#I love mastermind so much they're so silly to me I treat them like their a real character at this point i swear

[ravaging-angel]

ur angle and ur davil

[polyhexian]

I'm not surprised to see kingers wife confirmed. We see a picture of her! That wasnt an accident. The fact she is also a chess piece is interesting tho. Since everyone has such varied appearances. They obviously have lost their memories, and pomni says "in here" so they mean they met here and became husband and wife. But I wonder if they may have been husband and wife before they came to the circus and then met again and re-fell in love. That would be very sweet, I think. He also comes across so distinctly paternal it makes me wonder if he/they had any children in the real world, and if they still exist. If so I guess it's theoretically possible its pomni, that maybe she came to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her parents and put on the helmet blablabla, but. I don't really feel like that's the case. I wouldn't be surprised if kinger DID have a kid/kids back in the real world though.

JAX.... Every day NPC jax theory becomes stronger. The thing is that because it was so IMMEDIATELY a theory makes me think it's kind of an intentional red herring. Like, jax is SO fucking sus it's unreal. But to me he's sus on a level that it's sus. His susness is sus. I suspect the surprise reveal is likely just that he's as frightened and confused as everyone else is and he just copes by not caring about anything. Obviously Cain is very suspicious but it seems a bit like he is in a more similar boat to the others than he lets on or even suspects. He's got a role he's filling but he's not a true mastermind. Bubble is obviously extremely suspect because bubble is not treated as one of the human residents but also doesn't appear to be an NPC. so what IS bubble. Where does she come from? It would make for a very fun scene revealing that silly bubble is a bad guy I'm sure, but that still feels very surface level.

I think the most interesting part of tadc is that it starts with an immediate mystery of what is going on, and the absolute certainty that there is a twist. They don't have much info but some of it has to be a lie and you don't know which parts. There are facts missing and you don't know where. It's a fun show to speculate on.

This kind of story has a few potential twist directions at the outset. There's the soma direction, not in they're all actually robots or AI or whatever, but that the reason they're in a program could be the twist. That the world ended or something and they've escaped to somewhere their consciousnesses can survive. Could be that this was part of a game being designed that was meant to be sword art online style trapping players, but the devs have stopped it from ever coming out somehow with their own self sacrifice. Maybe all of them are already dead wooohoohoooo. But not like ghosts or something like digital consciousnesses uploaded to a computer and the body died.

With all of the allusions to the circus being Hell I wonder if that is the twist, that it IS hell. Not like literally but like. It was created to punish in some way. Like whoosh, twist, none of our lovely protagonists are innocent good people, theyve all done something Bad and are here as a direct result of it, except for pomni.

Still can't form a true theory IMHO, tho I'm sure ppl smarter than me already have better ideas.

[bitd]

i'd love more information on tdh if you'd ever like to share

:3 sure thing! i love talking about these guys. they started as my beam saber characters tragedy ("my crew was destroyed by a bigger faction") and i've sort of been expanding them out from there.

the dandy highwaymen are a crew of 8 (9 including jammer, but he doesnt join until about 8 years into them being a crew) of misfits with dissociative disorders. they steal mechas and fence them, or break them down to use for parts. the star sector they're in is in the midst of a cold war between a few huge factions that we don't actually see much of. they usually operate in a 'colder' part of the sector - one with no proxy wars, which is treated as a training ground for soldiers for those proxy wars - but stole a mech known as the 'showstopper' from the front lines. that's the heartstealer, which fluke kept. this mech was a prototype that was going to end up drastically flipping the war into one faction's favour, so of course they noticed, and so sent an agent to infiltrate the crew and send a message that they're not to be fucked with by utterly destroying them and publicizing that destruction in a way that would make similar crews ... nervous about whether or not they had their own mole.

web serial will be in the style of various heists - i'm hoping to hit somewhere between baby driver + now you see me + marielda (friends at the table season) with some character-driven stuff filling out the gaps in between. its a silly tragedy/comedy thing as the audience obviously will have more information than the characters, with some significant romance/mystery/sci-fi mecha bullshit thrown in there. there's a lot of stuff i still need to figure out logistically (which is difficult because this is also a prequel to my fiance's beam saber game and i dont want to make hir reveal too much to me :P) but i enjoy heist stuff and i think superpowering it with mechs rocks.

characters are under the readmore

the members are (in order of joining)

fluke, it/its, it/she if youre feeling Dangerous. a hotshit driver that has a program that can let it operate mechs as if they all had the same controls. its an extremely volatile and intensely emotional person who is just the definition of Hot Mess; it has a thing about being remembered/special.

forge, he/him. forge is the mastermind behind everything and extremely a control freak. he's a bit too logical and a bit too rational. he's also a mechanic, and repairs/dismantles all the mechs. he's extremely good at Making Plans and Leading People but isn't super good at anything else. him and fluke are married, and they met when they were little kids. they started the dandy highwaymen together.

windf4ll / windfall, it/its. this guy is more my fiance's blorbo than mine but i like it so its ok. its an AI that accidentally came into existence when forge + fluke were about 13/14, shortly before they started the highwaymen, because forge left a file running. it's very persecutorial in nature TO forge and cares... immensely about fluke, probably because those two were constantly arguing about whether or not to let it keep living. its very silly funny and also like, insanely fucking powerful.

jackdaw, he/they. jackie is a time traveler, but you're not supposed to know that ;P. they're a very people-focused person, and they really do know how to talk to and keep everyone distracted. in fact, he might talk a Little too much. but that's okay. he's the face/grifter/conartist type of their little group, and has a bad habit of 'savescumming' (kind of works like this) through every moment of his life to try to find the right way to go. they try to present as Very Cool.

lilac, she/they. lilac joined pretty early because she can kind of see the future, a little bit? she can affect fate in a huge way and it was less those guys seeking her out and more her coming to them. she sort of presented herself as knowing So Much Shit and having a lot of control over augmented reality and reality in general, and then was like :) our futures are linked. you're making a crew. i'm joining you. again like this happens when they're all 15 so its kind of funny as hell

laika + tomb joined together, they're kind of inseparable a bit. they'd been hid out on the moon of a planet that TDH's first score - an auction, not a mech stealing thing :P - was on. they were trying to steal back one of laika's inventions and forge + fluke were both impressed while lilac sort of was jsut like teehee... :). so they joined. they both use all pronouns iirc and are sort of a study in the inversion of being too grounded in the world (using social connection as a conduit and not paying attention to yourself) and being too up in your own head (making/creating things). this is also why tomb is a beamsaber giant killer (doesn't have a mech, rips them apart with their bare hands) while laika is a luminary (constantly making new technology).

laika is very bubbly and silly and uh. well. she's also someone who pushes tech/her body specifically very far. 1.) shes a biohacker. 2.) uhhh. well. th. th. it has dog ears

ghost joined arounnnd when they were all 18ish, about 2 years give or take before our story will be starting. she's very easily given to. idk how to describe this... pushing people away or not allowing them to get in super close? but not in a particularly assholeish or even all that obvious way. they were a lonely kid who grew up with the notion that relationships will tie you to bad situations and a lot of her arc is learning that while that can be true it is still important to trust yourself + others. also she can teleport :thumbs up:

aaaand jammer was the head of a squad from the hotseat of the war, the panopticon. he was sent in to play double agent (leaving his sister in charge of that squad which is basically like. i don't know what you'd call the equiv of a black site as a squad but think that. super secret blackops spy type shit that gets its hands Extremely dirty). he's the son of a richguy as well. ofc tdh don't know this. hes kind of the worst in a very pretentious and smarmy way but its ok hes my guy. he kind of ends up falling in love w/ fluke + trusting the rest of TDH and having a pretty huge conflict internally about whether or not he wants to go through with killing them or try to get them out... too bad that his sister both holds the reigns of the panopticon, that she has the asset of a living weapon, and that she does not fucking like him.

[tiger-moran]

Thinking about this now, some of the worst things about this are that I love the idea of stories where Holmes and Moriarty (and preferably Moran too) have to work together and co-operate, including where they have to go up against Milverton

and Holmes and Agatha working together was an interesting idea that I've never seen before and it could have been such a great idea

but 'their' Holmes is such a mean cruel unpleasant person. I mean not just thoughtless and rude, he's a liar, he's not the brilliant detective who helps people he just lies about that, he's downright cruel, he's absolutely ruthless, he kills multiple people. This is a Holmes who is hated by Watson (and Watson is not even in this one by the way. Watson hates Holmes so much he doesn't even appear in this story). There is nothing about this Holmes to like. But then he seems to change a bit and he almost gets to be likeable for a while and his interaction with Agatha had so much potential. Or him working with Moriarty had so much potential. But then they just throw that all away, they undo it all and revert Holmes back to the mean cruel unpleasant person who's clearly going to end up being the major antagonist for a second time. Any progression they made that almost managed to make him interesting and engaging just got undone to set it up for more of the same crap as in the first story where Holmes spent all the time being the cruel unpleasant sneery villain.

And I still don't really get why you have the actual major villain of the canon as your protagonist and still try to keep him as the 'criminal mastermind' but at the same time you change his character so much that you make him boring and annoying and absolutely opposed to committing most crimes. And even Moran to some extent is treated like this. Why call him an assassin if you're going to have him just get into a silly hand to hand fight with a murderer who's trying to kill them instead of just shooting him when he had the chance? Holmes is the one indiscriminately and ruthlessly killing people instead. It does not make sense to me why you kind of want to make Moriarty and Moran so, well, boring really. And so reticent about actually doing anything criminal most of the time, even while you try to claim they're still the criminal mastermind and his assassin right hand man. Like Michael Kurland made Moriarty much 'nicer' than most people portray him. But his Moriarty is still someone who breaks the law, he's still even prepared to kill someone himself (also Kurland never tried to make Moriarty straight and romantic). Or even like my stories - yes 'my' Moriarty is not ruthlessly cruel and he doesn't indiscriminately kill people and doesn't want to create endless collateral damage and I think he is capable even of being genuinely nice often, but he's still an actual criminal, he's still capable of killing people.

And of course I adore the idea of Moriarty and Adler being friends but that entire Moriarty/Adler plotline which takes over SO MUCH of both these stories and the fact that so much of both characters' characterisation is based around this stupid cloying boring as fuck romance and making Moriarty into this heterosexual romantic guy who goes on and on endlessly about his love for Rose/Irene, and turning Adler into a spy who lies to everyone and betrays everyone and who never feels genuine ever but while also being constantly manipulated and presumably ultimately murdered by this ~shadowy~ group is just crap. And even when she's (probably) actually dead she doesn't get a break, her being fridged is the thing that's driving a lot of the plot still and we still get Moriarty going on and on about how much he loved her, we still get the 'Moriarty hallucinates a conversation with her' scene which sounds so forced and unnatural because it just… it's him imagining her, it's not really her. Adler never gets to be a proper person in this, she never has any real agency and she gets talked about or viewed in flashbacks from someone else's, almost always a man's, POV far, far more than she actually appears in both stories. And she's the love interest put on a pedestal, she's the pawn of others and then she's the fridged love interest, that's it, and she seems fake all the time. The only scene where she might actually seem to really love Moriarty is not even real, it's him imagining it. And that's so shit, it's a terrible way to treat a female character who was way, way better than that even in the original story from the Victorian era.

I also don't know why they made Milverton into a woman because I don't think this was some sort of 'feminist' move or something, I think it was kind of a shitty decision really. She was both a terrible person and a poor villain who never really felt actually intimidating and also turned out to be effectively just a puppet of this ~shadowy~ group herself. I don't think there was anything 'empowering' about making that character female; they should have just kept Milverton as a man.

Agatha was the most interesting character in this and what they ended up doing with her was OK but I think there was so much wasted potential with her still because of what they decided to do with Holmes and undoing everything they'd set up between her and him. I absolutely do not want them as a romantic couple but having her joining him doing actual detective work would have been amazing but they just undid all that and dumped this really interesting idea they'd set up. (And her now working for Moriarty could also be interesting but why do I feel like if there's a third story Agatha is just going to be completely forgotten about)

And Moriarty and Moran's relationship… again it took second place by a long way a lot of the time to Moriarty's obsession with Irene. And a lot of the time it feels like a very one-sided relationship, friendship, whatever. Moran I think came across as a more interesting character than in the first one and he often sounds far more reasonable and sensible than Moriarty does (which itself I take issue with, because Moriarty should be the colder one, the more sensible one, and Moran should be the reckless and impulsive one) but then I just genuinely don't get why he is so loyal to or still cares about Moriarty so much because I'm really not getting a sense of it being a two-way thing most of the time, and that might have made some sort of sense if you'd set Moriarty up as being ruthless and 'heartless' but you didn't, you established that he's basically nice and kind and capable of having affection for people but then much of the time he just didn't show any of this towards Moran and it's like, 5 hours of this on top of the previous series where you also failed to really show them actually developing a friendship; I still have no idea why Moran supposedly likes or even loves this guy so much and I'm really not seeing much in him myself.

And the plotline was just too messy and convoluted. I didn't like the story in the first one any better but at least it felt slightly more coherent with one clear main objective running through it. But this felt all over the place.

I am having more thoughts about The Silent Order

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1981 - Bonus: Avengers Annual 10/What If? 27

The X-Men, those Claremontian mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men! [more here]

(Avengers Annual 10 & What If? 27) - by Chris Claremont and Mary Jo Duffy, Michael Golden and Jerry Bingham

Avengers? You’re not here for Avengers! Let me make the following counterpoint:

Holy eye shadow, Rogue!

See, Avengers Annual 10 is less about the Avengers and more about three other things:

The rehabilitation of Carol Danvers who, after this, has had her fill of the Avengers and becomes an honorary member of the X-Men;

Spider-Woman and the X-Men trying to figure out what has happened to Ms. Marvel;

Mystique trying to spring her Brotherhood from prison, using a secret weapon: Rogue.

Depending on my mood that day, I might name Rogue as my favourite-ever X-Man, so I really could not skip her debut issue. Instantly iconic, all of this:

Her streak;

Her signature green outfit with hoodie;

Her accent.

Queen.

I love how Claremont once again almost effortlessly introduces a strong female character, one that single-handedly takes down three of the strongest Avengers. Also note how free Rogue still is with her powers: fun, flirty, without the tragic can’t-touch-anyone-angle that will define her for the next three decades.

I’m sorry, am I getting ahead of myself?

This story begins as a whodunit: who pushed an amnesiac Carol Danvers off the Golden Gate Bridge and stole her mind? For that matter, where did she came from? Wasn’t she happily married and pregnant in some alternative dimension last time the readers saw her? Spider-Woman rescues her from the choppy water and calls Professor Xavier to help out. He manages to retrieve the Jane Doe’s identity and knows who attacked her: a woman named Rogue.

Rogue, meanwhile, skulks about the Avengers Mansion, first taking out Captain America and then attacking Thor.

Considering what this comic is about, I don’t believe Hawkeye’s throwaway mysognism is accidental here.

Rogue’s powers work as follows: through touch, she can steal other people’s powers and memories. The longer she touches someone, the longer she’ll have them - with the looming threat of the theft becoming permanent.

After absorbing Thor, Rogue is faced with three Avengers who’s powers she can’t absorb - Spider-Woman (covered in a suit); Vision (robot) and Wonder Man (being of pure energy? Idk, I’m not really familiar with him other than his bromance with Beast). Hoping the three powers she has in her arsenal - Ms. Marvel’s, Thor’s and Cap’s - will be enough, Rogue flees.

Mystique, meanwhile, has duped Iron Man by pretending to be the Wasp and has paralysed Tony Stark in his suit with some sort of device. She picks up the powered-up Rogue and their plan becomes clear:

Rogue immediately earns her place in my heart by using billionaire Tony Stark the way the Coyote uses anvils. (Also note the odd way of spelling ‘sugah’.)

I love how both the Brotherhood and the X-Men continually pull focus from the Avengers: for an Avengers-comic, it's surprising how much they're pushed to the background. Again, this makes sense if you know what this issue really is about, but that won’t become clear until the epilogue. I don’t mind, it means we get a ton of great moments, like the Blob calling Mystique ‘Misty’:

My God, this era’s Destiny/Mystique is even more obvious than 90’s Rictor/Shatterstar.

A battle erupts. One funny moment is actually seeing Destiny fight. I’ve never really read comics about this incarnation of the Brotherhood and my collection mostly takes off after Legion Quest, so I mostly know Destiny posthumously. I always figured that, as a villain, she stood somewhere off on the side, delivering cryptic messages. I never realized she was the one to almost shoot Senator Kelly, nor that her powers are this practical.

X-Men drinking game rule 11: Drink anytime someone fatshames the Blob.

The fight is pretty evenly matched until Spider-Woman releases Iron Man from Mystique’s little trap. Soon, the Avengers overwhelm the Brotherhood. While Mystique and Rogue manage to flee, Destiny, Avalanche, Pyro and the Blob are detained again.

With the main antagonists sorted, we return to the actual storyline: the rehabilitation of Ms. Marvel. Professor X has managed to tease her out of her catatonic state and offers her therapy to restore her missing memories and powers. (The ones stolen by Rogue.) The Avengers, not fully understanding why Carol won’t ask them for help, eventually come by for a house call.

Carol asks the X-Men to leave while the Avengers gingerly confront her. It’s very awkward.

“Fuck the Avengers. Taking my beer.” - Wolverine, probably.

See, what all this refers to is the rape of Ms. Marvel. I haven’t read the particular comic in which this happens (Avengers 200), so if you want all the details, I’ll refer you to this article. Before I get into the details, it’s important to note that Claremont was the writer for Carol Danvers in her solo-series, giving her agency and turning Ms. Marvel into a three-dimensional character. The title was then cancelled and Carol was shuffled off to the Avengers. (Rogue was, in fact, planned to make her debut in that the solo-Ms. Marvel series, as one of Ms. Marvel’s new antagonists. Presumably, Rogue would steal her powers there, too. We all know Claremont loves to strip his heroes and heroines of their powers to show they’re even more badass without them.)

As an Avenger, Carol was wooed by some other-dimensional dude/entity named Marcus. He courted her by giving her flowers, worshipping the ground she stepped on and, oh yeah, ‘subtly’ influencing her mind to make her fall in love with him and consequently impregnating her.

Yes.

Now, Claremont is no stranger to putting his characters through their paces and he gleefully makes use of the whole mental manipulation-trope. In fact, telepathically coercing someone to fall in love with you is absolutely what Mastermind did to Jean Grey: he probably violated her just as much as Marcus did Carol. The difference is how it’s treated in the narrative: Mastermind’s actions are never laughed away or apologized for and are the direct cause for his downfall. They help trigger Jean’s transformation to the Dark Phoenix, whose first deed is taking out her fury on ‘Jason Wyngarde’.

That’s… not what happened with Ms. Marvel. There, the narrative condones Marcus’ actions by framing it as ‘her happy ending’ (married and pregnant, yay!), something which is celebrated by the Avengers.

This is where Carol calls them out for their bullshit.

We call this ‘The Reason You Suck’-Speech. It’s a thing of beauty.

The Avengers depart, tail between their legs, and Carol hangs out with the cool X-kids from now on. For now, at least.

So, this issue is not only a landmark because it’s where Rogue debuts, but you can also see Chris Claremont going to bat for one of characters: he (presumably reluctantly) gave back the character of Carol Danvers when her solo was cancelled, proceeded to see how terribly they massacred his girl and then claimed that ownership right back.

Good for you, Claremont.

***

The “What If… the Phoenix Had Not Died”-issue is kind of boring, because it’s basically a rehash of the Phoenix Saga. Why am I paying attention to it? Because of the (mild) gore (and because the Avengers Annual wouldn’t fill a whole post). Anyway, it’s like watching a Final Destination-movie: it’s silly, light on plot and never a particularly thought-provoking movie, but it’s still fun to see all those people inventively but haplessly die.

Plot! Instead of committing suicide on the moon, the Shi’ar strip Jean of her powers after her trial. Jean is trapped in a barren mental state, almost feeling like she's a veggie. But Jean's powers refuse to remain dormant: slowly, her telepathy returns.

When Galactus threatens the Shi’ar homestead, Lilandra summons the X-Men as her champions. Jean embraces her Phoenix-side and defeats Galactus. Everyone is grateful and super-convinced Jean can handle the Phoenix this time! Yay!

And, because that battle with Galactus took a lot out of her, Jean decides she can have a little asteroid. As a treat. She keeps slipping up on her diet, supping on the occasional meteor and lonely planet to keep her power levels up. It turns out to be a slippery slope: finally, she consumes another star (in an uninhabited system! And a small one! How dare you judge her!), but when she returns to the mansion…

The absolute worst moment to forget you have powers, Kitty.

Xavier attempts to bind the Phoenix, but last time, Jean helped him fight from within. This time, there's not much Jean left. Without breaking a sweat, the Phoenix wipes his brain. But she doesn’t stop there. Maybe the Phoenix remembers that, last time, she was undone by the principles of “friendship is magic”. This time, she’s determined to not let it get so far.

It’s absolutely bone-chilling.

And the stars blinked As they watched her carefully Jealous of the way she shone - Atticus

I wonder if there’s a rhyme or reason to the way Jean murders her friends: is it random? Does she go for the ones she loves the most first? Does she save Cyclops for last, knowing killing him might trigger Jean to respond?

The narration mentions that the three remaining X-Men are the most powerful ones: Polaris, Havok and Cyclops. (I would’ve swapped in Storm for Cyclops, but whatever.) They have formulated a quick plan: Polaris pulls focus while Havok and Cyclops shift into position. Phoenix disintegrates Polaris while Havok and Scott try and blast Phoenix to smithereens.

But at the last moment, Scott can’t. Havok’s blast alone is not enough. Phoenix shoots him through the heart and then, finally, kills Cyclops. That’s when Jean resurfaces, realizing what she’s done. She can’t take it - she’s in the mood to dissolve in the sky, as per Virginia Woolf - and she lets the Phoenix take over.

Phoenix finally lives up to her potential: The End of All That Is.

It's a mediocre plot with a lame ramp-up to a terrifying conclusion. In the regular universe, the thing that triggers the Phoenix is the utter violation of Jean’s body and mind; here, it’s being confronted by Kitty. One is the proverbial red cloth in front of the bull, the other is being assaulted by an ineffective wet cloth. The Phoenix Saga is iconic because all the pieces were carefully put in place; this just feels rushed an unearned.

Also, the Watcher is full of shit. You can’t say you don’t pass judgment whilst simultaneously comparing the merits of one tragedy to the other. Shut up, Uatu.

Check back next week for your regularly scheduled X-Men Abridged! It’s time for 1982 and the brood saga!

[shoujocentral]

Symphogear S1- Now this is MY kind of anime!

Every once and awhile when I'd log onto Twitter, I'd see people saying "watch Symphogear" accompanied by images from the show. From looking at the pictures, I assumed it was just another magical girl show like Precure but with less magic and more... techno. Oh, and apparently they sing while they fight? Sounds kinda dumb...

Buuuut... I have heard that there's some yuri content? Maybe I'll give it a try. I mean, I'm always open to watching new stuff, even if it's just a silly little kid's show 😅

😳

Well........ color me hooked.

I have to say, this show is not at all what I was expecting in the best possible way. It feels a lot more like a Shounen action show along the lines of Fullmetal Alchemist or Neon Genesis Evangelion than a Magical Girl show (if that's even what it's supposed to be). Today, I'm going to be giving my first impressions of Senki Zesshou Symphogear season 1, which will be spoiler free for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Plot:

So what is Senki Zesshou Symphogear about?

In the not too distant future (next Sunday A.D.), Japan is under attack by monsters known as Noises, the likes of which cannot be killed by military weapons. The only thing that can kill them are girls clad in weaponized armor known as Gears, which is activated and powered by singing catchy techno-pop music.

One day, a girl named Hibiki Tachibana is caught in the middle of a battle, and one of the Gear users, Kanade Amou, sacrifices herself to save her. Two years later, Hibiki discovers that a piece of Kanade's Gear was embedded in her chest during the fight, giving her access to the Gear's powers. Hibiki is recruited by the Disaster Relief Squadron, the organization that created the Gears, to help defend Japan from the Noises.

However, Kanade's former girlfriend partner, Tsubasa Kazanari, sees Hibiki as nothing more than an obnoxious, naive girl trying to be Kanade's replacement. Will the two learn to work together, defeat the Noises, and possibly uncover a deeper plot to all the attacks?

Symphogear's plot might not be the most original thing ever; evil monsters attack, teenage girls transform into superpowered warriors to fight them, evil mastermind tries to take over the world, etc. But what makes this story stand out is it's unique approach to the fights. Having the Gears be powered by music, resulting in every fight being accompanied by a song, is either a genius way to amplify the fights, or a genius way for the producers to sell a techno soundtrack.

I was worried that the constant use of insert songs would become repetitive and annoying, but on the contrary, they heightened my enjoyment! The fights in Symphogear are easily my favorite part of the show: fast-paced, badass powers, lots of screaming, and downright brutal at times! Hibiki has officially joined the ranks of my all-time favorite battle cries, right up there with Goku from DBZ and Souma from Kannazuki no Miko.

If there was one thing I had to nitpick, it would be that most of the fights take away the credibility of the Noises. They're supposed to be this terrifying threat to Japan that can't be harmed by the military, but as soon as the Gear wielders show up, they're reduced to nothing more than cannon fodder as Hibiki and her comrades seem to waltz through them without breaking a sweat.

Thankfully, the versus matches between Gear wielders are much more balanced. My favorite has to be Hibiki vs Chris (see above), but then again, any fight with Chris is an absolute win!

Characters:

Hibiki Tachibana

Hibiki is your typical genki girl protagonist: optimistic, hyperactive, naive, and pure. What makes her a more compelling hero, however, is her slow growth into becoming a strong Gear wielder. Unlike most magical girl protagonists, who seem to master their powers after one line of "EH?! What just happened to me?!", Hibiki takes time to learn how to fight. She starts out with the mindset that she has to be Kanade's replacement and thus tries to fight just like her. However, she eventually comes to invent her own battle tactics that work much more in her favor. Mainly, punching the everloving shit out of everything in sight.

Hibiki is, in my opinion, a flat character done right. She doesn't go through any personal growth or development throughout the show (learning to fight doesn't count), but her belief that all humans can get along if they communicate and desire to protect people just because she wants to is the cause for most of the change in the people around her. The world is in a dark place, and Hibiki is the light. She doesn't need to change, because she's exactly what the world needs.

Tsubasa Kazanari

From what I've learned, Tsubasa is a favorite amongst Symphogear fans. Me personally, though, I have a few issues with her character. Now, I have nothing against brooding, damaged characters. In fact, Tsubasa's recovery from Kanade's death and learning to cherish her own life was incredibly engaging... for the most part. Sorry, but I can only take so much edge. Her constant repitition of "I am a sword, I exist only to fight" grew old after the first 10 or so times.

Also, while I love her overall development, I feel that her acceptance of Hibiki was a little rushed. For the first four episodes, she hates Hibiki for carrying Kanade's Gear to the point where she tries to fight her to the death. Then, after another fight sends her into a coma, she has a (extremely gay) hallucination of Kanade telling her to get over herself. Next episode, she's treating Hibiki as if they've been friends the whole time. Did I miss something? Did Hibiki even apologize for saying she wanted to replace Kanade? Did Tsubasa apologize for trying to shishkabob her?!

Development aside, her fighting style is awesome and unique, and leads to the best choreography in the show. Hopefully as I watch more seasons, my opinion of her will improve.

Chris Yukine

Best Girl. No questions. Anyone who disagrees is wrong. Deal with it.

Jokes aside, Chris is my favorite character of the show bar none. Maybe I just have a weakness for evil-turned-good characters, but I adored her "don't take no shit from nobody" attitude and her soft side emerging as the show progressed. And let me tell you, Tsubasa would have no right to brood if she knew what Chris went through as a child. I won't give anything away, but just a few brief images and harsh words were enough get the picture across and tug at my heartstrings.

She also had my favorite Gear and fighting style in the show. If there's one thing that always gets my blood pumping, it's gatling guns and an endless supply of missiles. Seriously, I could watch this girl fight for hours.

Kanade Amou

A moment of silence, ladies and gentlemen.

......

Kanade would be my favorite character if we had gotten more of her. But alas, she has to die in the very first episode. DAMN YOU, PLOT!!!

Even though we get very little of Kanade, she makes it her mission to leave a lasting impression. Her sacrifice at the beginning sets the tone for the rest of the show, and her flashback is the best of the bunch. I got hard chills when she transformed for the first time. Let's just say she's psychotic in all the right ways.

Kanade died for our sins. Remember that... 🙏

Finé

Our main villain of the show. That's it. There's really nothing much else to her. She's cruel, manipulative, and powerful beyond belief, as most big bosses of these kinds of shows are. She was honestly my least favorite part of the show.

Fine's motivation is incredibly confusing on first watch. I had to go back to pause and read the subtitles multiple times to understand her backstory, but maybe that's my fault for being a slow reader. On the other hand, the explanation as to who she is and why she's so powerful comes right out of nowhere and doesn't seem to connect to anything the story had been building up to that point. Also, by the time I understood her motivation and actually found it a little intriguing, she dropped the dreaded "I'm going to take over the world" line. Aaaaand.... all my interest just went out the window.

There is a twist involving her connection to a certain other character in the show that I genuinely didn't see coming, but in the end, it wasn't nearly enough to make up for her shortcomings.

Miku Kohinata

God bless this little angel. Miku is a precious cinnamon roll who must be protected at all costs. Thankfully, Hibiki's got it covered 👍

Words cannot express how much I love this girl. She may be only a supporting role for the time being, but good lord, does she support! It always broke my heart whenever she tried to spend time with Hibiki or talk to her, but the Disaster Relief Squad kept pulling them apart. I know DRS is classified, but Miku deserves better than to have secrets kept from her! Life sucks when your girlfriend best friend is a superhero...

Well, that was a mouthful. There's a lot more characters in this show, but I don't really have much to say about them. However, while we're on the subject of Miku, let's move on to the reason I checked this show out in the first place, and the reason I'm sure most of you read my stuff.

Yuri:

No sooner did I finish this show did I start looking up HibiMiku fanart 😍

I was expecting a fair dosage of yuribait going into Symphogear, but mother of all that is gay, did I get an overdose!

First and foremost, the main ship: HibiMiku. These two are dating. Nothing anyone says will change my mind. They compliment each other perfectly, with Hibiki's energy and Miku's sweetness... HHNNNGGH! IT'S TOO PRECIOUS! I sincerely hope these two get more time together in the next few seasons. Now if only they'd stop with the damn F word...... 😡

Next up, TsubaKana. This one seems more like it was one-sided feelings on Tsubasa's part, judging by how dedicated Kanade was to fighting the Noise. Regardless, you don't just lose all sense of your humanity and self-worth after your "partner" dies. And all that hardcore blushing in the flashbacks and naked cuddling dream sequences... nah, Tsubasa was hella hot for Kanade. Sadly, our lord and savior was taken from Ms. Brooding too soon.

Finally, there's Ryoko Sakurai, the DRS's head scientist. She was initially hinted to be gay, what with her being all too eager to have Hibiki undress and wanting to "pop her cherry" (yes, an adult said that to a 15 year-old). However, after a certain conversation occurred, it seemed more like she was straight or at least bisexual, if all that dirty talk wasn't just teasing.

I've heard future seasons introduce more potential couples, so I'm keeping my eyes open and my yuri goggles on tight 😋

Conclusion:

I enjoyed the first season of Senki Zesshou Symphogear through and through. As someone who enjoyed Akanesasu Shoujo and Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, I have a soft spot for shows about badass girls kicking monster ass and unleashing their inner yuri. Overall though, I think Symphogear might be my favorite of the bunch so far. It has its fair share of flaws, sure, but I think its positives outweigh the negatives by a long shot. If I got this much enjoyment out of the first season, I cannot wait to see what the following seasons have to offer!

Symphogear delivers a fun, action-packed story with colorful characters, kickass fight scenes, head-banging music and plenty of yuri content. Anyone who loves Magical Girls or Shounen battle shows needs to check it out!

Rating: 8/10

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go binge Symphogear G. See you next time, my fellow yuri lovers!