Senki Zesshou Symphogear

This show is a combination of several elements, where if you are the kind of person that those elements click for it's absolutely amazing, and I fall in that camp.

First is the style of music, it's the sort of high tempo electronic j-pop that just keeps the energy high. What makes this special is that the girls power up by singing, which means they sing while fighting, and most of the sound track is the same including the op and ed, which makes watching any episode like jamming to music, with the bonus that cool shit is happening at the same time.

Second is the cool ... transformations, special attacks, and just in general non stop action. All of the character designs look super cool, and because there are random Noise (sort of alien like creatures) out breaks almost every episode you constantly get to see Tsubasa summoning giant swords, Chris summoning thousands of rockets (MEGADEATH PARTY is a pretty sweet name for an attack too), and Hibiki just punching shit.

Third is in the down time it's a super heartfelt cute girls friendship show with Hibiki having a very strong relationship with her best friend Miku, and a good development between Hibiki and Tsubasa, and later Chris. There are lots of sweet moments with Hibiki and Miku sleeping in the same bunk in their dorm, Miku being upset that Hibiki hid her powers from her, and Miku encouraging Hibiki giving her strength to win some fights later on.

Really any of those elements by themselves are nothing special but the way this show combines all of them, and all the sheer tempo of the show with the non stop action really syncs with the soundtrack and watching this was like a flow state just zoned in having a great time.

As far as negatives the plot was pretty stereotypical, but not offensive, the animation towards the middle of the show was lower quality (but the first episode was outstanding), so what could make this show better would mostly be just more consistent animation. The plot is really a side note because it almost doesn't matter for the enjoyment I'm getting out of this show, and as I said it wasn't necessarily bad or offensive.

If you watch the first episode and think "this it sweet" and are just zoned in head bobbing to the music, then you will likely love the show; if you feel sort of iffy and looking for more after the first episode this show is likely not for you is my guess.

I will start with my criticisms before my praise. First of all, don't come into here expecting the deepest plot. It's not. Second of all, the animation does get better. But where it excels is being able to watch the hype. Even if not every character is developed well, they are likable from the start. Now onto what is the best part by far. The music of every part of this whole series is top tier. The OP and character songs slap on their own, and are made better by the main characters sometimes singing duets or triplets. may grunt or go off the note ... they should if they get hit or do something strenuous. This makes the voice acting a lot better. Just mind the engrish in that one episode. Just suspend some disbelief and it will be amazing.

I'm going to be honest in that I'm writing this after having also watched Symphogear G, so I will admit I am more willing to forgive some of the weaknesses in the plot, as a lot of them were solved.

Symphogear's first episode, like much of the advertising for the show, was misleading. It makes the show out to be a lot darker than it is, the show isn't another Madoka in terms of how dark it is, but the first episode certainly does paint it that way. The show as a whole is about communication, which shows when the only human antagonists we get ... are characters who refuse to, can't, or find it worthless to communicate with others. If you want to stop reading now I'll say in short that I believe Symphogear is a fun magical girl romp with well written characters, good design and music, with it's main weaknesses being that the art can sometimes falter, and that if you're not paying attention you can lose the plot fairly fast.

Symphogear has a simple enough story when you strip away the specifics of the characters. The cast is what makes the show worth watching, Hibiki on her own is a wonderful protagonist, she's overly kind and fond of food, and is only balanced out by her (girl)best friend Kohinata Miku. Hibiki's history is what makes her overly kind nature work, as other members of the cast say "A girl who's willing to throw herself into the frontlines just to help others seems twisted" and she is. Hibiki's happiness and kindness is her shield and her sword, it protects her from the things that scare her most, and allows her to fight to her fullest, or to take the time to talk. Her powers grow and grow to ridiculous levels, and unfortunately in the first season we only get scraps as to why, but that idea is completely fleshed out in the second season, as are many other things that make Hibiki one of my favorite characters. Not only that but her relationships with the other characters helps to make the show what it is. Her interactions with Tsubasa and Miku in particular brings development to all of the characters involved, and helps them flesh out.

Tsubasa is our second magical girl, a cold and unfeeling character at first. The first episode shows us what Tsubasa was like before the start of the show, she was sweet and shy, but after those events Tsubasa considers herself nothing but a sword. She sees herself as a weapon to fight the Noise, and holds with her guilt and feelings of loss that drive her character to grow and change. As she grows she further proves her worth as a mentor to Hibiki, changing from a sword to a warrior, and learning that she's more than just a weapon. Her development is natural, and the change only occurs after a period of introspection.

The other characters are no less well done, but for the sake of keeping this review at a readable length I'll cut the details and say that any characters who matters is given the development they need.

As a show that's plot is music heavy Symphogear sports a fantastic sound, with each character getting a unique character song that highlights each characters personality. They're all unique and good in their own rights, and as the characters change, hearing the songs really relates how far they've come.

This show really brought a breath of fresh air into my watching schedule, and gave me a female protagonist to point at when people ask me what I think makes a protagonist good. The art wasn't up to snuff when it was broadcasting, and I chalk that up to budget, but with the DVD release those issues have been solved. I leave the art rating relatively low because there was a lot that needed to be fixed after the original broadcast.

Overall I think Symphogear is under appreciated, it has it's issues, but each pitfall is followed by a mountain of reasons to let it slide. It's not perfect, far from it actually, but the shows stands well, and is enjoyable.

Who doesn't love watching girls with swords and fighting and are equipped with oh-so-awesome robotic, futuristic weapons? That's my kind of genre.

When I found about this anime, coming for 2012, I was like 'hey! I'm looking forward for this one' for I was captured by the teasers, plus not to mention Nana Mizuki was one of the dubbers. So I was like really expecting BIG for this one.

Okay, to be honest, I was fascinated by the opening song! The soundtracks were good, and they can bring up a good fighting atmosphere, giving the main characters a 'tough' aura.

Then the first episode showed a ... lot of stuff leaving the audience wanting more. The fighting scenes were awesome, though I find it annoying how they jump from one scene to another without giving much detail how they got up into that scene. Anyway, the flashblacks were a bit helpful to hold their audiences, like in the first episode where we can see Miku crying and the city was ruined by unknown causes, then a flashblack from 2 years before that catastrophe happened.

The animation wasn't that bad, the characters were not that bad either.And also there are strong hints of shoujo-ai here. The plot was very predictable, or maybe, we can say, the 13 episodes didn't suffice the whole idea of the story. I can say that the idea of using this ancient relics activated by a song, and then used as a powerful weapon through the help technology, is very creative and simply astonishing. But they didn't give an awesome plot for this awesome idea. Too bad.

The ending. Oh god! twas really horrible. Everything happened in a very fast manner that they fail to give a splendid and satisfying finale.

But hey! I'm not saying you should pass on this one, people had diff'rent points and ideas. And if you're fan of fancy girls in a armour kicking alien butts, well, this one's for you:)

This show is just absolutely incredible. All of the emotions and action that they put into such a small amount of time in each episode (only 1 so far out of a total of 13). I love the two women of Zwei Wing, Tsubasa (blue hair) and Kanade (red hair). They're like the musical version Panty & Stocking (who are both so amazing).
The story for this show consists of various elements to achieve a sense of loss but then of gain from the viewer. It does seem to be a bit confusing at times with how much it jumps around the time line from present ... to past to present to past and so on so forth. Because of this I am forced to give the story an 8.
The art and animation are pretty good. Everything seems so soft and pretty until you get to the Noise monsters. They are so not kawaii at all and it feels like they don't belong! What were they thinking?! The concert looked okay but I would have preferred something more along the lines of a Glee concert ^_~. Art gets a 6, my favorite number! desu
Now sound, the most important part of this show because it seems to have a huge focus on music! I thought the lyrics in the song that Zwei Wing sang towards the beginning of the first episode were kind of cliche and lame. But then using songs to battle enemies in their robotic suits? Infinite Stratos (yay!) meets Macross (boo!). Sound gets a 5 from me! Too bad they don't do uber kawaii versions of known pop songs that have actual meaning to them! But maybe there will be better songs in the next 12 episodes, but who can say for sure? It's not like waiting to hear them to write my review is going to change anything! Wa ha ha!
Characters! Like I said before, Tsubasa and Kanade are awesome! Panty & Stocking who can sing and fight monsters are so awesome! But the main character girl, whatever her name is ( I could easily look it up but I'm too lazy teehee), she seems pretty average. Nothing special about her except that she's dead or something. But not. It's so confusing all this jumping around through time! I'd rather watch The Girl Who Leapt Through Time! Characters gets a 9 out of 10!
This series seems to be chock-full of sorrow and loss and dark humor. Lots of people start dying all the time and cry a lot. A couple of the songs were pretty sad too. So I'd have to say that this show will be a very sad one and not enjoyable at all. Everyone knows that if the first episode of a show is bad, the entire show is bad (Bokurano = PROOF)!. 3/10 for enjoyment!
Overall I will have to give this show a 9! The characters are clearly the best part, and that can be said about any show! That's the most important part! Not the story, and clearly not the art or sound. If you have good characters, anything becomes good! Overall I shall give Senki Zesshou Symphogear a 7!

This anime will bring you the cringe , fan service and actually good songs/music in a wierd package.

The story is pretty typical of this kind of anime. Monsters attacking humans and humans having to fight them with special armor. Although i like the twist that music is alot involved in how they fight and that every episode is filled with nice tones. It might get confusing from times but i think most people familiar with these kind of action animes and will know that story isnt always the biggest plot in the world. Specially if they decide to bomb you with boob service or ... half naked girls. This is a common type of things in anime that sounds promising that they make the mistake of packing alot of fan service in it but with no meaning or progress behind it.

What drew me into the anime wasnt the story or art it was the music and songs combined with the everything else. The sounds in this anime makes it alot better than what it would be had less of it been in it.

Over to the character there its typical and fairly cliche type of characters. The main or one of them Tachibana hibiki is the typical everyone should be friends you and if you hurt her i will kill you and so on. What im happy about is that when i watched this i didnt have to wait until the final episode until she became usefull there is actuall progress in this character. The second or kinda first you will get to now is Kazanari Tsubasa the cold and beautiful like character. I would say she also share a cliche fault personality about lost love and that she can never get it back and it haunts her. But she isnt overly annoying.

I enjoyed this thanks to the music to a 7 which is in every meaning true because it made the anime alot more fun to watch and listen to.

Overall i would say this anime floats between a 7 and 6 but with my bias music love i chose 7 since i felt that helped bringing the anime a little higher and to a better point. If your fan of nice sounds and like fanservice or can stand it then this anime might be for you.

Story 6.5/10: Like normal, we are thrown into a AU where you are expected to accept what is going on, and there's nothing wrong with that (how else would any anime work off of pseudoscience?). For what they do give us as explanations, I will admit, it is a little shaky, especially the final blurb they try throwing in at the end (watch it and find out). Overall, I give the story a 6.5, but rounded up.

Art & Sound 10/10: Very well drawn and animated; interesting abilities for each of the characters are executed nicely. Very music driven anime with original songs (to the point ... where each character has their own CD), each character has their own style, so the chances of finding one you like goes up. Almost worth the watch based on these two factors alone. Only comment about the art is the occasional accentuation (you can guess of what), but it's nice that it isn't turned into the focus with excessive bouncing or anything of the sort, it's solely just the art style (except for maybe one scene).

Character 7/10: Just your average characters with prescribed roles. Despite any character development that may take place, at least 90% of it is predictable. I won't fault an anime for doing this (since it's tough to be original), I will only find fault with HOW they did it. Of the three main characters, you have: the friendship uguu one (as a friend of mine described her to me); the "I locked my emotions away after a tragic loss" character that starts with "you'll never replace my last partner"; and the "I was taken by a villain as a child and lied to my whole life" character that comes to find out the truth about what she was told.

Enjoyment 8/10: Good fight scenes will always add to the enjoyment factor for me, even if some of the weapons/attacks seem to appear out of nowhere (again, drawn/animated very well). Hibiki and Miku are the purest of unofficial lesbians. The music is a great addition/necessity of the show that aids the fight scenes.

I had heard the name of this show tossed around a bit, so when I expressed interest in it, it came with regards from a friend whose opinions/reviews of anime I respect. I can say I do not regret the decision to watch this show because I did enjoy it, and I do recommend it myself.

I literally just finished watching this series, and I knew immediately that I had to write a review for it.

First off, if you despise cliches, plot devices, sudden plot twists, and massive inconsistencies, this anime is not for you. Personally, i managed to ignore most of it and make it through the whole anime, and I'm looking forward to season 2. Lemme give a quick opinion of it before i go in depth.

This is probably the most cliche anime i have ever seen. It has everything: A super suit based on ancient technology that is superior to current technology and can be activated ... by singing. A cold character with a tragic loss who hates the main character at first. A useless best friend who somehow manages to appear as important, and is heartbroken that her best friend kept a government secret from her. A evil tsundere character who is first evil and them becomes friends with the protagonist, after being abandoned by the psychotic villain whose motivations and back story don't come into play until the last three episodes, and even then make little to no sense. And best of all, its got clumsy, completely average, not really smart protagonist who got dragged into some major problem by accident, and values friendship above everything else. Couple that with the fact that the cannon fodder villains (the Noise -how is that for a creative name in an anime about singing?) are actually pretty cool looking, and not really all that scary, and you have Senki Zesshou Symphogear.

Now for the real review.

Story: 8
I give it an 8 because it is actually a really good story line, if somewhat horribly executed and cliched. Sure, its been over done, but i like to think of it as a classical anime around which all generalizations are based. There quite a few discontinuitiesbut none of them are really major enough to make think "the heck?" Aside from their suit weapons, and their attacks. Basically, Hibiki, protagonist, goes to a concert, where the Noise attack. The concert singers, Kanade and Tsubasa, are users of Symphogear, a government secret, and the only weapon that can defeat the Noise, and its activated by singing. In trying to protect Hibiki, Kanade is killed, and a piece of her Gear is stuck in Hibiki's heart. This is what makes Tsubasa resent Hibiki at first. Now here is the weird part. The school that Hibiki and tsubasa, and everyone attends is for singing, yet the only time Hibiki really ever sings is when she fights. its not like she has a passion for it all or anything. She just can. Anyway, Plot gradually progresses, after several fights with the Noise, the first of which is incredibly dramatic and activates Hibiki's Symphogear embedded in her heart. Eventaully, you meet the thrid Gear user Yukine Chris, and her boss Fine, who is the main evil villain. I am not going to explain anymore for the sake of spoiling, however, from then on it does have some good story. There are detailed explanations of quite a few things, and almost nothing is left to chance. It is pretty good.

Art:10
The only reason this got a 10 was because i love the Noise and the Symphogear. The designs are very ingenious especially for the way some of the weapons on the suits are used, particularly Hibiki's. The art of the concerts great, especially with the lights. However, the Noise take the cake. Though they all kind of look the same, i love the color schemes and the way they shimmer. The Elevator Shaft lead to Sector 2 is also very artistic. The only thing that bugged me was how big and overused the explosions were and the fact that so many things still survived inside the blast radii.

Sound: 9
Sound is based on the noise the Noise make and of course, the singing. To be honest, some of the songs, to me, particularly Tsubasa's, are kind of lame. I especially hate the way that even after they activate their gear, they keep singing, their mouths moving and everything. If the song wanted to continue thats fine, but them singing it is a bit too far. However, the theme song, and the gear activation songs are really good. I particularly like Yukine's song.

Characters:8
The reason for the eight is in the first over view. They are cliche, and some of them are just plot devices. However, the concept behind them i liked, despite their being overused. My favorite character is Hibiki for her hyper active stupidity. I think her relation with Miku is great, even if somewhat over emotional. I love the way one of their friends keeps yelling "this isn't an anime" *sigh* if only you knew.

Enjoyment: 9
Despite all my hates, i really did enjoy watching this. It wouldn't surprise me if most people disagreed, and hated it, but i think it was okay. It definitely wasn't the best, but it was way better than some other anime. The fights were really good, if somewhat over dramatic. And there is some good laughs to be had.

Overall: 9
But hey, that's just me.

Symphogear
TLDR; it's a techno-magical girl show where the characters derive their strength from myths and relics through the power of music. The animation, while not spectacular, is at least good if not above par in most areas. The music is used skillfully to compliment the show, as well as being the basis for it. The plot is not leakproof and the writing could be better, but there are moments where the writers clearly knew what they were doing, and I feel that it's enough to salvage the show into the “good” category. There are much more poorly written shows out there. It could have been ... great, but they just didn't quite make it there. Ultimately, the setup for season 2 probably hurt the show a bit. The characters are likable for the most part, and not so extreme or overbearing as to be obnoxious. Along the journey, there are even some good laughs.

If you like Macross, mecha and mahou shoujo, give it a go.

The extended version;
First the honest truth; I dropped the show after one episode. Later, I gave it a second go and found that I had misjudged it, but I still wanted to turn a critical eye to it since it was a show that at two different times, I had totally different reactions to.

The music; the core and its application;
It may seem obvious, but a show about music, had better have good music, right? It does. Don't worry about that. The folks handling the show know how to use that music, too – scores and tracks are cued at the right moment and lend a great impact to what's going on, right from the get-go with the opening sequence. The final scene of episode one I find very memorable thanks to the use of the opening theme and the sound effects used with the visuals. The MC's debut is handled in a similar fashion, matching up with her music.

The animation;
Initially it seems that the quality drops off after episode 1, but after further review I simply don't think that's true. The animation in the opening concert is of a completely different nature – not skill – than the rest of the show. The concert consists of wide-angle views with very little drastic camera motion, in contrast to typical anime camera movements. What you're seeing the characters do (a choreographed performance lacking complicated camera angles/cuts) is too hard to compare to a hectic fight scene. The fighting in episode 1 is pretty well the same quality as the rest of the show, perhaps being more concentrated in a bid for viewers.
The rest of the show, while not animated to Gainax levels of splendor, is not done poorly. Fights have fluidity, good cuts and use of the characters. There are some stills and reuse. Now, I don't necessarily condone re-using animation, but I can't really crucify a series for having some it of – it's pretty common in a lot of older shows that I hold dear and even some newer ones. Attacks are executed with a sort of retro/classic take on things, with stylized themes that are presented relaying the name of the attack. Usually these come mid-way through execution, but it's not like they're a still frame that is being slid around to replace character motion. They're a stylized flourish.
The show flexes its animation muscles several times, and each time it's a little different. For example, a fight between two Attuned (symphogear users) early on is very different from the MC's debut fight. The former is executed with wide-angle shots that the characters move rapidly and fluidly around in, rather than the latter which contained a lot of rapid cuts, impact and extreme camera shots.
The show manages to avoid those weird in-between frames too, where characters look downright wrong as they transition. They also get bonus points for not using CG that stands out like a sore thumb for the Noise – it would have been so easy to do.

Let's talk about likability;
The show pays some amusing homage to cultural icons. Using familiar things in this way is a pretty classic way to get people on board, and I had no problems with it. I actually love it when shows reference things like this. (Like Slayers showing up on the magazine cover in Full Metal Panic, or Love, Elections and Chocolate being referenced in Sasami-san@ganbaranai)
This show happens to be one of the rare instances for me where the MC is my favorite. It's also a rare show because I actually like most of the characters, save for one. Hibiki is not exactly original, but she is cute and her design and writing paired with Aoi Yuuki as her voice actress manages to pull off the clumsy, unsure but determined and headstrong character (at least she isn't useless as well, as that archetype can tend to be). Tsubasa does well supporting with her cold, emotionless exterior. The whole second branch crew, from Genjuro to Sakurai and Ogawa are likable and have an air of mystery about them. Especially Genjuro, who has an unexplained strength that the writers manage not to abuse as a convenient plot resolution device.
I mentioned earlier that there was only one character I didn't like; that would be Chris. I felt she was the only one that was a bit too much of the typical. She was trying so hard to be that kind of character that it was sort of obnoxious.

Let's talk about the writing;
Symphogear is guilty of introducing new elements a bit too late into the plot, but I hazard a guess that this is due to their hope for a second season. The writing, while not great, is passable for a fresh franchise. It could have been great, if they had done just a few things differently. But, they managed to salvage it. I can't say how since it's ultra-spoilery, but if you decide to watch the show, just look for the specific events that connect the beginning, middle and end of the show in a symbolic way and you will see what I mean.
One of the great lines of the show has to be, “the heels are in the way!”. I know other people have noted this particular line, too. It seemed to me like a stab at the impracticality of having what are essentially high heels on your battle armor or mech. How do you solve that problem, anyways? Well, if you're Hibiki, you just break them right the hell off and go about your business. If this is the female writer in charge of the show trying to say something, then it's even more awesome.
Symphogear also touches on a few things that I thought were important to its quality as a show. It poses a question that's been asked before; if there was a common enemy, would humanity unite against it, or would they keep fighting each other?
The other topic is survivor's guilt. It's a pretty serious thing to bring up in a show that bounces between the sad and happy, being related to PTSD and all. Thankfully it doesn't weigh too heavy on the show and take the fun out of it, but it is a nice bit of writing/insight into the characters.

Let's talk about... fanservice;
Well, I'm not really a fan of fanservice, and thankfully it's limited to a small handful of unflattering camera angles of the heroines. I count this as a net positive for the show. If you're looking for that sort of stuff, this show probably isn't for you.

Let's talk about the usually ill-conceived romance that plagues a lot of anime;
There is none! (I feel like we dodged a bullet with this one)
I'm happy about the total lack of romance, largely because in anime romance tends to be very transparent, poorly done and predictable. You could argue that there's a romance between Hibiki and Miku of the platonic sort, but I'm inclined to just call that a very long friendship. While it can be fun to see your favorite character go through the (often painful and hilarious) trials of love, I think that unless the series is more or less centered around that element, it should be avoided because it will be poorly done.
Besides, the Attuned gals of Symphogear don't have time for that shit, to put it frankly.

I feel like the show received a lot of harsh criticism that wasn't entirely warranted. Other shows skate by with many more egregious offenses and are still lauded and loved by many. I'm not excusing the things that the show did wrong, but most of them weren't so blatant or in-your-face as some of the crap that the big name shows pull on the viewers. Also, being an anime original with a manga accompaniment, I feel you have to give them some credit – the show was not directionless and the pacing was decent, which is more than you can say for a show like Occult Academy. Plus, for Symphogear, we're talking about a show that has a staff with very little credited to them as far as director, writer and Encourage Films are concerned. Their production was backed up by the veteran Satelite.

The last thing I want to touch on is the absurdity of the show; in both the setting, mythos and design. Yes, they are magical robo-amored girls that fight colorful, amorphous blobs with music and holy relics – when hasn't mahou shoujo and mecha been pretty well ridiculous? Throw in a dash of fight them with music”, and the party is ready to start. Just go with it. Don't start comparing it to down to earth shows, because it's not really a comparison that you can make. It's probably one of those shows that's best left to people already familiar with Anime, because it's pretty far out there.

All things considered, I think it came out well. I'm looking forward to season 2 (which has picked up some veteran staff apparently), and I hope that the franchise expands to give us even more than that.

An anime about combat enabled by singing power in a similar fashion as AKB0048 with some drama that worked fine in a short 13 episode series.

Story 8/10
Points taken off for minor plot holes and a few eye rollers. Every battle had a clear reason as why the Noise is attacking which much more enjoyable then a series forcing a battle every episode ending with the bad guy retreating and attacking the next episode. While the first season wraps up the story line, there are hints for what what to come in season 2.

Art:7/10
I am not a big critic of how an anime looks, but ... the use of CG for a mass of people or cars is a distraction. The use of manga art for Hibiki touch battles was a nice touch.

Character 8/10
Other then Hibiki's naive look at the world, I enjoyed how she developed a lot. Everyone else suffered in character development because series was limited to 13.

Enjoyment 9/10
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy this series for how low this series ranks. It dose some things differently then most magic girl series that made the series good.

Overall 8/10
Magical girl, singing, and drama. Don't skip this anime if you enjoy any of these.

Hibiki and Tsubasa's fight in the first season, while incredibly frustrating at times, hits a lot of the same chords as something like the Nanoha or Naruto series. Half badass action, half emotional character-building journey, the first arc of Symphogear was impressive for something in 2012. I'm writing this from 9 years in the future to ask 3 important questions: Does Season 1 set a good base for what Symphogear eventually became? Is it worth watching Symphogear season 1 again? And do I recommend the series in 2021? The answer to all three is yes. But there are caveats. The first is that you must ... at the very least TOLERATE if not ENJOY Japanese pop. While Nana Mizuki is a powerhouse in the soundtrack department, even I will admit, not all the fight songs in season one are bangers. That said, Tsubasa's character development is worth sticking around for, in my opinion. On the one hand, Hibiki is a Mary Sue and very much the 'Goku' of this show. On the other hand, it's a total blast to watch Hibiki, Tsubasa and Chris grow throughout this first part of the Symphogear saga. That said, if you hate 'power of friendship' deus ex machinas, you'd best look elsewhere. For me personally, as someone who loves sci-fi tones in magical girl action anime, I couldn't ask for anything better to fill the void left by Nanoha.

The biggest reason to watch this show is the action. That and the music if you are so inclined.

For a show that seems to have an emphasis of music, its really just what the girls use to transform into their gundam-esc power suits to destroy all the enemies in their path. Its really just a theme the show uses as a backdrop, but nothing really gets explored with it.

The characters are pretty bland overall. Don't go in thinking it'll have too much character development. Its usually just enough to get the characters to work together to destroy the "noise," which are the enemies.

You ... can even see the plot twists coming from miles away too. So yeah, plot isnt too big of a deal. Its a pretty, by-the-numbers, affair.

As far as the action goes though, it's superb! Even from ep 1, you see alot of great animation throughout the fight scenes. Throughout the show, the fights just get better, as the stakes get bigger and the main girl starts to get better at fighting. Especially in the final ep where it gets as epic as possible for a final battle.

This show isnt great at anything but action honestly, but if you want to see girl punch through monsters, and have special moves and whatnot, give this show a shot. Otherwise, its just a bland show with bland characters that look pretty cool, or silly, when they are suited up.

Symphogear is one of the better anime I've watched, though I wouldn't say that's because it is a necessarily well-made anime. It certainly has its highs, but it also carries with it a variety of lows... that said, I don't think they actually harm the show that much. It's not the kind of anime you turn on for an overly complex or deep plot, though I can see why people who are searching for that would be disappointed.

The first episode hits like a truck, with a dramatic opening and a much darker-than-expected first half. The energy starts to calm down by episodes 2 and 3, ... but it never really hits zero again, as the writers' concept of a good plot appears to be "throw as many twists as possible at the wall to see what sticks." And, while a bit of a gambit, it's pulled off fantastically, as the show's almost too frantic to let its inconsistencies set in. The breakneck pacing definitely works to keep you engaged; the first time I watched it, I was almost constantly in a state of whiplash! As stated, the plot isn't particularly *deep,* and you have most of the major pieces of it by episode 5 or 6, it's still enough to make an interesting story with an overall satisfying climax.

Also some people seem to have problems with characterization, but... honestly? Reading those critiques seems they completely missed the actual characterization. While I'm hesitant to say the characters are all *particularly* deep, they do all go through some development, 2/3 of the main cast gets a satisfying arc (though the MC herself doesn't quite yet, I wouldn't say she's as two-dimensional as others have claimed), the villain is interesting in motive if generic in execution, and the supporting cast are all entertaining in their own ways.

I will say, the fact that a particular power gets power-crept within a single season of the show is quite annoying, and I feel they should have given it more weight, I overall don't think it's that much of a flaw. Additionally, while a surface-level explanation of the Noise and the Symphogears is given, the... "system," for lack of a better word, isn't really fully explained that well. There's glimpses of a deeper lore (some of which is expanded upon in later seasons), though if you're looking for specifics you better get used to explanations like "I'm just holding the door open for a once-in-a-decade event."

This anime also suffers from an occasional problem of showing, and then later (sometimes within 2-3 minutes) telling you exactly what happened anyways. There is an instance of this that particularly irks me in that there's a really well done conversation where you don't hear most of it, but you see the result, and the emotion and actions of the characters really just sell it in a way you don't have to know what exactly was said... and then they tell you exactly what was said anyway. Thankfully, it's not *too* prevalent, but it does happen. Another little gripe I have is that, like seemingly every anime with a high-school-aged cast, they saw it was necessary to include a bath scene. So, like, be ready for that if you're watching with someone else or just generally find those scenes icky.

Animation is... fine. There are a couple parts (particularly in backgrounds) that are really jpeg-y, and a couple awkward animation segments, though those are usually not particularly egregious, and quality generally holds up more consistently than some more modern anime. It's still obvious more of the budget went to the first episode and finale, but less so than in other examples, and the sometimes-iffy animation is more than made up for by the absolutely amazing soundtrack, the good sound design, and the surprisingly good vocal performances in some key moments.

Despite some of the show's little flaws, it all comes together in a package that makes the most of its strengths and weaknesses. It's high-energy, action-packed, turn-your-brain-off fun with one of the better anime soundtracks out there! Solid recommend, whether you only want to watch this season or go on for the rest of the show.

I thought this anime was trash. I really really thought it was trash. When I first watched 4-5 episodes of it I really thought this anime was garbage. Then it started to get better. I thought of course this anime is garbage it has a 7.04 rating on Myanimelist! So.. what made this anime so bad for the first 7 episodes? The fact that everything they did was wrong besides the action scenes. The music was really annoying and went against the mood of the series and it was paced way too fast making it seem like there was little to no depth, and there ... is depth, but they could have improved in that area. This show could have gone more the attack on titan route, but this has its own unique charm. Not to mention, the art makes this show look like modern day pokemon and that is not good. So that is why I thought this anime was nothing entertaining and was only targeted towards girls below 10 years old.

However, we actually start to see the characters develop after episode 7 and not just some stupid people with no logic actually driving conflicts. We see the characters develop and with good reason. Something that MOST animes actually fail on. The characterization and plot driving forward is actually natural it is not forced, although yes, the entire series is rushed. If you can get over the outdated art and the stupid 24/7 music in every cutscene that goes against the mood of the anime which to the point that cannot be taken seriously, then this anime is good.

Just keep in mind the anime takes awhile to get good. It's a slow burner, which I'm not sure if that's normal in anime. The other good part about this anime is that it's really comedic and it makes up for all its flaws in the action department. It just brightens my day how childish the action scenes can really be. I recommend this show over other shows that are listed above 8+ on MAL. If you're expecting a plot driven story, this isn't for you.

Low lows, high highs. If it's your bag, you're going to like it and feel like it was worth the watch. Not for everyone. The fight scenes present themselves as short music videos with original music for that fight alone, and they get away with huge swings in quality of animation and direction because of that - or not, if you're unwilling to take that trade. Whacky plot, and female-Naruto-but-without-a-nindo (Hibiki or "Bikkie", our female MC) might be too silly for your palette as well. Her arc outside of the main conflict is far better than her portrayal as the hero of said conflict. There ... are some, but probably not enough mature interpersonal dynamics and acceptable comedy in the rest of the show to entertain you, but if the main conflict and MC irk you (understandable) skip Symphogear. If you are a creative, optimistic person that's fine with wading through a dumpster fire to find little bits of treasure, you have a better shot at enjoying Symphogear than the rest of the world does - I do not claim that you will enjoy it.

Overall 7

A high-concept magical girl show with a dumb plot, weak characters, and good bits worth a watch sprinkled about. Symphogear highlights the cross-cultural appeal of song, exploring one interpretation of what it means. The world of Symphogear is a sci-fi fantasy present-day Japan where the "attuned" use ancient weapons activated by songs to defend humanity from "the noise" - dark spirits that thanos snap any unattuned human beings they touch. First episode is the highlight, but there are other highlights. The way in which the series is opened and closed is powerful and worthy of praise, IFF you pretend the last 2 minutes of the last episode didn't happen.

Story 6

Trash. Nothing that happens makes any sense, really. While the events as they unfold can be enjoyed for what they are, the way they are shot puts the owness on you to reflect and say "yeah, actually I guess that is/was pretty cool direction to take it - don't recall a sense of immersion or appreciation when it happend..." and thus my sense overall is one of wasted potential.

Some slack is deserved as gov't officials are assasinated by the USA, and a failed follow-up assasination by "childish Uncle Sam" (lol what a line, uttered in broken English no less) does kick off the climax of the season. The relationship between the female lead and her "best friend" is thankfully mature in some aspects which redeems the screentime devoted. A dead character is one of the better ones, making appearences throughout the season in the memories of her closest friend and influencing events through her legacy - that was handled well. The symbolism, as far as it goes, is alright.

Art 7

It's different in key areas, and has moments of quality. Tip of the hat to the dance sequences and stage performances, which are choreographed and animated better than most live performances I've seen. Unfortunately the quality is inconsistent in the extreme, and where the first episode might be a 9 much of the series might be a 4, with several episodes in between and a few good bits towards the end. The relics, transformations, and energy blasts are better than average.

Sound 9

You may not be into the fast-paced drum machine or 8-bit cocaine-synth, but even if that isn't your thing there are some truly good vocal tracks laid down all over the place in this show. The sounds of Symphogear are a large part of the experience, and though "stylized" and not for everyone they are a cut above in effort and quality as compared to other Anime if only because of the music and rhythmic fight sequences set to that music. The vocals in particular are haunting, powerful tracks engineered beautifully - they often save a fight scene that might cause you to simply turn the channel or go to bed if it were not set to these vocal tracks.

Character 6

Meh. Unfortunatley the strongest character is a dead girl. Her surviving love interest is the second strongest character. The main character, villain, and rest of the supporting cast are inconsistent at best. Character development is such standard fare I consider it non-existent in Symphogear. The show does have a few notable interactions between shitty characters, such as a scene where a covert operative tracks an asset that had been an enemy soldier until recently to a barren foxhole of an apartment. He takes a bite of the food he brought over and hands it to the asset, saying "so you know it's not poisoned", then continues to take one small bite or sip of the takeout he brought over before passing it to the asset as they discuss terms. For her part, the asset he is trying to bring in continues to maintain a combat stance even as they accept the food and drink offered and engage in a somewhat hostile discussion. The idea that she would rather starve herself than steal food until necessary, and the implication that by surveillance the operative noted this fact and brought food at exacly the moment she was probably going to go do just that rather than wither and die, was conveyed non-verbally.

Also worthy is an out of place interpersonal drama between the main character and her partner, who puts up with broken plans and lame excuses as the main character begins her secret life as a power ranger/Symphogear user. Hopeful it will just stop but knowing deep down that something is going on, her partner finally finds out for a fact she's being lied to and dumps the main character. The way they show this to the audience is compelling and realistic. We feel the pain of the relationship slipping between the fingers of both parties despite how much it means to each of them and their attempts to stop the process. The way that all the dark thoughts and misgivings supressed by the partner whose been putting up with all this like a champ come out as anger and resentment, not understanding, and she does not forgive her or let her get away with it, was a welcome surprise. Kudos. Unfortunately they walk back their own quality writing shortly thereafter - much like the ending.

Enjoyment 7

Had a great time. The story had more potential than was realized, the animation was sometimes astounding but often bad, and the characters experience virtually no development and leave no impression. Forgiving the silly stuff to enjoy the show isn't hard, but it is too bad because it could have been replaced with easy wins. The main villain only required 5-10 minutes of additional exposition to make her a sympathetic villain, which in retrospect she ought to have been. Another 5-10 minutes of flashbacks for best-dead-girl and her living foil could have left a mark on the audience. Screentime for the American black ops unit plotting assasinations of key Japanese officials to get their hands in the Symphogear cookie jar would have been a straightforward way to do some world building around the geopolitical conflicts ancient superweapons like the Symphogear create.

Not bad, but not great either.

I finished watching the first two seasons of Symphogear.

In Symphogear nearly all of the drama is ham-fisted but in a way it matches the over-the-top nature of the entire series. I say this affectionately.

The plot can be described simply as 'epic,' with plenty of interspersed drama. There are a lot of exciting climactic moments where you can feel the hype.

Symphogear is very creative in general with rich artistic flavour. The series just oozes creativity and this is one of my favourite aspects of it. Very creative outfits and character designs too.

The OST is pretty great with loads of vocal songs by the ... female cast. I've relistened to some of the albums many times and put some of them on my portable music device. The music of the series is definitely a positive in my mind but I recognize that this is highly subjective. I always like it when a franchise puts out lots of character songs and other musical content.

I generally don't enjoy action in cinematic works but in this case the action scenes are entertaining and engaging to me. Both because of how they are portrayed artistically and because of the songs that accompany them.

I watched the BDs and didn't perceive any technical production issues. Animation quality was fine; no complaints.

Yuri romance is served as a (also ham-fisted) side dish. I really like yuri romance so this was a plus for me. It doesn't dominate the screentime so don't let that deter you from watching.

Overall 7/10 and I think the series deserves praise mainly on the basis of creativity and artistic merit. I really liked it and look forward to watching the next few seasons.

#Review info
Reviewing Info: How I rate/review stuff is explained on my wordpress blog, which can be found through my profile. But TDLR; My personal opinion has much bigger weight than “critical” novel length “objective” mumbo jumbo.
Review layout: Minimal/Lazy MAL non-h
Review type: Anime
Note: Still testing review layouts. This line will be removed when I’m satisfied with the layout.

#Review (short ver):
In a nutshell: Song powered magical girls with cool transformations.

NOTE: Franchise review.
... #PROS
+Great transformation
+Vocal music power/magic presentation is great
+Story starts strong
+Plenty of fun characters with pre-set stereotypes
*Cute nakama power presentations

-CONS
-Songs become a bit lazy thus waning in their effect
-Season 3-4 pretty weak (story)
-Odd art quality drops

#Review (comments/longer ver):
Review is overall thoughts up to XV (season 5)
I’ve always enjoyed a great vocal powered magic, Anime. (Remember watching mermaid melody back in days) and this Anime does such genre a fairly great justice. Let me get the main complaint out of the way, the story starts well but sadly season 3-4 were pretty dull story and character ‘wise. Didn’t simply generate the same amazing emotions as first 2 seasons, but thankfully season 5 turned up the notch again.

Anyhow, whilst the story presents the usual magical girl tropes. Character drama, growth, new villains, new powers, new transformations, this one orientates more of mecha’ish designs. Drama itself for most part is enjoyable but sadly most villains’ storytelling and drama is pretty disappointing, but in the end still enjoyable. It’s quite a rollercoaster to be honest, you get moments where you kinda support villains but then you get disappointed how silly it will seem to you and so on.

As far as character cast go, we have tons of fun stereotypes, a bit of everything for everyone. Their growth and development? I guess it does exist, but I didn’t really pay attention to it as it wasn’t focus for me. They did go through various drama scenes thus growing emotionally, but I don’t remember there being anything overly serious. At least for me.

Art, animation is good if it comes to combat and transformations. Very flashy, lot of cool looking moves & powers, but art of everything else is pretty random. I remember some scenes looking like at some sort of paint art whilst other scenes are poser art quality. But overall, it was still good enough to be called good.

Music, OST is great in this Anime, probably the strongest point. But ey, music queen Nana Mizuki has lot of tracks here, so vocal part of their magic songs are beautiful. Openings and ending as also fairly good and other OST is noticeable, thus overall I think the Audio element was amazing in this Anime. Obviously had some tracks I didn’t like, but in the end as whole, I loved music.

Finishing words, if you like “power of music/songs” type of trope, then this Anime is great. Offers you plenty of music, transformations and emotions packed in “important fight songs”. If you also like modern take on magical girls with semi machinery transformations, then it’s also solid Anime. But if you seek for some sort of high tier story writing & depth then you won’t be enjoying this show as much.

I did enjoy 3 out of 5 seasons quite a bit. Season 1-2 were absolutely stunning for me when I first watched them years ago, now I finished season 3-5 and yeah as mentioned season 3-4 was pretty dull for me in comparison, but season 5 returned the charm.

#Total Score 7/10