caught in their Labyrinth of Philosophy. And I doubt she can just roar her way into a new set of golden armor like Hibiki
Wait, no, she did it, it took her like thirty seconds. Goddamnit Noble Red
“My song’s phonic gain exceeds that of all seven billion humans!” What I’m mostly getting from this episode is that our heroes were really lucky to beat Carol in the first place, and clearly must have caught her on an off day
To the surprise of no one, Kazanari has already betrayed Noble Red, and presumably equipped them with special blood that already contained some kind of poison. The group can’t even fight Elfnein at this point
The wielders looking very snazzy in their angelic upgrades. I like Tsubasa’s bow-wing deal she’s got going on
Oh my god, this boob docking moment with Chris and Maria is so much
The force of their boob lasers deals serious damage to the enemy, forcing it to undergo another dimensional shift do-over
Some wonderful effects animation for Hibiki’s arrival. The smoke and laser animation has been terrific this season, they really upped the effects work in general
Ahaha, they just throw everything at the wall as Hibiki’s charge is supported by the other wielders. We even get a brief segment of a jet deftly evading an Itano Circus, courtesy of Chris’ flying platform
Hibiki breaks through the shell, only to find Miku inside!
And jeez, Miku’s final transformation sequence is gorgeous. The key here is the minimalist use of lighting – with her transformation largely in darkness, the use of silhouettes, and contrast between white, black, and violet, all pop that much more brightly. They also make sure to give her an inherently shiny outfit, prompting bursts of light as it’s fitted to her body
And Done
Aw shit, we’re into it now! Well, I suppose the breathless structure of seasons four and five basically means we’ve been in finale territory right from the beginning, but now we’ve hit all the traditional touchstones of the final confrontation. The lesser initial opponents have been cast aside, the true villain has revealed itself, the ancient monstrosity has broken free of its shell, and Hibiki’s girlfriend isn’t even acknowledging her. As with the Autoscorers, it was quite nice to have a final visit with Carol, and the production has never looked snazzier. With Ultimate Miku at last revealed, I’m eager to see Hibiki smooch her girlfriend, Tsubasa slug her grandpa, and the whole gang transform into preposterous new outfits for one last time. Bring on the last act of Symphogear!
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