First Impressions – Senki Zesshou Symphogear G
Are you ready for something amazing!? I sure hope so!
Has it really been a whole year since the first season of Symphogear? Wow how time really flies, but I am here to bring you my first impressions on the second season! I hope things start off better this time around because I remember how terrible things got with my first trip into this crazy magical girl singing idol anime.
Techno magical girls yo!
Hibiki brings the super kicks and Chris supplies the fanservice
-loud techno music playing in the background-
Hibiki, Chris and Tsubasa are back to sing songs and kick some major monster butt or are they? With the end of season one I was left wondering if they did a season two who will the girls fight? Because every magical girl series needs one or two epic villains to push things along for the plot and it appears that this new season will introduce three brand new “evil” magical girls with Maria and I assume next week will show Tsukuyomi and Kirika? Since I am a big fan of all things magical girl on Metanorn part of me has always wanted some kind of “evil” team of magical girls which does happen in most of the later PreCure series, but that was usually a mirror image thing like something from Persona 4 with the girls fighting themselves to either overcome some personal problems or gaining a brand new power up. Speaking of evil characters Chris from season one was technically “evil” but with the help of Hibiki she was able to turn Chris to the good side with the power of surprise-yuri-friendship which I can see that happening once again in this second season with Maria, Tsukuyomi and Kirika I just want to know how those three girls obtained the power of the Symphogear in the first place?! Oh and on a side note the evil characters transformations are the same as Hibiki, Chris and Tsubasa just painted black with some extra features thrown in but I am curious to see if they have similar attacks as well? I guess we just need more time to see how the story unfolds.
Extra special magic
If you are bleeding from the eyes seek medical attention quickly!
Hibiki-“Yo dawg! Did you see that monsters face explode?! IT WAS AWESOME!!!”
Maria’s outfit reminds me of Lacus Clyne from Gundam SEED/DESTINY
Not as detailed as Vividred Operation butt close enough!
End thoughts
Holy crap that was an amazing first episode! Usually I knock on Symphogear for being really bad I just hope that this second season can erase my memories of a terrible first season, but I suppose that it helps to have three brand new characters to make things interesting. So who you excited to see appear next time? I really want to see Kirika next because her MAL photo shows her wearing a witch hat which makes me wonder if she uses the same abilities as Chris who uses mostly ranged based attacks, but it also helps that she is voiced by Ai Kayano who I have grown to like. Speaking of great voice actors Tomokazu Sugita appears as a scientist who I have marked as being “evil” as well because of how he reacted when talking to the girls about heroes? What was with that odd laugh of his? Besides that awesome guy fans of Hikasa Yoko will love hearing her sing as Maria because I know we have a lot out there! Thanks for reading and catch you later.
Preview
OH SNAP WE GOT A BADASS OVER HERE
Time for a magical girl fight to the death!
About Foshizzel
Is huge anime fan from Florida! who loves to watch anime and also enjoys drawing and collecting pictures, my favorite genre of anime has to be Mecha, there is just something awesome about giant robots beating the crap out of each other! Other than that type of show, I love a good comedy or action series :D
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
Yay! Symphonogear is back with 200% more singing! 😀 Oh how I missed the musical transformations and such! The episode also didn’t waste any time with it jumping into the action right away! Which was awesome but I think a small breather would have helped but hey, magical singing! 😀
Also I loved the duet between Maria and Tsubasa. THOSE OUTFITS. *_* If only I had a friend that would be willing to cosplay the other, I would so want to make Tsubasa’s warrior garb.
As for Maria and her black gungir…it was awesome but I really want to know how it is possible. From what I remember of season 1, there’s only one artifact for each person so where in the world did Maria get gungir? Of course I know that will be explained soon enough(or not since this is symphogear…)
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I know right? Not one or two performances but three! I think they changed up the transformation scenes a bit for the second season and yepp! Lots of action in the first episode made it quite entertaining.
Agreed Maria and Tsubasa rocking those amazing outfits <3
I was surprised when Maria transformed like that and I am also wondering HOW she did it! Just like you I thought it was only limited to Hibiki, Chris and Tsubasa? I hope they explain that but I assume it is related to the odd looking fossil thing? Course it could just be "magic"
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
Maybe America has its own set of magical fossils….somehow! XD
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Or maybe there are still a bunch of undiscovered fossils scattered around the planet. That Symphogear bleeding out at the beginning was holding one in her hand.
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
Oh I forgot about that scene! If the girl who was crying at the bleeding girl was Maria it could be a parallel to how Hibiki got her gungir with Kanade sacrifice.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’m sure that kid crying was Maria. Between then and now, she still has the same hairstyle and even though the scene was black and white, her hair was clear enough to be considered pink.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Oooooh! Now that is a really great idea Liza and BB
POWUH: 700-799 and Horror Expert with 701 comments
SYMPHOGEAH is all grown up. ;__; The premiere blew my expectations out of the water, and almost made the torture that was season one worth all the trouble. The better budget is definitely showing and the new transformations are a blast.
Agreed about the new characters! I was expecting maybe one or two new symphogears, but three is pretty stellar. I wonder how much of the budget is being used just on those awesome VAs, not that I’m complaining …
Looking forward to more!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Hello Hawt it sure has been a while! How has life been treating you so far?
Indeed Symphogear s2 is off to a epic start and I also noticed that the animation for the transformation scenes has gone up since the days of s1! I wonder where all that money came from? Well whatever it is awesome <3
YAY NEW CHARACTERS! I can't wait to see them in action along with their voices~
I dunno if I will continue to cover the series but we shall see if enough people like it on Metanorn...
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Hawt, you’ve been missed.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
You can already count me in the group. I liked Symphogear since the first season.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
We need Fosh x Symphogear. I’m shipping it….
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
This ship has my full support! FoshGear? 😀
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Symphoshizzle? Will he sing?
POWUH: 700-799 and Horror Expert with 701 comments
I support SymphoShizzle and FoshGear 100%, heh. The new season kicks ass, but from experience it was one of the harder ones to blog about due to all that generally shitty writing. S2 could be a new start though …
It’s nice to see you all again as well! I’ve finally been able to start watching some more anime, so I’ll be around in the comments. Life has been good, Fosh, but nothing compares to life with your image captions!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Good to see you around, Hawthorne. It’s been a while. Glad to see you’re still considering following Symphogear.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 175 comments
the singing version of madoka is back again give seeing s1 & now s2 well got how this goes?
since now main 3 will meet rival team aka followers of Fine yea got wonder what to happen on it?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yep that description works fine aside from all the darkness and depression of Madoka LOL
I can’t wait! I hope the other two are interesting characters <3
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Summer has truly begun. Here comes the first wave of First Impressions.
Symphogear is back and better than ever! Surprisingly, it’s been a bit longer since season one aired Winter 2012 and personally, it was alright. More singing, more action, more of the Yu Yu Hakusho style of naming attacks as they’re being pulled out and they certainly didn’t waste any time getting things started. A declaration of war on the first episode means playtime is over.
Better transformations, better quality on the concerts and more known seiyuus. Satelight certainly got a bigger budget and I’m already swayed by how well Yoko Hikasa is voicing the villain with an exotic name (Maria Cadenzavuna Eve). The dark version of Hibiki’s Gungnir caught me off guard. This probably means there are light and dark Symphogears. I once saw on ANN a photo of one of the enemies wearing a Symphogear that looks like a black and green version of Yu-Gi-Oh’s Dark Magician Girl.
This might be wrong of me but I laughed a bit when the personnel at the base used a vacuum cleaner of all things to scoop up the remains of the people killed on contact by the Noise.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Indeed! There will be pages and pages of first impressions soon…
One whole year and Symphogear pulls out all the stops with flashy animation and brand new characters! Yeah those special shots with the names of the attacks that Chris was doing made me think of something like JOJO? Yeah it works but I heard that Chris is nicknamed the gundam of magical girls with all her attacks <3
Yoko Hikasa as a villain is interesting even though she sounds exactly like Seraphim of Kore wa Zombie along with Ai Kayano who has done her fair share of "evil" roles like Inori/Mana of Guilty Crown and finally Yoshino Nanjo aka Aki from Robotic;Notes which surprised me! I wonder how we will deal with an evil Aki running around?
Ooooh yeah that was a bit like uhhhh they probably should not have shown that! WTF! I wonder if they are taking a page from Attack on Titan, Hunter x hunter and Railgun which has lots of gore even though we don't SEE it 99.9% of the time.
On a side note Railgun S 13? OMG T_____T
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Sounds like the Summer Anime Catalogue all over again.
Looks like there will be a stronger story. Already I can tell a part of it is about revenge thanks to the start. It starts off with a lab that was destroyed researching something by a Symphogear who probably went berserk using her Swan Song, hence the bleeding at the eyes and mouth and a seemingly younger Maria trying to save her but failed. Also, the Symphogear armor looked like the Gungnir Maria donned during the concert.
I have a theory on how there could be armors and those suitable to wear them hanging around. Either there were more to begin with and those with power made sure to keep some of them quiet or someone took the research from the woman who called herself Finè last season and improved on it with their adjustments.
And there’s that researcher Hibiki and Chris were helping out. After he made that creeper face saying the world needs heroes, all warning bells went off and now I’m suspicious of him possibly being a traitor.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Warning Bells. You think they would keep their scientists under 24/7 surveillance since last season, right?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yes, they should. Especially since the villain last season was a top ranked scientist with all privilidges at her disposal explaining how she got so close to destroying the planet. Not to mention that she, herself, was the one who designed the base Hibiki and Tsubasa were hiding in at the time.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
lol anime scientists the creators of Symphogear have been watching some Railgun S…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I think anime scientists in general have a screw loose. And they always do some obscure stuff in the name of their research.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…or maybe the screw it too tight?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
@BB: You know what you are correct, now that I think about most scientists have that in common in anime like Railgun S they will do WHATEVER it takes in the name of science!
@Skylion: IseeWhatYouDidThere.Jpeg
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I could see a revenge story playing BB as you said the group “fine” is named after someone xD
Yep! that scientists face went all crazy mode when talking about heros I noticed that and we all know what happened last year with a certain scientist character right?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
So does one need to watch S1 (which Fosh calls awful) to keep up with this one, or could I just jump into this series?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Well the bad stuff was more about some animation errors,slow story and cheesy moments that made it kind of fail for me, but at the same time it did keep me entertained xD
S1 without spoiling it was mostly about Hibiki discovering her new powers and learning how to use them with her butting heads with Tsubasa who hated her at the start of the season due to a certain event, as for watching S2 right now I guess technically you could just jump right in things because I kind of summed up the core of S1…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Agreed. S1 starts of very strong, but starts to lose the road along about the eight or so episode, with decent stuff in between. At the end it’s a bit of a quivering mess…But, there’s a hole in the moon, and Chairface Chippandale didn’t put it there…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah going to go with Skylion on that! S1 starts off with a bang but sadly it felt like it lost track of their script halfway through leaving some strange events…
Yeah I assume the original trio had some extra adventures during s1 and s2 or am I just high? LOL
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 175 comments
well if i recall that fine can exist due her dna coding has past on to many generation yet ryoko had fine’s dna coding.
so likely there might other with fine’s dna coding yet got wonder if likely meet true “mastermind” in later eps?
besides wait & see who going to pull a split personality takeover like ryoko/fine dna issue.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Excellent thought there KLACMAN! I wonder if Maria is related to the original Fine in some way? That might be interesting or possibly reincarnated from the last season? Now wouldn’t that be a hilarious twist!? Ex scientist brought back as a popular idol/magical girl LOLLL
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
It’s really been a while since the first season aired huh. I stuck to watching it before even though it was a mess. And here I am kind of forced to watch the second season just because.
Seems like there’s more budget now as the animation is much better and the girls seem much more…meatier at some parts :3. Chris is pretty hot.
Plotwise, it’s off to a good start but I won’t hold my breath for that. I can’t even remember the plot of the first season with all the things that happened there. Heck, I even reacted together with the characters with the reveal of Gungnir this episode even though I don’t know what’s surprising about that. I’m familiar with Gungnir but not its relation to the show and its plot. Oh well. I came here for the singing and the girls, nothing more. So yeah.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah it has been a while since s1 and same here I stuck with every failed episode! We are troopers man, but now we have to keep an eye on this s2. Oh ya I noticed that the “hot girl” count went up with Maria and of course Chris is finally with us again <3
Same I will not hold my breath for the story to be mind blowing because this is Symphogear which does not have the best record for storytelling, I will stay around for the singing and action! Not to mention the voice talent has me excited for the other new characters xD
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Ah, Symphogear. Watching you crash last time around was very painful, cause I really wanted to love you to pieces.
But it looks like all the stuff that made you work well is back in place and you’ve added a few more spicy characters into the mix. For me, I like the music and the combat, which is what they should concentrate on; they derp the dorama way to much in S1.
Thanks for the FI, Fosh!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I remember loving s1 because it was crazy at times especially at the end with Chris? If she wasn’t around in the later half I would have dropped it, but I did watch it with a few blogger buddies! We even did a few blog posts about it xD
The new characters along with Chris will keep me watching but I have no idea if there will be enough content every week to push me to blog the whole series.
No problem buddy!
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
….Now I have to watch the first season to see is it as bad /untolerableas ppl put it. But I still remember some of the story frm reading blog entries so…
Welp, whether or not this gets rescue out of the backlog depends on how many anime I’m following this season. I still have to catch up with Gargantia/MJP as they are still rescuable.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Oooh yeah! Catch up on Gargantia and MJP! Fun stuff <3
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It was announced yesterday at ANN that Viz Media has already licensed Gargantia. Looks like we’ll get an english dub of it sooner than we thought.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
sweeeeeet
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I was more hoping it would fall into Funimation’s lap but oh well, what’s done is done.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
niccee~
POWUH: 700-799 and Horror Expert with 701 comments
Due to the nature of the first season, a quick glance at the plot outline would probably be enough! (Less painful on the eyes too …)
The writing quality and animation were very poor, and many of its best elements were left undeveloped. If you do end up watching S1, at the very least you’ll be in for some fantastic music.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
^Plus you’ll skip Miyuki Sawashiro’s horrible display of Japenglish. xD
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Oh, Kara, why did you drag that up? I had forgotten it.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Try to block it out. Try with all your might!
POWUH: 700-799 and Horror Expert with 701 comments
No! Noooo, it’s all coming back … *cries*
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
::hugs:: It’s OK, man. We are stronger than this. Pull it together…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
“So you have a mind to use me? Let’s see your action that matches this deal.”
“Of course I understand! As there is a saying that more do so dog is longer to live.”
xD
POWUH: 700-799 and Horror Expert with 701 comments
YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
You shouldn’t have brought that up. Now the bad memories are coming back.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 175 comments
you mean this English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TXTpik5wf4
indeed did to quote to ask that Miyuki Sawashiro to wonder “Why does she sound like Fran Drescher in Japanese-English”
& hey still on wait for Funi’s dub on it & let be wonder how they handle it.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 53 comments
Am I the only one here getting a Nanoha A’s vibe from the first episode?
On another note, I love that the anime is playing to its strength here: the music. I mean, that duet between Maria (Yoko Hikasa) and Tsubasa (Nana Mizuki) was freaking amazing. The concert visuals were great. The pyrotechnics kinda reminded me of any time Nana Mizuki performs Eternal Blaze :P.
At the same time, is there some sort of weird fetish that the antagonists of this series have with them attacking after awesome duets?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Trueeeee now that you mention Nanoha A’s it does seem that way.
That was a epic musical performance between Yoko Hikasa and Nana Mizuki and their outfits? AWESOME!
Ahahah yeaaaaah I guess they do huh? xD
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 53 comments
So far the episode has been strong and the disappearing white-haired scientist seems to be obviously evil. Honestly, if we do get something like Nanoha A’s, I will be pleased with this season.
Yes, those outfits were amazing. If I was a girl, I would definitely start trying to put together that costume because that would make for some awesome cosplay.
Honestly, this entire episode was just a squee moment for me as my inner Nana Mizuki fanboy just had a fangasm throughout the entire second half of the episode. At this point, I have begun to hit the phase of looping the duet over…and over…and over…
Duet fetishes!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I wonder if symphogear will ever go to Strikers level? Imagine Chris and Hibiki training new magical girls? As for the scientist character YEPPP I marked him as evil after his little outburst while talking about heros…
Oooooh yeah cosplayers will have an awesome time if they can make those crazy idol outfits xD
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
If by “training new idols” you mean, training new idols, then I am all for it.
Pantsu Vor!
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 53 comments
The natural Nanoha type progression, huh…
That in and of itself would be interesting…Hibiki, Chris, and Tsubasa training new idols while still remaining as the strongest…Only if this season is a success. But, remember-Nanoha had a timeskip of 10 years between A’s and Strikers (and 6 years between StrikerS and Force). That kind of timeskip would be annoying for the fans. Not to mention, Hibiki and Chris aren’t exactly the type to be proper teachers like Nanoha…but then again, I am sure that the same could have been said for Nanoha and Fate in A’s…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
But if they were to start training more like them, they’d more fossils for each recruit and it’s most likely the number is very small otherwise there would be an army by now and the Noise casualties wouldn’t be so high.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
The predecessor to the mic-sabre, the mic-prop sword.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Those sword mics are awesome
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 53 comments
I concur. I want one of those things myself.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yes. The three of us duel at dawn! Just like the Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. I’m the Bad; Lee van Cleef is badass.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Then who would be the good and the ugly?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
It’s a toss up between Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach at this point…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It’s bias but I vote Clint Eastwood as the good.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, Wallach always got a bad rap.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
If you’re always playing the good guy, you’re going to get typecasted as the guy. It’s the same principle if you’re playing the villain.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Well, in another Leone Western, Once upon a Time in the West, Henry Fonda, known for many western heroic roles, played the most vile of villains, Frank. Hardcore movie.