Episode 1

Awakening Heartbeat
Kanji	覚醒の鼓動
Romaji	Kakusei no Kodō
General Information
Episode	1
Season	Senki Zesshō Symphogear
Air Date	January 6, 2012
Theme Songs
Ending	Synchrogazer -Aufwachen Form-
Episode Guide
← Previous N/A	Next → Episode 2

Awakening Heartbeat (覚醒の鼓動, Kakusei no Kodō^?) is the first episode of the Senki Zesshō Symphogear anime. It is also the first episode of Senki Zesshō Symphogear.

Appearances

Characters

• Miku Kohinata (First appearance)
• Hibiki Tachibana (First appearance)
• Tsubasa Kazanari (First appearance)
• Kanade Amou (First appearance) (Death)
• Genjuro Kazanari (First appearance)
• Ryōko Sakurai (First appearance)
• Sakuya Fujitaka (First appearance)
• Aoi Tomosato (First appearance)
• Shinji Ogawa (First appearance)
• Hibiki's Teacher (First appearance)
• Little Girl (First appearance)

Relics

• Gungnir (First appearance)
• Ame no Habakiri (First appearance)
• Nehushtan Armor (First appearance)

Summary

A flashback to two years ago reveals the demise of 18-year-old Kanade Amou, a warrior clad in Symphogear, who sacrificed herself to protect young Hibiki Tachibana and the other spectators of the Zwei Wing concert from the Noise, an alien race from another dimension. She sang her superb song, releasing enough energy to destroy the Noise and, unfortunately, herself as well. However, during the battle, a small piece of her shattering armor pierced Hibiki's chest...

Now, we see the peaceful everyday life of Hibiki Tachibana, going to classes and hanging out with her friend Miku Kohinata in the dorms. A forte-shaped scar on her chest is all the proof she has of the incident at the final Zwei Wing concert three years ago. However, near her heart, there still reside a few small fragments of Gungnir, Kanade's Symphogear. While running away from the Noise, trying to protect a small girl, a song wells up from deep inside her, awakening the power of those fragments and allowing Hibiki to don Gungnir herself. Will she be able to fight off the Noise? And what will become of Tsubasa Kazanari, another Symphogear user who was Kanade's best friend?

Plot

The episode begins with a depressing scene: A girl named Miku Kohinata standing in the rain, holding a bouquet of flowers. With her narration playing in the background, she boards a bus and rides it to a cemetery, where she breaks down, crying over the grave of Hibiki Tachibana, her best friend who was dead some time ago.

Two years ago, the people of the city were in line, waiting in the stadium for the performance of Zwei Wing, a famous vocal unit band in Japan. Among the people in the line, Hibiki called Miku by her cellphone and informs her that the show is about to start. But unfortunately, Miku's grandmother in Morioka got into an accident and she have to leave with her family. Miku apologized for being unable to meet Hibiki in the stadium, also she barely know any singers. After hanging up the phone, Hibiki felt that there is a curse on her.

In the backstage, one of the member of Zwei Wing, Tsubasa Kazanari, is getting nervous, until another member of Zwei Wing, Kanade Amou, is there to comfort her, by flicking her on the forehead. After that, Genjuro Kazanari, commander of Section Two and Tsubasa's niece, informed Zwei Wing that they have a performance today, though Kanade already knew that. Somewhere inside the stadium, there was an object known as the "Nehushtan Armor". Then, above an object, a woman named Ryōko Sakurai got a call from Genjuro and she informed them that they're done with the preparations. Back on backstage, Zwei Wing are now ready for their performance.

After Hibiki got in the stadium and bought the glowsticks, she got so excited when she saw a big stage for Zwei Wing to perform. On the backstage again, Kanade is ready to perform, but Tsubasa is still nervous. Kanade then hugged Tsubasa from behind with words that can comfort her and support her. After that, the Zwei Wing will now enter the stage.

The concert has begun, and the audience turned their glowsticks on, and so did Hibiki as she has gotten more excited, as Zwei Wing have made their grand entrance and starts singing their song. During Zwei Wing's performance, the stadium's rooftop opens up as the sun is almost set. After they finished their music number, Hibiki was impressed for their performance, and so were Genjuro, Ryōko, and everyone else somewhere in the base. However, Zwei Wing are not done performing yet, as they were about to sing another song, and Hibiki is still excited that even she wants an encore. Suddenly, somewhere in the base, they detected an overloading energy coming from Nehushtan. And what is more sudden is that Zwei Wing witnessed an explosion in the stadium. According to Kanade, the "Noise" are coming. The "Noise" are an alien-like threat that dissolve humans into carbon upon contact. The Noise then raided the stadium and the audience starts panicking and tried to run away from Noise, but the Noise caught up to some people, dissolving them until they turn them into carbons, killing the humans instantly. Kanade stepped in and began to transform by singing the chant. Kanade is now wearing her gear known as "Gungnir" with her spear weapon. After that, Kanade began attacking and destroying the Noise by herself, with not only her singing, but also with her techniques. Back on the remains of the base, everyone is dead, except for Genjuro, but Ryōko is missing. Then, Genjuro witnessed the Nehushtan being prepared.

Back on the stadium, Tsubasa entered the battle as well to take down the Noise. As Zwei Wing are battling against the Noise, Hibiki is still standing in front of them, looking shocked as she witnessed the battle. Kanade's power is running out, and then she saw Hibiki falling down from the crumbling stadium. Hibiki sprained her leg as the Noise is about to kill her, until Kanade managed to destroy the Noise just in time. Kanade told Hibiki to run, as Hibiki starts to walk away, even with her sprained ankle. When Kanade is holding the Noise off, some of her armed gear breaks off, and one of those pieces hit Hibiki in the chest. Hibiki is badly wounded, but Kanade is relieved that Hibiki barely survived. Kanade's power is starting to reach the limit, and while shedding a tear, there is only one thing she can do to destroy the rest of the Noise: Kanade starts singing the "superb song". After singing the superb song, despite Tsubasa pleading Kanade to stop doing that, Kanade starts bleeding from her mouth and destroyed the rest of the Noise using her life force. Kanade sacrificed herself to save Hibiki as Kanade's body disintegrates, as Tsubasa starts crying for Kanade. Hibiki then passed out and was taken to the hospital.

The story then shifts back to the present, where Hibiki is attending Lydian Music Academy with Miku and runs into Tsubasa again. She's once again attacked by the Noise, sings the same song that Kanade saved her with, and awakens an out-of-control Symphogear of her own.

Songs Used

• Gyakkō no Flügel
• ORBITAL BEAT
• Kimi to Iu Oto Kanade Tsukiru Made
• Shiritsu Lydian Ongakuin Kōka
• Zettō Ame no Habakiri

Image Gallery

Miku with flowers in her hand

Hibiki at the stadium

Ryōko saying that everything is ready

Kanade and Tsubasa getting ready to sing

Zwei Wing performing

Ryōko and Genjuro

Zwei Wing Concert's Phonic Gain activating the Nehushtan Armor

A person is touched by the Noise

Nehustan being activated

Tsubasa crying

Kanade's superb song

Tsubasa crying over the departure of her friend, Kanade

Hibiki when having the surgery

Noise defeated again

Hibiki and the little girl running away from the noise

Noise appearing in front of Hibiki and the little girl

Gungnir getting activated

Hibiki going berserk

Trivia

The newspaper mentioning Chris.

• On the day of the concert tragedy, Miku's father can be seen reading a newspaper that mentions a Japanese girl missing and a South American civil war, referring to Chris Yukine. A transcription of the article can be found in the History section of Chris' page.
  • The same newspaper labels the present year as '20XX', a deliberately obfuscated date. This is also shown in G episode 8. Later seasons would go on to inconsistently specify the year as 2011 (in episodes 3 and 4), 2012 (in G episodes 6 and 7), 2013 (in G episode 11 and XV episode 3) and 2045 in episodes (in XV episodes 2 and 5).