Symphogear Premiere Screening Event

….hi? Anyone still here? xD;

Oh wow didn’t realize I haven’t updated my blog since my birthday orz. I’m way too spoiled by how practical Twitter is.. Done writing year-end post tho not sure how many people still cares ;_;

Anywayyy… I just attended Symphogear premiere screening event yesterday (Dec 26) in Shinjuku Milano 1 cinema.. My last Nana event of this year (Kohaku is impossible orz). :3

戦姫絶唱シンフォギア Senki Zesshō Symphogear
(Battle-Princess Superb-Song Symphogear)

1000 lucky people chosen out of 5000+ applicants to attend the screening for free. 1:5 is pretty low ratio but expected from a Monday event..

Exactly at 7pm, Washizaki Takeshi greeted us.
The event menu is the screening then talk session with guest seiyuu.

I suck at reviewing anime so bear with it or skip to the talk session?

Anime spoiler warning. I use spoiler tag for the biggest troll but I don’t know your boundaries so read at your own risk.

Started with a flash-forward of Miku (Iguchi Yuka) crying in front of Hibiki (Yuuki Aoi)‘s grave who died in a war.

Jump back 2 years before..
Futuristic settings. Background was pretty well-drawn. Hibiki was in a queue to attend a live concert, on the phone with Miku who couldn’t make it to the live.

Backstage, Zwei-Wing duo appears!
Tsubasa (Mizuki Nana) looked kinda nervous before the live. Kanade (Takayama Minami) gave her a “moral support” with the only obvious way: hugging Tsubasa from behind and holding her hands, and Tsubasa nods as she blushes… darn that was cuuuute. *yuri radar pings really hard here*

Live scene was darn cool. It’s a huge Dome, all audience had orange lights and cheered really loud… actually a bit too loud I couldn’t hear the song properly orz. Takayama Minami is a really good singer (well, TWO-MIX) so her voice balanced Nana’s awesomely (duet CD out Jan 25). *_*

Then alien (I think they’re called “Noise”) started rampaging out of nowhere. Killjoys. They seems to have various types, but the huge insects are just plain disgusting! D= At least they’re all in fancy colors ala Haruhi’s alien, but still disgusting. Their attack turns humans into ashes.

Kanade and Tsubasa transformed to their battle-mode and start fighting them. Battle scenes are okay, it’s pretty cool to see idols wielding swords while singing (seems to enhance their power?). The battle focused on Kanade and I had goosebumps. Minami m(_ _m)

Magically tens thousands of fans managed to escape (or just died) leaving just Hibiki stoned there like an idiot waiting to be killed. Kanade ran to protect her while fighting the alien but Hibiki’s DFC got struck by a huge stone and splat blood like mad. Kanade ran to hold her screaming “Don’t give up on living!!” as the aliens patiently waited for the Kodak moment. I honestly thought it’d be hilarious if Hibiki splat blood from her nose too there… I mean HER IDOL IS HUGGING HER. I’d thank the aliens. D=

Battle over, jump into a peaceful entrance ceremony of The Classy All-Girls Boarding School of Lilies with Hibiki and Miku among the freshwomen. I didn’t expect the school setting so yay?

Jump into Hibiki and Miku’s room. So Hibiki is still alive though she has Ruroni Kenshin mark on her chest now. I’m more interested with the fact that they share a single bed together…

Also revealed that Hibiki enrolled to the school to stalk Tsubasa who is a senior there. Also noticed that Miku stares at Hibiki way too long as she totally fangirled Tsubasa. I foresee delicious drama ahead.

It’s Tsubasa’s new CD release day, so Hibiki dashed to buy it before the tokuten disappears (No kidding, she was humming “CD! CD! Tokuten! CD! CD!” while running)…. then she noticed there are more ashes on the street than usual. Then we heard a little girl scream.

Hibiki and unnamed loli ran for their lives (super slow Noise type this time), until they’re cornered… Hibiki remembered Kanade’s “Don’t give up living!” and something awakened inside her. She grew metal wings…. Synchrogazer intro starts and “to be continued”.

Credits roll. Yuuki Aoi’s name was listed first before Nana… confirms that we were tricked into thinking it was an anime about Nana and Minami, while actually it’s Yuuki’s. The official website is still listing Nana first! orz

Noticed FOUR insert songs were credited (not including OP/ED) so expecting a full-blown live next year!

…

Talk session starts. Wasshi is back as MC.
Guests: Yuuki Aoi, Mizuki Nana, and Iguchi Yuka. Yes introduced in that order.

Nana wore a hot-pink/black checkered one-piece with big green ribbon belt..
thank you for dressing as my Christmas present. (*´д｀*)

Wasshi threw a theme and the girls answer in order of who raised their hands first… ’twas cute.

Theme: Anime impressions.
Nana liked the live scene, especially when the Dome opens up as the song reaches climax… QFT. The audience calls were voiced by the anime’s seiyuu! They were cheering and jumping in recording studio… now I want to see that footage! xD

Yukachi confirmed that Miku cares about Hibiki more than just a friend. And that she will get jealous in the future too… (yandere yuri FTW). Of course Hibiki is too thick to notice that and continues fapping to Tsubasa in front of her.. sigh.

All seiyuu had to sing as a part of their audition. Yukachi failed the test hence Miku isn’t getting a song. xD There are more seiyuu will sing too. From the cast list we can count on Ayahi and Miyukichi? Toyama Nao wasn’t too bad as Kanon (Kaminozo) too. I just wonder about the male characters… quite a number of male cast on the web list but only 1 appeared/talked this episode lol.

Hibiki will start fighting too which means Aoi will sing a lot. I think she sings okay, but not sure if she can hold a duet with Nana.

Theme: Elements Garden.
The anime was based on EleGa’s music, but the talk session was more like gossiping its leader Agematsu Noriyasu behind his back LOL.

Aoi said she expected a silent, quirky genius type, but he’s totally not (silent, still a genius).
Yukachi mocked how big he is (around 185cm I think) and she has to look waaay up just to greet him good morning xD

Nana said they first met 7 years ago. Nana admired his music and was expecting a grand composer.. but he was blond and wore red glasses LOL. Nana said he “matured” now, tho I dunno… the last time I saw him last year, he joined the hardcore fans in the front row of Sato Hiromi’s anniversary live? ^^;;; Nana mentioned how she’s close with his sister too.

Saw a real camera recording it so high chance some footage will be included in the bluray.

..

Conclusion.
I watched it without any expectation, so I think the anime is fairly decent for now. The surprise was shocking, animation was averagely done (not smooth enough, but good camera work), I guess they were focusing on the music, which was flawless. I’m happy with the lack of fanservice and the cool battle scenes.

The plot needs to stand out more though… I mean, in the end people were talking about the surprise, the battle, the music, or the lesbians. Nobody cared about why the aliens are attacking or where they came from ^^;; Well, still too early to judge.

Looking forward to the next episodes!