Whats up people, and welcome again to Flawed Each Time. Immediately we return to a scene of epic tragedy, as younger dual-hero Togo takes on the forces of the cosmos. All the things she ever believed in has been confirmed false; as a substitute of noble defenders of her proud homeland, she has discovered that they’re truly simply human sacrifices, destined to torture themselves in pointless battles, all for the sake of sustaining the Divine Tree. They’re pawns in an arbitrary battle between gods, and what’s worse, it was Togo herself who was used because the instrument of Yuna’s downfall, utterly diverted to friendship in order that Yuna might finally be exploited as a “hero” herself.
Studying that your homeland solely sees you as meat for the mill is a tricky factor to be taught, particularly for somebody as socially engaged as Togo. Her want to help her homeland and Yuna’s common concern for these round her have been each ruthlessly exploited by the Taisha; drawn away from their real community-oriented membership actions, their selflessness was as a substitute directed towards an arbitrary battle of and for the gods alone, a short-sighted response to the short-sighted shortcomings of Heaven itself. Given all this, it’s no shock that Togo now simply needs to burn all of it down, and on the very least make sure that future heroes aren’t equally betrayed by their very own kindness. Let’s see how her combat goes!
Episode 11
We dive proper again into the motion, with Yuna within the realm of the divine tree taking up an countless swarm of purification-hungry vertices
I actually like the usage of her scanner to convey the unimaginable scale of this assault in an simply parsed visible format. One thing concerning the system studying so many alerts that it turns into ineffective to look them up conveys the hopelessness of the state of affairs, a trick that can also be exploited magnificently by Aliens
This present can also be good with its implementation of CG creatures. There’s solely a lot you are able to do to melt CG that it feels inherently misplaced subsequent to conventional animation, so Yuki Yuna leans on it as a substitute, creating intentionally inhuman monsters that resist any try to use human requirements to their varieties or actions.
“Ardour”
Togo admits that she broke by the wall and says she is not going to let Yuna endure any longer
And naturally Karin is the subsequent to reach, all the time fast to leap into the fray
To clarify himself, Togo leads the opposite two past the wall and into the hell that’s the bigger world. I like the visuals of those purification drones grinding themselves right into a reconstruction of their lifeless god; Yuki Yuna has executed a superb job of conveying the thought of “heavenly dictates in translation,” of the gods’ actual issues that should be reframed in particular person phrases to make sense to humanity. It feels a little bit Lovecraftian, and in addition like Evangelion – we are able to’t actually parse, not to mention perceive, the horrifying scale and otherworldly intentions of the deities floating round us, we are able to solely contextualize them by helpful however deceptive frameworks just like the hero system
“That is the true state of the world. All the things exterior the wall is destroyed.” And whereas this world-building flourish appears to lift some pure questions past the scope of the story, it’s nonetheless a dramatic and chilling twist. Actually a solution to make your seemingly provincial battle really feel apocalyptic — revealing your wrestle isn’t simply considered one of many, it’s the solely entrance nonetheless standing
“Sooner or later we are going to even lose our reminiscences of our dearest buddies.” It’s as if these inhuman deities see no worth within the issues humanity holds most sacred.
Even now, Karin clings to her identification as a hero of the Taisha. Her lack of anything to floor her made her an ideal instrument of the Divine Tree, however her time with the hero membership causes her to query that basic fact.
Whereas Karin and Yuna are pressured to retreat, we reduce to Itsuki and Fu. Fu, after all, has misplaced all will to combat – not solely does she blame herself for getting her buddies into this case, she now has to grapple with the truth that it was all for nothing
Phew, brutal second the place Itsuki tries to shake her out however is unable to talk – a gesture of concern that may most likely solely make Fu really feel worse
Additionally good how the sound design displays Itsuki’s silence even because the vertices descend on it
In any case this, Yuna can solely blame herself for not recognizing how a lot Togo has suffered
Her system warns her that her unstable emotional state means she can not remodel presently. Such a perverse little element – to be exploited correctly, the heroes should have a robust conviction and a way of function. It is just after they consider they’re saving the world that they develop into good meals for the divine tree
Fu seems to be as much as see her little sister nonetheless preventing. The supposedly weak and dependent Itsuki, nonetheless decided to show that she isn’t a burden, nonetheless holding on to her beliefs even within the face of this unattainable state of affairs. You helped her develop into robust, Fu!
And Fu stands as much as combat beside her! “I am proud that you just’re my sister.”
“Let’s present them the Inubozaki sisters’ woman energy!” Goddammit Fu. Nicely, she lastly acknowledged Itsuki’s “woman energy.”
The designs of those vertex swarms are wonderful – they resemble one thing between maggots and piranha swarms, with “tooth” just like the flowing ends of ceremonial robes
“Friendship isn’t one thing you’ll be able to both make or fail.” Lovely phrases from Karin, who initially noticed herself as a failure on each degree besides heroic.
Lovely emotional symmetry in these two conversations. Fu was all the time the one to 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 opponent drove each of them to despair. It was then as much as the 2 who had impressed them to place the teachings they’d taught into apply – Itsuki by taking the lead because the frontline warrior, Karin by acknowledging Yuna’s emotions and guiding her in resolving them
“Yuna, I’ll cease preventing as a Taisha Warrior. To any extent further, I’ll combat as a member of the Hero Membership.” It was not their courageous heroism that was misplaced, however merely the banner beneath which they fought. Karin takes the courageous step of throwing off her earlier supply of safety and stepping up the protection of the Topical house she discovered within the hero membership
“I do not need to see you cry.” Solely our particular person acts of private charity can stand towards the indifference of our overseers towards humanity—the unique promise of the hero membership, now embodied in its adopted champion
One other wonderful silence right here, as Karin seems to be out over the absurd battlefield and briefly glances at a photograph of the Hero Membership to remind her what she’s preventing for.
And so the final member of the hero membership lastly blossoms
Oh my god, now she’s utilizing the 5 Tenets of the Hero Membership as her battle cry. In fact Karin would not simply change to preventing for the hero membership, she’d create an entire fucking aesthetic of hero membership samurai to accompany it
Goddammit. Merciless scene as she continues to bloom, the Taisha wrapping limb after limb, claiming her prey whereas holding again the advance. The gods is not going to be on our aspect, even when it means their very own destruction.
The ultimate “adornment” is a material positioned round her brow, presumably signifying her lack of sight. It appears becoming for the cruelty of this method that each one her choices could be visually conveyed as “blessings” of sacred matter.
“Sorry, I believe they took my eyes and ears. It is you, is not it, Yuna?”
And regardless of every part, Karin has nothing however gratitude for Yuna, as a result of she gave her one thing to dwell for, apart from preventing.
“That is the one solution to cease it!” “Even then… even then!” Ah, that traditional “even then,” which Symphogear even embraced as an open slogan. This world is just too merciless to justify any type of “logical” hope – hope within the face of the true nature of the world will all the time be irrational and bold, all the time an “even then” that defies all typical argument. The irrational endurance of human hope is our solely weapon towards the darkness
And so Fu merely hits Togo with the aspect of her claymore
Togo rises in blooming type, an excellent collective pinnacle behind her! However then Yuna the hero arrives in a flash!
And completed
Whew, the hits simply carry on approaching this present, don’t they? The primary half of this episode even appeared to frame on hopeful, with Itsuki and Karen every finishing their private arcs in suitably heroic methods, taking up each the teachings and duties of the membership members that impressed them. However Karen’s boss-rush and subsequent dialog with Yuna was simply too rattling merciless; even when she was lastly preventing for one thing value defending, the truth that she proudly accepted such a horrible deal actually underscored how little she’s come to count on from this life. The unique hero membership represented humanity’s finest instincts, our capacity to care, join, and nurture on a person degree, cruelly encapsulated inside the impersonal amorality of patriotism and religion. Finally, the one factor we are able to really consider in is one another.
This text was loopye made attainable by reader help. Thanks all for all you do.
