Senki Zesshou Symphogear XV

Humanity is finally confronted with the threat of the Custodians—the ancient, sentient species held responsible for cursing humanity to speak different languages thousands of years ago. The Symphogear wielders—Hibiki Tachibana, Tsubasa Kazanari, Chris Yukine, Maria Cadenzavna Eve, Kirika Akatsuki, and Shirabe Tsukuyomi—are sent to the Antarctic in order to retrieve an ancient relic. After securing it and rescuing the scientific staff present there from a Coffin, the automated defense mechanism protecting it, the relic is given to American researchers due to international agreements.

The criminal organization Noble Red, a remnant of the previously fought Bavarian Illuminati, starts targeting the relic. Will the Symphogear wielders and their supporting organization S.O.N.G. be able to foil the plans of the organizations conspiring against them?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tachibana, Hibiki Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Yukine, Chris Main

Takagaki, Ayahi Japanese

Kazanari, Tsubasa Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Akatsuki, Kirika Main

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Cadenzavna Eve, Maria Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Tsukuyomi, Shirabe Main

Nanjou, Yoshino Japanese

Kohinata, Miku Supporting

Iguchi, Yuka Japanese

Malus Dienheim, Carol Supporting

Minase, Inori Japanese

Kazanari, Genjuurou Supporting

Ishikawa, Hideo Japanese

Tûmân, Garie Supporting

Murase, Michiyo Japanese

Morii, Yuusuke Producer

Ono, Katsumi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Motoyama, Satoshi Sound Director

Takashima, Hiroyuki Episode Director

Reviews

Sep 28, 2019

SanaeK10

Recommended

[Note: This is a review that encompasses my feelings towards the entire series including XV]

Meteoroid falling, burning, and disappear, then...
In the distance, that day when the star became music...
Believe in justice and hold a determination to fist.
By shedding many tears, the reality you face is
Create a history, with a light God could not know.

What is Symphogear? For the longest time I've never bothered engaging myself in this franchise. I never understood what is was, and I was naturally repulsed by all things mecha. Now that the series is having its final season and its a dry season, I decided to finally give in and give ... Symphogear a try from the very beginning.

I wondered how have I missed out on the Anime of the Decade all these years.

I honestly didn't know what to expect watching the very first episode knowing absolutely nothing about the franchise. The show toyed with my emotions so much in that opening setpiece. When Kanade bit it I thought would be a grimdark Madoka ripoff ended up being one of the most life-affirming shows out there. A stunning display of idiocy and action that is both charming and captivating. It's confident in its strengths and parades its weaknesses proudly, a show that is both all style and all substance.

But most of all, it's a true roller coaster of emotions, and I don't use that term lightly. I laughed, I cried, I got frustrated at the ineptitude and stupidity of both the characters and the creators, but most of all, I loved. When the curse of Balal fell in place, songs still managed to bridge that gap and connect us all together.

The one emotion the series never fails to deliver is Hype. The surge of adrenaline and endorphins and all those chemicals in your brain whenever something awesome is happening onscreen is a rare treat in most other anime, but a constant occurrence in this series. The hype does occasionally fail to deliver, the heightened expectations can sometimes be too much, but still, when you hear Hibiki scream DATOSHITEMOOOOOO, you know she means business and join her in song.

And those songs are precisely what keeps Symphogear in the minds of many all this while. I'm not an idol anime person, I despise most idol anime and yet. And yet. The moment I hard Gyakko no Flugel for the first time right there on the idol concert, I was enthralled. I knew that regardless of how the series turned out, it would have great music. Covering many genres, the series has a diverse palette of songs ranging from Hibiki's celtic rock to Tsubasa's enka-inspired tracks, there's no shortage of variety. Yes there are songs that don't work well, but the ones that resonate far outweigh the occasional crap Ignite remix or whatever. XV is no exception to this, and, this is a rarity coming from me with regards to this series, but I actually fully enjoyed the OPs AND the EDs this time round.

The plot and story are fairly typical, but they feel like they belong in a JRPG. Every beat you'd expect is there, mini boss, dungeons, rivals, all those stuff. It's not particularly fantastic, but it works well. Not surprising seeing as Kaneko was a JRPG writer.

More specifically for XV, XV is mainly about redemption. Not just about the characters, but also in a meta sense. I certainly have had my gripes with GX and AXZ being particularly weak, but XV comes along and somehow redeems them both in my eyes and I just can't hate them anymore.

Symphogear has to be taken in as a complete package. It truly is more than the sum of its parts. Looking back, yes I can agree on all the flaws (some major) the series has had. Yet in spite of it all, across 7 years and 5 seasons. It's why I ultimately decided in awarding it with one of my rare 9s. Something this special, this inspirational, this long-lasting is truly an experience to behold. For better for worse, it is the definitive anime that represents the 2010s. It may not have ended in the way I wanted, and it may not have that one kiss I was looking for, but it filled the hole in my heart, and with it ending, the gaping wound in my soul may never heal.

Maybe, for now at least, I can say that the series ended with dignity. It wasn't perverted into a zombie franchise like Madoka or Fate, nor did it stumble hard in its final moments and is struggling to reclaim its past glory like Nanoha. It has its shortcomings, but thinking back, the journey to the end has been a satisfying romp throughout.

So what is Symphogear? It is a mecha-mahou shoujo-idol hybrid anime. It is Mizuki Nana's autobiography. It is an anime about fisting. It is 5 seasons and 7 years long and has captivated the hearts of many.

But most importantly, it is Believing in the Song of your Heart.

9/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 20, 2020

cameronrb24

Mixed Feelings

The final season of Symphogear very much follows the formula presented in previous seasons; introduce new antagonists, fight for a bit, and then they eventually join up with the protagonists to defeat the larger overarching threat. There's noticeably less filler/SoL content, which helps smooth out some of the pacing issues I thought past seasons had. It's still a bit hard to follow, mostly because Symphogear has always been focused on its action rather than fleshing out its story. This wouldn't be a problem if the fighting was interesting, but we're still seeing the same 30 second long transformations, nonstop explosions, the same music for the ... most part, and the same special moves. It became stale, and when there isn't a strong story-line to fall back on it makes boring to watch at times.

The characters are mostly same. Some familiar faces reappear (only to leave just as fast they came). Most of the character development is focused on the antagonists, who I only found mildly interesting. Tsubasa has a moment where her mental state flux, but it gets resolved in an episode or so.

I did mention that the action became somewhat stale, but I still think its where most of my enjoyment came. The flashy moves and high tempo music were still enjoyable at times even its stuff we've seen before.

This season didn't change my overall view of the series, but I do think it got some things right. It's the most focused season, and I thought it closed off the series fairly well, but it still suffers from many of the issues I had with Symphogear up to this point.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 28, 2019

Zerity

Not Recommended

"Even if that's true" -Hibiki

That phrase, every time I hear that damn phrase in hibiki's annoying voice I just wanna take a gun load it with explosive bullets and shoot myself. After torturing myself through 65 episodes it finally comes to an end. It should be obvious I am not a fan of this series. With that said I do think this is the best season yet.

However it's still by no means a good series. Throughout all the bs plot devices and cringy twists that they throw at you that seem to come out of nowhere it's hard to find anything good in this ... series. I will say the music is good, and the transformation scenes are amazing to watch and fun as hell. One of the main reasons I did not like this series or any of the series in general is because I knew nothing was gonna happen of importance. The only time I was actually hyped was when hibiki's arm was gonna be bitten off, but then she just regrows another one. Even in this series, Carol's minions make a cameo to help her out, they were just used to stir up hype and be used as fodder for Carol to make it to were she had to be. Many things like this happen throughout the series of convenient bs that just appears outa nowhere.

I will say the main reason I liked this season better was because of the villains. This time they weren't overpowered at the start and then through the power of the series ending the main character end up beating them at the end because they need to. They were weak. They were getting whooped by the main characters. When they did lose or win it made sense, and seeing them grow in the series was really fun to watch. Beside that though everything else was still really bad. The plot twists were not exciting everything just felt dull and bland.

When it comes to the characters I can't say I like them at all. Especially Hibiki, though I did like Maria and Kirika at the very least. They were all one dimensional, stereotypical, and boring. I don't wanna shit on them to much mainly because I care to little for them anyways to want to do that.

In conclusion, there was really nothing of value I found while watching the 65 episodes this series has. There are a few good merits this series has but it was not worth the watch. If you can make it past season one and enjoy it I think you will honestly love this series, so give it a try if you haven't already, you'll either hate it or love it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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