I would say XV > GX > G > s1 > AXZ
AXZ ignores a lot of character development GX establishes, which disappointed me as a GX fan, and spends way too much time on its lore and too little on anything else. Anything relating to their normal life or Miku is basically gone entirely, it felt like Shirabe and Kirika are the only main characters who actually got some focus and that focus wasn't as good as some of the character episodes in other seasons. All the fights are underwhelming, after the majority of the season was spent setting up a ritual to summon the power of the gods, I was expecting that to really be something special but I couldn't tell you the difference between it and the incomplete one at the season start, they seemed equally weak. I couldn't sympathize with the villains' motivations, Adam is a cop-out to make it seem like they did nothing wrong because they didn't know the true goal but even their original goal wasn't worth it.
S1 is a bit of a mess but it has its moments. It has a vision but doesn't really know what it wants to be so there's some dissonance between its darker parts and the rest of the season, and most character development feels pretty forced. But it probably does the best job at Miku, and it does a good enough job at setting up the characters for the next seasons. The story suddenly shifting to the curse of Balal felt very stupid when I first watched it but now that I know where that is going and that it's going to be relevant for the rest I don't mind it as much anymore.
G is a fun ride and does a much better job at telling its story than the first season, but there is still quite some character development that feels forced and it's really about the action and the fun ride more than it is about the characters or story. It does a really good job at what it decides to focus on though and Symphogear Miku is definitely a highlight.
GX was the first season that I thought did a very good job at the characters, it gives them all their struggles and shows them overcoming those struggles. It slows down at times to give a bit more focus to that which I liked. I'm also a fan of how it's not necessarily the obvious answers that it goes with, the show has its own view on things and you can agree or disagree. The villains are possibly the best in the franchise, I liked how the Autoscorers were themed after different types of dance, and Garie in particular was very fun. Carol's motivations seem basic on their own, but I think they become a lot better once you realize they contrast with the other characters. Tsubasa had to follow her own dreams instead of the dreams of her family, Hibiki had to learn to forgive even if it's not clear if someone deserves to be forgiven, Chris's arc was about getting along with the people around her. Meanwhile Carol has no dreams of her own, refuses to forgive, and works alone. The season also introduced interesting concepts like memory alchemy, philosophical weapons, and the Ignite module.
XV is just non-stop hype, I may like when a season slows down and gives you some room to breathe sometimes but when you can make every episode as exciting as the last I don't have much to complain about. It combined the best part of every season (often doing it even better) and had a bit of time for everything. It has the Hibimiku moments and darkness of s1, the action and excitement of G, the character focus of GX, and the amount of lore of AZX. I'm a fan of the villains as well. For Noble Red I could relate to their feeling of isolation leading to them rejecting everyone else, and I really liked how they were technically weaker so had to come up with sneaky strategies to win. Fudo gave a nice conclusion to Tsubasa's character arc, and Shem-ha gave a good conclusion to the series as a whole. She felt a bit like a Star Trek villain, an alien trying to make everyone happy, not understanding why humans don't accept that way to happiness. Animation and music are also easily the best in the series. |