Rinne no Lagrange

Note: This will be a review of both seasons.

Overview:
"Rinne no Lagrange", also called "Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne" looks like a rather unique take on the mecha genre at first glace, specifically the super robot sub-genre, and it certainly makes a good effort to be such. However, while it is true you won't find many mech shows like it, that isn't necessarily a good thing, with the execution of its premise and ideas being somewhat disappointing and the series ultimately failing to make the most out of its parts. It's still a very enjoyable series, particularly if you like this kind of show, but there's ... still no denying that it could have been a lot better than it ultimately turned out to be.

Story (6.5/10):
"Rinne no Lagrange" revolves around the members of the Jersey Club, a club in the all-girls Kamogawa High School that's dedicated to helping people those in need, and of which popular second-year student Madoka Kyono begins as the sole member. One day, Madoka's dedication to helping everyone leads to her rescuing a mysterious girl from drowning, and said girl then asks to join the Jersey Club, introducing herself as Fin E Ld Si Laffinty, or Lan as she prefers to be called. However, there is more to this mysterious girl than meets the eye, as Lan reveals to Madoka that she is in fact an alien, and she desires for Madoka to pilot a robot called a Vox, specifically a green one called the Vox Aura. Never the type to say "No." to someone who needs help, Madoka agrees to be the Vox's pilot in order to protect the Earth from invading forces who desire the power of the Vox for themselves, later being joined by Lan and another alien girl named Muginami, who are both connected to the Vox in their own ways

As a whole, "Rinne no Lagrange" tries to do a lot of things. It tries to go against the gender norms of the genre by casting three girls as the show's main mech pilots. It also puts a stronger focus on slice-of-life than other mech shows, with the series covering the girls' day-to-day lives as often as it does their battles in the Voxes, if not more so. This proves to be a good thing, as a lot of these slice-of-life scenes do help to develop the characters in some way, and the seaside setting of Kamogawa certainly helps as well. Unfortunately, not all of the story's ideas work that well. For one, the series tries to present a morally grey conflict, but what exactly is supposed to be "grey" isn't really made clear, as I often couldn't make heads or tails of the villains' motives. What's more is that the three characters we see the most of are all unambiguously good people, with Madoka herself in particular being as heroic as they come. As such, you'll definitely never have any doubts about who you're supposed to root for.

The story's pacing also has some major problems. While the series does do a fine job at getting you invested with its first few episodes, it does run into some major bumps here and there. The worst of these is during the latter half of season 1, when Madoka is forbidden from piloting her Vox out of fear it will go out of control and cause untold damage, which is an understandable fear in-universe, but still frustrating to anyone even remotely savvy about the genre. Making matters worse is that these parts could have been spent developing the various alien worlds of the series- in particular, Lan's planet Le Garite is only ever shown in bits and pieces, so we learn next-to-nothing about its politics or the lifestyle of its inhabitants. There's also a shocking lack of on-screen deaths in the series despite there being a war, with the only major character death being that of someone you definitely won't be shedding any tears over. Ultimately, the story's main underlying flaw is the all-too-common problem of just not knowing what it wants to be. Like, is it a slice-of-life schoolgirl series that just happens to have mechs in it, or is it a dramatic robot war story with three cute girls at the centre? The writers should really have just picked one and committed, because frankly I had a hard time buying either.

Art & Animation (8/10):
Art-wise, "Rinne no Lagrange" doesn't look bad by any stretch, but it certainly doesn't look amazing either. The environments are very detailed and well-drawn, but the character models could use a little work, and look noticeably lumpy in more than a few shots. That being said, the mechs themselves look great, and the animation and special effects of them are always a treat to behold. Even so, I couldn't help but feel that the series could have looked a lot better than it does; while the series itself was created by Production I.G., the actual art and animation was handled by lesser animation studio Xebec, which I must admit is pretty disappointing.

Sound & Dialogue (8.5/10):
"Rinne no Lagrange"'s soundtrack is generally good, but it isn't all that memorable, with many of the tracks sounding like ones you could easily find in other mech shows. The two opening themes, however, are very memorable, with the first opening capturing the show's mysterious vibe and the second one capturing its optimistic tone. The voice acting is fantastic; Kira Buckland has the perfect voice for a character like Madoka and Michelle Ruff does a brilliant job as the not-so-stoic Lan, though Karen Strassman's performance as the girly Muginami is not one of her best, with her voice often being gratingly high-pitched. The dub cast also has a strong supporting line-up as well, including Johnny Yong Bosch, Wendee Lee, Vic Mignogna and even Liam O'Brien, the latter of whom you almost never hear in an anime dub these days. All in all, the sound design is definitely the show's high point.

Characters (7.5/10):
When we're first introduced to Madoka, she's established right away as a very kind girl who works every day for the happiness of everyone around her, as well as someone who's prepared for anything, as shown in the very first scene when she takes off her school uniform to reveal a swimsuit underneath, allowing her to jump into the ocean to save Lan from drowning. She's also very cheerful, energetic and optimistic; while understandably shocked about the existence of aliens and giant robots at first, she almost immediately accepts Lan's request to pilot the Vox in order to protect her and the Earth, and she's fully grown into her new role by the end of episode 3, even giving her Vox the nickname "Midori". However, there are also times when her eagerness to help others can get her into trouble, as she'll occasionally jump to help someone when said help is neither wanted nor needed, and at one point even gets accused of helping people as a way to make herself feel better. That said, Madoka never tries to be selfish, and any of her lowest moments are due her not having all the facts. Not to mention that she can and will admit when she's wrong. If I were to mention a real problem with her character, it's that her backstory takes too long to be revealed, as while it's hinted early on that she has some kind of history with Midori, it isn't until the final episode that we finally learn what that history is. Even so, she's still the best character the show has to offer, and there is no other character in the series that I would rather be the protagonist.

Then there's Lan, who soon becomes the second Vox pilot in the series, piloting a blue mech named the Vox Rympha, which she nicknames "Orca". While at first glance it can be pretty easy to write off Lan as just "Yuki Nagato with a giant robot", especially since they're voiced by the same person, Lan soon establishes herself as her own character. For one, she's far from being emotionless, inwardly or otherwise, with the stoic façade of hers breaking completely by the third episode. It's basically a running gag in the series that she tries her hardest to act prim and proper (due to being a princess, as we learn in the first few episodes), only for said act to completely break whenever she's put in situations that get her nervous and embarrassed, which tends to happen a lot. For example, before the series began, she was told that humans greet each other by holding up a hand like a paw and barking like a dog, and when she learns that this is a lie, she completely breaks down in what is easily one of the funniest moments in the series. By then, however, the "Woof" greeting has basically become part of her, and she continues to use it for the rest of the series, a symbol of her gradually learning to think for herself instead of just doing what others tell her to do, though I can't say anything else without giving away big spoilers.

The last of the main trio is Muginami, who bumps into Madoka early on but doesn't get properly introduced until a few episodes in. The third and final Vox pilot, Muginami pilots an orange Vox called the Vox Ignis, which she nicknames "Fuupo". At first glace, she appears to be rather cheerful and airheaded, but soon enough she proves herself to actually be quite perceptive and melancholy, as well as the most emotional of the main trio. Unlike Madoka, who can be very emotional at times but doesn't let them get the better of her, Muginami is often emotional to the point of being downright irrational, such as when even after a certain person she looks up to says that she's a burden to him, she ends up siding against Madoka over him. It's one thing to be reluctant to fight somebody you care deeply for, but continuing to support him even after he's made it clear he doesn't need you is a bit much, and at one point she has the nerve to call out Lan for making the exact same mistake she's making. All in all, she's a character that I was often very frustrated by, and while she does get a lot better in later episodes, I never quite warmed up to her to the same extent that I did Madoka or Lan.

While all three main characters are likeable and well-developed, the supporting cast tends to vary in quality from character to character. For starters, there's Madoka's cousin Yoko Nakaizumi and uncle Hiroshi, who took Madoka in after the death of her mother ten years before the series began, with Yoko having been a member of the Jersey Club before Madoka when she was in school, inspiring Madoka to follow in her footsteps. Role-wise, Hiroshi handles emotional support, being one of the main reasons Lan and Muginami are able to adjust to their time on Earth, and Yoko works as a researcher on the Vox, though sadly both of their roles are greatly reduced in later episodes. If I were to name a character I didn't particularly like, it would have to be Asteria Lizamarie de Roschefall, who acts as the leader of the organization that manages the Voxes and has a very authoritarian way of doing things, insisting that she and she alone knows best even when she clearly doesn't. Worse still, the fact that everyone is too intimidated by her to call her out means that her questionable leadership skills are never brought into, well, question, though if nothing else she will relent if given a good reason to, and the reveal of her past late in the series makes her actions more understandable in hindsight. Then there are a number of characters who don't get any focus at all or don't really contribute anything to the story, and many of them fail to get the closure you would probably like.

Enjoyment (8/10):
"Rinne no Lagrange" is a very enjoyable ride from start to finish, which is certainly helped by the fact that it gets straight to the point. While there may not be a mech fight in every episode, there's still some great slice-of-life sections in-between to lighten the mood and keep you invested, complete with some great comedic moments that made me laugh at least a few times. The series is also about as hopeful as you could reasonably expect a show like this to be, and while things can get dark and even sad, overall you never have any doubt that things will turn out okay in the end.

Overall:
While it may succeed in avoiding most cliches of mecha shows, "Rinne no Lagrange" ultimately fails to stand beside the best examples of the genre, largely thanks to the rough, inconsistent story and dated-looking character models. But do I still like it, despite its many flaws? Yes, because it still manages to be worth watching for any of you mecha fans out there, with great action scenes, good music, serviceable comedy, fantastic voice acting and a great trio of main characters.

Score:
6.5+8+8.5+7.5+8=38.5/50=7.7/10

I remember watching a bit at "bad anime night" at my friend's house. I thought it was good at the time, but I just finished it today, 2 years later. The positive feelings I had towards the show were probably contextual.

It was really painful to watch. It might have been because I stick to dubs, but the English translation was really irritating. The lines sounded like they had been run through a translation program, nothing like what an actual person might say. Soundtrack was good though; I think the singer also sang as Ranka from Macross F.

The story sucked, there's no other way to phrase ... it. They'd hint at something important then make it seem inconsequential the minute after, but part of that could be attributed to how badly the characters, especially main character was written. There's no way to take the plot seriously with how oddly Madoka acts. The other two girls weren't as bad, they could have fared better in another show. Lan was the biggest reason I was able to get through the latter episodes.

Hopefully the second season is better.

6.2/10.0

This is a mecha show planned by Studio I.G. which is very good at sci-fi shows, but is otherwise animated by Xebec, a studio notorious for its bad anime. It is directed by Satou Tatsuo, who has made lots of mecha shows, most of which are unorthodox but otherwise slow and usually anti-climactic (Martian Successor Nadesico, Gekiganger 3, Shingu, Stellvia). He also has Suzuki Toshimasa as an assistant, who in the past directed Heroic Age and the second season of Polyphonica. So ok, he isn’t much of a talent. Thus we have a project based on antithesis, decent director and planner but also bad assistant ... and animator. So the overall feeling was expected to be mediocre. And yup, I was right.

It starts right away with establishing every character through sexual stereotypes, something which is sacrificing a lot from personality in favour of shallow appeal. There is the usual variety of uniform eye candy, such as school uniforms, swimsuits, maid suits, nude scenes, and even combat suits that fit better for erotic foreplay than… well, combat. Also, every single girl in the anime dresses, acts, and thinks like a retard (exactly how the male audience likes them), thus you get that fuzzy feeling of dumb fun out of them, but nothing amazing in the longrun.

CHARACTERS
- Madoka is the lead heroine, who always acts on impulse and rarely thinks what the devil she is doing. She is following the energetic/positive bimbo stereotype and in a way she feels like a parody of Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis. Where he would constantly try not to run away, she just storms in and then asks forgiveness for messing it all up. She also wears her swimsuit underneath her school uniform because "you never know if it comes in handy." It is also a joke on having two fetishes at the same time. But as I said, since every girl in the show is dumb, she is not smart enough to change after she swims and walks all around the city while still wet and risking pneumonia, even when she is carrying her jym clothes. Oh yes, there is also the issue with the jersey, a third fetish. She is the leader of the jersey club, where girls run around in them doing good deeds and feeling all happy about it. She even has her own signature pose (Maru!), hairstyle, and impractically lifted sleeves that are supposed to be giving her an identity or something. But it’s nothing much.
- Lan is the second heroine, and is following the cooldere stereotype. She acts like a puppy, as she constantly replies by barking and feels neglected (like one) when left alone. She also seems to lack common sense, but is excused because she is apparently an alien. So she doesn’t mind how she walks around in a military uniform that conveniently leaves her half-naked. She cares very much for Madoka and that is why she gave her a robot to go fight some aliens she has no idea what they are all about. But it’s ok, Madoka is so stupid that agrees right away because she wants to help people. In fact, she rushes to it so fast, she never asks anyone to explain what the hell are aliens like Lan want in the first place and just continues her life with her as a friend.
- And then we have Muginami who dresses like a street whore and is so stupid she even talks slowly. She also seems to have a brother complex and get all emo and crazy when not being exploited by him.

And that is all you need to know about the main characters of this show. A dumb energetic one, a dumb dog, and a dumb whore, playing around with robots for some weird alien conspiracy. There are a few others but surely you will remember them for even less that that. Such as the director of the institution always smirking with his eyes closed, the president being a loli who loves molesting underraged girls, and a male alien soldier who loves to cross dress. So as you can tell, the cast is just silly people doing silly things.

STORY
So what is this conspiracy in the story anyway? Well, there are these human-looking aliens on a far away planet who are in the middle of a civil war, and there are three ancient robots that can destroy everything, and the rebels look for them, and they came to Earth, and they… Ok, screw that, nobody cares about the plot, ok? It is mostly silly moments with dumb girls undressing, doing school activities where they are molested by eels, going to the beach where they bathe in the nude, being debriefed by their loli superior before she fondles their breasts, and stopping an alien armada before filming a yuri movie. There are some heavy emo moments too, regarding the alien war but it is completely disregarded in a few minutes. Hell, even the war just ends out of the blue and they all go back to do more silly stuff. Yeah, ok, nothing to see here, moving along to the robot action.

ART/ANIMATION
The robot battles are very cool in choreography and the only good thing I find in the whole series; everything else is just dumb fun. Of course I’ll be damned if I didn’t get Neon Genesis deza vu out of them. It appears to be one big tribute to Hideaki Anno works and it’s not like this can’t work, since one of my favoured retro mecha is Gunbuster, which was also girls and robots fighting aliens. The thing is, both Gunbuster and NGE were directed by Hideaki and animated by Gainax, a combo that beats this show’s team ten times over. Oh well…

So anyways, the overall production values ain’t bad but surely far from amazing. The robots are battling in extremely interesting ways, like pulling out energy swords, creating barriers, transforming to airships, and even using martial arts like German suplex and strangling grabs… although the last one is just Madoka trying to do cool stuff even when they are not necessary. I mean she keeps trying to play wrestling with the enemy robots as if they are humans, yet trying to strangle a mecha that doesn’t breathe is just dumb. Or she keeps trying not to cause too much damage in the city, yet she never thinks about just moving away from it in order to fight. Yes, she is dumb, just like we like them.

Oh, and there are boob/pantsu jokes too in case you are not into robot action. Nothing amazing about them; they are presented in a perky/non-slutty way but we can get a thousand anime like that.

MUSIC
The soundtrack didn’t feel interesting; some j-pop trash I wouldn’t care less about. And voice acting was ok, meaning everybody sounded as retarded as they needed to be. I bet that “Lagrange” word in the title comes from how everybody’s brains “lag” in all “ranges”.


ENJOYMENT
So, basically you get a completely stupid show which can easily be labelled dumb fun. If you can switch off your brain then you may enjoy it for what it is but for me this is a completely passable title. Even when it tries to be a social drama at points, it does it in such a light way before throwing in fan service and school comedy that it might as well not exist at all. Thus although it has a serious aspect to it, it plays out way too light and silly to leave you with fond impressions.

VALUE
It came out at the same time as another similar show named Aquarion Evol, which is far more extreme in all sections and pretty much stole all the spotlight. But even without it, it is not much of a show people will remember in a few years from now. It is way too light and simple for its own good to the point you will easily forget it.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 6/10
General Artwork 2/2 (looks nice)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic, too many trashy fetishes)
Backgrounds 1/2 (basic)
Animation 1/2 (basic)
Visual Effects 1/2 (basic)

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (silly but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 3/4 (not great but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 4/10
Premise 1/2 (typical)
Pacing 1/2 (loose)
Complexity 1/2 (not much)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Presence 1/2 (generic)
Personality 2/2 (cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)
Catharsis 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)

VALUE SECTION: 2/10
Historical Value 0/3 (I don’t expect it to be remembered in a few years)
Rewatchability 0/3 (nothing we haven’t seen better elsewhere)
Memorability 2/4 (perky but that is pretty much it)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 2/10
Too light and silly for its own good. Gets boring fast.

VERDICT: 4.5/10