Good end.
What could have been the weakest entry in the Symphogear franchise yet ended up being a bit stronger than the weakest link thanks to the presence of Dr. Ver, who kept things hilarious and unpredictable enough for me to recant my initial thoughts. Ver ended up actually being the hero he wanted to be, providing support for Maria’s group to destroy the Chateau all the way up to his unfortunate demise. What a strange thing to say, because I thought he was a detestable individual beyond redemption prior to his actions in this series.
Carol and Hibiki essentially go back and forth on who can power up more ridiculously until eventually Carol is overwhelmed, after Hibiki and the others release all safeties on the ignite module. Carol reveals that miracles are the very thing that caused her father’s death, and seeks to see them all destroyed, including those that Hibiki is drawing strength from.
Carol of course realizes that she twisted her father’s intentions like the moron she is and comes to her sense, albeit a bit too late. Hibiki saves her anyway. Despite being unable to be found (and Elfnein’s condition growing worse) she eventually turns up with no memories and refuses with Elfnein. My question is: who becomes the dominant personality? Elfnein or Carol? It would seem the former is the case if the final scene in the control room is any indication at all.
Hibiki also reunites her father and mother in a touching scene, where her mother was reluctant to let her previous husband back into her life. Who could blame her? Personally, I think Hibiki’s dad is a cowardly douche. Ok, he did redeem himself somewhat, but his previous actions left a sour taste in my mouth. Where does Hibiki draw upon that inner strength that she has from? Certainly didn’t come from her father!
Symphogear GX definitely was trying to draw a correlation between our fathers, mothers, and family’s effect on our daily lives and motivations. Sometimes in the case of Carol, our family is our motivation, but as you can see that can be something entirely different depending on what you make of it; compare Hibiki’s desire to protect to Carol’s twisting of her father’s intentions, and this becomes obvious. Tsubasa’s love for her father gave her the power she needed to defeat the autoscorers, and Maria, Kirika, and Shirabe’s encounter with the “phantom” Nastassja was definitely attempting to evoke the same symbolism. It’s not extremely profound, but its cute and meaningful enough. Thanks Symphogear!
Season 4 is already happening, by the way. I hope the subtitle is something equally dramatic like “A robot arm burning in my oven, a galaxy filled with twix bars, I used the monkey bars at the jungle gym (they were green monkey bars (it was at the playground (I don’t know where the gym is)))……”
