Pretty obvious to me he's saying Bikky shouldn't drive herself nuts about those she couldn't save, lest it affect her ability to fight.
Pretty much what nuker said. If Hibiki focuses too much on who she is unable to save it is very likely that she will make costly mistakes down the line in the battles against them.

I'm having a hard time seeing this. Wouldn't thinking that make her want to stop the Horsemen even more?

An element of the book of Revelations is the anti-Christ or a being who will claim to be Christ (ie God) before the Second Coming of God. In this case The Horsemen are considering the Wielders as such beings (Gods), then it makes sense for the connection to be made. At least that's how I saw it.
In Catholic theology at least, that's not what the Anti-Christ is.

Edit: I found the Twelve Signs of the Anti-Christ, as laid out by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
  1. He will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity, and plenty, not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves.
  2. He will write books on the new idea of God to suit the way people live.
  3. [He will] induce faith in astrology so as to make not the will but the stars responsible for our sins.
  4. He will explain guilt away psychologically as repressed sex, make men shrink in shame if their fellowmen say they are not broadminded and liberal.
  5. He will identify tolerance with indifference to right and wrong.
  6. He will foster more divorces under the disguise that another partner is "vital."
  7. He will increase love for love and decrease love for persons.
  8. He will invoke religion to destroy religion.
  9. He will even speak of Christ and say that he was the greatest man who ever lived.
  10. His mission, he will say, will be to liberate men from the servitudes of superstition and Fascism, which he will never define.
  11. In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one; he will not believe in God. And because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect.
  12. He will set up a counter-Church, which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will be the mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the Church as the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, he will induce modern man, in his loneliness and frustration, to hunger more and more for membership in his community that will give man enlargement of purpose, without any need of personal amendment and without the admission of personal guilt. These are days in which the devil has been given a particularly long rope.

Admittedly I thought they had at at least some ethics when it comes to their military actions, but this shows me that I was wrong/foolish in thinking that.
From what I've seen, they have ethics only in that, because a lot of them are ex-military, they have a strict, hierarchical command structure. You see this even in the science department, where the Vice Director is threatening to give reprimands to scientists who don't use the correct terminology. And I guess their desire to be as consistent as possible in their anti-Relics stance is a sort of ethical one, in that they want to avoid hypocrisy. But they generally think nothing of hurting innocent people to accomplish their goals.
 
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The Biblical Antichrist is actually a category; there's explicitly been and will be multiple of them.

It's probably not too relevant here, unlike Revelations itself.
I'm having a hard time seeing this. Wouldn't thinking that make her want to stop the Horsemen even more
We don't talk about Bikki's early-GX issues with transforming.
 
I'm having a hard time seeing this. Wouldn't thinking that make her want to stop the Horsemen even more?

It could do that as well. This is one of those areas where it depends on how you look at it. Two sides of the same coin and all that.

In Catholic theology at least, that's not what the Anti-Christ is.

Well, though the Catholic Church may insist otherwise (naturally), it doesn't have quite the monopoly on the view of who or what the Anti-Christ will look like. Anime tends to go with a distinctly Catholic flavor because Japanese culture received it's first contact with Christianity via Catholic Portugal and Spain. For the purposes of this fic, the view the Horsemen are running with in regards to their Revelations motif is one-half 'cool motif' and one-half vaguely pan-Christian without reference to any specific denominations theological interpretation.

From what I've seen, they have ethics only in that, because a lot of them are ex-military, they have a strict, hierarchical command structure. You see this even in the science department, where the Vice Director is threatening to give reprimands to scientists who don't use the correct terminology. And I guess their desire to be as consistent as possible in their anti-Relics stance is a sort of ethical one, in that they want to avoid hypocrisy. But they generally think nothing of hurting innocent people to accomplish their goals.

That's true overridingly for the main four units. Things get a bit more mixed when it comes to Fifth Seal cells, due to their relative isolation from the rest of the organization. You might notice that Agent 2 actually expressed an opinion that maybe the point "things got out of hand" was when the battle moved onto school property or when uninvolved kids wound up shot and Agent 3 had to consider Agent 1s retort before rationalizing. Again, this is something that is going to come up in the next chapter.

The Biblical Antichrist is actually a category; there's explicitly been and will be multiple of them.

It's probably not too relevant here, unlike Revelations itself.

To a degree it is and to a degree it isn't. The mythos and motif is being played with somewhat fast and loose here, as is per Symphogear style.

We don't talk about Bikki's early-GX issues with transforming.

That one does still confuse me.
 
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The Biblical Antichrist is actually a category; there's explicitly been and will be multiple of them.
That is one way of interpreting the phrase, certainly.

We don't talk about Bikki's early-GX issues with transforming.
But that was caused by her indecisiveness though. She didn't want to hurt people, and she felt that, since fighting required hurting people, she shouldn't fight. Every fight she got into made her feel like a hypocrite. That's not the case here. Here, she's of the mindset "the longer the Horsemen are out there, the more people will get hurt, so I have to end them as soon as possible." At least, that's what I was actually doing.

That's true overridingly for the main four units. Things get a bit more mixed when it comes to Fifth Seal cells, due to their relative isolation from the rest of the organization. You might notice that Agent 2 actually expressed an opinion that maybe the point "things got out of hand" was when the battle moved onto school property or when uninvolved kids wound up shot and Agent 3 had to consider Agent 1s retort before rationalizing. Again, this is something that is going to come up in the next chapter.

Good to know.
 
For the purposes of this fic, the view the Horsemen are running with in regards to their Revelations motif is one-half 'cool motif' and one-half vaguely pan-Christian without reference to any specific denominations theological interpretation.
Kudos on this, for reference. While I do have spoiler knowledge, there's bits of Revelations that I just checked that gel about as much as certain Reptilian conspiracy theories do with Symphogear proper.
That is one way of interpreting the phrase, certainly.
1 John 2:18 explicitly uses the plural, but I'm going to drop the irrelevant argument here.
But that was caused by her indecisiveness though
Don't worry, that was more me poking fun at said issues in GX. As my old reaction thread showed, I wasn't exactly fond of that plotline either.
 
gel about as much as certain Reptilian conspiracy theories do with Symphogear proper.

Would you believe I actually considered the "Symphogears turning your daughters gay" as a throw-away conspiracy-media line for Tsubasa's channel surfing bit in chapter 7? :V
 
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Would you believe I actually considered the line "Symphogears turning your daughters gay" as a throw-away media line for Tsubasa's channel surfing bit in chapter 7? :V
I am entirely serious about the reptilian conspiracy theories, the Gear writers were clearly drawing on them for ideas like the Moon jammer and hijacking via bloodlines, to give some examples.:V
 
Don't worry, that was more me poking fun at said issues in GX. As my old reaction thread showed, I wasn't exactly fond of that plotline either.
I do like the idea of such a plotline. The problem is that it was so poorly executed. That, in combination with the stupidity involving Hibiki's dad and the generally crappiness of the villains of that season, is why GX was actually my least favorite season.
 
I am entirely serious about the reptilian conspiracy theories, the Gear writers were clearly drawing on them for ideas like the Moon jammer and hijacking via bloodlines, to give some examples.:V

I can't find anything on Moon Jammers in relation to reptilians. Stuff on Moon Landing being a hoax, sure, but not jammers.

Pray for these poor souls for they will receive no mercy from Hibiki. (Justifiably so)

I actually thought up what the Marine nicknames might have been for Hibiki ("Rocky") and Shirabe ("Bladerunner"). Not much success on Maria, Miku, and Kirika though.
 
I can't find anything on Moon Jammers in relation to reptilians. Stuff on Moon Landing being a hoax, sure, but not jammers.



I actually thought up what the Marine nicknames might have been for Hibiki ("Rocky") and Shirabe ("Bladerunner"). Not much success on Maria, Miku, and Kirika though.

For Maria: "Whiplash." Kirika would obviously be "Reaper" and Miku… hmm, "Rainmaker" sounds good. I believe there's slang relating to artillery where you tell the artillery guys to "make it rain" when you call down a bombardment?
 
I can't find anything on Moon Jammers in relation to reptilians. Stuff on Moon Landing being a hoax, sure, but not jammers
Look up David Icke, I discovered he'd been mined for ideas when I was researching for my own perpetually-in-progress Symphogear quest.
(Technically speaking, it's a moon broadcaster, but still clearly the source of the idea.)
Kirika has a dess obvious one tho.
Death. Via her verbal tic.
 
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For Maria: "Whiplash." Kirika would obviously be "Reaper" and Miku… hmm, "Rainmaker" sounds good. I believe there's slang relating to artillery where you tell the artillery guys to "make it rain" when you call down a bombardment?

I like Maria's and Miku's, but I feel as if Kirika's too obvious. Then again, I did give Tsubasa "Samurai"...

Kirika has a dess obvious one tho.
Death. Via her verbal tic.

Actually, putting this together with the "Reaper" suggestion up there... I think I'd go with "Grim". It'd also be simultaneously ironic because of her extroverted nature... and probably also a bit too appropriate given her current depression relapse.
 
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I'm having a hard time seeing this. Wouldn't thinking that make her want to stop the Horsemen even more?

Okay, now that I'm awake I can answer this. The thought process I had was that if Hibiki focused too much on that issue, it could cause her to get very angry at the Horsemen during a battle, and most people will tell you that when you are fighting a person who is enraged can actually be easier than someone who isn't because they can make glaring mistakes or walk into a blatant trap because they are blinded by anger and not thinking things straight. But after sleeping on it, I realized that the main emotion going through Hibiki about the topic isn't anger but sadness, so my thoughts do not make much sense as I originally thought.
 
Look up David Icke, I discovered he'd been mined for ideas when I was researching for my own perpetually-in-progress Symphogear quest.
(Technically speaking, it's a moon broadcaster, but still clearly the source of the idea.)
The Custodians faked the moon broadcasting! It's all a hoax cooked up in some Hollywood studio by the government, man! They never went there! It was just Stanley Kubrick filming out in the desert! The Curse of Balal is just some BS they cranked out to explain why all the MK Ultra subjects went nuts, man! The government's lying to us all!
 
Huh. Well, it's the Horsemen so I'm disinclined to believe them. Now, if Elfnein finds she's somehow missed something during what I presume were many "is Gungnir going to eat Hibiki again" checks, I might pay attention.

Also: I hope you guys liked SONGbird's cameo!
 
Miku would be 'Sunshine.' No contest.

Huh... she doesn't even have to go out into the field to get that one. Although maybe either her or Hibiki would object on the basis only Hibiki gets to call her that.

I mean, normally that'd just make things worse when it comes to military nicknames but then military nicknames normally aren't applied to people capable of punching through mountains or firing lasers that can potentially vaporize the length of an aircraft carrier. :V
 
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Some thoughts, catching up:
Kamen Rider 555. Clever. I almost didn't catch that. Too used to just processing it as "Faiz", had to think. They betray Takumi's good name.

Dehumanizing the girls now? Hoooooooo boi. I almost want some people to start praising the girls as benevolent deities out of spite for these jerks, but the girls wouldn't want that.

Honestly the real degenerate sub-species of humanity is Homo Reportus :p

Songbird cameoing was indeed a treasure. please don't kill him, he's very relatable. Thank you also for Hibiki's Grandma being excellent.

Props to Souji for his entrance. Ninjas babyyyyyy.



And now a question. your update rate is pretty solid so far (thank god), which is usually the sign of something being mostly written out. so how long (roughly) of a story are we looking at?
 
You'd mentioned the five association back when I asked if it was a Faiz reference, but them probably being Horsemen-connected wasn't spotted.
 
And now a question. your update rate is pretty solid so far (thank god), which is usually the sign of something being mostly written out. so how long (roughly) of a story are we looking at?

I have no clue! :V

The main reason my update rate has been so good is considerable free time. I'm a substitute teacher finishing up my masters and I wind up taking on a lot of paraprofessional work, which I've found doesn't generally entail doing anything 90% of the time (the other 10% tends to be making sure a student with disabilities doesn't have a social breakdown) so I have considerable free time on my hand. I expect my time to write will descend considerably in January, since I'll be student teaching (again) in my second shot at getting past my EdTPA requirement, so the update rate is liable to slow accordingly.

I do have the story outline figured out, in terms of major events, overarching plots, and sub-plots. The inbetweens are rather more ad-hoc affairs. Precisely how long it'll wind up being in terms of word/chapter count is a total unknown to me though.

You'll know when the story is over. Something pretty big explodes.
 
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By my count we're less than halfway through, the villian 'generals' have yet to start kicking the bucket.:V
 
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