What a rollercoaster of an episode. I was extremly happy to see the battle between the Valkyries wasn't just another fake cliff hanger like they have done every other episode thus far. This made for a good episode to finally unlock a bit more of the past between Kanade and Tsubasa as well as set forth the road to what we are to expect. It was a pretty good episode even if they had very forced attempts at pulling my heart strings.
This start of the episode was quite important to establish exactly who Kanade was. I wonder if they will roll back even further to the event that made her hate the noise so much, that might be a bit off the beaten path though. This did serve to explain that they needed very specific people to be able to use the Symphogear which was why Hibiki was the real target. I liked how they even explained how they decided to start singing together too, a very nice touch.
They took no time to throw Tsubasa into the face of what made her so jaded to begin with. It must suck to be Tsubasa, nothing but suffering so far. Best friend dies to save some worthless girl who ends up taking the armor and still be useless. When you try to take revenge, you are thwarted and forced to pretend to be friends. Now, you are faced with the second penalty for your earlier failure to sing correctly. Her past will haunt her forever. At least she has reason to hate the world unlike most other emo characters.
What a random meaningless fanservice moment midway through an intense battle. This is not the correct way to create a moment of relief between serious events. This was just terrible, whoever thought adding this scene in should be shot. The degrading quality of the animation is starting to get noticeable, not at the Persona 4 levels yet, but it is getting their. I wish they would step this up, it really hinders a shows enjoyment levels when you are too busy staring at terrible drawn characters with a focus on action.
Finally reaching the conclusion of the stomping, Tsubasa uses her ultimate ability. Still, it must sucks to not only lose, but have your ultimate attack fail to finish off the enemy. She has such a nice looking armor design, I hate that she is constantly getting the short end of the stick. At least she survived to fight another day. Too bad when that day comes, it will be Hibiki that does all the work leaving her feeling even more useless. Being Tsubasa is suffering.
Then we got our clearly blossoming love from the two roommates. It is only a matter of time until she learns the truth. I think after she finally learns, she will be the one to fuel Hibiki into battle from being kidnapped or such. Nothing like unrequited love who's sole purpose is be a plot device for the main character. Much like the fate of Hare of Guilty Clown. She even had that sneak peak of her hidden life just like Hare (and Shirley). At least she will be able to escape death.
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| Akuma + Genderbent Ryu? |
Skipped through the training arc was presented very well. Melded into the ending yet we get clear indications that Hibiki will come out stronger. The perfect way to keep the pace moving fast without the training downtime. This show is getting to be a bit absurd though, not at the Guilty Clown levels, but it is getting there. They have a tryhard plot too, but at least they stick to serious moments unlike Guilty Clown that flips stuff around whenever they want. I am skeptical if this show will turn out well, but at least we get good music with it. The full OP and character song CD are already out and I love them.
~Pearz
