This review contins minor spoilers for Sympgogear G 20https://bestanimations.com/SignsShapes/Arrows/Left/leftarrow15.gif https://anilist.co/review/11714 20https://bestanimations.com/SignsShapes/Arrows/Right/rightarrow29.gif https://www..com/watch?v=ZDtRsJ9GE 520https://i.ur.com/EYUWpoQ.jpg I hate being uncertain in a review. Its supremely frustrating when I either cant 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 fullyformed opinion to readers. For a more selfcentered answer Im always afraid that I sound stupid when I cant articulate why I feel the way that I do. In terms of writing for myself I just dont see the point in writing a review if I cant 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 dont like in media. Maybe even using what I find in my own writing. I dont really think Im doing this when I write the review equivalent of /. If Im at a loss for describing my thoughts toward a show I always end up thinking Im 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. Im not exactly sure what I make of the second season in comparison to the first. Im wary of saying its worse but Im not quite sure its an improvement either. I would say its as good as the original...except Im not sure I can tell you how its as good. I apologize for a review that might not be as collected as Id want but believe me when I say that figuring out exactly what I think of Symphogear G will be a Process. 520https://i.ur.com/PvTqqVV.png 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 wasnt 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 Fin 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 Marias friends and fellow Symphogear users Shirabe Tsukuyomi and Kirika Akatsuki. Its up to our trio of Symphogear wielders to retrieve the Staff of Solomon and stop Maria and her team from carrying out Dr. Vers plan that will surely spell misfortune for humanity 520https://i.ur.com/b4Bvmjt.png First Ill try and focus on things that the second season improved upon. Unlike some I didnt find the first season bad or messy Id actually argue that the first season can be categorized as being a bit too neat while G is the one thats 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 actionpacked first episodes that draw you into the world and make you want to watch more. In hindsight Id say that the first season doesnt 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 doesnt 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 isnt to say that G does this perfectly for one the 24hour ultimatum ultimately goes nowhere but it is an improvement over the first season. Going a bit broader Id 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 Im sure again because theres a more exciting throughline that ties the show together. It helps that G really doesnt feel bythenumbers in the way that the original did. A big part of this is due to the superheroesque doublelife plot threads being deemphasized making this feel less like a story youve seen before. A given episode feels much more interesting than it did before. I attribute this to Symphogear G finally committing to its exciting largerthanlife premise. I have to accept that it wont ever be Macross 7 for me but goddamn if G isnt cool if it doesnt bring a smile to my face. Theres 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. Theres Shirabe and Kirika deciding not to fight Hibiki and co. with their Symphogears but through a singoff. Theres Commander Kazanari and Ogawa kicking ass even though they dont have any Symphogear the list goes and on. 520https://i.ur.com/tENZI0S.png 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 its 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 Mikus alive were 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 aboutface. A big part of Gs 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 theyre an absolute treat to watch. Even some of the things I criticize the show for still work in its favor broadly. As Ill get into soon I do not like Dr. Ver at all but theres something to be said about his hamminess its quite indicative of the shows commitment to its craziness. In presenting us such a twodimensional mad scientist character Symphogear shows that it really doesnt care about being believable it touts its craziness flaunts it. This isnt to say the show makes a joke out of itself it might not take itself seriously but its 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. Its 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 clich armfolding pouty its not like I wanted to help you or anything tsundere. Thankfully this is dropped fairly quickly and as the show goes on we see thats shes being grumpy and cagey due to abandonment yet still loves her friends showing that shes more than a cheap trope. In terms of development G is Chris season to shine while the original was Tsubasas. 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 isnt to say the characters are particularly deep some can still be flat and others are prone to clichs such as Tsubasa making it seem like she hates Hibiki in an attempt to drive her away to protect her. The characters arent winning awards but theres still enough here to keep me engaged. An example of this is when we see a snippet of Hibikis treatment after surviving Zwei Wings final concert. Im excited to see where the show takes her next. 520https://i.ur.com/XrEiVCP.png I feel the characters are a good segue into some of the shows downsides. Ive talked about the protagonists but theyre 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. 520https://i.ur.com/DJ300mR.jpg Before delving into why I want to acknowledge that the decision to showcase the antagonists POV isnt a bad call inandofitself. Its a bold choice one that I tend to enjoy on principle alone its great when its pulled off and goes a long way in adding depth to a conflict making it less blackandwhite by showing that our heroes arent fighting monsters. We dont fault ambition here so I commend the showrunners for trying. Yet we do grade accordingly when execution falls short of ambitions desires. The key phrase here isits great when its pulled off and G unfortunately doesnt 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 unsympathetic. A big part of the problem comes from the fact that theyre 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 didnt clear this bar. If Shirabes hypocrite remark set them up for failure Dr. Ver executed the wretched plan. 520https://i.ur.com/DaR47a7.png This lovely gentleman is Doctor John Wayne Vercingetorix or Dr. Ver. for short. Dr. Ver is a mad scientist. Thats it. Thats his whole fucking character. He is one of the most annoyingly blatantly evil antagonists Ive 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 hes giving one of his maniacal laughs or making his stupid faces. While I like Petelgeuse RomaneeContihttps://anilist.co/review/7271 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. Vers 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 theyre not horrified they simply shrug and say that its 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 were supposed to see him as cruel but its 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 selfrighteous when thats Maria and her friends entire schtick. They really dont have any leg to stand on when they routinely commit shady dealings at the behest of their mom and a nuttierthanaSnicker doctor. This doesnt 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 theyd have been better served either without Dr. Ver or without following their perspective. I didnt gain much insight on them because Im still not sure what their original plan even was. 520https://i.ur.com/BP5EQ7u.jpg This brings me to my next point the story. I struggled to write the synopsis because I honestly dont 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 Marias Groups 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 wasnt quite sure what their plan was thus it was hard to be engaged. For the next season Ill probably delve into discussion threads because I dont want to be this lost again. 520https://i.ur.com/xgolfG9.jpg And I dont think its just me. Ive 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 Id have to agree with this and it mostly works as Rule of Cool goes a long way for me. I really do appreciate Gs heart and its the primary reason why I still enjoyed it as much as I did. Unfortunately thanks to the music the heart really isnt pumping as much blood as Id like. I really hate to say this but the music really didnt land for me this time around. While the OP Vitalizationhttps://symphogear.fandom.com/wiki/VitalizationAudio and the ED Next Destinationhttps://symphogear.fandom.com/wiki/NextDestinationAudio are amazing the meat of the OST the character songs really left me hanging. I didnt really find them that memorable and what should be the centerpiece of G ended up falling flat. The music certainly isnt bad and once again Chris tracks are the standouts but they just didnt make the impact I wanted. While Im 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 doesnt help that G wasnt quite as cool as it could have been thus I cant use it as a shield. All that said at the end of the day I didnt 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 doubleedged sword is that I feel G bungled its comparatively complex narrative while the originals simple plot served it well. Im 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. 520https://i.ur.com/7OOEgAt.jpg Id 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 its good enough to bring a smile to my face more often than not. Symphogear Gs heart takes it a long way even if it isnt all the way. That said heres to hoping GX can finally earn the series its first B. 200https://i.ur.com/mtXaJto.png 520https://i.ur.com/fuYRx67.jpg