Id heard about Symphogear for years before i first watched it early this year. Seemed cool, was down to watch it somewhere down the line. Eventually that day came and like... It feels like its exaggerating to say it changed my life but the fact i smile every time i see one of the girls from this show says a lot about what it means to me. I adore this show more than is maybe healthy. Possibly more than the show deserves but thats just the mind goblins talking.
To say i fell in love with Hibiki Tachibana, Tsubasa Kazanari and Chirs Yukine would be an understatement. They are beautiful, and badass and genuinely well developed and good characters. Hibiki is a girl thrust into exceptional circumstances trying to do the right thing and find a worthy cause to fight for, Tsubasa is a hardened warrior trying to protect the innocent as best she can and to open up after losing the person closest to her, and Chris is a victim of the evils of the world and tries to correct the wrongs she has seen. The show does a spectacular job of exploring these girls struggles in its 13 episodes and them coming together as a team in episode 10 is legitimately one of then most heartwarming and beautiful scenes ive ever seen. Hibiki's speach about how she doestn materialize a weapon like the other girls because her hands must be free unit hold and unite people just...
God its so good.
Stepping back from the lavish praise of the characters, i must say the plot is also fairly solid. Nothing to write home about but with a good side cast, particularly Chad dad Genjuro and hot as hell and surprisingly complex villain Fine, and a generally solid progression of events you'll never be left too bored and have enough time to breath and relax with the characters, giving you plenty of time to fall n love with the slice of life shenanigans that make the action truly work.
Speaking of: While the characters have stolen my heart, the visuals and action stole my eyes. The first season looks pretty different from the later ones, with a different character designer and director working on this first season. This leads to the show having both softer looking character designs and a more out there's sci fi look to it that i really quite liked a lot and kind wish stuck with the other seasons a bit. It immediately very nice to look at right out the gate, and the action was much the same. Fluid, exciting and punctuated by the fantastic electronic rock music and the girl's honestly iconic diegetic singing. It's a feast for the eyes and ears and somewhat impressively its nearly all hand drawn. A rarity for 2010's action stories. while the action gem would not be refined until the second season its nonetheless a beautiful spectacle and a joy to watch even if you took away the spectacular characters.
WIth its combination of Characters that grabbed me by the heart, solid enough story and nice strong visual presentation it's no wonder i liked Symphogear a lot. But those characters man... those girls are my goddesses. i love ek to bits. They made a solid action show into one of my all time favorites. I was crying by the end not because it was particularly sad but because i was overwhelmed with just.. a beautiful swell of emotions having followed this fun wonderful story to its conclusion.
or at least the super satisfying conclusion of this first season.
Theres 4 more to go, And its only uphill from here on nearly all fronts for Symphogear.