Senki Zesshou Symphogear G

Three months after a Lunar Attack which nearly caused Earth's destruction, Hibiki Tachibana, Tsubasa Kazanari, and Chris Yukine continue to fight the Noise—a mysterious alien threat—using powerful armor known as Symphogear. After defending an American convoy from a Noise attack, Hibiki and Chris race toward the Queens of Music concert hall to attend one of Tsubasa's concerts.

Meanwhile, Tsubasa and rising international superstar Maria Cadenzavna Eve deliver an amazing performance that is broadcast throughout the entire world. Just as the concert is about to conclude, a group of Noise suddenly appear, plunging the hall into chaos. Amidst the panic, Maria declares war against the world as the successor of Finé—Chris' former mistress—and her allies Kirika Akatsuki and Shirabe Tsukuyomi reveal Symphogear powers of their own. After initiating a skirmish with Tsubasa and her teammates, they retreat mysteriously, leaving the three friends bewildered as to what their true intentions could be.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tachibana, Hibiki Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Yukine, Chris Main

Takagaki, Ayahi Japanese

Kazanari, Tsubasa Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Akatsuki, Kirika Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Cadenzavna Eve, Maria Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Tsukuyomi, Shirabe Supporting

Nanjou, Yoshino Japanese

Kohinata, Miku Supporting

Iguchi, Yuka Japanese

Amou, Kanade Supporting

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Kazanari, Genjuurou Supporting

Ishikawa, Hideo Japanese

Vercingetorix, John Wayne Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Morii, Yuusuke Producer

Hamamoto, Yumi Producer

Ono, Katsumi Director

Motoyama, Satoshi Sound Director

Reviews

Aug 15, 2014

Nyron

Recommended

Okay, gather around and hear the song of my people. The two top reviews for this are a 5 and a 6? What in this show is a 5 or 6? Not a single damn thing.

"Musical Bitches Symphogear", as it's named on my PC, was one of my most complex human-anime relationships. On one hand, it was helmed by the man who brought me Wild Arms, my favorite RPG series of all time, and some of the people behind Oban Star Racers, one of my all time favorite pieces of animation. On the other hand, it was a hastily-made, awkward and janky show that had ... no idea what it was doing other than attempting to ride on the Madoka hype train.

When "Symphogear G: The Musicvengeance" was announced I remember exclaiming "NOOOOO" because of how dumb the first series ended. But then episode 1 aired, and I watched it. And I was deeply confused.

Week after week, episode after episode, I sank deeper and deeper into confusion until I realized it was probably the most fun thing I watched in all of 2013, next to Kill la Kill.

Symphogear G is pretty much a soft reboot of the series. It comes in swinging with a big, fancy animation budget that did not exist in season 1, took out all the bullshit whiney drama and school stuff, and really came into itself as a fast-paced action series about J-pop singers with super robot powers. It introduces an actual villain, a rival set of characters, has an awesome new OP, and a plot twist at the end of every single episode. It's a fun, rollercoaster ride of a show that knew exactly what it was doing.

It not only surpasses the original, but it simultaneously redeems it.

THE STORY picks up from where season 1 left off, I guess. Our yellow girl, blue girl and red girl are going around doing rocket punches and super missile attacks against swarms of fodder enemies while staging extremely elaborate J-Pop concerts. All is normal.

And then there's a new team of evil, rival Symphogears! Holy shit! It's like Sonic Heroes, but AWESOME. And then there's a mad scientist who wants to do evil shit in between the scenes where he's ham acting and making hilarious faces! INTRIGUE!

The original story was all about the Symphogear girls being these bleak final guardians of humanity against goofy-looking fodder "Noise" creatures, and if they sang too hard, they died. But it was also about them being pop stars and with super powers activated by singing J-pop. This new story pretty much ditches all of the former and just makes the show fun by playing up the latter. It focuses all of the drama on the characters facing off against each other and fighting evil and stuff, like it really should have been in the first place.

Not to say that much is retconned; the plot is also laced with tons references to the original series. There's a kung fu training montage and everything!

THE CHARACTERS are very enjoyable.

Hibiki, who was once a whiny pacifist dealt a cruel fate, is now a hotblooded hero who knows kung-fu, uses it, and also does super rocket punch attacks. She's always positive and kind of badass. Real classic shounen hero here.

Tsubasa is still "the Mizuki Nana character", but is no longer an emo swordsmistress in mourning who hates her status as a human weapon. Now she's just the older sister/straight man of the trio and acts all cool. She also has a motorcycle.

Chris is no longer an emotionally abused rival girl looking to repent. Instead, she's a super moe, food-loving, out-of-shape, hot-blooded, missile launching, gatling gun-shooting, huge-breasted waifu. She is the best girl.

AND THEN THERE'S CHIEF GENJURO, who still has LION HAIR, still goes "GUNGNIR-DATO?!" and still TUCKS HIS TIE INTO HIS FRONT POCKET. But this season, HE SINGS TOO
IN CHINESE

And then there's the Chief's assistant, and Tsubasa's manager. I don't know his name, as he is a minor character, but he's important to mention here because he embodies everything this series does right. In the first season, he's Tsubasa's manager and Genjuro's assistant guy. In this season, he's a fucking /ninja/. Who can walk on water and solo a room of mobsters. Why? Because it's /awesome/.

But WAIT! There are new characters too!

Maria Cadenzavna Eve: The Shadow the Hedgehog of the series. The rival. She sings like Tsubasa, has the same powers as Hibiki, and has the same breasts as Chris. And has the spear from the dead girl in the first season!

Kirika-DESS: Maria's #1 sidekick-DESS. She ends all of her sentences with DESS. She has a giganto scythe, penchant for violence and is awesome.

Shirabe: The foil to Kirika, she's a calm, quiet loli for the people who thought the show needed at least one flat-chest girl, I guess. However, she makes buzz saws and giant robots, so she's pretty darn cool too.

DOCTOR VER: Doctor Ver is my favorite character behind Chris. Every scene he's in, he's making some sort of stupid face, laughing maniacally or doing some comic book villain shit like summoning a giant fortress or mind controlling the innocent. This guy is classic, endlessly entertaining and everything a villain should be.

Next, let's talk about THAT ANIMATION

Season 1 looked bad. This one looks great. The art is crisp and smooth, background graphics are nice, the CGI is much improved, and several really dumb looking things from season 1, like Hibiki's berserker mode, actually look cool now. The fights are fast-paced, well-choreographed and full of visual flare. And explosions. They're probably the best fight sequences I've seen in a series in a long time, actually.

Better yet, each and every girl now has a redone transformation sequence that you can find a lot of gifs of. Important, high-level stuff for this kind of show.

Oh and the MUSIC

Every girl has a set of songs, all six of them (and more!?). The soundtrack is double or triple the size of the original series', and it's overall better. Songs are varied and well composed. There are even combat duets! And since the OSTs sold a billion copies, we're confirmed for season 3!!

IN CONCLUSION

This series is honestly a better magic fighting girl show than Kill la Kill, with a cast that's almost as strong, dynamite production values, and a blazing fast pace to carry it all forward. I don't think there's a single aspect of this series that's worthy of a 5 or a 6, let alone the whole thing.

The plot is no more stupid than Code Geass R2.
The presentation is on par with the highest budget action series of the last few years.
The characters are more waifu-worthy than your average moeblob infested ecchi shows.
The soundtrack is better than Love Live.

So what is wrong with Symphogear G, when it has all of the ingredients to make a mainstream weaboo success? Who knows? Anime fans are stupid, I guess.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Oct 16, 2013

Infinite

Mixed Feelings

If you've watched the first season of Symphogear then you have a good idea of what to expect from this series; poorly developed characters, a completely bonkers plot, bad drama, bizarre plot twists and general all round silliness. However whilst that may be the case, this series is superior to its predecessor in several key areas, making it a significantly more enjoyable watch. In fact, whilst this series still suffers from the multitude of flaws and failures of the first season, there is the possibility that you may even enjoy it.

The visuals are far more consistent than they were before, there will be no scenes ... with absolutely atrocious animation or badly drawn faces, and all the fights are competently done, although the budget is still noticeable limited. This is very noticeable with the art, the backgrounds lack detail, are usually completely bare and are nothing in the way of eye candy. The character designs for the girls are diverse and have a lot of charm, whereas those for everyone else have much less thought put into them. If they had more money to pump into the show all of them would have looked much better. At least they have their priorities right with focusing on the female characters.

The soundtrack also is an improvement upon the last season, there were a couple of insert songs that may catch your liking, both of which were sung by Takagaki Ayahi, the seiyuu for Chris, who is by far the best singer in the cast. The lyrics for the songs (if you your subs provide them) are incredibly cheesy and are often funny because of that, they rather fit into the spirit of the show. The other seiyuu aren't bad singers, and some of their songs are also pretty nice, however it is Chris that runs away with it.

The characters are much more likable this season, and the developments of the characters (notably the three new ones introduced), whilst clumsy and lacking subtlety are markedly better than the random character developments of the last season. The characters are really weak, however despite this they are still quite endearing, to the extent where some of their annoying habits become lovable quirks. In all they are much like the show, really poorly written and lacking any depth, but that's just a strange part of their appeal. Sadly, for all my back-handed praise, they are not characters that you will forever remember, if not for the character designs they are entirely forgettable. They lack the depth to leave a lasting impression. Additionally some of the characters still manage to be annoying on occasion, however those events are few and far between.

The plot is disappointing the sense that it does not reach the ludicrous moon-shattering events of the first season, it does somewhat make up for it by being much more cheesy. In any case, whilst slightly more grounded, the writing is still horrendous. For one it managed to make the fairly simple plot convoluted to the point where it was unclear what exactly was going on. Additionally serious plot twists which are sporadically introduced get either dismissed or resolved easily and are instantly forgotten about despite the fact they should be major events, and even some major points which build up throughout the series are effortlessly resolved out of nowhere. The antagonist is also an atrociously written character, his motives are beyond cliché, his actions are inane, and his personality is one dimensional and he has only two emotions, hysterical or cocky. Despite his amazing seiyuu he is an incredibly irritating character towards the end, he was far inferior even to Fine in the first season.

So whilst Symphogear has improved in most areas, it is still a very poor show on paper, and indeed if you cannot ignore bad writing, and cannot let go stupid things, then I do not recommend this show, because you will be in for the same experience as you had watching the first season. However if you can embrace Symphogear for the incredibly earnest and cheesy show it is then you may have an enjoyable experience watching it. You will find that there are plenty of things to laugh and smile about; one scene in the latter half had me in fits of laughter, and another near the begging had me smiling at how lovable Chris was despite everything. Having watched the first season you should know well by now whether you will be able to enjoy the show or not even if this season is considerably more enjoyable.

Overall, I will say pretty much the same of this season as I did the last; if you can embrace this for the earnestly silly show that it is then you should be able to have some good fun watching it with its somewhat unique appeal. However if you cannot abide watching an anime that does almost every single technical and literacy aspect wrong, then I simply cannot recommend it, because you're going to have a rough time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jul 21, 2023

Phasar2022

Not Recommended

Funny

Symphogear is about high school, magical girls who activate their powers through singing, and their battle against Noise, evil creatures controlled by vindictive magical girls. Due to the activation and control of these relics through sounds, these magical girls also "moonlight" as idol singers. The plot armor for why high school girls save the world is that ancient relics can only be activated through certain frequencies, which only certain chosen ones possess. Closing the distance between yourself and your symphogear increases your power, and there are a few pure relics only a chosen few can possess, wielding nearly unlimited power.

Is the plot made up on ... the spot? Of course. Is anything ever explained? No. Stock footage? Check. Dramatic voice lines? Check. Signature moves? Check. Transformation sequences? Check. Comic fanservice? Check. Leery camera angles? Check. Undefeatable finishing move? Check. Vague platitudes? Check. Action training sequence? Check. Impossible physics? Check. Stripperific outfits? Check. Magical stripping to unlock superpowers? Check. Undercover spy? Check. Chosen one? Check. Improbably well-endowed women? Check. Creepy bath scenes? Check. Boob closeups? Check. Gratuitous boob jiggling? Check. Groin shots? Check. Boobs larger than a character's head? Check. Nudity for the ending credits? Check. Lesbian for the camera? Check. Save the cat? Check.

But Symphogear is awful outside of just the horrendous plot and fan service. An emotionally and physically abusive mom is repeatedly framed as loving, with her children missing just how great she was after her death. Even though she even subjected them to medical experimentation, she's framed as actually good because she cries while she abuses her children. Abuse isn't a character flaw as long as you have good intentions while you carry it out, since it's simply tough love. It doesn't matter that they're child soldiers to carry out terrorism as long as you love them.

Even if you ignore all its problematic elements and incoherent plot, Symphogear is still terrible. Despite the increased animation budget of later seasons, the fight scenes are just as lifeless and uninspired as ever. Rather than do anything creative, the creators seem content with new transformation stock footage, shinier graphics, and incessant boob jiggles. Their commander catches a barrage of bullets flying at him with all the excitement of catching someone's car keys. The protagonist's punch, which normally can pierce metal and destroy rock, doesn't even graze him. Dramatic collisions overshadow fluid fight scenes. Effortless attacks can wipe out an entire battalion of enemies. Epic battle scenes include the protagonist throw punches in the same place without moving while yelling top of her lungs for a full minute. The "high-octane action" is less inspired and creative than golf.

Symphogear is atrocious and haphazardly combines classic shounen tropes into a mindless mess of a story. There's the audience surrogate, a weeb girl who relates everything to anime. There's a scantily clad villain sensually torturing her pawn as character development. The 55 pound school girl lets her fists do the talking. The soundtrack is a generic blend of up-tempo synthpop. Symphogear is peak anime, everything from the awful objectification of minors to gratuitous fan service to mindless action sequences, so its target audience will love it.

Is it good? Absolutely not. Is it worth watching? Absolutely not. Does it at least execute the overused plot devices it contains well? Also no. Symphogear being not "not bad" is about the strongest praise I can give it. It's budget Kill la Kill, with a high-octane magical girl story that doesn't take itself seriously. Unfortunately, Symphogear has all of Kill la Kill's of the problematic elements and few, if any, of its upsides. The plot, action, and music are generic, incoherent, and dull. Cutting the entire creative department and replacing it with footage from a Grand Theft Auto playthrough would be an improvement in every regard. Worse, this show gets progressively creepier as it goes along, seemingly unwilling to spend more than 5 minutes without leering at minors.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: In the Distance, That Day, When the Star Became Music... Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 19, 2013	50 replies	by DarkwindJR »» Yesterday, 6:41 AM
	Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: In the Distance, That Day, When the Star Became Music... Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) VioLink - Jul 4, 2013	100 replies	by Hibiki2134 »» Sep 18, 2023 5:13 AM
	Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: In the Distance, That Day, When the Star Became Music... Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 26, 2013	92 replies	by MxS7HGS »» Sep 12, 2023 2:20 PM
	Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: In the Distance, That Day, When the Star Became Music... Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Sep 12, 2013	48 replies	by MxS7HGS »» Sep 12, 2023 8:56 AM
	Poll: Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: In the Distance, That Day, When the Star Became Music... Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Elite60 - Sep 5, 2013	54 replies	by MxS7HGS »» Sep 12, 2023 8:05 AM