Hello everyone, and welcome the fuck back to Wrong Every Time. Are you ready for some Symphogear? We’re currently barreling towards the climax of one of anime’s most bombastic productions, having just run through a gauntlet of familiar and much-loved faces. With Miku’s life on the line, the villains of season three rallied for a dramatic counterattack, as both the Autoscorers and Carol herself squared off with the beleaguered Noble Red. Inevitably, of course, all their efforts were in vain: the beating heart of this series is the bond between Miku and Hibiki, and thus there’s no way it could end other than a reprise of Evil Miku.
Frankly, if Symphogear’s team had known from the start that they would last for five seasons, I doubt they’d have expended a dramatic resource as emotionally charged as “Evil Miku” back in season two. Miku has always been Hibiki’s emotional rock, and thus Hibiki’s story was bound to end on an interrogation of their relationship, with their feelings illustrated through grand acts of visual mayhem. Let’s see just how love conquers all, as we return to the grand finale of Symphogear!
Episode 9
We open with a montage of Miku shots as Hibiki reflects on their relationship, which amusingly haven’t been updated to fit the show’s modern style. The first season’s character designs were pretty dramatically different from the style they’d eventually settle on, featuring wide faces and a general lack of detail that more clearly marked the show as a post-Madoka production. “Is the market ready for another Nanoha?” turned out to be a question with an eager and emphatic answer, and so Symphogear was presumably able to better define its style once it was a valuable IP in its own right
Character designer/animation director Satoshi Koike was also only on board for the first season, so presumably their replacement brought in their own style as well
“My sunshine was taken from me. On that day, everything I cared for was taken from me.” Considering there are four more episodes until the conclusion, I assume Hibiki’s in for a pretty depressing series of encounters between now and whenever she gets her Miku back
Her confidence from the previous episode is gone, as she screams for Miku not to leave her
Episode title: “I am a father.” Oh no. Oh, god no. This show is so bad at fathers, please don’t bring us back there. ZERO HIBIKIS OUT OF FIVE
Yep, Hibiki’s father, one of Symphogear’s greatest narrative missteps, is back. I kinda figured they’d just written him out of the series after season three
Hibiki’s currently under house arrest
Her dad is trying, at least. He asks her what’s troubling her, leading us back into the previous confrontation. Hibiki de-transforms instantly, having lost her source of confidence and happiness
Miku’s bell bottoms are truly enormous. The girl’s got like twin jet turbines strapped to her knees
Aw shit. Tsubasa’s grandfather unsurprisingly implanted some seal on his granddaughter, and thus can likely control her remotely. Seems the show has adopted that stained glass window look as a general shorthand for mind control
“I am the protector of this country!” Christ, what a thematically charged plot development! Kazanari essentially represents a real and powerful wing in Japanese politics: those who wish to re-militarize Japan and essentially dismiss all the lessons of the twentieth century, returning the country to a jingoistic and racially homogenous “true Japan.” Tsubasa had aligned herself with the opposite faction, a faction preaching peace and globalism, but her grandfather’s will preempted her own. As such, this is a very literal interpretation of Japan’s old values poisoning the minds of its youth, and turning them into vessels for the anger and bigotry of their ancestors. “I will mind control my granddaughter to exact my will” isn’t precisely how bigotries are passed down through generations, but it makes for an easy enough metaphor for struggles the country is actually experiencing
This is also a smart choice purely in terms of dramatic structure. Miku is Hibiki’s key, but she doesn’t have much of a relationship with the rest of the team – by tossing Tsubasa into the bargain as well, the rest of the wielders have more emotional investment, and the conflict is more clearly aligned upon the axis of old versus new values
“This is the power of a God, which our country deserves!” All of Kazanari’s dialogue calls back to a pre-WWII Japanese self-image, where centuries of invaders being crushed by storms had helped foster the idea of Japan as God’s chosen invincible country
“Mental control via a direct feedback system will soon be complete!” Rather than actually listening to the words and feelings of the younger generations, Kazanari is programming them to be vehicles for his own values – another simple enough metaphor for the process of indoctrination into traditional values. Also, this whole “tampering with the power of the gods” concept maps quite neatly to nuclear weapons
This is undoubtedly the most thematically coherent Symphogear season yet. Kinda wild to see this show graduating from “friendship makes us strong” to “the lingering remnants of pre-WWII martial pride are passed on through generations, and pose a grave threat to any true international sense of community”
“You must become a monster for the sake of your nation. Songs cannot save the world!” International cooperation is ultimately worthless, only martial strength is real
Maria is of course brought in to spearhead a raid on the Kazanari mansion. Looks like this season might end on two versions of “my love is strong enough to break through your brainwashing!”
Ahaha, this limp effort to explain why this is a Maria Mission: “Hibiki’s hurt and the others are underage, you’re clearly the only reasonable inclusion.” Good stories are driven by dramatic logic more than practical logic, so I always find it amusing when they try to realistically justify drama-driven events
“No matter what the reason is, it’s wrong for family to kill family.” Given her own history, it makes sense that Maria would find this mission distasteful. She’s given up everything for family several times over
Kazanari’s raw aura intimidates the other G-men, but fortunately Genjuro is ready for battle
Yesss, Genjuro performs a classic samurai duel with his raw fist against Kazanari’s katana
And at last Maria and Tsubasa cross swords, the most intimate activity you can perform with another lesbian
This would all have landed with a bit more impact if Tsubasa actually was genuinely tempted by Kazanari’s ideology, rather than simply being brainwashed, but that itself would be a vast betrayal of her characterization so far. The plain fact is that there isn’t a truly clean way to graft the narrative of seasons four and five onto the first three and make it seem like a cohesive five act saga, and so they’re forced to apply some band-aids and sutures here and there. And I do appreciate the results – I’d much rather have this ambitious two-season arc with its clear political thrust than two more seasons of meaningless conflict
Tsubasa nearly topples Maria with her Sonic the Hedgehog attack
“It’s as if you can’t keep yourself going without protecting someone.” And having delivered this cold-ass rebuke, Maria follows it up with a hearty slap to the face
Kazanari and Genjuro’s duel has migrated to the rooftop for no reason (the best reason)
Oh my god this Genjuro/Kazanari fight. Gorgeous cuts, and also precisely the mix of samurai drama and Hollywood machismo that you’d expect from these two. Kazanari wins with a classic stab to the gut, but follows that up with a move Genjuro would be proud of, winning the battle with a galactic piledriver
Aw, poor Noble Red. They briefly attempt to control Miku for themselves, and are instantly and brutally dispatched
“You’re a disgrace to your elders!” Kazanari attempts to execute Tsubasa, but her father leaps in the way
“We don’t protect people because they’re weak. We do it because they’re worth protecting.”
“So he’s dead, huh? That’s what he gets for disobeying his father!” The black heart of “obey your elders” – it’s not about the overall safety of the family, it’s purely about furthering their own selfish interests. And now I’m thinking about the senseless tragedy of Heike Monogatari all over again… regardless of the era, it seems like we really need some limitations on how much the eldest generation can dictate the fate of an era they won’t live to see
Props to Kazanari, the dude’s ability to hold off a wielder at full power is impressive. They weren’t kidding about that Kazanari blood
Looks like all the wielders are going to get Golden Transformations by the time we’re done. Tsubasa’s is an appropriately tasteful suit upgrade, combined with a truly absurd comb-sword, where all of the teeth of the comb are extra swords
“Whether something’s a blessing or a curse is all in how you feel about it.” I like that Hibiki’s dad is trying, and I like even more that he isn’t very good at it. We didn’t really need him to return, but it hasn’t turned out too poorly on the whole
And Done
Dear lord this season doesn’t waste any time. I expected a lot more pre-climax doldrums from this episode, as Hibiki potentially fell into despair over the loss of Miku, but that whole process was essentially compressed into two efficient scenes with her dad. Instead, we received just as much action-packed spectacle as last episode, with the assault on the Kazanari manor offering the chance for the animators to go wild on some more traditional hand-to-hand combat. Seeing the whole Kazanari clan at war was a visual delight, but right now I’m most looking forward to seeing Maria knock Tsubasa back into shape. As the team’s most senior couple, you two have a responsibility to set a good example!
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