Rinne no Lagrange – 23

Madoka-“What are we doing on the bed Mugiami and Lan?”

Whoaaaaa we are already at episode twenty three of Rinne no Lagrange? Boy time sure has flown for Madoka, Muginami and Lan! So last week things left off at a crazy cliffhanger with the whole possible death of Vilajulio, but I am with team “he is alive” because why would they kill off such an epic character like him? What about you Kara do you think Vilajulia-bro survived getting crushed by Dilzemine?

Villagibro better be alive. I will be severely disappointed in Lagrange if he isn’t. They can’t just kill off a character when it’s been happy yuri fun times for most of the show. Anyways, episode 23! Dizelmine is still acting like a brainwashed idiot and the world is ending~. That sounds like a great plot set up for the ending.

New worlds to explore

Dilzemine-“You wanna fight or something?”               Madoka-“COME AT ME BRO LETS DO THIS!”

Fosh// After the dramatic mecha battle between the two space kings and the whole thing with Dilzemine’s machine creating some strange portal that is practically ripping Earth apart, oh and it magically created a big ass portal to another world that dragged Madoka, Lan and Muginami inside? Now that they have been separated from each other how will the survive and surely the power of love, yuri and friendship will save them right? While I watched all of those events play out I swear I was thinking about Precure because there are moments where the individual girls have to “overcome themselves to become stronger” or should think more towards something like Persona 4 perhaps? I know that series has lots those types of moments and there is an endless list of “shounen-ish” characters that have lots tough things to work through before they become something awesome. That said I honestly did not have any high expectations with the main girls struggling with their own issues because of course the awesome power of friendship and a bit of hunger pains saved them from going crazy or having any depressed feelings about the situation with Dilzemine.

Mecha wrestling is fantastic

Madoka-“Kirito ain’t got nothing on me!”                  Kirito-“aww I want a giant robot…”

 

Muginami-“I WANT TO BE WITH YOU FOREVER LAN!”                   Lan-“FOREVER AND EVER MUGINAMI!”

Dilzemine-“Defeated by a bunch of young girls? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

Fosh // So I bet everyone that watched the series so far probably saw the buildup towards the epic ROW ROW FIGHT DA SPACE KINGS from a mile away right? Madoka was showing Dilzemine all kinds of angry expressions along with Lan and Muginami, but I loved every moment that eventually lead towards the final take down of Dilzemine; however it just made me remember how she took down Array in the very first episode of Rinne no lagrange and it made me shout DID SHE JUST GERMAN SUPLEX THAT MECHA? OH MY GOD YES SHE DID! Oh and this time it took the unique combination and possibly some extra special yuri power from the girls to take down the final boss together. So yeah that part of the episode was amazing, but I wonder if some future anime producer out there has a script prepared for a wrestling themed mecha series? I think that G Gundam would be a closer rival for that? Either way there is just something random and fun with how these girls fight their battles! Also we can only hope that triple German Suplex fixed Dilzemine’s brain…

Kara // I still think the fighting was a bit clumsy when compared to Gundam and the like, but Lagrange can pull off a good fight when it wants to. I really liked Madoka’s mini version of Unlimited Blade Works there (…or since I’ve been throwing in Madoka Magica jokes these past few episodes, should I compare her to Sayaka Miki? It would probably be more fitting). So taking back from a topic that came up about midway through the series (I think it was Highway who brought this up), but I think it’s safe to say that the Vox are at least semi sentient. Midori definitely sheltered Madoka near the beginning of the episode and all of the Vox brought the girls out of their respective slumps. Of course, I can’t go mentioning the mecha fights without mentioning Madoka’s Three-way German Suplex of DOOM that she performed on Dizelmine there. I’m sure there’s some full circle metaphor about how the first way she ever fought with Midori is the same way she fought the final boss, but I’m just glad that through all of this, Madoka is Madoka. She might have matured since meeting Lan and Muginami, but she’s still the same kickass girl that we met twenty-something episodes ago.

Despair, Despair is everywhere ♪~ 

Vilajulio-“HAHAHA! I LIVE ONCE AGAIN BITCHES! Ouch…it…hurts…to…laugh…”

Kara // This episode was wonderful. Why was it wonderful? It’s because I’ve never seen Madoka and the others so serious. When Madoka takes back her ‘Maru’ you KNOW it serious. She even went through a phase of self-doubt this episode where she couldn’t even believe in herself, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like that. The expressions that went on this episode were lovely as well. Moid was acting like a madman bent on watching the world end (while standing on a rooftop randomly, just like any other anime villain) and even Dizelmine looked like he was crying blood. I can appreciate that. That being said, I can also appreciate the fact that Lagrange took a step away from despair after the girls sorted out that the power of fabulous matching lunch cases and yuri was the most important thing. It’s nice to go all out to make the last few episodes exciting, but friendship is where Lagrange draws all of it’s roots and it was kind of refreshing to see that yes, the girls can get super serious, but they immediately stop worrying so much about the end of the world/ failing when they’re with one another. The amount of trust that has to take is phenomenal in my mind. I wouldn’t mind seeing more suffering, but it looks like Lagrange is back on track with its yuri fun times. It was fun while it lasted.

20,000 years of issues

Moid-“Bring it on you weak human woman!”           Youko-“Shut your alien trolling face ya jerk!”

Moid-“Well that did not go as I originally planned…”                 Asteria-“How did you think it would go?”

Fosh // Besides the girls fighting Dilzemine to save the planet we finally got to learn the truth about Moid…so was all the waiting even worth his ultimate reveal at the end? I don’t really think so because as the viewer we already knew that he was freaking “evil”. While we are on this subject I hate it when the main characters FINALLY learn something we already know like oh herpa-a-derp that is why X character is so screwed up? I think that “plot twist” is in place to keep the characters in check and I suppose if every main knew what the side characters were up every hour it wouldn’t be as exciting later on when they discover the truth? Anyway enough of that! Did anyone else expect Asteria to punch Moid!? Just kidding I don’t think her 20,000 year old arms can do any high damage? Unless she has been working out recently; however it was nice to see Youko appear to defend her tiny blonde friend by punching Moid right in face, but I would have been fine with a bullet through his skull…

Kara // …Are we still going to skirt around the question if Moid is a villain or not? Because I think that question is pretty much answered this episode. Moid is a nutcase. He’s not necessarily on the same levels as some other crazy anime characters I’ve seen since his motives were just about wanting to see the world end, but he’s enough for this show. I don’t even think he needs deeper motives since it fits in with the rest of the plot weight in Lagrange. If they had thrown in something about wanting to save the world by destroying it or something heavier, it might have felt out of place. …I know it was supposed to be a serious moment, but I had to laugh when Moid randomly started undoing his shirt mid-monologue and just kind of let his coat tails flap around in the breeze. I realize why he did it now, but at the moment of first watching this it looked like he was getting bored of the conversation and decided to strip or something. Youko punching him was a great moment as well. Though it seems like after all the trouble he caused, he was arrested a little too easily. I know he thinks that the destruction of the world is inevitable now, but he could have easily still been free if he had just watched the shit-storm from any other tall building in the world.

Extra fun with aliens

Asteria sure was stacked back in the day wasn’t she?

Asteria-“What happened to my chest?! Why!!!!!!!!!”           Moid-“Buhaahahahah you are forever flat.”

Asteria-“Oh boy I love free candy! Wait a minute….”         Moid-“Come closer I wont bite I swear.”

Nothing like a good hamburger after saving the universe.

End thoughts

Welp things are finally getting good! I loved the whole mecha on mecha wrestling this week and more AWESOME YURI POWER scenes, but overall this was a nice plot progression episode because they finally put the lid on Moid and Dilzemine or have they!? We all should know by now you never…ever…really beat the final boss character that easily! Just you wait there will be some shocking twist with another villain popping up…wait…never mind we only have like two or three episodes left! DAYUM! So what did you like about this crazy episode? Did you enjoy the mecha fighting or were you curious about Moid and Asteria’s history together? Personally I thought it was good in every department this week, but I can’t wait to see what happens next!

I normally don’t pay attention to background music (unless it’s Kajiura, in which case I’m hanging on to every note), but the music choices for this episode was actually really interesting. I haven’t listened to the Lagrange soundtrack for this season, but the track at the beginning of the episode had a melody kind of like things I’ve heard in older Final Fantasy games. This one in particular came to mind (or at least near the beginning of this track). So overall, this is my favourite episode of Lagrange yet. Not only the despair, but it balanced well with the friendship and teamwork stuff as well. Now assuming that the next episode is the last one, the Rin-ne thing is still p in the air, but judging from Dizelmine being thrown out of the atmosphere and Moid being punched into submission, I’d say that the drama is pretty much over. Maybe they’ll be on more fight next episode, but I’d say that the tough spot is over with this episode and the girls finding each other underwater.

Preview

Somewhere off screen the girls are swimming together

The Jersey club continues on