This review contains spoilers for Symphogear GX
Why do I bring up Idaten Deities in a Symphogear review? It is not, in fact, because I'm a glutton for dislikes and a whore for awful analogies, but because I read this lovely, kind-of-hard-to-parse 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. It's because a work that's entertaining and well-presented first and foremost tends to be looked down upon.
So if he's 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.
I really dragged my feet finishing this — it's a finished, one-cour show, yet it took me a third of a year to finish it. Part of this was just general procrastination — since you're less incentivized to finish anime when you know there's a review to write at the end of it. But the bigger reason was that there were other shows I'd rather watch — Idaten (hindsight is 20/20), Magia Record, Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut, The Heike Story and especially JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. 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, it's less than I expected. As I said in my takt op.Destiny review, Symphogear finds itself in the small pond of the "Beat Battle" genre. When placed against something like Macross 7, it's 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, you'd also be wrong in assuming that I dislike Symphogear. While I don't love it, at the end of the day, Symphogear is a hard show to hate. It's even harder to not at least respect, especially when stacked across that heartless, skateboarding skeleton, The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace. It's here where that quote I brought up misses the mark.
Symphogear's serious emotion might at times preclude it from being as "fun" as other shows, but it's nothing to deride. The emotions on display and the bonds between characters give this show a lot of genuine heart. Having seen the absence and bungling of heart makes me appreciate it a lot more.
I merely like Symphogear. It's not amazing, it's not great, it's not bad, it's not mid. It's simply "good."
And that's 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 season's antagonists-turned-protagonists 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. She's aided by the Autoscorers — artificial humanoids of frightening power and durability — and Alca-Noise — Noise enhanced by the power of alchemy. While Carol and her Posse prove to be the strongest foes our heroes have fought yet, they're aided by Elfnein —a girl with a mysterious connection to Carol.
I won't beat around the bush here: the villains suck.
Yeah, it's harsh, but three seasons in, one of Symphogear's most consistent and obvious weak points have been its villains.
That said, Carol’s an improvement. Her motivation for doing what she does is essentially "I'm grieving over my father's death in a very unhealthy way." It's not particularly deep, by, it's easily identifiable. Carol desires world destruction. Not world domination, not world redesigning, just complete destruction. It's obviously not a very nuanced goal, but ironically enough, it's better for it. While Carol is a character you can empathize with, there's no rationalizing such a stark goal. You can point to it and say, "that's insane." G's attempt to rationalize Maria and co.'s actions made me less receptive of them — sometimes it's okay to admit your villains are jerks. It doesn't 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 Carol's puppets; they want what she wants. Beyond that, Carol's relationship with her father ties into Hibiki's 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 don't, not one bit, and not just because I feel like I'm being put on a fucking list whenever Carol and Elfnein are onscreen.
While I can get behind Carol and the Autoscorers more than "Mamu's Legion of Evil," they're not very charismatic. They don't have deep personalities (no, Micha, looking like the "my main goal is to blow up and then act like I don't know nobody" guy isn't a personality") nor bombastic presences, so it's hard for me to care about them, even in a "love-to-hate 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 isn't great.
After G's bungling of its complex narrative, GX is largely back to basics. While doesn't fall into G's pitfalls, it has problems of its own — namely that it's kind of boring. An Autoscorer might show up to wipe the floor with our heroes here, some Alca-Noise 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, I'd 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 it's up for the fights and music, the very thing that makes Symphogear a "Beat Battle" to pick up the slack.
Unfortunately, they don't quite get the job done, either.
I should state that, for what it's worth, they do go a long way in making the show enjoyable, and I'll get into that shortly, but they don't go all the way.
To explain where I'm coming from, allow me to say something controversial: the music and fight scenes of Symphogear aren't amazing.
And why wouldn't it be controversial? It's easy to swallow that the plot and villains might not be up to snuff because they aren’t what people come to Symphogear for. They come for the action, the songs. And I just don't find the action as crazy as it could be (for one, things aren't as exciting as they could be when you're fighting easily-dispensible mooks such as the Noise), I don't find the music as memorable as it could be (say what you will about Macross 7's music overplayed, but it sticks in your head in a way that Symphogear songs just can't). Don't get me wrong, I certainly like the music and fights, but not as much as I thought I would. They don't 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, there's 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, it's hard for me to be annoyed because it feels genuine. As an extremely selfless and emotional individual, it tracks with what we've seen of Hibiki's character. I also enjoyed finally getting a closer look at her history — in this season, we see it as it relates to Hibiki's deadbeat father.
Symphogear has an odd way of making you fall in love with plotpoints/developments you'd otherwise see as trite. GX really goes out of its way to paint Hibiki's dad as being pretty pathetic and self-serving. We could have gotten a story about Hibiki learning to move on from her dad, but no. We're 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. Hibiki's own struggles with her father tie in nicely with Tsubasa's very messed up family situation as well as Carol's aforementioned hangups with her father. If there's one thing that GX does better than its predecessors, it's 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, it's 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 second-oldest 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. There's a thread where she puts herself in danger because she wants to impress them. And while, yes, it's played out, I can't help but give it a pass here. Again, there's something genuine about the characters of Symphogear, even when they're being dumb.
Take the Obligatory Beach Episode for another example. I usually roll my eyes at them because they’re just an excuse for fanservice. In many regards, Symphogear GX's own beach episode is no different. While it's far from the worst fanservice I've 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 it's 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.
Symphogear's characters rise above its action and music, too. Or, more accurately, the characters are what elevate them. While I seemed pretty blasé 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, they're the best songs of the season — give the Ignite versions of RADIANT Force, Genkai Toppa G-Beat, TRUST HEART, and Beyond the BLADE a listen. But the reason I love the Ignite modules isn't 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 they're enjoyable thanks to the characters. The lyrics go a long way in making the songs feel special even if they don't leave much of an impression, sonically.
▶ VideoAnd while I talk about this season exploring what it means to be[part 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 isn't explicit by any measure, but Symphogear doesn't 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 can't say that Symphogear is a great show. It isn't as of GX, and I'm not sure it ever will be.
But it doesn't need to be.
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, it's 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, you'll feel its beat.
