Good day of us, and welcome again to Mistaken Each Time. As we speak we return to a scene of epic tragedy, because the younger two-time hero Togo faces off towards all of the forces of the cosmos. All the things she as soon as believed in has been confirmed false; fairly than noble defenders of her proud homeland, she has realized they’re really simply human sacrifices, destined to torture themselves in pointless battles all for the sake of the Divine Tree’s sustenance. They’re pawns of an arbitrary battle between gods, and what’s worse, it was Togo herself who was utilized because the instrument of Yuna’s demise, guided into friendship fully so Yuna would possibly ultimately be exploited as a “hero” as effectively.
It’s a exhausting factor to be taught your house solely sees you as meat for the grinder, significantly for somebody as civic-minded as Togo. Her need to assist her house and Yuna’s basic concern for these encompass her have been each ruthless exploited by the Taisha; drawn away from their real community-oriented membership actions, their selflessness was as a substitute directed in direction of an arbitrary battle of and for the gods alone, a shortsighted response to heaven’s personal shortsighted failings. Given all this, it’s no shock that Togo now desires solely to burn all of it down, and at the least guarantee no future heroes are equally betrayed by their very own kindness. Let’s see how her battle fares!
Episode 11
We drop instantly again into the motion, with Yuna within the divine tree’s realm dealing with off towards an infinite swarm of purification-hungry vertexes
I fairly like using her scanner to convey the unimaginable scale of this assault in an easy-to-parse visible format. One thing concerning the system studying so many indicators it turns into ineffective by way of searching for them out neatly conveys the hopelessness of the state of affairs, a trick additionally exploited magnificently by Aliens
This present can also be sensible about its implementation of CG creatures. There’s solely a lot you possibly can to do mitigate CG trying inherently misplaced subsequent to conventional animation, so Yuki Yuna as a substitute leans into it, making intentionally inhuman monsters that resist any efforts to use human requirements to their varieties or motions
“Ardour”
Togo admits she broke the wall, stating she gained’t let Yuna undergo anymore
And naturally Karin is the subsequent to reach, all the time fast to leap into battle
To elucidate herself, Togo leads the opposite two past the wall and into the hell that’s the bigger world. Love the imagery of those purification drones mashing themselves right into a recreation of their lifeless god; Yuki Yuna has accomplished a superb job of conveying the concept of “celestial dictates in translation,” of the particular considerations of the gods needing to be reframed in particular person phrases so as to make sense to humanity. It feels a contact Lovecraftian, and likewise like Evangelion – we can’t actually parse, a lot much less perceive the horrifying scale and alien intentions of the deities floating round us, we will solely contextualize them via helpful but deceptive frameworks just like the hero system
“That is the true state of the world. All the things exterior of the wall is destroyed.” And whereas this worldbuilding flourish appears to lift some pure questions exterior of the scope of the narrative, it’s nonetheless a dramatic and chilling twist. Definitely one option to make your seemingly provincial battle really feel apocalyptic – revealing your battle isn’t just considered one of many, it’s the solely entrance nonetheless standing
“In some unspecified time in the future we’ll lose even our reminiscences of our valuable buddies.” It appears very like these inhuman deities to not see any worth within the issues mankind holds most sacred
Even now, Karin clings to her id as a hero of the Taisha. Her lack of anything to floor her made her an ideal device of the Divine Tree, however her time with the hero membership is inflicting her to doubt that basic fact
As Karin and Yuna are compelled to retreat, we in the reduction of to Itsuki and Fu. Fu has in fact misplaced all will to combat – not solely does she blame herself for main her buddies into this example, she now should grapple with the truth that it was all for nothing
Oof, brutal second of Itsuki making an attempt to shake her out of it, however not with the ability to converse – a gesture of concern that absolutely solely makes Fu really feel worse
Additionally like how the sound design echoes Itsuki’s silence, even because the vertexes descend upon them
In any case this, Yuna can solely chide herself for not recognizing how a lot Togo was struggling
Her system warns her that her unstable emotional state means she can’t at the moment rework. Such a perverse little element – so as to be correctly exploited, the heroes will need to have a robust conviction and sense of objective. It is just once they imagine they’re saving the world that they grow to be correct meals for the divine tree
Fu seems up, and sees her little sister nonetheless combating. The allegedly weak and dependent Itsuki, nonetheless decided to show she isn’t a burden, nonetheless sustaining her conviction even within the face of this inconceivable state of affairs. You helped her develop sturdy, Fu!
And Fu rises to combat beside her! “I’m proud you’re my sister.”
“Let’s present them the Inubozaki sisters’ lady energy!” Goddamnit Fu. Properly, at the least she’s lastly come to acknowledge Itsuki’s “lady energy”
The designs of those vertex swarms are nice – they evoke one thing between maggots and piranha swarms, with “enamel” just like the flowing ends of ceremonial robes
“Friendship isn’t one thing you possibly can cross or fail.” Glorious phrases from Karin, who initially considered herself as a failure in all fields however heroism
Good emotional symmetry throughout these two conversations. Fu was all the time the one who placed on a courageous face for his or her heroic duties, and Yuna was all the time the emotional rock of the group, however seeing the true face of their adversary introduced each to despair. It then fell to the 2 they’d impressed to place the teachings they’d supplied into observe – Itsuki by taking the lead because the frontline warrior, Karin by acknowledging Yuna’s emotions and guiding her in direction of resolving them
“Yuna, I’m going to cease combating as a Taisha Warrior. Any further, I’m going to combat as a member of the Hero Membership.” It was not their gallant heroism that was misguided, however merely the banner they fought beneath. Karin takes the courageous step of discarding her prior supply of certainty, and embracing the protection of the precise house she has discovered within the hero membership
“I don’t need to see you cry.” Solely our particular person acts of private charity can stand within the face of our overseers’ indifference to humanity – the unique pledge of the hero membership, now embodied in its adopted champion
One other glorious reduce to silence right here, as Karin stares out throughout the absurd battlefield, briefly glancing at a photograph of the Hero Membership collectively to remind her what she’s combating for
And so finally the ultimate member of the hero membership blooms
Oh my god, now she’s utilizing the 5 Tenets of the Hero Membership as her battlecry. After all Karin wouldn’t merely swap to combating for the hero membership, she’d make a whole fuckin’ aesthetic of hero membership samurai to accompany it
Goddamn. Brutal scene as she repeatedly blooms, the Taisha wrapping one limb after one other, claiming its quarry whilst she holds off the advance. The gods won’t facet with us, even it means their very own destruction
The final “adornment” is a material fitted round her brow, presumably implying the lack of her eyesight. Appears becoming for the cruelty of this method that each one of her sacrifices can be visually conveyed as “blessings” of holy cloth
“Sorry, I believe they took each my eyes and my ears. It’s you, proper, Yuna?”
And regardless of all of it, Karin has nothing however gratitude for Yuna, for giving her one thing to reside for past combating
“That is the one method we will cease it!” “Even then… even then!” Ah, that traditional “even then,” which Symphogear even embraced as an overt catchphrase. This world is just too merciless to warrant any type of “logical” hope – hope within the face of the world’s true nature will all the time be irrational and aspirational, all the time an “even then” arrayed towards each typical argument. The irrational endurance of human hope is our solely weapon towards the darkness
And so Fu simply clobbers Togo with the facet of her claymore
Togo rises in bloomed type, a grand collective vertex behind her! However then Yuna the hero arrives in a flash!
And Executed
Whew, the hits simply hold coming on this present, don’t they? The primary half of this episode really gave the impression to be bordering on hopeful, with Itsuki and Karen every finishing their private arcs in appropriately heroic vogue, by taking over each the teachings and the duties of the membership members who impressed them. However Karen’s boss rush and subsequent dialog with Yuna was simply too rattling merciless; even when she was lastly combating for one thing value defending, seeing her proudly make such a horrible discount actually emphasised how little she has come to anticipate from this life. The unique hero membership represented one of the best instincts of humanity, our capacity to care, join, and nurture on a person degree, cruelly harnessed to the impersonal amorality of patriotism and religion. Ultimately, all we will really imagine in is one another.
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