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the_sun_is_upThis winter, I'm actually trying to stay up-to-date with current anime for once! I'm reading the ANN Preview Guide, and I'm sampling any new shows that look remotely relevant to my interests. So to that end:
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear: Now here's a show that could have been good in a stupidly fun way, but is let down by poor execution.
So there's this duo of idol singers who also happen to be badasses who use a combination of powered armor and magical singing to fight an alien menace called Noise. When Noise attacks one of their concerts, one of the singers sacrifices her life to save a young girl called Hibiki. Two years later, Hibiki is an avid fan of the surviving idol singer, and both girls happens to be attending the same music school. One day, Hibiki is walking home when she gets attacked by Noise again, and just when she thinks she's toast, she starts singing and her latent superpowers awaken by having a bunch of powered armor stuff burst out of her body in a rather grotesque fashion.
This kind of absurd plot really needs style and flair to be pulled off right, and this show doesn't have either. The art style is ugly even by moe standards, giving the characters these weird oval-shaped eyes and blobby hair, and the color choice is garish to the point of radioactive, particularly on the Noise aliens, who just hurt to look at. The design choices range from "pretty" to "BARF," with the latter end being dominated by the attack names, which get splashed across the screen comic-book-style, and the transformation sequence. As for content, the plot of the episode is kind of all-over-the-place, and it seems to be taking cues from Madoka Magica and leaning heavily on the ANGST button. I'll probably watch the second episode just to find out where the heck they're going with this, but I wouldn't recommend this one, not even as campy actiony fun.
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear: Now here's a show that could have been good in a stupidly fun way, but is let down by poor execution.
So there's this duo of idol singers who also happen to be badasses who use a combination of powered armor and magical singing to fight an alien menace called Noise. When Noise attacks one of their concerts, one of the singers sacrifices her life to save a young girl called Hibiki. Two years later, Hibiki is an avid fan of the surviving idol singer, and both girls happens to be attending the same music school. One day, Hibiki is walking home when she gets attacked by Noise again, and just when she thinks she's toast, she starts singing and her latent superpowers awaken by having a bunch of powered armor stuff burst out of her body in a rather grotesque fashion.
This kind of absurd plot really needs style and flair to be pulled off right, and this show doesn't have either. The art style is ugly even by moe standards, giving the characters these weird oval-shaped eyes and blobby hair, and the color choice is garish to the point of radioactive, particularly on the Noise aliens, who just hurt to look at. The design choices range from "pretty" to "BARF," with the latter end being dominated by the attack names, which get splashed across the screen comic-book-style, and the transformation sequence. As for content, the plot of the episode is kind of all-over-the-place, and it seems to be taking cues from Madoka Magica and leaning heavily on the ANGST button. I'll probably watch the second episode just to find out where the heck they're going with this, but I wouldn't recommend this one, not even as campy actiony fun.
