Previously on Symphogear Challenge…
…I ended up rating season 1 (Symphogear) higher than season 2 (Symphogear G) because I was getting rather frustrated with its ridiculous script. I eventually warmed to all the music, the over-the-top fighting scenes, and the plot twists, but its script was just something that annoyed me. In the end, I said that if season 3 (Symphogear GX) would have even more of this fighting, music and silly plot twists, then I’d be happy nonetheless. Ehh, was I really expecting a sequel show to be any different from its predecessors? I should know better.
The very first episode of Symphogear GX begins with a rescue mission. Continuing from what happened at the end of season 2, Nastassja’s body is recovered from space, but the shuttle carrying it runs into some trouble on reentry, meaning Hibiki, Tsubasa and Chris are called into action, to slow the shuttle down. The franchise’s sheer ridiculousness starts off early; it’s more of a watch and see for yourself. Only Hibiki is able to punch through K2 after all.
Much like season 2’s opening episode, the action largely kicks off after a concert; in this case, it’s a charity concert held in London and performed by Maria and Tsubasa. As someone who has lived and studied in London for a good while, I’m usually very quick to find any mistakes or errors. Right now, for instance, I’m finishing Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files for my Otaku Theater column, and with the show set largely in London, I’m quick to criticize anything, like the Clocktower (which is meant to look like Big Ben), or the Carnac department store (which is meant to look like Harrods). Here in Symphogear GX, we immediately get glimpses of Tower Bridge, the London Eye and a building that sort of looks like City Hall but taller. Oh, and Maria and Tsubasa’s concert is literally them dancing on the river Thames…because it’s Symphogear.*
*I should just use the “Because it’s Symphogear” excuse for anything I can’t really explain in this franchise.
Back to the action, and we’re immediately shown our main antagonist of season 3: Carol Malus Dienhelm. She explains that she comes from a world of alchemy, and that she intends to rid the world of miracles, even if it means destroying it. She sees Hibiki in particular as a miracle of sorts (because she…kinda is), and takes an immediate dislike to her. With her 4 powerful automatons, or Autoscorers, she does a fair bit of damage too. Having access to her own relic doesn’t help things either. I will say this though: I found Carol to be a much more ‘believable’ antagonist than what I saw in season 2, where we weren’t really sure who to boo at. Here, Carol has a very simple motive: her father was murdered, and so to ease her pain, everyone and everything else must suffer.
This franchise certainly has changed over the years though. I use the “Because it’s Symphogear” line a lot, but that is really the only way I can describe this all. While season 2 (Symphogear G) sort of doubled down on the music and action and questionable script, Symphogear GX has done something different, by giving us more of a cohesive narrative and character arcs. While stories went in all sorts of directions in seasons 1 and 2, here in season 3, we see much more. Take Hibiki and Miku, for instance, we see more that these two are married. As Hibiki comes back from fight after fight, and as she insists that everything is fine, Miku grows more and more frustrated. After what Miku went through in Symphogear G, she knows now how dangerous wielding Symphogear armor is. Just as Hibiki is more hopeful, Miku is more logical and realistic…which is exactly what makes them the perfect couple. Also, Carol has become an antagonist I can really believe/support/root for. Unlike season 1’s Finé, and season 2’s Dr. Ver, Carol has a very simple goal, and her motive is something we can all understand/sympathize with.
However, one main theme here in Symphogear GX is characters with ‘daddy issues’. The main antagonist, Carol, has been carrying a grudge over humanity for centuries after her father was burned at the stake for being a witch, and as episodes go on, we learn that both Hibiki and Tsubasa have had fathers who have not treated them too well. I found it disappointing, though, that the theme’s execution was a little poor. While we grow to understand (and even sympathize) with Carol and how her father was murdered just for being an alchemist, Hibiki’s attempts to reconnect with her own father feels a little forced. The writers paint Hibiki as some beacon of hope, or shining light…kind of like a Mary Sue kind of character, and so her constant positivity gets really annoying in a story line that could have been handled way better, considering how we see how much of a douchebag Hibiki’s father is.
Just as I applauded how better the art direction was in season 2, I will applaud the art direction here in Symphogear GX too. Now that I’ve seen seasons 2 and 3, I can truly understand why the hardcore Symphogear fans were so critical of season 1, and how awful both the animation and the art direction looked in comparison to their successors. Sure we can laugh at the questionable script and the ridiculous action scenes, but at least it all looks good. And I appreciated how they planned to introduced a solid and cohesive narrative here in this third season; it just sucks that it could have been handled much better, considering how sensitive some of the topics are.
We get crazy fights that pits insane weapons against each other…great. We get our upbeat songs that have just become infectiously good now…great. The show looks much much better than season 1…great. Hibiki gets to punch some more justice into people and things…great. I said at the beginning of this post that I should know better when it comes to great expectations in this franchise, and so as I wrap up Symphogear GX, it’s disappointing to see that their attempts to introduce a solid narrative in the show for the first time falls a little flat.
Will i expect any more from season 4? I will just expect plenty more of what I saw in the past 3 seasons I’ve seen so far: lots of singing, lots of silly plot twists, and lots of pretty epic and over-the-top fighting. This really has become like a drug to me now, and how, you may ask? Because it’s Symphogear…