Senki Zesshou Symphogear

Ok, nothing personal this is just me, as of episode 3, I've decided to drop this anime. This is because, I find the combination of the following genres; action, fantasy, magical girl, music and sci-fi doesn't seem to be properly combined, in fact the genres seem to cancel out each other, this thing can be compared to a good movie being turned into some sissy musical stage theatrics. Ok, so there other animes that do feature songs and actions in them, true, co'z in those animes the musical is not the main genre, here on the other hand the main genres sci-fi and musical seem ... to don't mix at all. So for the story, I give it a "Fair" number 6, since the sci-fi genre could have made this anime good, but combined with the musical genre and magical girl actually puts the story down.

Art: Mediocre number 5.
Don't ask, I always rate it like that.

Sound: Poor number 3.

Co'z I don't like any of the songs and it inculdes both the opening and closing.

Character: Decent number 4.

I much rather prefer to see Hibiki and Tsubasa fighting those Noise things, than have them singing while fighting them Noise.

Enjoyment and Overall: Poor number 3.

I just don't like the poorly combined musical and sci-fi things that goes with this anime.

By the way, in most anime/manga social sites the sci-fi genre is inculded for this anime. So, if any of you have any fuss about me putting the sci-fi thing here, then I suggest that you guys go and deal with those other anime/manga social sites.

PS: This is just me, if you dawgs like this anime, then you like it and that's that.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear is an odd musical, action anime featuring girls in colorful sci-fi battle suits who must fight against monsters called "Noise" in order to save humanity. In order to use the relics that power their Symphogear suits, the girls must sing certain songs. The different songs they sing give them different powers ranging from charging up their suit to unleashing their strongest attack which has a recoil effect on them when used.

Despite a visually promising concert scene in the beginning of the first episode, the story falls to pieces almost immediately. It seems almost as if the organization working with the Symphogear girls ... expected the Noise to attack the concert where the girls were singing in order to revive a powerful relic. So why risk the lives of thousands of eager concert-goers who get caught in the fray when the Noise do show up? This may seem like a minor plot problem (aside from the hundreds of carbonized dead bodies), but similar plot issues like this build up after a while and become difficult to ignore. The two girls, Kanade and Tsubasa, who had been performing then change their songs and begin fighting the Noise in order to save the frantic mass of people who are all scrambling for the exits. However, our main protagonist, Hibiki, gets trapped while trying to get away and ends up getting injured despite the singers' efforts to save her. Since mentioning some things that happen in the first episode would be a spoiler, I'll stop the initial summary there.

There are many more problems with the story, but most of them occur with several sudden changes in characters' personalities in addition to the nonsensical ending. The characters in this show get over their anger at others in the most illogical ways ranging from having someone clean their room to just deciding out of nowhere that they should be friends again. The Swan Songs (which are the girls' ultimate attacks) also deal less and less of a self-damaging recoil every time they occur in the anime for some unexplained reason.

As for the characters themselves, they are hardly unique at all. Hibiki is basically a weaker and more annoying version of Kaname Madoka who accepts her power a bit faster (they are also both voiced by Aoi Yuki). As for the other main characters, they are a girl who likes to fight alone and dislikes Hibiki for reasons in their past and a tsuntsun girl who has a hard time understanding other people's perspectives of the world. The villain is just an annoying sadist who enjoys being nude and has no appeal aside from her excellent voice actor (who still couldn't save her from being annoying).

Being an anime with a heavy focus on music, you would expect a great soundtrack. While this is the strongest category, it's only barely above average. For much of the earlier episodes, the music plays almost non-stop switching from track to track with hardly any break. It got to the point where I was grateful for some of the scenes later on when they finally paused the soundtrack for part of a scene. None of the tracks stood out much either aside from one hard rock track that was used to accompany Yukine's fights. Much of the rest of the music consists of the j-pop/techno combinations used for both the songs sung by the characters' as well as the background music. There were also some problems with the volume of the music/singing when used while characters were speaking at times.

Oh, and this anime has some of the worst Engrish I've ever heard to the point where the subbers provided subs for it and even fixed the grammar at some points to make it more understandable.

The animation is the most inconsistent category. It looks like a quarter of the entire animation budget for this show was used during the two concert scenes. Compared to these scenes (especially around episode 3 and 4) the animation takes a nosedive. That's not to say it's all bad aside from those two scenes, however there are some moments where a single motionless shot will stay for almost twenty seconds or the animation just looks like a couple gifs pasted on top of each other. There is also one scene where a character is looking down out of a library window and sees two characters in a hospital room, but when you see out of the window from the hospital room, there is no library (or any buildings at all) in sight. Similarly to Evangelion, this anime also reuses the same shots of the main organization's headquarters many times.

Story - 3/10
Animation - 5/10
Sound - 6/10
Characters - 3/10
Enjoyment - 3/10
Overall - 4/10

The many faults in this series build up over time and prevent it from being very enjoyable. It's uncreative premise of saving the world from mysterious creatures which has been done much better hundreds of times doesn't allow for much right from the start. The bland characters, mediocre soundtrack despite being a music anime, and the inconsistent animation don't do much to save it either. I recommend skipping this anime and watching something like Gurren Lagann, Evangelion, or Madoka Magica if you want something similar but much better.

Fellow anime connoisseurs,earlier this year we were graced by a torrent of new anime like Aquarion Evol or Guilty Crown
though the latter had its obvious weaknesses I agree that it was worthwhile watching,However this is not
the case for all of this season's new anime namely Zesshou Symphogear'whats bad about it wasn't
the 'Noise' (and no im not talking about the monsters, im talking about the 'Noise' that the characters call singing.)or the fact that the main character
is a mutated pikachu with the depth of a sheet of paper nor the
fact that the best character died a martyr to save this lowly abomination from the apparently ... REAL"Noise".
No no no the problem lies when all of these elements combine into a thirteen episode animation,then eagerly advertised to us,anime enthusiasts
only to totally annihilate those high expectations we built up for it.I no longer acknowledge Symphogear as anime,for doing so is
an insult to anime itself.

Story:1
The Story very inconsistent though this normally doesn't matter for the earlier episodes where it usually builds up suspense,
the problem is that those inconsistencies don't get resolved either, Like why didn't Tsubasa die when she sung her swan song?
this is probably what the writers were thinking:"Tsubasa gets the high ratings,Screw the story we can't kill her off"
im sure everyone else is trying to be politically correct by giving it a three or four out of pity but I'm giving it a one because 'Pathetic'
is the perfect adjective to this story.

Art/Setting:4
I will admit Tsubasas gears (despite the training wheels on the back)is designed well and the cityscape as well,take the concert hall,it looks awesome but on
closer examination I think the only reason the crowd is getting excited is for the constant Tsubasa Up-skirt throughout the concert...
But thats ok,so the architecture is bad,the art is still OK right?
N.O. they spent their entire design budget on Tsubasa and the concert hall,just look the commander hes an part Irish part Zimbabwean part Japanese dude,they basically
used 'Paint'(the Application) to draw him.

Sound:1
IM TIRED OF LISTENING TO YOUR DAMN SONG!and the transformation sequences - un en iwe an en we tuo...are you sure
that's still Japanese?Like I think it would make a lot more sense to say:"I will Digivolve too!".

Character:2
I said before that Hibiki had the depth of a sheet of paper,well if you put the entire cast together, you will have a small stack of printer paper about 2mm
in total depth.
I mean how much do you know about each individual character,Lets take Yukine Chris because we haven't mentioned her yet-
Chris's past is a series of unfortunate events,Her parents died so she stole and eventually turned to terrorism.THE END.
wow so complex*cough*.

Enjoyment:1
I was actually forced through this anime,one of my friends forced me to watch this on a weekly basis,im serious he was like-"I know where you live,so you better
watch it"so partly because of that I didn't enjoy this abomination too much.
That said this anime was an Abomination with or without my friends help,it helped me define the new limits of bad in the anime world.
whenever my friend gives me anime I would ask:"is it better than Symphogear?"
Symphogear is simply that bad.

Overall:I actually want to give this a negative score because I want my 6.5 hours I spent on this anime back, but since I can only give it a one as a minimum
the anime got off easy.

Quite frankly from an economic students point of view this anime should be classed as a "demerit good"in that it is detrimental to society itself,in fact one day
im sure it will replace that atomic bomb as a new weapon of mass destruction.I Loath it ,I Hate it ,I Pity it for becoming so deformed.
To my patient anime brethren I bid you adieu for I will see to it that 'Senki Zesshou Symphogear' Burns in Hell.

This show varied wildly from stupid fun to just plain stupid. Every scene they weren't in their super suits was dreadful. The forced drama and over the top reactions clashed wildly with jpop idols in skimpy song-powered mecha suits. Why does this show have a torture scene that comes out of nowhere and is never referred to again? Who thought that was a good idea?

That being said the fights are over the top BADASS and really capitalize on the silly concept. The jpop is solid, but if thats not your thing then you're missing out on a huge part of this anime.

Overall I'd suggest ... this only if you want to shut your mind off and have some braindead fun

♬ "Listen to my song" ♬ The first opening theme in Senki Zesshō Symphogear is one of those catchy tunes, that from merely seeing the lyrics written out, Nana Mizuki's voice will immediately start playing in your head! Truly, a banger of a song! Welcome to Symphogear, where singing can be converted into phonic waves, which is then used to take down a bunch of aliens, mutants, and every other mythological destruction device imaginable! The fighting system is very similar to the technical magic that is employed in "Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha" but, with the hyperbolic meter cranked up to two-hundred! Senki Zesshō Symphogear is ... like a fusion of the "Macross" idol "deculturization" — fused with the magical, science fiction in "Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru"! An amalgam of everything cool in fictional realities, but this aspect is sometimes overused, and causes a bit of a detriment to the plot.

⚠️ This review will have spoilers ⚠️

—Story/Characters

The series starts out with a battle that costs Tsubasa Kazanari's girlfriend, Kanade Amō, her life. And of course, to up the ante, Hibiki Tachibana (the girl her girlfriend risked her life to save) is then recruited as a new trainee, because a piece of Amō's symphogear ("Gungnir") is embedded inside of the young girl's chest. Naturally, Tsubasa is a bit bitter towards Hibiki, but—like every buddy cop trope in existence, they eventually become friends! Chris Yukine is an antagonist/rival character that works for the megalomaniacal, Finé, before having a change of heart; many of Chris' reasons for being evil, her parents' deaths/being sold into sex trafficking, are very vague in the first season and it's difficult to discern any of the characters' real motives.

Since some of the staff from the first season are swapped when Senki Zesshō Symphogear G comes around, that season exfoliates a lot of the head-scratching moments from the first season and is less about "Yū-Gi-Ō"-like, prisma-colored abilities and more about the internal struggles that each character bears; and how, despite the odds, they fight against an enemy with unfettered strength. And because of this, Hibiki Tachibana's famous catchphrase is, when asked "what if [insert problem here] is impossible to solve"—she says "even so" and usually ends the statement with punching a bad guy into oblivion!

Yes, the side-plot about Finé using ancient relics to resurrect "The Tower of Babel" and getting Gold Saint ("Saint Seiya") armor was cool! Yes, the fight choreography, after Chris uses "Ichaival" for the first time, was cool! But, that isn't enough to sustain the story! The first season would have benefited more from having more character moments with Hibiki, Miku, Tsubasa, and Chris! There's an endless onslaught of battles and then the big reveal that Ryōko Sakurai was Finé all along, which really isn't a surprise at all! If you're new to the Symphogear series, and you don't like the first series, keep in mind that the sequel productions are much better—think of the first season as just an introduction into the world.

—Technical

Luna's Favorite Works by Each Respective Creator = ✅

Tatsufumi Itō (director, episode director, storyboard, key animation), notable works:
* Mahō Sensei Negima!: Mō Hitotsu no Sekai Extra — Mahō Shōjo Yue♥
* Shugo Chara! Party!

Commentary: Mr. Itō passed away last May (2020). It's a shame, because even though the first season of Symphogear isn't the greatest, there could have been another series or OVA that he could have finished with excellence. While he was alive, Mr. Itō did the storyboards and key animation for a good number of popular series. The direction seems a bit disoriented in this particular show, but since the man recently passed away, giving too harsh of criticism would feel like stomping on his grave. Rest in peace, Tatsufumi Itō.

Aoi Yūki as Hibiki Tachibana, notable roles:
* Tōru Ichii, A-Channel
* Nyx Megami, Accel World: Infinite∞Burst ✅
* Yoshiko Hanabatake, Aho Girl ✅
* Riko Mikogami, Anyamai Tantei Kiruminzū
* Tsugumi Aozora, Asobi Asobase ✅
* Hana Oshiroi, Ben-To
* Varel Jin, Blade & Soul
* Kayo Hinazuki, Boku dake ga Inai Machi ("Erased") ✅
* Tsuyu Asui, Boku no Hero Academia ✅
* Akiho Kōsaka, Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Sho-bitch na Ken ("My Girlfriend is Shobitch")
* Boogiepop and Tōka Miyashita, Boogiepop wa Warawanai (2019) ✅
* Mina Tepes, Dance in the Vampire Bund
* Arisa, Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyōsōkyoku ✅
* Couvert Eschenbach Pastillage, Dog Days
* Tamaki Kotatsu, Enen no Shōbōtai ("Fire Force")
* Victorique de Blois, Gosick ✅
* Mihoshi, Gundam Build Fighters ✅
* Mayoi Ayasato, Gyakuten Saiban: Sono "Shinjitsu", Igi Ari! ("Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney")
* John, Hakumei no Tsubasa
* Konju, Kakumai to Mikochi ✅
* Nodoka Hanadera, Healin' Good PreCure ✅
* Jūbei Yagyū, Hyakka Ryōran: Samurai After
* Korone, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaō
* Alice Blanche, Ikoku Meiro no Croisée ✅
* Serika Ginyūin, Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara ("If Her Flag Breaks")
* Kiriya Ubuyashiki, Kimetsu no Yaiba ✅
* Kino, Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World
* Tomo Kunagisa, Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregototsukai ("Zaregoto Series") ✅
* Murasaki Kuhōin, Kure-nai
* Giselle Collette, Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam ("Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing") ✅
* Madoka Kaname, Mahō Shōjo Madoka★Magica ✅
* Diane, Nanatsu no Taizai ✅
* Tatsumaki, One Punch Man ✅
* Clementine, Overlord ✅
* Krul Tepes, Owari no Seraph ✅
* Aika Nakamura, Persona 4 the Animation
* Futaba Sakura, Persona 5 the Animation
* Iris, Pokémon ✅
* Maihime Tenkawa, Qualidea Code
* Mélie, Radiant
* Kasumi Midō Barnett, Ragnastrike Angels
* Fremy Speeddraw, Rokka no Yūsha ✅
* Shizuno Takakamo, Saki Achiga-hen: Episode of Side-A ✅
* Shizuno Urushibara, Seiken Tsukai no World Break
* Sunako Kirishiki, Shiki
* Noël Kannagi, So Ra No Wo To
* Toshiko Tatsuno, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru ("And Yet The Town Moves") ✅
* Meme Tatane, Soul Eater NOT!
* Tika Blunche, Star Ocean: Anamnesis
* Kayo Fujikawa, Stella no Mahō
* Yūki Konno, Sword Art Online ✅
* Rino Tanaka, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge ("Tanaka-kun is Always Listless") ✅
* Claire Cruz, Toaru Hikūshi e no Koiuta ("The Pilot's Love Song")
* Yōmu Konpaku, 東方 Niji Sōsaku Dōjin Anime: Musō Kakyō ✅
* Komachi Hikigaya, Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. ("My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU") ✅
* Loup, Yakimochi Caprice
* Noa Takigawa, Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo ("Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches")
* Tanya Degurechaff, Yōjo Senki ✅
* Inaho Misora, Yōkai Watch
* Ichigo Amano, Yumeiro Pâtissière
* Mitsuko Yurizono, Yuri Kuma Arashi ✅
* Yutori Tanaka, Yutori-chan

Commentary: Ms. Yūki has become a strong amount of magnetism in the industry, even invoking a memorable presence in mobile games like Fate/Grand Order ("Shuten-Dōji") and Azur Lane ("Taiho")! I think that Ms. Yūki strong personality translates well in the case of Hibiki Tachibana, a cute girl that is strong-spirited and has a cosmic punch, that is practically unrivaled! Hibiki reminded me of my best girl in Girls und Panzer ("Miho Nishizumi") and for the most part, tries to her best to keep the peace. Aoi Yūki did a wonderful job at making her cute, charming, relatable, and a fighter! Excellent seiyū!

Nana Mizuki as Tsubasa Kazanari, notable roles:
* Nanase Kotobuki, "Bungaku Shōjo"
* Allison Whittington and Lillianne Aicasia Corazón Whittington-Schultz, Allison to Lillia
* Akiko, Aoi Bungaku Series
* Oboro Iga, Basilisk
* Kururu, Binzume Yōsei
* Saya Kisaragi, Blood-C
* Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi, Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryū no Rondo
* Misaki Kirihara, Darker Than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha
* Nanami Takatsuki and Ricotta Elmar, Dog Days
* Hannah, Dragon's Dogma
* Sieglinde Baumgarde, Dragonaut: The Resonance
* Cisqua, Erementar Gerad
* Wrath, Fullmetal Alchemist ✅
* Bi Fei, Gin no Guardian
* Lydia Carlton, Hakushaku to Yōsei
* Tsubomi Hanasaki, HeartCatch! PreCure! ✅
* Yu Minamoto, Ichigo 100%
* Kotoko Aihara, Itazura na Kiss
* Tsugumi Shibata, Jigoku Shōjo ("Hell Girl") ✅
* Sora Yamato, Jikū Tantei Genshi-kun
* Tiz, Jū Ō Sei
* Yin Fu, Ken En Ken: Aoki Kagayaki
* Roya, Kiba
* Yuno Rukina, Kiss Dum: Engage Planet
* Alois Trancy, Kuroshitsuji II ✅
* Janice Quatlane, Layton Kyōju to Eien no Utahime ("Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva")
* Nyamo Naamo, Love Hina
* Sayaka Mizushiro, Magical Canan ("Magical Kanan")
* Fate and Alicia Testarossa, Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha ✅
* Hotaru Shirakawa, Memories Off
* Mizuki Hibara, Mokke
* Magaret Liones, Nanatsu no Taizai ✅
* Hinata Hyūga, Naruto ✅
* Kaho Serizawa, Natsu-iro no Sunadokei ("Hourglass of Summer") ✅
* Shinobu, Ninin ga Shinobuden ✅
* Ann Takamaki, Persona 5 ✅
* Rue Kuroha, Princess Tutu ✅
* Yufa, Ragnarök the Animation
* Rin Ogata, RideBack ✅
* Moka Akashiya, Rosario to Vampire
* Pandora, Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas ✅
* Mave, Sentō Yōsei Shōjo Tasukete! Mave-chan
* Nana Suzuki, Shichinin no Nana
* Kanon Seena, Shining Tears X Wind
* Utau Hoshina, Shugo Chara!
* Morinas, Simōn
* Aria, Sister Princess
* Suzu Edogawa, Tactics
* Colette Brunel, Tales of Symphonia the Animation ✅
* Sylvette Suede, Tegamibachi ✅
* Neju Na Melmas, Tenchi Muyō! GXP
* Chizuru, Tokyo Marble Chocolate
* Sunao Konoe, Tsuyokiss
* Matsuki Akino, Wakaokami wa Shougakusei! ✅
* Maria, Witchblade
* Rina Ogata, White Album ✅

Commentary: Nana Mizuki is another very famous voice actress, having had lead roles in Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha ("Fate Testarossa") and HeartCatch! PreCure ("Tsubomi Hanasaki")! Ms. Mizuki conveys the anguished, yet distinguished nature of Tsubasa's character in a very charming and likable way! Over the span of the series, we deeply sympathize with her feelings of grief over her dead girlfriend, Kanade; as well as the struggle that she has, when pitted against the corrupt system that her wealthy family has implemented. Great character, great seiyū!

Ayahi Takagaki as Chris Yukine, notable roles:
* Kuro, Ao no Exorcist
* Kotoha, Arata: The Legend
* Suiren, Battle Spirits: Shōnen Toppa Bashin
* Daina Kurogami, Beyblade Burst
* Roana Dan, Blade & Soul
* Nene, Canaan ✅
* Takuto Tatsunagi, Cardfight!! Vanguard
* Nina Antalk, Chrome Shelled Regios
* Otome Asakura, Da Capo
* Jasmine, Deltora Quest
* Ferris Eris, Densetsu no Yūsha no Densetsu ("The Legend of the Legendary Heroes")
* Erika Karisawa, Durarara!! ✅
* Arrester Blanket, Fight Ippatsu! Jūden-chan!!
* Shungo Ninomiya, Goshūshō-sama Ninomiya-kun
* Manny Ambassada, Gundam: G no Reconguista ✅
* Hamiji, Hakkenden: Tōhō Hakken Ibun
* Hiiragi, Hanamaru Yōchien ("Hanamaru Kindergarten") ✅
* Jade, Hōseki no Kuni ✅
* Larimer, Jewelpet Magical Change
* Aoi Shindō, Koitabi: True Tours Nanto
* Tsubasa Kawai, Kyō no Go no Ni
* Henrietta, Log Horizon ✅
* Mitsuba Marui, Mitsudomoe
* Feldt Grace, Kidō Senshi Gundam 00
* Saki Mizukoshi, Natsu-iro Kiseki
* Mikoto Kuga, Norn 9
* Ein, Phantom: Requiem for a Phantom ✅
* Tobio Fūma, Sanjōgattai Transformers Go!
* Sumika Murasame, Sasameki Koto ✅
* Ami Kuroki, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin ("Occult Academy")
* Mikako Satsukitane, Sora no Otoshimono
* Megumi Yamamoto, Special A
* Rika Shinozaki, Sword Art Online ✅
* Wakana Sakai, Tari Tari ✅
* Noe Isurugi, True Tears ✅
* Kira, Vampire Holmes

Commentary: Although, she hasn't had as many roles as many of the other voice actresses on this list, Ms. Takagaki does a damned good job at making Chris immensely likable! I don't think I've ever met one person who has remotely disliked her character! While being a hardcore tsundere, she's also very caring, kind, and empathetic; despite, her backstory and immense trauma during her stead as a villainess, in the first season! In my opinion, Chris is one of the best examples of a reformed adversary, and she kicks a lot of butt, too! Wonderful character and a phenomenal job overall, on the part of the seiyū and the writing team!

Yuka Iguchi as Miku Kohinata, notable roles:
* Arisa Hoshigaoka, Arata naru Sekai: World's/Start/Load/End ("World's End")
* Maria Takayama, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai ("Haganai: I don't have many friends")
* Mako Nakarai, Bokura no ✅
* Honoka Sawada, Chibi☆Devi!
* Yashiro Hoshimiya, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko ("Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl") ✅
* Shima, Devidol!
* Sherry and Chelia Blendy, Fairy Tail
* Tamaki Irie, Ginga Kikōtai Majestic Prince
* Mako Reizei, Girls und Panzer ✅
* Suwako Moriya, Hifū Katsudō Kiroku: The Sealed Esoteric History ✅
* Myne, Honzuki no Gekokujō: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen ("Ascendance of a Bookworm")
* Naeka Fujiwara, Kamen no Maid Guy
* Kaga, Tenryū, Tatsuta, Tone, and Chikuma — Kantai Collection ("KanColle") ✅
* Shizume Seo, Kara no Kyōkai ✅
* Natsuko Ishikura, Koitabi: True Tours Nanto
* Luea, Lady Jewelpet
* Chinatsu Morikawa, Lostorage Incited WIXOSS
* Rinna Fuwa, Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to the Animation
* Subaru Konoe, Mayo Chiki!
* Tsukihi Araragi, Monogatari (series) ✅
* Kaede Mizumo, Nyan Koi!
* Mitsuba Sangū, Owari no Seraph
* Crusch Karsten, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu ✅
* Maho Misawa, Rō-Kyū-Bu! ✅
* Yū Sonda, Sakura Trick
* Hibari, Senran Kagura ✅
* Astarte, Strike the Blood
* Norie Okazaki, Tamayura
* Yuzuha Aigae, Tenshi no 3P! ✅
* Mea Kurosaki, To LOVEる ✅
* Librorum Prohibitorum Index, Toaru Majutsu no Index ("A Certain Magical Index") ✅
* Aiko Andō, True Tears
* Mirei Shikishima, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid
* Aoi Yukimura, Yama no Susume ✅

Commentary: Despite everyone's dislike for Index's voice in "Toaru Majutsu no Index," I am a fan of Ms. Iguchi's discography! Her role as Miku Kohinata is doting and maternal, and it reminded me of her roles as Tsukihi Araragi in the "Monogatari" series! She has a very charming, earthly aura when she plays certain characters — when they're not ecstatic, they're often very practical like Crusch Karsten from "Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu"! Magnificent job in making Miku stand out, even though she starts out as a side character! Superb seiyū!

Minami Takayama as Kanade Amō, notable roles:
* Mia, .hack (series) ✅
* Train Heartnet, Black Cat
* Sachiko Fujinuma, Boku dake ga Inai Machi ("Erased") ✅
* Irene, Claymore ✅
* Lady Armaroid, Cobra the Animation: Time Drive
* Yū, Cosmic Fantasy: Ginga Mehyō no Wana
* Hajime Hinata ("Izuru Kamukura"), Danganronpa 3 ✅
* Conan Edogawa, Detective Conan ✅
* Taiki Kudō, Digimon Xros Wars
* Mami Tachibana, Explorer Woman Ray
* Envy, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ✅
* Kitarō, Gegege no Kitarō (2007)
* Dark Pretty Cure, HeartCatch! PreCure ✅
* Japan Hinamoto, Jimoto ga Japan
* Lakshi, Kaze no Tairiku ("The Weathering Continent")
* Yaiba Kurogane, Kenyū Densetsu Yaiba
* Honmaru Edojō, Magical★Tarūto-kun
* Genie, Mahō Senshi Louie
* Kiki, Majo no Takkyūbin ("Kiki's Delivery Service") ✅
* Yama Rikudo, Makaryūdo Demon Hunter
* Former Rosa Gigantea, Maria-sama ga Miteru ✅
* Mana, Mermaid's Scar
* Yō'ichi Ajiyoshi, Mister Ajikko
* Mashura and Mashuranbo, Mushrambo
* Moomintroll, Mūmindani no Suisei
* Rantarō Inadera, Nintama Rantarō
* Kei Kuruma, Project ARMS
* Nabiki Tendō, Ranma ½ ✅
* Hao Asakura, Shaman King ✅
* Minatsu Nakazato, Slow Step
* Janny Mann, Sol Bianca
* Yohko Yamamoto, Soreyuke! Uchū Senkan Yamamoto Yōko
* Mithos Yggdrasil, Tales of Symphonia the Animation ✅
* Dilandau Albatō, Tenkū no Escaflowne ✅
* Keno Inuzaka, The Hakkenden
* Alice Beaumont, Touch
* Tommy Bangs, Wakakusa Monogatari: Nan to Jo-sensei ("Little Women II: Jo's Boys")
* Feena, Ys ✅
* Mukuro, Yū☆Yū☆Hakusho ✅

Commentary: Ms. Takayama is one of my favorite voice actresses of all time (in fact, I'm pretty sure she's in my top ten on MyAnimeList—), when I was growing up, I had such a huge crush on both Nabiki Tendō ("Ranma ½") and Dilandau Albatō ("Tenkū no Escaflowne")! Her most famous role is obviously her performance as Conan Edogawa ("Detective Conan"), and she does such an enigmatic job as portraying a genius in a child's body! Kanade Amō has a very short role in the series, but Ms. Takayama breaths life into this incredibly short-lived character! Excellent work!

Hideo Ishikawa as Genjūrō Kazanari, notable roles:
* Jūshirō Ukitake, Bleach ✅
* Yoshihiko Kenjo, Boys Be...
* Dino Ptera, DinoZone
* Keisuke Honda, Fantasista Stella
* Cait Sith, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children ✅
* Hōsei Toki, Kin'iro no Corda: Blue♪Sky
* Hiroto Kanazawa, Kin'iro no Corda: Primo Passo
* Oliver May, Kidō Senshi Gundam MS IGLOO
* Itachi Uchiha, Naruto ✅
* Seiji Hayami, Re: Cutey Honey ✅
* Jabu Unicorn, Saint Seiya: Meiō Hades ✅
* Ryōma Nagare, Shin Getter Robo
* Yūsuke Katō, Sotsugyō M: Ore-tachi no Carnival
* Kintarō Tōyama, Tantei Gakuen Q
* Minoru Tokitō, Wilder Adapter

Commentary: Mr. Ishikawa makes Genjūrō Kazanari one of the biggest badasses in Season One. Genjūrō can tear open steel doors with his muscles and has the endurance of of phoenix! One of the most compelling parts of the first arc was his on-going relationship schism with Ryōko Sakurai. A+ seiyū!

Soichiro Hoshi as Shinji Ogawa, notable roles:
* Kaoru Hanabishi, Ai Yori Aoshi ✅
* Takuto Kaneshiro, Argento Soma
* Masaru Kodaka, Bokura no
* Rygart Arrow, Break Blade
* Masaru Daimon, Digimon Savers
* Shu, DT Eightron
* Son Gokū, Gensōmaden Saiyūki ✅
* Kazuki Fūchōin, GetBackers
* Camus Pfalzgraf von Silvaner Lüneburg, Ginyū Mokushiroku Meine Liebe
* Taira no Atsumori, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de ("In a Distant Time")
* Keiichi Maebara, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni ✅
* Momose Sunohara, IDOLiSH7 ✅
* Narutaki, Kaiketsu Jōki Tanteidan ("Steam Detectives")
* Lio Shirazumi, Kara no Kyōkai ✅
* Seiji Hiwatari, Kirarin☆Revolution
* Yukio Kasamatsu, Kuroko's Basketball ✅
* Kane Blueriver, Lost Universe
* Brera Sterne, Macross Frontier ✅
* Claude, Masamune Datenicle
* Alviss, MÄR
* Kōsuke Seto, Mekakucity Actors ✅
* Kira Yamato, Kidō Senshi Gundam SEED
* Yūki Aiba, Mugen no RYVIUS ("Infinite RYVIUS")
* Samon Gokū, Nanbaka ✅
* Kei Kusanagi, Onegai☆Teacher
* Gorō Akechi, Persona 5
* Kazuma, s.CRY.ed ✅
* Cheshire Cait Sith, Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas ✅
* Akira, Samurai Deeper Kyō
* Shiro Shibakusa, Scan2Go
* Yukimura Sanada, Sengoku Basara
* Zero and Sōma Akizuki, Shining Tears X Wind
* Makoto Ōgami, Shinreigari ("Ghost Hound")
* Sasuke Sarutobi, Shinshaku Sengoku Eiyū Densetsu: Sanada Jū Yūshi the Animation
* Tomoki Sakurai, Sora no Otoshimono ✅
* Homare Kanakubo, Starry☆Sky
* Sunao Fujimori, Suki na Mono wa Suki Dakara Shō ga Nai!! ("Sukisyo, I like what I like, so there!") ✅
* Keele Zeibel, Tales of Eternia the Animation
* Sōichiro Nagi, Tenjō Tenge ✅
* Gakuto Mukahi, Tennis no Ōji-sama ("The Prince of Tennis")
* Ginosuke Isuzu, Tsurezure Children
* Seiichirō Sano, Ueki No Hōsoku
* Kaoru Matsutake, Wagamama☆Fairy Mirumo de Pon!
* Chaos, Xenosaga the Animation
* Keith, Yume Ōkoku to Nemureru 100-nin no Ōji-sama: Short Stories

Commentary: I talked about him recently in my "Tenjō Tenge" review, but Mr. Hoshi makes every character that he voices fiery, cute, and lovable. That's Shinji to a T — he doesn't have many lines throughout the entire continuum of Symphogear, but when he does: he's so dang lovable! After all, how many ninjas work for a top secret government organization? Remarkable seiyū!

Miyuki Sawashiro as Ryōko Sakurai, notable roles:
* Maria, Arakawa Under the Bridge ✅
* Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub, Beelzebub
* Slan, Berserk
* Cassandra Jill Warlock, Black Blood Brothers
* Yomi Tokanashi ("Dead Master"), Black★Rock Shooter ✅
* Canaan, Canaan ✅
* Kei Yuki, Captain Harlock ✅
* Eiha, Chaos Dragon: Sekiryū Seneki
* Tōko Fukawa, Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen
* Dalian, Dantalian no Shoka, localized as "The Mystic Archives of Dantalian" ✅
* Petit Charat, Di Gi Charat
* Celty Sturluson, Durarara!! ✅
* Aka no Saber ("Mordred"), Fate/Apocrypha ✅
* Julia Jinyu, FLCL Progressive ✅
* Yu Lan Xia, Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid ✅
* Mint Blancmanche, Galaxy Angel
* Kitarō, Gegege no Kitarō (2018)
* Yuzuki Seo, Gekkan Shōjo Nozaki-kun ✅
* Towa Akagi, Go! Princess PreCure ✅
* Reika Honjō, Goshūshō-sama Ninomiya-kun
* Katalina Alize, Granblue Fantasy ✅
* Saeko Busujima, Highschool of the Dead
* Kurapika, Hunter x Hunter (2011) ✅
* Queen Diamond, Kaitō Joker
* Kiari and Ririka Momobami, Kakegurui
* Kazune Kūjō, Kamichama Karin
* Tsugumi Aoba, Kannagi
* Ayane Yano, Kimi ni Todoke
* Himeko Inaba, Kokoro Connect
* Shinkurō Kurenai, Kure-nai
* Masazumi Honda, Kyōkaisenjou no Horizon, localized as "Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere"
* Myao Rei, Loups=Garōs
* Fujiko Mine, Lupin III ✅
* Dorm Mistress, Maria†Holic ✅
* Izuna Hatsuse, No Game No Life ✅
* Bishamon, Noragami ✅
* Aria Kurenaino, Occultic;Nine ✅
* Pudding Charlotte, One Piece ✅
* Cal Devens, Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom ✅
* Tomoe Misumi, Photokano
* Kotarō Higuchi, Pita Ten
* Kamitsure, Pokémon ✅
* Shion Karanomori, Psycho-Pass ✅
* Claire Forrest, Red Garden
* Narrator, Rokka no Yūsha
* Shinku, Rozen Maiden ✅
* Racine, Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana wo Kazarō, localized as "Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms" ✅
* Tarō Sekiutsu ("Maria"), Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei ✅
* Rita, Shingeki no Bahamut ✅
* Perrine H. Clostermann, Strike Witches ✅
* Shino Asada, Sword Art Online ✅
* Lag Seeing, Tegamibachi
* Tycho Science, Top wo Nerae 2! Diebuster ("Gunbuster 2") ✅
* Marisa Kirisame, 東方 Niji Sōsaku Dōjin Anime: Musō Kakyō ✅
* Haruka Nanami, Uta no☆Prince-sama
* Arūrū, Utawarerumono ✅

Commentary: Ms. Sawashiro is one of my personal favorites, she has such a presence, despite my lack of caring for her villain in Symphogear (mostly blame the writing for her characterization), the actress gives a very strong performance as a villainess. Wonderful job!

Conclusively, I wish the first season of Senki Zesshō Symphogear was a little bit better, so more people would get into the whole series. The directing in the first act is a little bit slipshod and the characters aren't really revealed to have as much of a personality, until G. The crutch that Season One leans on, are the multiplicity of the characters' romantic relationships: Tsubasa with Kanade, Hibiki and Miku, and Genjūrō with Ryōko! But, the sentimentality of these relationships cannot be fully realized, unless the character writing is stronger, which is does eventually get to be, in the succeeding seasons! I give Senki Zesshō Symphogear (Season One) a 4/10, but highly recommend Senki Zesshō Symphogear G (Season Two)!

Rankings:

Senki Zesshō Symphogear (Season One) ★★☆☆☆

Senki Zesshō Symphogear G (Season Two) ★★★★☆

Senki Zesshō Symphogear GX (Season Three) ★★★☆☆

Senki Zesshō Symphogear AXZ (Season Four) ★★★★★

Senki Zesshō Symphogear XV (Season Five) ★★★☆☆

"Keep your expectations low and you will never be disappointed."
-Father of Boy

Honestly, what do i expect from this? I've been told that it's a hidden gem and that it's underrated, but this.... this is not what I'm expecting at all. I was hooked at the beginning because of the concept about girls wearing battle armor with songs to power it. Honestly it's a good concept. I'll try my best to avoid much spoiler but don't expect too much.

The story starts of strong and quickly draws my attention because the main character, Hibiki suddenly shown dead. It shows flashbacks of how it happened and it ... did pretty well imo. The tone that they are going to show is dark at the beginning, but as it go on, I can't even make a difference between this and a kid's show. The writing in this show is horrible, they don't even explain what Symphogears are and only tell that it's an ancient relic or some sort. The Noise, the enemies on this anime also didn't have much explanation about them other than they kill humans and turn them to dust. Hell, even the main antagonist have a very poor motivation as to why they're evil. like the story is all over the place. You don't get an explanation about symphogears, the Noises, how Tsubasa's uncle can FREAKIN' DEFLECT Tsubasa's symphogear weapon and go toe to toe with the main antagonist is beyond me. When they try to explain anything they done it very poorly. Instead, they added useless scenes about stuff that don't need to be a scene. They poorly explain important plot points and feel like they rushed everything, hoping the viewers will understand something. Eventually.

The characters... oh man... They have so much potential to be great. if only they were written well. Hibiki is your average normal girl who likes to help people and be all cheery and shit. Until she WASN'T. Turns out, in the beginning she almost DIED and then Kanade, a symphogear user, instead of getting her to safety, YELLED at her to keep living. WTF. Bro, she's literally DYING of blood loss atm. Hibiki's character could become more interesting if they made her character similair to how Emiya Shirou is handled in UBW because how similair they are imo but nope, she's just like a typical happy go lucky main character that has no depth. There's a lot of this stuff that's like this in the anime and i mean A LOT. What grinds my gears are the relationship between Kanade and Tsubasa are not explored enough. I think it might be interesting to show more than merely a glimpse of it. There's a lot that i want to complain about the characters but that'll make it too damn long. As if this review isn't long enough lmao.

The animation is mediocre, bu it sometimes show good animation like the one that they show in episode 01. But most of the time, the animation can look stiff and derpy. I don't like how in certain scenes they add fan service as much as they can fit in the fight scenes and on normal scenes. It can be very annoying for me

The sound is the one of the good parts of symphogear. the opening and ending songs are catchy and the symphogear activation song is very nice. i can't tell much about the SFX and the BGM but i guess they were ok?

Overall i somewhat(?) enjoyed watching it. The concept is nice but the execution of the story is very poor, with mediocre animation, bland characters but a somewhat good sound, you can at least kinda enjoy it. But not much. I wouldn't really recommend watching it with logic, might as well shut your brains off and enjoy it anyways. I'm still going to watch more of it to get the appeal of this anime but idk, I might not make it to season 5. Thanks for reading this review. See ya

Symphogear is a show I respect for trying to do something most modern anime don’t anymore: Combining elements from various genres in an attempt to create an uncommon result. This is how genres evolve and eventually split to subcategories after all. Nicely going Symphogear! But respect aside… Um… Well, combining elements is not that easy. In fact, it is hard and takes talent to bridge the aesthetic differences and gap whatever expectations people from different audiences may have if watching them as separate standard genres. I have seen several attempts at this over the decades and the results are usually bad (but ground shaking the ... few times they are done right). Symphogear belongs to the failed category for not managing to make that nasty bonding plausible. Why? The directing is horrible.

Watching this show is like seeing cheery and scary things happening at the same time, without proper time invested into smoothly moving from one genre to another. It feels like a mismatch of a mahou shoujo for little girls, superpower action for teenage boys, and pop idol moe fluff for late teens/adults, and it all happens in a few minutes of contrived action. To put it in a more straightforward way, it combined a lot of high spirited ideology (which is meant to be cool for being unreal) with cruel down-to-earth reality (which is meant to feel brutal for being unfair). And it did it with a few seconds apart from each other. You just can’t have both; it has to be either too much of one or too much of the other.

Although there have been many mahou shoujo which successful combined the standard formula with other types, such as action (established in all following similar shows by Sailor Moon ), or pop idols ( Looking for the Full Moon did a great job here) this is not a case where you feel the storyboard makes sense when they combined action and pop idols, and tragic elements. Let me give you a few examples from the first episodes just to make all that more clear.

a) The heroines are pop idols and after their concert is over, evil monsters attack. Oh, how convenient for that to happen so they can show off their powers right there. And lazy script-wise too, which gives you bad first impressions. It’s like they said “Hey we don’t have time to waste so let’s just throw in the action right after the song.”

b) So they transform and move to the offence. This is done in quite an unorthodox way, since they retain their power by singing DURING the battle. Their clothes are not cute uniforms with ribbons but high teck battle suits. And their form of attacks is not fluffy pink rays from magic wands but huge swords and axes which cut the monsters to pieces. So imagine a scene where they sing a pop song while butchering to pieces weird looking creatures. Sounds original and cool doesn’t it? Sure, I admit it myself; I haven’t seen something exactly like that anywhere else. I have seen fighting pop idols in Bubblegum Crisis and there was singing during battles, but it was just a recorded song playing in the background purely for aesthetic flavouring. They weren’t singing it at THAT moment nor was it relevant to the way they fight. So in Symphogear singing is essential part of their battles and not just flavouring. This is theoretically making it far more plausible/original/important and should offer the series a boost in interest.

And THIS is the part where it feels stupid instead of cool. The way the heroines talk in battle is completely immature, like this is a show aimed at little girls. The battles are far from childish though because many people are killed by being literally turned to dust by the monsters. It may look cartoony but it is still deaths. And then the monsters are cut to pieces by the heroines, again in a cartoony way but still count as deaths. All this time the girls are singing a pop song, which sounds too off with the whole situation. THEY ARE SINGING A SILLY SONG WHILE PEOPLE ARE BEING KILLED! And how do they even manage to sing so well during battle anyway? All those acrobatics don’t affect their singing performance in the least and it sounds like a well planned studio recording.

c) One of the heroines sacrifices herself in order to save a girl in the crowd. Why did she do that specifically for her and not anyone else? Did she sense anything? We are not told.

d) That girl has a similar power and knows how to sing perfectly even when she suddenly transformed for the first time and was completely shocked with the whole thing. HOW DID SHE KNOW? This is not plausible at all; in fact it feels completely retarded.

e) Lots of other events take place, such as more monster attacks and the new heroine trying to save a kid. It feels like they tried to cram in a single episode a plot worth for 4 episodes, and that resulted to rushing through everything. You are hardly given a minute to see something before something different happens out of nowhere. It would be easy to have all those events happening at the same time during the concert attack. This way it wouldn’t feel like there are three different timeskips taking place IN THE SAME EPISODE! But instead of that you are given the impression you are watching a summary instead of a normal show.

It all comes down to giving each scene enough time to let the viewer savour and be absorbed by it. If I read this correctly, the original script was planned to be much longer in episodes but then because of duration restrictions the animators had to cram as much plot as possible in each episode. As a result the pacing is so fast that you are not allowed to enjoy the show. Things blow up, people die, and you are not made to care because no time was invested in getting to care or know any of all that. So what if a thousand civilians get killed by monsters? Do you know anything about them? What if a heroine dies in the pilot episode? Did you know anything about her? Or are you made to be afraid of those faceless things they are fighting? WE ARE NOT MADE TO FEEL ANYTHING!

Other shows like Clannad or Lucky Star are so lovable for so many people only because a great deal of duration and effort is given on getting to like the characters. They don’t need epic battles or a complicating story; they just manage to be cute and fuzzy with simple everyday actions. No amount of action scenes or funky visuals can replace such simple and fundamental elements. And this is what Symphogear lacks completely; it just runs through the plot without letting you enjoy it.

f) Having to rush thing though does not mean they can’t make a good show out of it. Others did something similar with Vision of Escaflowne but the result was still wonderful. Here, it is one big mess because the director was incapable of adjusting to the crammed plot.
- The scenes change in a chaotic pace and we see lots of battles being shown on the run like a summary.
- We are being fed most of the mysteries with dull forced explanatory monologues and without actually seeing anything to confirm all that. A proper director would have shown all that instead of just having some people standing still and talking about it. Anyone who doesn’t know what they are saying wouldn’t get anything but the imagery alone is enough to cross language barriers.
- The background music is completely random. They just throw some tune to play and don’t care if it fits with whatever happens in the foreground.
- The action scenes look like a videogame (you even see the names of the special attacks), so I am made to think this is all some sort of silly action game and not a living, breathing world I should (that’s right) care about. It’s like “Oh no, they killed a dozen civilians, how many points do I lose for that?”

g) This pacing issue eventually crawls all the way to the characters and trashes them as well, since they are doing lots of things without the viewer understanding the reasons or being made to care about them. So what if the heroine cries for the loss of her comrade and wants to avenge her death by attacking her replacement? It all happens in few minutes around people you hardly know and while an out-of-place song plays in the background. You are left wondering why you should care when a few minutes later something completely different happens and they have completely changed emotions.

And skip that, without time invested on the characters, they are just stereotypes you will forget fast. Instead of trying to flavour them, the directors simply chose to over-sexualize them to the point you care only for their bodies and not their personalities. I mean seriously, there is a lot of sexual foreplay in this show which is almost worrisome if you think how young the girls are. This takes away all respect from them and again, this wouldn’t happen if the directors had invested more time on them.

Aside from the characters, I don’t care about their antagonists either, those weird monsters. They don’t have a personality or a clear ulterior motive and are drawn goddamn ugly. Plus, in just a few episodes they are already defeated by the hundreds and pass as nothing more than brainless bullies chasing around defenceless people for fun, instead of having a masterplan or something to consider them anything more than mooks.

And even the monsters are just peons of other evil magical girls, who appear to be fond of sadism and love to torture others for really childish reasons. Even those don’t give any more colours to the show because their motives are again thin, the pacing is horrible, and they are presented as nothing more than horny sluts.

And even after that, there are actually tanks firing at the monsters and black ops assassinating high officials. It feels completely off-topic to see that military/conspiracy element in the context of this show. Can you imagine a Man In Black next to a magical girl? I can’t.

h) So technically, this mess is the result of bad aesthetics, something which most people don’t notice and can easily pass as great. And why wouldn’t it, the actual production values are not bad. The songs are dynamic, the battles are spectacular, the setting is a blend of our present with partially futuristic weaponry and epic fantasy elements. This is of course not a first in anime; just in recent history to this show we had lots of other famous anime doing something similar, such as Madoka Magica and Toaru Majutsu no Index. Those shows are again famous thanks to their AESTHETICS AND CHARACTERS and not because they look cool or plausible. So again, the show is not inflicting you with enough emotions to love it despite looking cool. You can still of course feel like hating it or loathing it exactly because it didn’t manage to win you over.

It’s not the main idea that it’s at fault here. I really liked the premise despite sounding weird. Other shows managed to present weirdness in a far more likable way and gained great respect thanks to it. Some examples include:
- Macross by fighting an interstellar armada of war-like aliens with a pop song
- Princess Tutu by fighting monsters through ballet dance
- Lyrical Nanoha by making all the magical weapons to work like computerized military weaponry
- Rahxephon by having huge robots which work and attack with monotonous sounds/wave frequencies
- Hell, I will even include a live action series called Kamen Rider Hibiki. The hero was fighting monsters with musical instruments.

I really loved the weird way the characters were fighting in the above examples, even though they sound equally stupid as this one. The difference is, they presented it NICELY and invested time into making it look plausible and entertaining. So no, it is a very bad show for failing to achieve even the most fundamental element of any good show: Making you care.

p.s. Honourable mentioning of other music-battle-themed titles I failed to throw in somewhere in this text: Panty & Stocking, Black Heaven, Detroit Metal City, Ar Tonelico, The World Ends With You.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 8/10
General Artwork 2/2 (looks nice)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic)
Backgrounds 2/2 (nice sci-fi overtones)
Animation 1/2 (basic)
Visual Effects 2/2 (lots of pretty colours)

SOUND SECTION: 5/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (silly but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 2/4 (the songs aren’t bad but they are throwing them randomly at a scene)
Sound Effects 1/3 (they sing very fake while fighting)

STORY SECTION: 4/10
Premise 2/2 (interesting)
Pacing 0/2 (very messy)
Complexity 1/2 (not much)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)

CHARACTER SECTION: 4/10
Presence 1/2 (generic)
Personality 1/2 (cheesy)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 0/2 (messy because of the directing)
Catharsis 1/2 (overblown but there)

VALUE SECTION: 2/10
Historical Value 0/3 (none)
Rewatchability 0/3 (I will never rewatch it)
Memorability 2/4 (it had nice ideas but that’s it)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 1/10
I wasn’t made to care about it right from the start.

VERDICT: 4/10

Fight through the power of friendship, rage, hentai or through a never give up attitude.? Fuck all this power ups because through the power of singing you can beat everything and everyone and yes you heard right now we have it all.

There are two kinds of anime with stupid plotlines, at first we have anime that are stupid but are still good because they are stupid and we have anime that are stupid and you're just thinking what the fuck I watching right now.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear is one of the second one. It has one of the most stupid plotline I ever seen. Even ... if you could possible like the stupid idea of gaining power through singing, the whole story is just bad. They have just throw some words from sagas like gungir and singing and voila you have an anime like Senki Zesshou Symphogear.

Even this review isn't worth my time for a shitty anime like this but because I was clueless how bad it is and how stupid the character's are I don't want people waste their time like I did.

""""""""""""""""""""""Spoiler warning"""""""""""""""""""



What is words? What meaning does words have? Well words have an incredible power! Words can kill! Words can heal a loved one! Words can destroy .Words can bring happiness and joy.Words bring us together. Words make us goes to war.Word make us believe. Words help us find a meaning and direction in life .Words can be precious. Words can also be cheap.Words is one of the greatest gift to mankind.Think about that before you use words! Words should only be spoken with care and meaning otherwise words will only cast great harm!!! Your words have consequences in the end. And shall therefor only ... be spoken with great care!!




On a raining cold day a girl standing soaked with a bouquet of white lily flowers,and by that catch my interest, lily means Yuri and is my calling in life and something I loved dearly. The heavy rain continues to pure down from the skies as the heaven itself are at great sorrow and cries out! A bus comes to an abrupt stop. The city around the soaked girl are in ruin civilians are hurt and in bandage! Something has happened of great destruction's and chaos .We stop at the cemetery. The female are walking up to a grave falling to her knee and cries her lungs out suddenly the rain sustain. But her tears continue to fall she yells out for her beloved dead friend Hibiki!!




The mundane story tells. Cute girls use their singing voice to activate relics and battle aliens noise?Because they sing really good? What?,,They story itself feels lazy and confusing and have a fast pace like it is in a hurry.Its doesn't work and it's not memorable. And the side story are a monumental problem in this anime, they don't add anything all they do is just waste your precious time



They main character look weird.She looks deformed with does big eyes I wouldn't have a problem if she was deformed!! But they where rather after to make her look cute and fails miserably. The other girls are fine or even pretty but the mc stands out, like a sore thumb with a bad infection that needs to be amputated. . The clown suits they are wearing looks hysterical I can't take that serious .And the enemy or excuse me,, I mean the noise!!! They look really awkward and weird with rainbow colours, it's an extremely lazy boring design. And the animation quality in the action scenes drops considerably after some episode.And the colours are way to flashing and bright , it gave me a headache ,still picture ugly weird colours and other fucking problems it's an unpleasant repugnant mess!! we also have sound problems. Often way to fast paced its get kind of blurry and its hard to appreciate, it doesn't work .High pitch voice and other irritating sounds , it's a horrendous torture to listen to.And the singing that are suppose to be a weapon fits ill to the scenes that plays out on the screen!



Before we address the biggest problem in this anime!! lets talk about the so-called Yuri in this anime. On some sites this anime have the Yuri tag, It's not a Yuri believe me!!! I love Yuri I burn for Yuri,,There are noting lesbian in here at all!!



The monumental problem in this anime is the characters themselves especially Hibiki, And her false misleading words that are only a pack of lies! Being deceitful how much she loves her friend, which leads to unnecessary altercations, As I said in the start words can mean everything! But here they are treacherous and don't mean anything.Its just noise .She is one of the most mendacious characters I have ever seen For some examples and this is just a small portion. Miku warned Hibiki time from time, Don't do that to me please, I don't like this!! But noting because she doesn't have any empathy and are extremely abusive towards Miku, She made a lot of commitment and broke them all.,,,, She even prioritised the girl who tried to murder her over her so-called best friend.And after Hibiki comment on the girl who tried to killed her, that her room where messy, they where now suddenly best of friends,,Yes it's that preposterous



Back to Miku and Hibiki. Every time she ignored Mikus needs, you can clearly see how much that hurt her. But Hibiki is total oblivious egotistical and so narcissistic she don't even notice.,, She even said it out loud to Miku "You are the only one who cares about me" Yes great way to push her away you fucking self-absorbed simpleton! She device both Miku and me, The first time she grab Miku hold her tightly. told her I love you "I want to be near you then I'm the warmest" "You are my sunflower", I was so thrilled to hear that it was so cute, but it was only deceitful words!!



And we have the three stooges,or destroyers of worlds .Three girls/demons that runs around and puts their damn snouts where it don't fucking belongs and always shows up at the wrong place at the wrong time,,,,And the same boring monotonous joke repeated over and over,,"This is not an anime",, If this was an anime""",,,,Shut the fuck up!!!,, I wanna strangle her slowly with my bare fucking hands!!!!! Never been more agitated with a so-called support character in my life!!!



Because of the poor characterisation and constantly focus on matter that don't have anything to do with the story, Or give any type of meaning or nourish the characters or their development,There are non enjoyment to be found .It never take its time and constantly interrupting the two most important characters so they can't solve their problem and I find that intolerable!!! For an example,,,,, Miku are very upset with her friend, she even told her don't lie to me if you do you can't take it back, whatever it is I want you to tell me the truth , and Hibiki lies like she always does ,, Miku finds out and are understandably very angry then they sit down,,Yes!! And I get my hopes up Yes they are going to talk about it, things are not good But maybe they can reach some kind of understanding and Bang!! The anime starts to focus on a frivolous subplot!! With no meaning or value to the main-story, just take away valuable limited time and undermine their relationship! ,,Second example ,,Hibiki sits down in front of Miku, and says hey Miku,, And moronic as I'm, I thought yes now they are finally going to talk! Go on girls please solve this!! I don't like this I want female love not hate and drama,, And there they are interrupting again!!!! Summoned from the deepest abyss from hell!!! The three demos spawn most unholy of creatures!! And their leader the devil herself!!! Speaks of the unholy words word I never wanna hear again """if this was an anime""" Nooooooooo begone with you!!! I condemn you back to hell demon!! Where you belong !!!!!



This anime miserably fails on everything ,, It doesn't look good the sound its dreadful.It contradict itself over and over .But I love Miku!! She is MY girl and it's not her fault ,she was the reason why I sat trough this nightmare,she is the only positive element in this anime but it's not enough,, I can point out a googolplexian more flaw in this trash.It's so far away from being supercalifragilisticexpialidocious you can possibly fucking come!!! But I think I got the most important stuff so im going to end with a quote from The queen of deceitfulness herself!,,, Hibiki said exactly what I feel about this anime

"I hate this,,,I really really Hate this""


Story 1/10

Art 2/10

Sound 2/10

Characters 1/10

Miku 10/10

Enjoyment 1/10

Yuri 0/10

Overall 1/10

Final score 1/10


I dedicate this review to Miku. Honey! You are a kind-hearted emphatic girl who deserve so much better than that monstrosity!!! And I have nothing else but love towards Miku!!!

This feels like anime in form and not a whole lot else. It takes 4 episodes to do a story beat it set up in the first 10 minutes. It goes from questionable yuri to actually gross, it has action sequences but they don't have weight because they get drowned out by music and don't grab your intention and worst of all it feels like a waste of time.

This is what happens when you take insert songs, usually a treat for high-impact moments and try to build a whole magical girl hybrid with super robot elements. It should be good but its just nothing.
Also I ... couldn't even make out the music as well as maybe I should have. something about the sound mixing didn't mesh