"Musical Bitches Symphogear", as it's named on my PC, was one of my most complex human-anime relationships. On one hand, it was helmed by the man who brought me Wild Arms, my favorite RPG series of all time, and some of the people behind Oban Star Racers, one of my all time favorite pieces of animation. On the other hand, it was a hastily-made, awkward and janky show that had no idea what it was doing other than attempting to ride on the Madoka hype train.
When "Symphogear G: The Musicvengeance" was announced I remember exclaiming "NOOOOO" because of how dumb the first series ended. But then episode 1 aired, and I watched it. And I was deeply confused.
Week after week, episode after episode, I sank deeper and deeper into confusion until I realized it was probably the most fun thing I watched in all of 2013, next to Kill la Kill.
Symphogear G is pretty much a soft reboot of the series. It comes in swinging with a big, fancy animation budget that did not exist in season 1, took out all the bullshit whiney drama and school stuff, and really came into itself as a fast-paced action series about J-pop singers with super robot powers. It introduces an actual villain, a rival set of characters, has an awesome new OP, and a plot twist at the end of every single episode. It's a fun, rollercoaster ride of a show that knew exactly what it was doing.
It not only surpasses the original, but it simultaneously redeems it.
THE STORY picks up from where season 1 left off, I guess. Our yellow girl, blue girl and red girl are going around doing rocket punches and super missile attacks against swarms of fodder enemies while staging extremely elaborate J-Pop concerts. All is normal.
And then there's a new team of evil, rival Symphogears! Holy shit! It's like Sonic Heroes, but AWESOME. And then there's a mad scientist who wants to do evil shit in between the scenes where he's ham acting and making hilarious faces! INTRIGUE!
The original story was all about the Symphogear girls being these bleak final guardians of humanity against goofy-looking fodder "Noise" creatures, and if they sang too hard, they died. But it was also about them being pop stars and with super powers activated by singing J-pop. This new story pretty much ditches all of the former and just makes the show fun by playing up the latter. It focuses all of the drama on the characters facing off against each other and fighting evil and stuff, like it really should have been in the first place.
Not to say that much is retconned; the plot is also laced with tons references to the original series. There's a kung fu training montage and everything!
THE CHARACTERS are very enjoyable.
Hibiki, who was once a whiny pacifist dealt a cruel fate, is now a hotblooded hero who knows kung-fu, uses it, and also does super rocket punch attacks. She's always positive and kind of badass. Real classic shounen hero here.
Tsubasa is still "the Mizuki Nana character", but is no longer an emo swordsmistress in mourning who hates her status as a human weapon. Now she's just the older sister/straight man of the trio and acts all cool. She also has a motorcycle.
Chris is no longer an emotionally abused rival girl looking to repent. Instead, she's a super moe, food-loving, out-of-shape, hot-blooded, missile launching, gatling gun-shooting, huge-breasted waifu. She is the best girl.
AND THEN THERE'S CHIEF GENJURO, who still has LION HAIR, still goes "GUNGNIR-DATO?!" and still TUCKS HIS TIE INTO HIS FRONT POCKET. But this season, HE SINGS TOO
IN CHINESE
And then there's the Chief's assistant, and Tsubasa's manager. I don't know his name, as he is a minor character, but he's important to mention here because he embodies everything this series does right. In the first season, he's Tsubasa's manager and Genjuro's assistant guy. In this season, he's a fucking /ninja/. Who can walk on water and solo a room of mobsters. Why? Because it's /awesome/.
But WAIT! There are new characters too!
Maria Cadenzavna Eve: The Shadow the Hedgehog of the series. The rival. She sings like Tsubasa, has the same powers as Hibiki, and has the same breasts as Chris. And has the spear from the dead girl in the first season!
Kirika-DESS: Maria's #1 sidekick-DESS. She ends all of her sentences with DESS. She has a giganto scythe, penchant for violence and is awesome.
Shirabe: The foil to Kirika, she's a calm, quiet loli for the people who thought the show needed at least one flat-chest girl, I guess. However, she makes buzz saws and giant robots, so she's pretty darn cool too.
DOCTOR VER: Doctor Ver is my favorite character behind Chris. Every scene he's in, he's making some sort of stupid face, laughing maniacally or doing some comic book villain shit like summoning a giant fortress or mind controlling the innocent. This guy is classic, endlessly entertaining and everything a villain should be.
Next, let's talk about THAT ANIMATION
Season 1 looked bad. This one looks great. The art is crisp and smooth, background graphics are nice, the CGI is much improved, and several really dumb looking things from season 1, like Hibiki's berserker mode, actually look cool now. The fights are fast-paced, well-choreographed and full of visual flare. And explosions. They're probably the best fight sequences I've seen in a series in a long time, actually.
Better yet, each and every girl now has a redone transformation sequence that you can find a lot of gifs of. Important, high-level stuff for this kind of show.
Oh and the MUSIC
Every girl has a set of songs, all six of them (and more!?). The soundtrack is double or triple the size of the original series', and it's overall better. Songs are varied and well composed. There are even combat duets! And since the OSTs sold a billion copies, we're confirmed for season 3!!
IN CONCLUSION
This series is honestly a better magic fighting girl show than Kill la Kill, with a cast that's almost as strong, dynamite production values, and a blazing fast pace to carry it all forward. I don't think there's a single aspect of this series that's worthy of a 5 or a 6, let alone the whole thing.
The plot is no more stupid than Code Geass R2.
The presentation is on par with the highest budget action series of the last few years.
The characters are more waifu-worthy than your average moeblob infested ecchi shows.
The soundtrack is better than Love Live.
So what is wrong with Symphogear G, when it has all of the ingredients to make a mainstream weaboo success? Who knows? Anime fans are stupid, I guess.
