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May 11 2012 11:44 PM
Rinne no Lagrange, the real wildcard of Winter 2012 with little information prior to its airing and an odd PV/advertisement of the show to boot.

In the end, the story is a snooze fest...at least for the first half. Nothing really happened until roughly episode 7 of the series and even then the "plot" remains rather convoluted and without much direction. The flashy finale didn't really help much either as it simply felt like another Sousei no Aquarion type ending. The show had strong signs of development in the second half but more or less failed to deliver. I give the show some points for originality though. It tried a few things that hadn't been done before but the "point of the show" remained unclear all the way to the very end of this season. As a show attempting to attract tourists to Kamogawa, it didn't do a very good job if you ask me.

Animation was well done by XEBEC, especially with the mecha fights, thereby showing that XEBEC is still capable of mecha shows despite not having done any in recent memory. Character designs and scenery were also well drawn, thus a strong point of the series. The "stupid" character designs actually fit the character personalities really well and gave a relatively "realistic" or at least believable feel to each one of the heroines.

Music? More or less trash. Reused scores and nothing really stood out. Megumi Nakajima's songs weren't all that memorable here despite being lively and catchy. They just felt weird for the show for some reason unless the show itself was trying to be weird the entire way through. Seiyuu wise was okay. Madoka's seiyuu, Kaori Ishihara, was annoying at first, but she really grew on me as a great character. Asami Seto as Lan, however, never struck me, especially when simultaneously voicing Chihaya in Chihayafru. Ai Kayano as Muginami is typical Ai Kayano and did a fairly decent job there with the energetic character Muginami is.

Enjoyment? Throughout the series, very little on average. It really only began to get interesting past half way and even then, it's not something I really looked forward to.

Overall, I definitely see some potential in the show, but it's not the same type of potential I saw in Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon back in the fall, which will also have its sequel this coming summer with Rinne no Lagrange 2. That said, Rinne no Lagrange has some serious work to do if it's going to surprise me and the season 1 finale wasn't much of a "cliffhanger" or something all that enticing. The other problem is Rinne no Lagrange attempted to be too much like Aquarion and what's worse is Aquarion EVOL was premiering the same season and completely overshadowing it. As said before, it has a lot of potential, but constantly fails to utilize it to its fullest.

Preliminary Score: 6/10
Final Score: 5/10

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Apr 7 2012 12:34 AM
Yeah since plot wise not just a whole lot actually happened I ended up giving it a 7/10 which is a solid good. The strength of the anime so far (since there will be a second season in a few months) was its characters. Now with that said the second season needs to expand on the story and really delve into it for this to be anything more than a just a fun little anime.

I liked the final episode of the season as well because they really mixed things up. Instead of doing a straight continuation of the cliffhanger from the previous episode they start you off with a peaceful wait WTF happened last episode scene If you hadn't watched episode 11 recently you might have just wondered did you accidentally skip an episode. But once you take a deep breath and realize you're actually watching the correct episode *sigh of relief* you can fully appreciate it all as everything gradually unfolds. I gotta admit I still don't fully remember or understand the significance of the umm Rinne blossoming (it's been well over 10 days since I've seen the last episode I think). I'm talking about the scene where Madoka's vox explodes with pretty colors and everything becomes right in the world again lol. But you had to enjoy (or at least I did) the scene where Madoka and Lan part ways. How many times did they say bye-bye to each other as Lan ever so slowly faded out of view of our screens?! Thinking back the bond developed between the three girls was what really kept me as the viewer interested when the plot was slightly lacking. Anyways I'm all in for the second season.

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Apr 5 2012 04:29 PM
This was the only ending except for Black Rock Shooter I saw that was good this season.

For now everything came together and made sense, nothing felt out of place or ridiculous what is a surprise nowadays.
Muginami joining her brother again wasnt much of a surprise for me, but Lans brother appearing defenitely was.
After ep 11 I thought everything will go to hell now, but thanks to Yurikano (who probably saved Madoka back then when she was drowning as a kid) Madoka could get up again and stop it. Good too was that she didnt really win the fight, since I feared she would be presented overpowered in this fight.

In the end this show was a good surprise.
The characters were pretty good and had a good chemistry between them.
Plotwise not much happened, but I think this season was just a sort of introduction for the next season/s to come.

8/10 from me.

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Feb 28 2012 11:10 AM
So after Aquarion EVOL this show gets its loli-chariman too, eh? Too bad shes not as cute as the one in Aquarion EVOL.

In my eyes it looks like both Villa and Lans brother want the Legend to happen again, but for what? Wipe the other side out? Get Earth back? Whatever it is it seems to be important enough to go against the poeple who were once close to them (Lan & Muginami).

I always wanted to know why Lan made the "Woof!" thing. I thought it was some kind of unique charactertrait so its a bit disappointing that it was just a greeting she was tricked into.

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Feb 27 2012 12:31 PM
They got around to explaining the majority of the unknown elements in episode eight. So the ancestors of Lan and Muginami lived on earth about 20,000 years ago. They were forced to leave the planet because of fear that the legend (or curse) of the Voxes would come true and wipe out the planet. That's the cliff notes version that I can remember off the top of my head at least.

At one point during the episode Moid had a transmission with somebody he referred to as his Highness. Was that Lan's brother? I'm not entirely for sure but he wants Moid to speed up the recovery of the Voxes. They mentioned something about the Circle of Ri-nne if I'm not mistaken. I don't think that phrase was explained in detail but there was so much sci-terminology trying to be explained I might have missed it.

The other interesting part of the episode is that the new character (can't recall her name at the moment) who is the head over the operation (since her grandfather doesn't travel) grounds the use of Madoka's Vox. I was a bit surprised just like Lan and Muginami that Madoka didn't take action against this decision. You would think she would have been all jersey girl gung ho so to speak but she was actually pretty reserved and mature about it. I guess she values her friend's safety first and foremost which is admirable but obviously she will be back in flight at some point and I suspect sooner rather than later.

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Feb 21 2012 12:52 PM
Now its pretty obvious what happened to Villa.... He stranded with his ship, saw how corrupt the universe is and wants to change it as a revolutionary. Or maybe hes gotten twisted and wants to destroy just everything so that it can being from zero again.

This ep had really nice fanservice with Muginami and Madoka taking a bath, then all three get into the ocean and of course Iwabuchi-sensei in her swimsuit again. And nothing of it feels strange, but on the right place at the right time.

The way Lan talked it sounded as if her brother is still alive what is quite a surprise since I was sure that he is dead. They never said it but the way he went into battle in the flashback with her and Villa... I totally had the feeling he will never be back.

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Feb 20 2012 12:23 PM
I was thinking that the whole "The Ri-ne has blossomed" has blossomed line from the previous episode would get addressed in episode seven but that wasn't the case. Moid was questioned though about the significance of the fireworks display, as that is what it was being reported on the news, by captain curious (err can't remember his name off the top of my head lol). Though Moid just deflects the question and gives him the even we don't know everything convenient answer. He's gotta be lying but we'll just have to wait for another episode to uncover more details concerning that. If it's of any relevance at all.

Then the rest of the episode revolved around flashbacks of Muginami and Villagiulio. The running gag of the show where Madoka says a different variation of his name is pretty funny. Lan even corrected her at least two or three times this episode to no avail. It wasn't surprising to learn that Villagiulo was Muginami's inspiration for living. She was a little kid on that war torn planet trying to survive on her on before she met him. It was a sad story and at one point when she tried to steal an apple so she wouldn't starve and got punched (a little girl) by a grown up male you knew she was living in a twisted and corrupt environment. Lan feels Madoka in on Villagiulio's past in real time and says that he was once a prince. So maybe that piece of information is relevant to his current actions. I can pose some motivational theories on his part but I'll just leave the guessing to somebody else.

There was no jersey or Madoka signature top-knot this episode but there was some nice service shots I could gladly appreciate. My favorite was near the end of the episode when Muginami decided to leave Madoka's place because she felt like she betrayed them. Then Lan and Madoka stop her and Lan reveals (she was so jealous lol) that she actually wanted to take a bath with them earlier. So she completely strips right then and there and fakes like it's natural for family to bath together on her planet. Miginami calls her out on the BS and Lan is like I'm the princess so I can make up the rule here and now lol. So the stripping commences and they go take a bath in the sea. I still don't know about the "The Ri-ne has blossomed" but I know the girls where blossoming in all the right places all over my computer screen and I enjoyed every second of it. I'm going to go watch the scene again when I get done posting

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Feb 13 2012 01:59 PM

I'm wondering if this is what Lan was ultimately afraid of happening or is it something else? I surmised that Vigigi's real goal isn't to destroy the island and voxes, just a feeling he had something else up his sleeve and now we finally understand what that was. He may have been counting on Muginami being the one to release Rin-ne and that's why he intentionally hurt her, but hey he got what he wanted in the end

Can't trust people that constantly grin with their eyes closed in anime, they are mischievous or play the antagonist. I suspected Moid has his own agenda, and he that isn't very faithful to his princess as he appears. After Muginami left piloting Ignis, Yoko gave Moid a hard look, indicating she doesn't trust him either...
This show is really growing on me, it's becoming one to look forward to each week. I'm hoping for more sensible explanations about whats going on and why they are warring with each other in the first place. Not to mention what it is about the voxes that Lan fears exactly... is it the legend about the three voxes destroying space? I vaguely remember something like that.

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Feb 13 2012 05:47 AM
Im pretty sure that Madoka was on the way of releasing the demon inside the Vox and thats what Vig is after. Or maybe its not a demon and people just say it is, maybe its something good that happens. Or, as always, it depends on the one using it if its good or bad.

If someone butted into my biz like Madoka always does I would react like Muginami too since, well its not her matter but mine. Especially after I made clear on which side I stand on.

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Feb 13 2012 03:05 AM
I think "The Ri-ne has blossomed" is a diminutive title shout out. Rinne no Lagrange = Flower of Reincarnation. I'm not sure if Ri-ne is "Rinne" or not, but my Shakugan no shana jargonsense tells me it is. I can't help but wonder if this was what they meant by "The green shall tear the sky".

I can't help but laugh at all the aliens' first exposure to genki drinks. It also Looks like we're going to get a flashback episode that explains stuff amidst some goofy slice of life stuff.