Back to Rydia69's Profile Rydia69's Profile

-up to episode 9-

Crying girls fight noise whilst crying and singing. Repeat.

I mean, this show has kept me coming back every week, but it's not the best of the season by far.

To start clearly. Senki Zesshou Symphogear does what it aimed to do fairly well- but falls apart due to weak characters and, in my opinion, average music. I've scored the music a 7 due to the fact that i know some people will love the whole "singing while fighting" thing and that the music will appeal to them in some way; it's not for me though.

One thing i must praise about this series ... however- the fight scenes are colourful and well made. it's always nice to see an episode where there is an emphasis on fighting as it's gloriously OTT and frantic and saves this anime from the oblivion of mediocrity.

The story itself is average and the characters forbid me from getting too interested in it. This anime has failed to really make me feel anything for the characters or the emotional trauma they seem to constantly be faced with; whats left is nothing but forced emotion and melodrama, something which when presented to me usually ends in me giving a show a lower score.

The story can be summed up as easily as "girls in mechasuits sing and fight noise". Everything else is secondary. The reason the noise is there is ambigious and yet to be explained- and perhaps if it gets explained in more detail in the next 4 episodes i'll reconsider giving the story a 6/10.

The art itself is standard anime fare- the highlights lie in the wonderfully colourful fight scenes and the music concerts. The designs of the mechasuits are quite nice and Hibikis sudden... "primal" outburst after a couple episodes of uncertainty was quite nice and i'd like to see more of it. You get a bit of insanohibiki with a black face and bright eyes for a couple minutes but you never really see it again, which is a shame. I'd like to see more of that, Hibiki became slightly more likable when she started fighting the "noise", and not simply crying in the corner the whole time.

Story - 6
Art - 6
Sound - 7 (personally, i'd give it a 5)
Character - 5
Enjoyment - 6
Overall - 6

These ratings aren't carved in stone; the show is far from over and i'm expecting something to start happening very soon. I anticipate a clash between the lady with the great engrish skills and our blue and blonde haired heroines very soon. The show at the moment, however, is undisputably average; but still has some potential i hope it uses fully in the final episodes.

I'm writing this because episode one does not reflect the pure awesomeness that is episode two. It almost feels like they made that first episode the way it is because they wanted to make what follows somewhat shocking and completely unexpected.

And job well done. I was not expecting that at all. I'll let you all discover what it is on your own, i wont say anything more.

Episode one was just fan service. A naked Fear, and a multitude of panty-shots and comedic silliness that doesn't really do what follows justice at all. Thats why i think it was there to give a false indication ... of what to expect.

This is really shaping up to be an interesting series. The artwork is great, one redeeming factor of the first episode, blasting purples and blues and all sorts of radiance in every shot. The girls are cute but for that first episodes are just empty shells of what they turn out to be. Loli-jealousy of the girl with the big boobs and things. You get the idea.

Either way, i did enjoy the first episode, don't get me wrong. But the second episode is brilliant in comparison. It starts off the same way as the first but it escalates into something much bigger, very quickly. Give it a watch.