Senki Zesshou 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.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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

Sakurai, Ryouko Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Ogawa, Shinji Supporting

Hoshi, Souichirou Japanese

Tomosato, Aoi Supporting

Seto, Asami Japanese

Morii, Yuusuke Producer

Itou, Tatsufumi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Motoyama, Satoshi Sound Director

Yoshida, Tooru Episode Director, Key Animation

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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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 ... touch. Fortunately, the members of Zwei Wing, Kanade and Tsubasa, summon their Symphogear and fight against the creatures. They're able to save some people from the crowd, including the young Tachibana Hibiki, but only at the cost of Kanade's life. We cut to a later date where Hibiki gains her own Symphogear and joins with an organisation designed to protect against the Noise alongside Tsubasa but there may be something in the shadows that's responsible for the Noise.

Let's start with the big problem this series has. There are a lot of stupid elements. To start with, the commander of the defence unit is able to fight Noise and even stand toe to toe against the powerful Symphogear because he's a good martial artist. The creatures that disintegrate normal humans on contact, the girls who can destroy entire city blocks with ease and this asshole who can punch things well. What, were the writers afraid that not having a big strong man in the story would make it less appealing? They had to break the rules of their own universe to make this guy relevant? Fuck off with that shit. The ending is the worst in that regard. Not only is the main antagonist's plan and motivation absurdly dumb, but there's a big deus ex machina bit to let the protagonists handle it.

On the positive side, the series does have some good ideas. The whole concept of using music to activate powerful relics and the reveal of where exactly the Noise originated could have been interesting in a better written series. The series is also pretty good at foreshadowing so that it's major twists don't feel like they're coming out of nowhere. A pity they have no sense of subtlety so you can easily figure out where they're going the instant they put in that first piece of foreshadowing.

Characters:

The main girls all have concepts that should be fairly compelling. We have Tsubasa, who's tried hard not to feel anything since losing Kanade and resents Hibiki for taking her place. Hibiki who feels like it's her duty to help others based on her past trauma & Chris, who went through a lot of shit and has trouble connecting with other human beings. The problem is that the series doesn't execute any of these ideas very well. A lot of the character change we do get feels very awkward and like we're missing half the character growth arc. It's almost as bad as Squall's character changing completely in the last disc for no adequately explored reason to make the rubbish romance work.

The dynamics between the characters are kind of similar. The main girls could have had some really interesting dynamics but the awkward and abrupt changes really weaken them. The best dynamic is definitely the one betwixt Hibiki and her roommate Miku which isn't that complex but it is kind of cute.

The side characters are largely just bland. Except for the commander. The way they push him as a badass martial artist but give him no personality just makes him a terrible character. Then we have the antagonist. The antagonist in this is complete rubbish. At first, they seem to have a solid concept behind them. But then we learn what their actual plan is and see how ludicrously dumb it is. Then we learn their brain dead motivation behind everything and we're left with a worse villain than Silver Age Lex Luthor. You know, when his only motivation was to rule the world and his plans included things like stealing 40 cakes.

Art:

The artwork s pretty decent. The character designs are solid. The backgrounds are pretty well detailed and the Noise do have interesting designs. The biggest problem is with the action sequences. They made the baffling decision to interrupt the action on a regular basis so that they could have a freeze frame with a little scroll telling you the attack names. This results in the battles being choppy and kind of shite.

Sound:

The acting is solid Yuuki Aoi, Mizuki Nana, Takagaki Ayahi, Iguchi Yuka and the rest of the cast all do a good job. Especially considering how little they have to work with in terms of characterisation. The music is, by far, the best element of the series. Though there is an issue with it. During battles they'll have the girls sing while fighting and the sound mixing is awkward. They'll put dialogue and loud explosives over the music. I'm not going to lie, I would have greatly preferred seeing the scenes play out with just the music playing for audio while the action speaks for itself. But I guess you can't do that when your action scenes are rubbish.

Ho-yay:

There is a lot of it. Hibiki has les-yay with Miku, Tsubasa and Chris. Tsubasa is heavily implied to have been more than just friends with Kanade. Chris and Miku develop a dynamic that doesn't seem hetero-normative. There's also a scientist at their headquarters, Ryouko, who gets flirty with several of the girls.

Areas of Improvement:

Your antagonist needs a strong motivation.

Take the time to actually develop your characters and let their dynamics evolve naturally. Don't just skip awkwardly over parts of that development.

A regular ass human who's good at martial arts should never be able to stand up against powerful entities that can dissolve humans on contact or girls with powerful relics that enable them to cause massive destruction. That's fucking imbecilic.

Final Thoughts:

Senki Zesshou Symphogear is a series with a promising premise, strong music, a good cast and some cute les-yay moments. Unfortunately, it also has a lot of insanely stupid elements, poor characterisation, weak action sequences and one of the worst antagonists out there. I'm going to give it a 4/10. I did consider going lower, but I do think its positive elements are sufficient to make it sub-par rather than outright bad.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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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

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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