History of Contemporary Music

Nowadays there are many genres and subgenres of music: so many it sometimes too hard to understand what each genre even about or how say trash metal differs from first wave of death metal or second wave of the same. 

That was not always like that, there were times where there were just two genres and even just one. However eventually they split up into so many different ones.

A brief dive into history of contemporary music would allow you to understand why it happened as well as better understand genres.

Pop

At the beginning there was just pop. Pop is short for popular and that was its intention and agenda: become as popular as possible. Before pop there was jazz, blues, bebop and many more; before these there were classics like Mozart and Bach. However, you would not call them contemporary. They have their own history that needs their own article.

To that end pop had catchy tunes with simple lyrics, that were often about love. Songs were typically performed by a good-looking singer who sometimes danced but almost never played any instruments. Physical appeal of singer's looks was often more important than quality of songs or their singing ability. That was further enhanced with selling posters and various merchandise with the likeness of the artist. Producers clearly counted on singer's appearance being the selling point of the whole outfit. The genre revolves around this single singer or sometimes a group of singers who are called stars, idols or celebrities.

To support the singer there was often huge crew of various assistants. Musicians, dancers, make-up artists and so on. Professional composers wrote music and lyrics, professional arrangers arranged it. Professional dancers danced and professional musicians played. All of that was managed by producers. The singer was only the face of the huge machine and the industry behind it.

With some borrowings here and there, mixed with token efforts to change, that are superficial in nature, this genre continues to exist to this day. It is the genre that "keeps changing in order to stay the same".

Its popular mostly with women. Female psychology is wired to like popular things, and it is what keeps this industry running. That applies equally to both female and male pop artists. Male pop singers are popular because their physical appearance appeal to female listeners. Women wrongly assume that female pop singers should be equally popular with male audience but that it not the case. Female singers are also becoming famous through their appeal to female listeners. Women watch and listen to a female idol; assume she is popular with males and dream of being as popular and loved by guys as she is. Reality is that typical pop artist is only popular with other females most males are indifferent to most pop singers.

Rock

Rock was the second genre to emerge. Meaning of its name is ambiguous. Maybe it's from the verb rocking, because it shakes the industry and establishment. May be its from phrase rock solid, because it's not as fake as pop. Rock is not popping as bubblegum bubble, its fully solid. May be its short from Rock'n'roll dance and related music. 

Rock emerged in protest to pop and aimed to be everything pop was not. Rockers blamed pop for being fake and wanted to be true and real. To that end they would write their own songs and lyrics, play them on stage and do everything else themselves. Unlike pop they will not have anyone behind the scenes. To credit everyone who contributed to the effort and not just the singer, they would organize themselves in bands. Often such bands would have catch names. To show they are not faking it and actually able to play instruments and sing, they would perform life on stage. Often there would be one dedicated singer, but some bands, like Beatles would take turns singing.

Songs and lyrics were different too. Not satisfied with sanitized and docile lyrics only about love, rock would expand topics, war, politics, social issues and many more. Often, they would have deliberately controversial lyrics to protest something they dislike about society. Sometimes they would take deliberate jabs at pop, mocking the genre for its various traits, rockers have issues with.

Melodies were similarly different, rock had less musicians to work with, but they were often willing to experiment with instruments and produce more radical and never before heard sound. Often that sound would be much heavier and angrier in its character compared to pop. Other times desire to showcase personal provenness as musician and ability to play would make certain musicians to compose and play complicated solos. Jimmy Hendrix particularly famous for it.

All of that made Rock both much more diverse and sophisticated than pop. 

It also brought love of fans who disliked pop for one or the other reasons. Gradually rock had about as much fans as pop and most of these were new people who used to shun pop. Who had more fans at any given time is too hard to evaluate now. 

However, many rockers are remembered much more roundly and by many more people compare to their pop equivalents. Pop was always in the now and artists who stopped releasing albums or performing would often be forgotten soon enough. In contrast rock had legends that endure long after they either disbanded or even literary died. Beatles, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Viktor Tsoi of Kino are ever remembered by their diehard fans, something pop artists cannot brag about. Unlike pop, rock could create this lasting voice of generation effect, not just fashionable this year passing fancy.

Because of rock, term rockstar rather than popstar is now associated with musical success, fame and things that go with it.

However, pop continued to be popular with its core demographics. It was not that its formula did not work, it was that it did not work on everyone.

Synthesis

Hoverer while rock build itself around the rejecting everything pop was, that feeling was not mutual. Far from it, pop actually say rock as a form of pop, that does the same thing as them, even if in a somewhat different way. That sentiment would make more purist rockers churn and spit. However, being popular was good enough credo in the eyes of pop industry and rock certainly was popular.

Because of that pop decided to imitate rock and learn its secrets in order to be even more popular than before. Thus, pop rock emerged where pop artists would adopt look of the rock bands and would sing holding guitars and such. That did not manage to win any rock fans over to pop but was popular enough with the pop crowds for several bands to do it.

What had much more enduring and lasting success however been rock musicians going pop. Sure, it was unacceptable from rock purists' point of view, but pop had something to entice popular rockers and that something was money. Sure, purists would turn back on you, calling you a sellout to big corporations' dirty money. However, so what if your old friends, with whom you started your career now curse you when you are millionaire and living a blast of a live.

There were even natural tendencies towards this development. No matter how much rock wanted to share fame and credit equally among all band members, public would still remember the lead singer much better than the guy who sit behind the drums. They will see him as leader and the rest as followers. That would allow "leader" to ditch his bandmates for hired musicians and a career under their own name. 

Even Beatles, where all four members composed songs and lyrics and took turns singing were not immune it that tendency. Public grew to see John Lennon as leader, Paul McCarthy did not want to stay in Lennon's shadow, so he quit Beatles to start solo career. Much to McCarthy charging, Lennon remained the most popular of four in his solo career as well.

That happened many times over, Black Sabbath grew both Ozzy Osbourne and Dio, who after being vocalists there for some time, quit and continued as solo musicians. There are many more solo musicians, who started in a band that few remember nowadays and then quit to become solo artists. Sting is a good example.

Such "gone solo" musicians would be best equipped to be successful in both worlds. Rock origin would allow them to keep their rock credo together with many of the original fans. They will also have unique inside knowledge of rock world and what it takes to be successful with the rock fans. 

Because of difference in attitudes towards each other, pop world would welcome such defector with open arms, and they will have a head start towards stardom.

To keep their original rock fans from dissipating, many would continue to perform with their new hired band on stage. They will also make their new songs sound as close to those of their original band as possible.

To keep pop fans engaged, there will be more show on stage interviews posters and other merchandise.

Do this right and your career would be as never-ending as that of Ozzy Osbourne and you will be super-rich embodiment of a rockstar. That is far more that what pop rock could possibly achieve, no one could possibly remember a name of a successful pop rock musician.

Diffusion

While rock fans are united in their mutual dislike for pop, when it comes to what they like about rock they are not united at all.

Many rebel movements, that succeed in overthrowing the regime, end up splintering into several smaller groups, that each fight for their distinct vision for the country. Sometimes these are political fights like in the US. between states and federal government and them between federalist party and democratic-republican one. Other times it is a continued armed struggle, like in Libya between Islamists and secularists.

Same with rock. Once unified movement eventually begun branching out into several different movements, who themselves later developed many subgenres of their own.

The most prominent offspring of rock is of course metal. Metal was a logical continuation of enhancing the sound. Metal takes that hard rock sound to its complete extreme. Even early rock often had heavier sound than pop with guitar riffs, distortion and many other sound effects that made sound harder and angrier. That branch first became hard rock, then metal and finally branched out into innumerable subgenres of said metal.

Each subgenre of mental differs in lyrics, appearance, ideology. Some sing about death, others about violence, some about occult stuff or devil, others about legendary warriors or even fantasy worlds They have differences in sound as well, but all of them sound much heavier and angrier than pretty much every other genre. Metal also developed a specific form of singing, called growl, that half of metal bands use. Other instead scream or yell and some sing in more normal voice.

Metal fans are typically people angry antisocial people. Some want to at least listen to songs about destroying society if they cannot actually destroy it. Other instead indulge themselves into escapism about legendary warriors, distant lands and fantasy worlds. Leather jackers, aggressive colors (particularly black) as well as aggressive fonts are typical among both fans and bands.

Metal fans are less concerned with opposing pop compared to expressing their anger with society, so they are not opposed to commercialization. Certain metal bands, that clearly begun as commercial projects, are as popular as more underground ones. Normally, metal does not deliberately aim to be an affront to social norms but often ends up being one due to being generally as extreme as possible.

Other much smaller branch decided to double down on ethics of being authentic and not selling out. They came to not only oppose pop as genre, but also popularity in general. They double down on lyrics and sing about issues they find meaningful for them. In their lyrics they often criticize pop, society and entertainment industry in general. Skyclad is an example of such band.

Unlike metal, who takes sound to the extreme, such bands have more toned-down sound and emphasize lyrics instead.

As much authentic rock would rather "be bitter than a flavor of the week", pop and hipsters came enjoy imitating them and their anti-popularity stance and created various indie and hipster bands to make dubious claims to authenticity.

Hister bands deliberately try to go against trends in hope that would make them popular instead. While fans of authentic rock would scoff and these hipster efforts, these efforts actually worked for some of them, and they gather support from likeminded fans who listen to such bands in order to look edgy and cool to their peers. For hipster it does not matter if lyrics matter, or band just act this way.

Then there are, people who like to be rebels without a cause. They gravitate towards various forms of punk rock. Unlike metal that takes sound to extreme, punk rock instead takes debauchery and chaos to the extreme. To the extend it can be contrasted with both metal and authentic rock, because if metal cares for cause more than for rebellion then punk does not care for a cause at all and just wants to rebel for rebelling sake.

To that end punk is deliberately as offensive to public tastes as they manage to get. Appearance wise punk tries to stand out as much as possible. Unlike stubborn defiance of metal, punk is all about screaming and shocking. Piercing, colored hair, torn clothes and such are very common among these group.

I punk are rebels without cause, then metal is cause without rebels.

There are other offshoots of rock, such as psychedelic rock of Pink Floyd, that is liked some people due to their possibly eerie sound. Unlike metal they try to make their sound as strange as possible.

There are some that combines certain elements of these and other genres such as folk or even soprano singing to make unique sound and create a new genre in their own right. 

In addition to these and other offshoots of rock, there are many new genres that emerged completely on their own without particular connection to either pop or rock, techno for example. 

Finally, there is rap, for little girls who are into black people. In that regard its closer to pop than to rock, but it's not completely so.

Conclusion

Conflict between pop and rock ultimately produced diverse and multicolored contemporary music scene, where everyone can find something to their liking.

The common pattern between these developments can be observed in other events of the era. A new trend first unites supporters around itself, then produces opposition. Opposition typically wins but then splinters into several distinct groups. Eventually field diffuses into variety of different groups with many diverse characteristics. Many of these new groups combine traits of the original and the opposition in different proportions. 

For example, cold war begun because communism was created. Communists were one and united for a common cause and common ideology. In contrast their opponents were very different from one another and only united in their common dislike for communism. When communism was defeated, many went on to develop in their own, sometimes very different way.

More recently war in Libya showed similar trend.

Something less geopolitical is feminism. Feminists are united for the common cause, but opponents of feminism do not have common vision of what they want from relationship, only common dislike for what feminism is.

The principle of "thesis, antithesis and synthesis" works in all of these cases.

Moe and Harem Anime are Staple for Core Otakus

Harem amine is staple for core fans. It gave core fans precisely what they wanted: a selection of cute feminine females to choose from. IRL women are lacking in femininity because of fashion industry, wokeness, government policy, parents of daughters and other such problems with society. Anime was solving that by giving men animated women they could love, when real world failed to do the same. Love or hate nerdy otakus, they are core fans of the anime.

However, after some time, other demographics caught whiff and got themselves into industry. However, they had problem with this male centered approach and started demand that shows cater to their tastes as well. Christians and moralists want shows to teach their kids something. Women want some manly men in Shonen genre, because they cannot watch Josei for some reason. Old people, who hate youth, want shows that exploit youth for their enjoyment. And so on.

Now we, core demographic, cannot easily find the show that caters to our tastes.

Video game industry has the same problem.

Examples of Anime Characters that I Hate

Fley Allster from Gundam SEED for example. She is manipulative and exploitative bitch with father issues that would send Kira Yamato to die for some stupid shit.

Asuna from SAO. While she would not kill Kirito, she is still manipulative and will hurt him or people she does not like without batting an eye.

I dropped Eva before Asuka Langley even appeared in it, but from what I can tell from memes, she is collection of everything I hate in women in one character.

Rin Tohsaka from Fate franchise. Snobbish know it all who sits on her ass boss Shirou all the time and does little more. Fate/Stay worked hard to whitewash her, but that did not convince me. In Fate/Zero Kirei finally puts her in her place and tells her to shut up and obey men.

Tae Shimura from Gintama. She is cold and hurts people. She probably can be as bad as those above, but at least she has self-restrain and rarely appears or does anything on screen.

Malty from Shield Hero, but that one pretty much everyone can agree on.

Many of characters on whom Enma Ai or Keyaruga takes revenge, like Flare for example.

there are more, but I do not feel like listing them all.

Social Issues in Holy Britannian Empire from Code Geass

Society of Holy Britannian Empire in Code Geass have a lot of issues with it.

Just in the first episode Capitan of Clovis personal unit intended to kill Lelouch just because he was in the wrong place in the wrong time. In general Britannias' killing people casually and blaming it on terrorists, even if said people are Britannian students.

Then there is Clovis himself who kidnapped CC, kept it secret from the rest of the government and royal family. Clovis was running experiments on her in order to figure out how her immortality works and wanted to use this power to knife his way in power hierarchy.

Then when terrorists accidently captured the vehicle that was transporting CC, he ordered to slaughter all who got chance to witness her, because keeping his secret is more important that lives of many innocents.

Just from that alone one can conclude that it is a deeply flawed society that casually kills people for political reasons. When that nearly cost Lelouch his life twice, he decided to do something about it.

First time was when Charles decided to invade Japan, knowing Lelouch and Nunnally could be executed by Japanese in retaliation. Japanese spared him back then. In the Clovis Personal Unit incident, he only survived because of CC.

As I mentioned before Lelouch was using Nunnally as an excuse for his actions. The real reason is the one I wrote above.

Macross Frontier Review

Overall Rating 4.1 out of 10 - Show for fans of spoiled women.

I do not recommend watching.

It begun rather nice. Ranka was cute, space jets were awesome and much more advanced graphics (compared the original) made me think that it would be an awesome show. Many cameo references to the original Macross only made it this clearer.

Then it went downhill and kept going lower and lower until I ran out of patience.

Supporting cast was rather nasty. Michael even admitted he thinks hazing of male MC is his duty. The rest of the crew of the PMC called SMS, are mostly goofy and chaotic. They throw shit and run after each other for not particular reason. It is frustrating to see Alto put up with them. Even Ranka stopped being her cute cuddly self and became more hostile and unfriendly.

However, the worst character in this show had to be Sheryl. 

Min May from the original eventually got spoiled by her fame and stardom, but you could still sympathize with her because you remember how she was because she became famous and even by the end of the show, she still had enough redeeming qualities. 

In contrast Sheryl is spoiled and acts like she can get away with anything. She is both willful and stupid at the same time. She would have died many times over if not for Alto. I do not know if people who are into femdom like these kinds of women or not, but to me she is revolting.

Regardless Sheryl is clear favorite of the creative team. A much better Ranka gets constantly blocked out by her on every corner and does not gat a fair chance at anything. 

This show suffers from issues that make other shows of 2010s so bad and unlikable. I do not recommend watching.

Mahoromatic Review

Overall Rating 7.4 out of 10 - Nice show about a very cute lovable maid

I recommend watching.

In a better future we will be able to manufacture cute sexy robotic maids and we will give them pure innocent perfect hearts. Just like the one Mahoro has.

Mahoro is almost perfect waifu material. She cares about Suguru and does anything he wants. She looks cute and gentle in both maid outfit and in her battle suit. Even her insecurity about her breast size is cute and adorable.

The show itself is a mostly pleasant ride as well. By sum of good scenes vs not so good one it beats DearS and Hand Maid May even if not every episode is perfect.

At first it focuses on Mahoro role as maid but later more about her past is revealed. Story is simple and without complex twists, but enjoyable, nonetheless.

It is a simple show, it has no complex plots, subtext, between-the-lines ideas and such. Neither it has some sophisticated issues that would take many paragraphs to explain. It's just all good pleasant and simple ride. Kind of like Nutella, Guy Lian chocolate or Haribo Goldenbears: awesome and you want more of Mahoro's pure heart and her sexy maid outfit clad body.

Overall, I can certainly recommend it for everyone. From this show you can learn what a good dateable woman is like. I definitely recommend watching.

One Ring Metaphor

There is a saying that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. One Ring from Lord of the Rings is an embodiment of this metaphor. It is that one part of this story where this book is not just a plain fantasy like many other books but rather a literary fiction that describes real world in a metaphorical allegoric way.

One ring is a metaphor of power that one might wield in life. CGPGrey would put it as: take the throne and it will act upon you. One ring is not just a piece of jewelry with some magical powers, created by Sauron. Ring is an embodiment of his power over Mordor and orcs. All that makes one a Dark Lord is contained in the ring.

It is the ring that gives one power to rule Mordor. Essentially the ring makes Sauron. Even if the original wielder and creator, Sauron is defeated and killed, the ring will still exist. It will be able find someone else to be next Sauron and rule over Mordor. Thus, Mordor and Sauron's system will endure even if he himself is dead. Sauron managed to create for himself an immortality of sorts.

Notice how Sauron just disappears the moment Isildur cuts the ring from his finger. Sauron is not a person with evil intentions. He is an embodiment of the system. For as long as power exists and used, the Sauron will exist.

The better one understands what this ring is and what power it has, the faster this ring will turn them into the next Dark Lord. That is why people like Gandalf and Galadriel refused to take this ring themselves. They knew that if they take the ring, it will corrupt them and by the time they will reach Mordor they will be there not to destroy the ring, but to rule as Sauron the second.

Thus, One Ring produced a catch 22 problem that prevented forces of good from defeating evil. As long as One Ring exist so is Mordor and its system. However, if one of the knowledgeable and powerful were to take this ring to destroy it, the ring will corrupt them and turn them into next Dark Lord. No matter what they do, the evil cannot be defeated. Elrond hoped that humans, clueless of what One Ring does might be willing to destroy it, but humans were too greedy to simply cast the ring into the fire.

The solution came unexpectedly, the Hobbits. Hobbits were too simple and unable to understand the true power the One Ring had. Even when a greedy homicidal hobbit, Smeagol (Gollum), had it, he could not utilize most its power and did not manage to become next Dark Lord. Bilbo got this ring by accident and its corrupting powers did not manifest in him at all. Gandalf noticed that and came up with the plan to destroy the ring.

Since by that time Ring corrupted Bilbo enough to at least not wish for it to be destroyed, Gandalf made him pass it to Frodo who was so oblivious as to what this Ring does, he would have no objections to destroying it. Then there was a need to arrange a for an escort party to make sure he makes it to Mount Doom alive.

In real life power works much in the same way. Take the throne and throne will act upon you. Reality of having power makes people into evil lords. 

That is why for example attempts to root out corruption in post-Soviet states often turn anti-corruption activists and revolutionary leaders into corrupt dictators the moment they take power. System is so cunningly crafted by some original dark lord in the past, it manages to recreate itself no matter who takes power.

Tolkien did not make this up, he just described how it works.

If you think this is farfetched then ask yourself that: if you had the power to rule over something and use this power to your advantage, will you just throw this power away out of moral considerations and desire to be a good guy, or will you use it for personal gain or perhaps to achieve some moral vision of the world you have dear...

In the end only well-designed systems can endure good governance and decent life. Unchecked power and opportunities for corruption will lead to dark lords.

Oppositional Russian Music

Like any country Russia has its own pop music that is favored and endorsed by establishment and in theory popular with majority. Names like Alla Pugacheva come to mind. 

However, I am not pro-Putin and most music I listen are non-mainstream, anti-establishment or oppositional. Both Russian and English language. 

Sting, Chris de Burgh, Chris Rea, Blackmore's Nights or Loreena McKennit is not per se oppositional, but neither they are mainstream. These artists look at the world from a different angle and enjoyed by people more sophisticated than average.

There are similar bands in Russia. I already wrote a separate article about band Kino and Victor Tsoi. Tsoi died in 1989, and his band is inactive since, but he remains very popular with general public. His songs are very melancholic and reflect sadness of life in Russia. There are more here but somewhat hard to navigate.

Something more sophisticated that I personally like is Aquarium. Their songs sound nonsensical at first but they are actually full of references and tell a complicated and compelling story albeit in a very cryptic way. However, language they use is hard to understand even for someone very knowledgeable in all the songs, books and cultural ideas they so extensively reference in their songs.

Each song probably has to be explained in detail, but here are few examples:

For something more accessible is Sector Gaza. Unlike Aquarium Sector Gaza uses words that are easy to understand. So easy that it produced a push back and desire to ban it from a more moralistic section of society. It can be considered Russian AC/DC of sorts. If they managed to become as popular as Kino and Tsoi they would probably create as much controversy and shockwaves as Donald Trump.

Despite extensive obscenity of many of their songs for which they are known, they make songs that many can relate to and enjoy. These songs reflect reality of life in Russia for a significant section of society.

There are some explicit anti-Putin and anti-system songs, for example Anthem of the Doomed that mocks government and its supporters by calling them orcs and their leaders' ghouls. Half of the lines of this song probably needs additional clarification for its actual meaning. For Aquarium mentioned above every single line need explanation.

I will end this article with Aria. Unlike the other two, Aria is more wishful and instead of reflecting reality writes long, descriptive and poetic songs often about unfulfilled dreams and aspirations. They have wonderful guitar solos and unique sound.

And probably the best of them:

One thing that unites all these bands is the profound sadness at the fact that life is not as good as they all wish it was. They all shift between criticizing reality as it is and dreaming of a better life somewhere out there. Even the otherwise very obscene Khoy from Sector Gaza is like that.

Shugo Chara Review

Overall Rating 6.0 out of 10 - Children Friendly Show Concerned Parents Talk About

Watch if you want to know what a Children Friendly Show is

Evert so often you hear from certain parts of society that video games, movies or something else influences children in a bad way. Often such people call for ban on media they deem inappropriate.

Did you however ever wondered what kind of show such people would deem suitable for children? There is Disney, there is Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki and there is this show.

Labelled for kids, it's not actually what children themselves would enjoy. Rather it's all about what parents want their kids to be. 

Most episodes are about some kid who faces some setbacks in life and lose faith in their hobby or career. However, the protagonist, Amu, plays a role of cheerleader and restores their faith in their activity and returns them to "the right path". 

Such a simplistic world view that claims everything depends only on hard work and your own effort overlooks facts that there is a lot more to success in life. In real life luck, opportunities, connections and such often play a higher role in success than hard work. A lot of people are rich are simply because their parents were rich and left them with a lot to enjoy life.

However, this show is not for parents who give their children enough to enjoy life. Instead, it's for the kind of bad parents who want to burden their children as much as possible and then blame them when they fail. After all, "God forbid" (many such parents are religious in a bad way) you blame society or parents themselves for a failure.

This show panders to these bad parents' views and produce them a show about the kind of kids they want their own children to be. It further lulls their critical thinking by giving them simple easy to understand and wrong solutions to a problem when their kids fail or refuse to continue. Simply cheer them up and push them to continue like Amu does in the show. 

I have enough critical thinking to not claim shows like that produce bad parents. GTA does not makes people murderers after all.

Aside from being a circle jerk for concerned parents this show has some redeeming qualities. Amu herself has her own complex personality with her own problems. There is also an overreaching plot that connects individual episodes. Many recurring characters, connected to the whole process in some yet to be revealed way keeps you intrigued enough to learn more. However, show is very long and its unlikely the plot will unravel fast enough.

Overall, I will not recommend or not recommend this show. It has a specific purpose.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear XV

Overall Rating 6.7 out of 10 - Best season of flawed in many ways Symphogear

I recommend watching.

By the 5th seasons Symphogear creators finally understood what they are doing and how to make a waifu show. 

This season begins with best story premise so far: mysterious ancient civilization custodians who are behind many events that happened in the show. An intriguing plot for a change. It is a partial return to the original story premise that got me interested in this series to begin with, but it feels surprisingly fresh.

There is more. Three new antagonists are much more interesting than many of those who came before them. They use clever tricks to fight and overall, their story is more interesting than of those who came before them. They have regrets and self-consciousness instead of desire to serve humanity and sacrifice themselves to help others that often unites both protagonists and antagonists of this show.

Finally, they began sexualizing gear users properly. How they have transformation sequences, just like in Sailor Moon, where they show their bodies in revealing way. Kirika doing a pole dance on handle of her scythe is by far best and Shirabe is second close. Once again, these two carry the show.

Also, there is more Miku in this season, however they do not show her as her usual soft and gentle poor man Haruka, but rather as someone as driven by the ideological drivel as Bikki.

Closer to the end we sadly go back to usual Symphogear themes or sacrifice for others, struggle and willful suffering. These themes are like a spoonful of Marmite in what could have been a nice cake.

Final battles are as flashy as always, but about as much hollow. They substitute flashy action for substance, tactics and ideas. It,s the opposite of Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto could make movement of shadows feel tense and intriguing as one wrong move could easily mean death in Naruto universe. Here an explosion that eliminates half of the city feels like another Tuesday.

Overall, it's the best season of Symphogear.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Review

Overall Rating 6.7 out of 10 - Mediocre romantic comedy, entirely carried by its female protagonist.

I recommend watching.

Yet another romantic comedy, most of them are bad. Here however I saw that cute poster girl with her large warm trusting eyes and immediately wanted to watch it.

I will be being with Haruka is she is the only reason to watch it. Haruka combines many of the qualities I like with some that I do not. On one hand she is well mannered, polite, gentle, friendly, warm, calming, soft, passive, caring and supportive - the things I like in women. Haruka is almost perfect.

However, there is one problem, she is far too dependent on Yuuto and other people around. Something upsets her and she just stops functioning. Yuuto then has to figure out how to fix her. The delicate flower far too delicate. She cannot find her own ass without Yuuto or her maids. Sometimes she feels even more helpless than blind and crippled Nunnally. 

In contrast for example Chise from Saikano, despite being slow and weak, handles all her shit herself and does not burden Shuji too much. Also, in contrast to Haruka who has little to now extra responsibilities, Chise has a huge war to fight, and she does not complain.

There is one other character like Haruka, who is almost perfect but there is one problem: Chintanda Eru from Hyouka. I also liked Chintanda initially but grew wary of how she drags male protagonist around for her curiosity bouts. Both Haruka and Chintanda are likable in themselves, but dynamics of relationship she has with male protagonist are not likable. 

Aside from Haruka that for the most part makes it worthwhile; the rest of the cast are not likable. Maids and Haruka's little sister are part stalkers part trolls. Maids do have redeeming qualities, but Mika does not. Then there is Yuuto's alcoholic sister and teacher who only serve as an example of unlikable women to make Haruka look good. Then Haruka's parents with hotheaded psycho dad and unlikable dominant mom. Finally, there is that redheaded girl that was somewhat of Haruka's rival for Yuuto affection, but they just made her a friend in the end. Then there is posse of snobbish rich kids who harasses Yuuto for being poor. I think authors were out of ideas and were just adding stuff to fill episode count.

Yuuto himself is not relatable at all. He clearly crosses the somewhat fine line that divides politeness and fancy manners from submissiveness and self-deprecation. He is more concerned with following rules for rules sake rather than because he finds purpose in then. He seems wants to help Haruka with her problems more than interested in her for her feminine qualities. To reference Saikano again, wise and cynical Shuji much more like me and Yuuto is nothing like.

Overall, however Haruka is nice, and the show is enjoyable around half of the time.