so so sugoi: Senhime Zesshou Symphogear 戦姫絶唱シンフォギア Episode 4

i fell behind on recapping Senhime Zesshou Symphogear, so i'm gonna try and do both episode 4 and 5 today.

i really love this show; it's so original and captivating.
anyway, since i totally forgot about the image limit with blogger and picasa, i have to make all the pics thumbnail size. they'll get bigger if you click on them, though.
also, there's like 160 screenshots here so.. it's a *so so sugoi dump*! alriiiighttttt :D
other Symphogear recaps live here.
other so so sugoi dumps are here.
now, on to the episode..

we start off with a flashback to 5 years in the past.
This is when they first met Kanade [14 yrs old here], who was the only survivor of a certain Noise attack.
She seemed to be somewhat compatible with relics, so Tsubasa and people take her in.

Tsubasa's uncle [already forgot his name ;D] really cares for Kanade.

young Tsubasa.. so kawaiiii~

i guess he's like a father figure to everybody.

to become able to use a Symphogear, Kanade undergoes many drug and medication experiments.
the one shown in the anime is the final experiment to see if she's really able to use a Symphogear or not.

Uncle[i'm just gonna call him that from now on xD] and Tsubasa watch.

the experiment doesn't go well.
Uncle is so nervous that he squeezes his hand until it bleeds.
duuuuuuude. so cool.

when they call the experiment off, Kanade takes the meds for herself.

she's like mental in her younger years.
i love it. just makes her more awesome.

then after much screaming and throwing up blood and such..[no screenshots for that reason ^^;]
she's finally able to wield her Symphogear, Gungnir.

frightened young Tsubasa is also kawaii.

Since present-time Tsubasa is narrating, she says how Kanade earned her Symphogear,
while she herself got hers 'by accident'.
That 'accident' was explained in Episode 2.

Present-time Tsubasa then reminisces fighting Noise with Kanade.

And we get to see some of Kanade's moves again, like we did in the first episode.

When people express their gratitude for being saved, Kanade's view of fighting Noise changes from
as a means of vengeance to as a way to protect people.

that's when the Kanade we knew when we first met her formed.

Their growing bond and friendship caused them to form Zwei Wing together.

*back to present day*
the girl wearing the armor that caused the Noise to come 2 years earlier[when Kanade died]
is unknown, but picks a fight with Tsubasa.

her present-day self is so much different from the Tsubasa we saw in the flashback.

Tsubasa remarks that what killed Kanade[the girl in the glowing armor]
and part of Kanade[the shards of Gungnir in Hibiki's chest]
are both there.

she totally wants to kill that currently unnamed girl.

both of them yell at Hibiki ;D

Tsubasa unleashes some awesomeness.

but the other girl has moves too.

she just looks so cool here.

Tsubasa gets kicked ;o;

remember, Tsubasa's power only comes form part of a relic.
the armor the other girl is wearing is a full relic.

ooh. the armor has a name... a weird one though ;D

Tsubasa should just materialize that huuuuge sword
like she did when she wanted to fight Hibiki in episode three..

the Nehushtan girl is just toying with Tsubasa at this point.

it turns out Nehushtan girl is really after Hibiki..
who isn't shown because she was quite useless in this fight xD

seeing the eye through a character's hair often looks weird in anime..
but here it looks so.. so.. sugoi? :D

Nehushtan girl has move names, too.

Nuuuuu Tsubasaaaa T_T

oh snap.

she's just so coooool.

Reminder: the 'swan song', or Zesshou, is the most powerful song that
unleashes a ton of power but also kills the singer.
Kanade sang hers in the first episode, and died as a result.

oh, there you are hibiki.
i almost forgot about you because you were being useless and covered in Noise goo.

i think i'm going to say that from now on.
BURN IT INTO YOUR MEMORYYYY >:U

meanwhile, Uncle and Ryouko-san try to get to the scene and stop Tsubasa from killing herself.

when she starts singing her Zesshou, it's the same as the one that Kanade sang.
i was hoping for a different Zesshou for each Symphogear/character
but the song's awesome anyway so yeah.

she's already freaked out the Nehushtan girl by now.

singing all up in her face.

and she smile when she's done. so good.

;o; like kanadeee~

Hibiki stares in awe.

Uncle arrives after the Zesshou effect is done.
The Nehushtan armor broke a lot but didn't get destroyed.
Nehushtan girl escapes with injuries.

Tsubasa wasn't able to take revenge on the Nehushtan armor for killing Kanade.
She turns around to face Uncle and Hibiki with blood pouring from her eyes and nose and mouth and..
O_O i couldn't take a screenshot of that stuff. but it was also so sad ._.

She passes out and Uncle runs to her.

Hibiki's like O.O

Tsubasa was able to live.
i guess since she wasn't able to destroy anything with her Zesshou, she had to go through bleeding so much and got to live. In Kanade's case in the first episode, she destroyed all the Noise, didn't bleed so much, and died.