Winter 2012 – Senki Zesshou Symphogear

A new genre of anime has just been created. It’s called mahou mecha shoujo anime. Something like that.

Or rather, someone’s going to die. Hibiki, our main character,will eventually wind up dead. Way to spoil it, eh?

So what happened? We quickly jump to two years ago as Hibiki readies herself to attend the live concert of Zwei Wings. Two Wings, I guess. Little does she know, or anyone actually, that the concert is supposed to be pivotal at saving the world.

So the concert begins, and Zwei Wings appear to be a duo of pop-star teenage girls.

So what exactly is this concert saving the world from? Soon enough, it gets revealed to be some kind of monsters called Noise which, without any surprise here, kills people. Yes, they make an attack on the concert actually.

So how will these Noise be defeated? The pop-star duo Zwei Wings transform, that’s right, transform into some magical mechanical girl. Henshin!

Girls in mecha suits is made of pure WIN. And yes, they’re the only weapons known to man that can fight off the Noise. So off they go to battle the attacking Noise. But where does our main character fit into all these? Well, she’s now standing alone in shock in the audience area (they all ran away already), watching as how the Noise and the Zwei Wings duke it out. Yes, horrible thing to do. Soon, the Noise attack her, and Kanade goes in to protect her. But even with Kanade’s best efforts, Hibiki ends up getting hit by a sharp debris.

Then the world stops. Seriously. Suddenly the Noise stops their attacks as Kanade rushes to Hibiki’s side to check on her and tell her not to give up on her life. You know, even Noise have hearts as well~

With Hibiki dying, and the Noise overwhelming the Zwei Wings, Kanade pulls out her ultimate move: a song. No seriously, they sing as they fight, and it kind of is like a spell to them. But the one Kanade sings is some imba song that can kill a whole bunch of Noise, but at the cost of her life. So she sings, and dies, much to the despair of Tsubasa.

So now in present time, Hibiki manages to survive thanks to an operation. But her memory is hazy, and she’s not all too sure that the Zwei Wings really saved her and fought all those Noise. All she’s sure of is the accident she was part in, as evidenced by her scar.

Meanwhile, Tsubasa is now going solo as a singer, as well as a magical mechanical girl fighting against the Noise.

Again, how does Hibiki fit in all these? Well, she chances upon the next Noise attack…

But upon getting cornered by the Noise, she suddenly sings. And then she activates some kind of power.

And yes, she’s now a fellow magical mechanical girl, and apparently Kanade’s successor or something.

And that’s your episode there. If she ends up really as some kind of rabid mecha wolf, then I’m all sold on this. But seriously, as mentioned earlier, this kind of feels like a cross between mecha and mahou shoujo. Not that I’m saying it’s bad, it’s just something different. And different is refreshing, actually. And you know how I love girls in mechanical suits~

But still, the premise is rather weird. And the Noise really looks like comedic enemies. It’s hard to take them seriously. And the whole singing-saves-the-world plot still feels awkward for me. At least in this case, they sing and fight and not just sing like the others. And thankfully, no one transforms into a giant flower. At least not yet.

As a side note, the cover songs they have aren’t all that impressive. For an anime that deals with people singing, I kind of expected more. Maybe they paid more attention on the part that some of the songs had to be in Norse. Dunno if it was real Norse though.

But in any case, not bad. Not bad at all. Decent start for Winter 2011.

 

Rating: 7/10

Points to Note: We just need a furry creature to complete the formula.

Subs I Watched: GetWet

Watch Next Episode: Sure, unless all the rest are way good that I’d be overloaded with stuff to watch.