Symphogear GX

I'll first start by saying I love this series due to how over the top everything is. It's the definition of "turn your brain off and it becomes awesome" anime, a popcorn anime in the most affectionate of definitions. I loved the first season, disliked most of the second season, and LOVED about 70% of the third season. The remaining 30% was either meh, or too absurd and poorly done to even be able to turn your brain off enough to enjoy it. Episode 6 of GX was by far the best episode in any anime this season, for what it is; it rivals eventhe best of the year. You know the feeling when the side-crew are getting stomped, not even Piccolo can help them and Goku is in recovery? He comes back and unleashed a flurry of badassity that causes your blood to pump and your hairs to stand on edge. That was Hibiki in episode 6, it was such a great episode and despite the first episode being the best opener, and the episodes 2-5 being decent in their own right, episode 6 destroyed any of my thoughts that suggested GX wouldn't be prime Symphogear. Then, sadly some amusing characters died, a character is brought back from S2 as more or less a plot-shield to keep the show going, and oh my god was I ever wrong with episode 6. The final episode of this show was absolutely abysmal. It literally felt like the writers were fed up with the show and just wanted it to be over with, the tense build up in the previous episodes, killing off the two new characters with decent character designs, all culminated into a "With our powers combined... GIANT FIST ATTACK!" which would be cool if there were a legit explanation for it, which there wasn't. Then you have a weird lead-in to a possible fourth season... I was expecting to be really bummed that Symphogear was ending, after finishing it, I felt totally cool with it. Not to mention that last scene.... that was really awkward. However, for the amount of fun I had through the show, if this does get a fourth season I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, but if this were the finale of Symphogear as a series, then I don't recommend Symphogear to anyone, period. That was one of the worst final episodes I have ever seen, and this is coming from someone who loves this show despite it's many, many flaws.

So after G, LA wanted more from this series, did GX outdo G, or did it go back to the first season shenanigans?. GX left off from G introducing us to some new villains, by the name of Carol voiced by ''Inori Minase'' and her four "dolls". In terms of characters, LA will say that for the main cast up to G, the main cast do get their own episodes to develop them (as well as their interactions between them), with special regards going to Hibiki's and Tsubasa's parental problems being dealt with. Shirabe and Kirika relational development goes full out yuri undertones as well astheir misunderstandings from that gets addressed further, while Maria goes through her hangups of her sins (like Chris did in G) she did in G and finally Chris' development as trying to protect Shirabe and Kirika, overall for the hero side things, it feels like many of the character developments gets swapped around with other characters (besides Hibiki's and Tsubasa's anyways). The villains however there are only one to really focus on that being Carol and her motivations, it's explained however it "nearly" went into a mess, if not it could have been handled a bit better, the four dolls LA mentioned before however are nothing but plot devices to move the plot forward. Overall in terms of characters, interactions and development, if you wanted more growth from the main Symphogear cast then GX delivers. In terms of animation, once again helmed by Satelight, LA will say for the most part, the battle pieces were even higher detail than G (and all the more bombastically batshit insane at times), LA however did some rare facial derps/body anatomy quality dips here and there but LA can ignore it as it's still "rare". The music once can get HUGE props for this season, from all the singer/voice actors of the Symphogears did an outrageously great job for their character portrayals and battle OST singing (those once again being Aoi Yuuki, Nana Mizuki, Ayahi Takagaki, Yoshino Nanjo, Ai Kayano, Yoko Hisaka and the newly added Inori Minase) where to the point LA saw the battle OST of this season being the best of the entire series, the new OP ''Exterminate'' sung by Nana Mizuki is a personal favourite in terms of musical score, however LA will say that G's ''Vitalization'' has a special spot for LA still, Exterminate is at best at 2nd in terms for openings, the battle OST's overall considering which character you like or the style of music, the OST is stellar and expected of this series. Now onto the technical features of this season, in terms of plot twists, considering how much faster pace this season brings forth much more than G did, the plot twists just comes outta nowhere including an old villain coming back and just ruining LA's day, LA "gets" the the plot twist and these kind of twists are something of a staple in the Symphogear series, but it really does goes from either "too convenient" to outright "batshit crazy YOU just HAVE to accept it". Because of the fast pacing however LA will note that although LA really likes the further development of the main cast, some of the characters' development gets done pretty quickly not even giving LA time to breathe from certain character developments, those being Tsubasa's and Hibiki's issues getting resolved just like that. Chris however gets some pretty jumpy character development and a lack of focus at times. The other new character that got introduced to GX Elfnein voiced by ''Misaki Kuno'', however gets good character development and somewhat predictable plot twists involving her but she becomes her own character nonetheless. LA will point out that the newer "gimmick" to this season that being the Ignite Module did bring us a new transformation that is oddly reminiscent of Maria, Shirabe and Kirkia's previous Symphogear color palette just more sharper and the "use" for the Ignite Module becomes rather predictable as to what Carol is planning, but nonetheless it brings up lore that was mentioned back in the first season and LA will praise this little feature for actually having a purpose other than moving the plot (and instead giving us something of character evolution for the Symphogear main cast). Now the fanservice is even more rampant more than G, with just more full body nudity to boob bounces, it however is nothing to rage about as although the fanservice is as rampant as ever it's still rare and isn't the primary focus. The battle scenes however LA will be completely honest, that almost all the battle set pieces are UP TO AN ELEVEN from G, perfect example is the first episode of this season and the final battle set piece. The ending by all means blew LA away with an even more bombastic final battle than G's and did a nice epilogue of every character, in which they resolved EVERY plotline of this season, LA was once again satisfied with this ending although the little plot twist with Elfnein did surprise LA. So LA posed a question at the start of this review, is this season gonna surpass G's or be like the inconsistent mess of the first season, well...with all the nitpicking and praising LA had with this season. LA enjoyed this season more than the first season but only misses out of the best season of this series to G with some of the negatives LA pointed out, however if it not for this season's ending it could have gotten to be like the first season's or worse. GX is an enjoyable bombastic, musically charged season bringing in both the flaws and strengths of the previous two seasons and ultimately succeeding in giving us another welcoming installment to the Symphogear series. LA can't wait the fourth and fifth season~!!!

This season is a joke compared to the last two, hopefully the next season is better. No good fight scenes, bad characterization, wasted plotlines. Hibiki gets turned into a crybaby for no real reason. The villains are uninteresting this time around and for the first time in Symphogear, the final battle is crap. It has none of the tension the original or G had. Every plot twist is a massive asspull and comes out of nowhere. While thats normal for a show as campy as this one, GX takes it way too far. The subplot with Hibiki's father is overly forced and loses any ofits emotional appeal. They try to focus on too many characters at once so you feel jerked around all over the place. This season also has a vastly different tone than the last and also uses the dreaded monster of the week format. I almost recommend skipping this season or reading a synopsis if Symphogear AXZ turns out to be good. The biggest problem is how halfassed every fight scene in this season is compared to the first two seasons. Its a complete letdown, considering how awesome the fight choreography was in the original Symphogear and G. Compare the Maria VS Tsubasa fights in G or anyone vs Fin'e in the original. In GX every fight is over in one or two moves. As someone who likes the first two seasons this is such a massive falloff that I'm reluctant to watch AXZ when it airs.

I'll preface this by saying that the previous season, Symphogear G, was one of my favorite animes of all time. It was the only time I binged something to the end in the span of about 3-4 days. Which is why it pains my heart to say that GX has shattered my enthusiasm for the series. To avoid overt spoilers, I'll keep this brief. The plot spends far too long with the main antagonists while simultaneously making them too strong to beat, but not willing to actively defeat the main protags. In addition, it makes an active effort to try to redeem some of the mostdetestable father figures I've ever seen in anime. They're not even detestable of epic proportions like, say, Gendo Ikari from EVA, they're just unlikeable and impossible to sympathy with. I'm not gonna say it's without positives. I love the (technically) new additions to the main cast, and the new forms introduced are also alright.