Impression
It’s back! Symphogear is back! I hope your body is ready! A season filled with plot twists, shock cliffhangers and hype-filled insert songs await! If these episodes ever end up being subbed, that is. Like with Kakegurui, the task ended up falling on an /a/non from a certain site which shall not be named, but unlike Kakegurui the reason for the lack of any simulcast of Symphogear was that it apparently hasn’t been picked up, although it might just be a matter of time given that CR took a couple of weeks to announce that they would be doing GX. I’m actually hoping that they’ll do the same for AXZ, because I’m really not fond of how that /a/non kept trying to push some stupid Bavarian Illuminati meme. The best case scenario would actually involve Commie, since that way we’d get some lyrics too.
The one thing that might come to the forefront this season is the issue of Chris’s past. I don’t remember her ever being that hung up over it in either G or GX (i.e. it looked like she’d come to terms with it) but it’s always been a plot point that could have been developed further, and clearly it’s starting to come back to her now that she’s seeing children go through similar experiences first-hand. Beyond that, it’s pretty clear that we’re going to get the standard plot again where a group of evil antagonists are aiming to destroy the world yet again, this time through the usage of alchemy as well. Whether they’ll be saved is a different matter entirely, as the ending of GX suggests. And as usual, it’ll take a while to get used to having them around. I wasn’t much of a fan of Carol and the Autoscorers at first, but they definitely grew on me over time. Now I just really miss Carol. Her anger was oddly adorable, you know? Hopefully we’ll see her return at some point to help out, either through Elfnein or just… well, somehow. Both Fine and LAST ACTION HERO did make surprise reappearances, after all.
It’s a little strange that there seem to be fewer enemies than there are Gears. Whether this is supposed to indicate anything about the future relevance of Saint-Germain and friends is all up in the air, but I think it’s a valid observation. The numbers have always matched up in the past. When the cast grew at the end of G, there were a corresponding number of enemies in GX – Carol lined up with Bikki, and the four Autoscorers fought Chris, Tsubasa, Maria and DMJii. This time, there are three antagonists pitted up against five functioning Gears, six if we consider DMJii to be two halves of a whole. The only way things would even up would be if some of the girls are taken out somehow, or if more antagonists are added. Chris could defect if Saint-Germain messes with her insecurities, for example. And I guess DMJii only have a limited supply of LiNKER, though I was always assuming that Elfnein would solve that particular issue sooner or later. Maria also loses pretty much every fight ever. The fandom also likes to speculate all the time about Miku getting involved again, too. I don’t know. We’ll see.
Let’s talk about songs! The best so far absolutely has to be Gekishou Infinity. It came bundled with all the standard Symphogear insanity – Chris spitting bullets, Bikki punching tank shells and drilling through airships, Tsubasa’s ridiculously large swords and so on. I even forgot about MEGA DETH PARTY until this episode, although it’s been restyled as MEGA DETH INFINITY. I felt like a kid again! It was so cool! My favourite scene, though, absolutely had to be when DMJii let that missile fly through their helicopter and out the other side. I was making excited Kirika noises along with Kirika herself.
Gekishou Infinity is the only song that I think surpasses any of the respective GX ones. So far, that is. It’s the new Radiant Force. Maybe it’s just a matter of time, but GX set a really high bar song-wise, and it will be really hard to top that. Hibiki’s new solo song was great, for example, but it’s not better than G-Beat. And I can’t see whatever Saint-Germain sings being better than Carol’s Genocide. The one thing that did surprise me was how a Maria and DMJii trio was used for the ED. It won’t be around every week, and we’ll have the usual cliffhanger Chris ED up and running soon enough, but I was caught off-guard at first since Maria has an operatic sort of voice just like Takagaki Ayahi does. And then Kirika and Shirabe came in! As great a song as it is, I’m just hoping that it doesn’t replace the seasonal DMJii duet that we’ve had in the past. I’ve always loved how the individual melodies sound like proper songs in themselves when sung by Kirika and Shirabe, before getting fused together about halfway through the season and producing something beautiful.
One of the main reasons I decided to participate this season was to blog Symphogear, and so blog Symphogear I shall! I’m sure hype train won’t let us down! Probably!
Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed
Possibility of Blogging: Guaranteed
…Where the heck did the term “DMJii” come from?
Anyway, I didn’t watch the anon subs, but the main enemies are the Bavarian Illuminati, and this isn’t the first time they’ve been referenced. Maria mentioned them offhand as being partially responsible for supressing information about the fall of the moon in Symphogear G.
In other news, watching Hibiki punch tank shells out of her way as she walks forward is really awesome.
Kirika looks like Dark Magician Girl (DMG) with Igalima on, and Shirabe says ‘Jiiiii~’ a lot (or at least, enough to meme about) and so together, they are DMJii! Those two have actually been on my mind occasionally over the past year, since one of the abbreviations I used in my thesis was ‘DMG’ and every time I did some research around it I couldn’t help but remember them.
Commie ended up using the same term (although ‘Bavarian’ became ‘Pavarian’) so I’ll accept it. It’s just that any reference to the Illuminati feels really memetic, even though I guess ‘Komyo Kessha’ (lit. something like ‘Light Association’ or ‘Order of Light’) could legit be translated as such.
I feel like Hibiki’s outdone her spaceship suplex from the start of S3! BIKKI DRILL BREAKER was awesome!