Anime: Senki Zesshou Symphogear

Plot: Two years ago, a pair of idols, Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amō, collectively known as ZweiWing, fought against an alien race known as Noise using armor known as Symphogear. To protect a girl named Hibiki Tachibana, who got severely wounded by the Noise, Kanade sacrificed herself. Two years later, as Tsubasa has fought the Noise alone, Hibiki ends up gaining the same power as Kanade.



Episode 1 is now up on Anime44.com

I just checked it out because the idea seems awesome.

Things I noticed:

While Hibiki is a goofball, the moment she gets properly motivated she kicks into overdrive. The scene with her rescuing the little girl goes on for four minutes as they race through the city streets, dive into the canals and climb up the side of skyscraper to get away from the Noise.

They do a great job here of showing how the Noise are an aberration to the rest of reality, but not nearly to the level of the witches in Madoka.

Hibiki's gear is Gungnir, the spear of Odin, which will always pierce cleanly through its target.

Tsubasa's battle scene is silent, with the names of her special attacks written on scrolls. That's a great artistic choice, but I don't think they're going to keep to it.

Activating the Symphogear for the first time is painful for the user, which makes sense if it's some kind of mutant power.

First Episode Impressions: 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'll definitely keep watching.

Episode 2 is now up on Anime44.com

I'm starting to hate Tsubasa. But there's some depth to her. She's obviously affected by Kanade's death and Hibiki's entrance. Sounds like a good plot. Also, has anyone noticed any difference in Tsubasa's Symphogear suits? I mean her suit 2 years ago and the present are similar but different. Probably has got something to do with her emotional state, though I could be wrong. Anyway the plot kinda looks good and considering that on the first episode, Hibiki was shown dead, I really wanna see how she died and what happens to the characters in the end. We all know what happens in the end so the show is clearly all about how it got to the first scenes in Episode 1.

Episode 3 is up.

Episode 4 is up. And a small Street fighter reference in this.

Episode 5 is up.

Episode 6 is up.

Episode 7 is up.

Episode 8 is up.