Symphogear, EP. 2
Last time, on Symphogear!
An adorable little girl, stood up by her date for a reasonable explanation, jams it out with her favorite pop duo, caught unawares that they are also a monster-fighting syndicate experimenting with the power of sound (the power to make you dizzy) to activate an ancient historical relic. Shit goes south as the jams prove to be too powerful, guaranteeing tragedy amidst an otherwise baller concert. Hibiki is rescued by The Bigger Of The Lesbians before she self-destructs to make sure the entire threat is neutralized, leaving The Smaller Lesbian sad, yet still incredibly gay. Years pass as our protagonist goes to Music School, for Music, to bunk it up with her girlfriend as she tries to figure out what the hell happened. Her prayers are answered when she tries to rescue a little girl and is promptly cornered, activating the same outfit The Bigger Lesbian that saved her had on. Gungnir Dattos all around, The Smaller Lesbian loses her shit as everything goes downhill from there.
Now, where were we?
...right. The piss beacon.
And the person taking the piss.
Hibiki has nary a clue what to do. Symphogears don’t actually come with manuals, you see. They’re sort of a “close your eyes and wing it” kind of experience. In Tsubasa’s case, it’s quite literal.
“FUCK that was COOL AS SHIT, tight as FUCKING HELL”
Take pity on this face. This is the face of someone who’s last memories will be a confused lady wondering why she is suddenly part machine.
“imma save you widdle kid”
Something to note about this show is that all the fighters sing while fighting. Hibiki is no exception, even after being confused about what the hell she’s doing. It helps that her voice actress is a professional singer.
It helps that every voice actress here is some sort of professional singer.
This picture basically summarizes why Hibiki is cool despite being so goddamned dumb. She’s angry, and she’s gonna protect some kids even if she dies doing it. Kanade would be proud, if she wasn’t too busy being dead.
No shit!
Have you ever watched the original Sam Reimi’s Spiderman? Like, the very first one? You know all those awkward scenes about Spiderman learning how his powers work? Hibiki basically does that under crunch time. There’s a long segment about how she’s forced to figure things out while protecting a kid and Not Dying.
It’s going pretty great.
I can’t believe she’s secretly Steve Urkel.
“cannot FUCKING believe that girl my girlfriend saved managed to GET HER HANDS on her FUCKING CLOTHES that I WANTED to ENSHRINE IN A MEMORIAL to her how the FUCK did she do that cant BELIEVE i have to SAVE HER IDIOT ASS because she just CANT EVEN DO THAT-”
Tsubasa, preparing herself as a contender for the World’s Angriest Lesbian, barrels through the Noise in her motorcycle...
...which she smashes directly into the Noise. It does nothing.
Tsubasa has many a motorcycle to smash. It’s a testament to her dedication following her aesthetic.
She fueled the tank completely before smashing it in.
Tsubasa... is petty.
As Tsubasa t-poses to assert dominance (a woman ahead of her time, this first aired in 2012), she comes down ready to kick some ass and vent some frustrations. And frankly? She’s all out of ass.
“oh my god she’s even hotter up close i cant believe it”
“fucking knock-off outfit looks like it came out of a bootleg flea market”
You don’t need to know what happens next, because you already know what happens when someone shows up with a fucking sword ready to sing about their dead girlfriend and the conflicting feelings about seeing her armor pop up again on someone else.
Murder.
Lots... and lots... of murder.
“we’re so fucking useless why do we even exist”
After Tsubasa finishes what could only be described as a massacre, we’re treated to how people clean up the aftermath.
“hey, you know, make fun of me all you want, but at the end of the day, im the one holding the vacuum cleaner, and you’re literally turned to dust, so”
Even this little girl knows shit’s about the go down. Got the tea and everything.
This is one of the minor characters of the series. She works for the 2nd Division. Who is the 2nd Division? You’ll find out soon.
“i didnt die! fuck yeah. today’s a good day.”
“OH WAIT NO-”
Hibiki learns that her outfit unsets after a while, like bideo game. Who catches her mid-fall?
Her new best friend, of course. Don’t be fooled by this look. Tsubasa tragically suffers from resting angry face syndrome. It is, unfortunately, incurable.
“i hate how cute she is”
Hibiki reminds her that this is technically the second time Tsubasa has saved her, which in the large scheme of things, seems incredibly innocuous for someone who escaped a major tragedy many years ago. Unfortunately, time doesn’t move forward for Season 1 Tsubasa. Not for quite a while...
The funny part is it doesn’t even hit her initially. She never actually saw Hibiki personally during that moment, so she actually doesn’t even have a clue what she means.
Look at her. Look at this clown. How could you hate her. Look at that smile.
All the survivors are always forced to write NDAs about what they saw. This grows to comical levels at times, given the scale of what happens eventually. It might as well be the world’s biggest open secret by now.
“aight homies looks like i gotta go home, the wife’s gonna be lonely an-”
Oh.
“sorry holmes but you’re going to gay baby jail like the rest of us singers”
Hibiki’s face is riddled with guilt. The guilt of someone who just saved a little girl. How dare you, Hibiki. This is what you get for doing The Right Thing.
And so she’s taken to “jail.”
“sorry pal but you literally turned into a huge weapon and you have no idea how to use it so!”
And so, Hibiki was never seen again...
Alright, so she really isn’t going to jail. She is genuinely being taken into custody, though. To be honest, this kind of handcuff procedure is sort-of ridiculous for someone who literally just saved children, and you could probably bribe her to join them with a 10 piece chicken dinner, but hey, fuck it. 2nd Division has protocols, and that is to arrest people.
“i cant believe i was a fan of a narc all this time”
The school has a giant elevator that goes deep into the Earth. Also, look at that symbolism. Hibiki’s the only one looking at her own reflection. Deep.
Thanks, Tsubasa.
The interior decorator for this elevator is wild.
Tsubasa forbodes where they’re all going as some ominous, strange, and evil place where joy and happiness die. Where good feelings and innocence are destroyed, and hope is crushed and ripped at the seams.
As it turns out, Tsubasa is just an angsty piece of shit.
So here’s the situation:
The 2nd Branch, which are the people in charge of poking relics until they glow with the power of music to study and harness the power of as weapons to kill the Noise, live in a several mile deep high tech basement of an all girl’s boarding school dedicated to music. This is because, for the record, that the girls recruited to this school have the habit of being a little bit attuned to these relics. Hibiki, a newly christened Gear user, is now being recruited into this organized by Genjuro.
“i never got this kind of party when i was recruited”
“thats because nobody liked you, hans”
“im skipping my soaps for this”
“fucking hate my twin brother hans”
“she?????? gets a party??? SHE. gets a party. I DON’T GET A PARTY. SHE... GETS A PARTY? and i dont get a fucking party. i was literally BORN into this job. NOBODY gives me a damn party. this MORON who CLOWNS AROUND with her SUBPAR SONGS. gets a party. oh my god. oh my GOD. FUCK. FUCK!”
“if this is what its like to get arrested i gotta be gayer and do more crimes”
“I’m not actually surprised. I’m just pretending to be. I’m just really not good at pretending to be surprised.”
“fucking hate this family, im gonna eat all of hibikis cake and cry in my room”
Remember: This show first released in 2012. Ryoko? Trendsetter.
Ryoko’s screen is very dirty and foggy. Don’t ask why. Don’t even remember why I pointed this out. Just forget this point completely.
Hibiki understands that handcuffs just aren’t fashionable.
Genjuro casually explains that they’re the fictional japanese equivalent of the NSA, all while doing magic tricks. Truly a man of many talents.
Tsubasa is already plotting how to vent about all this in her diary, which she addresses as letters of Kanade every time she writes in it.
Genjuro and Ryoko introduces themselves as everyone else apologizes to her, except Tsubasa.
Ogawa also intro- yes, I’m recycling a picture- introduces himself. He’s pretty cool, too, and serves as Tsubasa’s ninja bodyguard, butler, and all around mentor. We never get a backstory on him, and likely never will. It’s best to keep it that way; it only adds to the mystery of who the hell this guy is.
“weird flex but okay”
Hibiki realizes she’s being recruited, after being told she’s being recruited. Given some brain cells remain in her head, she asks the obvious and wonders what the hell happened to her.
“ryoko, care to explain?”
“well, it’s simple. you’re the protagonist now.”
Ryoko, who has no sense of boundaries, subjects Hibiki to a medical inspection. As creepy as her tone is, its to inspect the state of Hibiki’s newly formed gear.
She’s finally freed from that long winded event and returns home to her wife.
“buddy you smell like shit. and french fries.”
“hibiki. you’re not dead, hibiki. come on, get up. i just cleaned this floor, hibiki. hibiki, please. this is genuinely unbecoming of you. hibiki, oh my god.”
“miku please i learned how to kick ass and im tired and please let me enjoy this nice floor”
Tsubasa does the thing real life Symphogear and all related products never actually bother to do.
“god she’s so gay for her but i know she’d never cheat on me so”
Hibiki ruminates on the day she’s had. This is where the really dumb angst comes in. You see, Hibiki can’t tell anyone about what happened, and Miku, now a civilian in her eyes, cannot know about her alter ego Symphogear antics. Hibiki feels bad about this.
“y u no trust me. y u no tell me troof. im wife.”
After a brief heart to heart Hibiki smiles and snuggles her girlfriend.
They’re gay.
“im gonna marry her knowing full well she’ll sleep through the ceremony. god.”
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This study reveals why online reviews for plastic surgeons might be dangerous...
http://fashion-trendin.com/this-study-reveals-why-online-reviews-for-plastic-surgeons-might-be-dangerous/
This study reveals why online reviews for plastic surgeons might be dangerous...
It’s 2018, which means that before you do just about anything — pick a restaurant, buy new mascara, etc. — you’re probably reading online reviews. The bigger the decision, the more homework you’re likely to do. But in the case of choosing a plastic surgeon, reading online reviews might actually be misleading, according to a new study.
Researchers at Northwestern University looked at more than 1,000 patient reviews of plastic surgeons on RealSelf, Yelp, and Google. “Online reviews have become the new word of mouth,” John Kim, a professor of plastic surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the study’s author, tells Allure. But instead of being helpful, that can actually be problematic, he says.
The study found three concerning things about online reviews for plastic surgeons. First off, researchers found that online reviews tend to be pretty extreme — either overwhelmingly positive or negative, which is perhaps not surprising if you’ve ever scrolled through Yelp. But that may lead to an unbalanced picture since “extremely happy or unhappy patients are more likely to take the trouble to write a review,” Darren Smith, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, who was not involved with the study tells Allure. Of the reviews examined, there were significantly more one- and five-star reviews than more moderate evaluations.
A large number of patients who write negative reviews have never even had surgery with the doctor they are reviewing.
Beyond that, there are other concerns lurking in online reviews. “A large number of patients who write negative reviews have never even had surgery with the doctor they are reviewing,” Kim explains. Smith adds that there have also been some murky rumors that certain review sites may “suppress or influence physician aggregate ratings based on physician payments to the review site.” In other words, it’s important to take them with a grain of salt.
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Secondly, Kim and his colleagues found that customer service — how friendly the office receptionist is, how luxe the in-office experience feels, how long patients spend in the waiting room — plays a disproportionate role in how surgeons are rated online. In negative reviews, “patients almost always site a negative experience with staff in addition to their reservations about the physician,” Haideh Hirmand, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City not involved with the study, tells Allure. “They remember a generally negative experience, no matter the source of that feeling.”
Traditional measures of physician experience and skill can be overshadowed and perhaps distorted by online reviews.
This can be concerning when it comes to evaluating actual skill, Kim says. “Traditional measures of physician experience and skill can be overshadowed and perhaps distorted by online reviews,” he explains. “How the office staff handles patients can matter as much as the outcome of the surgery and the surgeon’s skill.” Obviously, in-office experience is important (more on that later), but it shouldn’t outweigh the actual skill of the surgeon.
That leads to the last concern raised by the study: Social media skill may be trumping surgical skill when it comes to online ratings for doctors. “It is plausible that a surgeon who has many years of experience and is skilled but doesn’t have a strong online review presence could easily be overlooked in favor of a less experienced, less skilled surgeon who has many more reviews,” says Kim. “In other words, online reviews may be acting as a surrogate for experience and skill.” There’s also the concern that less skilled surgeons with great customer service could be getting more positive reviews despite having subpar results, he adds.
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Where customer service counts
There are important reasons why customer service plays so heavily into online reviews. When you have a choice between surgeons, “the choice is often due to who you feel most comfortable with and who you believe will support you through the procedure,” Melissa Doft, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, who was also not involved with the story, tells Allure. In her practice, she says she strives to make the self-care of plastic surgery as restorative and easy as possible. “Plastic surgery is something that you do for yourself,” she says. “We want to make it as enjoyable as surgery possibly can be.”
That added focus on customer service might not just be fluff. “There is longstanding data that positive environments can actually improve health and contribute to healing,” Smith explains. “I also think a ‘high-touch’ open door practice enhances safety,” he says. The idea is that increased access to your surgeon — say, ability to him or her after hours with a concern — can help head off any complications.
What to know before choosing a plastic surgeon
Rather than relying solely on online reviews when searching for plastic surgeons, use them with caution. “I would read each one carefully and only use the doctor’s online reputation as one piece of the decision,” advises Doft. Other important factors should be recommendations from trusted friends who’ve had similar procedures, and recommendations from one of your existing doctors. “Your physician should have your health and wellness at top of mind and will most likely send you to someone they personally feel is competent and experienced,” Hirmand says.
Trust your gut feeling when you meet the surgeon and never feel pushed into booking a surgery.
It’s also important to make sure any plastic surgeon you consider is board-certified. “Board certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery is a clear indication that a surgeon has completed rigorous training and is qualified to be performing plastic surgery procedures safely and efficaciously,” says Smith. Beware of doctors billed as “cosmetic surgeons,” adds Doft, as they might not be board certified. “Look at where surgeons have hospital affiliations,” she says.
Finally, meet a few surgeons in person before making a final choice. In addition to viewing photos of their work to make sure you have the same aesthetic goals, “trust your gut feeling when you meet the surgeon and never feel pushed into booking a surgery,” says Doft.
In short, online reviews can be helpful but they should never keep you from doing your homework on a surgeon’s actual credentials and surgical outcomes.
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