Senki Zesshou Symphogear XV Episode 12 Discussion

FateHero said:
And the X-Drives! Oh, the glorious Amalgam-Styled X-Drives! THEY ARE LITERAL FIRE!!! I shall now exist in the purest and most ascended form of Hype for the next 7 days until the finale!

Mizako said:

I'm not sure if they are Amalgam-styled.
In S1, Ryouko explains at some point that the users could use the superb songs without drawbacks and unlock the full power of the relic if the curse of balal is removed. It might just be this.
We'll see how they fight next week, I guess.

Stark700 said:
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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That face!


I had a weird feeling watching this episode. It felt like the world around them was in some sort of apocalypse. But hey, I did feel the sensation of an action style thriller. They managed to keep the action with a decent amount of momentum so that's cool.

DarknessReality said:
Pretty decent episode not much to say this time.

It was generally just a normal Symphogear episode for the most part. But Oh man I LOVE SHEM HA!

The entire fight with Shem Ha I was smiling my ass off with her taunts and smiles. Its literally like getting an evil Miku. Everything about Shem Ha I absolutely love and she's genuinely at this rate going to become my favourite villain in Symphogear. Her gear looks so beautiful and her evil expressions are the best. Luckily they haven't ruined her yet like that did with Fudo and making him just be a psychopath instead of his originally interesting manipulative personality that we thought he had. I'm a bit torn though cause she's keeping Miku from Hibiki so there is that. And speaking of that it seems Miku isn't getting any spotlight and will be saved in the last episode. Well shit. That's definitely going to be the biggest disappointment of the season. Unless they do the usual Symphogear thing of cram loads into a small amount of time and have Miku fight along but with everyone in X-Drive I highly doubt that'll happen.

Seeing Shem Ha kick Carol's ass was amusing. I was worried as hell the second I saw Carol appear but luckily she did nothing so I've got nothing to complain about there. Just some fan service for the Carol fans.

I saw a bunch of people talking about what Chris's amalgam form would be. Lol it just ended up being a bow. To be expected to be honest.

But................*sigh*. Yep we all knew it was happening. Noble Red being "redeemed" and joining the good side. I personally hate this decision. They murdered hundreds for fun! Its also cause of my personal disinterest in them that adds to why I think their "redemption" is bull.

However that scene with Hibiki running to hit Vanessa was cool as hell.

The bit towards the end was alright. Bit of plot convenience for how everyone gets an upgraded X-Drive since they literally just said 3 seconds beforehand that they didn't have enough phonic gain even after the swan song. Just the usual Symphogear power of friendship I guess. Its nothing new so I'll ignore it. That swan song was nice though with everyone's voice echoing through the audio.

Hibiki's new X-Drive is nice though with her hair having that fire kind of look to represent her postion as Miku's sun. Very nice design.

One detail I really liked is the fact that this episode was called "Senki Zesshou" so we can guess what the last episode will be called. Ive got to admit that is a pretty cool way to end the series with. We need Hibiki to scream "SYMPHOGEAAAAAAR!!!!!!!" like in season 1.

Overall just a general Symphogear episode. Doesnt feel very "end game" to me, just another season. I cant imagine they'll give us anything super epic in the last episode or a super emotional scene with HibiMiku so my expectations are going to be low. On the other hand Granbelm is doing that amazingly so I highly recommend watching that.

Overall alright episode. You can bet Im doing a review of XV after all my thoughts and opinions on it each episode lol.

AsuraDestructor said:


Fine Stated outright in the first season that if the Curse of Balal was broken, the true power of X-Drive would be unleashed. Thats exactly what shem-ha did prior to their escape from the moon.

And all the stuff you complain about has always been there since the first season. Villains getting redeemed just because. its always happened, but its so over the top that its truly amazing that they are capable of doing so.

Actually go back and binge watch the rest of the series and it will click.

No one watches symphogear for great story telling. They watch it for fights, song, over the top Super Robot and Saint seiya inspired battles, characters, and just plain dumb awesomeness.

Realize that, and your enjoyment of the series skyrockets tremendously.

Ryuseishun said:
This shot reminds of a scene from a Gundam series I've seen, but I don't remember which one.

Tarotist said:
Vanessa...is a queen!

"The labyrinth is over 380,000 kilometers in length."
The moon's average orbital distance is about 384,402 kilometers. Ha...haha...HAHAHA! Nice one!

Whoa, for a second there, we thought Chris was about to deal the killing blow...

Hibiki forcing herself to deliver the killing blow to Vanessa...we needed more of that.

WAAAAAIT....SOUJI OGAWA IS CANON? THE SOUJI OGAWA FROM XD UNLIMITED?! GOD DAMN IT! WHY DIDN'T YOU INTRODUCE MORE OF THE OGAWA CLAN EARLIER!?

Shem-ha is trying to take over, but she's getting firewalled by hackers all over the globe lol. Chris' amalgam was the most anticlimactic sadly. Noble Red is gone for good. And now comes the final battle between the gears and Shem-ha. I don't really expect anything special for the next episode, but Symphogear has one last chance to surprise me. Let's see how this all ends...

DarknessReality said:
The entire fight with Shem Ha I was smiling my ass off with her taunts and smiles. Its literally like getting an evil Miku. Everything about Shem Ha I absolutely love and she's genuinely at this rate going to become my favourite villain in Symphogear. Her gear looks so beautiful and her evil expressions are the best. Luckily they haven't ruined her yet like that did with Fudo and making him just be a psychopath instead of his originally interesting manipulative personality that we thought he had. I'm a bit torn though cause she's keeping Miku from Hibiki so there is that. And speaking of that it seems Miku isn't getting any spotlight and will be saved in the last episode. Well shit. That's definitely going to be the biggest disappointment of the season. Unless they do the usual Symphogear thing of cram loads into a small amount of time and have Miku fight along but with everyone in X-Drive I highly doubt that'll happen.

DarknessReality said:
But................*sigh*. Yep we all knew it was happening. Noble Red being "redeemed" and joining the good side. I personally hate this decision. They murdered hundreds for fun! Its also cause of my personal disinterest in them that adds to why I think their "redemption" is bull.

DarknessReality said:
The bit towards the end was alright. Bit of plot convenience for how everyone gets an upgraded X-Drive since they literally just said 3 seconds beforehand that they didn't have enough phonic gain even after the swan song. Just the usual Symphogear power of friendship I guess. Its nothing new so I'll ignore it. That swan song was nice though with everyone's voice echoing through the audio.

FateHero said:
And HOLY MOON BUSTERS - everything else that happened in this episode gave me a constant flood of adrenaline through every pore in my body! Carolnein vs. Shem-ha was incredible, she even forced a god to utilize the Shenshoujing Faust Robe - a man-made Relic - just to take her final attack - THAT'S FREAKING IMPRESSIVE! Round of applause for the Alca-loli everyone!

Tarotist said:
Whoa, for a second there, we thought Chris was about to deal the killing blow...

Tarotist said:
Shem-ha is trying to take over, but she's getting firewalled by hackers all over the globe lol.

Ryuseishun said:
Those my babies right there!!!

DarknessReality said:
The entire fight with Shem Ha I was smiling my ass off with her taunts and smiles. Its literally like getting an evil Miku. Everything about Shem Ha I absolutely love and she's genuinely at this rate going to become my favourite villain in Symphogear. Her gear looks so beautiful and her evil expressions are the best. Luckily they haven't ruined her yet like that did with Fudo and making him just be a psychopath instead of his originally interesting manipulative personality that we thought he had. I'm a bit torn though cause she's keeping Miku from Hibiki so there is that. And speaking of that it seems Miku isn't getting any spotlight and will be saved in the last episode. Well shit. That's definitely going to be the biggest disappointment of the season. Unless they do the usual Symphogear thing of cram loads into a small amount of time and have Miku fight along but with everyone in X-Drive I highly doubt that'll happen.

GenesisAria said:
Agreed and agreed. Shem-Ha turned out pretty good at least haha.

DarknessReality said:
But................*sigh*. Yep we all knew it was happening. Noble Red being "redeemed" and joining the good side. I personally hate this decision. They murdered hundreds for fun! Its also cause of my personal disinterest in them that adds to why I think their "redemption" is bull.

GenesisAria said:
Note to all mass murderers: it's okay if you massacre thousands of people and drink their blood, and do all kinds of horrible things, you simply need a sappy backstory! Call now to get your own personal assistant to help you craft the sappiest and most melodramatic sobstory possible for your easy get-out-of-jail-free card!

But really, the other 2 were whatever, but Millaarc massacred many innocent civilians at a fucking concert, and everyone's just like 'is alright, nobody will remember it anyway'... #CivilianLivesMatter
I miss season 1's intensity and seriousness. Even though it was already set up to be a crazy ride of insanity, it had a lot of weight behind it comparably, internal struggles and shit, people actually being horrified by all the death etc. I think Symphogear just got a bit too popular.

JustAnAnimeList said:
Can't say I liked this episode very much, but then again that's mostly because I really disliked Noble Red. Their "redemption arc" in this episode did nothing for me, I just stood staring at the screen like "yeah, I saw this coming". But boy oh boy, those final minutes of the episode were pure hype.

It would be really cool if the next episode could focus solely on the fight between Shem-Ha and the Gears, just 20+ minutes of kickass fighting and hype songs. But alas, that's just wishful thinking. What we're probably going to get is the fight on the first half of the episode and the aftermath on the second half. Not saying that is bad, but this being the final season I hope they will pull all the stops going into this finale and a "by the book" Symphogear episode just wouldn't cut it.

DarknessReality said:
Shem Ha is the saving grace of XV and is the only reason I consider it a watchable season since the focus of HibiMiku kind of just vanished along with Shem Ha's appearance.

DarknessReality said:
Absolutely agree. Its a shame as well because when I saw episode 2 I was like "oh wow so they're going for a darker tone this season" nope. They kind of just forget it actually happened unless it was a Tsubasa suffering scene and only had serious scenes with her and only her unlike season 1 which they keep the constant theme going throughout. Season 1 is still the best season by far in my opinion. Say what you want about the art style it had the best and most consistent story out of all of them before Symphogear became a cram out seasons type of anime.

GenesisAria said:


It was established at least that Miku is present somewhere in there, but ehh, wonder how it's gonna be solved.
My dreams of separating Miku and Shem-Ha, with Mikugear and Hibiki double-teaming Shem-Ha, might die with a wimper, or i might get lucky, who knows.


Goddamn you quote messy lmao!
But yeah, the whole concert massacre was completely mundanified into a plot device for #BeingTsubasaIsSuffering... At the very least this season has a lot of very creative combat choreography... Maybe i just wasn't paying much attention first and second time i watched all the prior seasons, but for some reason it really made me notice this time.

This may not be the end of Symphogear though. I hope if they continue they try movie format instead, that might to it some good.

DarknessReality said:



Yeah I had the exact same hopes. Sadly all the Miku related stuff cant happen with only one episode left and they haven't even started the final fight yet.

Also the concert was literally a plot device as you said. Its such a shame because I thought they were using it to tell an interesting story like season 1.
It seems so much of this season is just directly taken from previous seasons.

AsuraDestructor said:


Because the director said this season is literally the culimination all that came before.

At this point, I don't even know why you are watching. Each season IS better then previous one, even if you don't think that, and Xv is the best because it pays tribute to all that came before.

And if you can't see that, especially if you don't rewatch the rest of the series to understand that, then I can't help you.

DarknessReality said:


Hmmm pay tribute. So you're essentially saying I cant enjoy this season as its own thing and its only here to "pay tribute" to the rest ?

Well I guess it is just a big bundle compilation season of stuff that happened in previous seasons.

AsuraDestructor said:


Now you're being pedantic.

A series that has multiple sequels that's gonna end with a series finale is obviously gonna pay tribute to what came before.

Acting cynicial towards the series won't help you, its not healthy.

GenesisAria said:
@AsuraDestructor @DarknessReality
You see this season's mistakes is not in it's accumulating themes from previous seasons or whatever, because it did execute a lot of that well when it did it right, for example when the Autoscorers came back, that was great and was built up to with enough foreshadowing due to the presence of all the other dolls.

Where this season faults is in it's decay as it progresses. It structured it's intro leading too high of expectations, that is the heavier more real and impactful tone of the first season, but as it progressed, while it has had many awesome moments, they haven't paid off nearly as well as they could have or were implied by context.

I don't exactly have the best words to describe it at the moment, but it is an actual literary mistake when considering the psychology of views and the transition of one thing to the next. For example in highly designed architecture, hallways, entryways and so on are designed in a certain way to give a certain feeling. Say if you come down a hall and it has many subtle indicators for where you are meant to go, leading to an obvious door you can't mistake is the way to go, that entryway may have a design that focuses your attention to a point and confines your senses to that door with darker schemes, and upon passing through it you open into a wide atrium that's beautiful and brightly lit and decorative etc; passing into that will give you a sensation of awe and wonder, moreso than if that entryway wasn't dark and contracting or directed in any way... There's an order and means of doing things that illicit certain emotional responses which engage you into a narrative. This is why awkward pacing can throw you off, because it might lead somewhere then stagger you and then jolt you to the side and it's mildly confusing, emotionally speaking.

The shock value presented by the concert massacre could have been held onto in a way that made it heavier, and given a payoff for a satisfactory catharsis. Shem-Ha's introduction could have been followed by a fight that stomped the party, instead of just cutting to Hibiki being in bed from shock and everyone else on standby. It's writing errors like that which take away from emotional satisfaction.

It's mistake is setting the standards too high then not managing to go beyond that to something greater, and instead initiates an epic idea and then trips it with something kind of anticlimactic. If you want to build hype, you have to start with a small idea that has many implications and not too grandly presented, then build to something more dramatic and exciting with that. If you start off strong, you have to build to something stronger and make it feel worthwhile. Payoff is absolutely necessary.

...Storytelling may be an art, but there is some science to it as well.

DarknessReality said:


Couldn't have said it better myself. They never in my opinion stick with the dark tone that the massacre presents. They keep putting In comedy and switching between Tsubasa's super serious scenes and Kirika and Shirabe's comedy. Along with Hibiki being comedic in front of the villains.

My expectations were way too high with what they showed from the teasers as I thought they were going for a more interesting story but apparently not.

That first Shem Ha scene was the biggest disappointment as Shem Ha was taken out of the picture immediately after she was introduced giving her even less screen time.

Absolutely agree with the payoff thing. That's why at this point Ive given up on any HibiMiku stuff because we haven't seen Miku for ages apart from those 2 Shem Ha scenes but that doesn't build anything up. Also if they cram all the Miku getting a gear, fighting with Hibiki, duet, etc In the last episode it wont be satisfying in the slightest. It such a shame because they had a good footing to make a compelling story.

GenesisAria said:

Still can't deny that the Shem-Ha introduction was top quality shit though... I know i was leaping out of my seat when i saw that transformation... I watched it like a dozen times over haha! It's such a shame because i know they CAN do great things, but it's trying to do way too many things at once and it's all turning into a botched meatloaf. It's like "omg, OMG OMG OMG AWWWWW you almost had it."

Piromysl said:
Yup. How one bad decision in writing can completely gut the experience.
No matter how irredeemable and vile those three bitches are, they obviously had to pull off one of the most overused cliché in anime.
This got boring at the end of season three, I guess.