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「鴨川にランの花咲く」 (Kamogawa ni Ran no Hanasaku)
“Lan Blossoms in Kamogawa”
Three episodes later, the “premiere” of Rinne no Lagrange is finally over and we see a little bit of a recess in the story so that it can set things up for the next chapter. I like to jest about how everything that’s happened so far spans only a day in the actual show and could’ve easily worked as a one and a half hour special, but in reality, I actually like the approach this series has taken by allocating a quarter of its season in this fashion. In terms of progression, the lack of any time lapses is hardly a concern, since Madoka has come to terms with piloting Vox Aura “Midori” and Lan has overcome her fear of the legend — enough to activate Vox Lympha “Orca” anyway. There’s also a foreboding future surrounding the Voces themselves, judging from the legend recited by Array, which puts a nice little twist on what’s been an absolutely entertaining start to the series. All in a day’s work for Rinne no Lagrange, literally.
To me, the staggering discrepancy between time passed and material covered suggests that this series is very well thought out; however, I’m still most impressed by the combination of humor with mecha action that hasn’t skipped a beat. One would kind of expect the seriousness to just go out the window when Madoka failed to blade grasp Kirius’ attack twice, but it really didn’t because the latter was genuinely confused by questionable tactics. That in turn became a running joke of sorts and amused me a fair bit, yet was impeccably balanced out by Lan’s personal struggles to save the show from degenerating to a pure comedy. Madoka’s goofy Jersey Club song along with her “Maru” worked wonders for me from an entertainment standpoint, as it felt like she was unintentionally mocking her enemies. I actually started feeling bad for both Kirius and Izo, because they were trying to rescue Array and couldn’t get past a girl who looked like she was just messing around. A bit too trollish for my liking, but still really amusing.
With Youko and Souta (Iguchi Yuuichi) invited by Moid to be Vox Researchers, I’m looking forward to seeing how they get entangled in De Metrio and Le Garite’s struggle over the legendary Ovids. Much like we’ve seen in these first three episodes, I suspect the comedy will continue to be injected throughout even when they do, lessening the graveness of the situation, but when the series looks as good as it does, it can almost get away with anything and make it utterly awesome. Lagrange has something really special going on here with its seemingly perfect combination of story, characters, humor, and production quality, so things should get even better when Muginami rejoins the fray next time.
* I’m just going to go out on a limb here and say that Lan doesn’t like it from behind. Izo, you animal.
* I found the shot of the two chairs interesting because they’re Madoka and Lan’s from the ending sequence. It shouldn’t be long before Muginami’s orange chair joins theirs.
* Full-length images: 01, 23, 32, 35.
Preview
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End Card
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Hey Divine, G’night! 🙂
Awww… she gave her Giant(and apocalyptic) Robot a name! That’s just cute. Why wouldn’t she when it can do Robo-MARUS?
Count on Madoka to make serious situations seem hilarious and entertaining. Whether it be calling Kirius out on his attack, baffling him with her moves, avoiding collateral damage, singing her club theme song or just her EPIC FAIL at catching a sword, she just never fails to put a smile on my face. She’s pretty much that GAR Super Robot character inside a body of teenage girl.
I’m actually surprised how much I like Lan. Normally I hate her character archetype, mostly because they are dull and boring and made for otaku pandering. Here however she makes a perfect straight character to contrast Madoka’s goofiness. She also makes my Yuri Goggles go crazy. I’m excited now on what Muginami can provide to the character relationships.
Wild Tiger next episode?
This series just got about 20% manlier.
I call her Ma-Bro-ka for a reason.
no
Why not. Madoka emits this weird aura that, rather than be her boyfriend, you want to be her bestfriend.
^Yeah, I can see that. Though I would date if given the chance. And the fact that she’s fictional.
Forever alone…
*date her
God dammit.
Ma-BRO-ka! You definitely need to be in an SRW for the PS3 so I can have another reason to despair that I don’t have one.
That said, it was a very good episode.
I like to jest about how everything that’s happened so far spans only a day in the actual show
You think thats nuts?
The entirety of Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, save the last 5 minutes of the last episode, takes place over something like 36 hours.
I don’t think it’s nuts so much as I think it’s cool. Horizon’s on a different level. That was pretty epic.
I wonder what the all time record for lowest Real Time to Run Time ratio is for a TV Anime. Horizon’s got to be pretty far up the list.
C’mon, I can’t believe you’ve forgotten about the longest 5 minutes in the history of universe! The final battle against Frieza in DBZ was quite something.
^ This.
LOL. And the amount of character development!
God, we were so kids.
Hey, it’s better than the entire Hueco Mundo arc in Bleach. 184 chapters and 107 episodes (not counting fillers) that all took place over the course of ONE DAY. Yeah, THAT’S believable.
a whole lot refreshing compared to the angst (yes, I’m looking @ you, Gundam Age, especially with that 3 episode long “Napalm”) nor the lack of direction (Guilty Crown, that’s you) of the other sci-fi series within the last cour…
BTW, where did her cellphone disappeared?
I agree with you on your assessment of Rinne no Lagrange. It does a great job seamlessly blending multiple elements together and making things a lot of fun as a result.
To rip on Guilty Crown, yet again by comparison, Rinne just gets its elements right. Rinne achieves a certain balance with how it manages the atmosphere and characters. Guilty Crown often tried adding more depth to the cast but a lot of characters including Shuu came across as flat out unlikable while the twists and character revelations themselves felt hard to swallow.
Yes, we only have the 3rd episode but Rinne’s definitely off to a stronger start in my eyes.
I wonder when they are going to deepen Madoka’s character. Right now she seems too bland yet too crazy at the same time.
BTW someone should make the scene around pic 14 into an gif! 🙂
Well, I got nothing to say anymore.
You already said what I already want to say.
Good job, Divine. :3
MAAAAAAAAARU!
Well, that was one hilarious mecha action.
Looking forward to next episode.
That shot of two chairs reminded me of Bokurano.
Many have expressed the same concern with those chairs. I hope everyone of them is wrong: I don’t think I’d survive without ranting if they ever tried to deconstruct this show. What Japan, and the rest of the world, needs now is a lot of sunshine characters like Madoka, not another tragedy.
Who is author of End Card ? Tony Taka ?
I think Tony Taka is 田中貴之. The name signed on the card is a different person.
the artwork style looks like misaki kurehito
if its T2…. she’d look more yummy
Misaki Kurehito.
Ran with hair down = romance. :3
i must say that the 1st 3 ep is awesome. hope it keeps up this way and yes… YURI RADAR picks up 2 contacts thus far
I agree with Divine that Rinne is hitting all the right notes. It’s not just about any one element (animation, story, dialogue, characters, etc.), but it’s about the entire package. If these first three episodes are any indication of things to come, I think this is a much watch show of the season.
That feel when the guy in the next ep. preview is Gen Fudo and the Vox are actually prototype Vectors.
The best thing I like with Lagrange is the flawless execution of humor (humor’s not that much present in this ep compared to others though). You know, you can feel that it’s not forced and it’s not just placed in there just to have the “humor” aspect.
Madoka reminds me of Charlotte and how awesome she was. While she lacks that moe-kill-move, her Maru!, is made of the same win.
I dug Madoka refusing the needs of the many > the few point of view.
is there romance in this anime?
Some will tell you the love between a person and their machine is unlike no other.
Some will tell you that it is not true love.
I can’t answer your question! XD
I lol’d.
The Director says no. So any romance you hear will be 100% fanships.
Anyone else think the chairs motif a shout out to Bokurano?
‘unit three’ – Evangelion angels?
Heh, sounds like various themes from prior animes are mixed up~
Unit 3 is pretty generic when you need to have an unnamed mecha that is 3rd in a series. It’s just that most shows don’t go beyond 2. R-3 Powered is the 3rd unit in the SRX series and if you want to, it’s called unit 3.
Grungust Type-3 is pronounced the same way as Unit 3… I think?
More than anything, I just like this set of protagonists. Madoka (the upbeat selfless action girl), Lan (who initially appeared stoic and mysterious but quickly revealed her insecure, vulnerable side and worked to overcome it), and ditzy Muginami are VASTLY more enjoyable to watch than the sulky or otherwise flat main characters of Guilty Crown.
Can I just say Lan’s character design should win some type of award? Damn.
Especially when she does that ‘Wuff’ thing. Donno who thought that was a good idea but they should get an Oscar
Lan was really cute in this episode.
It is kind of normal for emotionless girls to have emotion. It’s all part of the development.
Shirahadori Fail, lol.
I still don’t get Lan’s Wan/Woof greeting, but its cute.
Hahaha, Divine your mistaken, Ran indeed likes it from behind >:D
Are you implying she’s a screamer? ARE YOU!?
(‘cuz you know, I just want to make sure we’re on the same page…)
Of course she’s a screamer. That’s where she got her “Wan” from.
Well, I can say this is what we get if we take something like Infinite Stratos and throw the useless male lead out of the window – Yuri ensues…
Seriously though show is finding perfect balance between serious mecha action and pure comedy gold, intersecting at the Kirius baffled attempts to understand Madoka’s “tactics”.
Can’t wait to see the last girl of the team to join – because her vey otfit breathes “fluffy airhead”…
On the truly serious side of things I find myself even more suspicious of Moid and his motivations, as he seems to be willing to sacricfice Lan to whatever fate dark legend involves… Sadly Kirius is completely failing at diplomacy (Madoka is even worse at that…)
I’ve found using secure cable line for communications quite interesting, subverting the standard “opening the comms channel” trope…
Interesting main characters make this show very entertaining. Madoka is certainly one of my favourite leads this season. Her personality doesn’t rub you off the wrong way like some others do.
Seeing as how there’s 2 season planned for this show (the next season’s in summer), I think allocating 3 episodes as an intro into the world of Madoka is pretty nice. It has certainly turned me into a bigger fan of Madoka due to the large amount of character development within just a day in terms of story time. A day in Madoka’s life indeed.
Also, I might be a little bias, considering the fact that I’ve been looking forward to seeing the girl in a white blouse holding a flower ever since I saw the promo art (http://www.animenation.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Rinne_no_Lagrange_key.jpg) last summer. Of course, jersey is fine too. =D
Is it just me or does the guy from the preview look totally like van from tales of the abyss?
Actually I thought he looks suspiciously like the guy from Symphogear.
I. Freaking. Love this series >D. The humor leaves me in stitches, and the eternally up-beat-ness keeps it fun to watch. Helps that I adore the music ^^;. I hope to see more, more and more of Madoka’s eternally upbeat-ness and Lan to grow out of her fears. >D.
Does anybody else love this show’s soundtrack?
count me in! the opening song makes my toes happy 🙂