Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,144 (click to see context) from:
* AcceptablePoliticalTargets:
** The US military is constantly shown throughout Symphogear to either be incompetent at best or actively corrupt at worst, and often just as antagonistic as any seasons' BigBad -- when they're not outright in cahoots with them. Just about every season has at least one moment where the US military is shown in its absolute worst light. This changes in the final season where the US consistently, and with very little hesitation, assists the heroes.
** In the final season, the big and actively corrupt element in cahoots with the antagonists turns out to be a Japanese ultranationalist. The same Japanese ultranationalist war-hawk who had been shown to be a self-important HateSink whose blunders cause our heroes to bend over backward trying to fix the ensuing political fallout and so obsessed with his racial purity that he raped his own son's wife to get the heir that he wants.
* AccidentalInnuendo:
** In "Bloodstained Serenade", Tsubasa and Chris are immobilized by a load of sticky goo shot from the tip of an ''extremely'' phallic-looking Noise.
** GX's tagline is "Believe in justice and hold a determination to fist." In common American slang, "fist" as a verb means... something very, very different from what the creators probably intended. There's a similar case when Miku talks to Hibiki about her feelings, and refers to Hibiki as having "those fists I love, the gentlest fists in the world."
** Carol's "But what about bondage?" line in ''XV'' got a lot of snickers - Though that may have been ''intentional'' innuendo.
* {{Adorkable}}:
** Chris becomes this after her HeelFaceTurn. Her dere side tends towards this trope, between her shy attempts at socializing and habit of blushing when complimented. This is especially evident in ''G''.
** The [=OVAs=] do this immensely for Tsubasa and Maria.
* AssPull: In ''G'', Maria abducts Miku on a whim from an exploding building and takes her hostage, only for her and Dr. Ver to ''somehow'' deduce she's Hibiki's best friend and ''somehow'' deduce they can use Miku & Hibiki's personal relationship drama, which they're ''somehow'' privy to, to power the Shenshoujing Symphogear...'''somehow'''.
* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Almost all of ''AXZ'' can be seen as one for ''GX'': the former makes a concerted effort to tie the latter's events back to those of the first two seasons and the show's previously-established GreaterScopeVillain, something ''GX'' did little to do on its own. The new alchemists are played much more sympathetically and are much more fallible, while the alchemist in ''GX'' was often accused of InvincibleVillain status. Its ending even has the contentious SuperMode that ''GX'' introduced be destroyed in the process of defeating the season's villain.
** ''XV'' continues the trend of making up for ''GX'', as episode 3 establishes that the relationship between Hibiki's parents wasn't mended overnight despite what the last shot of ''GX'' seemed to claim, while episode 7 is largely dedicated to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescuing GX's villains from the scrappy heap]]. Ep 9 even manages to make Hibiki's Father redeemable, to the suprise of many.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Though the animation starts out ''very'' shaky, the budget visibly improves with every season, leading to some downright stunning sequences by the time of ''XV.''
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: As is expected given the show's presence, it has [[AwesomeMusic/SenkiZesshouSymphogear its own page.]]
* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Hibiki was rather divisive during the first season. While some viewers found her to be spirited and heroic, others generally considered her to be contrived and obnoxious. ''G'' improved her standing with consistent morals and general kickassery, but she falls back into this in ''GX'', where her unwillingness to fight is brought to the forefront. Arguments were tossed around as to whether her angst is justified or simply just {{Wangst}}, and whether her reasons for hesitating make sense given her prior development or fly in the face of that development. In particular, her snapping at Maria and subsequent apology after the latter saves her from Garie are seen as either justified frustration bubbling to the surface at an unfortunate time, or just her being ungrateful and selfish. She still manages to be incredibly more badass as ever.
** Pre-character development Tsubasa was often disliked for her {{Jerkass}} tendencies towards Hibiki, and though she [[FreudianExcuse has a good reason]] [[BrokenAce for acting as such]], there are those who consider her behavior to be exaggerated and hurtful. Post-character development, she's far more well-liked, though a new point of contention has been made as of ''AXZ'' in regards to her [[OutOfFocus lack of focus]] relative to the other five girls. Some believe this is detrimental as someone who was once one of the focal characters of the franchise has been relegated to a minor role while others think that her new position is justified as since she's already completed her development, she can be more effective at playing as TheMentor, passing along what she learned to the younger members of the cast.
** Carol was generally seen as this in the days of ''GX''; people tended to regard her as either the show's best villain, or its worst. [[EvilIsCool Her design, songs, and voice work]] were all incredibly popular, but she suffered from very clumsily executed motives, a lack of significant personality besides being evil, and being a frustratingly InvincibleVillain. ''XV'' fortunately managed to resolve some of this by [[spoiler:giving her a HeelFaceTurn, playing up her relationship with Elfnein, and ratcheting down her power somewhat.]]
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** The TrainingMontage in episode 9 of G. It's comes after TheReveal that Miku is alive and doesn't seem to serve a real purpose compare to season one's montage to make Hibiki a better fighter. Just about the only thing it ''does'' do is allow Genjuro and Hibiki to sing the theme from ''Film/PoliceStory''.
** The out-of-nowhere musical number about beef stroganoff in episode 3 of GX.
* BrokenBase:
** Many fans are divided as to whether ''G's'' penchant for over-the-top cliffhangers and plot twists improved the series and made it more fun, or whether it caused the story to collapse under its own weight.
** As of ''GX'' the fanbase is divided as to whether the [[ADayInTheLimelight heavily episodic nature]] of Episodes 7-10 are giving characters (especially the FIS girls) development that they sorely missed in ''G'' or if they're making the show too predictable and stifling everyone's development by cramming them into glorified MonsterOfTheWeek plots.
** ''GX'' was also contentious due to its running theme of dad-related angst, with a large amount of screentime devoted to Hibiki dealing with her [[BaseBreakingCharacter exasperatingly terrible father]]. Many people felt this was incongruous, or even sexist, given that the first two seasons were focused on [[HideYourLesbians definitely-not-gay]] women warriors and [[NarmCharm cheesy-yet-epic]] musical action-fantasy. ''GX'' was still popular enough to get ''two'' more seasons, so this clearly didn't bother everyone; but in ''AXZ'', the creators may have taken note of the backlash, so Hibiki's dad is PutOnABus, while Tsubasa's dad returned as an extra ally behind-the-scenes without touching the parental issues again.
%%** Nothing has been as controversial in ''XV'' as the villain group Noble Red. With their hit-and-run tactics and ruthlessness, they have earned the hate of a large percentage of the fanbase, especially the ones attached to the fan-favorites they have hurt. Yet the show also presents them as something you should pity due to their past and circumstances. Needless to say, not everyone is okay with the possibility of a redemption route. [[spoiler: This truly reached its height in XV Episode 9, when Noble Red was apparently killed off.]]
%%*** The arguments become most toxic when it comes to Noble Red member Elsa Bête. Younger, politer and less smug than the other two members, she rarely participates in the violent acts of the group, yet is also never shown to be against said violence. Many pity her and want a happy end for the character, others want nothing short of a full Noble Red demise, Elsa included.
* CatharsisFactor:
** Seeing Finé's plans go down the drain and suffering a bout of VillainousBreakdown at the end of the first season is extremely satisfying, especially due to how smug and condescending she was to everyone else beforehand.
** Ver's OhCrap reaction when Genjurō reveals that he has no intentions of killing Ver and will leave him to rot in prison, thus denying Ver the satisfaction of a "heroic death", during ''G'' was also satisfying.
** [[spoiler:Shem-ha]] killing [[spoiler:Noble Red]] in the ninth episode of ''XV'' was also well-deserved as [[spoiler:Noble Red, especially Millaarc]], committed many deplorable actions while under the employ of [[spoiler:Fudo Kazanari]]. In the same vein, seeing [[spoiler:Fudo Kazanari's]] plans go haywire is this as [[spoiler:he]] tried to [[spoiler:control Shem-ha]] only to fail due to [[spoiler:Noble Red's]] interference.
* ContestedSequel: GX is beloved by many fans - but just as many are baffled at its popularity. Common criticisms include unlikeable antagonists that the show nevertheless tries to portray in a sympathetic light, bad fights with focus given to power level wank and one sided curbstomps over decent choreography, most of the cast being useless and barely doing anything outside of their focus episodes, pacing issues and a noticeable increase in fanservice compared to the past two seasons.
* CommonKnowledge: The Superb Songs were fansubbed as "Swan Songs." Combining that with Kanade's death, many believed that it was a DeathOrGloryAttack. However, while they do heavy damage back to the users, Superb Songs don't necessarily mean death. Kanade died because of her low compatibility and because she didn't take [=LiNKER=] that day. Serena died from falling debris, ''not'' the Superb Song.
%% Do not list anyone as a Complete Monster without the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=6vic3f9h1cy5qivsenw8llok&page=1 clean-up thread approval]].
* CrackPairing:
** Hibiki x Kanade. There is [[Anime/SuitePrettyCure a good reason]] why some people ship them together and it is not just because of the [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight first and only time]] that they interact. It's not until ''XDU'' where the two interact for an extended period of time and even then, it's an alternate universe Kanade.
** There's also some Kanade/Serena shippers out there, despite the fact that the two have never met in canon. The only thing they really have in common is their DeathByOriginStory (for Tsubasa or Hibiki and Maria respectively). [[ShipMates It's usually seen discussed alongside Tsubasa/Maria.]] Kanade and Serena, much like the above example with Hibiki and Kanade, don't properly interact with each other until ''XDU''.
** Hibiki x [[ScrewYourself ...Hibiki]]. Specifically, quite a few fans (mostly from Japan) are quite fond of shipping Hibiki with her parallel self from ''XDU''. They've never actually met in Parallel Hibiki's debut event, but did meet for ''LOST SONG'', which caused the shippers to rejoice. It doesn't help that Parallel Hibiki's new form combines her Elekleid with Prime Hibiki's Gungnir.
* CultClassic: Despite being small in the west, the fanbase is very passionate. This is the opposite in Japan, where with each season, it became bigger and bigger to the point of being the in the 10 highest grossing anime series for the whole year in terms of Disc sales of their respective airings on TV.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Yumi Itaba, one of Miku's friends, is popular due to her BreakingTheFourthWall habits and for being a [[MetaGuy Meta Girl]].
* EvenBetterSequel:
** The majority of the fans who watched the first season found the sequel to be superior after a few episodes had aired, due to the increased action, an antagonist group that is around since the beginning and comprised of well-developed [[AntiVillain anti-villains]]... and compounding them is Dr. Ver as the BigBad. In fact, it's seen as so much better the Blu-ray sales for the first volume were more than double of that of the blu-ray sales of the first season.
** Really, each subsequent season can be seen as being better than the previous one. ''GX'' proved to be more popular than the first two seasons for the new songs, more action-packed scenes, and dangerous villains, to the point where there had been even more preorders for it than other series that launched in the same season. ''AXZ'' then arguably managed to surpass that by combining the classic ''Symphogear'' staples (e.g. amazing songs and fast-paced action) with more consistent character writing, villains who were as humane as they were dangerous, and corrections to some of the problems fans had with ''GX'' had as mentioned in AuthorsSavingThrow above.
** ''XV'' seems to have topped the pile, owing to its climactic nature, high-quality animation, and revitalizing of older ideas in the franchise. It even briefly cracked the top 100 on [=MyAnimeList=], when previous seasons struggled in the four-digit range.
* EvilIsSexy:
** Nehustan Armour Chris in season 1, due to the armour's {{Stripperific}} nature.
** Finé tops all characters, even after the introduction of future characters.
** Maria in ''G'', thanks for her being even better endowed than Chris.
** Carol's adult form in ''GX''. Groping her own breasts and giving a Finé vibe definitively helps.
** Cagliostro in ''AXZ'', thanks to her BoobsOfSteel and being voiced by a ''male'' [[Creator/ShoutaAoi voice actor]].
** Vanessa ''weaponizes'' this in XV - and it actually works!
** Miku in ''XV'' [[spoiler:when she got possessed by Shem-ha]]. While she is a comely girl already, Miku get extra attractive with a messier hairdo, form-fitting black dress, deeper voice, and confident expressions or body language.
* FanficFuel: The Gjallarhorn relic, introduced in XDU, allows any crossover and alternate universe a writer can think of.
* FanPreferredCouple: In a show full of LesYay (with a fandom that's generally in the camp of HetIsEw), there is actually a single heterosexual pairing that's generally agreed upon in the fandom; Sakuya Fujitaka and Aoi Tomosato. The two of them almost always seen together, have a VitriolicBestBuds relationship that's explored a bit more in a few of the [=OVAs=] and a few Memorias in ''XDU'' together.
* FoeYay:
** Maria and Tsubasa in Season 2. Not only is Maria's Symphogear identical to Kanade's, their duet in the first episode is awfully suggestive, with furtive glances and both performers [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything stroking their long, phallic microphones]]. Once Maria is revealed as a villain, she and Tsubasa directly oppose one another, with their fights being some of the most intense.
** The opening of ''G'' has two silhouettes at the beginning, with one of them trying to catch the hand of the other. The silhouettes are Hibiki and Finé.
* FridgeBrilliance: If the Noise are behind most monsters in legends, maybe people accidentally fused with relics gave birth to werewolf tales?
* FriendlyFandoms:
** Fans from Tokusatsu (Especially ''Franchise/KamenRider'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'') like this series, due to the similar themes ([[HenshinHero transforming heroes]] [[{{Sentai}} with a color theme]]), currently having the most crossover fics on fanfiction.net and even a few shared actors [[note]]Creator/AoiYuuki (Hibiki) played several children when she was younger in ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'', ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'' and ''Series/KamenRider555'', as well as provided the voice for Yurusen in ''Series/KamenRiderGhost''. Creator/TomokazuSugita (Dr. Ver) voiced [[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kivat-Bat the 3rd]], Series/UltramanGinga, [[Series/KamenRiderZiO Kamen Rider Ginga]] and is the narrator/announcer for ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager''. Creator/InoriMinase (Carol) also provides the voice for Princess Mabushina in ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' as well. Creator/MaoIchimichi (Vanessa) is the live-action actor for [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Luka Milfy]] and the voice behind [[Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger Raptor 283]] and [[Series/KamenRiderZeroOne Ai-chan]]. And Creator/ToshihikoSeki (Akira) is [[Series/KamenRiderDenO Momotaros/Den-O Sword Form]][[/note]]. There are even tags for Symphogear/Kamen Rider and Symphogear/Super Sentai art (kamennraida-shinnfogia and sennkisenntaishinnfogia, respectively) on pixiv. Cue rejoicing when ''XDU'' announced an ''[[Franchise/UltraSeries Ultraman]]'' crossover, and even ''more'' rejoicing when a ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' crossover was announced. Not to mention the same rejoicing happened for the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' and ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' events. One could only imagine the explosions if a ''Kamen Rider'' collaboration does come to light.
*** The ''[[Series/KamenRiderDouble Fuuto PI]]'' anime adaptation having several staff members that worked on ''Symphogear'' caused quite a few fans to celebrate.
** ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' since both shows feature {{Magical Girl}}s with insane amounts of badassery and firepower... which begs the question: Which fandom [[DefeatMeansFriendship beat the other up for them to become friends]]? There was much rejoicing when ''XDU'' announced a crossover event.
** There are quite a lot of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' fans as well, due to sharing the same director as well as themes related to ThePowerOfFriendship.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Some fans wondered what Miku would look like if she has a Symphogear of her own, [[SelfFanservice so some fanworks of her in a green Symphogear outfit have surfaced]]. Come Episode 9 of Season 2...[[note]]it's purple[[/note]]
** If you see a MagicalGirl series with the moon as a plot device, wouldn't you think about ''Manga/SailorMoon''?
** Garie is a fan-favorite Autoscorer. Before she was introduced, fans speculated her being the most boring Auto-Scorer due to her lackluster design. Then they learnt that she isn't just a big-eyed doll with a big smile.
** This isn't the [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger first time]] [[Creator/MaoIchimichi Vanessa]] is in a series where there's a squadron of transforming heroes. To add a bit of hilarity, the Gokaigers have the same color schemes as the Symphogears (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink and Silver).
*** This reached a new level of hilarity when the ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' crossover was announced, because the Kiramagers have the same colors as well, not to mention [[Creator/InoriMinase Carol]], [[Creator/TomokazuSugita Dr. Ver]] and [[Creator/KenjiAkabane Sakuya]] having roles in ''Kiramager''.
** When Miku first hears the word "Kadingir", she remarks that internet searches only turn up game walkthroughs. Four years later, ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' came out. Now, most of the top search results for "Kadingir" are indeed in reference to its level "Kadingir Sanctum".
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Tsubasa's character arc in ''XV'' is heavily disliked for it being a DarkerAndEdgier version of her Season 1 development that many found pointless.
* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Chris, who fans pair as a 3rd member of each of the other pairs (Hibiki-Miku, Shirabe-Kirika, Maria-Tsubasa)
* LesYay: [[HoYay/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Has its own page.]]
* LGBTFanbase: With all the LesYay and UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} characters Cagliostro and Prelati, it makes up a good chunk of the fandom.
* LoveToHate:
** The first two {{Big Bad}}s, Finé and Dr. Ver are well received by the fans. Even though they don't fit the MagnificentBastard category, their [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] portrayal and their manipulative abilities have caused the fanbase to like them or to hate them. Especially Dr. Ver is considered as an over-the-top villain, being much crazier than Finé herself, even though Dr. Ver is a weakling compared to her. It helps that he's voiced by Creator/TomokazuSugita, who delivers a fantastic performance despite Ver being [[PlayingAgainstType different from his normal roles]].
** Micha, the last of the Auto-Scorers to appear, was receiving attention online before her official debut in the show. Her shark teeth and manic behavior in the OP may (or may not) have had something to do with that. Garie has also built a dedicated following due to her smug, sarcastic personality and amusing facial expressions. It probably helps that in the first four episodes of GX, she has been the most prominent of the Auto-Scorers following her introduction.
%% Do not list anyone as a Magnificent Bastard without the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15255322860A44444400&page=1 clean-up thread approval]].
* MemeticBadass: Good lord, ''Genjuro''. The fact that he nearly beat Finé on his own, and beat ''all six of the girls while transformed'' is reason enough.
* MemeticLoser:
** Noble Red in ''XV'', due to being the weakest overall villain squad in the series, constantly being trounced by everyone they fight when they don't use dirty tactics. [[spoiler:Their unceremonious death and subsequent revival as perfect monsters at the hands of Shem-Ha have done little to help this, as they effectively failed in their original goal to become human.]]
** Carol became something of one in the ''XDU'' community, namely due to the sheer amount of time it took for her to become a playable character. To put it into perspective, before Carol became playable in September 2019 (right after ''Symphogear XV'' aired its final episode), she was mostly relegated to a boss enemy and the occasional appearance event cards while characters like [[spoiler:Finé, Genjuro, Dr. Ver, the Alchemist trio, Adam, and Ogawa]] were playable. The two year gap between the game's launch and her return spawned several running jokes of Carol trying and failing to make her way into the game while other, more minor characters do, all the while complaining about her lack of relevance since ''GX''.
* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Enough to warrant its own page]].
* MemeticPersonalityChange:
** Kanade in fan works tends to be an absolutely chaotic character (near MemeticBadass levels) that's TheTease to all of her friends.
** While Miku in the [=OVAs=] was already a step up from her canon self in affection, many fan works play up her thirst and attraction to Hibiki to ''[[UpToEleven unbelivable]]'' levels.
** Following the revelation that the adult parallel Serena in ''XDU'' likes to drink beer after training, it is not uncommon for her to be portrayed in fan art as a HardDrinkingPartyGirl despite her disposition otherwise being very reserved.
* {{Moe}}:
** Hibiki and Miku both definitely qualify as this.
** And, come season 2, Kirika and Shirabe both climb onto the Moe bandwagon.
** Chris became '''a lot''' more Moe during Season 2.
** Carol in ''GX'', with her short stature and CuteWitch attire is definitely this, to the point where some find it hard to take her seriously as a villain.
** Not to mention Elfnein, being an even cuter and innocent version of Carol.
** Elsa is the youngest member of Noble Red and is a [[CuteMonsterGirl cute werewolf girl]] with a VerbalTic who acts cordially even to her enemies. People liken her more to a distressed puppy than a serious threat, even after her MidSeasonUpgrade.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: It's clear that everything in this series was made to be as over-the-top as possible for the MagicalGirlWarrior genre, from the badass fight scenes (coupled with SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic) to the utterly depraved villains, as well as the ludicrous NarmCharm moments.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** So how do you think Ver can top Fine in terms of being utterly despicable? Well, a good starter sign of skirting the line would be when he fetches Noises on passing by kids just because they were looking at him fetching Noises to US soldiers with a smile on his face. If that wasn't enough, then forcefully injecting PsychoSerum to Kirika and Shirabe and tells them to use the Swan Song (which would mean death for them) while acting like an EntitledBastard despite their pains and dangers of getting injected with them would be him crossing the line. Kidnapping and brainwashing Miku into giving her a Symphogear form? Now ''that's'' leaping faaaar away and deeper from the horizon, accompanied with the biggest "WOO-HOO!" you can ever imagine. He's still waving and taking another leap when he sends Nastassja off to the moon, killing her, because she's trying to avert the damage he's caused, this is also the final push for Maria to finally have enough with bearing with him and deciding to kill him.
** Carol may well be trying to top Ver in season 3. Rather than explain herself or her position to Hibiki, when the latter finds her at the site of a major fire and voices her intention to come to her aid, she blasts the latter with energy cyclones, to try to force her to fight, purely for the purpose of stripping away her Symphogear, which is well known to be her sole means of life support. When attacking Hibiki directly doesn't work, she sends her Autoscorers to attack anyone ''near'' Hibiki to try to provoke her. After forcing Hibiki to fight by directly threatening Miku, an unarmed civilian, she then only defeats Hibiki because Hibiki was fighting Autoscorers two on one, but that still is not enough. While Hibiki is ''comatose'', Carol sends all the Autoscorers out to destroy the power supply to the ''hospitals'' where Hibiki ''might'' be. And lastly when Shirabe and Kirika come out to protect the Medical bay where Hibiki is staying, Carol doesn't just order her Autoscorers to disable the girls' Symphogear, but explicitly tells them to "do whatever [they] want" because the girls are "uninteresting." Oh, and that FreudianExcuse? Turns out those people are long dead, as in dead for centuries, and Carol's desire to "kill a miracle" by dissecting the planet has nothing to do with her father's dying wish, as she originally claimed. If that doesn't convince you, then Episode 12 would instead: After Elfnein translates that her father's true wish is to forgive the world and that is the true key of understanding the world like what alchemy was meant to be... [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Carol instead just flat out refuse to honor that]], choosing to still hate the world for killing her father and goes on ahead anyway with her attempts to destroy the world for nothing but self-indulged vengeance.
** Millaarc in episode 2 of [=XV=], first she raids a concert by Tsubasa and Maria releasing hundreds of Alca-Noise on the unsuspecting civilains, killing 70,000, giving callbacks to Episode 1 of the first series, but then she brutally kills one fan, a [[WouldHurtAChild child]], right in front of an already disturbed Tsubasa. [[spoiler:Just to make it worse, more than a few fans think the victim was the little girl Hibiki rescued in episode 1 of the first series.]] This was Millaarc's EstablishingCharacterMoment and she already crossed the horizon. Following this, later episodes' attempts to give her sympathetic traits have had variable effect on viewers.
** Fudo Kazanari finally gets there in ''XV'' episode 9 by [[spoiler:[[OffingTheOffspring attempting to shoot Tsubasa dead for shaming the family, kills Yatsuhiro instead, and GLOATS ABOUT KILLING HIS OWN CHILD.]]]]
*** Honestly, Fudo probably crossed that line long before the series began by raping his own daughter-in-law to produce Tsubasa, then turning Tsubasa into a lab rat for most of her life and a Symphogear user against her will.
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Anytime a Symphogear initiates her TransformationSequence, [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign no matter how nonsensical the activation phrase sounds]], you know you're in for a treat as asskicking ensues, topped by [[AwesomeMusic/SenkiZesshouSymphogear the serie's great repertoire of song]].
* {{Narm}}: The show is ridiculous, in both the good ''and'' the bad sense. It's about hot-blooded [[MagicalGirlWarrior Magical Girl Warriors]] who have to sing idol songs in order to go into battle. They fight "Noise", the bastard children of [[Film/ForbiddenPlanet Robbie the Robot]] and an [[{{IProduct}} iMac]]. [[MoodWhiplash The tone veers wildly back and forth between grim, apocalyptic melodrama about living under constant threat from monsters that turn people into ash with a touch and goofy, lighthearted slapstick with whimsical music.]] Their costumes look like--to quote Creator/BenCroshaw--somebody started designing them and just never stopped, such as Chris's leotard[=/=]fighter jet ensemble with a headdress made of turbines and solar panels. The plot never passes up an opportunity to stuff convoluted backstory about ancient conspiracies into its season finales. One villain introduced in season five carries ''rolling luggage'' into battle like she's late for her flight. It's amazing. It's stupid. It's incredible. It's incredulous. It's MagicalGirl meets {{Tokusatsu}} meets {{Mecha}} with a CastFullOfGay. It's...it's ''Symphogear''. There's nothing else quite like it.
** In the first season, Hibiki constantly calls Chris [[Webcomic/{{Sonichu}} Chris-chan]]. This led to the [[https://twitter.com/CianuroArts/status/1213690242932326400 logical conclusion]].
** The attack name splashes during more serious moments (like Tsubasa using Shadow Weaving on a berserk Hibiki in Season 1) can really kill the tension and mood.
* NarmCharm:
** For both tropes, special mention goes to Finé/Ryoko's Engrish.
** Ver's manic facial expressions are either funny or disgusting.
** The poses of the Auto-Scorers are either funny or weird.
* NightmareFuel: The series has quite a handful of this.
* OneTruePairing: Hibiki and Miku since the first season and Shirabe and Kirika since ''G''. Tsubasa and Maria almost crosses this thanks to their moments together in ''GX''.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
** Hibiki nearly became TheScrappy because of her poor performance during the first four episodes. Episode 5 rescued her, and the second season increased her popularity.
** Maria finally getting over her indecisiveness and getting stuff done in the finale improved her status among viewers. ''GX'' improved her standing as she became more decisive and her battling of the Auto-Scorers despite the disadvantage, especially after she manages to beat Garie solo with a new Gear, in IGNITE mode, after failing to activate it at least once.
** Kirika has become a lot more popular after her BigDamnHeroes moment in the third episode of ''GX'', rescuing Chris despite the risk to her body caused by transforming without [=LiNKER=].
** While he's most likely the most hated character of the season, to some, Hibiki's father is considered slightly redeemed during the encounter with Carol, whereas all his cowardly acts turns out were meant to be a HeroicSacrifice so Hibiki can live and fix the family while he's gone, and he actually decided to man up, face his faults, actually helps Hibiki transform and then watch her battles from afar with complete faith. Taken even further in [[spoiler: XV ep 9, where he takes in Hibiki while she was temporarily under house arrest for using her amalgalm form. He admits again that he isn't a good dad, but he manages to reconnect with his daughter again, and both seem to officially bury the hatchet, reminding her the very words he taught her, "Heki Hecchara" and she bounces back from her loss of Miku to Shem-Ha thanks to him.]]
** The Autoscorers were derided as being an InvincibleVillain team during ''GX'''s run, with their obvious ThanatosGambit robbing the heroes of any sense of victory against them. [[spoiler:Their return in ''XV'' sees them put in a legitimately desperate situation for a change, while giving them sympathetic moments and their more flavorful personalities from the Zesshoushinai omake episodes.]]
** Carol, though not an outright scrappy as mentioned in BaseBreakingCharacter above, was still regarded as the weakest antagonist in the series. Her return in ''XV'' did wonders to elevate her status by bringing her power in line with the rest of the cast without sacrificing the aspects of her that were already well-received, developing her relationship with Elfnein, realigning her motivations in a way that fits the plot, having a host of awesome moments where she singlehandedly turns the tide to the heroes' side, and being the person that gets Hibiki to finally admit her feelings for Miku. Coupled with her long-awaited playable appearance in ''XDU'' as mentioned in MemeticLoser above, and it's no wonder that she has since amassed a following rivaling that of the six Symphogear users.
* TheScrappy: It's rather ironic that those who owned this status somehow get redeemed as seen above. But, to list their original faults...
** Ryoko got a lot of hate during the first season even before she's revealed to be Finé largely for being a one-dimensional over-the-top GeniusDitz HotScientist and it doesn't help that she's a PsychoLesbian as indicated by her room filled with many photos of Hibiki.
** And for season two, Maria has become one of these. She started the season with a lot of love in part due to fantastic songs and being voiced by Yoko Hikasa. BadassDecay and failing to get anything done plot-wise gained her a great deal of hate.
** Quite a few people were annoyed by Kirika's actions in ''G'', thanks to the subplot about her becoming Finé, which was ripe with {{Wangst}} and bad decisions. And it turned out that Shirabe was Finé all along, which made the clumsy writing completely pointless.
** Hibiki's father, who abandoned his family after the concert disaster in Season 1, makes his first in-person appearance in the show in GX. In his first shared scene with Hibiki, he not only refuses to apologise, but asks for her help in trying to get him back with Hibiki's mother, and at the end of the conversation [[RefugeInAudacity leaves Hibiki with the lunch bill]]. His later appearances do nothing to endear him to fans either; while by the end of the series Hibiki has forgiven him and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap he actually did some genuinely good and protective actions on Hibiki to regain that trust]] (and even she reintroduced him to her mother, who doesn't seem too happy at the prospect), he's still probably the most reviled character in the series among fans.
* SignatureScene: [[CosmicPlaything Tsubasa's]] [[TearsOfBlood appearance]] [[BloodFromTheMouth after]] [[BrokenSmile using]] [[ThousandYardStare her]] [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Superb Song]].
** The opening scene of Season 3 also qualifies, for showcasing the show's crazy-awesome tendencies. It's usually the go-to scene of Symphogear fans for convincing someone to watch the show.
* ShipToShipCombat:
** [[ShipTease Tsubasa/Maria]] vs. [[RedOniBlueOni Tsubasa/Chris]]. [[FirstGirlWins Tsubasa/Kanade]] quite often falls into the crossfire too, despite [[TheLostLenore Kanade's death]]. Though more than a few fans are willing to make peace with OneTrueThreesome when regarding Maria and Chris and {{Polyamory}} if Kanade's included.
** Unlike the others, Chris doesn't get a solidified partner by the end of the series. Once again, it's a OneTrueThreesome battle between either her with Hibiki/Miku or Tsubasa/Maria.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Kanade and Serena in canon. Their appearances in ''XDU'' act as an AuthorsSavingThrow.
* TooCoolToLive: Kanade. Being voiced by Creator/MinamiTakayama, part of TWO-MIX, and being the partner of Tsubasa in singing, not to mention being a lively ActionGirl and CoolBigSis while the plot demands characters like her to sing a lot? Of course she had to be killed off early lest she blew up the show's budget by merely existing.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Noble Red. The show paints them as tragic people whose actions are motivated by wanting to be human again and not be treated as monsters. However, their actions in episode 2 in which they massacred an entire concert hall of innocent people with Alca-Noise, with Millaarc gleefully killing a girl right in front of Tsubasa, left them losing sympathy since they acted monstrous.
* TheUnTwist: The twist that [[spoiler: Ryouko is Fine]] is so obvious the show doesn't even bother to do a surprise reveal. Episode 10 just begins with the character in question sitting in the middle of the villain's lair in a flat medium shot with no pomp and circumstance whatsoever.
* ValuesDissonance: One of the biggest issues many Western fans have is how neglectful parenting is forgiven. However, unlike in America, where child abuse and neglect called out and considered wrong, Japan's views are completely different. In Japan (and most Asian countries), parental respect is highly valued. As a result, the fault is always with the child and the parents are always considered to be "trying their best." Children are expected to forgive their parents no matter what or they'd be considered "bad children."
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Symphogear is classified under Shonen, and is quite a colorful and positive series with a cheerful protagonist. There are a bit of risque fanservice moments, but it's nothing too bad. And then you get to [[NightmareFace scenes]] like Tsubasa or Serena using their Swan Songs. But it doesn't stop there. Chris and the F.I.S.'s [[DarkAndTroubledPast backstories]] are quite dark (Chris being orphaned, trafficked around as a slave, with implications of ''rape'', while Maria came from a war-torn country before joining Shirabe and Kirika and being experimented on at young ages), and then Tsubasa reveals her family lineage, causing quite a few fans to share Maria's disgust. Not to mention how as the animation improved, so did quite a few of the gore scenes, being far more detailed and bloody to the point they're a far cry from Hibiki's injury back in Season 1.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: During transformation sequences, a random splice of words flow in the background. In most cases, they're faux German, except for maybe a few. During Kanade's transformation, for example, the word "ziggurat" flows for a short moment before the cut. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat Strange how The Other Wiki notes that]] none of the shrines on them were saved.
* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: All of the Japanese voice actresses for the Symphogear users are ''not'' widely known for the genre they portray in the anime. (Creator/AoiYuuki doing a badass {{Leitmotif}}? Creator/AyahiTakagaki opting for HARD ROCK?). To be fair, Creator/NanaMizuki does have yet another DarkMagicalGirl character. Also Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.
* TheWoobie:
** Hibiki is hit VERY hard by the Woobie stick in ''GX''. While her backstory was already hinted at in ''G'', it's only in ''GX'' that we see just how hard her backstory and experiences contribute to her being a StepfordSmiler that's too close to the edge. She loses it twice big-time in ''GX'' - once when Maria is forced to fight on her behalf and another when she runs into her estranged father.
*** This crosses into TearJerker territory when the other Symphogear users want to help and comfort her but can't because they don't know what it's like to have stable family relationships. Tsubasa's dad consistently treated her as a tool of the Kazanari family (and her mom is completely absent from the story), Chris's parents died when she was young, and the F.I.S. Children don't have any relatives to speak of, with Maria losing her younger sister years prior to the events of ''G''.
** And then there's Tsubasa herself. The show just seems to enjoy torturing her, making her the honing point for any sort of suffering that's available, ''especially'' if the episode focuses on her. And then came ''XV'', pretty much setting it in stone that her life is just the absolute ''worst.''
** Chris hovers between being a standard Woobie and a JerkassWoobie due to her coarse personality, but given her DarkAndTroubledPast it's hard not to feel bad for her either way.
----
** The US military is constantly shown throughout Symphogear to either be incompetent at best or actively corrupt at worst, and often just as antagonistic as any seasons' BigBad -- when they're not outright in cahoots with them. Just about every season has at least one moment where the US military is shown in its absolute worst light. This changes in the final season where the US consistently, and with very little hesitation, assists the heroes.
** In the final season, the big and actively corrupt element in cahoots with the antagonists turns out to be a Japanese ultranationalist. The same Japanese ultranationalist war-hawk who had been shown to be a self-important HateSink whose blunders cause our heroes to bend over backward trying to fix the ensuing political fallout and so obsessed with his racial purity that he raped his own son's wife to get the heir that he wants.
* AccidentalInnuendo:
** In "Bloodstained Serenade", Tsubasa and Chris are immobilized by a load of sticky goo shot from the tip of an ''extremely'' phallic-looking Noise.
** GX's tagline is "Believe in justice and hold a determination to fist." In common American slang, "fist" as a verb means... something very, very different from what the creators probably intended. There's a similar case when Miku talks to Hibiki about her feelings, and refers to Hibiki as having "those fists I love, the gentlest fists in the world."
** Carol's "But what about bondage?" line in ''XV'' got a lot of snickers - Though that may have been ''intentional'' innuendo.
* {{Adorkable}}:
** Chris becomes this after her HeelFaceTurn. Her dere side tends towards this trope, between her shy attempts at socializing and habit of blushing when complimented. This is especially evident in ''G''.
** The [=OVAs=] do this immensely for Tsubasa and Maria.
* AssPull: In ''G'', Maria abducts Miku on a whim from an exploding building and takes her hostage, only for her and Dr. Ver to ''somehow'' deduce she's Hibiki's best friend and ''somehow'' deduce they can use Miku & Hibiki's personal relationship drama, which they're ''somehow'' privy to, to power the Shenshoujing Symphogear...'''somehow'''.
* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Almost all of ''AXZ'' can be seen as one for ''GX'': the former makes a concerted effort to tie the latter's events back to those of the first two seasons and the show's previously-established GreaterScopeVillain, something ''GX'' did little to do on its own. The new alchemists are played much more sympathetically and are much more fallible, while the alchemist in ''GX'' was often accused of InvincibleVillain status. Its ending even has the contentious SuperMode that ''GX'' introduced be destroyed in the process of defeating the season's villain.
** ''XV'' continues the trend of making up for ''GX'', as episode 3 establishes that the relationship between Hibiki's parents wasn't mended overnight despite what the last shot of ''GX'' seemed to claim, while episode 7 is largely dedicated to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescuing GX's villains from the scrappy heap]]. Ep 9 even manages to make Hibiki's Father redeemable, to the suprise of many.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Though the animation starts out ''very'' shaky, the budget visibly improves with every season, leading to some downright stunning sequences by the time of ''XV.''
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: As is expected given the show's presence, it has [[AwesomeMusic/SenkiZesshouSymphogear its own page.]]
* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Hibiki was rather divisive during the first season. While some viewers found her to be spirited and heroic, others generally considered her to be contrived and obnoxious. ''G'' improved her standing with consistent morals and general kickassery, but she falls back into this in ''GX'', where her unwillingness to fight is brought to the forefront. Arguments were tossed around as to whether her angst is justified or simply just {{Wangst}}, and whether her reasons for hesitating make sense given her prior development or fly in the face of that development. In particular, her snapping at Maria and subsequent apology after the latter saves her from Garie are seen as either justified frustration bubbling to the surface at an unfortunate time, or just her being ungrateful and selfish. She still manages to be incredibly more badass as ever.
** Pre-character development Tsubasa was often disliked for her {{Jerkass}} tendencies towards Hibiki, and though she [[FreudianExcuse has a good reason]] [[BrokenAce for acting as such]], there are those who consider her behavior to be exaggerated and hurtful. Post-character development, she's far more well-liked, though a new point of contention has been made as of ''AXZ'' in regards to her [[OutOfFocus lack of focus]] relative to the other five girls. Some believe this is detrimental as someone who was once one of the focal characters of the franchise has been relegated to a minor role while others think that her new position is justified as since she's already completed her development, she can be more effective at playing as TheMentor, passing along what she learned to the younger members of the cast.
** Carol was generally seen as this in the days of ''GX''; people tended to regard her as either the show's best villain, or its worst. [[EvilIsCool Her design, songs, and voice work]] were all incredibly popular, but she suffered from very clumsily executed motives, a lack of significant personality besides being evil, and being a frustratingly InvincibleVillain. ''XV'' fortunately managed to resolve some of this by [[spoiler:giving her a HeelFaceTurn, playing up her relationship with Elfnein, and ratcheting down her power somewhat.]]
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** The TrainingMontage in episode 9 of G. It's comes after TheReveal that Miku is alive and doesn't seem to serve a real purpose compare to season one's montage to make Hibiki a better fighter. Just about the only thing it ''does'' do is allow Genjuro and Hibiki to sing the theme from ''Film/PoliceStory''.
** The out-of-nowhere musical number about beef stroganoff in episode 3 of GX.
* BrokenBase:
** Many fans are divided as to whether ''G's'' penchant for over-the-top cliffhangers and plot twists improved the series and made it more fun, or whether it caused the story to collapse under its own weight.
** As of ''GX'' the fanbase is divided as to whether the [[ADayInTheLimelight heavily episodic nature]] of Episodes 7-10 are giving characters (especially the FIS girls) development that they sorely missed in ''G'' or if they're making the show too predictable and stifling everyone's development by cramming them into glorified MonsterOfTheWeek plots.
** ''GX'' was also contentious due to its running theme of dad-related angst, with a large amount of screentime devoted to Hibiki dealing with her [[BaseBreakingCharacter exasperatingly terrible father]]. Many people felt this was incongruous, or even sexist, given that the first two seasons were focused on [[HideYourLesbians definitely-not-gay]] women warriors and [[NarmCharm cheesy-yet-epic]] musical action-fantasy. ''GX'' was still popular enough to get ''two'' more seasons, so this clearly didn't bother everyone; but in ''AXZ'', the creators may have taken note of the backlash, so Hibiki's dad is PutOnABus, while Tsubasa's dad returned as an extra ally behind-the-scenes without touching the parental issues again.
%%** Nothing has been as controversial in ''XV'' as the villain group Noble Red. With their hit-and-run tactics and ruthlessness, they have earned the hate of a large percentage of the fanbase, especially the ones attached to the fan-favorites they have hurt. Yet the show also presents them as something you should pity due to their past and circumstances. Needless to say, not everyone is okay with the possibility of a redemption route. [[spoiler: This truly reached its height in XV Episode 9, when Noble Red was apparently killed off.]]
%%*** The arguments become most toxic when it comes to Noble Red member Elsa Bête. Younger, politer and less smug than the other two members, she rarely participates in the violent acts of the group, yet is also never shown to be against said violence. Many pity her and want a happy end for the character, others want nothing short of a full Noble Red demise, Elsa included.
* CatharsisFactor:
** Seeing Finé's plans go down the drain and suffering a bout of VillainousBreakdown at the end of the first season is extremely satisfying, especially due to how smug and condescending she was to everyone else beforehand.
** Ver's OhCrap reaction when Genjurō reveals that he has no intentions of killing Ver and will leave him to rot in prison, thus denying Ver the satisfaction of a "heroic death", during ''G'' was also satisfying.
** [[spoiler:Shem-ha]] killing [[spoiler:Noble Red]] in the ninth episode of ''XV'' was also well-deserved as [[spoiler:Noble Red, especially Millaarc]], committed many deplorable actions while under the employ of [[spoiler:Fudo Kazanari]]. In the same vein, seeing [[spoiler:Fudo Kazanari's]] plans go haywire is this as [[spoiler:he]] tried to [[spoiler:control Shem-ha]] only to fail due to [[spoiler:Noble Red's]] interference.
* ContestedSequel: GX is beloved by many fans - but just as many are baffled at its popularity. Common criticisms include unlikeable antagonists that the show nevertheless tries to portray in a sympathetic light, bad fights with focus given to power level wank and one sided curbstomps over decent choreography, most of the cast being useless and barely doing anything outside of their focus episodes, pacing issues and a noticeable increase in fanservice compared to the past two seasons.
* CommonKnowledge: The Superb Songs were fansubbed as "Swan Songs." Combining that with Kanade's death, many believed that it was a DeathOrGloryAttack. However, while they do heavy damage back to the users, Superb Songs don't necessarily mean death. Kanade died because of her low compatibility and because she didn't take [=LiNKER=] that day. Serena died from falling debris, ''not'' the Superb Song.
%% Do not list anyone as a Complete Monster without the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=6vic3f9h1cy5qivsenw8llok&page=1 clean-up thread approval]].
* CrackPairing:
** Hibiki x Kanade. There is [[Anime/SuitePrettyCure a good reason]] why some people ship them together and it is not just because of the [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight first and only time]] that they interact. It's not until ''XDU'' where the two interact for an extended period of time and even then, it's an alternate universe Kanade.
** There's also some Kanade/Serena shippers out there, despite the fact that the two have never met in canon. The only thing they really have in common is their DeathByOriginStory (for Tsubasa or Hibiki and Maria respectively). [[ShipMates It's usually seen discussed alongside Tsubasa/Maria.]] Kanade and Serena, much like the above example with Hibiki and Kanade, don't properly interact with each other until ''XDU''.
** Hibiki x [[ScrewYourself ...Hibiki]]. Specifically, quite a few fans (mostly from Japan) are quite fond of shipping Hibiki with her parallel self from ''XDU''. They've never actually met in Parallel Hibiki's debut event, but did meet for ''LOST SONG'', which caused the shippers to rejoice. It doesn't help that Parallel Hibiki's new form combines her Elekleid with Prime Hibiki's Gungnir.
* CultClassic: Despite being small in the west, the fanbase is very passionate. This is the opposite in Japan, where with each season, it became bigger and bigger to the point of being the in the 10 highest grossing anime series for the whole year in terms of Disc sales of their respective airings on TV.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Yumi Itaba, one of Miku's friends, is popular due to her BreakingTheFourthWall habits and for being a [[MetaGuy Meta Girl]].
* EvenBetterSequel:
** The majority of the fans who watched the first season found the sequel to be superior after a few episodes had aired, due to the increased action, an antagonist group that is around since the beginning and comprised of well-developed [[AntiVillain anti-villains]]... and compounding them is Dr. Ver as the BigBad. In fact, it's seen as so much better the Blu-ray sales for the first volume were more than double of that of the blu-ray sales of the first season.
** Really, each subsequent season can be seen as being better than the previous one. ''GX'' proved to be more popular than the first two seasons for the new songs, more action-packed scenes, and dangerous villains, to the point where there had been even more preorders for it than other series that launched in the same season. ''AXZ'' then arguably managed to surpass that by combining the classic ''Symphogear'' staples (e.g. amazing songs and fast-paced action) with more consistent character writing, villains who were as humane as they were dangerous, and corrections to some of the problems fans had with ''GX'' had as mentioned in AuthorsSavingThrow above.
** ''XV'' seems to have topped the pile, owing to its climactic nature, high-quality animation, and revitalizing of older ideas in the franchise. It even briefly cracked the top 100 on [=MyAnimeList=], when previous seasons struggled in the four-digit range.
* EvilIsSexy:
** Nehustan Armour Chris in season 1, due to the armour's {{Stripperific}} nature.
** Finé tops all characters, even after the introduction of future characters.
** Maria in ''G'', thanks for her being even better endowed than Chris.
** Carol's adult form in ''GX''. Groping her own breasts and giving a Finé vibe definitively helps.
** Cagliostro in ''AXZ'', thanks to her BoobsOfSteel and being voiced by a ''male'' [[Creator/ShoutaAoi voice actor]].
** Vanessa ''weaponizes'' this in XV - and it actually works!
** Miku in ''XV'' [[spoiler:when she got possessed by Shem-ha]]. While she is a comely girl already, Miku get extra attractive with a messier hairdo, form-fitting black dress, deeper voice, and confident expressions or body language.
* FanficFuel: The Gjallarhorn relic, introduced in XDU, allows any crossover and alternate universe a writer can think of.
* FanPreferredCouple: In a show full of LesYay (with a fandom that's generally in the camp of HetIsEw), there is actually a single heterosexual pairing that's generally agreed upon in the fandom; Sakuya Fujitaka and Aoi Tomosato. The two of them almost always seen together, have a VitriolicBestBuds relationship that's explored a bit more in a few of the [=OVAs=] and a few Memorias in ''XDU'' together.
* FoeYay:
** Maria and Tsubasa in Season 2. Not only is Maria's Symphogear identical to Kanade's, their duet in the first episode is awfully suggestive, with furtive glances and both performers [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything stroking their long, phallic microphones]]. Once Maria is revealed as a villain, she and Tsubasa directly oppose one another, with their fights being some of the most intense.
** The opening of ''G'' has two silhouettes at the beginning, with one of them trying to catch the hand of the other. The silhouettes are Hibiki and Finé.
* FridgeBrilliance: If the Noise are behind most monsters in legends, maybe people accidentally fused with relics gave birth to werewolf tales?
* FriendlyFandoms:
** Fans from Tokusatsu (Especially ''Franchise/KamenRider'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'') like this series, due to the similar themes ([[HenshinHero transforming heroes]] [[{{Sentai}} with a color theme]]), currently having the most crossover fics on fanfiction.net and even a few shared actors [[note]]Creator/AoiYuuki (Hibiki) played several children when she was younger in ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'', ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'' and ''Series/KamenRider555'', as well as provided the voice for Yurusen in ''Series/KamenRiderGhost''. Creator/TomokazuSugita (Dr. Ver) voiced [[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kivat-Bat the 3rd]], Series/UltramanGinga, [[Series/KamenRiderZiO Kamen Rider Ginga]] and is the narrator/announcer for ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager''. Creator/InoriMinase (Carol) also provides the voice for Princess Mabushina in ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' as well. Creator/MaoIchimichi (Vanessa) is the live-action actor for [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Luka Milfy]] and the voice behind [[Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger Raptor 283]] and [[Series/KamenRiderZeroOne Ai-chan]]. And Creator/ToshihikoSeki (Akira) is [[Series/KamenRiderDenO Momotaros/Den-O Sword Form]][[/note]]. There are even tags for Symphogear/Kamen Rider and Symphogear/Super Sentai art (kamennraida-shinnfogia and sennkisenntaishinnfogia, respectively) on pixiv. Cue rejoicing when ''XDU'' announced an ''[[Franchise/UltraSeries Ultraman]]'' crossover, and even ''more'' rejoicing when a ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' crossover was announced. Not to mention the same rejoicing happened for the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' and ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' events. One could only imagine the explosions if a ''Kamen Rider'' collaboration does come to light.
*** The ''[[Series/KamenRiderDouble Fuuto PI]]'' anime adaptation having several staff members that worked on ''Symphogear'' caused quite a few fans to celebrate.
** ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' since both shows feature {{Magical Girl}}s with insane amounts of badassery and firepower... which begs the question: Which fandom [[DefeatMeansFriendship beat the other up for them to become friends]]? There was much rejoicing when ''XDU'' announced a crossover event.
** There are quite a lot of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' fans as well, due to sharing the same director as well as themes related to ThePowerOfFriendship.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Some fans wondered what Miku would look like if she has a Symphogear of her own, [[SelfFanservice so some fanworks of her in a green Symphogear outfit have surfaced]]. Come Episode 9 of Season 2...[[note]]it's purple[[/note]]
** If you see a MagicalGirl series with the moon as a plot device, wouldn't you think about ''Manga/SailorMoon''?
** Garie is a fan-favorite Autoscorer. Before she was introduced, fans speculated her being the most boring Auto-Scorer due to her lackluster design. Then they learnt that she isn't just a big-eyed doll with a big smile.
** This isn't the [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger first time]] [[Creator/MaoIchimichi Vanessa]] is in a series where there's a squadron of transforming heroes. To add a bit of hilarity, the Gokaigers have the same color schemes as the Symphogears (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink and Silver).
*** This reached a new level of hilarity when the ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' crossover was announced, because the Kiramagers have the same colors as well, not to mention [[Creator/InoriMinase Carol]], [[Creator/TomokazuSugita Dr. Ver]] and [[Creator/KenjiAkabane Sakuya]] having roles in ''Kiramager''.
** When Miku first hears the word "Kadingir", she remarks that internet searches only turn up game walkthroughs. Four years later, ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' came out. Now, most of the top search results for "Kadingir" are indeed in reference to its level "Kadingir Sanctum".
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Tsubasa's character arc in ''XV'' is heavily disliked for it being a DarkerAndEdgier version of her Season 1 development that many found pointless.
* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Chris, who fans pair as a 3rd member of each of the other pairs (Hibiki-Miku, Shirabe-Kirika, Maria-Tsubasa)
* LesYay: [[HoYay/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Has its own page.]]
* LGBTFanbase: With all the LesYay and UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} characters Cagliostro and Prelati, it makes up a good chunk of the fandom.
* LoveToHate:
** The first two {{Big Bad}}s, Finé and Dr. Ver are well received by the fans. Even though they don't fit the MagnificentBastard category, their [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] portrayal and their manipulative abilities have caused the fanbase to like them or to hate them. Especially Dr. Ver is considered as an over-the-top villain, being much crazier than Finé herself, even though Dr. Ver is a weakling compared to her. It helps that he's voiced by Creator/TomokazuSugita, who delivers a fantastic performance despite Ver being [[PlayingAgainstType different from his normal roles]].
** Micha, the last of the Auto-Scorers to appear, was receiving attention online before her official debut in the show. Her shark teeth and manic behavior in the OP may (or may not) have had something to do with that. Garie has also built a dedicated following due to her smug, sarcastic personality and amusing facial expressions. It probably helps that in the first four episodes of GX, she has been the most prominent of the Auto-Scorers following her introduction.
%% Do not list anyone as a Magnificent Bastard without the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15255322860A44444400&page=1 clean-up thread approval]].
* MemeticBadass: Good lord, ''Genjuro''. The fact that he nearly beat Finé on his own, and beat ''all six of the girls while transformed'' is reason enough.
* MemeticLoser:
** Noble Red in ''XV'', due to being the weakest overall villain squad in the series, constantly being trounced by everyone they fight when they don't use dirty tactics. [[spoiler:Their unceremonious death and subsequent revival as perfect monsters at the hands of Shem-Ha have done little to help this, as they effectively failed in their original goal to become human.]]
** Carol became something of one in the ''XDU'' community, namely due to the sheer amount of time it took for her to become a playable character. To put it into perspective, before Carol became playable in September 2019 (right after ''Symphogear XV'' aired its final episode), she was mostly relegated to a boss enemy and the occasional appearance event cards while characters like [[spoiler:Finé, Genjuro, Dr. Ver, the Alchemist trio, Adam, and Ogawa]] were playable. The two year gap between the game's launch and her return spawned several running jokes of Carol trying and failing to make her way into the game while other, more minor characters do, all the while complaining about her lack of relevance since ''GX''.
* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Enough to warrant its own page]].
* MemeticPersonalityChange:
** Kanade in fan works tends to be an absolutely chaotic character (near MemeticBadass levels) that's TheTease to all of her friends.
** While Miku in the [=OVAs=] was already a step up from her canon self in affection, many fan works play up her thirst and attraction to Hibiki to ''[[UpToEleven unbelivable]]'' levels.
** Following the revelation that the adult parallel Serena in ''XDU'' likes to drink beer after training, it is not uncommon for her to be portrayed in fan art as a HardDrinkingPartyGirl despite her disposition otherwise being very reserved.
* {{Moe}}:
** Hibiki and Miku both definitely qualify as this.
** And, come season 2, Kirika and Shirabe both climb onto the Moe bandwagon.
** Chris became '''a lot''' more Moe during Season 2.
** Carol in ''GX'', with her short stature and CuteWitch attire is definitely this, to the point where some find it hard to take her seriously as a villain.
** Not to mention Elfnein, being an even cuter and innocent version of Carol.
** Elsa is the youngest member of Noble Red and is a [[CuteMonsterGirl cute werewolf girl]] with a VerbalTic who acts cordially even to her enemies. People liken her more to a distressed puppy than a serious threat, even after her MidSeasonUpgrade.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: It's clear that everything in this series was made to be as over-the-top as possible for the MagicalGirlWarrior genre, from the badass fight scenes (coupled with SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic) to the utterly depraved villains, as well as the ludicrous NarmCharm moments.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** So how do you think Ver can top Fine in terms of being utterly despicable? Well, a good starter sign of skirting the line would be when he fetches Noises on passing by kids just because they were looking at him fetching Noises to US soldiers with a smile on his face. If that wasn't enough, then forcefully injecting PsychoSerum to Kirika and Shirabe and tells them to use the Swan Song (which would mean death for them) while acting like an EntitledBastard despite their pains and dangers of getting injected with them would be him crossing the line. Kidnapping and brainwashing Miku into giving her a Symphogear form? Now ''that's'' leaping faaaar away and deeper from the horizon, accompanied with the biggest "WOO-HOO!" you can ever imagine. He's still waving and taking another leap when he sends Nastassja off to the moon, killing her, because she's trying to avert the damage he's caused, this is also the final push for Maria to finally have enough with bearing with him and deciding to kill him.
** Carol may well be trying to top Ver in season 3. Rather than explain herself or her position to Hibiki, when the latter finds her at the site of a major fire and voices her intention to come to her aid, she blasts the latter with energy cyclones, to try to force her to fight, purely for the purpose of stripping away her Symphogear, which is well known to be her sole means of life support. When attacking Hibiki directly doesn't work, she sends her Autoscorers to attack anyone ''near'' Hibiki to try to provoke her. After forcing Hibiki to fight by directly threatening Miku, an unarmed civilian, she then only defeats Hibiki because Hibiki was fighting Autoscorers two on one, but that still is not enough. While Hibiki is ''comatose'', Carol sends all the Autoscorers out to destroy the power supply to the ''hospitals'' where Hibiki ''might'' be. And lastly when Shirabe and Kirika come out to protect the Medical bay where Hibiki is staying, Carol doesn't just order her Autoscorers to disable the girls' Symphogear, but explicitly tells them to "do whatever [they] want" because the girls are "uninteresting." Oh, and that FreudianExcuse? Turns out those people are long dead, as in dead for centuries, and Carol's desire to "kill a miracle" by dissecting the planet has nothing to do with her father's dying wish, as she originally claimed. If that doesn't convince you, then Episode 12 would instead: After Elfnein translates that her father's true wish is to forgive the world and that is the true key of understanding the world like what alchemy was meant to be... [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Carol instead just flat out refuse to honor that]], choosing to still hate the world for killing her father and goes on ahead anyway with her attempts to destroy the world for nothing but self-indulged vengeance.
** Millaarc in episode 2 of [=XV=], first she raids a concert by Tsubasa and Maria releasing hundreds of Alca-Noise on the unsuspecting civilains, killing 70,000, giving callbacks to Episode 1 of the first series, but then she brutally kills one fan, a [[WouldHurtAChild child]], right in front of an already disturbed Tsubasa. [[spoiler:Just to make it worse, more than a few fans think the victim was the little girl Hibiki rescued in episode 1 of the first series.]] This was Millaarc's EstablishingCharacterMoment and she already crossed the horizon. Following this, later episodes' attempts to give her sympathetic traits have had variable effect on viewers.
** Fudo Kazanari finally gets there in ''XV'' episode 9 by [[spoiler:[[OffingTheOffspring attempting to shoot Tsubasa dead for shaming the family, kills Yatsuhiro instead, and GLOATS ABOUT KILLING HIS OWN CHILD.]]]]
*** Honestly, Fudo probably crossed that line long before the series began by raping his own daughter-in-law to produce Tsubasa, then turning Tsubasa into a lab rat for most of her life and a Symphogear user against her will.
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Anytime a Symphogear initiates her TransformationSequence, [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign no matter how nonsensical the activation phrase sounds]], you know you're in for a treat as asskicking ensues, topped by [[AwesomeMusic/SenkiZesshouSymphogear the serie's great repertoire of song]].
* {{Narm}}: The show is ridiculous, in both the good ''and'' the bad sense. It's about hot-blooded [[MagicalGirlWarrior Magical Girl Warriors]] who have to sing idol songs in order to go into battle. They fight "Noise", the bastard children of [[Film/ForbiddenPlanet Robbie the Robot]] and an [[{{IProduct}} iMac]]. [[MoodWhiplash The tone veers wildly back and forth between grim, apocalyptic melodrama about living under constant threat from monsters that turn people into ash with a touch and goofy, lighthearted slapstick with whimsical music.]] Their costumes look like--to quote Creator/BenCroshaw--somebody started designing them and just never stopped, such as Chris's leotard[=/=]fighter jet ensemble with a headdress made of turbines and solar panels. The plot never passes up an opportunity to stuff convoluted backstory about ancient conspiracies into its season finales. One villain introduced in season five carries ''rolling luggage'' into battle like she's late for her flight. It's amazing. It's stupid. It's incredible. It's incredulous. It's MagicalGirl meets {{Tokusatsu}} meets {{Mecha}} with a CastFullOfGay. It's...it's ''Symphogear''. There's nothing else quite like it.
** In the first season, Hibiki constantly calls Chris [[Webcomic/{{Sonichu}} Chris-chan]]. This led to the [[https://twitter.com/CianuroArts/status/1213690242932326400 logical conclusion]].
** The attack name splashes during more serious moments (like Tsubasa using Shadow Weaving on a berserk Hibiki in Season 1) can really kill the tension and mood.
* NarmCharm:
** For both tropes, special mention goes to Finé/Ryoko's Engrish.
** Ver's manic facial expressions are either funny or disgusting.
** The poses of the Auto-Scorers are either funny or weird.
* NightmareFuel: The series has quite a handful of this.
* OneTruePairing: Hibiki and Miku since the first season and Shirabe and Kirika since ''G''. Tsubasa and Maria almost crosses this thanks to their moments together in ''GX''.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
** Hibiki nearly became TheScrappy because of her poor performance during the first four episodes. Episode 5 rescued her, and the second season increased her popularity.
** Maria finally getting over her indecisiveness and getting stuff done in the finale improved her status among viewers. ''GX'' improved her standing as she became more decisive and her battling of the Auto-Scorers despite the disadvantage, especially after she manages to beat Garie solo with a new Gear, in IGNITE mode, after failing to activate it at least once.
** Kirika has become a lot more popular after her BigDamnHeroes moment in the third episode of ''GX'', rescuing Chris despite the risk to her body caused by transforming without [=LiNKER=].
** While he's most likely the most hated character of the season, to some, Hibiki's father is considered slightly redeemed during the encounter with Carol, whereas all his cowardly acts turns out were meant to be a HeroicSacrifice so Hibiki can live and fix the family while he's gone, and he actually decided to man up, face his faults, actually helps Hibiki transform and then watch her battles from afar with complete faith. Taken even further in [[spoiler: XV ep 9, where he takes in Hibiki while she was temporarily under house arrest for using her amalgalm form. He admits again that he isn't a good dad, but he manages to reconnect with his daughter again, and both seem to officially bury the hatchet, reminding her the very words he taught her, "Heki Hecchara" and she bounces back from her loss of Miku to Shem-Ha thanks to him.]]
** The Autoscorers were derided as being an InvincibleVillain team during ''GX'''s run, with their obvious ThanatosGambit robbing the heroes of any sense of victory against them. [[spoiler:Their return in ''XV'' sees them put in a legitimately desperate situation for a change, while giving them sympathetic moments and their more flavorful personalities from the Zesshoushinai omake episodes.]]
** Carol, though not an outright scrappy as mentioned in BaseBreakingCharacter above, was still regarded as the weakest antagonist in the series. Her return in ''XV'' did wonders to elevate her status by bringing her power in line with the rest of the cast without sacrificing the aspects of her that were already well-received, developing her relationship with Elfnein, realigning her motivations in a way that fits the plot, having a host of awesome moments where she singlehandedly turns the tide to the heroes' side, and being the person that gets Hibiki to finally admit her feelings for Miku. Coupled with her long-awaited playable appearance in ''XDU'' as mentioned in MemeticLoser above, and it's no wonder that she has since amassed a following rivaling that of the six Symphogear users.
* TheScrappy: It's rather ironic that those who owned this status somehow get redeemed as seen above. But, to list their original faults...
** Ryoko got a lot of hate during the first season even before she's revealed to be Finé largely for being a one-dimensional over-the-top GeniusDitz HotScientist and it doesn't help that she's a PsychoLesbian as indicated by her room filled with many photos of Hibiki.
** And for season two, Maria has become one of these. She started the season with a lot of love in part due to fantastic songs and being voiced by Yoko Hikasa. BadassDecay and failing to get anything done plot-wise gained her a great deal of hate.
** Quite a few people were annoyed by Kirika's actions in ''G'', thanks to the subplot about her becoming Finé, which was ripe with {{Wangst}} and bad decisions. And it turned out that Shirabe was Finé all along, which made the clumsy writing completely pointless.
** Hibiki's father, who abandoned his family after the concert disaster in Season 1, makes his first in-person appearance in the show in GX. In his first shared scene with Hibiki, he not only refuses to apologise, but asks for her help in trying to get him back with Hibiki's mother, and at the end of the conversation [[RefugeInAudacity leaves Hibiki with the lunch bill]]. His later appearances do nothing to endear him to fans either; while by the end of the series Hibiki has forgiven him and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap he actually did some genuinely good and protective actions on Hibiki to regain that trust]] (and even she reintroduced him to her mother, who doesn't seem too happy at the prospect), he's still probably the most reviled character in the series among fans.
* SignatureScene: [[CosmicPlaything Tsubasa's]] [[TearsOfBlood appearance]] [[BloodFromTheMouth after]] [[BrokenSmile using]] [[ThousandYardStare her]] [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Superb Song]].
** The opening scene of Season 3 also qualifies, for showcasing the show's crazy-awesome tendencies. It's usually the go-to scene of Symphogear fans for convincing someone to watch the show.
* ShipToShipCombat:
** [[ShipTease Tsubasa/Maria]] vs. [[RedOniBlueOni Tsubasa/Chris]]. [[FirstGirlWins Tsubasa/Kanade]] quite often falls into the crossfire too, despite [[TheLostLenore Kanade's death]]. Though more than a few fans are willing to make peace with OneTrueThreesome when regarding Maria and Chris and {{Polyamory}} if Kanade's included.
** Unlike the others, Chris doesn't get a solidified partner by the end of the series. Once again, it's a OneTrueThreesome battle between either her with Hibiki/Miku or Tsubasa/Maria.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Kanade and Serena in canon. Their appearances in ''XDU'' act as an AuthorsSavingThrow.
* TooCoolToLive: Kanade. Being voiced by Creator/MinamiTakayama, part of TWO-MIX, and being the partner of Tsubasa in singing, not to mention being a lively ActionGirl and CoolBigSis while the plot demands characters like her to sing a lot? Of course she had to be killed off early lest she blew up the show's budget by merely existing.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Noble Red. The show paints them as tragic people whose actions are motivated by wanting to be human again and not be treated as monsters. However, their actions in episode 2 in which they massacred an entire concert hall of innocent people with Alca-Noise, with Millaarc gleefully killing a girl right in front of Tsubasa, left them losing sympathy since they acted monstrous.
* TheUnTwist: The twist that [[spoiler: Ryouko is Fine]] is so obvious the show doesn't even bother to do a surprise reveal. Episode 10 just begins with the character in question sitting in the middle of the villain's lair in a flat medium shot with no pomp and circumstance whatsoever.
* ValuesDissonance: One of the biggest issues many Western fans have is how neglectful parenting is forgiven. However, unlike in America, where child abuse and neglect called out and considered wrong, Japan's views are completely different. In Japan (and most Asian countries), parental respect is highly valued. As a result, the fault is always with the child and the parents are always considered to be "trying their best." Children are expected to forgive their parents no matter what or they'd be considered "bad children."
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Symphogear is classified under Shonen, and is quite a colorful and positive series with a cheerful protagonist. There are a bit of risque fanservice moments, but it's nothing too bad. And then you get to [[NightmareFace scenes]] like Tsubasa or Serena using their Swan Songs. But it doesn't stop there. Chris and the F.I.S.'s [[DarkAndTroubledPast backstories]] are quite dark (Chris being orphaned, trafficked around as a slave, with implications of ''rape'', while Maria came from a war-torn country before joining Shirabe and Kirika and being experimented on at young ages), and then Tsubasa reveals her family lineage, causing quite a few fans to share Maria's disgust. Not to mention how as the animation improved, so did quite a few of the gore scenes, being far more detailed and bloody to the point they're a far cry from Hibiki's injury back in Season 1.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: During transformation sequences, a random splice of words flow in the background. In most cases, they're faux German, except for maybe a few. During Kanade's transformation, for example, the word "ziggurat" flows for a short moment before the cut. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat Strange how The Other Wiki notes that]] none of the shrines on them were saved.
* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: All of the Japanese voice actresses for the Symphogear users are ''not'' widely known for the genre they portray in the anime. (Creator/AoiYuuki doing a badass {{Leitmotif}}? Creator/AyahiTakagaki opting for HARD ROCK?). To be fair, Creator/NanaMizuki does have yet another DarkMagicalGirl character. Also Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.
* TheWoobie:
** Hibiki is hit VERY hard by the Woobie stick in ''GX''. While her backstory was already hinted at in ''G'', it's only in ''GX'' that we see just how hard her backstory and experiences contribute to her being a StepfordSmiler that's too close to the edge. She loses it twice big-time in ''GX'' - once when Maria is forced to fight on her behalf and another when she runs into her estranged father.
*** This crosses into TearJerker territory when the other Symphogear users want to help and comfort her but can't because they don't know what it's like to have stable family relationships. Tsubasa's dad consistently treated her as a tool of the Kazanari family (and her mom is completely absent from the story), Chris's parents died when she was young, and the F.I.S. Children don't have any relatives to speak of, with Maria losing her younger sister years prior to the events of ''G''.
** And then there's Tsubasa herself. The show just seems to enjoy torturing her, making her the honing point for any sort of suffering that's available, ''especially'' if the episode focuses on her. And then came ''XV'', pretty much setting it in stone that her life is just the absolute ''worst.''
** Chris hovers between being a standard Woobie and a JerkassWoobie due to her coarse personality, but given her DarkAndTroubledPast it's hard not to feel bad for her either way.
----
to:
** The US military is constantly shown throughout Symphogear to either be incompetent at best or actively corrupt at worst, and often just as antagonistic as any seasons' BigBad -- when they're not outright in cahoots with them. Just about every season has at least one moment where the US military is shown in its absolute worst light. This changes in the final season where the US consistently, and with very little hesitation, assists the heroes.
** In the final season, the big and actively corrupt element in cahoots with the antagonists turns out to be a Japanese ultranationalist. The same Japanese ultranationalist war-hawk who had been shown to be a self-important HateSink whose blunders cause our heroes to bend over backward trying to fix the ensuing political fallout and so obsessed with his racial purity that he raped his own son's wife to get the heir that he wants.
* AccidentalInnuendo:
** In "Bloodstained Serenade", Tsubasa and Chris are immobilized by a load of sticky goo shot from the tip of an ''extremely'' phallic-looking Noise.
** GX's tagline is "Believe in justice and hold a determination to fist." In common American slang, "fist" as a verb means... something very, very different from what the creators probably intended. There's a similar case when Miku talks to Hibiki about her feelings, and refers to Hibiki as having "those fists I love, the gentlest fists in the world."
** Carol's "But what about bondage?" line in ''XV'' got a lot of snickers - Though that may have been ''intentional'' innuendo.
* {{Adorkable}}:
** Chris becomes this after her HeelFaceTurn. Her dere side tends towards this trope, between her shy attempts at socializing and habit of blushing when complimented. This is especially evident in ''G''.
** The [=OVAs=] do this immensely for Tsubasa and Maria.
* AssPull: In ''G'', Maria abducts Miku on a whim from an exploding building and takes her hostage, only for her and Dr. Ver to ''somehow'' deduce she's Hibiki's best friend and ''somehow'' deduce they can use Miku & Hibiki's personal relationship drama, which they're ''somehow'' privy to, to power the Shenshoujing Symphogear...'''somehow'''.
* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Almost all of ''AXZ'' can be seen as one for ''GX'': the former makes a concerted effort to tie the latter's events back to those of the first two seasons and the show's previously-established GreaterScopeVillain, something ''GX'' did little to do on its own. The new alchemists are played much more sympathetically and are much more fallible, while the alchemist in ''GX'' was often accused of InvincibleVillain status. Its ending even has the contentious SuperMode that ''GX'' introduced be destroyed in the process of defeating the season's villain.
** ''XV'' continues the trend of making up for ''GX'', as episode 3 establishes that the relationship between Hibiki's parents wasn't mended overnight despite what the last shot of ''GX'' seemed to claim, while episode 7 is largely dedicated to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescuing GX's villains from the scrappy heap]]. Ep 9 even manages to make Hibiki's Father redeemable, to the suprise of many.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Though the animation starts out ''very'' shaky, the budget visibly improves with every season, leading to some downright stunning sequences by the time of ''XV.''
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: As is expected given the show's presence, it has [[AwesomeMusic/SenkiZesshouSymphogear its own page.]]
* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Hibiki was rather divisive during the first season. While some viewers found her to be spirited and heroic, others generally considered her to be contrived and obnoxious. ''G'' improved her standing with consistent morals and general kickassery, but she falls back into this in ''GX'', where her unwillingness to fight is brought to the forefront. Arguments were tossed around as to whether her angst is justified or simply just {{Wangst}}, and whether her reasons for hesitating make sense given her prior development or fly in the face of that development. In particular, her snapping at Maria and subsequent apology after the latter saves her from Garie are seen as either justified frustration bubbling to the surface at an unfortunate time, or just her being ungrateful and selfish. She still manages to be incredibly more badass as ever.
** Pre-character development Tsubasa was often disliked for her {{Jerkass}} tendencies towards Hibiki, and though she [[FreudianExcuse has a good reason]] [[BrokenAce for acting as such]], there are those who consider her behavior to be exaggerated and hurtful. Post-character development, she's far more well-liked, though a new point of contention has been made as of ''AXZ'' in regards to her [[OutOfFocus lack of focus]] relative to the other five girls. Some believe this is detrimental as someone who was once one of the focal characters of the franchise has been relegated to a minor role while others think that her new position is justified as since she's already completed her development, she can be more effective at playing as TheMentor, passing along what she learned to the younger members of the cast.
** Carol was generally seen as this in the days of ''GX''; people tended to regard her as either the show's best villain, or its worst. [[EvilIsCool Her design, songs, and voice work]] were all incredibly popular, but she suffered from very clumsily executed motives, a lack of significant personality besides being evil, and being a frustratingly InvincibleVillain. ''XV'' fortunately managed to resolve some of this by [[spoiler:giving her a HeelFaceTurn, playing up her relationship with Elfnein, and ratcheting down her power somewhat.]]
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** The TrainingMontage in episode 9 of G. It's comes after TheReveal that Miku is alive and doesn't seem to serve a real purpose compare to season one's montage to make Hibiki a better fighter. Just about the only thing it ''does'' do is allow Genjuro and Hibiki to sing the theme from ''Film/PoliceStory''.
** The out-of-nowhere musical number about beef stroganoff in episode 3 of GX.
* BrokenBase:
** Many fans are divided as to whether ''G's'' penchant for over-the-top cliffhangers and plot twists improved the series and made it more fun, or whether it caused the story to collapse under its own weight.
** As of ''GX'' the fanbase is divided as to whether the [[ADayInTheLimelight heavily episodic nature]] of Episodes 7-10 are giving characters (especially the FIS girls) development that they sorely missed in ''G'' or if they're making the show too predictable and stifling everyone's development by cramming them into glorified MonsterOfTheWeek plots.
** ''GX'' was also contentious due to its running theme of dad-related angst, with a large amount of screentime devoted to Hibiki dealing with her [[BaseBreakingCharacter exasperatingly terrible father]]. Many people felt this was incongruous, or even sexist, given that the first two seasons were focused on [[HideYourLesbians definitely-not-gay]] women warriors and [[NarmCharm cheesy-yet-epic]] musical action-fantasy. ''GX'' was still popular enough to get ''two'' more seasons, so this clearly didn't bother everyone; but in ''AXZ'', the creators may have taken note of the backlash, so Hibiki's dad is PutOnABus, while Tsubasa's dad returned as an extra ally behind-the-scenes without touching the parental issues again.
%%** Nothing has been as controversial in ''XV'' as the villain group Noble Red. With their hit-and-run tactics and ruthlessness, they have earned the hate of a large percentage of the fanbase, especially the ones attached to the fan-favorites they have hurt. Yet the show also presents them as something you should pity due to their past and circumstances. Needless to say, not everyone is okay with the possibility of a redemption route. [[spoiler: This truly reached its height in XV Episode 9, when Noble Red was apparently killed off.]]
%%*** The arguments become most toxic when it comes to Noble Red member Elsa Bête. Younger, politer and less smug than the other two members, she rarely participates in the violent acts of the group, yet is also never shown to be against said violence. Many pity her and want a happy end for the character, others want nothing short of a full Noble Red demise, Elsa included.
* CatharsisFactor:
** Seeing Finé's plans go down the drain and suffering a bout of VillainousBreakdown at the end of the first season is extremely satisfying, especially due to how smug and condescending she was to everyone else beforehand.
** Ver's OhCrap reaction when Genjurō reveals that he has no intentions of killing Ver and will leave him to rot in prison, thus denying Ver the satisfaction of a "heroic death", during ''G'' was also satisfying.
** [[spoiler:Shem-ha]] killing [[spoiler:Noble Red]] in the ninth episode of ''XV'' was also well-deserved as [[spoiler:Noble Red, especially Millaarc]], committed many deplorable actions while under the employ of [[spoiler:Fudo Kazanari]]. In the same vein, seeing [[spoiler:Fudo Kazanari's]] plans go haywire is this as [[spoiler:he]] tried to [[spoiler:control Shem-ha]] only to fail due to [[spoiler:Noble Red's]] interference.
* ContestedSequel: GX is beloved by many fans - but just as many are baffled at its popularity. Common criticisms include unlikeable antagonists that the show nevertheless tries to portray in a sympathetic light, bad fights with focus given to power level wank and one sided curbstomps over decent choreography, most of the cast being useless and barely doing anything outside of their focus episodes, pacing issues and a noticeable increase in fanservice compared to the past two seasons.
* CommonKnowledge: The Superb Songs were fansubbed as "Swan Songs." Combining that with Kanade's death, many believed that it was a DeathOrGloryAttack. However, while they do heavy damage back to the users, Superb Songs don't necessarily mean death. Kanade died because of her low compatibility and because she didn't take [=LiNKER=] that day. Serena died from falling debris, ''not'' the Superb Song.
%% Do not list anyone as a Complete Monster without the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=6vic3f9h1cy5qivsenw8llok&page=1 clean-up thread approval]].
* CrackPairing:
** Hibiki x Kanade. There is [[Anime/SuitePrettyCure a good reason]] why some people ship them together and it is not just because of the [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight first and only time]] that they interact. It's not until ''XDU'' where the two interact for an extended period of time and even then, it's an alternate universe Kanade.
** There's also some Kanade/Serena shippers out there, despite the fact that the two have never met in canon. The only thing they really have in common is their DeathByOriginStory (for Tsubasa or Hibiki and Maria respectively). [[ShipMates It's usually seen discussed alongside Tsubasa/Maria.]] Kanade and Serena, much like the above example with Hibiki and Kanade, don't properly interact with each other until ''XDU''.
** Hibiki x [[ScrewYourself ...Hibiki]]. Specifically, quite a few fans (mostly from Japan) are quite fond of shipping Hibiki with her parallel self from ''XDU''. They've never actually met in Parallel Hibiki's debut event, but did meet for ''LOST SONG'', which caused the shippers to rejoice. It doesn't help that Parallel Hibiki's new form combines her Elekleid with Prime Hibiki's Gungnir.
* CultClassic: Despite being small in the west, the fanbase is very passionate. This is the opposite in Japan, where with each season, it became bigger and bigger to the point of being the in the 10 highest grossing anime series for the whole year in terms of Disc sales of their respective airings on TV.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Yumi Itaba, one of Miku's friends, is popular due to her BreakingTheFourthWall habits and for being a [[MetaGuy Meta Girl]].
* EvenBetterSequel:
** The majority of the fans who watched the first season found the sequel to be superior after a few episodes had aired, due to the increased action, an antagonist group that is around since the beginning and comprised of well-developed [[AntiVillain anti-villains]]... and compounding them is Dr. Ver as the BigBad. In fact, it's seen as so much better the Blu-ray sales for the first volume were more than double of that of the blu-ray sales of the first season.
** Really, each subsequent season can be seen as being better than the previous one. ''GX'' proved to be more popular than the first two seasons for the new songs, more action-packed scenes, and dangerous villains, to the point where there had been even more preorders for it than other series that launched in the same season. ''AXZ'' then arguably managed to surpass that by combining the classic ''Symphogear'' staples (e.g. amazing songs and fast-paced action) with more consistent character writing, villains who were as humane as they were dangerous, and corrections to some of the problems fans had with ''GX'' had as mentioned in AuthorsSavingThrow above.
** ''XV'' seems to have topped the pile, owing to its climactic nature, high-quality animation, and revitalizing of older ideas in the franchise. It even briefly cracked the top 100 on [=MyAnimeList=], when previous seasons struggled in the four-digit range.
* EvilIsSexy:
** Nehustan Armour Chris in season 1, due to the armour's {{Stripperific}} nature.
** Finé tops all characters, even after the introduction of future characters.
** Maria in ''G'', thanks for her being even better endowed than Chris.
** Carol's adult form in ''GX''. Groping her own breasts and giving a Finé vibe definitively helps.
** Cagliostro in ''AXZ'', thanks to her BoobsOfSteel and being voiced by a ''male'' [[Creator/ShoutaAoi voice actor]].
** Vanessa ''weaponizes'' this in XV - and it actually works!
** Miku in ''XV'' [[spoiler:when she got possessed by Shem-ha]]. While she is a comely girl already, Miku get extra attractive with a messier hairdo, form-fitting black dress, deeper voice, and confident expressions or body language.
* FanficFuel: The Gjallarhorn relic, introduced in XDU, allows any crossover and alternate universe a writer can think of.
* FanPreferredCouple: In a show full of LesYay (with a fandom that's generally in the camp of HetIsEw), there is actually a single heterosexual pairing that's generally agreed upon in the fandom; Sakuya Fujitaka and Aoi Tomosato. The two of them almost always seen together, have a VitriolicBestBuds relationship that's explored a bit more in a few of the [=OVAs=] and a few Memorias in ''XDU'' together.
* FoeYay:
** Maria and Tsubasa in Season 2. Not only is Maria's Symphogear identical to Kanade's, their duet in the first episode is awfully suggestive, with furtive glances and both performers [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything stroking their long, phallic microphones]]. Once Maria is revealed as a villain, she and Tsubasa directly oppose one another, with their fights being some of the most intense.
** The opening of ''G'' has two silhouettes at the beginning, with one of them trying to catch the hand of the other. The silhouettes are Hibiki and Finé.
* FridgeBrilliance: If the Noise are behind most monsters in legends, maybe people accidentally fused with relics gave birth to werewolf tales?
* FriendlyFandoms:
** Fans from Tokusatsu (Especially ''Franchise/KamenRider'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'') like this series, due to the similar themes ([[HenshinHero transforming heroes]] [[{{Sentai}} with a color theme]]), currently having the most crossover fics on fanfiction.net and even a few shared actors [[note]]Creator/AoiYuuki (Hibiki) played several children when she was younger in ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'', ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'' and ''Series/KamenRider555'', as well as provided the voice for Yurusen in ''Series/KamenRiderGhost''. Creator/TomokazuSugita (Dr. Ver) voiced [[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kivat-Bat the 3rd]], Series/UltramanGinga, [[Series/KamenRiderZiO Kamen Rider Ginga]] and is the narrator/announcer for ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager''. Creator/InoriMinase (Carol) also provides the voice for Princess Mabushina in ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' as well. Creator/MaoIchimichi (Vanessa) is the live-action actor for [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Luka Milfy]] and the voice behind [[Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger Raptor 283]] and [[Series/KamenRiderZeroOne Ai-chan]]. And Creator/ToshihikoSeki (Akira) is [[Series/KamenRiderDenO Momotaros/Den-O Sword Form]][[/note]]. There are even tags for Symphogear/Kamen Rider and Symphogear/Super Sentai art (kamennraida-shinnfogia and sennkisenntaishinnfogia, respectively) on pixiv. Cue rejoicing when ''XDU'' announced an ''[[Franchise/UltraSeries Ultraman]]'' crossover, and even ''more'' rejoicing when a ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' crossover was announced. Not to mention the same rejoicing happened for the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' and ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' events. One could only imagine the explosions if a ''Kamen Rider'' collaboration does come to light.
*** The ''[[Series/KamenRiderDouble Fuuto PI]]'' anime adaptation having several staff members that worked on ''Symphogear'' caused quite a few fans to celebrate.
** ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' since both shows feature {{Magical Girl}}s with insane amounts of badassery and firepower... which begs the question: Which fandom [[DefeatMeansFriendship beat the other up for them to become friends]]? There was much rejoicing when ''XDU'' announced a crossover event.
** There are quite a lot of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' fans as well, due to sharing the same director as well as themes related to ThePowerOfFriendship.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Some fans wondered what Miku would look like if she has a Symphogear of her own, [[SelfFanservice so some fanworks of her in a green Symphogear outfit have surfaced]]. Come Episode 9 of Season 2...[[note]]it's purple[[/note]]
** If you see a MagicalGirl series with the moon as a plot device, wouldn't you think about ''Manga/SailorMoon''?
** Garie is a fan-favorite Autoscorer. Before she was introduced, fans speculated her being the most boring Auto-Scorer due to her lackluster design. Then they learnt that she isn't just a big-eyed doll with a big smile.
** This isn't the [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger first time]] [[Creator/MaoIchimichi Vanessa]] is in a series where there's a squadron of transforming heroes. To add a bit of hilarity, the Gokaigers have the same color schemes as the Symphogears (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink and Silver).
*** This reached a new level of hilarity when the ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' crossover was announced, because the Kiramagers have the same colors as well, not to mention [[Creator/InoriMinase Carol]], [[Creator/TomokazuSugita Dr. Ver]] and [[Creator/KenjiAkabane Sakuya]] having roles in ''Kiramager''.
** When Miku first hears the word "Kadingir", she remarks that internet searches only turn up game walkthroughs. Four years later, ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' came out. Now, most of the top search results for "Kadingir" are indeed in reference to its level "Kadingir Sanctum".
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Tsubasa's character arc in ''XV'' is heavily disliked for it being a DarkerAndEdgier version of her Season 1 development that many found pointless.
* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Chris, who fans pair as a 3rd member of each of the other pairs (Hibiki-Miku, Shirabe-Kirika, Maria-Tsubasa)
* LesYay: [[HoYay/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Has its own page.]]
* LGBTFanbase: With all the LesYay and UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} characters Cagliostro and Prelati, it makes up a good chunk of the fandom.
* LoveToHate:
** The first two {{Big Bad}}s, Finé and Dr. Ver are well received by the fans. Even though they don't fit the MagnificentBastard category, their [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] portrayal and their manipulative abilities have caused the fanbase to like them or to hate them. Especially Dr. Ver is considered as an over-the-top villain, being much crazier than Finé herself, even though Dr. Ver is a weakling compared to her. It helps that he's voiced by Creator/TomokazuSugita, who delivers a fantastic performance despite Ver being [[PlayingAgainstType different from his normal roles]].
** Micha, the last of the Auto-Scorers to appear, was receiving attention online before her official debut in the show. Her shark teeth and manic behavior in the OP may (or may not) have had something to do with that. Garie has also built a dedicated following due to her smug, sarcastic personality and amusing facial expressions. It probably helps that in the first four episodes of GX, she has been the most prominent of the Auto-Scorers following her introduction.
%% Do not list anyone as a Magnificent Bastard without the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15255322860A44444400&page=1 clean-up thread approval]].
* MemeticBadass: Good lord, ''Genjuro''. The fact that he nearly beat Finé on his own, and beat ''all six of the girls while transformed'' is reason enough.
* MemeticLoser:
** Noble Red in ''XV'', due to being the weakest overall villain squad in the series, constantly being trounced by everyone they fight when they don't use dirty tactics. [[spoiler:Their unceremonious death and subsequent revival as perfect monsters at the hands of Shem-Ha have done little to help this, as they effectively failed in their original goal to become human.]]
** Carol became something of one in the ''XDU'' community, namely due to the sheer amount of time it took for her to become a playable character. To put it into perspective, before Carol became playable in September 2019 (right after ''Symphogear XV'' aired its final episode), she was mostly relegated to a boss enemy and the occasional appearance event cards while characters like [[spoiler:Finé, Genjuro, Dr. Ver, the Alchemist trio, Adam, and Ogawa]] were playable. The two year gap between the game's launch and her return spawned several running jokes of Carol trying and failing to make her way into the game while other, more minor characters do, all the while complaining about her lack of relevance since ''GX''.
* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Enough to warrant its own page]].
* MemeticPersonalityChange:
** Kanade in fan works tends to be an absolutely chaotic character (near MemeticBadass levels) that's TheTease to all of her friends.
** While Miku in the [=OVAs=] was already a step up from her canon self in affection, many fan works play up her thirst and attraction to Hibiki to ''[[UpToEleven unbelivable]]'' levels.
** Following the revelation that the adult parallel Serena in ''XDU'' likes to drink beer after training, it is not uncommon for her to be portrayed in fan art as a HardDrinkingPartyGirl despite her disposition otherwise being very reserved.
* {{Moe}}:
** Hibiki and Miku both definitely qualify as this.
** And, come season 2, Kirika and Shirabe both climb onto the Moe bandwagon.
** Chris became '''a lot''' more Moe during Season 2.
** Carol in ''GX'', with her short stature and CuteWitch attire is definitely this, to the point where some find it hard to take her seriously as a villain.
** Not to mention Elfnein, being an even cuter and innocent version of Carol.
** Elsa is the youngest member of Noble Red and is a [[CuteMonsterGirl cute werewolf girl]] with a VerbalTic who acts cordially even to her enemies. People liken her more to a distressed puppy than a serious threat, even after her MidSeasonUpgrade.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: It's clear that everything in this series was made to be as over-the-top as possible for the MagicalGirlWarrior genre, from the badass fight scenes (coupled with SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic) to the utterly depraved villains, as well as the ludicrous NarmCharm moments.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** So how do you think Ver can top Fine in terms of being utterly despicable? Well, a good starter sign of skirting the line would be when he fetches Noises on passing by kids just because they were looking at him fetching Noises to US soldiers with a smile on his face. If that wasn't enough, then forcefully injecting PsychoSerum to Kirika and Shirabe and tells them to use the Swan Song (which would mean death for them) while acting like an EntitledBastard despite their pains and dangers of getting injected with them would be him crossing the line. Kidnapping and brainwashing Miku into giving her a Symphogear form? Now ''that's'' leaping faaaar away and deeper from the horizon, accompanied with the biggest "WOO-HOO!" you can ever imagine. He's still waving and taking another leap when he sends Nastassja off to the moon, killing her, because she's trying to avert the damage he's caused, this is also the final push for Maria to finally have enough with bearing with him and deciding to kill him.
** Carol may well be trying to top Ver in season 3. Rather than explain herself or her position to Hibiki, when the latter finds her at the site of a major fire and voices her intention to come to her aid, she blasts the latter with energy cyclones, to try to force her to fight, purely for the purpose of stripping away her Symphogear, which is well known to be her sole means of life support. When attacking Hibiki directly doesn't work, she sends her Autoscorers to attack anyone ''near'' Hibiki to try to provoke her. After forcing Hibiki to fight by directly threatening Miku, an unarmed civilian, she then only defeats Hibiki because Hibiki was fighting Autoscorers two on one, but that still is not enough. While Hibiki is ''comatose'', Carol sends all the Autoscorers out to destroy the power supply to the ''hospitals'' where Hibiki ''might'' be. And lastly when Shirabe and Kirika come out to protect the Medical bay where Hibiki is staying, Carol doesn't just order her Autoscorers to disable the girls' Symphogear, but explicitly tells them to "do whatever [they] want" because the girls are "uninteresting." Oh, and that FreudianExcuse? Turns out those people are long dead, as in dead for centuries, and Carol's desire to "kill a miracle" by dissecting the planet has nothing to do with her father's dying wish, as she originally claimed. If that doesn't convince you, then Episode 12 would instead: After Elfnein translates that her father's true wish is to forgive the world and that is the true key of understanding the world like what alchemy was meant to be... [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Carol instead just flat out refuse to honor that]], choosing to still hate the world for killing her father and goes on ahead anyway with her attempts to destroy the world for nothing but self-indulged vengeance.
** Millaarc in episode 2 of [=XV=], first she raids a concert by Tsubasa and Maria releasing hundreds of Alca-Noise on the unsuspecting civilains, killing 70,000, giving callbacks to Episode 1 of the first series, but then she brutally kills one fan, a [[WouldHurtAChild child]], right in front of an already disturbed Tsubasa. [[spoiler:Just to make it worse, more than a few fans think the victim was the little girl Hibiki rescued in episode 1 of the first series.]] This was Millaarc's EstablishingCharacterMoment and she already crossed the horizon. Following this, later episodes' attempts to give her sympathetic traits have had variable effect on viewers.
** Fudo Kazanari finally gets there in ''XV'' episode 9 by [[spoiler:[[OffingTheOffspring attempting to shoot Tsubasa dead for shaming the family, kills Yatsuhiro instead, and GLOATS ABOUT KILLING HIS OWN CHILD.]]]]
*** Honestly, Fudo probably crossed that line long before the series began by raping his own daughter-in-law to produce Tsubasa, then turning Tsubasa into a lab rat for most of her life and a Symphogear user against her will.
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Anytime a Symphogear initiates her TransformationSequence, [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign no matter how nonsensical the activation phrase sounds]], you know you're in for a treat as asskicking ensues, topped by [[AwesomeMusic/SenkiZesshouSymphogear the serie's great repertoire of song]].
* {{Narm}}: The show is ridiculous, in both the good ''and'' the bad sense. It's about hot-blooded [[MagicalGirlWarrior Magical Girl Warriors]] who have to sing idol songs in order to go into battle. They fight "Noise", the bastard children of [[Film/ForbiddenPlanet Robbie the Robot]] and an [[{{IProduct}} iMac]]. [[MoodWhiplash The tone veers wildly back and forth between grim, apocalyptic melodrama about living under constant threat from monsters that turn people into ash with a touch and goofy, lighthearted slapstick with whimsical music.]] Their costumes look like--to quote Creator/BenCroshaw--somebody started designing them and just never stopped, such as Chris's leotard[=/=]fighter jet ensemble with a headdress made of turbines and solar panels. The plot never passes up an opportunity to stuff convoluted backstory about ancient conspiracies into its season finales. One villain introduced in season five carries ''rolling luggage'' into battle like she's late for her flight. It's amazing. It's stupid. It's incredible. It's incredulous. It's MagicalGirl meets {{Tokusatsu}} meets {{Mecha}} with a CastFullOfGay. It's...it's ''Symphogear''. There's nothing else quite like it.
** In the first season, Hibiki constantly calls Chris [[Webcomic/{{Sonichu}} Chris-chan]]. This led to the [[https://twitter.com/CianuroArts/status/1213690242932326400 logical conclusion]].
** The attack name splashes during more serious moments (like Tsubasa using Shadow Weaving on a berserk Hibiki in Season 1) can really kill the tension and mood.
* NarmCharm:
** For both tropes, special mention goes to Finé/Ryoko's Engrish.
** Ver's manic facial expressions are either funny or disgusting.
** The poses of the Auto-Scorers are either funny or weird.
* NightmareFuel: The series has quite a handful of this.
* OneTruePairing: Hibiki and Miku since the first season and Shirabe and Kirika since ''G''. Tsubasa and Maria almost crosses this thanks to their moments together in ''GX''.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
** Hibiki nearly became TheScrappy because of her poor performance during the first four episodes. Episode 5 rescued her, and the second season increased her popularity.
** Maria finally getting over her indecisiveness and getting stuff done in the finale improved her status among viewers. ''GX'' improved her standing as she became more decisive and her battling of the Auto-Scorers despite the disadvantage, especially after she manages to beat Garie solo with a new Gear, in IGNITE mode, after failing to activate it at least once.
** Kirika has become a lot more popular after her BigDamnHeroes moment in the third episode of ''GX'', rescuing Chris despite the risk to her body caused by transforming without [=LiNKER=].
** While he's most likely the most hated character of the season, to some, Hibiki's father is considered slightly redeemed during the encounter with Carol, whereas all his cowardly acts turns out were meant to be a HeroicSacrifice so Hibiki can live and fix the family while he's gone, and he actually decided to man up, face his faults, actually helps Hibiki transform and then watch her battles from afar with complete faith. Taken even further in [[spoiler: XV ep 9, where he takes in Hibiki while she was temporarily under house arrest for using her amalgalm form. He admits again that he isn't a good dad, but he manages to reconnect with his daughter again, and both seem to officially bury the hatchet, reminding her the very words he taught her, "Heki Hecchara" and she bounces back from her loss of Miku to Shem-Ha thanks to him.]]
** The Autoscorers were derided as being an InvincibleVillain team during ''GX'''s run, with their obvious ThanatosGambit robbing the heroes of any sense of victory against them. [[spoiler:Their return in ''XV'' sees them put in a legitimately desperate situation for a change, while giving them sympathetic moments and their more flavorful personalities from the Zesshoushinai omake episodes.]]
** Carol, though not an outright scrappy as mentioned in BaseBreakingCharacter above, was still regarded as the weakest antagonist in the series. Her return in ''XV'' did wonders to elevate her status by bringing her power in line with the rest of the cast without sacrificing the aspects of her that were already well-received, developing her relationship with Elfnein, realigning her motivations in a way that fits the plot, having a host of awesome moments where she singlehandedly turns the tide to the heroes' side, and being the person that gets Hibiki to finally admit her feelings for Miku. Coupled with her long-awaited playable appearance in ''XDU'' as mentioned in MemeticLoser above, and it's no wonder that she has since amassed a following rivaling that of the six Symphogear users.
* TheScrappy: It's rather ironic that those who owned this status somehow get redeemed as seen above. But, to list their original faults...
** Ryoko got a lot of hate during the first season even before she's revealed to be Finé largely for being a one-dimensional over-the-top GeniusDitz HotScientist and it doesn't help that she's a PsychoLesbian as indicated by her room filled with many photos of Hibiki.
** And for season two, Maria has become one of these. She started the season with a lot of love in part due to fantastic songs and being voiced by Yoko Hikasa. BadassDecay and failing to get anything done plot-wise gained her a great deal of hate.
** Quite a few people were annoyed by Kirika's actions in ''G'', thanks to the subplot about her becoming Finé, which was ripe with {{Wangst}} and bad decisions. And it turned out that Shirabe was Finé all along, which made the clumsy writing completely pointless.
** Hibiki's father, who abandoned his family after the concert disaster in Season 1, makes his first in-person appearance in the show in GX. In his first shared scene with Hibiki, he not only refuses to apologise, but asks for her help in trying to get him back with Hibiki's mother, and at the end of the conversation [[RefugeInAudacity leaves Hibiki with the lunch bill]]. His later appearances do nothing to endear him to fans either; while by the end of the series Hibiki has forgiven him and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap he actually did some genuinely good and protective actions on Hibiki to regain that trust]] (and even she reintroduced him to her mother, who doesn't seem too happy at the prospect), he's still probably the most reviled character in the series among fans.
* SignatureScene: [[CosmicPlaything Tsubasa's]] [[TearsOfBlood appearance]] [[BloodFromTheMouth after]] [[BrokenSmile using]] [[ThousandYardStare her]] [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Superb Song]].
** The opening scene of Season 3 also qualifies, for showcasing the show's crazy-awesome tendencies. It's usually the go-to scene of Symphogear fans for convincing someone to watch the show.
* ShipToShipCombat:
** [[ShipTease Tsubasa/Maria]] vs. [[RedOniBlueOni Tsubasa/Chris]]. [[FirstGirlWins Tsubasa/Kanade]] quite often falls into the crossfire too, despite [[TheLostLenore Kanade's death]]. Though more than a few fans are willing to make peace with OneTrueThreesome when regarding Maria and Chris and {{Polyamory}} if Kanade's included.
** Unlike the others, Chris doesn't get a solidified partner by the end of the series. Once again, it's a OneTrueThreesome battle between either her with Hibiki/Miku or Tsubasa/Maria.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Kanade and Serena in canon. Their appearances in ''XDU'' act as an AuthorsSavingThrow.
* TooCoolToLive: Kanade. Being voiced by Creator/MinamiTakayama, part of TWO-MIX, and being the partner of Tsubasa in singing, not to mention being a lively ActionGirl and CoolBigSis while the plot demands characters like her to sing a lot? Of course she had to be killed off early lest she blew up the show's budget by merely existing.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Noble Red. The show paints them as tragic people whose actions are motivated by wanting to be human again and not be treated as monsters. However, their actions in episode 2 in which they massacred an entire concert hall of innocent people with Alca-Noise, with Millaarc gleefully killing a girl right in front of Tsubasa, left them losing sympathy since they acted monstrous.
* TheUnTwist: The twist that [[spoiler: Ryouko is Fine]] is so obvious the show doesn't even bother to do a surprise reveal. Episode 10 just begins with the character in question sitting in the middle of the villain's lair in a flat medium shot with no pomp and circumstance whatsoever.
* ValuesDissonance: One of the biggest issues many Western fans have is how neglectful parenting is forgiven. However, unlike in America, where child abuse and neglect called out and considered wrong, Japan's views are completely different. In Japan (and most Asian countries), parental respect is highly valued. As a result, the fault is always with the child and the parents are always considered to be "trying their best." Children are expected to forgive their parents no matter what or they'd be considered "bad children."
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Symphogear is classified under Shonen, and is quite a colorful and positive series with a cheerful protagonist. There are a bit of risque fanservice moments, but it's nothing too bad. And then you get to [[NightmareFace scenes]] like Tsubasa or Serena using their Swan Songs. But it doesn't stop there. Chris and the F.I.S.'s [[DarkAndTroubledPast backstories]] are quite dark (Chris being orphaned, trafficked around as a slave, with implications of ''rape'', while Maria came from a war-torn country before joining Shirabe and Kirika and being experimented on at young ages), and then Tsubasa reveals her family lineage, causing quite a few fans to share Maria's disgust. Not to mention how as the animation improved, so did quite a few of the gore scenes, being far more detailed and bloody to the point they're a far cry from Hibiki's injury back in Season 1.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: During transformation sequences, a random splice of words flow in the background. In most cases, they're faux German, except for maybe a few. During Kanade's transformation, for example, the word "ziggurat" flows for a short moment before the cut. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat Strange how The Other Wiki notes that]] none of the shrines on them were saved.
* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: All of the Japanese voice actresses for the Symphogear users are ''not'' widely known for the genre they portray in the anime. (Creator/AoiYuuki doing a badass {{Leitmotif}}? Creator/AyahiTakagaki opting for HARD ROCK?). To be fair, Creator/NanaMizuki does have yet another DarkMagicalGirl character. Also Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.
* TheWoobie:
** Hibiki is hit VERY hard by the Woobie stick in ''GX''. While her backstory was already hinted at in ''G'', it's only in ''GX'' that we see just how hard her backstory and experiences contribute to her being a StepfordSmiler that's too close to the edge. She loses it twice big-time in ''GX'' - once when Maria is forced to fight on her behalf and another when she runs into her estranged father.
*** This crosses into TearJerker territory when the other Symphogear users want to help and comfort her but can't because they don't know what it's like to have stable family relationships. Tsubasa's dad consistently treated her as a tool of the Kazanari family (and her mom is completely absent from the story), Chris's parents died when she was young, and the F.I.S. Children don't have any relatives to speak of, with Maria losing her younger sister years prior to the events of ''G''.
** And then there's Tsubasa herself. The show just seems to enjoy torturing her, making her the honing point for any sort of suffering that's available, ''especially'' if the episode focuses on her. And then came ''XV'', pretty much setting it in stone that her life is just the absolute ''worst.''
** Chris hovers between being a standard Woobie and a JerkassWoobie due to her coarse personality, but given her DarkAndTroubledPast it's hard not to feel bad for her either way.
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 87 (click to see context) from:
** Kanade in fan works tends to be an absolutely chaotic character (near MemeticBadass levels) that's TheTease to all of her friends. Several versions up the ante and make her a [[HaremGenre harem protagonist]].
to:
** Kanade in fan works tends to be an absolutely chaotic character (near MemeticBadass levels) that's TheTease to all of her friends. Several versions up the ante and make her a [[HaremGenre harem protagonist]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 87 (click to see context) from:
** Kanade in fan works tends to be an absolutely chaotic character (near MemeticBadass levels) that's TheTease to all of her friends.
to:
** Kanade in fan works tends to be an absolutely chaotic character (near MemeticBadass levels) that's TheTease to all of her friends. Several versions up the ante and make her a [[HaremGenre harem protagonist]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Chris hovers between being a standard Woobie and a JerkassWoobie due to her coarse personality, but given her DarkAndTroubledPast it's hard not to feel bad for her either way.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 128 (click to see context) :
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Kanade and Serena in canon. Their appearances in ''XDU'' act as an AuthorsSavingThrow.
Added DiffLines:
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Kanade and Serena in canon. Their appearances in ''XDU'' act as an AuthorsSavingThrow.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 22,23 (click to see context) from:
** The TrainingMontage in episode 9 of G. It's comes after TheReveal that Miku is alive and doesn't seem to serve a real purpose compare to season one's montage to make Hibiki a better fighter.
** It serves to have Genjuro and Hibiki sing the theme from ''Police Story''.
** It serves to have Genjuro and Hibiki sing the theme from ''Police Story''.
to:
** The TrainingMontage in episode 9 of G. It's comes after TheReveal that Miku is alive and doesn't seem to serve a real purpose compare to season one's montage to make Hibiki a better fighter.
** It serves to havefighter. Just about the only thing it ''does'' do is allow Genjuro and Hibiki to sing the theme from ''Police Story''.''Film/PoliceStory''.
** It serves to have
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Kanade and Serena in canon. Their appearances in ''XDU'' act as an AuthorsSavingThrow.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 64 (click to see context) from:
*** The ''Fuuto PI'' anime adaptation having several staff members that worked on ''Symphogear'' caused quite a few fans to celebrate.
to:
*** The ''Fuuto PI'' ''[[Series/KamenRiderDouble Fuuto PI]]'' anime adaptation having several staff members that worked on ''Symphogear'' caused quite a few fans to celebrate.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
*** The ''Fuuto PI'' anime adaptation having several staff members that worked on ''Symphogear'' caused quite a few fans to celebrate.
