Under constant assault by an alien race called Noise, society doesn’t know that the idol duo Zwei Wing use their songs to charge powerful weapons known as Symphogear to fight back. After an attack at a concert, part of the duo sacrifices themselves to save a young girl, implanting a fragment of her Symphogear in that girl in her last moments. Years later, that same girl awakens the power to defend humanity with the power of the Symphogear within her.
Oh boy, Symphogear is a special blend of anime, appealing to hardcore action fans, idol fans, shoujo ai fans, and magical girl fans alike. It is hard to get a mix like that to work, but it works. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Symphogear, then head on down below.
Anime Like Symphogear
For Fans of Music-Based Battlers
Takt Op. Destiny
After a meteor fell to Earth, the D2s invaded a large portion of the United States. In order to prevent angering the D2s who hate music, all music was banned. Despite this, D2 attacks aren’t uncommon. The only defense against them remains Musicarts and their Conductor companions. Takt, a piano prodigy, finds himself transformed into a Conductor after his friend Cosette is killed and transformed into his Musicart named Destiny. Together with Cosette’s sister Anna, they travel to New York City in hopes of stabilizing their pact.
Both series lean heavily on music as the power for their battles. However, while the emphasis on music becomes less and less relevant as Symphogear goes on, it remains central in Takt Op. Destiny as it is so deeply ingrained in the plot. Regardless, both are colorful and often beautiful animated which makes the action amazing to watch.
Revue Starlight
Seisho Music Academy was established to foster the next generation of theatrical talents. The girls within all study singing, dancing, and acting in hopes of having a future in performance art. Karen Aijou is one such student who has dreamed of performing since she was a child. However, upon happening across a secret elevator, she finds an arena where girls participate in duels to determine who will play the lead roles in the upcoming Starlight performance at their school festival.
While Revue Starlight only remains similar to the first season of Symphogears when there was a bigger focus on school life, both series are about battles with music. While Symphogear has its battles grow grander in scale, Revue Starlight keeps them small and interesting. Both series also make plenty of time for character relationship drama as well. As Revue Starlight keeps the spectacle on a lower scale, it relies more on character drama for plot and motivation.
Classicaloid
After he father fled with the family fortune, Kanae Otowa has lived in her family’s ancestral mansion, trying to keep things afloat. However, when the eviction notice comes, she has to remove her friend Sousuke and two strange people claiming to be friends with her father – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Upon stubbornly refusing to leave, Beethoven awakens the power of Musik and delays the eviction. Now, a number of Musik users are drawn to the house, but not all have noble motives for the power.
Unlike Symphogear that yearns to have its music-based battles be taken seriously, Classicaloid knows exactly what it is. It is a silly show with big, grand musical spectacles and fights that push the extremes. It has a relatively weak plot, but it loves its classical musicians and classical music, pushing both into frequent combat.
Macross Frontier
Humanity has long waged war against a group of giants known as the Zentradi. Facing extinction in their losing war, they fled to the stars, heading towards the center of the galaxy. While preparing to accompany a songstress in his mech, the young pilot Alto watches the concert venue get attacked by a new enemy, bio-mechanical creatures called the Varja. In the chaos, Alto manages to save a young girl targeted by these creatures and gets pulled into humanity’s new war.
There is no question that Symphogear drew a lot of inspiration from the big campy energy of beloved Macross Frontier, even starting in a similar way. While Macross Frontier is a mecha series, it is a mecha series in where the power of song saves the universe. It is what makes it ridiculous, and also what makes it great. A situation that Symphogear often finds itself in as well.
For Fans of Sci-fi Magical Girls
Vividred Operations
Thanks to the manifestation engine, the world’s energy problems were solved. For Akane, she lives with her sister and grandfather in a poor, but happy and peaceful existence. However, one day humanity is threatened by a mysterious entity known as the Alone that is targeting the manifestation engine. Although no traditional weapons work, Akane finds that her grandfather, who used to work on the manifestation engine and now only develops seemingly useless inventions, invented the one weapon they have that can fight back – the Vivid System.
Both series are sci-fi-type magical series where only a select few girls can use the power that is able to fight the enemy of humanity. As Vividred has an element of merging with other fighters, it focuses on building relationships with those characters, but the meat of the series is in the battles.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
After saving a ferret, the creature cries out to young Nanoha for help. He turns out to be a mage from another world trying to collect dangerous jewel seeds that were scattered all over the world accidentally. Agreeing to help, he grants her a magical wand and begins to teach her how to become a wonderful mage. However, Nanoha and this mage are not the only ones after the jewel.
While Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha starts off as a traditional magical girl series, the transformations and powers grow distinctly more sci-fi-inspired in later entries as it also becomes much darker. As a similarly long running series like Symphogear, you get to know a few main characters really well, but it also introduces new characters frequently unlike Symphogear that keeps the main cast throughout.
Strike Witches
With the appearance of an alien race known as the Nueroi, Earth was pushed to the brink. To combat this force, a new device known as Striker Units were developed. The young girls that equipped these weapons became known as Witches and are now humanity’s last line of defense. Strike Witches follows Yoshika Miyafuji who joins the 501st Joint Fighter Wing in order to become a Strike Witch.
While Strike Witches lacks the big magical girl transformations, it does focus on girls fighting an otherworldly enemy with new and mysterious technology. Strike Witches is more military-themed, but like Symphogear, it features a whole gaggle of school girls with diverse personalities and relationships with each other.
For Fans of Character Relationship Drama
Yuki Yuna is a Hero
As part of the Hero Club, Yuki Yuna thinks she knows what it means to be a hero – Helping others. However, when the Hero Club begins to manifest actual powers and has to fight a mysterious force, the girls will learn what being a hero really means.
While Yuki Yuna is firmly a magical girl series bordering on a dark magical subversion at times, it has a strong focus on the character drama and various relationships like Symphogear. Furthermore, it puts a big emphasis on those big final battle type moments that can only be overcome with teamwork and the power of friendship. If you are a big Hibiki fan, Yuna brings that same energy.
Assault Lily: Bouquet
Humanity is pushed to the brink by an entity known as Huge. To combat this, a weapon called CHARM was developed. Best used by teen girls, these young warriors, known as Lilies, are trained up to use CHARM in special schools.
Assault Lily is Symphogear with a different name and more characters. While Symphogear and its many seasons fight different enemies, both series, at their core, are about fighting monsters with powerful weapons. However, as the weapons are more readily available in Assault Lily, the cast is much larger and it doesn’t have as deep of character relationships because of it.
Mai-Hime
Humanity has become threatened by the presence of mysterious creatures known as Orphans. However, 13 girls have manifested the ability to materialize elements and summon guardians known as Childs, effectively fighting these creatures. As humanity’s last and best hope, these girls are all gathered at Fuuka Academy to hone their skills for battle.
While on the low end of the magical girl spectrum, Mai-hime, like Symphogear, starts off in a girls school that is training girls for a specific purpose. It balances moments of character bonding, building, and fluff with pretty brutal battles. Both series are pretty focused on inter-character relationships and drama.
For Fans of Big, Ridiculous Action
Kill la Kill
Ryuuko Matoi is on the hunt for her father’s killer, and her only lead is the missing half of his invention, the Scissor Blade. On her quest, she arrives at the prestigious Honnouji Academy, a school that is ruled over by the super powerful Satsuki Kiryuuin and her Elite Four. Believing Satsuki knows who killed her father, Ryuuko challenges one of the elite, but gets beaten due to their special uniforms. After receiving a special uniform of her own, Ryuuko sets plans into motion to dominate the school and find out what happened to her father.
Did you enjoy the times in Symphogear where the action got so big and and ridiculous that it circled past being bad and was amazing again? Because that is Kill la Kill too. Both shows take time to build interesting characters, but what they are remembered for is those intense over-the-top moments where the action only gets bigger and more energetic.
Toppa Tengen Gurren Lagann
While digging around in his underground village, a young boy named Simon uncovers a mysterious object that turns out to be the ignition key to an ancient artifact of war. When their village comes under attack, Simon and his daring adoptive older brother Kamina use this weapon to fend off the invaders, discovering that there is a whole surface world above them in the process. With the sky now in plain view, Kamina and Simon set off on a journey that will take them across the galaxy.
Gurren Lagann is Symphogear with an extra large scoop of manliness mixed in. Both series lean on big events, done flashily, with tons of screaming and explosions. However, while Symphogear takes inspiration from mecha, Gurren Lagann is all mecha homage and parody
Do you have more anime recommendations like Symphogear? Let fans know in the comments section below.
