So, another series I picked up because a sub group I frequent had done it. It had pretty girls in bodysuits and they sang, so I figured what's the worst that could happen. I got what I was expecting, but what I wasn't expecting was an actually pretty good story, combining fragments of mythology from around the world, culminating in Babylon and Mesopotamia.
The overall concept works: a secret organization to fight demons called 'Noise' has developed a technology to synchronize humans with ancient sacred relics through the use of music. The story starts off on a dark note, and has a quiet underlying theme of sacrifice, in addition to a discussion of survivor's guilt, and, in the end, a discussion of music as a language and a universal part of human society.
The quite harsh start, plus the relative brutality and occasional horror of the more deleterious effects of the Symphogear system and the 'Zesshou' ("Superlative Songs," translated as "Swan Songs" in the version I saw) makes it a series a cut above what I was expecting, though the ultimate villain is fairly easily foreseen, the final showdown is appropriately epic. The series is also short and, like most shorter series, doesn't have time to faff about much, so the story keeps moving and is to-the-point.
If you're interested in watching a show that reaches about .4 of a Gurren Lagann in terms of epic awesome and is both lovely to watch and listen to, you could do a lot worse than Symphogear. The only real things I could see putting someone off are the modest predictability of the story and the occasional oddness of pacing, this series is something of a diamond in the rough.
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