DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionSenki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ
SPECIAL ActionSenki Zesshou Symphogear XV: Senki Zesshou Shinai Symphogear
MANGA FantasySenki Kanshoku Symphogear: Shirabe Meshi
MANGA ActionSenki Zesshou Symphogear Anthology Comic: Manga de Zesshou Symphogear

REVIEWS

• 

  planetJane

  100/100
  7 years and 5 seasons later, one of the defining anime sagas of the 2010s comes to a close.

  __This is a review of the entire series__. All of my reviews contain __spoilers __for the reviewed material. This is your only warning.

  ---

  *"Create a new history with the light that God cannot know."* *-Symphogear XV Tagline*

  Where to start with Symphogear? Satelight Inc.'s crowning achievement is a hard series to summarize. What began 7 years ago as a sort of seiyuu supergroup series has grown into something that means a lot to a lot of people. It's quite the daunting task to stare it all down.

  Nonetheless, there is a place to start. In the course of exploring a medium--any medium--you will come across certain works that are so outsized in personality that someone liking them can tell you a lot about that person. They cut to the aesthetic core so thoroughly that they reveal what that person values in fiction in general.

  There are many of these in anime. And of those anime, many happen to be high-concept action series, focused on kineticism and heart with a strong emotional core. Many FLCL-indebted action anime are in this category, as is a certain kind of shonen, and many magical girl series. Yet, as far as sheer force, there might legitimately be nothing that tops Symphogear.

  It is easy to forget seven years and five seasons on, but the first episode of the original Symphogear actually begins with a grim premonition of protagonist Hibiki Tachibana’s funeral. Her girlfriend Miku Kohinata screaming in the rain at the prospect of never seeing her again. It’s only after that that the show jumps into its more memorable opening scene. The monstrous Noise attacking an idol concert. Those idols transforming into power armor-clad superhero-magical girls. One of those girls sacrificing herself to save the concert’s last survivor, Hibiki herself.

  Premiering almost a year to the day after Puella Magi Madoka Magica permanently darkened the mahou shoujo outlook (willingly or not), it must’ve been easy to believe at the time that Symphogear would follow a similar trajectory and was just being less coy about it. In truth, as the series went on it became clear that--by decision or by accident--Symphogear was an alternative. Less a refutation than a brighter future. This culminates in the reveal at the end of the first season that the rain-soaked funeral shown at the start of the first episode was a fakeout. Hibiki still lives, Miku hasn’t lost her precious girl, a story can be meaningful without having a sad ending.

  This emotional core makes it all the more frustrating that Symphogear is the sort of thing that often gets slapped with the “hype” label. Or even worse, “dumb fun”. To a point, these are valid descriptors. The series will definitely get you amped up, and it’s not an intellectual affair in the same way that say, something like (say) Serial Experiments Lain is. The problem with calling it these things is that it misses a bigger picture.

  Symphogear is so beloved because it embraces the entire toolset of its medium. Symphogear’s best animation is flashy and fluid. The franchise’s signature “attack cards” turn two things that are traditionally weaknesses for action series (non-animated stills and recycled shots) into a strength.

  

  The writing is Greek tragedy levels of deliciously melodramatic, with few anime peers in its medium. The soundtrack? A wadded candyball of idol J-pop and -rock, EDM, trance, hair metal, and even occasional splashes of traditional Japanese music. The characters have some of the biggest personalities in the whole medium. Each one a color-coded archetype that at the same time, manages to have a surprising amount of depth. Put simply, Symphogear is one of the most anime anime ever made. The entirety of Symphogear, on every level, could not survive in any other medium.

  Much of this is a unique blend of influences. Other shows have merged some combination of super robots, magical girls, and idol anime. None have done all three, in as nearly an even mix, as Symphogear does. What the series recognizes is that these genres have a common thematic endpoint. They are from-the-bottom, “for the little guy” power fantasies. Visions of a world where truth, justice, love, and compassion really do reign supreme, and there are no problems that cannot be solved with either the offer of an outstretched hand, or a fist balled in righteous anger.

  

  That's it, that's the show.

  ---

  Everything about Symphogear is huge. Themes, writing, animation, music. It is a series of uncommon enormity, which has perhaps a dozen peers in its medium in this realm--Diebuster, Gurren Lagann and that series’ own inspiration GaoGaiGar. Nanoha, the more ambitious Pretty Cure seasons. Symphogear is aiming for your heart, not your head, 100% of the time.

  That big-heart attitude cuts both ways. And part of what it means is that where Symphogear does fail, when it does, is in nuance. The series by necessity has a moral framing that, while I’d never call it simplistic, revolves around its particular interpretation of the idea of “love”, and what it means to sacrifice for the greater good.

  Hibiki’s forgiveness of her deadbeat father in GX reflects well on her character certainly, but not anyone else’s, and her attempt to knit her family back together, while understandable keeping in mind her age and general mentality, is kind of questionable from our perspective as the audience. Likewise, when AXZ delves into a character arc about Maria and her adoptive mother, it’s hard for it to not scan as abuse apologia. Nastassja’s actions, originally shown in G, are framed as harsh, but ultimately justified, which is absurd. All this complete with a clumsy people-as-tomatoes metaphor to rival the infamous example in The Big O.

  The sexualization of minors present in some places is also (understandably) going to lose some people. I’d argue that this is less an issue with Symphogear and more a systemic one in the anime industry. But it is just worth noting that unlike some of its stylistic peers and descendants, it does not go out of its way to avert this issue, and criticizing it for that is valid.

  Really if one wanted to be disingenuous, they could accuse any critics of expecting too much from a show where the moon is a supercomputer and also the Tower of Babel. But that’s underselling Symphogear, a series that, much more than most I’d argue, understands its core strengths extremely well.

  What prevents any of the aforementioned flaws from coming anywhere near sinking the series is that they’re also what makes its emotional writing so strong. Symphogear is primarily about how human connections inevitably hurt us--no two people can perfectly understand each other--but those same connections are what make life worth living. Often left out of analysis of the series is that among the many other things it is, Symphogear is a love story. Hibiki and Miku literally don’t fully process their feelings for each other until the closing minutes of the final season, a conceit that would be maddeningly frustrating in almost any other series. Here, it’s the perfect metaphor for the show’s overall philosophy. Symphogear deliberately does not make any great distinction between the personal and philosophical. What’s true of the lead couple is true of humanity in general.

  

  So that’s Symphogear in the broadstroke. What about XV specifically?

  Well, while it may not be the overall strongest season (that might still be AXZ, it’s a tough call to make), it’s definitely up there. Noble Red are not quite as fully fleshed-out as some prior antagonists like the Autoscorers from GX and the Illuminati trio from AXZ, but this is a minor complaint and made up for by the foregrounding of Fudou, Tsubasa’s grandfather and a very transparent stand-in for all the worst tendencies in Japanese political discourse, as an antagonist.

  XV’s first half is in part an indictment of all the bad ends that tradition can be turned to--support of abuse and fascism chief among them. While antifascistic sentiment is not uncommon in anime, it is rarely this in-your-face. Tsubasa’s ‘seal’ plotline is literal brainwashing-as-easy-metaphor for indoctrination. Breaking it requires a literal slap in the face and being woken up to the fact that the condescending attitudes inherent in such philosophies are a lie to begin with.

  

  XV’s overall ranking is arguable, but the show’s final episode, in a deep rarity for anime, is almost certainly its best. Plotlines from whole seasons back are briefly threaded into the narrative to support the final defeat of overall villain Shem-Ha, and the show closes with Miku and Hibiki finally realizing they’re more than friends in a fashion that is only just subtle enough to get around Japanese TV censors. There is more feeling in the last half hour of the show than there are in some entire romance anime.

  

  At the end of it all? Symphogear has flaws and they don’t matter. More than almost any other anime I’ve ever seen, Symphogear almost actively resists critical analysis. A thousand lists of nitpicks throughout the franchise buckle in the face of any of its many explosive singing-fight scenes. Other “hype” anime wish they were Symphogear.

  But that’s not to say that Symphogear is above, or not in conversation with, other anime. Quite the opposite, in fact. While it’s true that XV likely marks the end of Symphogear’s explosive decade, the question of the series’ influence is not one of if or even when, merely when it will be acknowledged. Even now, we can probably thank Symphogear at least in part for the notable uptick in female-driven ensemble action shows that blossomed in the New Tens. Without Symphogear it is hard to imagine, say, the surreal symbolics of Revue Starlight or the dubstep superspy stories of RELEASE THE SPYCE getting so easily greenlit, and that’s just shows from last year.

  There is an entire legion of henshin heroines as yet untransformed, their stories as yet unwritten, who will be--and in some cases already are--the easily-identifiable daughters of Hibiki Tachibana (Revue Starlight’s Karen Aijo is so similar that for that series’ mobage crossover event, they saw fit to stick her in the Gungnir Gear and call it a day). All art is comprised of cycles of influence, of course. Symphogear itself is the synthesis of a good dozen different aesthetics that all shared a common thematic end, but that synthesis is itself what makes Symphogear what it is. Less a spark and more a roaring flame. Less a whisper, more a song. It is a light that will not be quick to fade from its medium.

  Of that much, we can be certain.

  

  ---

  And if you liked this review, why not check out some of my others here on Anilist?

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• 

  LiyuuSix

  100/100
  "Symphogear, the unsung gem of anime"

  __This review contains minor spoiler about Symphogear, I've done my best to be as spoiler free as possible __

  I really have no clue where to start from, to be honest.
  I started Symphogear a little bit for the meme, singing girls fighting, and because a friend recommended me with the premise “Dude, it gets absolutely amazing as it goes on” and I will be honest because the first 4 episodes left me not happy due to the not perfect introduction and old anime type of quality. But after those 4 episodes that I’ve watched in 4 months I watched 4 in one day, then the final episodes of the first season in a day, then I watched Symphogear G in 2 days, then GX in one day to end with AXZ and XV in the span of 3 days.
  Symphogear is really hard to describe because it’s massively ridiculous and stupid but it delivers in every area it could ever deliver after its premises and everything comes into place with the many series and everything comes back again and again, all with some beautiful music, incredible characters and some of the best cliffhangers of my entire life; it’s absolutely absurd to think that something like this, most of it going against my standards, completely smashed my expectations and rankings by delivering me one of the best, if not my favorite, anime of all and completely changing my definition of “intensity” and “epic”. Symphogear is an action packed show that will give you no time to rest.
  

  ---

  Meteoroid-falling, burning, and disappear, then…

  The slow start yet mad ending of the first season
  

  I always admit that the first season of Symphogear is quite weak under certain aspects, because it’s weak, but it sets the base for what will come in the long term; because the first Symphogear is absolutely idiotic for what it is and it doesn’t even try to get serious but decides to embrace the stupidity and make it fun, just like the famous Hibiki arcade scene that cringes always, but luckily we can see the first signs of a strong storytelling after some episodes and we get a taste of the true potential of Symphogear : its ability to excel when it needs to become epic.
  Again, in the first season we can’t get a real taste of what this anime can offer and so the characters are a little penalized under this aspect but yet again they set the bases for something absolutely fantastic :
  Our main character, Tachibana Hibiki, shows up as a dumb girl that got saved 2 years prior to the events of the anime from a certain death. She was always scared of everything and not sure of what to do but she always wanted to give her best for the sake of keeping a promise she made as a kid and for her wish to see no one dying. As the series goes on Hibiki will radically change and even beat her fear of harming someone else, whoever is, to protect her loved ones which is a thing that might sound childish but it’s an important aspect not only for her character but for the human standard, doing everything you can to protect someone even if it goes against your laws of life.
  Kazanari Tsubasa started as a literal hot head unable to accept that Hibiki is her new teammate and kept refusing her, refusing even her existence, but anyone can change.

  

  Though, Symphogear starts in a very hot and hard way by showing the grave of the main character and her best friend Miku crying her death wishing her to come back because her life is meaningless without her; then it leaves to the events of the 2 years before the anime where Hibiki got severely hurt and almost died, but eventually got saved by Kanade Amou, who was Tsubasa’s best friend, at the cost of her own life but ironically or not a “piece” of Kanade still lives in Hibiki because a piece of her relic, the Gungnir, got stuck inside Hibiki’s body and became a part of her which is the reason why Hibiki will become a Symphogear user. This is the main reason why Tsubasa can’t accept Hibiki not only as a teammate but also as a friend, Hibiki is the reason why her best sacrificed herself for the sake of someone unknown.
  Then I mentioned Miku, who is she? As I said she is Hibiki’s best friend, even if their relationship goes beyond this and it’s obvious, and by far one of the best and most important characters of the show because the plot is moved by her and her actions that go to condition Hibiki’s actions, it’s a domino effect, a charming and beautiful one.

  For what it goes for the antagonists, well, Finé is the main antagonist of the whole series but sadly she doesn’t appear that real much and only gives us her true shine in the final episodes, but thank God she gave one of the best plot twists of the anime.
  On the other hand there is Yukine Chris, an absolute piece of art of character that starts as X and will end up as V which is a thing that will happen to everyone but Chris changes radically the most and in the best way possible. Her past is extremely dark and tricky because after her parents’ death she decides to fight and go against their dream, which was to bring happiness with the music, and she kept saying that it’s a false hope because music can’t bring happiness. Bad take Chris, really a bad take.

  It’s quite obvious that the first season started with a relatively low budget because in fact the arts and animations are not really that good, often bad and lack of precision, and you can see that it would need a big budget to become something astonishing and at the end of everything the final 4 episodes were absolutely mad and the studio did the best possible to make the ending as epic as possible with the best animations possible. Feeling gutted that the transformations weren’t that good.

  This were the bases for something iconic.

  Personal scores :
  Story : 7/10
  Characters : 9/10
  Music : 8/10
  Arts : 6/10
  Personal Enjoyment : 7.5/10

  ---

  In the distance, that day, when the star became music...

  G starts to show what Symphogear truly is and how amazing it will become
  

  G was intense, a lot intense, and I absolutely love it because it dramatically changes everything from the first season in a more action packed, deep, better written show with the best improvement of all : the animations. Finally Symphogear had the budget to show the true power of its fluidity and awesome animations that will come and the first episode starts with a truly magnificent sequence that leaves room to let you imagine what can come after this, but it’s not all. Symphogear G will see the introduction of 3 new Symphogear users that are villain and one of my absolutely favorite antagonists of all time, Doctor Ver, the true definition of a mad scientist who’s lost every gram of common sense.
  Unlike the first season in G we will see a change of pace that goes absolutely all out and extremely aggressive in terms of intensity, which is something I loved, and start to become what Symphogear really is : fights, music, drama and love. G completely changes the meaning of a show start started as mediocre because of its limitations and shocks with elements that look to the long term and some other elements that come from the past; in fact I really love to praise Symphogear for how it never leaves behind anything and always brings up something them all to give the most complete experience possible, but this may be too much to say so leave it to your eyes.

  Symphogear G starts again in a strong way with some strong sequences that go for the drama and death elements and introduce us to our first new antagonist, Maria Cadenzavna Eve, and even more we start with a more major plot twist : Maria is the reincarnation of Finé, which hits hard after all the troubles she gave in the first anime and how she got majestically defeated, of course.
  I love Maria because she is such a particular character : always trying to understand if what she was doing was right or wrong, why she doesn’t want to kill even if she knows to be the villain of the show at a certain point, she questions herself on why she is helping Doctor Ver and then she will fall in despair once she realizes everything she’s done, all of the tragedies she was going to cause and how idiotic she was, but she will take her spear and fight again but for the truth. But her only plot twist is not only being a reincarnation, it’s not only this.
  With Maria we will meet Shirabe and Kirika, the most loved duo of Symphogear, who are 2 girls extremely bonded to each other and can’t be divided. I love them both, they are the most precious thing this universe has to offer. Jokes apart they go on Maria’s wave length and have the same thoughts and see her as the big sister.

  

  I absolutely need and want to spend some words for Ver : he is completely insane. I rarely see such a controversial and mad character that goes against the common sense of every human and does unmentionable things. His character goes behind the “theory of the Hero” because he thinks he can become the hero of the world, but his time hasn’t come yet and will remain scum of the scum, for now.

  But what about the original trio? Hibiki will start developing herself more and more and, despite refusing to fight at the beginning against other humans, she will accept that sometimes fighting someone is the only choice; not only this but she will become the true Hero that Ver admires, even if he actually admires Hibiki for the events of the first series, but she will make him understand what a true hero is and who the hero is. Hibiki will have to face many many problems, as well with her own Gungnir and even with Miku, which will make her mad and almost lose it but a true hero can’t allow this. The masterpiece that Hibiki is begins in G.
  Tsubasa will develop a lot and become closer to Hibiki, she will finally accept her as a friend and come to the point of crying when Hibiki is severely hurt, and we will learn more about her past and how she sees her own life, as a blade without feelings meant to protect people.
  Chris will also embrace a completely different way of thinking and acting, becoming the best friend of the other two girls and doing her best possible to help them; especially in the final 4 episodes she just becomes masterclass in this aspect.

  I need to give some credits to Nastassja, the “mother” of the 3 other girls, who was a particular character always going against her how thoughts and knew that she was in the middle of the right and wrong, faked many things and brought the anime to an almost tragic ending.

  The pinnacle of G I can tell that is clearly how you see the different point of views of “what is right” and how the two sides, the Symphogears and the enemies, approach their way to reach the truth : does it have to be without any sacrifices or does it? What is the limit? Am I doing it the right way? Why am I doing it? Every character, every single one, has a different answer for each of these questions and it’s up to the watched to find them all; someone wants no casualties, someone other can’t exclude them, someone wants them. And once again all of this leads to the final 4 episodes of G, which I watched them all in one breath and they were absolutely epic.
  The final episodes were full of everything you can name and they were probably one of the best conclusive moments I’ve ever seen ion any anime, everything led to a good ending with the usual amazing final fight that shows everyone why Hibiki is an absolute masterclass of character, but this is not all because the settings for the next season are set already and many questions aren’t answered yet.

  I’ve mentioned how the arts massively improved in G, and it’s a fact, because they are much much more fluid now and cleaner, for sure there are some parts where improvements could be made but overall they are absolutely fantastic; the animations of the transformations were absolutely awesome and the fights were a pleasure to watch.

  The cliffhangers and plot twists here are absolutely massive.

  But it’s not over.

  Personal scores :
  Story : 9/10
  Characters : 9/10
  Music : 8/10
  Arts : 9/10
  Personal Enjoyment : 9/10

  ---

  Believe in justice and hold a determination to fist

  GX redefined Symphogear under any aspect and fixed what had to be fixed
  

  GX was special and intense.
  The third season let space to the three new girls to develop to their best and gave them the answers they needed to succeed and become complete and most of all it gifted an extra shape to the original trio, and redefined Hibiki once more in something even more greater because in fact to me GX is the season where Hibiki is able to shine the most and confronted her biggest fear.

  This season introduced probably the best antagonist of Symphogear in terms of personality,
  Carol, with her mad insane wish to destroy the world because of the death of his dad, who got executed after curing an entire village and suspected of not being “normal”, and started thinking that a world that rejects the people who help shouldn’t exist; alongside to this she lives with a promise made to his dad, to discover everything of the world, and this made her decide to dissect the world and then destroy it to become the absolute in terms of knowledge. And then we have the Autoscores, dolls created by Carol to help her plan, which are my absolute favorite addition to this season. I absolutely love how each Autoscorer has a particular personality related to its dance style, because each of them tends to fight by moving with dance moves, and there is Garie, my beloved Garie. I really feel like the Scorers gave a particular charm to the show with their craziness and their goals, and the fact that they were dolls and YET felt feelings, really made me happy to watch them. It was also charming to see that every Scorer was particular on her own way and how they literally pushed to the mental limit every character with both insults and extreme acts and this led to how the Symphogears answered to these actions, either in an extreme way or a controlled one.
  GX is the place of many insane power ups and many many plot twists that I hardly expected but most of all this is the place of the growing of many characters and the come back of others, because Symphogear never forgets about the characters.
  And then we have the original trio of the Gears with an amazing character development and many new surprises : Chris, Tsubasa and Hibiki got finely talked and developed that go in direct contrast to what they were at the beginning, something I love to see, and each time they defeated their issues by even going AGAINST what they previously said, and most of all the power to forgive someone is also there.

  GX was able to bring a lot of climax in the anime between the relationships of the character, for a reason or another, and everything was always running on thin ice; are they going to get angry at each other and break the bonds? Is she going to make up her mind and defeat her demons? Can she recover her family? Will she overcome the fear of her father? Is she really going to be able to protect everyone?
  Each of these question had a different answer to everyone that led to the glorious ending of the third season, which was absolutely on the peak of the climax and ended up in a badass way that only Symphogear can even think of.

  Personal scores :
  Story : 9.5/10
  Characters : 9.5/10
  Music : 9/10
  Arts : 9/10
  Personal Enjoyment : 9/10

  ---

  By shedding many tears, the reality you face is…

  AXZ was the best set up for a final season that this franchise could ever dream about
  

  AXZ was particular because as a sequel it didn’t really please me that much but as a prequel to the final season it is absolutely insane, this season takes everything about Symphogear and says “yeah, let’s change everything gradually until we reach absolute climax and madness”.
  I’ve mentioned how I think that GX had the best villain but AXZ has the craziest villain of all, a person who is a true demon who lost any human sentiments and completely shatters the human life.
  In this season the foreshadowing is absolutely strong with so many callbacks to the previous series and even to the previous episodes, which honestly hit extremely hard, but most of all this season is absolutely epic and crazy full of action again.
  I really liked the villains here but not because of what they did in this season but for their effect on the final season, how they shaped each character and their passive contribute to reach the ultimate goal; Saint-Germain was such a beautiful character. I find absolutely amazing how Symphogear is able to always elevate the level of action in each season and still keep it on a perfect pace with the story and development. I absolutely love the brainless moments of Hibiki.

  There is an improvement in arts and animations too and they absolutely reach their peak in the final episodes, as usual.
  Ah yes the final 4-5 episodes are absolutely insane, like completely insane. I praise a lot Symphogear for being able to create such climatic endings each season and AXZ easily has the second best of all.

  And everything is set for the final season, the greatest of all.

  Personal scores :
  Story : 8.7/10
  Characters : 9.5/10
  Music : 9/10
  Arts : 9.2/10
  Personal Enjoyment : 9.2/10

  ---

  Create a history, with the light God could not know

  Symphogear XV is the definition of what is epic
  

  Forget everything you’ve seen about Symphogear until this point because EVERYTHING changes, EVERYTHING.
  XV is insanely aggressive, gore, terrific, epic, passionate and again epic; there is literally everything in this season iconified by a sense of absolute madness each single episode where you can’t even take a break to realise what you are watching.
  I started the season and after the first 4 episodes I said how is it possible to deliver a quality worthy of final episodes right at the beginning of the anime because everything goes literally over the top and destroys every rule of the common sense so far.
  XV’s big plate is in the villains because the very first you see are not villains, but normal people trying to find a way to regain their humanity and eventually kneeling in front of everyone who gives them a chance to help them, but that’s not all luckily because we will see the comeback of iconic characters, and these returns made me absolutely crazy and made me scream like a fanboy, leading all to the final sequence of episodes which is simply outstanding for how it got build up, for all the hype and the amazing cliffhangers and the ending is simply a pure masterpiece. I won’t hold back and I call Symphogear XV a masterpiece for what it created as an ending to an absolutely iconic franchise.

  

  If there is a thing that I really liked about XV is how the main 3 antagonists are shown in the most human way possible, doing everything in their hands to win because “we are weaker so we can win only by playing dirty”, and how close they are just like a small family where they all trust each other and all the dirty decisions they had to take as a result of following a goal, a dream, they tried to reach; and all of this is completely in fight with the Symphogears who are trying their own best without dirty tricks to keep the world safe.
  And then again, the final episodes are absolutely amazing and outstanding.

  And as a cherry on the top of the cake, the final 2 minutes of the anime brought us to the ultimate realisation of Hibiki.

  

  Personal scores :
  Story : 10/10
  Characters : 10/10
  Music : 10/10
  Arts : 10/10
  Personal Enjoyment : 10/10

  ---

  Symphogear is the result of learning from the past

  This franchise is the pure example of how to improve over time all over again to then build up the perfect ending because Symphogear was able to reach the perfect ending to each of the premises it brought us, from Hibiki to even side character, from every Symphogear girl to every villain and the character development here is absolutely wonderful to watch.
  On top of everything Symphogear lives with amazing song that are sung in battles, and the best part is that the singers actually sing the song and it’s not pre recorded, and they are absolutely perfect for the battlefield with a good instrumental and wonderful voices with some great musical pace which is fast enough for the battles.

  Symphogear’s charm comes from each character and how they grow in the anime, how everyone radically changes and reaches the own conclusion to the problems and understand what she wants at the end of everything, what are the passions and the desires of everyone and most of all this applies to each villain too; remember that everything will come back. This anime is an insanely fun ride for how stupid and brainless it can be at times and how it can switch to serious quickly, from girls riding a rocket to girls fighting a divine entity.

  Another thing that I absolutely loved about this anime is how the powers are inspired by the general mythology and how they fit each character’s personality : the elegance of the Ame no Habakiri with Tsubasa, the rough idiotic power of the Gungnir on the idiotic Hibiki, the outstanding power of the Airgetlám with the insanely strong Maria and so on. In fact a lot of Symphogear comes from the unique characters that can be hilarious when needed and extremely emotional and serious when it is again needed; it’s also lovable of each character is extremely different and yet able to bond with everyone else, just like the hot head Chris being able to desire to become the senpai of everyone, how the cold Tsubasa asked to be called senpai from others and started caring about Hibiki and so on. The character development in this anime is really strong.
  

  The arts constantly kept improving and improving and the transformations are a perfect example of how everything was able to progress over time, they simply get more beautiful and dynamic and this is truly beautiful to see.

  I’m still amazed of how Symphogear was able to always build everything leading to an incredible ending each season and every time each ending got even more crazy and emotional, it’s simply incredible. Symphogear is really the definition of taking something and making it extreme, bigger, better and more epic, everything with emotions, love, passion and sadness. This is Symphogear to you : an action packed anime full of everything you can name of with a great writing and even improving over the time and ultimately leading to a beautiful ending, amazing characters and wonderful villains, everything with some great music.

  ---

  
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• 

  Ocatu

  100/100
  Genjuurou's Angels, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the song.

  Not unlike all my other reviews, this will be less of an actual review and more an unorganised stream of consciousness after watching the entirety of this masterpiece that is the whole symphogear series.

  I will try to keep the general parts spoiler-free for people that might be interested in checking the series out, and will give a warning before spoiling anything.

  

  Now let’s start with what’s important. Is symphogear any good? Well, that’s complicated. It’s a very unique show like nothing I’ve ever seen before. A mix of several genres and concepts that come together to make one of my favourite series of all time.

  Well, you didn’t answer the question, you might ask. And that’s true, because I find it very difficult to give an answer in this particular case. Symphogear has many fantastic qualities and a lot of horrible ones as well. The difference is in whether the watcher takes those flaws at face value, or appreciates them for the ridiculousness and cheesiness they bring to the series.

  To start, as always, I’ll get into the pros and cons of the entire series as objectively as I can, and later I’ll talk about them a bit more in detail.

  Pros

  • Amazing music
  • Some characters are okay
  • Absolutely unpretentious and unapologetic

  Cons

  • Retarded plot
  • Cheesy dialogue and action
  • Nonsensical setting
  • First seasons have sketchy animation

  Note that for me, all of these “cons” except for the sketchy animation in the first seasons are not cons at all, they don’t detract at all from my enjoyment. On the contrary, I love Symphogear’s plot, dialogue, action and setting, but that doesn’t mean they are any good.

  I appreciate them not using 3d animation for the idol scenes

  ---

  Let’s talk for a minute about genres. What genre is symphogear? Well action, of course. And it’s probably the most actionest show I've ever seen. It has a touch of drama and comedy (sometimes probably unintentional), but what’s most important is it being a magical girl idol mecha sentai action anime, and let me explain what I mean by this gibberish.
  Symphogear is a series about singers and music students that use relics of mythological relic weapons activated via song to fight all kinds of enemies. Upon activation, the girls do a magical girl transformation sequence and after that they battle while singing. In short, it’s much like watching the singing power rangers. They even have freeze-frame finishing moves with text on-screen such as:

  

  Now, maybe you’ve read until this point, and you are still asking yourself: Should I really watch 5 seasons of this? Is it really worth my time? And here’s my answer. Do you like the sound of watching a cheesy 80s action movie where the protagonists are singing power rangers, the plot is ridiculous to the point of delirium, and the levels of unga bunga turn-your-brain-off action are through the roof? If yes, give it a try. But keep in mind the first season is the weakest in my opinion.

  

  From the first season onward, they refine the formula with each iteration and the seasons only get better and better, trimming what was maybe unnecessary and improving on what makes the series unique. That means more budget for the animation and sound teams and embracing the cheesiness and stupidity of the writing.

  ---

  Characters

  Not much to say here, Chris is okay, I like Maria quite a lot, and Tsubasa is alright I guess, but the rest are nothing special or even worth-mentioning writing-wise. But let me tell you, I have no idea why, but in Symphogear that doesn’t affect my capability to get attached to them. Somehow, against all logic, this has been one of few series where I’ve physically rooted for the characters when they did something cool while watching.

  Maria epic girlboss

  There’s a couple of secondary characters though that I feel obligated to mention, because they are one of my favourite parts of the whole series, and they’re Mr. Chad Genjuurou himself and Ogawa, the character that has a design more generic than your average extra.

  Genjuurou, the commander, the man, the legend, has superhuman strength, capable of standing against Symphogears in hand to hand combat and beating them, capable of destroying a rock the size of a meteor with a simple punch, capable of causing an earthquake-level shockwave with just a stomp of his foot. And you might ask, what’s the reason for all his powers? And that’s the best part, it’s never explained.

  The chad himself casually blocking symphogear attacks like they're nothing

  Same for Ogawa, he’s a ninja that moves like Goku with his instant transmission, and can run on water, make body doubles and everything. In short, superhuman abilities as well, also not explained, and the rest of the planet are just normal humans with just a couple of exceptions.

  This is Goro Akechi's voice btw

  ---

  Plot

  The plot is one of my favourite things about the series, and probably the most bonkers you’ll have seen in a while. The show has refined the formula of each season making a banger of a first episode and then building towards an always epic and very hype finale where, as I said before, I end up physically cheering for the characters and with a big smile on my face.

  I will talk a little bit about the setting here as well, and this will involve some SPOILERS.
  As I said before, it’s absolutely nonsensical but I love it. Ancient relics of mythological weapons such as Gungnir or Ichaival (Ýdalir) that are activated via song and transform their wielders into superpowered action heroes. Ancient alien gods that try to control humanity by literally building the moon with a metaphor involving the tower of babel. Nazis that fled to South America with ancient relics sponsored by the German illuminati, and the list goes on. I just loved seeing what crazy shit the writers would come up with each season and enjoyed every single moment of it.
  XV also has one of the endings I've enjoyed the most in anime that wraps everything up beautifully (Shem-ha Miku step on me).
  SPOILERS OVER.

  Each girl has a different epic transformation sequence each season

  ---

  Music

  The music is one of the most important aspects of the series, as probably 95% of the action is performed while singing, and most of the show is action. And let me tell you, I like it a lot. It has a very distinct aesthetic, and Symphogear has at least one unique song per character each season they sing while fighting, with sometimes duet songs for big moments or collective ones for the finales. Also, the fact that they always use the opening and its name in each season for the big finisher move against the big bad guy brings a level of hype hard to match.

  I will leave here a couple of examples for the interested:

  In conclusion, this anime is pure hype, and honestly I have no idea how it turned out this way, but for some reason the recipe works. All the ingredients work together to create something special, the action, the music, the cheesiness, the over-the-top ridiculousness of everything, the hype, and the secret ingredient that powers everything up, just like the symphogears, love.

  
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