I’m sure you can guess, but this post will contain spoilers from the final episode of Symphogear AXZ. Whilst most other shows this season I have skipped straight to a review once they have finished, Symphogear AXZ is too good to not talk about.
Symphogear always has spectacular finales, so let’s take a look to see if AXZ continues that tradition.
Hibiki despairs that she could only use her fists once again
Though Hibiki struck a glorious blow against Adam’s plan at the end of the previous episode, she is pretty upset about the way things ended for Saint-Germain, Cagliostro and Prelati. There’s no time for despair, though, as Adam still needs to be dealt with.
The Attuned prepare to take on Adam and his Alca-Noise
We then get to see six-way unison as the Symphogear users fight. It powers them up a fair bit, though not enough to activate X-Drive. As they cut down the Alca-Noise, Adam decides enough is enough and reveals his true form.
Adam’s true form
With his true form revealed, Adam overpowers the Attuned. Without X-Drive the girls can’t hope to match him. However, Saint-Germain’s presence isn’t quite gone yet and she tells Hibiki that it isn’t over. Saint-Germain’s Spellcaster remains, but Adam grabs that and blasts the girls with its energy.
Last Ignition
The girls use S2CA Hexa Conversion in conjunction with the Ignite Module and the Swan Song to fight back. Elfnein eases the strain on the girls by diverting the power through Dainsleif. There is an explosion, and then we get one of my favourite tropes, the theme music power-up. In this case, the opening theme of the series, TESTAMENT, plays.
The counterattack begins, but Hibiki’s gear suffers from the recoil of the barrier at a rather inopportune moment. However, her fellow Symphogear users reach out, and Hibiki ends up gathering everyone’s power.
Hibiki’s Armed Gear allows her to mimic the abilities of her fellow Symphogear users
With everyone else’s power coursing through her, Hibiki fights using everyone else’s techniques. At one point, Adam grabs her and says that he has to gain a power greater than the Anunnaki before they descend. Hibiki breaks out by employing Chris’s Armour Purge technique. She apologises to Gungnir for going overboard, and asks it for one more transformation.
Hibiki is backed up by the power of the alchemists
As Hibiki runs towards Adam, she screams her transformation chant. With the power of Saint-Germain and the others backing her up, Hibiki’s transformation is a little different from usual.
Golden Hibiki
Hibiki closes in on Adam and then does what she does best: punching. A whole lot of punching.
Just glorious. Utterly glorious.
Adam has a few final words to share before he explodes spectacularly. He claims that hope was crushed, and that only despair awaits in the future. For now, though, S.O.N.G. has claimed victory.
Elfnein stays up for three days straight cleansing the after effects from Hibiki’s gear
Elfnein overworks herself once again, and part of the reason is that she wants to investigate why Hibiki was able to harbour the divine power in the first place. She is also curious about what the original sin is.
Meanwhile, Ogawa has been rounding up remnants of the Bavarian Illuminati in London.
Hibiki can finally celebrate her birthday
Whilst S.O.N.G. takes care of business, all of Hibiki’s friends gather together to celebrate Hibiki’s birthday – after all that’s happened, she thoroughly deserves it.
Miku promises to always be there with Hibiki no matter what
Hibiki wonders if she will always believe in what’s right and be able to hold it tight, especially after everything that happened with Saint-Germain. Miku can’t offer her any definitive answer, but she insists she will always be there for Hibiki no matter what.
The episode appears to end there, but there is actually a scene after the credits.
Elfnein has been continuing her research into why Hibiki could harbour the divine power, and she happens upon information concerning the Shenshou Jing.
The Shenshou Jing had the power to purge curses – apparently this includes the Curse of Balal and the original sin itself. That’s the reason Hibiki was able to become one of the Attuned so quickly afterwards, as well as how she was able to harbour the divine power.
Hibiki wasn’t the only one struck by the light of Senshou Jing…
Symphogear is just incredible. I absolutely adore it, and I feel that this season was even better than the previous one. None of the villains have quite had a song that matches Carol’s from GX, but I almost everything else about this season I enjoyed thoroughly.
I thought we might see X-Drive in this episode; turns out I was wrong. We still did get a power-up, though it was one unique to Hibiki. We’ll probably never see it again, but it was pretty spectacular whilst it lasted.
This was a great finale, and watching Hibiki deliver that beatdown to Adam whilst TESTAMENT was playing was pure adrenaline. Though the Attuned put up a united front against Adam, it was ultimately Hibiki who got to steal the show – using her allies’ abilities and the golden transformation.
Everything about that whole confrontation was just so good.
We then got some hints about what to expect from the upcoming season 5 – Adam’s words suggest that the Symphogear users will be facing the Custodians. Whilst we got an idea of who the enemy may be next time, more intriguing was the suggestion that Miku could finally be back in a Symphogear in the next season.
Nothing has been set in stone yet, but I – and I’m sure many others – would love to see Miku fighting alongside Hibiki.
Expect my review for the show soon, and after that begins the wait for season 5.
Rory Muses 