This post was last modified: Oct 11, 2017 at 6:56 AM by Draku.

PART 3: THE IDEA AND CHARACTERS OF SYMPHOGEAR AND HOW GX FUCKS THEM UP, SECTION II

I'm going to kick off this post in particular on Chris, the one character they actually consistently have some development that they don't need to recycle at all for as she never gets quite used to the whole being with others thing and they did something neat with it in even GX, so there's something. She starts out as an antagonist in Season 1, before revealing to the heroines that she is in fact a Symphogear user herself. After being betrayed by the main villain, Chris is thrown out and left for dead, only to be rescued and later cooperate with the heroes to take down said main villain. All she knows is violence yet hates it, due to her tragic past where her parents were lost to an an act of terrorism. This is actually for her benefit as far as her GX characterization goes though, since she has no dad they can't suddenly introduce him for her angst to center around like the other two Season 1 protagonists.

Chris's incredible life advice during Season 1.

Chris has issues coordinating early on, bumping into Tsubasa in the midst of her first cooperative fight with the main two. She's obviously not very used to this whole deal, and it serves to show her personality flaws in action while not making her out to be fucking braindead. Don't worry, this will come back in a second. Anyways, she eventually learns how to fight with Hibiki and Tsubasa, and manages to fully battle in tandem with them during the climax, their combined strength saving the day. Her heart still isn't fully open by the end of the season, but it was a strong start. Season 2 delves further into this, with her making her first friends at school that she's not very comfortable at all with at first, being quite socially awkward and uncertain of how to deal with them. However, in battle, she continues to iterate on her ability to work with others, culminating in a scene wherein she pulls a fast one on the Season 2 villain by fully trusting Tsubasa, the two having practiced so hard on combinations that they knew eachother's movements with their eyes closed.

Chris's inability to coordinate with others during Season 1, shown by her colliding with Tsubasa in the middle of a battle.

GX gives Chris a really neat relationship with two of the new additions to the Symphogear team, two of the younger antagonists of the previous season, Shirabe and Kirika. They look up to her as an upperclassmen both in school and as a combatant, and they have many cute moments together. However, Chris is very conflicted, fearing she will be left all alone again if she fails to protect them. So what does she do the instant something goes wrong while she's in battle together with them? Why, lose focus completely and SHOOT AT THEM, of course! That's right, Chris, the one who was able to get over her issues in working with others during fights and even dodge another friend's attacks blindfolded while simultaneously being able to miss her on purpose manages to unload a set of dual miniguns on her beloved juniors. Fucking genius. This is actually one of the only main complaints I have about her GX character but it bothers me so much because it betrays everything the series had been advancing as far as her characterization in a single and incredibly stupid instant. This same moment had Shirabe and Kirika momentarily reduced to drooling morons too, since they refused to attack a villainous character because of his assistance to them in a previous field that he wouldn't even be able to help them with any further at that point anyways due to circumstances. GX has a lot of this shit, where the characters momentarily turn intensely dumb in order for the villains to be able to get away with whatever they're currently trying to do.

Chris's inability to coordinate with others during GX, shown by her FUCKING SHOOTING AT HER UNDERCLASSMEN HOLY SHIT.

Speaking of Shirabe and Kirika, I might as well touch on how stupid GX handles them too here. It does try for something relatively fresh at first with their fear of being useless due to needing LiNKER (A Symphogear compatibility enhancement drug used only by those who lack innate ability) to fight and being the weakest Gear users on the team and overcoming it because of their bond, but they also happen to have another subplot. See, season 2's climax arc features a clash between the two, where Kirika wants to save the world in her own way to protect Shirabe, but Shirabe wants to prevent what Kirika is going along with because she thinks it will put Kirika in danger. At the heart of the issue, the two simply want to save the other's smile, and go the route they believe will achieve that. At the end of it all, they realize that butting heads like this helps no one but instead hurts the one they care about the most, and resolve their conflict.

Shirabe and Kirika feuding because one wants to protect the other in Season 2. Have I mentioned how gay these two are? It's the best.

Cue GX, which decides to reuse this outright when the two are involved in a battle in which Shirabe protects Kirika from an attack, and Kirika gets FUCKING PISSED for some reason about it because she wants to be the one to protect Shirabe instead. The two then get pouty with each other while covered in bandages because apparently this has totally never come up before as an issue. The show does try to develop this later on in the same episode to include a different, newer lesson about how they're not looked down upon by their comrades because they're weak, but rather they're being cared about. However this hardly fits into how the conflict is originally presented and feels like an afternote to differentiate it from G's aforementioned issue between the two.

Shirabe and Kirika feuding because one wants to protect the other in Season 3.

Tomorrow I'll be going on about the final main cast member and how GX did her almost no favors either, as well as probably some other stuff the season fucked up.

Fuck Symphogear GX.

You sound angry.

You sound angry.

I am angry.
ANGRY ABOUT ELVES