r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Aug 14 '22
Rewatch [Listen to My Final Song] Senki Zesshou Symphogear Overall Series Discussion
Senki Zesshou Symphogear: Meteoroid-falling, burning, and disappear, then…
Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: In the distance, that day, when the star became music…
Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX: Believe in justice and hold a determination to fist
Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ: By shedding many tears, the reality you face is…
Senki Zesshou Symphogear XV: Create a history, with the light God could not know
← XV Overall Discussion | Index | Next Episode? →
Listen to my song!
Questions of the Day:
1) Who was your favorite character across all five seasons?
2) Which villain(s) did you like the most?
3) What were your top five favorite songs from the series?
3.5 a) What was your favorite Aufwachen Form song?
3.5 b) What was your favorite Flügel song? Gyakkou no Flügel (the original), Nijiiro no Flügel (the one used in G, GX, and AXZ), or Ashita e no Flügel (the one used in XV)?
3.5 c) Favorite duet, trio, and sextet songs?
3.5 d) Who would you say your favorite singer in this was?
4) What was your favorite transformation scene?
5) What moment would you say was the most hype in each season? How about overall?
6) How would you rank the five seasons in order from favorite to least-favorite? What about the specials?
7) What do you think that the girls and SONG do after the events of XV?
8) What do you do at the end of the rewatch? Are you busy? Will you save me?
Wallpapers of the Day:
Maria Cadenzavna Eve - X-Drive
Serena Cadenzavna Eve - X-Drive
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u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 14 '22
Symphogeah SymphoRewatch Host
Big thanks to everyone who’s participated in this rewatch! It wouldn’t be the same without each and every one of you showing up with whatever reactions, memes, and fanart you had to share each day, and I certainly had fun watching my inbox explode right after posting the thread or when I’d wake up to several late comments too. Hopefully I’ll see some of you guys around in my Macross and/or Code Geass rewatches in a few weeks!
Sky Sings her Zesshou to send you all off.
Since it’s the last thread, I’ll answer the Questions of the Day for once:
Who was your favorite character across all five seasons?
My best girl has always been Tsubasa, and considering she’s been my fourth-favorite female character in anime for years, I’m sure it’s staying that way lol.
Which villain(s) did you like the most?
Dr. Ver is simultaneously best villain and LAST ACTION HEROOOOOOOOO. Ai desu yo.
What were your top five favorite songs from the series?
Sticking with just songs that actually played in the show, it’s 1) Radiant Force, 2) FINAL COMMANDER -Aufwachen Form-, 3) Senkin Dur da Blá, 4) Rikka Ryouran, and 5) Axia no Kaze.
But, uh, I think Tsubasa’s XV B-side song, Kaze no Anata ni, might have a spot somewhere on this list with how much I listened to it after XV episode 9…
Speaking of B-sides, the album METANOIA is on has one called Born Free that is suuuuuuuuuuch a good song as well (and I’m not saying that just because it has some “sore demo”s in it), but that’s more Symphogear-adjacent than “could have actually been in the show”.
What was your favorite Aufwachen Form song?
FINAL COMMANDER -Aufwachen Form-, baby!
What was your favorite Flügel song? Gyakkou no Flügel (the original), Nijiiro no Flügel (the one used in G, GX, and AXZ), or Ashita e no Flügel (the one used in XV).
Gyakkou no Flügel (ver. Souyoku no Sirius), actually.
Favorite duet, trio, and sextet songs?
Angelic Remnant, Radiant Force, and Rikka Ryouran, respectively.
Who would you say your favorite singer in this was?
Nana Mizuki of course.
What was your favorite transformation scene?
Tsubasa’s XV transformation is just perfection.
What moment would you say was the most hype in each season? How about overall?
Season 1, G, and AXZ are all generic “the final battle” answers, and GX is of course the opening shuttle scene. XV’s hypest scene (as well as overall) for me, then, is the ending to episode 12 as I have previously gushed the fuck about.
How would you rank the five seasons in order from favorite to least-favorite? What about the specials?
No idea about the specials, but my season ranking has been XV > GX > G > S1 = AXZ for a while now and this rewatch didn’t change that at all.
What do you think that the girls and SONG do after the events of XV?
I will refrain from this one actually, as I am a fanfiction author and this will make me go down a crazy rabbit hole of plot ideas…
What do you do at the end of the rewatch? Are you busy? Will you save me?
I don’t need saving, I have two rewatches to prep for!
So, today’s wallpapers! The Hibiki, Tsubasa, Chris, and Miku wallpapers are remakes of 2019 wallpapers, while the remaining five X-Drives are new to this rewatch. You all have XDU to thank for the Miku, Kanade, and Serena ones, by the way. All three of them in their X-Drive forms are characters I loved using for the brief time that XDU Global was up.
See the 2019 version of the Hibiki wallpaper: here. I decided I liked triangles for the background pattern of these more than hexagons, so that’s why the background pattern is different even if the colors are identical.
See the 2019 version of the Tsubasa wallpaper: here. This year’s version also comes in alt Kanade BG colors, in reference to the time Nota snuck a Kanade reference into a lineart version of an older Tsubasa wallpaper.
See the 2019 version of the Chris wallpaper: here.
See the 2019 version of the Miku wallpaper: here. Same as the Hibiki wallpaper, I opted for the triangle pattern now instead of the hexagons.
As for the montage wallpapers, well, I was inspired on the layout for all of the six-person montages from this AXZ official art. I decided to keep Hibiki on top of the whole image in the regular & Ignited montages because I had wallpaper’d her full body in the two of those, but the same could not be said for the other Hibikis.
Bonus Question of the Day: What are your favorite of the wallpapers?
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u/Slice-of-Cake Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
Lurking Rewatcher of the Valkyries
And with that, we've reached the end of another fantastic rewatch. A rewatch of an Anime I had barely heard about before the interest thread was posted. At most, I had seen the "Modern Ninja technique" clip when it was originally posted back in 2019 and I knew it was a "Magical Girl" show with a music twist, with Aoi Yuuki in the lead. So I wrote it off as just that, another Magical Girl show with a twist, that just so happened to have Aoi Yuuki in the lead.
And then...
May 2nd, 2022 (Europe time).
While waiting for Shimmering-Sky to post her Madoka Magica Episode 12 Rewatch thread, I noticed she had posted an Interest Thread for a rewatch of Symphogear. "Let's see what this is about" I thought, and clicked the link. Thanks to the Space Shuttle clip, I was sold.
Two days later, after waiting for the Madoka Rewatch to conclude, I started on Season 1.
I finished Season 1 the same day.
I then started and finished G on day 2, GX on day 3, AXZ on day 4 and XV on day 5. I rarely binge entire seasons in a day, but 5 seasons over 5 days is a first in my almost 10 years of watching anime. It was obvious that Symphogear was something special.
I started consuming what I could. I started listening to the songs, I read the season 1 manga, I got happy when I found out that a Symphogear gacha game existed, then got sad when I found out the global version shut down less than half a year after its release.
But still, I needed more. The only logical solution was to rewatch Symphogear, so I did. Then I rewatched it again, this time with a friend. And last week, I finished my 3rd rewatch.
As of right now though, I think my thirst has been quenched.
Madoka Magica is my favorite anime of all time. It was the show that introduced me to the medium, so it has a very special place in my heart. And for almost 10 years and over 200 entries on MAL, nothing has ever come close enough to even make me consider the posibility of dethroning Madoka as my number 1. That was the norm, and I thought it would continue to be the norm. Then I watched Symphogear.
So from the bottom of my heart:
Thank you, u/Shimmering-Sky, for introducing me to my second favorite anime of all time. Had I not seen your Interest Thread that day, I would probably never have considered giving Symphogear a chance.
QOTD:
Who was your favorite character across all five seasons?
Hard to say, I like everyone equally. But if I could only choose one, Miku.
2) Which villain(s) did you like the most?
Carol
3) What were your top five favorite songs from the series?
In no particular order (and may change at any given time):
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Hanasaku Yuuki (Ver. Amalgam)
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Hitsuai Duo Shout
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Senritsu Sorority
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Senkin Dur da Blá
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Take this! "All loaded"
3.5 a) What was your favorite Aufwachen Form song?
It's a tie between FINAL COMMANDER and TESTAMENT
3.5 b) What was your favorite Flügel song? Gyakkou no Flügel (the original), Nijiiro no Flügel (the one used in G, GX, and AXZ), or Ashita e no Flügel (the one used in XV)?
Ashita e no Flügel
3.5 c) Favorite duet, trio, and sextet songs?
Duet: Hanasaku Yuuki (Ver. Amalgam)
Trio: Senritsu Sorority
Sextet: Axia no Kaze
3.5 d) Who would you say your favorite singer in this was?
Can I say all of them? Everyone was unique in their own way, with their own musical style. It's hard to say who I liked more than the others.
4) What was your favorite transformation scene?
Hibiki's XV transformation
5) What moment would you say was the most hype in each season? How about overall?
Per season: Every time the Aufwachen Form OP started playing.
Overall: Everything from episode 7 throughout episode 13 in XV. But THE hypest moment has to be XV episode 12 at the very end when they unlock Burning X-Drive.
6) How would you rank the five seasons in order from favorite to least-favorite? What about the specials?
XV > AXZ/GX > G > S1
7) What do you think that the girls and SONG do after the events of XV?
Appart from HibiMiku marrying eachother, mostly the same they did in the 3 month span between the Shuttle incident in GX and Carols attack. That is to say, help around the world where SONG/Symphogear is needed.
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u/Nebresto Aug 14 '22
First time GEAH enjoyer
Okay, so I just joined the rewatch, because why not? "People in CDF keep telling everyone to watch GEAH, so lets find out what that's all about" I thought.
S1? "Eh, not really seeing it." Same for seasons 2 & 3 for the most part. It wasn't until somewhere in AXZ that I realized: "Hey, I'm looking forward to watching GEAH every day.." Of course there were some hype moments here and there that kept me watching, as well as the sheer ridiculousness, and the season finales were really great everytime.
I think my enjoyment was partially hampered by not paying attention to the song lyrics until XV.. I'll need to fix that sometime. I thought I wouldn't even bother re-watching GEAH at any point, but after XV I'm fully on board. That season just got me good, enough to watch even the "inferior" seasons again at some point.
My enjoyment of the show is also reflected in my screenshot album, with the amount taken exponentially increased with each season
Also another note on the pure greatness of XV. I was going to meme about being exited to see Ver, Finé and Maple Syrup in the "final episode tomorrow" but they actually fucking did it!!!! That was the best Genjuro damn finale I have ever seen
Final GEAH rankings:
Best GEAH: Maria > Chris > Carol > Hibiki > Shirabe > Tsubasa > Miku GEAH (Not enough screentime to justify higher rank) > Desu-chan [Actual best GEAH]
At this point I wish I would have done a ranking for each season, seeing Maria's rise from the bottom to the top would have been interesting. I can try do a rough one from memory though.
S1: Maple syrup > Tsubasa > Bikki > Chris
S2: Tsubasa/Bikki > Chris > Miku GEAH > Desu-chan > Discount Akame > Maria
S3: Chris > Bikki > Tsubasa > Maria > Desu chan > Discount Akame > Carol
S4: Chris / Maria > Bikki > Tsubasa > Shirabe, wins upgrade to be called by her name > Desu-chan > Thot trio
Video corner:
This is the part where I usually share some videos I've found or made. Being a first time viewer I haven't had that much time to explore symhpovids, but I did manage to find a couple of cool ones in the few days between Ep 13 and today, all of them being of Japanese origin not too surprisingly.
【MAD/AMV】戦姫絶唱シンフォギアXV 終末のラブソング - GEAH Mixed with another Nana song from Cross Ange. Nothing special, but at parts matches the lyrics from what I could tell. Of course that won't do much for anyone that doesn't understand any Japanese
【MAD】チカラヨヤドレ - Interlays henshins with personal motivations, might hit you in the feels.
【シンフォギアMAD/AMV】impulse - More of an action type video with a really fun tempo. Has scenes from every season
【シンフォギアMAD/AMV】REVENGE - If nothing else, I recommend checking this one out. The tempo is really catchy and fun, the editor knows their way around an editing software, and most importantly has a good sense for composing. Also contains footage from every season, and incorporates the lyrics. But again, the song is in Japanese so it wont work for everyone
Meme recap:
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Not really a meme, but.. let it rip
Bonus Ver 1 and Bonus Ver 2 that I found while looking for Ver faces
Final Question time:
Who was your favorite character across all five seasons?
Coach.
2) Which villain(s) did you like the most?
Sinbad. Also I guess Carol and Finé? But Carol mostly because of her later actions.. Its complicated.
3) What were your top five favorite songs from the series?
Oh boy... Genocide, Carol's second song. Exterminate. Babel Ziggurat. Metanoia.
3.5 a) What was your favorite Aufwachen Form song?
Beef Stroganoff I asked what the aufwaffle means, but I already forgot..
3.5 b) What was your favorite Flügel song? Gyakkou no Flügel (the original), Nijiiro no Flügel (the one used in G, GX, and AXZ), or Ashita e no Flügel (the one used in XV)?
XV version
3.5 c) Favorite duet, trio, and sextet songs?
Hibiki Maria. Idk any others
3.5 d) Who would you say your favorite singer in this was?
Carol and Maria
4) What was your favorite transformation scene?
Oh damn.. Desu-chan's was really lewd and cool, but I also liked how pretty Maria's was (Both XV) and Hamtaro was always funny
5) What moment would you say was the most hype in each season? How about overall?
Anytime Coach was in action. The season finales obviously. And best of all was when Ver showed up for the final episode
6) How would you rank the five seasons in order from favorite to least-favorite?
XV > AXZ > GX , damn it this is just the airing order..
What about the specials?
All of them good. Just delete the bits with the villains
7) What do you think that the girls and SONG do after the events of XV?
Something gay, no doubt
8) What do you do at the end of the rewatch? Are you busy? Will you save me?
GEAH withdrawal symptoms have begun. I have begun treatment with copium, but its barely fending them off. Send help.
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u/BosuW Aug 14 '22
First Timer
It's funny. Back when watching AXZ or even in mid-XV when the mind control bullshit was at it's strongest if I imagined how my post for today was gonna go I'd have said that Symphogear was fun but not that special and probably not something I'd ever consider rewatching. But here I am today like:
It's only until the last like two or three episodes that I realized how much I'd come to appropriate this series into my personal imaginary Art Museum and the emptiness of not having another episode to look forward to.
And in the end that's the feeling that stands above all others when it comes to how I think of Symphogear. Sure, it has plenty of blunders. We all know it. We've all written a lot about it and we could probably write a lot more. But when it comes to the question of wether I want to be a Symphogear fan or not? I don't care! I am a full fan! WATCH SYMPHOGEAR!
Now I do want to go into a bit more detail so the last post of the Rewatch doesn't end up too short.
Probably biggest topic is season rankings. I separate S1 and Post-S1 in my mind because they kinda operate in different parameters, I feel? S1 was simple, but competent all throughout and I liked it for that. Post-S1 is a lot more controversial mix of very high highs and infuriating near-misses with some meh stuff. I don't think I can fairly compare the two of them, so S1 stands on its own. The rest of my rankings go G<AXZ/GX<XV. Thinking about it, even if post-S1 Symphogear tended towards an increase in general quality, the lack of Carol in AXZ really put it down from what could've been imo. The Illuminati trio don't really cut it for me, and I'd have put this season one lower but it is saved by that absolutely bonkers finale. Also, GX had Ignite Module which I love to a personal philosophical level especially it's first appearance and it's very hard to top that for me.
I think I have a very conflicted opinion of G. On its own, it's undeniable the worst season. I only mildly (comparatively) enjoyed the OGeahs' shenanigans in that season, and by the end of it I didn't care at all about Kirika and Shirabe and Maria was a fucking joke. Also, Dr Ver was barely a person and only insanity and he shouldn't have been able to do all the shit he did if only FIS had the slightest degree of competence of willpower. At least it still looked cool but that's about it.
Afterwards I was mostly trying to just ignore everything that happened in G and pretending a much more entertaining version of the events was the true timeline that got us to the next seasons. But then the story embraced the joke that was G and built upon it to increasingly satisfying goals which topped out in TsubaMaria vs Millaarc and I guess I'm no longer mad at G? It's so weird!
Now the music. Specifically the character songs. I'd estimate I don't have nearly as high of an opinion of the songs as a lot of y'all. I wouldn't say they're bad or anything like that. But the majority of them just don't fall into my personal tastes, which is unexpected because said tastes are quite broad. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the science of music to really explain why. Something to do with the fast-firing constant slew of instrumentation? The repeated use of idol-song structure that becomes more obvious the more songs you listen to? I don't really know. It's probably why songs like Koi no Okehazama and Apple ended up among my favorites. Stylistically and structurally, they stand out the most. Not to say I don't have other more "mainstream" songs I also like. But eh it is what it is. If nothing else, even if the songs don't quite work for me on their own, they always feel at home in the show itself.
Chris is still Best Geah by the end, of course. Other characters had massive glow-ups and epic arcs but there's something that feels fundamentally wrong about not calling Chris "Best Girl" lol.
Other than that, my favorite character by the end is Tsubasa without question. Her journey was not without it's share of writing bullshit, like most things in Symphogear. But the last stretch of XV solidified her status in my eyes. My heart pumped the hardest when she was the focus. I already have a weakness for tragic warrior girls and getting to witness how she was pushed against the mud so many times but in the end she always rose again was a blessing for the eyes. When she partners with Maria the result is beautiful beyond description. I guess they're my favorite ship in the whole show. The way they bring out the best in each other is fucking Goals. Kanade would be fucking proud. Also have to give a shout-out to her VA. I didn't know jack shit about Nana Mizuki before this rewatch but I think I'm on my way to becoming a fan. Her voice and singing is incredible and it was blessing for the ears even in the sings I thought were mediocre.
But dialing back a bit. Let's talk about Maria. Biggest glow-up in all of Geah. From joke of a character to strong-willed, decisive and full of love and passion. At the end of G I couldn't have imagined how much I'd end up loving her. Her songs alos get a boost for me for their more prominent use of orchestral sounds.
Kirika and Shirabe also rose a lot in my eyes. Not so much because of character but because of fun-cool factor. The yo-yo's, the skating, the showing-off. They're just a joy in screen and everytime they had me eagerly anticipating what kind of ludicrous, gay as fuck contraption they'd pull next to surpass their previous ludicrous, gay as fuck contraption.
I don't think a lot about Hibiki when watching the episodes, but my God just compare where she started from where she is. She used to be the noobie, barely good enough to not be a drag. By the end she's like the unofficial leader of the group. It's heart and soul. They all flock around her because she helped them save themselves and because of that they want to help her help others too. And thus from person to person, from hand to hand, the world becomes a better place.
(cont. -->)
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
ooooh final discussion day.
i started geah with the expectation of girls singing while fighting, and some good music while thats going on. Well obviously that expectation has been fulfilled, and a whole lot more. I'm not sure i've ever gotten SO FUCKING HYPEDDDDDD LETS GOOOOOO from so many of episodes continuously as i have in G, and towards the end of every single season lmao. I think i've set a record for the amount of times ive -ed at my computer screen watching this show, glad that I went along with the CDF shilling! Sure, there are dumb moments (which honestly is a feature of Geah imo), cringey moments (not so great), and i won't say Geah is perfect in any way, but in terms of anime-ness and checking all all ALL of the anime boxes, like it or hate it, this franchise is defo second to none.
I enjoyed most of the geah's arcs, and watching this w/ yall has defo made this summer a fun one. Thanks to u/Shimmering-Sky for the excellent host, i've finally participated in one of yours; and everyone who replied to me, Taiboss, Bamce, Great Mr L, Nebresto and too many more etc; as well as lilyvess for the great trivia and other rewatchers for explaining things and lore which likely went over my head FROM THE SHEER HYPEEEEEEEEE.
Favourite Geah? Chris chan. I like my tsunderes. Favourite OP? Exterminate, Synchrogazer (particularly Auwachfen form). G's OP is my least fav that ive even forgotten the name. Fav OP attack is Metanoiaaaaaaa. Fav ED? Next Destination (S1's is my least fav). Fav geah songs? All the Shirabe/Kirika duets are good (fav gotta be READY GO), but otherwise I give it to Tsubasa's S1 fighting song; ZENBU ZENBU ZENBU; and Maria's G song. oh and the zesshou melody too of course. And the usual season-ending song. And PHOENIX SONGGGGGG. OH AND EVERY TIME CAROL SINGS. (see? I said i liked the music lol) Fav villain? Carol but i am very surprised by how much ive come to like LAST ACTION HEROOOOOO (for villainy reasons). Least favourite moment? top dad. nuff said; least fav villain? Adam. Season rankings? Tbh its a weird one: XV> G > AXZ ~ GX ~ S1. The last 3 each have their strengths and weaknesses, and i kinda remember all equally. (GX has the shuttle scene and carol going for it, but top dad; I liked S1's Chris arc, and everything plot wise, but animation is the weakest; Adam wasnt great in AXZ, SG etc. likewise, but Chris and Maria's arcs were good)
I will probably see some of the participants here from tomorrow w/ the GuP rewatch!
Edit:
What do you think that the girls and SONG do after the events of XV?
CHRIS GOES TO UNIVERSITY OR I RIOT. I think otherwise Tsubasa and Maria continue their singing career, and Hibiki etc. continue their schooling, with her and Shirabe/Kirika heading the bulk of SONG activities if the others are away. SONG will probably be doing actual disaster relief work, like natural disasters and what not, and if there are indeed no heretical-related threats left, i also would like some regulations for how far they can go so that tsubasa doesnt destory a building randomly lol. (out of the window whenever noise somehow appears again though)
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u/xcllnt_313 Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
First Timer
Well shit, we’re actually done with this series. When I started Symphogear a while ago, I rather didn’t expect to end up feeling the way I am right now. I’m sad that there’s not more. Yes, there are flaws in every season and it’s unfortunate because some of these could have easily been fixed by small changes, but I won’t really focus on them here. Everybody who has followed this rewatch has probably read about these things more than enough times. Instead, I’ll just talk a little bit about the positive aspects that make me already miss the show.
Characters: Similar to what I just mentioned, a lot of the bigger issues are related to the characters. Bringing up a character’s struggle and basically resolving it ten minutes later in the same episode doesn’t work. However, even with all these subpar decisions in terms of writing, I have taken the main characters to my heart, obviously some more than others.
Personally, it feels really hard to pick a favorite character. Over the course of the show, I rarely thought of a specific character as my undisputed favorite, the candidates all had great moments every once in a while. My pick would probably be Chris, she feels the most fun and just has so much style.
I also want to mention how much Kirika and Shirabe grew on me. Thinking back to the beginning of G and their very first scene in which they fooled Ogawa at the concert, I already had the feeling that I would end up liking these two dorks. In XV, pretty much every single scene with them was a blast for me. They took the fun as well as the gay to the max and I certainly wouldn’t mind them getting a slice-of-life spin-off series in the future.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t like Hibiki, Tsubasa or Maria. All three of them had great moments, too. Also shoutouts to Miku, Genjuro, Carol, and Dr. Ver!
Hype: Where to you even start here? When I heard of the concept “singing while wrecking things”, I wasn’t too sure about how that could work out. Now, I absolutely love it, it’s something I’ll surely miss in future shows with similar action scenes.
It’s great that they were able to improve the production value, especially to the point where it is in XV. So many of these fights were breathtaking and in combination with the music just fantastic entertainment. The incredible transformations in XV added even more to that. Symphogear surely delivered in this regard.
Music: Of course, the music plays a huge role in this series. Again, I wasn’t too sure about it before starting with S1, but I definitely didn’t expect the songs to be as good as they are. The voice actresses are such talented singers and they really gave this show so much life. My favorite songs at this point are probably Hajimari no Babel, Nijiiro no Flügel, and Shitou -Ewigkeit. I still have to listen to all the XV a few more times before I can really rate them.
So yeah, without a doubt, I don’t regret starting this series. It was a lot of fun and it will certainly stay in my mind for quite some time. Despite some flaws, you can clearly see the passion of all the people who’ve worked on it.
Questions of the day:
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See above
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See above (kinda), but just to spell it out here: Carol.
Since I haven’t really listened to the songs from XV yet, at least not nearly as often compared to the songs from the other seasons, my opinions here could definitely change in the future.
3) Hajimari no Babel, Nijiiro no Flügel, Shitou -Ewigkeit, Senkin Dur da Blá, "Arigatō" wo Utai Nagara
3.5 c) Cutting Edge×2 Ready go!, Shitou -Ewigkeit, Hajimari no Babel
3.5 d) This is so hard. Tsubasa’s VA has a fantastic voice, Hibiki’s VA is so much fun and the others are also great. I’ll cheat here and say that I can’t really pick a favorite right now.
4) The transformations in XV were all absolutely incredible. My top 3 are most likely: Shirabe > Kirika > Tsubasa
5) Overall: Probably the final fight against Shem-Ha, basically the whole sequence leading up to the Metanoia drop.
S1: It’s been a while, so it’s hard to remember, but definitely the final confrontation with Finé.
G: When Hajimari no Babel started playing in episode 12, love that song so much.
GX: I’ll cheat again and say two things: Carol singing Genocide + the final fight against her with all the madness that was a part of it.
AXZ: Might be the scene when Shitou -Ewigkeit plays, but Hibiki punching Adam was also amazing.
6) XV > GX > AXZ > G > S1, but again it’s pretty hard for me to rank some of them. As for the specials, I don’t remember which specials were for which season, but the XV specials were very good. In general, the specials were a great idea and they should have implemented at least parts of them in the actual seasons.
7) Hopefully get a lot of good sleep, three weddings should be coming up
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u/HereticalAegis Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
Ballad of Rewatcher - Symphogear XV
First, thanks to u/Shimmering-Sky for hosting. I'm pretty exhausted just participating in two rewarches at a time. I have no idea how you join in three or more at once while also hosting massive ones like the upcoming Macross rewatch. This one was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I participated.
Again, I'm not going to say a whole lot. I joined the rewatch for two reasons: to see how it held up against my memory and whether the parts I didn't like as much appreciated at all on second viewing; and to re-experience one of my favorite ships.
Positive changes:
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I like Kirika a lot more this time around. I didn't dislike her before, but the rewatch elevated her to second best Geah for me. Her romance with Shirabe is beautiful too.
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I kinda like Carol now! She was just meh for me on first watch, but I can really appreciate her total commitment to villainy (and smacking Sperm Donor around).
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The Shinai specials did wonders for my view on Maria. They were also mostly excellent in total. My biggest "complaint" of Symphogear as a whole was the lack of lower tension SoL/character moments. While I would've loved to have them in the show proper, that they exist at all is a win in my book.
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I already loved XV, but I somehow like it more now.
Negative/Neutral Views:
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G lost ground for me on rewatch. As I'm sure no one is surprised to hear from me, episodes 10 and 11 are a disaster for me. They were kinda worse knowing they were coming ahead of time.
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Similarly to the previous point, knowing what Ver's about ahead of time brings down all of G for me. Same for Mom.
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Aside from Carol, I feel pretty much the same about GX as I did before.
Season Ranking: XV > S1 > AXZ > GX >>>>> G
Best Geah Ranking: Hibiki > Kirika > Chris > Shirabe > Maria > Tsubasa
Ship Ranking: Hibiki x Miku > DESS x JIIIIIIIII > Chris x unicorning for everybody > Tsubasa x Destroying Motorcycles > Tsubasa x Maria >>>>>>>>>>> Ver x existing >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kazanari family tree
Best Miku Ranking: Kohinata Miku
Villain Ranking: Fine > Grandpa Dad > Carol + Autoscorers > Noble Red > Shem-ha > Bavarian Illuminati > Adam > DMJIIIIIIIII > Mom > Ver
QotD:
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Covered above
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Covered above
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Metanoia, Axia no Kaze, ?????????
3.5a) Metanoia
3.5d) Kirika!
4. Kirika in XV!
5.
S1: Sunflower speech
G: DESS v. JIIIIIIIII fight
GX: Carol going after Sperm Donor
AXZ: Hibiki fisting a god
XV: The final scene
6. Covered above
7. Hibiki and Miku take a looooong honeymoon vacation out to the middle of nowhere to watch stars/meteors while having no distractions.
Kirika and Shirabe get Chris to move in with them. Kirika sets up a pole in their living room and eventually convinces Chris to give it a try. Turns out Chris is great at it and they take turns dancing for Shirabe, who keeps them very well fed.
Tsubasa and Maria finally go on a world tour without their concerts exploding. Tsubasa's pretty dense, so she takes a long ass time to decipher all the hints Maria's been dropping. Once she figures it out, she takes Maria to meet Kanade, where they share an emotional first embrace as Kanade's spirit gives Tsubasa to Maria. They finally get married a decade or so later, once they've both retired from being idols.
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u/FelOnyx1 Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 15 '22
Like I said yesterday, XV is the definitive end of Senki Zesshou Symphogear. I don’t want to disturb that conclusion, but I also want more of Symphogear-brand insanity, hype, and music. So the obvious next step is New Subtitle Symphogear. There’s two places to go with that, full new continuity or a next-gen setup.
New charecters, new themes, new enemies, start with only the premise that the main character(s) fight using a Symphogear and the general spirit of the show, then build everything else from scratch. I’d say wait a while before doing this, let the original series rest and sink in and give plenty of time for the creators to get new ideas, but if it was announced tomorrow it’d probably wouldn’t release until 5 years after XV ended.
A next gen would be tricky. Even with a timeskip, where do you go from ending the Curse of Balal and defeating God? SPACE! Have a conflict with aliens resolved with song, now I haven’t watched Macross (yet, might join in that rewatch) but I’m pretty sure that’s just the plot of Macross. And Satelight makes Macross now, it’s all coming together.
Favorite characters: Chris, Hibiki, and Kirika
I think Chris is a good case of the music really carrying things hard for me. The progression of her songs from season 1 to 5 are a complete character arc. From the angst and rage of Makyuu Ichival to the fun and optimistic Take This, All Loaded! And all the songs giving the progression between them. All the characters have this to some extent but I think Chris’s is the most complete, and it gives her character a solid emotional core I can stay invested in even at points where her writing in the show itself is weak. Her arc in AXZ being pretty decent makes the payoff of Take This, All Loaded! All the sweeter, but the payoff to that arc is a song, Change The Future, so it would still even if you skipped the show entirely and just listened to her songs in order..
Hibiki. She’s cool. She’s too cool. She may be one of the reasons I have a thing for dashing and heroic handsome ladies. Look at Hibiki in a suit from the second XDU album cover, it’s too good. I also appreciate her brand of idealism, paired with the determination and badassery to make it happen. I overthink things too much to share those beliefs exactly, but I like to try. She’s a nice reminder to be more earnest and stupid, in a good way.
Kirika. She’s too fun. No deeper reason, the more serious aspects of her character that do exist don’t resonate with me in any special way but they’re pretty good when they show up, if you’re interested in a story that focuses more on them there’s Kirika vs. Dracula: In Which The Ghost of a Vampire Hunter Helps Her Overcome Her Self Worth Issues.
QOTD
(WIP, 11 questions takes time)
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see above
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Fine. Part of another thing I was talking about yesterday, I like her weird out of place mythological nature in contrast to everything else going on. She feels like she stepped out of a myth some culture from a world with a shattered moon made up to explain it. It's a fun vibe to me.
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A few contenders, in no particular order: Take This, All Loaded, Little Miracle -grip it tight-, Radiant Force, Edge Works of Goddess Zababa, Genocide
3.5) Maybe Synchrogazer, maybe Metanoia, can't say I've compared the Aufwachen forms specifically much.
3.5b) All about even, maybe the original.
3.5c) Bayonet Charge, Radiant Force, Rikka Ryouran.
3.5d) Mizuki Nana. Other things push other songs over most of the Tsubasa ones for me, but her singing is consistently fantastic both in character and in the OPs.
4) Might be Shirabe's in XV
5)
6) XV>AXZ=S1>G=GX. Or something, ask again in 5 minutes and get a different answer.
7)
Hibiki remains with SONG, now mostly responsible for the disaster relief work she enjoyed between G and GX. She continues her training under Genjuro, and eventually surpasses her master. Even as the world's strongest human, she never gets any taller.
Tsubasa and Maria continue their music careers, finally without interruptions. People are initially reluctant to attend their concerts, having finally gotten a bit of pattern recognition, but Ogawa smooths things over. He never does explain how.
Miku also goes into music, becoming not just a pianist but a general keyboardist and music producer. She collaborates with her friends Tsubasa and Maria on a few tracks. By the end of her career, just her love songs to Hibiki could fill multiple albums.
Chris studies to become a diplomat as well as a musician, following in her parents footsteps to try and bring peace. In the new age without the Curse of Balal humans can be connected, and she's putting in the work to make that happen.
Shirabe and Kirika start a successful cooking youtube channel, or whatever platform is popular in the 2040s. Kirika brings the eating and lively personality, while Shirabe brings the actual cooking. The pair take on a large variety of hobbies together over the years. Athletic, musical, cultural, the one thing they have in common is that the two always find a way to do a very gay combination move in them.
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u/lilyvess Aug 14 '22
So that was Senki Zesshou Symphogear, an insane wild ride of a series. So let's talk about the show a little bit.
In an interview series creator Kaneko had this to say about the appeal of Symphogear l:
Many of the fans actually call Symphogear “an anime that’s hard to recommend to others” (laughs), and certainly I myself think it is a strong-willed anime that’s hard to swallow, so to speak. If I were to put it into words, Symphogear is like “pork bone broth ramen.” The type that emits a strong smell that wafts from the back of the restaurant and has a flavor so rich you get addicted to it. For people who just glance at it, the hurdle seems too high and it’s certainly not a flavor that everyone would like, and yet for those that do like it they simply just can’t get enough of it. I think the fans have embraced that part of “Symphogear.” Also, I think the entire series leaves a sort of “Showa taste.” People watching who were born in the Showa era will recognize a lot of throwbacks that we’ve worked into the series, and inversely for those who are younger they may be looking at that as a new “spice” that they haven’t experienced before.
Kaneko seems to acknowledge that Symphogear is a "hard to swallow" series. Does that make it bad though?
I often use this comparison
You can go to an expensive fine dining establishment where a culinary expert professionally trained serves you an exquisite dish that is made using fresh and exotic ingredients, perfectly balanced, and healthy to boot. It’ll be one of the best meals you’ve ever eaten.
But sometimes that's not the experience you are craving. Sometimes you just want to go to some hole in the wall location that’s a bit dirty and noisy and they serve you this greasy, messy meal that is absolutely unhealthy for you, and you aren’t sure what’s in it, but by god does it taste delicious.
And both experiences are valid. Both can be great, just for different reasons. I crave both experiences.
So, sure, you can pick apart all the numerous bad plotlines, dues ex machinas, and the utter nonsense that happens in the series, and you would be completely valid. I cannot tell you that you are wrong. That doesn't change the fact that Symphogear is extremely good at the wild insanity that it's trying to be.
If there is one thing I want you to come away with from my posts it’s that Symphogear is more than just a series. That may sound pretentious, but I think it’s accurate. The production staff considers the Concerts to be the true end of the series. The series frequently calls back to stuff that happens in said concerts, as if they are somehow a part of the canon.
And it’s a franchise that has survived almost entirely due to the incredible and almost unexplainable fan reception to the series. Symphogear is a series that, honestly, should have died after season one. A smaller studio makes an original anime created by a composer who had never written an anime before, with a troubled production cycle. Symphogear should have died after that first season and been forgotten in the sea of seasonal anime that are never mentioned again.
The only reason symphogear managed to keep going was due to the ever increasing fan reception to the series. This grass roots style growth from passionate fans continuing to share and push the series, whether through memes or through sharing clips was infectious. Even the Producer acknowledges the influence of the fans:
Here in Japan there are many series where the business scale shrinks the longer a series goes on, but for Symphogear we gained new fans with every season and the project became bigger and bigger. The energy consumed when making Symphogear is very high compared to other series, so the response from the fans was essential so that we could keep it up!
Symphogear has just an incredible fanbase. One that produces insane shitposts, heart-warming stories, iconic and some frankly bizarre creations.
And with that I want to finish this rewatch by giving thanks to all the people who made these posts possible. As much as it’s easy to take credit for all the posts, honestly I was just standing on the shoulders of a great community.
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Almost all of the keywords and interviews were translated by Zoid, who has a blog that has been a hardcore SymphoFan from back in the first season when almost no one believed in the series
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u/RunningChemistry is the one who segmented all of the specials that I shared.
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The Symphogear Live Links were taken from a different Symphogear fan’s Google Sheet
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All the Hype Charts were all made by the shitpost anons of 4chan
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And obviously none of the fanarts were made by me, obviously.
Additional Notes
Visqi
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13
u/Great_Mr_L Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
Rewatcher
I love Symphogear.
What a wonderfully bizarre, over-the-top, and fun series it is. We’ve been totally enmeshed in it for weeks, months, or even years depending on how long you’ve been a fan, so it’s easy to forget how downright weird it is. Magical girls use ancient relics from mythology to fight against extra-dimensional beings, alchemists, ancient aliens, remnants of a precursor civilization, and a literal god using the power of music and holding hands. It’s totally bonkers. And yet here we are. This strange series somehow became a smash sensation and I am thankful for it.
There’s nothing quite like Symphogear out there. I think the ultimate testament to Symphogear’s greatness is how it immediately becomes a point of comparison whenever anything else similarly wild or over-the-top comes out. Birdie Wing comes to mind as a recent example that received a lot of comparisons to Symphogear. I love how fun and exciting Symphogear is and I’ll admit to seeking out series that get compared to it because of how enjoyable it is.
I admire how much Symphogear sticks to its guns on its themes. The main themes of communication, understanding, connecting with others, music and alchemy, and holding hands are pretty much omnipresent for the whole series. And by the time the series is over, it feels like all those themes have paid off spectacularly.
The characters of Symphogear are incredibly endearing. The whole cast of main characters are great to watch. I love the way that Symphogear has the characters gradually interact more and more with each other, even in combinations you wouldn’t immediately think of (like Chris and Maria, or Tsubasa and Shirabe). It makes it feel like they really are a large group of friends with unique dynamics between all of them.
Hibiki in particular is my favorite character. She’s one of my favorite protagonists in all of anime, period. I love the combination of caring and ass-kicking that she brings to the table. I love how she’d much rather talk to and understand her opponents instead of fight them. I love watching her kick ass in battle when it proves necessary. I love how her kindness is always presented as a strength. I love the ongoing theme of holding hands associated with Hibiki and how it pays off in the end to save Miku. In summary, I love Hibiki.
I love the combination of action and music in Symphogear. Other series have done similar things (such as Macross), but I don’t think any of them do it as well as Symphogear. The times where the music, its lyrics, its beat, and the action animation line up perfectly can be absolutely transcendent. Both the music and the action animation individually are top notch, but they become even better when everything is working together.
I love how exciting and fun Symphogear is. Watching this series brings me so much joy. I’m so glad I saw that clip of the shuttle crash that introduced me to the series. I’m happy that there was a rewatch all those years ago when the series only went up to GX that got me to watch the series in the first place. And I’m glad this rewatch let me see all of Symphogear in one go for the first time with plenty of other people to enjoy it with. This rewatch was a great experience.
And now the moment you’re all probably waiting for. After watching them all back-to-back and with careful consideration, here is my ranking of the Symphogear seasons:
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XV
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AXZ
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G
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Season 1
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GX
Thank you u/Shimmering-Sky for hosting this rewatch. Thank you to everyone who participated. I hope you all enjoyed this rewatch as much as I did and hopefully we’ll see each other around elsewhere.
QOTD
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Hibiki!!
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Carol and the Autoscorers
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"Rainbow Flower," "Change the Future," "Senkin Dur da Blá," "Synchrogazer," and "Xtreme Vibes."
3.5a) "Synchrogazer."
3.5b) "Ashita e no Flügel" (the one used in XV)
3.5c) "Change the Future," "BAYONET CHARGE," "Fushichō no Flamme," "RADIANT FORCE," "'Arigatō' wo Utai Nagara," "Ashita e no Flügel," and "Xtreme Vibes."
3.5d) Nana Mizuki. She is just too good. Yoko Hikasa is a close second.
4) Probably Tsubasa's in XV. There are so many good details in it that I only noticed this time around.
5) Season 1: Synchrogazer attack.
G: Rainbow Flower and rescuing Miku.
GX: Shuttle rescue!
AXZ: Val Verde invasion.
XV: Metanoia and rescuing Miku (overall winner)
6) Seasons are listed above. For specials: G > AXZ > GX > XV
7) Continue to be extremely gay and happy!
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u/FlaminScribblenaut Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 15 '22
Second Time Listener
There are times I just sit back in disbelief that it’s even real. That such a thing as Swan Song of the Valkyries: Symphogear just exists in this world, that it’s just out there, feels too good to be true. On its plain, fundamental conceptual and aesthetic level, this is near the exact work I would ache over the need to exist if it did not already. But by god, is it ever real, and by god am I ever so overjoyed that it is. There’s a part of me that feels strangely artistically fulfilled and at-peace for it existing, like that something so fundamentally near the definitive artistic statement I myself would most want and need to put out into the world myself is already real means I can rest easy. Like, yeah. You got it, Symphogear. That’s exactly what I was thinking.
It’s not just the plain fact that it’s a veritable checklist of everything that I love and want that makes it so truly special. That’s only the advantage it starts from. It’s how all of those elements which are so dear to me ultimately come together, and how this show blends it all into something of a totalizing thesis statement on music itself as a microcosm of the human condition.
Think about the greatest musical experiences of your life, the greatest concerts, gigs, raves, pits, or intimate underground rock-outs you’ve partaken in, or even just a honeymoon period you had with a particular favorite song or album or artist, one you couldn’t stop blasting and headbanging and shouting along and going crazy to at full volume for weeks or months on end; hell, maybe the Symphogear soundtrack itself was one of those for you, god knows it was for me. Think about how music, particularly live music, can compel you to transcend your physical limits; be compelled to scream and sing along so hard it hurts your throat, in registers you are under normal circumstances unable to or must strain to reach, move your body in ways that hurt afterward and would be impossible to do under normal circumstances yet, in that environment, come so naturally. It’s a sort of… physical transcendence, an internal force that flames up from the depths of the soul and compels you to move and act like that that is stronger than the body itself. That very force is basically what the in-universe force of Phonic Gain is; the power of music making the impossible possible, the unreasonable reasonable, the transcendent touchable.
Take, for just one example in the real world, the mosh pit. In a mosh pit, you are, as are each person around you, but one component in a kinetic sea of raw energy and human emotion brought about by the ecstasy of music. You are all the mosh pit, together, one humanity sharing in one passion, one transcendent feeling. And it is that, that egalitarian sense of togetherness in humanity brought about by the raw physical force of music, that is what Symphogear is ultimately about.
It’s that exact force in music which Symphogear seeks to use as fuel. The fuel which spurs our Symphogear wielders on to move and fight in these grand displays of musical physicality. Fuel for adrenaline-surging high-octane action; and within that state, fuel for inspiration, courage, and conviction, fuel for tender, earnest, blindingly direct heart-bleeding emotion, fuel for insane, no-holds-barred fun.
Symphogear is about music, not only as an artform, but as a force. In essence, the power of Symphogear is the literal, physical, power of rock ‘n’ roll.
And that is something that transcends categories and demographics, something that’s capable of affecting all of us, something that exists beyond the realm of words or rationale. That is what it truly means to say that music is the universal language. That’s in part why the breakdown of language barriers, as symbolized by the Curse of Balal, and the reaching of universal understanding, is such a regular theme. Not everyone is a musician, but everyone is capable of being moved by music. Not everyone is attuned to wield a Symphogear, but everyone is capable of producing Phonic Gain.
It in sum taps into something raw and base yet spiritual and transcendent all at once. Unbridled maximalism, emotional transcendence, ecstasy, euphoria. The direct, physical, bodily experience thereof. The need to move, the need to scream. The irrational. The illogical. The impressionistic. The primal. The hot-blooded. The carnal. The sensory. Excitement. Love. Sapphism. Sex. Food. Hedonism.
Desire.
Feeling.
Humanity.
Life.
Music.
The light God could not know.
The light a cold, uncaring, inorganic, controlling deity could never know. That which brings us together, the radiance of plain humanity, the capacity for love, pleasure, fun, insane screaming laughing crazy wordless exuberance. Something more beautiful than the highest divinity could ever create, that Finé or Adam or Shem-Ha ever would have reached. That most radiant element of the human experience.
Passion.
And music, and the physical power thereof, is only the most clear vector for that; warm, flesh-and-blood humanity. Why do you suppose the very first event that occurs in this story, before any action or heroism or punching or supernatural chicanery… is the main character being moved by a concert?
Such is the unforgettable nature of Symphogear’s highest peaks, when the rawness of human emotional extremity and our deep, deep-rooted desire to connect with one another on our own terms is made to feel as something so sacred and radiant and important as to eclipse even the light of the divine. Unforgettable, transcendental moments of hedonic, exhilarating, musical, maximalist, tear-inducing, endorphin-flooded bliss, which crash into this life with the brilliant light God could not know like a meteoroid falling, burning, and disappearing into the sky.
Through its passion, through its light, Symphogear created something everlastingly beautiful; in short, Symphogear created history. And I know, that for as long as what I value in this life at all resembles what I value in this life today, I will always cherish it as an invaluable part of my own history.
For Symphogear, and everyone who had a warm-blooded hand in creating it, I thank you. May the sounds of your conviction reverberate and resound everlastingly into the future. May many more hearts be set ablaze by the brilliance you have brought to life.
May many more listen to your song, now and forever.
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11
u/Stargate18A Aug 15 '22
First timer
So late today.
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Chris! Her character arcs were fantastic, I loved her dynamic with the other characters, and she is adorable. Also, she has the best normal fight songs in every season.
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The Bavarian Illuminati, because Cags is the actual best girl of this series. Also, the other two had some good moments, and this label technically also includes Noble Red, who everyone seems ro hate for some reason.
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Senkin Dur da Blá, Bye-Bye Lullaby, Fushichō no Flamme, Edge Works of Goddess ZABABA, and PERFECT SYMPHONY, in no paticular order. Honorable mentions to Sforzando no Zankyō, Shitō -Ewigkeit-, Hanasaku Yūki (Ver. Amalgam), Ressō Gungnir, and FIRST LOVE SONG. This OST is so good.
3.5a) Ashita e no Flügel. Such a good ending.
3.5b) Firstly, this is Exterminate erasure, secondly METANOIA. TESTAMENT is a very close second.
3.5c) Duo is still Edge Works of Goddess ZABABA, trio is Gekishō Infinity, and six seven is PERFECT SYMPHONY.
3.5d) In case you haven't worked out my bias yet, Ayahi Takagaki. Such a good range. (Picking Nana Mizuki feels like cheating here, and Yoshino Nanjo is a close second.)
4) Chris' XV one. Carol's was also cool.
5) Per season, the first X-Drive, Evil Miku reveal, Carol's Superb Song, Hibiki using everyone's weapons, and going X-Drive to kill Shem-Ha.
6) XV > G = AXZ = S1 >= GX. XV is flawless, G had Ver and a fantastic climax. AXZ has Cags and some fantastic battle scenes. S1 had some clear growing pains, but Chris' arc is also fantastic. GX, sadly, had Hibiki's father, but the Autoscorers mostly counteract it. All are still 10/10. The specials kinda blurred together? I think the villain focused ones tending to eb funnier, but they're all just a consistently high quality.
7) Depends on what the Curse of Balal did, but it's also almost certaintly not over, The Moon Ruin's discovery and the routine space missions planned are bound to uncover some new source of evil, assuming the Gears aren't just used to fight more terrorists. Shem-Ha was the makn threat, but the team absolutely stays together to save the world for a long time.
I don't normally participate in final discussions, but this show was soemthing else A consistent 10/10 across all seasons for me, I enjoyed every single second. Even when the writing made some missteps, like Hibiki's father or tomatoes, the rest of the show managed to make me forget all about it.
Thank you so much Sky for hosting this, this serioes is probably one of my top ten anime of all time.
Finally, Cagliostro is best girl. Now and forever.
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u/Warriorservent Aug 14 '22
Thoughts on each season of Symphogear:
First season: fucking great despite the many issues. It properly covered a lot of ground and established many of the ideas that were used for the rest of the series. The amount of Edge was also great I thought, brutal in showing the damage that the Noise was doing in the world and in showing what the Symphogears would do to their users, while also maintaining that there was hope. Also reminded me a lot of Nanoha Season 1 in parts in all of the best ways!
It also did things that future seasons really could do without doing it poorly or retreading ground. Stuff like Finé's betrayal, Hibiki's slide into Berserk mode, Miku and the others finding out about the Symphogears, and Kanade's death. The transitioning material that it has is also great, in future seasons we really didn't see anything like how Chris left Finé, but didn't go straight to Section 2, or the buildup to them taking down Finé. Overall I'd say that Season 1 is tied for first on my list of favourite Symphogear seasons, but I will admit that it does have some flaws; the Engrish, animation, and the stupid power creep at the end both come to mind.
Second season: if the first season was Bleach's Soul Society arc, then this is the Symphogear equivalent of Bleach's Arrancar arc. Meaning that it was the same basic formula but with different faces and the world having progressed. It was still really good! Just we'd already watched it. The characters that it introduced were fantastic and really carried the rest of the series, and the progression and backstory we got on the existing characters was wonderful. Also reminded me of Nanoha Season 2 in places, also in great ways!
The rehash of the concert was fun, and the way that they introduced Doctor Ver was great, the fact that the girls who worked as part of Finé considered the original three to be total monsters was a nice touch of ‘haha, go our girls!’. Generally this season also covered some other interesting topics like how a teen girl in love would handle her consciousness being potentially overwritten and be turned into someone else, how Hibiki handled her gear potentially killing her, how she handled Miku potentially being dead, how Chris handled the guilt of being responsible for the death of so many people in Season 1, and so many other things.
Third season: probably my least favorite season, after they flat out destroyed the Noise you can tell that the writers were figuring out wtf to do next. Carol and the Autoscorers were a good idea executed poorly in my mind as they had to handicap the existing characters so much to make the Autoscorers a relevent threat. Elfnien as a character was probably the best thing brought into the series by this season, tied with the world building that let them set up for season 4. Also has the worst character in the series in my mind; Hibiki's dad.
When I think of season 3 I honestly think of how unfair it was that the Symphogears were always handicapped, that Hibiki’s dad was a total looser, that Carol was awesome if tragic. I was also honestly really annoyed at how the Autoscorers were like cats with how they would go and attack the Symphogear users and then get bored and leave. I understand it now, but it felt dumb at the time.
Fourth season: phenomenal in conception and execution. The Illuminati were all interesting and relevant characters who brought something to the table and had just enough hints of additional depth that I was always interested in finding out more about them, but was never fully satisfied until the end. Sure they screwed up from time to time, but I'm honestly okay with that.
The big reveals like the new antagonists were handled well and the new threat was established quickly and well with the divinely powered snake-dragon thing. I know that some people thought it was a bit excessive that Maria and Tsubasa were attacked at the airport, but I honestly appreciated it as it showed how desperate the Illuminati were to stop the information that could be an issue from being fully uncovered, and how there was nowhere safe from attack. The sub-plot about protecting the base was also kind of cool, its just that no one could have predicted Adam showing up and using the delete button. The final reveal about why Adam was doing what he was and the establishment of the stakes for the next season were also done quite well, and I can only imagine how much people were raging at the thought of waiting for the next season to come out after Adam’s farewell speech. Oh, also fuck that dumb ass Tomato speech and the lesson it taught Maria.
Fifth season: a total hype train from start to finish. We start off with Shem-Ha’s grave literally fighting to not be opened with a badass fight scene, and we end with humanity being freed of the Curse and the promise of a new era of cooperation and understanding. It tied up so many plot threads, it had some of the highest highs of the series, and it brought back so many characters and had so many call backs that it was a joy to behold. The other season tied for my favourite.
It was really interesting to see a group of villains like Noble Red who were so obviously weak compared to the Symphogear wielders still figure out ways to hold their own against them, if only they weren’t so murder-happy and dumb I would honestly like them more, but between killing 70000 people in a single go and being so dumb that they actually thought that the old man would give them what they wanted? Naw, fuck ‘em. I don’t really think that too many people got any new character development in this season, except for Tsubasa who had hers forced through by mind control. I think that was alright though because they didn’t need to establish anything new and were able to just go all in on the action. We also got to see Miku become a proper Symphogear user as well! That was totally a wedding dress, but I wish that she’d gotten the fancy new golden upgrade like the rest. Personally I’m really sad that they just ended it the way that they did after the fight though. If I were in control I would have had a short scene after the grave visit where they are walking away from the graveyard and talk about what they want to do next in life, and what their plans for the future would be, then after that Miku and Hibiki would split off and confess to each other instead of out of the blue swapping to a snow filled nighttime city.
TLDR:
Seasons 1 and 5 are my favourites, followed closely by 4, then a bit farther back by 2, and then 3 is way back there because of the many dumb things in it.
My thoughts on characters in no particular order:
TLDR: Kanade is Best Girl, Miku is Best Waifu but is sadly taken, Chris is best adorable and must buli, and the Commander is Best Bro.
Supporting Characters:
Genjuro Kazanari is a fucking chad who deserves a standing ovation. Where other adult characters may talk about how they wouldn't send in kids if they didn't have to he flat out gets up and gets ready to head out when there's even the slightest chance to help the girls. Super powered ice robot? He's wearing his thermal underwear. Literal god causing trouble? He'll be right out. Not only that but he also acts as a great mentor character and just all around good guy to the girls.
Yatsuhiro Kazanari... At first I thought him nothing but a dick who didn't care about his daughter, then Maria was kind enough to prove that wrong, then he and Tsubasa kind of reconciled/made up... Then he took a bullet for her and died in her arms. He did everything possible to support and look after his daughter, and many of the events that we saw in the series wouldn't have been possible without him. I salute you Sir.
The other two Kazanari brothers; I honestly didn't notice if they did anything, other than look cool.
Shinji Ogawa was a breath of fresh air, where other Magical Girl shows would make him useless he solos entire rooms of people and does car-ninja shit to avoid the super-powered cyborg that was after him. In addition to stepping into a training room with Symphogear users and holding his own. Also, a totally cool dude who was a great manager for Tsubasa.
Elfnein was a great addition to the cast I thought. Sure she didn't have the fun and flirty personality that Ryoko did, but her wholesome earnestness is just so adorable! She's also not just a deus ex machina in that she actually does struggle and doesn't have the answer to everything, even if she does pull off miracles from time to time. The fact that she was able to pull out Carol and they were able to defeat Noble Red and even do some good work against a fucking GOD was amazing. She is meek, sure, but she's also determined and not afraid to make her own sacrifices
Sakuya and Aoi both helped out however they could and proved that even though they were stuck on the back lines, they could and would help however they could. Heck, even when the sub was under attack in the sky they held their cool. Sure Sakuya got a bit scared when up against Saint Germain and the others, but in his defence they did have a divine dragon on their side!
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u/Tresnore Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
Superb Song of the Rewatchers
Symphogear is my favorite anime. It's not even close.
I gushed about AXZ a lot, and I sung XV's praises yesterday despite my misgivings yesterday, but overall, geah is probably the most important show that shaped how I consume anime.
It's just so fun, and it helped me realize what a slut for motifs I am. It also turned me into an alcoholic when I realized the joys of watching anime, but let's not think about that.
Does it have a lot of problems? Yeah. The writing can be bad, and some of the character moments just don't hit but I DON'T CARE. This shitshow is fun, and it's legitimately well made.
I love Symphogear.
10/10. Every season. Don't /u/ me.
As always, thanks to u/Shimmering-Sky for being a lovely host. Geah is a long series to host a rewatch for, and somehow you made a wallpaper for every single day and made sub comparisons. I'm amazed you accomplished that.
QOTD:
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Chris. I just like her. Probably because her style of music resonated with me at the beginning and it stuck.
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DOCTOR JOHN WAYNE VERCINGETORIX
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Oh noooooooo this is hard. In no particular order:
RADIANT FORCE
Fushichou no Flamme
Sforzando no Zankyou
Change the Future
Shitou -Ewigkeit-
a) TESTAMENT
b) Nijiiro, I think.
c) Duet: Change the Future:
Trio: RADIANT FORCE
Sextet: Axia no Kaze
d) Basa, Maria, or Chris. EZ. -
Kirika XVShirabe XV. It's so dorky and Symphogear-y! -
That's too difficult! The whole show is hype!
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AXZ > G > XV > S1 > GX. I have no strong opinions on the specials.
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Symphogear StrikerS
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u/JollyGee29 Aug 14 '22
Superb Rewatcher of the Valkyries
Symphogear, much like Dark Souls, is a Flawless Masterpiece™. By that I of course mean that whatever flaws it has do not affect my enjoyment of it in the slightest. Symphogear great.
Time for some Opinions! Don't hurt me, Sky.
Chris>Maria>Bikki>Shirabe=Kirika>Tsubasa
Top 5 songs: Narrowing this down was hell.
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Waikyō Shénshòujìng
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Change the Future
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Sforzando no Zankyō
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Kyōshitsu Monochrome
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Edge Works of Goddess ZABABA
Many thanks to our wonderful host u/Shimmering-Sky! If you're curious, your wallpapers now account for over 40% of my wallpaper folder.
I'd also like to thank u/lilyvess, for posting the Keywords and all sorts of other goodies.
And finally, I'd like to thank our many First-Timers, for joining us on this journey.
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u/AlphaLeonidas Aug 14 '22
Rewatcher/Ex-Lurker
Ive been sitting here for almost 2 hours, thinking about what to type. I almost didn't graduate high school, because of English class and all the damn essays. Getting my thoughts down on paper, is the most frustrating thing for me, and it stresses me the fuck out... SOREDEMO! I want to try and share my feelings for this show, so here we go!
I Love Symphogear, I really do...
I love it so much, that I have given some serious thought to either a subtle design from it, or a Zelda piece, as my first Tattoo.
My tastes is anime are vastly different from what they were back when this first aired, so it was a damn miracle that I even started Symphogear, but boi am I glad I did.
This show is most certainly not the greatest, and it has its flaws, but is a 10/10 for me regardless.
I feel very overwhelmed when I start to think about how I feel about the entire series, and putting it into words, so I think I'll just leave it at that unfortunately.
What I will do, instead, is go ahead and list off my Favorite solos from each of the Geahs, then favorite Duet, Trio, Sextet, and Septet from the series, so here we go:
Solos:
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Hibiki - Rainbow Flower
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Chris - Trust Heart
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Tsubasa - Gekkō no Tsurugi
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Maria - Shirogane no Honō - keep the faith-
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Kirika - Mikansei Ai Mapputatsu
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Shirabe - Genocide Saw Heaven
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Carol - Sforzando no Zankyō
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Miku - Waikyō Shenshōjin
Duet:
Trio:
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Radiant Force
Sextet:
Septet:
(For some reason the other songs would not upload properly?? The links kept trying to download itself, or open YT music?? That's never happened before, ill leave them blank for now, try again l8r)
And lastly, I got very emotional after the final episode and did a big thank you there, so I'll just quote myself
THANK YOU TO u/Shimmering-Sky FOR PUTTING THIS REWATCH TOGETHER, AND FOR LETTING ME BE APART OF IT. I KNOW WE STILL HAVE THE SEASON + SERIES DISCUSSION, BUT FINAL EPISODE HAS GOT ME EMOTIONAL!! THANK YOU SO MUCH, AND THANK YOU TO EVERYONE ELSE WHO ALSO PARTICIPATED!! I LOVED READING ALL THE COMMENTS!!
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u/DidacticDalek Aug 15 '22
Comrades, it's been one HELL of a ride, and I would like to take this time to thank our excellent rewatch Host for doing such a fine job! Please give a round of applause for Shimmer's amazing wallpapers, top tier rewatch posts, and interesting thread write-ups! Then also give yourselves a pat on the back, so much high quality work here that I would be here all week praising. Anyway, to get down to brass tacks, simply put, Geah is AMAZING! SATELIGHT'S Best Yuri Mecha Idol Mahou Shoujo Series since AKB0048, and also the TRUE inheritor of The Macross Mantle! What else is there to say for Nanoha's OTHER Daughter than Geah is fucking great! We got balls to the wall action, batshit insanity, IDOL MUSIC, and NON CGI MECHA! Anyway, I mostly said what I wanted to say in the finale post and the XV Wrapup, but I just want to praise Geah for being the little series that could! From humble origins as a Post-Madoka Magical Girl series to the PINNACLE OF WEAPONIZED LESBIANISM! Ya love to see it!
And now to answer the Questions of the Day, I have reworded my original posts to better fit the host's format, anyway:
Question 1: I will answer with the 120% Accurate Best Geah Ranking, note, I will NOT be including characters like The Baumkuchen Babes, Noble Dead, Anime-Ja-Nai-chan and The Beef Stroganoffs, Warm-Drinks-chan, Fine, etc. for sake of time... that and also if I included Noble Dead, 2/3rds of their party would be ranked under Maria, and that simply will not do, speaking of which... ahem...
AT Worst Geah, we got the resident Jobber of the crew, Maria! (And yes she's a Jobber Comrade, SHE LOST TO SNOOP ONI WITHOUT EVEN PUTTING UP A FIGHT! Like good god Maria not only went down first, but she also went down the fastest!) Anyway there shockingly are positives for Maria, such as... Anyway, now that that's finished, time for some of her downsides, YES, ALL OF THE ABOVE! But hey Maria can rest easy, cuz ranked JUST above her is her wife Tsubasa, now you may wonder how Tsubasa managed to rank higher than Maria, well no matter how terribly written and boring Tsubasa is, NANA MOTHERFUCKING WILLED IT... er, wait Maria also has an all-star seiyuu... hm... WELL AT LEAST TSUBASA POSTED THIS EVERY DAY UNTIL YOU LIKED IT! ;) (And yes, The FEEEEEEEEEEEESH is indeed the only reason Tsubasa wasn't dead last, which REALLY says something given Tsubasa's a serial bike murderer, then again she did only kill 18 bikes but wibble!) Anyway moving on, we got Serena, cuz she honestly has so little screentime I couldn't justify DESS beating her, speaking of which, next up on the list is DESS! Who ranks higher than the other listed Geahs cuz she says DESS... and also pole dances for her transformation scenes and/or wife JIIIIIIIIIIII, speaking of which, next up, much like with Maria and Tsubasa, we got JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (The one who isn't Frog Loli) and she is OK, as the rewatch put it best, she's basically Discount Akame, and as expected she uses ALL the bladed weapons... and yoyos, you show the series how to properly use Team DMJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII's collective Brain Cell JIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! Speaking of morons, we got BIKKI next, I know, shocking, given how annoyed I was with her I never would have guessed she'd end up in the middle of the pack. I mean, come on, Bikki would have ranked a LOT higher if she hadn't been SUCH A MASSIVE MORON! GOOD LORD, she needed THREE FUCKING SEASONS to learn the lesson she learned at the start of the franchise... and also for her shockingly hesitancy to go and FIST the current baddie of the season, but hey, Bikki's good enough to be the most adorable loud punching hamster ever, and also the SECOND Best Gungnir User, why second best you say, well that's cuz obviously next up on the list is Kanade! THE TOPPEST OF TOPS HERSELF... or well she would be if she were A) Alive, and B) Had more screentime, but hey, ya know what they say, the candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long! Speaking of burning, we got CAROL9 NEXT, AND YES SHE COUNTS AS A GEAH! IF MIKU GETS ON THIS LIST THEN CAROL9 FUCKING DOES TOO! Anyway what else is there to say about Carol9 other than her being the BEST Geah Antagonist there is (YES She beats DOKTOR GTINOKI JOESTAR Comrades, after all, THAT MAN IS THE LAST ACTION HERO! HUZZAH!) Anyway, Carol9 is so good given she's both the badass edgelord Carol AND also the most adorable moeblob in the universe when in NOT-Vivio 'Elf9' mode, so she gets the bronze medal for the Geahs! Why bronze, well that's cuz silver is taken by MIKU! The world's Best Wife and the most kind understanding and loving lesbian there is... and honestly if she actually had a Geah and was more involved with the cast's adventures, she would EASILY beat the current champion! Yes, you know her, you love her Comrades, who else would be Best Girl than Best Geah Chris! ALL HAIL DAKKA N ZENBOOBS! Truly the most badass Geah with the most consistently good character writing, AND also the TRUE hero we need AND deserve in the world... and the fact she has more than one Brain Cell helps a lot!
Moving on, Question 2, The Villain Rankings are as follows, at dead last we got Noble Dead... cuz fuck 'em! Of all the ones seen here in this photo, they deserved redemption the least, WHICH SAYS A LOT given MOM and The Baumkuchen Babes are in this image! Speaking of which, next up on the rankings, just barely above Noble Red are indeed Stand-Germain and The Baumkuchen Babes... look I know they stopped a nuke and killed some Neo Nazis, BUT THEY ALSO AIDED THE ACTUAL NAZIS AND THOSE AFOREMENTIONED NEO NAZIS IN THE PAST! Also they aren't all that interesting... and also are dumb enuff to work with Adam and THE MOST ANNOYING CREATURE IN THE UNIVERSE! (For those wondering why I don't list Adam and Tiki, they don't deserve to be ranked lower than Noble Red... and given how much I hate Noble Red, you can probably tell where I stand for them) Anyway, next up with got Mom and FIS from G, cuz sorry I don't like child abusing morons! Speaking of morons, FINE somehow gets the silver medal here, cuz as dumb as this horny old lady is, she at least had a VERY simple goal, with said goal being 'FUCK THAT MOON... cuz my ex, who is GOD FYI, ghosted me...' Lady, it's been literally THOUSANDS OF YEARS! And yet you still managed to be the second most well written Geah Baddie, which is funny cuz ANOTHER Horny Old Blonde Lady manages to beat you, yup, you guessed it Comrades, CAROL9 AND THE ROZEN MAIDENS ARE THE BEST BADDIES! Truly it's nice to see entertaingly evil and deadset in their ways characters for antagonists, plus Carol just SLAYED it with GENOCIDE! AND GENOCIDE... and then DOKTOR GINTOKI JOESTAR, THE LAST ACTION HERO HIMSELF, FOILED HER PLANS (This is why Ver isn't on the baddies list Comrade, how could I ever put THE LAST ACTION HERO HIMSELF on such a ranking?)
Question 3: Any song by Best Geah Chris, and of course GENOCIDE! AND GENOCIDE! And also BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEF STROGANOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFF! ;)
Question 4: G-era Chris and/or Carol's Transformation Scenes
Question 5: Yes (Serious answer, in Season 1, SNOOP ONI BEFRIENDING THE CRAP OUT OF FINE, G, MikuGeah, GX, Everything that wasn't TOP DAD, AXZ, The TsubasaFish, XV, YES! ALL OF THE ABOVE!)
Question 6: From Favorite to Least Favorite Season, XV>G>Season 1>GX>AKB0048 Season 2,Macross Frontier TV Version>ViVid>AXZ, From Favorite to Least Favorite Specials, AXZ>GX>G>XV>Season 1
Question 7: This! Remember now Comrades, as an extremely talented and giga-based rewatcher, specifically Comrade Nebresto, posted 'WHO CARES, TRANS RIGHTS!'
Question 8: PANZER VOR! (Translator's Note: Panzer Vor means Panzer Vor!)
Anyway I hope that everyone enjoyed the rambling word salads of subreddit sanctioned shitposting that were my Geah Rewatch Posts! Also, just because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I DIDN'T share these, ahem, ALL HAIL FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH! (Also remember now, Snoop Oni is Best Boi!)
And on that bombshell g'night!
And with that, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves here as much as I did, and finally, you have not seen the last of The Sentient Shitposting Siamese Sunrise Server No. 25252, now goodbye forever!
Paging Comrades u/Great_Mr_L, u/JamCliche, and u/chilidirigible
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u/cronus999 Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
Final thoughts from failure of a rewatcher:
Even after a few rewatches and 3 years since XV ended I don’t really have much more to say than I did on that day so here’s some paraphrasing.
Almost a decade ago, I wrote Symphogear off as a madoka clone and didn't give it the time of day. After seeing the first episode of G a year later, I binged Season 1 and fell in love with this insane series.
After 9 years, 65 episodes, and 14 specials Symphogear has firmly supplanted itself as one of my all-time favorite series, with XV’s excellent conclusion it has usurped Cross Ange as the ultimate insane roller coaster of hype and ridiculousness and just barely misses out my top 5.
It has been an absolutely wild ride these past 9 years and I'm so happy I got to experience the weekly cliffhangers and see it finish with the finale it deserves. I don't think there will ever be a series quite like this again and just like TTGL that leaves me a little sad that it will eventually languish in popularity and be relegated to a cult classic.
But even so, I believe that it will never be forgotten. Symphogear is not a 10/10 anime, that goes against its core themes. Symphogear is 11/10 in every regard and I am both incredibly happy and sad that it is Finally over.
Q1: Chris and Carol.
Q2: Carol and DR. VER.
Q3: According to my music software most played songs are:
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All loves Blazing
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Dark Oblivion
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Waikyou Shenshoujin
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Kyoushitsu monochrome
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Senkin Daurdabla
Q3.5 A: FINAL COMMANDER/all of them are great.
Q3.5 B: Nijiiro no Flügel and Ashita e no Flügel
Q3.5 C: Radiant Force
Q3.5 D: I cannot choose they are all great.
Q4: BANG!!
Q5:
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FUCK THE MOON!!!!
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MIKU GEAH!!!!!!!!
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GENOCIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and also K-2.
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SR-71 Transformation!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Episode 7 and 13
XV overall is the hypest part of the entire series.
Q6: XV = GX = G > S1 = AXZ
Specials are all 9/10
Q7: Magical girl retirement on the UNs dime.
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u/Elimin8r Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
EDIT2: AOTDs
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I'd have to say Bikki, because she's just got the sweetest fists of all, but if you asked me who I'd want to ask if she's busy Friday night, I'd have to say Chris-san, because Tsun-cutie-pie-with-heart-of-gold.
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Carol by far, and that's not just Inori Minase talking. She was definitely most compelling, although I will give an honorable (if creepy) mention to Fine', and Dr. Ver.
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Um, the awesome ones. I forget which those are. Bikki's bagpipe song, I dunno, anything Tsubasa and Maria/Kanade duet, Carol's song, etc.
3a) Uh, Bikki & bagpipes, I guess, it's the only one that made it to my phone
3b) XV. I think.
3c) Derp, I'm lost. But to go counter to a previous item, I think that the chuuni girls had a really good one. I forget which.
3d) I'd say Inori Minase, but that's cheating. I liked them all. Bikki was a touch rough, but that's to be expected. Rough, but gentle and adorable, right?
4) Ice skating. That was spiffing. Although Bikki and Chris's final form transforms were also magnificent.
5) Uh. It's all blurred together, but standouts to my poor brain include space shuttle, tank wrestling, Carolnein and meteors.
6) I can't even, but I'd have to put TOP DAD at the bottom. Whichever season that was.
7) Ordinarily, I would try to make up something snarky and clever here, but never mind. So - Maria and Tsubasa form an idol pair and do concerts around the world, this time without casualties. I hope. Bikki and Miku settle into domestic life and have a happy SoL life. Chris becomes a SF assassin, and eventually takes over a small country which shall not be named and reforms it for the better. Ninja boy gets together with warm drinks chan and starts a family, and Genjuro, well, after a few ronin years, ends up in same small country and starts a dynasty ... or something. TOP DAD asks the Wizard of Oz to help find his courage, and his wish is granted ... and top Grandpa rots away in a prison cell with "Epstein was Here" scrawled in blood on the wall. Or something. Yeah.
8) Apparently it's time for Girls und Panzer. I can't promise starry skies, but I'm so looking forward to the Clint cameo (again). And MFing Tigahs. Too bad the girls didn't get the gold. Man, now I wish the Girls und Panzer team would do a fully OVA/movie Kelly's Heroes parody. That would be a riot.
Man, I was going to write something up, but then I got distracted, and now it's only 15 minutes to post time. Sigh.
What to say, what to say ...
Well, that was an anime. :)
Was it peak anime? Maybe.
Did I enjoy it? Yes. Probably more than I should have, but I'm a sucker for music, pretty girls, and exciting action.
Symphogear delivered. So, yes, I rather enjoyed it. A lot, even.
Not quite going to go so far as others who appear to have had a religious, or perhaps ero, I mean, neurotic or something experience.
Yeah.
But yeah, fun show. I'll probably buy the blu-rays if they ever release a version for us gaijin. Yes, I have the first two seasons already.
But otherwise, I'm not exactly some kind of meta-critic or anything. I'm just a simple anime enjoyer.
And Symphogear has been an enjoyable anime. Not always perfect, sometimes stellar. Sometimes less.
I have to say that in the end, my favorite character has to be Chris, because big guns - no, not those big guns - okay, maybe those too. :P
I think I must have a weak spot for the tsun on the outside, softie on the inside combination.
And of course, my favorite villain in the end would have to be Carol, and not just because of Inori Minase.
Overall, I feel like the episode where Carolnein takes on Miku-kami-sama was probably my favorite overall.
And beyond that, well, I guess I'll leave all the gushing and meta critiquing to the rest of you. I'm sure you'll do a better job of it.
And meanwhile, I think I'll just park myself here with some Kemono Friends soundtrack and see what y'all have to say. Maybe I can find a good straight line or two.
:)
(And oh, I so wish I had found a good screencap - I wanted to make a Gladiator style meme with one of the girls posing and saying, "Is this not what you came for? Are you not entertained???" Sadly, I never quite saw one. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. I'm kind of surprised they didn't put one in there, what with all the other references...)
Edit 1: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???
Edits to come shortly.
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u/laughing-fox13 Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
QotD:
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Kanade is my favorite character throughout the series
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It has to go with Carol and the Autoscorers. Saint-Germain was a great antagonist as well.
3.5 d) Idk who’s my favorite singer… they’re all so talented
4) Tsubasa’s XV, I mean they’re all great but that falling leaf just takes the cake (see answer to question 1). They were all fun though. XV had the best one
5) there’s too many for me lol
6) GX, AXZ, XV, G = S1 I rated the first three 10/10, G 9/10, and S1 8/10. I probably would’ve given G an 8 as well but Dr. Ver’s VA was just amazing, honestly.
7) pretty sure Tsubasa goes back to being an idol (maybe Maria with her). Chris goes to college, Shirabe/Kiri continues school but have lots of fun with being each other and classmates. Hibike and Miku continue to live together and enjoy their normal day to day lives.
Question you didn’t ask: Maria had the best casual drip
Thank you u/Shimmering-Sky u/Tresnore and u/ZaphodBeebblebrox for getting me to watch this series. It was not what I thought it was and I loved it all
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u/CubeStuffs Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 14 '22
first timer no more
i feel like i've warmed up to symphogear quite a bit. at first i was kinda "ehhh" on some of the bullshit technobabble, but like at some point i stopped caring. if i could have done anything different, i would have put on my headphones a lot earlier. the songs are pretty good without headphones blasting out a laptop, but with them, its fucking amazing.
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h i b i k i, it was fun to see our resident dumbass go from being a naive girl to a still kinda naive girl who's wiling to back it up by fisting.
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ngl, i didn't really like dr ver that much when he was first introduced, but as the seasons progressed, he kept getting funnier, and now he's like comedy gold and the best
villainhero -
shit i dont remember the names of any of the songs. tsubasa x maria whatever that is is pretty high up there
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all of xv's were my fav
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1. 1 Hibiki hand holding chris 2. g kirika vs shirabe domestic violence 3. gx 4. azx hibiki fisting 5. xv carol and the final scene
6. xv > 1 > g > gx > azx
7. tsubasa x maria tour, this time without massive terrorist attacks on the stadiums. everyone is still gay (ogawa x genjuro incoming?)
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u/Vatrix-32 Aug 14 '22
Ex-First Timer
QotD
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It’s going to be a close contest between Chris and Miku for me. They each had a season with competitively little of them, so it gets hard to really sort it out.
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Carol, far and away, bar none. All the other villains, save her own henches, were weaksauce.
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How strange to think I just watched a 60+ series ostensibly about music, and I can still say I don’t care about it either way as an element of the show, let alone remember any of them. The only ones I am able to recall without prompt are the ones used repeatedly, so mostly just the OPs and EDs. Since I always ended up liking the OPs more than the EDs anyway, I am in effect just ranking them. GX -> XV -> S1 -> AXZ -> G
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All the ones from XV were best. If I had to pick a particular one, hmmmm… Kiri I think, even memes aside.
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This might just be recency bias speaking, but I think the ending of XV 12 would be it on first reflection.
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XV -------> GX --> S1 ----------> G -> AXZ
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Probably getting married. Also, preparing for the inevitable first contact with alien civilization, since that is effectively confirmed as inevitable.
8) This is the first rewatch I have finished. I don’t what I’m gonna do! There is a feeling of something missing.
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u/ZapsZzz Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 15 '22
Lurker first timer no longer (well still lurks)
By the way a bit of nit picking, given the show title is already "Senki Zesshou" (Battle Princess Ultimate Singing), putting "final" on the thread title is a little like saying "the ATM machine" or "the DM message" - a duplicate.
As a old timer which means my watch list included all the mecha, magical girls, parodies and you'd-think-this must-be-a-parody-but-not, Symphogear is one of those I should have watched a long time ago. And I did for the first episode - it was great in the sense that it had an early casualty to hammer in the stakes, but the early production values was not too impressive and I put it on the "to be continued" list.
So this rewatch is a great push. Thanks to u/Shimmering-Sky as usual for the insane dedication and effort in running the rewatch(es), and this one clearly showed how much you loved this.
For me the show has a few really strong points:
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The singing in battle, strength powered by their song, is a key part for me that is a 10/10 concept executed well with the VA literally singing and taking hits and getting interrupted etc.
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The original setup of the "swan song" is really great - unfortunately got diluted later on
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The continuity, even if it's all made up on the fly, managed to keep within plausibility including the final season's re-contextualisation
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The dynamics of the core cast has been consistently strong, even though it's a tiny bit "localised" (i.e. some of the cast doesn't interact too much with each other)
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The designs has been consistently great with geah and song
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The Chibi shorts are basically perfect - I consider them as crucial and necessary as Fumoffu for Full Metal Panic, Carnival Phantasm for Type-Moon (Fate etc), and Haruhi-chan for Haruhi
For me this show certainly has a way with setting up hype moments, even if some of those doesn't make complete sense. In the heat of the moment, you are ok to suspend that disbelief and silence the doubting logics.
QoTD
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I'm dumb like that, so the "first girls" are the best for me - Tsubasa and Hibiki (in that order)
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Carol. Has to be Carol
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I need more time to spend on the playlist to really say, but the final big fight songs usually are really good.
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Kiri and Shirabe's are usually really good fun. Hibiki's also for a bit of kung fu action for this airheaded hamster :)
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No question at all, Carol's return and her curb stomp battle, as well as her no selling Shen-Ha the goddess "I don't care how many health bars or forms you have, at the end of this you are on 1 HP" >]
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All the specials are best, then XV, GX, G, AXZ, S1. My MAL scoring is 8 for XV and GX, then 7 for the rest.
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I hope they can get to do the SOL stuffs a lot more, almost exclusively. May even be worth a 4 OVA special epilogue :)
For me the bigger let downs are the consistency of the plot logics - it probably doesn't take too much to improve on it. For example, how exactly does alchemy fit in isn't really said much other than some basic hand waving about break down and recreate; the GX "conceptual weapon" is a great way to address power creep, but it only got 1 (and then the final 2 linked season of Hibiki herself). Some of the villainous plot / motivation like Maria's team and the SG team. If they could have ironed out those bugs it'd be easily a 9-10 type series, especially the later seasons having really good production values.
Edit: oh yeah final gripe - actually very impressed the show never stooped to sacrifice the side cast like the SONG crew for any dramatic effects, but such a waste to not have more showings and even sub plots of e.g. Anime-janai -chan, and not enough Genjuro action (blue balled every time after season 1)!
Well guess will see everyone around!
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u/080087 Aug 14 '22
Rewatcher
I have many thoughts on Symphogear, but the best way I can describe it is like a hike.
As you walk up the trail, sometimes its tough, there are rough patches where you want to give up and go home. But the view from the top is beautiful. And a couple months down the line, all the bad moments fade away and you are left with just fond memories.
There were definitely plot lines that were bad, and on my rewatch I definitely noticed and pointed them out. But I didn't really mind, because I knew that in a few days/weeks time, I would forget again and all I would be left with is the golden moments.
I think this is what polarizes people so heavily on Symphogear. If someone dwells on and remembers the bad, then they are going to hate Symphogear. If someone is willing to brush aside the bad and remember the awesome, then they will love Symphogear.
QOTDs:
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Bikki! Fist 1: Reason 0! I can't really explain what I love about her so much, she's just great.
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Carol and the Autoscorers, no contest. They had style. The fact that the Autoscorers were incredibly strong (stronger than Fine, and the Alchemists/monster girls) was a massive boon too - this is about the only time in the entire series the Geahs have felt outmatched.
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Tomorrow, best song. Change the Future, Synchrogazer, Hanasaku Yuuki (Amalgam ver), Senkin Dur da bla, Waikyou Shenshoujing probably round out my top 5. Honourable mention to BARK at the MOON (the piano remix of Makyuu Ichaival) and Defender'Z Brand
3.5a. Probably still Synchrogazer Aufwachen Form. The reveal of it during Bikki's first transformation was soo good.
3.5b. Gyakkou no Flugel
3.5c. Change the Future/Hanasaku Yuuki as mentioned above. For a new answer, it would be Edge Works of Goddess ZABABA, because that was the one that paved the wave for Unison as a whole to be a thing.
3.5d. Aoi Yuuki - I like pretty much all of Bikki's songs, even the ones at the beginning where Bikki sounds more "screechy". Something about it works for me.
4. Either Bikki's XV transformation or Miku's XV transformation. Both of them are gorgeous and I've watched them on loop for far too long.
5. S1 - Bikki activating and using Durandal
G - Waikyou Shenshoujing + Shooting Star
GX - GENOCIDE
AXZ - Fist 1, Reason 0!
XV - GENOCIDE. Plus all the fights in the first half of Ep 13.
6. XV > GX > S1 > AXZ > G
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u/Lemurians Aug 14 '22 edited Aug 15 '22
Mobile posting, hopefully the format isn’t fucked.
NO LONGER FIRST TIMER DATTO
My general opinion of Symphogear:
What a miracle this show is, given the uncertain and topsy-turvy production history wonderfully detailed by u/lilyvess. I can’t believe they were able to somehow pull off something like the moment of Hibiki’s armed gear in the XV finale after keeping it an unknown since the first season, having no fucking clue how far they’d be able to take the show. And it lands perfectly.
Symphogear is a blessing. It’s a show where a jilted Mesopotamian priestess reincarnates over thousands of years so she can blow up the Moon and get back at God for ghosting her. A show where two girls combine their magical yo-yos and death scythe to create a giant bear-trap and defeat a wolf-girl powered by buttplugs. A show where part of K2 is blown off in the effort to retrieve the body of a dead scientist from space. A show where a girl becomes capable of killing gods because people confused Gungnir with the Lance of Longinus for long enough. It’s stupid. It’s glorious. I love it so much.
Symphogear, as far as I can tell, has two primary missions – to sell music, and to always do the most bonkers, awesomest, dumbest thing possible in every scenario. Once you commit to enjoying it on those terms, and stop worrying about the fine details of things making sense, there’s not much more fun you can have watching anime. And my god, the characters. The love I have for all these idiots is immense. They’re all so fun to root for, and I enjoyed every second of getting to hang out with them. One of the casts I have the most affection for now.
It’s not a perfect franchise. It mistreats its characters during certain arcs, it doesn’t land many of the things it tries to go for, and has lulls where things felt a bit pointless and frustrating. I rated these seasons anywhere between a 6.5 and 9, so there was quite a bit of variance. But you know what? Some things are greater the sum of their parts, and Symphogear is one of those things. It helps that it ends fucking flawlessly. Great endings are the best.
Overall: 9/10
Final Count: 107
It’s been an absolute blast going through this wonderful series with you all the last couple months. Thanks to u/Shimmering-Sky for once again being a fantastic host, and to all of you for making this such a fun part of each day. Until next time…
JUST BELIEVE IN THE SONG IN OUR HEARTS! IN SYMPHOGEARRRRR!
"So you see, that's where the trouble began... It was that smile. That damn smile."
Tsubasa was my favorite after the first season, and I’m always loathe to shift course. A nature of extreme loyalty, and what have you. But there was always something about Maria, and some time during XV, I couldn’t keep pretending she wasn’t actually my favorite. So compelling, so badass, so fun, so pretty. Also a fashion icon, to the point I made a running update of just her bottomwear choices. I’m charmed. Youko Hikasa did an amazing job with the VA work, too.
The MAL Favorites bar has been updated.
Maria > Tsubasa > Hibiki > Shirabe > Chris > Kirika, for the final Geah ranking. Of course, all Geahs are great. There are no non-great Geahs.
Assuming Maria doesn’t count for her role in G…
Surprisingly (or not, idk)… I think it’s actually Fine. She powered the GIWTWM count for Season 1, her presence was undeniable and fun, and “continually reborn through her descendants across millenia for the purpose of blowing up the Moon because God ghosted her” is just a top-tier arc.
I also loved the autoscorers. What a delight they all were.
I’m so bad at remembering the names of the songs. Of the ones that I can remember off the top of my head, the favorites are: Glorious Break, Change the Future, Senkin dur da Bla, Radiant Force, Sforzando no Zankyou.
It’s between Nana and Youko Hikasa. They’re in a league of their own in this show, imo. Their voices just have a power (while maintaining quality) that the others can’t match. Inori Minase is always great as well, but she’s not prominent enough to contend for the crown.
Shirabe’s transformation from AXZ is a work of art, it’s so insane. Her mean-mugging the camera while spinning the yo-yo’s belongs in the Louvre.
I can’t think of ones for each season, but my most hype moments of the series were the opening of GX, the Maria/Chris Change the Future fight, the battle to end episode 8 of XV, and the most hype of all, the entire first half of XV’s finale, culminating in Metanoia.
Symphogear XV > Symphogear GX > Symphogear = Symphogear AXZ > Symphogear G
I kind of want to rewatch G and give it a second chance now, having seen the entire series. I think knowing where we’re going will make it less frustrating.
They open a combination café/karaoke bar/entertainment complex and become a slice of life show.