Symphogear’s first episode is out and it has surpassed epic status effortlessly – leaving any and all to experience its intense introduction speechless from awe, as well as teary from the tragedy it seems to foretell.
Everything in Symphogear strikes with impact – a girl is seen crying hysterically at the grave of what appears to be her friend, uncaring of the rain as she’s entirely occupied in mourning a dire loss. Then we are taken to another point in time, two years ago, the girl who was pictured to be buried at the grave earlier exhibited is still alive and well in this flashback. She’s a lively young girl currently waiting in line for a concert whilst speaking to her friend, the one seen shedding waterworks, over the phone.
The situation of this flashback is that the blonde haired heroine of the series was invited to an idol concert by her friend, the one to be mourning her death two years from now. Yet although our blonde haired protagonist was the one called to come, her friend fails to show up – mentioning her grandmother to be involved in an accident and apologizing. Up to this point one can feel an eerie air, yet little will they expect the stirred mix of thunder and lightning to throw everything so serene, so astray.
Having never before been to a live event such as this, our heroine does feel hesitant and worried – however she does not retreat, instead carrying onward in a commendable attempt to enjoy a first time experience.
Backstage, another slice of plot starts to develop – we’re acquainted with two other girls, one of which is shyer and boasts blue hair, whereas the other, a red head with an equally as vivacious personality. Before long one will pickup the fact that these two are who our blonde haired protagonist came to see on stage – yet sparking our interest is why these idols are seemingly preparing to do more than sing. The venue looks to be a control base of some sort – and rather than a producer or agent, the idols report to a “commander”.
At this point we’re thinking their singing has some magical properties which allows it to save the population from something – basically nothing we haven’t seen in Macross Frontier or several other similar shows, yet this prediction is incorrect in that those other anime series do not contain the same level of emotion, seriousness, and impact this one will lodge into your heart right from the start.
Flashily making their way into the center of attention, the idols start their song – and in the meanwhile, our determined blonde haired heroine begins to find herself settling in with the hype and thrill of a live concert. Unfortunately however, it is only for a short time does she do so before we see the antagonist force we did anticipate to arrive – yet at an extent we never anticipated.
Swarms of unearthly creatures referred to by characters as “Noise” begin to flood the concert grounds – manifesting in many abstract varieties and from every direction imaginable, congregating together as if an organized army. As this outbreak expands rapidly across the vicinity – all within a matter of seconds, the idols gear themselves for a fight, going from scantily outfits, to scantily battle suits which materialized in the blink of an eye from their bodies.
Action erupts to a point of pinnacle achievement – the idols put forth their best effort to fend off the hoards of “Noise” with vintage comic book style text appearing on the screen with every coordinated attack they execute, seemingly adding to the style of the series, yet bringing us to question what sort of result will we arrive at from such an artistic miniature war.
Scenes show the idols utilizing all the supernatural power and weaponry the suits they equipped from thin air offer them – as all the while, attendees of the concert run for their lives, many being massacred in the process unforgivingly as they plead for another day unharmed, although to no avail.
However, our blonde haired heroine remains standing as if entranced by this sight of horror unfolding – marking the point in which the series goes from amusing on a day with nothing better to do, to sheer ground breaking on a scale which leaves us withering in pain. The sci-fi geared suit of the red headed idol with the grand blade is noted to be wearing out – and as she defends against a fearsome attack from a creature, a piece of debris goes flying back behind her with velocity, brutally striking our heroine, piercing her like a sheet of paper.
Watching as our heroine is further slammed her against hard concrete from the momentum, this is the turning point – indeed the cemetery scene was intriguing, and all was not bad up till now, however watching as the series’ heroine is, within episode one, just skewered like a slab of beef by a stone, and not only that, but in such a visually powerfully presented manner, one could feel the harsh impact and pain themselves to the magnitude one literally finds the need to replay that part once again as it is all simply so immense, one cannot even believe what they’ve just witnessed.
It’s as if having actually been spectator to someone’s death before your eyes – blood gushes, fluid and dynamic movement of the body like a ragdoll as she then goes flying, then force and physics just drive her into a wall like a lifeless substance of matter without a soul. Death did await her at this point – however, this is not where she dies, the red head sees the horrific sight herself, prompting her to perform a song which sacrifices her own life for the sake of eliminating all the Noise, and allowing our heroine to live yet another day.
Even though having been granted an extension of life however, things don’t simply move on for her – now seen enjoying a typical school day, even when her life’s become so unstandard, she still has a scar from the event which nearly took her existence, faintly recalling the unreal terror which even she, who experienced it first hand, is left unable to ascertain as to whether what she encountered was anything more than a dream.
As our heroine then departs from school to buy a CD, she then horrifyingly encounters the Noise once again. This is where one must draw a line of good, great, and purely outright amazing on an inspirational and critical hitting level. Danger is felt unnervingly within the air, one feels as if encompassed in a city of ongoing war as no matter where within, whether at a concert, middle of nowhere, or at a local store to do something so measly and pedestrian as purchase a CD, you are met with an entity which is vying for your death.
And as our heroine ultimately finds herself on the verge of once again crossing over to a realm beyond our world, she looks within herself to find strength, and indeed, she does find something – releasing mass amounts of energy as she seemingly transforms into another figure with mechanical extensions, a monstrous in appearance creature which has just been awakened.
Symphogear shows us a chilling sight of a girl dead – yet it then treads back in time in such a masterful manner to develop reasoning and chronological occurrence behind the death, yet as we see everything to be so grim, we’re left on the edge of suspense and apprehension as the series carries on, bringing us to be compassionate towards the characters, and thus, ever more so concerned for what catastrophe fate holds.
We recommend you end your search for the incredible and pick up Symphogear if you’ve yet to do so as this series is seemingly heading on a path to exceed above all.
Jan 7, 2012 @ 6:52 CDT
I can see many animis inside this animi.And yet this is a totally new animi.5 new songs.Sudden death of main characters.I dont want to rank this.But I definately want to watch ep2.
Jan 7, 2012 @ 11:50 CDT
As what seems to be the spiritual successor to one of my all-time favorite Nintendo DS games, “The World Ends with You,” Symphogear’s first episode came off as a bit lackluster for me, to be perfectly honest.
Allow me to clarify. When I first heard that the antagonists of this series were called Noise, I was instantly thrown back into the streets of Shibuya where I was wielding psychic pins and a splendid story that had me guessing from beginning to end. That having been said, I would judge any anime that I felt the successor to World, in any sense, pretty closely.
In addition, World was first released in Japan in 2007 under its original title, “It’s a Wonderful World” and topped the charts as the second-best selling DS title at the time. Subsequently released in the States the following year, it proved just as popular and reached the top-selling spot of all DS games in the US.
That having been said, given its considerable popularity and the relatively small time frame between then and now, there is absolutely no way you are going to get away with an anime that calls its antagonists Noise and not draw at least some comparison to World. Not gonna happen.
Getting back to Symphogear, the plot seems pretty straightforward. Noise have come from wherever (World’s Underground concept, perhaps?) to threaten and likely destroy humankind for whatever reason, and only the bearers of Symphogear have the ability to oppose and defeat them.
First problem. I have seen this plot so many times before, I can’t even count how many. I will give Symphogear its due credit in exhibiting the concept of death and its terrifying reality. Fundamentally however, it’s no different than an anime like Freezing in its mind-dulling simplicity of what I can chalk up to three concise points:
I. Mysterious enemy shows up to destroy humanity.
II. Ordinary people can’t do jack against them, their only strong suit in being able to die.
III. Only the main characters can stand up to them.
Very recent anime such as our own Symphogear, Blood-C, and even Gundam AGE could be said to apply to this. And that’s just in very recent memory.
Second Problem. The singing during the main characters’ fights is a unique concept that differentiates it from World to be sure, but also is painfully reminiscent of another game series, Ar Tonelico – or if you prefer a more anime-centered reference, three words for you. Shinkyoku Sokai Polyphonica.
I’m not going to call out this anime on being a failure or anything else, but there is simply far too much here that seems to stem from other games and anime that I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy this even if I wanted to. A new line of epic will have to wait for another day, unfortunately.
Jan 7, 2012 @ 12:43 CDT
Nice to see this from a perspective of someone familiar with various game series and whatnot of a similar genre – I’ve personally not watched AGE, nor have played a single DS game to be able to compare anything here together.
I am however familiar with Shinkyoku Sokai Polyphonica and indeed, the similarities are pretty prominent – however the concept of “signing battles” is already very weak in my mind, with the main aspect of amazement in regards to Symphogear personally being the impact of the visuals.
Not merely how things look, yet how they are displayed as a whole – the emotions are presented strong, and that does go a long way.
Jan 7, 2012 @ 13:10 CDT
Symphogear’s strong points are its impacting visuals and the strong emotional content. Let us assume that is the case for the moment, regardless of whether it’s true or not.
Why is it that by comparison with a smash hit series, such as Bakemonogatari and its recently released sequel, Nisemonogatari, Symphogear will likely fall quite short in its overall popularity? After all you could argue that the Monogatari series has both impacting visuals and strong emotional content as well, so what’s the difference here?
Quality and originality would be two of the most potent aspects, IMHO. You would have to struggle quite hard to find a series that impacts the viewer in such a way as Bakemonogatari does; as the way it does it is so unusual and unique that it can grip you by that alone. By comparison, the way Symphogear reaches out to its audience can be said to be rather standard, and when you take that in conjunction with the various similarities I’ve already mentioned, the intended impact can drop even further.
In the end, my overall point is that while Symphogear certainly does have its strong points; a personal touch to a particular series, one that you’ll always remember it for in the way that the Monogatari series has prided itself in, will almost always win out.
I just don’t see that with the Symphogear series thus far.
Jan 7, 2012 @ 13:16 CDT
It may be lacking other potent aspects as you’ve said – though the presentation is there. If the series were to implement the missing elements, it would indeed be quite impressive.