This review contins minor spoilers for Sympgogear G

I hate being uncertain in a review. It’s supremely frustrating when I either can't pinpoint my thoughts of a show or when I know exactly what I think, but cannot articulate why I think it. In terms of writing for other people, I feel I owe a fully-formed opinion to readers. For a more self-centered answer, I'm always afraid that I sound stupid when I can't articulate why I feel the way that I do. In terms of writing for myself, I just don't see the point in writing a review if I can't put my finger on my reasoning for an opinion. I write reviews in part to more deeply engage with what I watch, to find out exactly what I do and don't like in media. Maybe even using what I find in my own writing. I don't really think I'm doing this when I write the review equivalent of ¯\\__(ツ)_/¯. If I'm at a loss for describing my thoughts toward a show, I always end up thinking I'm better off just giving a score and calling it a day. But I, Pockey, ever ~~mulish~~ tenacious, press on

to tell you I really have no idea what the hell to make of Symphogear G, the second season of the Symphogear battle girl series.

Oh, I know I like it well enough. The problem comes from comparison, ever the thief of joy. I'm not exactly sure what I make of the second season in comparison to the first. I'm wary of saying it's worse, but I'm not quite sure it's an improvement, either. I would say it's as good as the original...except, I'm not sure I can tell you how it's as good.

I apologize for a review that might not be as collected as I'd want, but believe me when I say that figuring out exactly what I think of Symphogear G will be a Process™.

First of all, what are we looking at, here?

Symphogear G takes place three months after the end of Symphogear, which culminated in Hibiki, Yukine Chris, and Tsubasa, stopping a piece of the moon from impacting Earth. Now, Hibiki and Chris find themselves in America as part of a transport mission to protect the Staff of Solomon, an artifact that Section Two believes may be vital in defeating the noise for good. However, the plan goes awry once a large group of noise suddenly attack. Next thing they know, the Staff of Solomon and the man researching it, Dr. Ver go missing. If that wasn't enough, the movements of the noise appear orchestrated — it seems that someone is controlling the monsters once again. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Tsubasa is holding a joint concert with fellow singer, Maria Cadenzavna Eve. In a development that will no doubt feel familiar to Symphogear watchers, the concert is attacked by Noise. In an event that might shock viewers (unless they looked at the poster of this entry, I suppose) Maria herself dons a Symphogear, reveals herself to be controlling the Noise, and declares herself the reincarnation of Finé, the villain from last season. Broadcast around the world, Maria gives the world leaders 24 hours to relinquish their territory over to her organization. Said organization consists of Professor Nastassja whom Maria and her friends call “mom” the maniacal Dr. Ver, and Maria's friends and fellow Symphogear users, Shirabe Tsukuyomi and Kirika Akatsuki. It's up to our trio of Symphogear wielders to retrieve the Staff of Solomon and stop Maria and her team from carrying out Dr. Ver's plan that will surely spell misfortune for humanity…

First, I'll try and focus on things that the second season improved upon. Unlike some, I didn't find the first season bad or "messy," (I'd actually argue that the first season can be categorized as being a bit too "neat" while G is the one that's a bit messy, but more on that later), but it does have some noted flaws and G thankfully addresses them.

Both seasons feature very interesting, action-packed first episodes that draw you into the world and make you want to watch more. In hindsight, I'd say that the first season doesn't adequately capitalise on the momentum of the first episode. I stand by the first season never feeling like a slog and it really does have high points, but it doesn't really feel like these highs are consistent. Out the gate, I feel that G does a much better job of keeping the excitement going from episode to episode. This isn't to say that G does this perfectly (for one, the 24-hour ultimatum ultimately goes nowhere), but it is an improvement over the first season.

Going a bit broader, I'd go so far as to say that on a macro, episode level, and on a tonal level, G is superior to the first season. I found myself more engaged from episode to episode, I'm sure, again, because there's a more exciting throughline that ties the show together. It helps that G really doesn't feel by-the-numbers in the way that the original did. A big part of this is due to the superhero-esque, double-life plot threads being de-emphasized, making this feel less like a story you've seen before. A given episode feels much more interesting than it did before. I attribute this to Symphogear G finally committing to its exciting, larger-than-life premise. I have to accept that it won't ever be Macross 7 for me, but goddamn if G isn't cool, if it doesn't bring a smile to my face. There's the shocking swerve of its first episode where Maria attacks the concert hall, reveals herself as a Symphogear user, and gives an ultimatum in front of the entire world. There's Shirabe and Kirika deciding not to fight Hibiki and co. with their Symphogears but through a sing-off. There's Commander Kazanari and Ogawa kicking ass even though they don't have any Symphogear, the list goes and on.

Even when it seems like Symphogear G is going down a cliched route, it tends to slightly subvert it. I usually hate it when a character gets depressed from believing their friend died whilst it’s very obvious to the viewer that they survived. G has an episode with this plot point, but it ended up being one of my favorite episodes in the season, as Hibiki decides to hold onto the hope that Miku's alive, we're treated to another cute and glorious training montage courtesy of Commander Kazanari and the episode ends with the revelation that Miku had been brainwashed and made into a Symphogear user. Holy hell talk about an about-face.

A big part of G's charm in comparison to the original is the fact that it features a whopping seven Symphogear users, which makes for more interesting fights and overall makes this feel more like a colorful sentai show. It really feels like G is where the series begins to go all out and I appreciate it. The transformations also play a part in this tone —the sequences are a bit more intricate this time around and they're an absolute treat to watch.

Even some of the things I criticize the show for still work in its favor, broadly. As I'll get into soon, I do not like Dr. Ver at all, but there's something to be said about his hamminess — it's quite indicative of the show's commitment to its craziness. In presenting us such a two-dimensional mad scientist character, Symphogear shows that it really doesn't care about being believable, it touts its craziness, flaunts it. This isn't to say the show makes a joke out of itself — it might not take itself seriously, but it's certainly earnest; it knows what it is and makes no pretenses to the contrary, always highlighting its awesomeness and silliness. G feels like Symphogear growing out of its shell. The original Symphogear feels like an introductory solo superhero film. It's ultimately just to introduce the character and their powers and while not particularly great, it gets the job done of laying the foundation, walking so its sequels can run.

The characters remain fairly good here, about as good as they were before, if not slightly better due to the increased interaction between them throughout. I was a bit worried at first because the first episode sees Yukine Chris acting like a cliché, arm-folding, pouty, "it's not like I wanted to help you or anything" tsundere. Thankfully, this is dropped fairly quickly and as the show goes on, we see that's she's being grumpy and cagey due to abandonment yet still loves her friends, showing that she's more than a cheap trope. In terms of development, G is Chris' season to shine while the original was Tsubasa's. Here, we see Chris truly come to accept her place alongside Tsubasa and Hibiki, with the finale containing a beautiful moment in which Tsubasa and Chris are only able to stop the antagonist because they know each other so well.
This still isn't to say the characters are particularly deep — some can still be flat and others are prone to clichés, such as Tsubasa making it seem like she hates Hibiki in an attempt to drive her away to protect her. The characters aren't winning awards, but there's still enough here to keep me engaged. An example of this is when we see a snippet of Hibiki's treatment after surviving Zwei Wing's final concert. I'm excited to see where the show takes her next.

I feel the characters are a good segue into some of the show's downsides. I've talked about the protagonists, but they're only half the story — Symphogear G also follows the perspectives of the antagonists, led by Maria.

Unfortunately, this is where I think Symphogear G falters.

Before delving into why, I want to acknowledge that the decision to showcase the antagonists' POV isn't a bad call in-and-of-itself. It's a bold choice, one that I tend to enjoy on principle alone — it's great when it's pulled off and goes a long way in adding depth to a conflict, making it less black-and-white by showing that our heroes aren't fighting monsters. We don't fault ambition here, so I commend the showrunners for trying. Yet we do grade accordingly when execution falls short of ambition's desires. The key phrase here is"it's great when it's pulled off" and G, unfortunately, doesn't pull it off. Without Maria and co.'s perspective, the group would be able to reap the benefits from a veil of mystery, making them alluring to audiences. As is, despite the showrunners' intentions, following Maria and co. ends up painting them as decidedly *un*sympathetic.

A big part of the problem comes from the fact that they're scrutinized against Hibiki who is the paragon of friendliness, goodness, and justice. When the team enters the scene, Hibiki wants to end the fighting and talk things out. In response, Shirabe calls Hibiki a hypocrite. Given how sweet Hibiki this is, I naturally bristled when I heard this. But I remained open. Perhaps Hibiki had inadvertently led to people getting hurt through ignorance. Given how positively Hibiki is depicted, critiquing her as a "hypocrite" raised the bar dangerously high in terms of accepting Maria, Shirabe, and Kirika.

They really didn't clear this bar. If Shirabe's "hypocrite" remark set them up for failure, Dr. Ver executed the wretched plan.

This lovely gentleman is Doctor John Wayne Vercingetorix or Dr. Ver. for short. Dr. Ver is a mad scientist. That's it. That's his whole fucking character. He is one of the most annoyingly, blatantly evil antagonists I've seen. It would be one thing if he was charming, but the man has the charisma of a sea lamprey and I want to turn the show off whenever he's giving one of his maniacal laughs or making his stupid faces. While I like Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti (DESU), I think I dislike Ver for the same reason many dislike Petelgeuse. Having a morally black character is one thing; specifically highlighting said character to give depth to a conflict is another entirely. Dr. Ver's the type of character that you know is evil by looking at him for two seconds. Maria and her allies work with him and act shocked when the clearly insane and evil person does something clearly insane and evil. If they're not horrified, they simply shrug and say that it's necessary to achieve their goals. "The ends justify the means" is obviously dangerous, extremist rhetoric, but this idea can barely be used as a smokescreen around Dr. Ver. When you follow someone like him, your means quickly become your ends. When Dr. Ver calls Maria a "stupid girl" after he reveals he played her, we're supposed to see him as cruel, but it's a bit hard to not see him as having a point. Maria and her crew are morons. It really ground my gears to hear Shirabe repeatedly say Hibiki is somehow self-righteous when that's Maria and her friends' entire schtick. They really don't have any leg to stand on when they routinely commit shady dealings at the behest of their "mom" and a nuttier-than-a-Snicker "doctor." This doesn't read like a story of idealistic children being taken advantage of, because they were always rotten. They justified their actions and tried to tear down Hibiki by highlighting their hardships. I just could not get behind them and I feel they'd have been better served either without Dr. Ver or without following their perspective. I didn't gain much insight on them because I'm still not sure what their original plan even was.

This brings me to my next point — the story. I struggled to write the synopsis because I honestly don't have a solid grasp of the plot. I can speak of it broadly, but I find myself lost if I try and reflect on the specifics. I think a part of the problem comes from the fact that the overarching plot is mostly established through Maria's Group's POV. Since I have trouble understanding their own goals, I have a bit of trouble parsing the plot. Yes, I know they want to stop the moon from falling and they eventually use Frontier to achieve this, but throughout most of the run, I wasn't quite sure what their plan was, thus it was hard to be engaged. For the next season, I'll probably delve into discussion threads, because I don't want to be this lost again.

And I don't think it's just me. I've heard some describe Symphogear as a show that you watch because of the spectacle, not necessarily for the plot; you come for the characters, not necessarily the story that said characters find themselves in. Many say that Symphogear essentially has a lot of heart but not a lot of brains. At least in terms of G, I'd have to agree with this and it mostly works, as Rule of Cool goes a long way for me. I really do appreciate G’s heart and it's the primary reason why I still enjoyed it as much as I did.
Unfortunately, thanks to the music, the heart really isn't pumping as much blood as I'd like. I really hate to say this, but the music really didn't land for me this time around. While the OP, Vitalization, and the ED, Next Destination, are amazing, the meat of the OST, the character songs, really left me hanging. I didn't really find them that memorable and what should be the centerpiece of G ended up falling flat. The music certainly isn't bad, and once again, Chris' tracks are the standouts, but they just didn’t make the impact I wanted.

While I'm a fan of Rule of Cool, I almost always place story as the most important piece of a show, and G failed to deliver. It doesn't help that G wasn't quite as cool as it could have been, thus I can't use it as a shield.

All that said, at the end of the day, I didn't think G was bad. G excels in leaning into its more bombastic, fun elements while the original played it more safe. However, the other side of this double-edged sword is that I feel G bungled its comparatively complex narrative while the original's simple plot served it well. I'm ultimately going to have to rate G a bit lower than the original, as while G improves over the original in some areas, its shortcomings annoyed me in a way the first season never did.

I'd like to say that my friendship with Miku x Hibiki has ended. I am now here to tout the gospel of the Tsubasa x Chris supremacy.

And I think that jokey little comment says it all. Perhaps Symphogear will never be great, but it's good enough to bring a smile to my face more often than not. Symphogear G's heart takes it a long way even if it isn't all the way.

That said, here's to hoping GX can finally earn the series its first 'B.'