In a glorious amalgamation of what appears to be an magical girl anime, an idol anime, and giving off some strong Macross vibes, Symphogear certainly isn’t for everyone. However, it does have some top-tier anime songs, and since they use them to fight, a whole lot of them. There is also some unexpectedly good pacing to the battles, a lot of flash in the major ones, and some unexpected darkness at moments.
If you are into any of the above, you should definitely give Symphogear a try. The issue is that the naming scheme of the season can serve as a bit of a barrier for entry. Letters of the alphabet don’t serve as a good indicator of what season you want to watch like good ol’ 1-2-3 does.
Symphogears Watch Order
Recommended Watch Order of Symphogear – Release Order
The release order should be simple to follow, but again – the freakin’ letters. So here’s the complete list with their full insane song lyric-length titles for good measure. Luckily they appear to have given those up in recent seasons.
- Symphogear, also known as Senki Zesshou Symphogear: Meteoroid-Falling, Burning, and Disappear, Then…
- Symphogear G, also known as Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: In the Distance, That Day, When the Star Became Music…
- Symphgear G OVAs
- Symphogear GX, also known as Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX: Believe in Justice and Hold a Determination to Fist.
- Symphogear GX OVAs
- Symphogear AXZ
- Symphogear AXZ OVAs
- Symphogear XV
- Symphogear XV OVAS
Do You Need to Watch the Shinai OVAs?
For every series after the original series, you will have between two to four-episode OVAS referred to as the Shinai OVAs. They aren’t mandatory and because they are in super deformed chibi style, many choose to skip them. Mostly they just have some fun moments, but sometimes there are a few bits of character development, especially for the villains of that given series.
Is there a Chronological Symphogear Watch Order?
In truth, the plot of Symphogear is not the most cerebral experience. So watching the seasons then their optional specials, as is the release order, is what is recommended. If you wanted to do a chronological watch, it is all about weaving in the special OVAs, which would be difficult since the individual OVA episodes jump around between periods during and after the given series. It’s not worth making a list to the minute marker on when you need to switch.
