It's definitely a big dumb fun series. Makes no damned sense, but we love it for that.

My only really complaint with it is that I wished it would have taken a little inspiration from its predecessor, the Nanoha series, with how that always paced itself out to provide a nice epilogue episode.

GX in particular left me wanting for just a little more at the end.

 

I agree about GX. I am a fan of all the voices actors for the Gear users and Miku.
I never saw the Nanoha series, maybe I should.

 

Nanoha was the first series that really pushed the "militarized magical girl" angle, with a visual focus on the magitech aspect, and it was Nana Mizuki's first major vehicle to stardom. Between those two aspects, plus the heavy yuri undertones, you can really see where Symphogear evolved from (which pretty much mashed up Nanoha and idol series).

The first series was really rough, with really dumb monsters/fights in the beginning, and doesn't really get going until about Episode 6. But at that point, it really takes off. The Movie adaptation is way better pacing and animation-wise, but shortcuts a lot of Nanoha's character development (she feels more self-made in the series, while the movie adaptation just kinda hands her stuff).

Fandom generally agrees that the second series, A's is the best, with the most consistent pacing and the most compelling villain story. The movie adaptation is worth watching for the much more spectacular animation, but it loses way more on the story front than the first movie did.

The third season, StrikerS is a bit more contentious, due to how it switches up the series formula with a major timeskip, and a much higher emphasis on the militarized theme. But the new character additions are all pretty great. Just a bit unbalanced due to how much extra stuff is going on. Pacing isn't as tight as its predecessor, especially with bumping up the episode count for the season to 26 instead of 13, so its got a bit more room to breathe.


After that, though, the franchise gets a bit messy. A long franchise hiatus after StrikerS left the fanbase to dwindle, and a dispute with franchise star Yukari Tamara eventually had her quitting King Records, which pretty much killed all enthusiasm for the series afterwards, when they tried to spin off the franchise without her involvement. Two original movies were produced in that timeframe (as in, not a reimagining of the series, like the first two), but I think reception on those was fairly average, not a necessary watch for fans unless you're simply craving more. Haven't seen them yet, myself.

So I think the general fandom consensus is to stick with the original three seasons, maybe watch the movies if you're interested. The series that come after go nowhere.

 

I will watch the 1st 3 season then. Thanks for the help.

 

binged zombieland saga while at work and now on Revenge. I really just want the 2nd to last episode to have Tae get her voice & sing some crazy pop-rock song. It's nice they're continuing with getting to know each member & developing the group.
1st season OP was best though

 

Flying Witch is just so silly. I really am enjoying it.

 

Nanoha Reflection and Detonation were fine if you just want to sit down and watch some cool action scenes because damn does it have a lot of them.
Its also the first anime appearance of Kyrie, Amita, the Materials, and UD/Yuri, although they were redesigned to look a lot more mecha-ish, in line with how the rest of the character outfits are in the film.



Ani-one Asia youtube is currently airing Symphogear XV (but not the other seasons)
Maybe I should rewatch...

 

That's somewhat good to hear. I was thinking of watching them sometime soon.

 

Was catching up on Tenchi Muyo the ones they haven't released in the states. The way things are these days I can see why they haven't released them, as Tenchi gets busy ends up having kids with both Ayeka, Ryoko, Mihoshi, and even Ryo-Oki (some of this I had to figure out through a wiki) I think I missed a couple of kids, but they also went into his cousin Seina and his kids from GXP so it got confusing.

 

July 4

 

Gundam SEED's Film Sequel, New Game, New Manga Confirmed

 

So this is their annivesary project? Lame. I was hoping for something good.

 

Finally saw the Princess Principle move and it pretty good. I was glad to see the girls again.

 

What else could they have announced for the SEED anniversary that would've been more exciting?

 

A 3rd season. It is has been awhile since we had a proper Gundam series.

 

That was never on the table. It was always going to be a movie to cap the CE universe.

 

The movie has been in the planning stages since Seed ended

 

I'd rather they did nothing with SEED and just did Crossbones Vanguard for their Gundam anniversary project. What more can you do with the SEED universe that wasn't already done?

 

But it's SEED's anniversary, and not a major landmark for the franchise as a whole. And this is a project that's been long in the works, so not really a huge surprise either.

 

I can't comment on it being long in the works since this is the first I've been hearing about it, but Sunrise had said they were going to do some big anniversary project for Gundam and having then announce this as it is a major letdown.