Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
GT3_gamer
It's been a while since I wrote a review for retro anime. What a comeback.
I'm just going to keep this review short because I feel like I need to finish this series all the way through before giving my thoughts on it as a whole. Consider this review a first impression of the series "Prolouge".
How did I find this?
From Twitter/X user @BasedLEDA / Him'el.
I saw them binge-watch Gundam, Macross, and this series. I know Gundam. I know Macross. I have watched one/two episodes of those. But I have no idea about Symphogear. Of course, I want to learn about it.
Appealing (Why did I get into the anime?)
Magical Girl with mecha fighting gear that powered through their song.
Confused? Me either, that's why I want to learn and watch the series. I might not go all the way through, but god damn it,…
Read at the sourceCanafa
Symphogear is one of the better anime I've watched, though I wouldn't say that's because it is a necessarily well-made anime. It certainly has its highs, but it also carries with it a variety of lows... that said, I don't think they actually harm the show that much. It's not the kind of anime you turn on for an overly complex or deep plot, though I can see why people who are searching for that would be disappointed.
The first episode hits like a truck, with a dramatic opening and a much darker-than-expected first half. The energy starts to calm down by episodes 2 and 3, but it never really hits zero again, as the writers' concept of a good plot appears to be "throw as many twists as possible at the wall to see what sticks." And, while a bit of a gambit, it's pulled off fantastically, as t…
Read at the sourcektulu007
Senki Zesshou Symphogear is an original anime by Satelight and Encourage. Which, honestly, does not inspire that much confidence. Out of the four Satelight anime I've reviewed, the best has been Heat Guy J which was just okay. As for Encourage, the only thing I've seen from them was Zetsumetsu Kigu Shoujo: Amazing Twins. Which was better than any of Satelight's offerings, but not by much. But maybe this will be the best thing I've seen from Satelight.
Story:
We open with a concert by the duo Zwei Wing being attacked by monsters called "Noise." They work their way through the crowd disintegrating anyone they touch. Fortunately, the members of Zwei Wing, Kanade and Tsubasa, summon their Symphogear and fight against the creatures. They're able to save some people from the crowd, including…
Read at the sourceDesolatePsyche
#Review info
Reviewing Info: How I rate/review stuff is explained on my wordpress blog, which can be found through my profile. But TDLR; My personal opinion has much bigger weight than “critical” novel length “objective” mumbo jumbo.
Review layout: Minimal/Lazy MAL non-h
Review type: Anime
Note: Still testing review layouts. This line will be removed when I’m satisfied with the layout.
#Review (short ver):
In a nutshell: Song powered magical girls with cool transformations.
NOTE: Franchise review. #PROS
+Great transformation
+Vocal music power/magic presentation is great
+Story starts strong
+Plenty of fun characters with pre-set stereotypes
*Cute nakama power presentations
-CONS
-Songs become a bit lazy thus waning in their effect
-Season 3-4 pretty weak (story)
-Odd art quality drops…
Read at the sourceWildcardWeeb
Hibiki and Tsubasa's fight in the first season, while incredibly frustrating at times, hits a lot of the same chords as something like the Nanoha or Naruto series. Half badass action, half emotional character-building journey, the first arc of Symphogear was impressive for something in 2012. I'm writing this from 9 years in the future to ask 3 important questions: Does Season 1 set a good base for what Symphogear eventually became? Is it worth watching Symphogear season 1 again? And do I recommend the series in 2021? The answer to all three is yes. But there are caveats. The first is that you must at the very least TOLERATE if not ENJOY Japanese pop. While Nana Mizuki is a powerhouse in the soundtrack department, even I will admit, not all the fight songs in season one are bangers. That sa…
Read at the sourceRESOLVING_POWER
I finished watching the first two seasons of Symphogear.
In Symphogear nearly all of the drama is ham-fisted but in a way it matches the over-the-top nature of the entire series. I say this affectionately.
The plot can be described simply as 'epic,' with plenty of interspersed drama. There are a lot of exciting climactic moments where you can feel the hype.
Symphogear is very creative in general with rich artistic flavour. The series just oozes creativity and this is one of my favourite aspects of it. Very creative outfits and character designs too.
The OST is pretty great with loads of vocal songs by the female cast. I've relistened to some of the albums many times and put some of them on my portable music device. The music of the series is definitely a positive in my mind but I re…
Read at the sourceRazor_Eagle11
"Keep your expectations low and you will never be disappointed."
-Father of Boy
Honestly, what do i expect from this? I've been told that it's a hidden gem and that it's underrated, but this.... this is not what I'm expecting at all. I was hooked at the beginning because of the concept about girls wearing battle armor with songs to power it. Honestly it's a good concept. I'll try my best to avoid much spoiler but don't expect too much.
The story starts of strong and quickly draws my attention because the main character, Hibiki suddenly shown dead. It shows flashbacks of how it happened and it did pretty well imo. The tone that they are going to show is dark at the beginning, but as it go on, I can't even make a difference between this and a kid's show. The writing in this show is horribl…
Read at the sourceTakaCode
Welcome to part 1 out of 5 of my Symphogear review series. This post will cover the first season of Symphogear.
Symphogear is a magical girl action series that was released in 2012. It has gained five seasons over the course of the decade and all of the seasons were done by Studio Satelight, the same studio that gave us Macross Frontier, Bodicous Space Pirates and Noein. When the series first debuted it had mixed reception towards casuals and critics, however, as the years went by the series had gained a big positive reception towards casuals and critics. It also gained a big following over the years and some of the fans state that Symphogear is the anime underdog of 2010s era of anime.
Naturally, I decided to check out the series just to see what all that fuzz about as well as seeing if…
Read at the sourceLamyWater
Symphogear is mediocre at best.
One great thing about the show is the premise. They gain their power from singing which is a unique concept, and the show has a lot of songs in it because of it. It's interesting.
The characters are an average cast and show good character development, but there are significant developments that are forgotten between episodes and seasons which makes a lot of it pointless.
minor spoilers:
The story starts okay, then every season basically re-hashes the same thing with a different flavor. Over all of the seasons there's a significant event from S1 that gets rehashed--not just once, but twice--which makes it lose the impact that it had in the first place and becomes comically lazy writing.
Once you've seen one season you've basically seen every season since…
Read at the sourceephemerry
♬ "Listen to my song" ♬ The first opening theme in Senki Zesshō Symphogear is one of those catchy tunes, that from merely seeing the lyrics written out, Nana Mizuki's voice will immediately start playing in your head! Truly, a banger of a song! Welcome to Symphogear, where singing can be converted into phonic waves, which is then used to take down a bunch of aliens, mutants, and every other mythological destruction device imaginable! The fighting system is very similar to the technical magic that is employed in "Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha" but, with the hyperbolic meter cranked up to two-hundred! Senki Zesshō Symphogear is like a fusion of the "Macross" idol "deculturization" — fused with the magical, science fiction in "Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru"! An amalgam of everything cool in fictional…
Read at the sourcePiereDelecto
Low lows, high highs. If it's your bag, you're going to like it and feel like it was worth the watch. Not for everyone. The fight scenes present themselves as short music videos with original music for that fight alone, and they get away with huge swings in quality of animation and direction because of that - or not, if you're unwilling to take that trade. Whacky plot, and female-Naruto-but-without-a-nindo (Hibiki or "Bikkie", our female MC) might be too silly for your palette as well. Her arc outside of the main conflict is far better than her portrayal as the hero of said conflict. There are some, but probably not enough mature interpersonal dynamics and acceptable comedy in the rest of the show to entertain you, but if the main conflict and MC irk you (understandable) skip Symphogear. I…
Read at the sourceO_T_T
A hidden gem that shines tremendously bright.
Symphogear is pretty much the best Anime I have seen to date, and my immediate pick when asked for an absolute favorite.
There are simply so many things done so well, I couldn't hope to cover even half talking for days on end. The show feels powerful to watch, and was absolutely mesmerizing when turned on for the very first time. It genuinely blew me away so far and so fast, it'll be a very tough act to follow. And yet, it does, 4 more times.
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Symphogear has a good plot, but it doesn't spell out the conflict immediately, and instead prepares what may appear to be unrelated story elements. It does take a little while before the villains, Finé and Chris, are properly introduced, until which point the B plot is focused on a lot more. Said…
Read at the sourceWynnofThule
I will start with my criticisms before my praise. First of all, don't come into here expecting the deepest plot. It's not. Second of all, the animation does get better. But where it excels is being able to watch the hype. Even if not every character is developed well, they are likable from the start. Now onto what is the best part by far. The music of every part of this whole series is top tier. The OP and character songs slap on their own, and are made better by the main characters sometimes singing duets or triplets. may grunt or go off the note they should if they get hit or do something strenuous. This makes the voice acting a lot better. Just mind the engrish in that one episode. Just suspend some disbelief and it will be amazing.
Read at the sourceAllLovesBlazing
This show is a combination of several elements, where if you are the kind of person that those elements click for it's absolutely amazing, and I fall in that camp.
First is the style of music, it's the sort of high tempo electronic j-pop that just keeps the energy high. What makes this special is that the girls power up by singing, which means they sing while fighting, and most of the sound track is the same including the op and ed, which makes watching any episode like jamming to music, with the bonus that cool shit is happening at the same time.
Second is the cool transformations, special attacks, and just in general non stop action. All of the character designs look super cool, and because there are random Noise (sort of alien like creatures) out breaks almost every episode you consta…
Read at the sourceBirdytheLazy
I believe in this one tenet: the most important aspect of any show is how it makes you feel. That's the reason why I rate Symphogear with a 6 instead of a 4. In the more technical aspects, it's frustratingly inconsistent: the majority of scenes, sounds, and plot developments have obvious flaws, but despite that, some moments are well crafted enough to send shivers across your body or make you tear up.
For that reason, I'll tell ya, if you're the sort of person whose enjoyment stems from immersing yourself in the technical aspects of a show - teasing out every detail of the plot, wondering at the authors' purpose for story beats or plot devices, examining the background of each scene for hidden details, etc. - Symphogear will irritate you. Symphogear is a show about magical girls who cont…
Read at the sourceST63LTH
Review to self:
Plot:
The plot is seemingly reminiscent of kill la kill since the main character's female and they are combat prepared in a feminine suit. Not bad at all, but I lost myself a few times while watching because the singing ability threw me off track. I did not expect it characters to rely on musical elements to attack enemies. This threw me off track on watching the later seasons...
Art & Design:
Art is phenomenal, animation is as smooth as any mainstream anime nowadays. The sound also isn't that spectacular based on commercial standards but sound design does change when the characters are singing.
Character Development:
Not the best but could definitely find places to improve on. The story begins with MC being a civilian being caught in a crossfire with ability users an…
Read at the sourcemouthpiece
Symphogear is a show I respect for trying to do something most modern anime don’t anymore: Combining elements from various genres in an attempt to create an uncommon result. This is how genres evolve and eventually split to subcategories after all. Nicely going Symphogear! But respect aside… Um… Well, combining elements is not that easy. In fact, it is hard and takes talent to bridge the aesthetic differences and gap whatever expectations people from different audiences may have if watching them as separate standard genres. I have seen several attempts at this over the decades and the results are usually bad (but ground shaking the few times they are done right). Symphogear belongs to the failed category for not managing to make that nasty bonding plausible. Why? The directing is horrible.…
Read at the sourceYuri-Crusader
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What is words? What meaning does words have? Well words have an incredible power! Words can kill! Words can heal a loved one! Words can destroy .Words can bring happiness and joy.Words bring us together. Words make us goes to war.Word make us believe. Words help us find a meaning and direction in life .Words can be precious. Words can also be cheap.Words is one of the greatest gift to mankind.Think about that before you use words! Words should only be spoken with care and meaning otherwise words will only cast great harm!!! Your words have consequences in the end. And shall therefor only be spoken with great care!!
On a raining cold day a girl standing soaked with a bouquet of white lily flowers,and by that catch my interest,…
Read at the sourceSynchrogayzer
Symphogear is the kind of experience that you'd get if you were watching Futari Wa PreCure and King of Braves GaoGaiGar at the same time while listening to Nana Mizuki music in one ear and Fripside in the other.
In short, it's AWESOME. But those that are expecting it to make sense will be badly disappointed.
Gonna say this up front: The plot is stupid. It's /unbelievably/ stupid.
This however doesn't matter because it's carried by loveable characters and awesome action scenes.
Every episode has at least one fight scene, always with fight music, and the action is completely over the top.
Bottom line: This is a show you will either love or hate. There is no in between.
Also it's VERY GAY. There is only one heterosexual woman in this show, and she doesn't show up until season four.
Read at the sourceEromanga-sensei
Fight through the power of friendship, rage, hentai or through a never give up attitude.? Fuck all this power ups because through the power of singing you can beat everything and everyone and yes you heard right now we have it all.
There are two kinds of anime with stupid plotlines, at first we have anime that are stupid but are still good because they are stupid and we have anime that are stupid and you're just thinking what the fuck I watching right now.
Senki Zesshou Symphogear is one of the second one. It has one of the most stupid plotline I ever seen. Even if you could possible like the stupid idea of gaining power through singing, the whole story is just bad. They have just throw some words from sagas like gungir and singing and voila you have an anime like Senki Zesshou Symphogea…
Read at the source
