This review contains spoilers for Symphogear GX 520https://i.ur.com/dTEdqEs.png The Idaten Deities Know Only Peacehttps://anilist.co/review/13888 is one of the most meanspirited anime Ive had the displeasure of watching. While its imaginative style is worth commending that very style feels squandered by the fact that the Summer 2021 cultfavorite refuses to have anything so much as resembling a heart. Its kind of like if you went to the skatepark and saw a skeleton doing some kickflips in the funbox. Sure it might look cool but it would feel distinctly wrong. That shit was sick you might say before concluding with ...but fucking freaky. Why do I bring up Idaten Deities in a Symphogear review? It is not in fact because Im a glutton for dislikes and a whore for awful analogies but because I read this lovely kindofhardtoparse section in one of the Idaten reviews. People dismiss a work as style over substance not because the writing actually gets in the way of all the spectacle like the overly serious and painful melodrama in Bubblegum Crisis and Symphogear. Its because a work thats entertaining and wellpresented first and foremost tends to be looked down upon. So if hes allowed to make stupid and pointless comparisons in his review I should be allowed to make stupid and pointless comparisons in my review godammit Reading a critique of Symphogear in relation to Idaten of all things really lit a fire for me to finish GX. From this you might assume that I love Symphogear. You would be wrong. 520http://www.animeevo.net/wpcontent/uploads/2015/07/SymphogearGX041.jpg I really dragged my feet finishing this its a finished onecour show yet it took me a third of a year to finish it. Part of this was just general procrastination since youre less incentivized to finish anime when you know theres a review to write at the end of it. But the bigger reason was that there were other shows Id rather watch Idaten hindsight is 20/20 Magia Recordhttps://anilist.co/review/13773 Irina: The Vampire Cosmonauthttps://anilist.co/review/14943 The Heike Storyhttps://anilist.co/review/14494 and especially JoJos Bizarre Adventurehttps://anilist.co/review/13440. The only show I consistently wanted to watch less than Symphogear was Shaman King. The fact of the matter is that for as many things that Symphogear has going for it on paper in execution its less than I expected. As I said in my takt op.Destiny reviewhttps://anilist.co/review/14921 Symphogear finds itself in the small pond of the Beat Battle genre. When placed against something like Macross 7https://anilist.co/review/10858 its hard for Symphogear to measure up. Symphogear often takes itself seriously leading it to not be as fun as it could be. In this regard I have to begrudgingly admit that the review has a bit of a point. That said youd also be wrong in assuming that I dislike Symphogear. While I dont love it at the end of the day Symphogear is a hard show to hate. Its even harder to not at least respect especially when stacked across that heartless skateboarding skeleton The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace. Its here where that quote I brought up misses the mark. Symphogears serious emotion might at times preclude it from being as fun as other shows but its nothing to deride. The emotions on display and the bonds between characters give this show a lot of genuine heart. Having seen the absencehttps://anilist.co/review/13888 and bunglinghttps://anilist.co/review/14218 of heart makes me appreciate it a lot more. 520https://i.ur.com/Qrnjl0Y.jpg I merely like Symphogear. Its not amazing its not great its not bad its not mid. Its simply good. And thats okay. Symphogear GX takes place shortly after the events of Symphogear G. Life is starting to return to normal for our cast. After a brief stint in protective custody last seasons antagoniststurnedprotagonists Kirika Shirabe and Maria are set free and begin attending school with Tsubasa Chris and Hibiki. Tsubasa and Maria even begin performing concerts together again. But of course for the Symphogear users abnormality is normal and they quickly find themselves facing off against a new threat. Carol an ancient eternally youthful girl threatens the world with the power of alchemy. Shes aided by the Autoscorers artificial humanoids of frightening power and durability and AlcaNoise Noise enhanced by the power of alchemyhttps://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. While Carol and her Posse prove to be the strongest foes our heroes have fought yet theyre aided by Elfnein a girl with a mysterious connection to Carol. I wont beat around the bush here: the villains suck. Yeah its harsh but three seasons in one of Symphogears most consistent and obvious weak points have been its villains. That said Carols an improvement. Her motivation for doing what she does is essentially Im grieving over my fathers death in a very unhealthy way. Its not particularly deep by its easily identifiable. Carol desires world destruction. Not world domination not world redesigning just complete destruction. Its obviously not a very nuanced goal but ironically enough its better for it. While Carol is a character you can empathize with theres no rationalizing such a stark goal. You can point to it and say thats insane. Gs attempt to rationalize Maria and co.s actions made me less receptive of them sometimes its okay to admit your villains are jerks. It doesnt help that G also suffered from a case of too many cooks in the kitchen it felt like Maria and co. Mamu and Dr. Stupid McStupidFace all had different goals. GX streamlines this greatly. The Autoscorers are metaphorically and literally Carols puppets they want what she wants. Beyond that Carols relationship with her father ties into Hibikis fraught relationship with her own dad. GX might not be as ambitious as G on the antagonist front but it pays off with having them function better. Bear in mind that I never said I liked them. Because I dont not one bit and not just because I feel like Im being put on a fucking list whenever Carol and Elfnein are onscreen. 220https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/senkizesshousymphogear/images/c/c6/ElfneinGX.png While I can get behind Carol and the Autoscorers more than Mamus Legion of Evil theyre not very charismatic. They dont have deep personalities no Micha looking like the my main goal is to blow up and then act like I dont know nobodyhttps://www..com/watch?v=NOPIobI0B8 guy isnt a personality nor bombastic presences so its hard for me to care about them even in a lovetohate capacity. Carol and her group of goons really just feel like a means to an end to drive the plot. This is especially bad considering the plot isnt great. 520https://i.ur.com/zBdajjA.jpg After Gs bungling of its complex narrative GX is largely back to basics. While doesnt fall into Gs pitfalls it has problems of its own namely that its kind of boring. An Autoscorer might show up to wipe the floor with our heroes here some AlcaNoise spawn and wreak havoc there rinse and repeat ad nausea. It gets a bit dull very quickly. If the villains were new each time and had exciting powers to accompany them Id be singing a different tune but each clash feels like more of the same. With the plot and villains leaving a lot to be desired it would seem that its up for the fights and music the very thing that makes Symphogear a Beat Battle to pick up the slack. Unfortunately they dont quite get the job done either. 520https://i.ur.com/nODQKBX.jpg I should state that for what its worth they do go a long way in making the show enjoyable and Ill get into that shortly but they dont go all the way. To explain where Im coming from allow me to say something controversial: the music and fight scenes of Symphogear arent amazing. And why wouldnt it be controversial? Its easy to swallow that the plot and villains might not be up to snuff because they arent what people come to Symphogear for. They come for the action the songs. And I just dont find the action as crazy as it could be for one things arent as exciting as they could be when youre fighting easilydispensible mooks such as the Noise I dont find the music as memorable as it could be say what you will about Macross 7s music overplayed but it sticks in your head in a way that Symphogear songs just cant. Dont get me wrong I certainly like the music and fights but not as much as I thought I would. They dont carry the series. The characters their bonds and their emotions do. Because beyond the shoestring plot the largely cardboard villains and the decent songs and fights theres one vital ingredient that makes Symphogear what it is: love. Can that very love make it melodramatic at times? Sure. GX features Hibiki once again doubting herself and her ability to enact positive change with her powers. While it can feel tired its hard for me to be annoyed because it feels genuine. As an extremely selfless and emotional individual it tracks with what weve seen of Hibikis character. I also enjoyed finally getting a closer look at her history in this season we see it as it relates to Hibikis deadbeat father. 520http://www.animeevo.net/wpcontent/uploads/2015/08/SymphogearGX073.jpg Symphogear has an odd way of making you fall in love with plotpoints/developments youd otherwise see as trite. GX really goes out of its way to paint Hibikis dad as being pretty pathetic and selfserving. We could have gotten a story about Hibiki learning to move on from her dad but no. Were told to believe that despite his poor initial showing he cares about his daughter. And you know what Symphogear handles emotional beats so well that I buy it. Hibikis own struggles with her father tie in nicely with Tsubasas very messed up family situation as well as Carols aforementioned hangups with her father. If theres one thing that GX does better than its predecessors its having a very strong theme to tie everything together. GX explores what it means to be part of a family. And what better way to explore that than by adding more characters to the principal cast? As I said before Maria Shirabe and Kirika have returned this time permanently on the side of our heroes. Never mind the fact that they tried to kill them last week its all good in the neighborhood now. Jokes aside while I was icy toward them at first I soon came around and found myself happy to have them a part of the team they work much better as heroes than villains and make for some interesting dynamics. Maria is the Team Mom for lack of a better phrase. Given her age and prior role it really fits. With Tsubasa being the secondoldest of the group the pair form a bond as the parents of the group. Chris spending most of her life alone quickly takes on the role of a big sister to Kirika and Shirabe. Theres a thread where she puts herself in danger because she wants to impress them. And while yes its played out I cant help but give it a pass here. Again theres something genuine about the characters of Symphogear even when theyre being dumb. 520https://i.ur.com/izWWHUx.jpg Take the Obligatory Beach Episode for another example. I usually roll my eyes at them because theyre just an excuse for fanservice. In many regards Symphogear GXs own beach episode is no different. While its far from the worst fanservice Ive seen two seconds of watching Symphogear will tell you that the show loves its cheesecake. Your mileage will vary on how bad this is or indeed whether its an issue at all but the fact of the matter is that Symphogear is more than its fanservice. I actually found myself enjoying the beach episode since it provided some genuinely cute character moments. 520https://i.ur.com/xww8hZq.jpg Symphogears characters rise above its action and music too. Or more accurately the characters are what elevate them. While I seemed pretty blas about the action and music before I do think that GX can have some legitimately badass moments on that front. This is mostly in the form of the Ignite Module which gives the characters slick black symphogears along with technofied and rockified versions of their theme songs. Next to the OP and ED theyre the best songs of the season give the Ignite versions of RADIANT Forcehttps://www..com/watch?v=g0G8rKm9dw Genkai Toppa GBeathttps://www..com/watch?v=WOUWHcbrwZ0 TRUST HEARThttps://www..com/watch?v=tEcLhGhts and Beyond the BLADEhttps://www..com/watch?v=C41pypxHhKk a listen. But the reason I love the Ignite modules isnt just because they look cool but because they signify the characters overcoming their fears and anxieties. I could take or leave the songs and action themselves but theyre enjoyable thanks to the characters. The lyrics go a long way in making the songs feel special even if they dont leave much of an impression sonically. https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/91f8979f33a6b23b0c86b1ab40a767cb.mp4 And while I talk about this season exploring what it means to bepart of a family I should note that I mean family in the sense that any group of people who are very close is family. I specify this because the cast of Symphogear is quite gay for one another. Yuri isnt explicit by any measure but Symphogear doesnt really try to hide it. If you see the cast of Symphogear as strictly platonic you get major Sappho and Her Friend vibes. All this is to say that Symphogear is also genuine in that it depicts queer relationships in a way that feels wholesome. As fanservicey as Symphogear can get it never exploits the characters relationships it respects them. And that respect for the characters their relationships and their emotions serve as the cornerstone for Symphogear. As someone who puts a lot of stock into plot and as someone who very much loves Rule of Cool I cant say that Symphogear is a great show. It isnt as of GX and Im not sure it ever will be. But it doesnt need to be. 520http://www.animeevo.net/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/SymphogearGX101.jpg Symphogear might not have the awesomeness that I wanted it might not be as intelligent as I hoped but it has something more important: heart. And with that heart with that respect toward its characters its awesome and smart in its own way. As of Symphogear GX the series is definitely one that you have to turn your brain off for. And once you do youll feel its beat. 200https://i.ur.com/PYZdK7x.png 520https://i.ur.com/PgVbSHL.png