Production of Symphogear part 1: Storyboards

Although I had hoped to update the blog more frequently after H&D finished subbing GX, various things have gotten in my way and I haven’t had time. This will likely continue for the next few months, but I’m still going to try to update when I can. Recently there have been some significant merchandise announcements that I’d like to cover in a more comprehensive post, but for now I’ll just mention that the GX design artbook and staff book were announced for a February release next year. To celebrate that I’m going to make a few posts to share some production materials I’ve gotten my hands on over the past months.

Summary of Zesshoushinai GX 1

Tonight I got my copy of BD vol 3, after watching it I decided to do a quick run down of what happens in Zesshoushinai. Of course H&D has plans to do subs, but it might take awhile depending on various factors. In the meantime I hope this will satisfy your appetite.

Symphogear GX design sheets

Whenever an anime series ends the secondary market is often flooded with production materials that are sold off by staff members looking for extra money. Recently some of the design sheets for GX when up for auction, reaching prices of $500 and $600 for 100-200 sheets.

Dec 2015 Interview with Kaneko and Agematsu

The most recent issue of Bushiroad's monthly magazine was released just a few days ago. It features an article and interview with the creators in celebration of the upcoming release of the Symphogear GX booster for the Weiss Schwarz card game. It also includes an exclusive promo card! You can read the interview after the jump.

Symphogear and Yugioh

What exactly is it that these two series share? It might surprise you to know it's more than just the subtitle "GX."

Small updates

BD 2 is now out, and BD 3 is on the horizon. The deadline of the lottery for concert tickets for Day 2 is November 16th. If you have a code you want me to enter for you, or if you have a code you don't plan to use otherwise please send me an email: zoidzero1@gmail.com

The lottery results will be announced on November 20th.

Interview with Kaneko from Megami Magazine November 2015

I didn't pick this up until recently, but it was actually released just prior to the final episode of GX. Since it was shorter than the Newtype interview I let it take priority, but I'll finish the other TL in another week or so.  Anyway, there's some interesting insight into the characters here. Enjoy.

New merchandise overview

During its TV airing, Symphogear GX saw only one piece of official merchandise: a single clear file. However, since the series has ended a few companies have step up to provide some generic and not-so-generic merchandise to open your wallet.

Interview with Kaneko from Animedia vol. 418

Recently there were 2 interviews published in the November issues of Newtype and Animedia. I picked up both of them this weekend and so far have finished TLing one of them. Hopefully I will finish the other one by the end of the week. They offer some good insight into the intentions of the creators and what went on behind the scenes of GX.

Update on Symphogear Live 2016

With the release of the first blu-ray comes new information about the concert tickets and how you can go about getting them. I'll explain more details in this post.

So I heard you like keywords

As always, I'm failing to keep up with these as they come out but I'm trying to add in a select few every now and then. Enjoy.

So you want to go to Symphogear Live 2016

I've gotten numerous emails and twitter/tumblr questions about the concert next year from people who are interested in attending. The process isn't exactly easy, but it's not impossible either. Basically, if you have enough money to get a ticket and get to Japan, then there's really nothing standing in your way. The problem is: getting a good seat.

GX keyword update

I took some time this afternoon to translate a selection of the new GX keywords. I hope to catch up and have them all current before the final episode airs, but depending on how long they get that may not be possible. Stay tuned and remember you can access each season's keywords on these individual pages: Season 1 / Season 2 / Season 3

Still alive

Doing subs for H&D has kept the majority of my focus and so I have been neglecting the blog, but I would like to take some time to post updates today regarding various things. The vacation season here in Japan is now over, so I should gradually have more and more time to catch up and keep up with all the things that are happening.

The Ongoing Symphogear GX Keyword Compendium

An ongoing collection of the keywords posted to the Symphogear GX website. 
Although I hope to update this with proper translations weekly, you can follow my twitter for summaries of the new keywords when the official site updates each Friday.

The "Best of Symphogear"

From the official site, the staff and cast were asked to select and comment on their favorite scene from either season 1 or season 2. The results are as follows: 

2016 Concert Announced

At the end of the nico stream event the next concert was announced to be held in February of next year. It will span 2 days.

Celestial Stars Galaxy Cross lyrics

Today was the official release of "Seiten Galaxy Cross," which means we now have the lyrics available to decipher what exactly they are singing about. Despite my best efforts, I misheard a number of lines that are now mistranslated in the subs. Furthermore, the new lines offered context which led me to re-write other lines entirely. Anyway, here is the full version of the song in English. See if you can pick out the references to "Gyakkou no Flugel" and "Fushichou no Flamme"

Small updates, big announcement to come

Check out H&D subs for episode 1 - Translated by yours truly. Updates on the blog will be infrequent, as always my twitter is where things will come first. Galaxy Cross is released tomorrow and an announcement will come later tonight after the nico broadcast. In the mean time, here's some merch info.

Rebirth-day Preview and lyrics

Today is the day! GX begins airing in about...5 more hours. Before that, here's something to whet your appetite.

Catching up on official site updates

I had a busy weekend so now I'm going back to look at all the updates on the official site. This includes a preview of episode 1 and new quotes on all the character pages. They also put up keywords, but they are rehashes of ones that were in s1 and G.

Exterminate fully previewed on Nana Mizuki's radio show

Tonight on her program, Smile Gang, Nana released a preview of the full version of "Exterminate." She mentioned that Agematsu told her to write it with the intention of being the "national anthem" of Symphogear.

New promotional video released!

The official site updated with the new PV, which not only includes tons of new footage but reveals a new song sung by Hibiki, Chris and Tsubasa: Radiant Force.

Symphogear GX Radio!

Late update because I was in Tokyo for the weekend, but the official site has announced that GX will have its own radio program aired weekly starting July 3rd.

GX official site announces pre-screening event

Today the site updated with an announcement about a special event, a pre-screening of GX prior to its television premiere.

Magazine interviews and more shed some light on GX (spoilers)

From now on I will be marking posts like these with a spoiler tag to alert readers that specific details will be revealed in the post. Although the interviews don’t exactly spoil specific plot details that effect the entire series, they do spoil some of the “events” that will occur in episode 1. If you’d prefer to be surprised, I recommend you stop reading. 

What’s in a name? GX’s new characters and their influences

From the beginning, the names of the characters in Symphogear were carefully chosen by the creators, usually to highlight their role in the story, or other times to reflect deeper meanings and hints at their backstories. In GX, this is no exception. Carol and Elfnein received their names from co-creator and music producer, Agematsu, while the four dolls were likely named by Kaneko. In this post we’ll try to explore what their names might mean.

GX official site reveals first CD cover design and store bonuses

The release schedule and store bonuses are pretty much the same as they were for G, but I will outline them here for people interested. Currently there are no pictures for the store bonuses, but the website will update with them sometime in the future.

New website update reveals new characters, air date and more.

I picked up the new issues of Newtype and Animedia today, so I will make a separate post for the information that was revealed in those later. For now the official site updated with even more new content including a new key visual.

GX new enemy characters and cast revealed AND airdate leak

Courtesy of a 4 day early magazine leak comes our first official look at the new characters in GX.

GX observations and theories

It's still too early to know for sure what GX has in store for us, but I think we can take a lot of the comments that have been given to us and begin to draw some conclusions. I'm going to throw around some of my ideas here.

New site updates and more

I finally secured a copy of Megami Magazine for myself, I was hoping to get it much earlier but because it came out on the weekend no stores in my area decided to update their stock. Hopefully I'm more lucky when Newtype and Animedia roll out in another week or so. Today there was also an update to the official site with more designs and Nana also announced the OP song title.

A look into the development of Symphogear: Hibiki's Attacking Report!

About half a year ago, the Symphogear Key Animation Note was released. In that book was a 4 page manga that was based on the idea of Hibiki visiting the Satelight studio to interview the staff and give us an idea of what goes on behind the scenes. The result was...an incredibly wordy and joke-filled manga that was a pain in my ass to translate. However, it also is a rare chance for the fans to get to know the people who work on the show and also get a sneak peak into season 3. Enjoy!

New magazine leaks reveal pajama outfits and interview details

Some lucky bastard got their hands on Megami magazine a full 2 days early. Unfortunately the pics are pretty low quality and all of the information about the interview is hearsay so I can't confirm it. I'm hoping to pick up my own copy very soon, but for now enjoy the spoils of the leak. Based on the school uniforms, GX takes place in Summer.

GX's ending theme title announced

Following up from her previous blog post, details regarding Ayahi's new single have been officially announced.

The title of the song is: "Rebirth-day"


There will be 3 editions available for sale on July 29th.

Blog updates from staff and cast

Kaneko, Nana and Ayahi all updated their blogs with posts relating to GX and the opening of the official site. The site also updated with a list of the magazines from next month that we should look at for new info. As we get closer and closer to the airing date, the info should keep flooding in. I will do my best to keep on top of it, but I'm already feeling overwhelmed!

Symphogear seasons 1 - 3 gear comparison chart

With the release of official design images for GX I've created a big comparison chart for the gears through the seasons. At the moment, it does not include Kanade, nor Maria's dark Gungnir since she now wears Airgetlam. But perhaps in the future I will expand upon it.

Symphogear GX site updates with character information

Tonight the Symphogear GX site revealed a large update complete with a new written introduction to the series that teases the story, and new pages for all the main characters that contain personal information such as birthdays and measurements.

Nana Mizuki talks about Tsubasa's new battle song

Yesterday Nana's blog updated with a post about her completing the recording session for one of Tsubasa's new songs. Hit the jump for a translation.

Nana Mizuki talks about Symphogear GX's story

This week on her radio program "Smile Gang," Nana Mizuki talked with her co-host, Misato Fukuen, about her work on Symphogear GX. She had a few comments about her experience writing the lyrics for the opening theme and how it related to the story.

Nana Mizuki and Ayahi Takagaki comment on OP/ED

In a surprise to absolutely no one, Nana Mizuki (Tsubasa) and Ayahi Takagaki (Chris) were confirmed to once again perform a new opening and ending theme for Symphogear GX. In addition to the announcement they both had blog posts with some commentary regarding GX. In addition, the Symphogear twitter has been making more and more frequent posts. Hit the jump to see translations.

New GX designs revealed and more

The June issues of Newtype, Animedia and other magazines were just released in Japan today. Inside were some new looks at the designs in Symphogear GX. You can see comparisons of the new gear designs after the jump. Additionally, Nana Mizuki posted on her blog describing some of her experience recording Tsubasa's songs for GX.

Symphogear GX Character CD release dates announced

The Symphogear GX website updated today, on Kirika's birthday, with information and release dates for all the new character CDs. There will be 8 of them in total, and follow a similar pattern to G's releases.

The Symphogear twitter account also confirmed that all the characters will have their birth dates officially announced in the near future.

The Complete Symphogear G Keyword Compendium - WIP

A (work in progress) complete collection of all 62 translated keywords from Symphogear season 2!
When watching, read the associated keywords only after completing the listed episodes.

Translation Corner: Kaneko's April Fools

Kaneko posted about GX on his company's blog yesterday. He talks a bit about the reason behind why it was named GX, and also the dark nature of the story. Of course, he also posted it on April Fools day...so it's hard to say we can take it at face value. It's an interesting read none the less. The title of the post, and the mention of "Go" and "Shin" at the beginning, are all references to Getter Robo.

The mythology of Symphogear's relics

During my translation of the keywords I had done research into the mythological basis for each of the relics. This information was scattered in various posts on this blog and on my tumblr blog. I decided to compile it into one post for easy access.