Princess-Session Orchestra

It is actually insane how many vocal songs this series has, and how GOOD they are at that, because this series deserves exactly none of that.

It starts off okay enough.. I think the setup of some escapist dream world for girls to access through their phone is obviously heavily flawed, and anything achieved here could be done in real life without the cute and fluffy safety net this app, which is never really questioned, gives the girls. And when that safety is ripped away by monster attacks throughout the show you start to question why the hell anyone would continue to visit this place. This also, is never put in question. This show does not like to question much at all, actually! Just do the thing you like doing most and don't try and think about anything else.

I do think the setup of the show of this free universe only accessible to girls could be super interesting. You could comment on so much regarding misuse of the internet, difference in culture between you and the people you come in touch with and how to overcome those communication barriers, or the predatory nature of escapism... I could totally go on here. But again, the show refuses to question anything

They don't even question the villain's motivations, which is the biggest problem for the first half of the show. Band Snatch attacks girls and steals their musessence because... I wouldn't know, I hadn't seen the final episodes of this 48 episode show yet. They do love saying that what they are doing is right, but we simply refuse to communicate about anything in the series. Which is a problem that permeated Symphogear aswell, especially in it's later seasons. Though I did not like it in that series, it at least had some intent and explanation behind it. All of this makes the first half just a bland and aimless monster of the week that sounds nice.

I was very glad to see the second half get a different focus, only to wish Band Snatch was our main focus for the entire thing...

The second half is absolutely atrocious. All the two ""antagonists"" know to do is to say that they are sad and mention Thoma. It is a mind numbing arc that would be the worst two parter of a show if it wasnt HALF OF THE SEASON. Everything there is just dragged out to the point of making the Alessi fight look well-adapted. You know exactly where this story is going to go and it unfortunately has nothing to back it beyond it's vocal tracks. About the only enjoyment I got over the second half was when it was mentioned that the protagonists would get sad too if Navue died... Which I laughed at more than I should've.

We then get into a finale which is... Fine? It's easily the least worst of the 3 storylines in the series. Diet Symphogear finale? Yeah, not gonna lie. But I'll take it over the prior two "original" stories. The damage at this point is already done, but I'm glad there was at least something vaguely cool towards the tail-end of a year of keeping up with this one.