As soon as they burst out of that missile I knew this was going to be one wild ride, Everything Hibiki does in this part is great, especially avoiding that building at the end.

Oh god the yuribait is real with the school-life shenanigans

Tsubasa and Maria's performance was great, I didn't like the song quite as much as Phoenix's flame but dat animation and choreography made it amazing.

and then even more Hibiki being a true [radio edit]ing hero and a taste of Tsubasa fighting. 10/10 episode, I'm even tempted to watch it again.

Only Hibiki would be dumb enough to think that a suspiciously dressed person standing suspiciously alone while suspiciously watching a fire is a civilian, pls.

further thoughts:

- roflmao they really just had Hibiki punch out a mountain, unreal
- burst out laughing at the shuttle firing its rockets for a picture-perfect finisher
- school outfits are cute, and the gay is real (speaking of, I lol'd at "I love you" being rainbow-fonted)
- damn kirika's casual dress is hawt
- base Miku being the psychologist
- Maria has some mighty phonic gain there
- The concert scenes are always a bit underwhelming for me, but it was at least hilariously over the top. The infinity sign tho
- Lol @ Hibiki doing Jackie Chan poses at the end of her transformation sequence

- Elements Garden seems to have upped their OST game, already epic is [radio edit] even for just the first episode
- Defs digging the antagonists this time around, they're ominous as [radio edit]
the energy-draining kiss was pls, but I enjoyed the courtly-style swordfighting style of the marionettes. Carol seems pretty cool too

Definitely enjoyed the fight scenes as well!

Pretty sure there would have been so many deaths in that village, but it's Symphogear so instead it was just hype and badass.

Hibiki is dum, why can't she at least transform to take less damage

"Why do you have a key to Chris's apartment" oh god

>tfw no Genjuro, though given the Arcanoise maybe that's for the best

That's a pun between arcane and noise isn't it uuuuuuuuuuuuugh

Tsubasa getting disarmed and making it an attack was the best thing

dat Tsubasa blush

this episode is still so gay

Maria's circumstances (and thus Shirabe+Kirika's relative freedom) make sense and are remarkably less dumb and FRIENDSHIP OVERRIDES EVERYTHING then they could've been, hooray

I see this show is trying it's hardest to convince me of the merits of Maria's boobs

~cliffhangers~

0/10 episode for no Grape Arcanoise

Yeah, I really like the increased focus and interior narrative Maria, Tsubasa, and Chris are getting. Maria carjacking and figuring out the enemy's motives was cool, and it's good to see her being more rational and a leader-type, even when she hates it (lol evil UN propaganda).

The pls is real and honestly, it's like ecchi-tier shenanigans that don't really fit with the rest of what Symphogear is about (explicitly). Like, the boob lift and thrash in Chris's transformation, or the High School of the Dead (that is the one with the high-speed boob bullet-dodge, right?)-tier scene with the car being cut in half.
I really think it runs a bit counter to the characters as heroes when there's all these closeups on them as sexual objects as well. Buuut that gets into cultural differences, since if Symphogear IS mostly popular with girls as Peytral said, evidently they aren't bothered in particular.
Speaking of, the whole "energy-draining kiss" is dum

Agreed that Hibiki was being a bit dumb, though I guess she's never really been into straight-up hurting people. It's still comes across as a bit silly in terms of her making a point.

The fight scenes are pretty great though, and dat cliffhanger

Also, Tsubasa's transformation song is pretty incredible, especially dat opening. Mizuki with some nice genre-blending.

I love how it's an unknown energy, but they all still know that Alchemy is a ancient technology from before science and magic split.

THESE AREN'T JUST NOISE, THEY'RE ARCANOISE

because why come up with new enemy mook designs

more "I have to destroy the world, but I can't tell you why, because that would probably interfere with conflict"

tl;dr great action, plot is pls, [cliffhangers intensify]


Oh, I also really appreciate the thread they're opening about Hibiki's father, as a foil setup with the main villain. I'm interested in seeing where that theme of parents-children develops.

You're right about Maria's part though

The only actual dumb part was the part where the car got cut in half. Hibiki doing what she did is in-character and the rest of the fanservice is classic Symphogear fare.

Yeah, as dumb as Hibiki was in not atleast transforming, I felt it was in character for her since she's always been about protecting people and avoiding conflict

Maria is stuck in an interesting situation and I'm looking forward to what this season does for her as a character, judging from the OP she'll get some fight scenes as well, which is great. Poor Maria doesn't want to be an aidoru.

lel I didn't even notice the boob-shot when the car gets cut in half. I find the fanservice in Symphogear is tame enough that you can watch it and ignore the fact that some shots are fanservicey, since it's hardly the focus to the show. Honestly, even if the transformation scenes are fanservicey with the butt-scope and boob jiggles, they primarily look cool and it would be a pretty far stretch to refer to the series as "ecchi" because of a few questionable shots. That was like what, 10 seconds of the episode in total?

Loved Tsubasa's theme and had to watch the transformation a few times because of it, intro has a sweet Akiko Shikata-vibe and then it does that nice blending between Japanese folk, electronica, and metal, Tsubasa/10. Chris's song was pretty sweet too.

Antagonists seem to be pretty pls in terms of dialogue, buut, they provide an interesting threat and they're amusing so w/e.

Boyd told me this episode was extra yuri so I was prepared to drop it like it's hot, but it wasn't worse than episode 1's stupid yuri fanservice scene.

Even if it had been bad enough Leiur is cool enough to save GX from the yuri.

I already hate hood girl, though.