Senki Zesshou Symphogear (Symphogear)

Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amou—the idol duo known as Zwei Wing—use their songs to power ancient weapons known as "symphogears" to combat a deadly alien race called the "Noise." While the general public is aware of the Noise's existence, knowledge of the symphogears are kept a secret. When the Noise attack one of Zwei Wing's concerts, Kanade sacrifices herself to protect a young girl named Hibiki Tachibana, leaving Tsubasa devastated and a fragment of her symphogear embedded within Hibiki.

Two years pass and Hibiki is once again dragged into a Noise attack. While rescuing a young girl who has been left behind during the evacuation, she awakens the power of Kanade's symphogear lying within her. Although Tsubasa still grieves over the loss of Kanade, both girls must now learn to work together using their powers to defend humanity against the Noise.

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Adaptation:	Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Sequel:	Senki Zesshou Symphogear G
Other:	Project Symphogear: Next

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Tachibana, Hibiki

Main

Yuuki, Aoi
Japanese

Yukine, Chris

Main

Takagaki, Ayahi
Japanese

Kazanari, Tsubasa

Main

Mizuki, Nana
Japanese

Kohinata, Miku

Supporting

Iguchi, Yuka
Japanese

Amou, Kanade

Supporting

Takayama, Minami
Japanese

Kazanari, Genjuurou

Supporting

Ishikawa, Hideo
Japanese

Itaba, Yumi

Supporting

Akasaki, Chinatsu
Japanese

Ogawa, Shinji

Supporting

Hoshi, Souichirou
Japanese

Tomosato, Aoi

Supporting

Seto, Asami
Japanese

Sakurai, Ryouko

Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Morii, Yuusuke

Producer

Itou, Tatsufumi

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Motoyama, Satoshi

Sound Director

Yoshida, Tooru

Episode Director, Key Animation

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Opening Theme

"Synchrogazer" by Nana Mizuki

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Ending Theme

	1: "Synchrogazer" by Nana Mizuki (eps 1,12)
	2: "Meteor Light" by Ayahi Takagaki (eps 2-3, 5-11)
	3: "Gekisou Gungnir (撃槍・ガングニール)" by Aoi Yuuki (eps 4)
	4: "Gyakkou no Flugel (逆光のフリューゲル)" by Nana Mizuki and Minami Takayama (eps 13)

Reviews

Feb 24, 2024

Canafa

Recommended

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.

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Jun 16, 2023

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

Senki Zesshou Symphogear is an original anime by Satelight and Encourage. Which, honestly, does not inspire that much confidence. Out of the four Satelight anime I've reviewed, the best has been Heat Guy J which was just okay. As for Encourage, the only thing I've seen from them was Zetsumetsu Kigu Shoujo: Amazing Twins. Which was better than any of Satelight's offerings, but not by much. But maybe this will be the best thing I've seen from Satelight.

Story:

We open with a concert by the duo Zwei Wing being attacked by monsters called "Noise." They work their way through the crowd disintegrating anyone they ...

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May 22, 2021

Razor_Eagle11

Not Recommended

"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

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'Senki Zesshou Symphogear' Anime Movie Announced

The official website of the Symphogear franchise announced a movie version for its television anime series on Friday. The movie is part of the new project announced...read more

Dec 1, 2023 9:47 AM by Hyperion_PS | Discuss (27 comments)

'Senki Zesshou Symphogear' Franchise Announces New Project

The Symphogear Live 2020 → 2022 event announced on Sunday a new project. Their official Twitter also revealed an announcement promo. The action female idol fra...read more

Nov 20, 2022 12:41 PM by Hyperion_PS | Discuss (39 comments)

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Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Cirris - Mar 30, 2012	151 replies	by TheLyingSpectre »» Mar 13, 9:25 PM
Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Yumekichi11 - Mar 9, 2012	58 replies	by IssunWriter993 »» Feb 4, 10:16 PM
New movie announced Piromysl - Dec 1, 2023	3 replies	by KanameYuuki »» Dec 1, 2023 10:11 AM
Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) zimno - Jan 6, 2012	265 replies	by rsc-pl »» Nov 22, 2023 1:11 PM
Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Hoppy - Feb 10, 2012	64 replies	by WaffleMaster89 »» Oct 20, 2023 6:42 PM

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Tachibana, Hibiki

Yukine, Chris

Kazanari, Tsubasa

Kohinata, Miku

Amou, Kanade

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