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Based on the anime 'Senki Zesshou Symphogear' which aired in early 2012 to very mixed reviews due to its low budget, the Symphogear manga is a retelling of the events that also serves to fill in some of the blanks from the anime.

We are given a bit more of Kanade and Tsubasa's time together, and for those who did not pick up the reason for Kanade's 'weakness' in the anime it is clearly spelled out in the manga's opening chapters.

From there we jump into the story as we're already familiar with, with a few changes thrown in to the mix - to sum it up without spoilers one could say while this adaptation makes more sense than the anime it is also more rushed.

Although the pacing seems like they intend to get through the manga in only three volumes the time and detail put into the artwork is amazing. Everything looks great, down to the smallest detail.

The one downside to the manga is that the impact of the fighting scenes and Ultimate Song is lost. Even though the anime had a lot of problems, the singing fight scenes and chilling Ultimate Songs made up for the rest of the production problems and that effect is lost in the manga.

Still, if you are already a fan of Symphogear or curious about the story, the manga is a quick and easy way to enjoy it. Personally I think it goes best as a supplemental material to the anime, but I'm one of the few who thoroughly enjoyed Symphogear.

Costing only 580yen from CD Japan it's worth picking up. A scanlation exists on the internet if you take some time to look. read more

It's not often that an anime comes around that pulls one over on the audience as fast as AKB0048 does. Given what is probably one of the silliest premises ever in anime the writing takes hold and runs away with it, spinning a complex story of futuristic idols in a world where entertainment is banned.

I went into this show with incredibly low expectations and came away wowed. Although the show does not fall too dark there are some rather grim undertones - to perform their concerts in worlds where entertainment is banned the idols form two teams, a performance group and a defending group. The idols on defense have to fight against an organization that uses live ammunition and is actively trying to capture or kill the 00 members.

Behind the concert and combat scenes there is also the mystery of just who runs 0048 and the implication is shady at best. Even then, and even among the tears, the show manages to also be bright, cheery and full of love.

It's an emotional roller coaster I recommend checking out, even (and especially) if you aren't a fan of the actual AKB48. I went into it knowing nothing of the original group. read more

Despite a weak start and a weak team of writers, Symphogear still manages to be somewhat enjoyable if just for the absurdity of it all.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to deliver the type of dark story we are shown in the first episode, rather the show is riddled with Dues Ex Machinas and plot holes. The characters and their backgrounds are written at a barely passable quality, but fortunately this seems to get better as the show goes on (except for the background characters who remain terrible the entire show).

Fortunately I found the music, gear design and battle scenes made up for the rest of the weakness - the songs are beautiful (especially in the last episode) and full of energy and the Symphogear units remain fun to watch the entire time.

If you're willing to let the poor writing slide and enjoy the show for it's good qualities you'll find it enjoyable. On the other hand if plot holes, flat characters and contrived backstories are a pet peeve of yours you will probably want to avoid the show.

The amazingly ridiculous, absurd battles in the last three episodes made the entire show worth it for me in the end. read more