Rinne no Lagrange – First impressions
Kiraboshi!..wait…what did we just watch? Anyone know?
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My first actual first impression post for Metanorn … *deep breath* … okay, I’m good. I’ve really been looking forward to Rinne no Lagrange since it was announced a while back, mostly because I’ve been hoping for a mecha series to come around and fill the void left by the fabulous Star Driver Sundays (and Gundam AGE just wasn’t doing it for me), but also because it’s an original anime. I’m really excited to find out the direction it takes. |
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Here it is, our mecha anime of this season. I don’t know whether I should put my hope on it or not. Sure, the trailer is pretty interesting, but the summary is not interesting at all. Pilot with a jersey wear? Are they lacking budget in the outfit department or what? Oh well, I guess I’ll see how it is now. |
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Oh hai there random mech show. I had no intentions of watching this, but I had spare time on my hands and suddenly had an urge to finally start Evangelion. …So I watched this instead. Yep, so here I am with Fosh with my first impressions on Legrange. |
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Fufufufu welcome aboard Hawthorne! It is so great to see you jump right into the first anime of the new years and starting the winter season with me. I have been waiting for this show to get finally released! I can echo Hawthorne’s comments about this being possible filler for that fabulous Star Driver, I can really see it in this anime. So how does this anime hold out? Hopefully it is a fun ride for most of us right? It is time to find out now.Plot starts with our lead character Madoka walking to school and she runs down the beach to save someone from drowning, she arrives at school afterwards and does a bit of acting, Kendo and a round of tennis before she meets a strange blue haired girl named Lan, who asks Madoka about piloting a robot. The following day she joins up with Lan and soon finds herself pulled into a mecha battle against some men from space… |
Madoka-“Quality? Throw that out of the window….for now…”
Starting right off Takuto err Madoka saves a random person from drowning giving us the first taste of Lagrange “fan-service” who doesn’t like random swimsuit shots? She runs to school in her swimsuit because her clothes were stolen…OH NO! NOT THE CLOTHES! After that bit of fun Madoka finally arrives at her school and we watch as she takes part in some after school activities like some acting, a bit of kendo and a quick round of tennis! Those scenes just show off how athletic our main hero can be. Before Madoka heads home she meets a mysterious blue haired girl who returns her “borrowed” uniform.
Madoka-“What else can I try? Gun club? HELL YA!”
Ah the fun of school in anime, Madoka leaves the school she returns home to get jumped by her sister! Sounds like Mio’s life from Nichijou. Her sister suddenly asks to see Madoka’s panties why you ask? Because she is way into yuri themed anime! Wait a second that’s not right, she was just looking for something “strange” on Madoka’s body. The following day Madoka heads back to school and finds the blue haired girl again and the two of them chat and swap names, but she asks Madoka a strange question about piloting robots! Leaving her stunned until Lan takes Madoka to her base to find a large machine waiting for them.
Sibling love, isn’t it the best? Huh Madoka?
This is clearly the most important plot development of the episode.
Madoka loves friendship while Lan is confused.
Madoka learns more about Lan and discovers she is really an alien, while they chat the base gets attacked by another mecha that owns the local military with laser powers! Lan convinces Madoka to pilot the machine and she rushes out to defend the base. While Madoka engages the mysterious machine her sister arrives to attempt to stop her crazy sister! Madoka gets knocked for a bit and she decides to try something insane as she grabs the enemy machine and defeats it with a well placed German suplex. The episode ends with everyone staring in shock with both machines stuck in a weird position.
Madoka-“Look at my sexy dance moves….” Lan-“…..”
Lan-“This is going to be a long…series…” Madoka-“DUDE LOOK I KNOW KARATE!”
Mecha Wrestling Federation is a huge in the future.
Extra mecha-service
Older sister hard at work.
Needs more EHHHHHHHHHHH.
Madoka-“This looks like a giant mecha duck…”
Captain-“Did she just….wrestle with the enemy?” Soldier-“…..yes….she did…”
End thoughts
Woo, void filled. Starting next week, Rinne Sundays … hm, sounds good enough. I have a habit of falling in love with a series after only one episode, even if it turns out horrendous in the end, but I really enjoyed everything about this premiere, or I guess, early airing. It all felt slick, but never too rushed, from the moment Madoka was running down the beach all the way up to that outstanding mecha (… or perhaps alien) showdown. You won’t find any lulls here, which is pretty standard of a first episode I suppose.
My one minor concern, not really a complaint though, is that Madoka seems like THAT kind of protagonist, and by THAT kind of protagonist I mean the type that is overly optimistic and go-lucky and verges on being a Sue. If I had to describe her I’d say she’s a cross between Fam Fan Fan and Ohana, but I probably shouldn’t be judging her this early. I must say though, she has really mastered the art of “EHHHH!?” The other characters aren’t that bad either, the mysterious Ran reminds me a lot of Eureka appearance-wise and story-wise, and Madoka’s sister is an awesome foil, in some regards. The other ditzy looking girl in the official artwork wasn’t in this episode, but I’m interested in what she’ll add other than more fanservice. Oh, and I appreciate the alien bishies, nice touch.
Anyway, I give this episode a big two thumbs up. It was fun (which is always important), looked brilliant (even with the terrible quality of the video), and with a second season already planned it has TONS of time to develop the setting and characters, who were the only part I felt were lacking. Here’s to another, hopefully, fabulous mecha series! KIRABO- nevermind.
Some of my twitter friends think it’s horrible for a first episode. No, not because it’s a pre-air where the animation is usually beyond horrid. I can understand why they think like that when I watched the first fifteen seconds of it. Not even halfway of this episode and the main girl already strips her clothes off. When I saw Madoka stripping off, all I can think of is how I’m going to survive for the rest of the episode. I did survive but full of excitement. I was wrong about this anime.
Madoka is like a whole new breeze for me. Well, not really new because there’s always that one awesome cheerful hyperactive character in every anime, but somehow Madoka makes me feel refreshed about it. Maybe it’s the side-effect of the depressing Ouma Shu and Tabuki? Maybe. But whatever it is, I already like Madoka’s cherrful-yet-calm personality
I don’t know about the plot whatsoever since it is only the first episode, but I really underestimated it. I thought it’s just about female robot pilots with echiness, but obviously there’s more than that. I don’t even feel the echiness in this anime. Just some…Naked girl taking a bath? Anyhow, however the story is, I had fun with this anime. The fighting was full of excitement. The robots are beautiful, and I already love the design of them (not as much as I love Gundam of course). I know I’ll be watching this, and this will be one of many anime this season that I HAVE to watch in high quality.
…Wow and here I joined this thinking that this was the anime with Yuki Aoi and that other woman fighting aliens/Noise/whatever with music. Obviously I was way off lololol. This grabbed my attention anyways though because of how ridiculous it was. The beginning was typical enough with the main character introduction and Madoka being extremely active in everything. I was bored by this actually, but I guess it served a purpose as to blatantly point out how genki Madoka is. Anyways, they grabbed my attention again by introducing the bad guys (I guess they’re the bad guys anyways): the evil alien space bishies. I was laughing too hard at the fact that this anime has evil alien space bishies to really pay attention to what they were saying, but I’ll probably watch this for them. That and the fact that Madoka won by German Suplexing the crap out of evil space bishie #3 (I probably won’t remember anyone’s name until episode 3 lolol). Long story short, I am finding this unintentionally hilarious.
The pacing felt off. First, it seems like they wasted half the episode focusing on the fact that Madoka does everything. I pretty much figured out her personality from the first 5 minutes of the episode, I don’t need any more of that (and no comment on the sexual harassment teacher). Second, some of the events in the episode just didn’t make sense to me. Yes, lets have Madoka strip and her cousin check out her ass RIGHT IN FRONT OF A WINDOW/BALCONY OR ALL OF THE NEIGHBOURS TO SEE. Or let’s have a meaningful conversation about the town WHILE AN ALIEN BISHIE IS ATTACKING THE SHIP. I realise that this was probably just Madoka being Madoka, but you’d think she would have some sort of reaction to things exploding. Most people would have a reaction to things exploding anyways.
Now for things that worked, having a female lead in a mecha show for once is nice. Also, she doesn’t look like the type that will emo around for half the season and waste everyone’s time (…you know who I’m talking about). Though it would be interesting to see Madoka if she ever kills a person/alien since she’s so goddamn cheerful. Plus, the whole promise with a robot thing makes an interesting premise (lol just as long as this doesn’t turn into Phi Brain with Madoka sensing inanimate object’s feelings all the time. “The toaster needs more love and attention!”). The animation was decent (…and fanservicy, but I can ignore that) and the soundtrack was pretty forgettable. I liked the OP and ED songs though. Overall, it looks like I’ll be watching this for the lols.
Hooray!! Brand new mecha series to drool over! That was certainly an interesting episode I did wish it was an official episode rather than this low quality release. But soon we will get the better quality episodes; the first five minutes were filled with Instant fan-service right in our face, not that it was a bad thing it gives you short preview of how far they are going to push things. Eventually we will get to see Madoka rocking one of those special flight suits like Lan and that other mysterious girl.
I see a few that don’t like Madoka’s character already, maybe I just love these types of girls? You know the types like Fam, or even someone like Nono from Gunbuster 2? These girls are usually a lot of fun for me to watch. However I can understand if some anime fans are tired of this cloned character over and over again. I for one am really excited to watch more of Madoka, it could have been worse! Like another Shu from Guilty Crown…thank god Madoka has a personality.
I can so agree with Hawthorne! So far this episode gets two giant thumbs up from me as well. I remember reading this series will take a break around episode twelve or thirteen, pulling another Fate/Zero style break and the rest will continue in a later season. A few things I want to learn about, like what kind of alien is Lan? Good or evil? Who are the three boys from space? And finally more clues about Madoka’s sister! I wonder what is going on with her, she reminds me of Gai but with boobs of course. I almost forgot! Opening and ending songs by my favorite green haired alien queen Ranka Lee! Aka Megumi Nakakjima.
Preview
Madoka-“Guys…a little help here! I am stuck…”
Madoka fights more boys from space! But wears a slick suit next time, so expect a lot of shots from every angle of Madoka and Lan.
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 45 comments
Those colours, that music, those costumes… I seriously thought this was some type of Mahou Shoujo in Space series.
lolol, suppose that isn’t actually a bad idea.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Hooray for colors!! Skittles themed mechs are awesome..yeah you could pass this off as a Mahou Shoujo with aliens and mechs xDD
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, everyone thought the Skittle Daleks from Doctor Who was pretty cool, until the show runner decided not to use them any more. That was a hard one to take.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
LOLOLOL Awesome xD
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 243 comments
Hey, just because they realised that the series could only start shining if they stopped spamming the damn Daleks. And shine it has… And anyway, the polite and helpful WW2 Daleks from the very same episode were MUCH better.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Yōko Fanboy with 1246 comments
I couldn’t stand the bad quality so I’ll be waiting for better quality or when the first episode comes out (I don’t mean the pre-air I mean the… you know~) *sigh*
Congrats on your first “first impression” Hawthorn (see what I did there? ;D)
POWUH: 700-799 and Horror Expert with 701 comments
Good idea, the whole time I was watching I kept wishing I had quality vision or something. And, thank you!~ xD
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
SOOON!! SOOOON!! Plus Kyo wanted it out asap…which meant we would have to wait for another week…True I hear ya Tofu, maybe girls+Fanservice+Mecha isn’t your thing?
Wooo! Thanks for joining in Hawthorn ;D
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
“This is clearly the most important plot development of the episode.” and “Older sister hard at work.”…i bet some of you guy’s watch that part again and again ^V^
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 45 comments
Oh yeah! I inspected DAT ASS!!!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yep, so much that I think we should be charged for raping the replay button. I seriously doubt the number of guys missing that part would be small. I inspected DAT ASS!!!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
My replay button broke….
But ya…I photoshoped that so it is burned into my brain…
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
Evangelion Reboot
Blue haired cool dere female
Giant robots fighting unknown aliens, supported by a military organization
Red Haired female to be introduced, not introverted
Destroy Wimpy male, Enter Perfect, Fan service female
Only Fan service female can defeat aliens
Does everyone know that Xebec kinda belongs to IG, who are making Guilty Crown.
Coincidence, I think not
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
Unknown alien robots with the ability Maximum Armor from Crysis. XD
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
At least they were not angels xD
Personally I like female lead in a mecha series more than a emo crying like a baby every ten minutes lead. Or maybe I like more of a happy girl vs my life sucks type.
Wooo! Imagine if To-love-ru characters were done by Redjuice? AFHAIFHAF ALL MY MONEY <3
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
This is really cool. Too bad the quality sucks. The fight was pretty decent for first episode especially the German suplex ending.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
It has lots of openings to be something amazing! Or it could be a total flop….German suplex was epic! Now I have seen it all..or have I?
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
Shower scene, aww yeah! haha, and somebody is getting a peek at that backstory before we are 😛
I downloaded the LQ version and barely thumbed through it before deciding to watch an anime movie. The screenshots give me at least a sense that this will look splendid in HD.
All four of you talking about Madoka, and if she’s as Fosh says, then I think I’ll like her just fine.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
We all need a shower scene in anime! That is key to any series…just look at ole Guilty Crown…
Yeah the tiny screenshots look great! But the larger ones are 700 x 400 so I did not have to resize them.
I hope so! Nono in Gunbuster 2 was one of the best moments, sure she was 99.9% “not there” but she made up in her addictive personality. You could say Madoka might be a female version of Luffy, sure she is not made of rubber or eats tons of food but she keeps you watching.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 243 comments
This looks like it could be fun, but I think I’ll wait for the proper airing of the episode before I start watching it.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah it could be a lot of fun! I can’t wait to see a better episode.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 50 comments
I didn’t like this episode much. Seemed like it was all over the place with nothing being explained. Not to mention they jammed to much into one episode.
Madoka annoyed me but it wasn’t because of her personality so much that she seems like the kind of character that is perfect at everything and doesn’t have normal reactions.
Transportation via helicopter – EHHHHHH?!
Explosions on the ship I’m currently on? Not important
Random girl stripping in front of me – new best friend
With that having been said I loved her finishing move in the mecha not to mention the pretty lights of the ship. The sister seems cool to. *shrugs* I’ll probably just watch a couple more episodes to decide whether or not to drop this
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
True they did have a few rushed moments like Madoka meeting the blue haired girl+instant friends with an alien character. But I honestly think we can blame that on it being a “pre-air” vs full episode, but I could be wrong on that.
Yeah give it a few more episodes! Who knows maybe things might get better? We cal hope.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 50 comments
I’m still kind of new to anime so I’m not sure but could you please tell me what’s the difference between a “pre-air” version of an episode vs an actual first episode?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Sure! Preair is of course low quality version, last season they released like Blood-C preair which was the same low quality and shorter like 15 mins or so but a week later they released the same episode in HD and it was longer.
As for this I have no idea if this preair counts as the official “episode” or not! They might release the same episode but in HD with a few extra scenes thrown in. Of course if this is a real episode I am curious to see if we will jump right to episode two? or watch this same one again…
This pre-air stuff is fairly new so I might be 100% way off…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I’m pretty sure that the pre-air stuff is internet based and thus the low quality (because Japan is allergic to high quality internet anime videos), while the actual stuff is aired on TV broadcasts. …Or at least that’s how it worked with Blood-C
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I hope that doesn’t become a regular thing because pre-air quality episodes suck. It’s mostly blurry animation that’s seriously out of focus. And I bet it has dulled the audio as well.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah that is pre-air for ya! But hopefully we get something better to drool over next time <3
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 50 comments
Wow didn’t think this would get so many replies XD
Thanks everybody for answering and clearing it up!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, this is the first episode so I can’t pass judgment yet. I hope this isn’t a 12 episode show because this one felt extremely rushed. And since this is a preair, I’ll let the bad quality of the episode slide this time. Hopefully they’ll get the better version.
They sure didn’t hesitate with the fanservice. The stripping to the swimsuit at the beginning, the underwear inspection from Madoka’s cousin and the shower scene where they were showing an exceptional amount of skin.
If there is anything I’ve noticed in anime, it’s that the most consistant thing is 99.9% of the time, the character is in high school. Madoka is very upbeat for someone who has been thrown into a full blown fight with enemies from space and isn’t asking big time questions as to why she’s been brought there and why choose her.
Hawthorne, congratulations on your crash course in first impressions!!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I think it is actually a 24 episode series, it was on ANN saying they will cut it in 12 and resume in the summer or in a later season sort of like Fate/Zero.
Hahah well main female in a mecha series, I expected fanservice from the start! After all look back at Gunbuster one and two, both have chicks all over and lots of fanservice thrown in.
yeah Highschool student, happy go lucky girl and random aliens that attack earth xD
Yes congrats Hawthorne <3
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Cliffhangers and stupid breaks are the new trends now. Damn Fate/Zero for starting it
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Don’t forget to add three week hiatus from long running shows to the list of irritations. Shiki and Guilty Crown are victims to that injustice.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Truth! I remember Shiki got really really good near the end! And yeah…taking that long of a break is a huge let down for a series like Fate/Zero! but it might not hurt this series.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
This is about what you would expect from a show like this. Lots of fan service and mecha pr0n, little-to-no plot and characterization.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah I fully expected fanservice and what not, to the ones that are shocked to see such things in a mecha anime need to go back and watch some older shows like this.
Yep more mecha porn > character development.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
mecha porn=character development
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
LOL. I second that “mecha porn=character development” statement. And you’re 98% bound to find fanservice in mecha anime, or in any anime for that matter.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
DAT MECHA PORN mmmm wait what? I had a Rika moment there..
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
There was hardly any fanservice at all and people are complaining? Man, you guys are so sensitive!
Anyways, I really enjoyed that first episode although I will agree with Karakuri and Hawthorne that Madoka doesn’t need too much attention drawn to how peppy she is. I don’t like how while missiles were flying through the air, she was just slowly contemplating whether to ride the robot or not. HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF URGENCY?! I swear, every dangerous situation is going to be a joke if she stays like this =.=
Anyways, nothing new formula-wise, but it’s still great fun. I’m adding this to my weekly watch list.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
THANK YOU OC! I wish she would have SOME reaction to missiles or something. But if they can turn it around and make it funny, I guess that would be okay too.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
LOL yea she was like explosions? WHAT EXPLOSIONS!? -awesome stance of epicness-
Yeah good fun! I didn’t mind the lol-random-service either way stay tuned for more!
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 243 comments
I really enjoyed this, it was just so unashamably mad! The thing that I liked the most was that it probably had the funniest ever setup to get the protagonist in the mech. “Let’s be best fwiends! Fwiends who will do anything for each other!” “Anything? Yeah, sounds good, I accept. NOW PILOT THIS MECH, BITCH!”
Also good were the apathetic mission control commander (You want to vaguely do something to help, boss?” “Nah.”) and, of course, Madoka’s selective powers of shock (“Helicopter? EHHHHHHHHHH? Explosions? New best friend is really an alien? Meh.”.
POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments
[…] is not of quality but still, at least gives you an idea about what to expect (remember Lagrange pre-air and how beautiful the real thing turned out?). The avatar design for Haru is ironman-ish but still […]