Rinne no Lagrange – 15

Congratulations Madoka you can have a cookie~

Damn straight we’re on to the review! Lagrange season 2 has had an awesome first couple of episodes and is still pushing forward in the same style. This episode really impressed me with the equal balance between slice of life, comedy and serious parts, so let’s get into it!

Madoka and friends are back for more mecha fun and possible yuri? I am still laughing at that strange kiss she shared with Lan from last week! Are you enjoying this second half as much as me and Kara? Damn I always look forward to seeing this series…anyway it is time for the review right Kara?!

Beach excitement and haunted houses?

Madoka-“Who wants some watermellon!?”                  Lan-“I want some of your melons, Madoka…err…yes please!”

Fosh // The start of this episode follows Madoka participating in some strange race to catch flags on the beach while Izo, Kirius and Array set up a haunted house. Yeah I honestly have no idea why they decided to go with that setup, but apparently there is news of Muginami and Lan’s brothers arriving on earth in a few days to have some “talks” about a possible peace treaty? You could say the whole town is basically preparing to hold a massive cultural festival to welcome the aliens to their town. I did laugh watching the space bishies in their special outfits like Array’s ghost and Izo’s wolf, but Kirus’s was the best with his the vampire on the beach. Good job! So yeah all this character interaction was fantastic for me.

Kara // Having the mass alien meeting at a small Japanese island that no one had even heard of until the anime started seems… odd. Sure, it’s because the Vox and everyone else is located there, but when you think important meetings, you don’t really think of Kamogawa. Ah, well. I guess they’re still trying to push the whole tourism thing for there. In any case, Rinne really knows how to add in comedy where there normally wouldn’t be any. Asteria is definitely my favourite perverted loli of all time now. …Though I don’t think Madoka has to worry about motherhood so much. She has the whole yuri harem going on. Babies don’t work that way (unless you’re in some of those extremely out there yaoi, but let’s not get into that). Lan’s face when Madoka admitted to kissing her though. AHAHAHAHA.

Scientific fun with Asteria

Madoka-“We should sell suggestive picture online!”            Muginami-“Oh my…”            Lan-“Good times…good times.”

Madoka-“SEX?! WHY ARE YOU ASKING THAT!?”          Asteria-“Muhahahahaha I love being the boss.”

Todokoro-“I can teach Madoka all kinds of things!”                       Everyone-“…………..”

Muginami-“You mean we’re doing it wrong!?”            Asteria-“Well yeah…don’t you read H manga in space?”

Fosh // After the others have their fun in the sun Asteria calls everyone back to base and she prepares to continue with the Vox Particle Control Experiment, which was done on Lan in the first episode. So why does she want to start that again? In her eyes she wants to show the world that the Vox machines can do more than just fight and blow things up. Naturally Madoka is on board for this experiment; however she really has no idea how powerful her Vox is if pushed in the wrong direction. Sadly Asteria left out some valuable information from the past I mean should Asteria warm Madoka about the destruction of planet Militia Zodia? Or is she better off not knowing that? Then again this is anime and we all know from experience the more you warn a main character to not do something they always go ahead and do it regardless of the warnings.

So yeah back to the science talk for a moment the Vox Particle Control Experiment basically dives deep into your subconscious to unlock your mysterious power, which seems to be triggered by stressful events. So how does that work on our main character that is rarely seen suffering from stress? The simple answer to that question is you have to give them something to stress over and who better to do that than little old Asteria who busts out with a full explanation about lots of perverted stuff like having sex. Yep that poor girl! I think her brain exploded after hearing everything related to that sex, but hey it was freaking hilarious because we got to see all those epic face reactions.

Kara // YES. Finally some stuff on Madoka’s past life… Kind of. She appears to have made some sort of huge sacrifice regarding the Vox and destroying some planet. I don’t think she would be a villain since she’s closely related to Madoka/ her soul/ whatever (what a twist if she was though), but I think the whole negative emotions regarding Madoka this episode might have had a huge effect on that scenario. The first time Rin-ne happened, Madoka’s strong feelings were about her friends. We know that friendship is a HUGE theme for Lagrange, so I assume that Madoka’s concern for her friends could be considered to be on more positive then her getting angry and embarrassed by herself. The second time was out of concern for Youko. …This one’s a little iffy since Madoka could have been facing a lot of negative emotions then, but she was still fighting to protect there (plus her friends were with her). It seems like every time the green flowers bloom, she seems to have Lan and Mugi there, and she’s concerned about the wellbeing of others. As for this time, sure she was participating in the experiment to help others, but I do believe that she was probably more concerned with herself when stressed (plus Lan and Mugi weren’t there with her). I think that’s where the difference lies. Long story short? Sex will be the destruction of the world. Madoka needs to stay yuri in order to keep it all in tact.

Dark Madoka versus light Madoka

Dark Madoka-“I WILL KILL YOU!!”                  Light Madoka-“Wait! Can we just kiss and make up?”

Madoka-“Uh my bad! I swear I didn’t do it on purpose…anyone got some super glue I can use?”

Fosh // During this experiment Madoka’s stress levels hit an all-time high which causes her vox machine to freak out and start to form this really evil looking red cloud which Muginami and Lan describe as blood? Yeah their description sounds quite nasty. After that event she has to fight off some dark vision of herself, but we know her better as Yurikano De Metrio Lu or just “Madoka from the past”. Thankfully she manages to fight off the darkness and regain control over her mecha. Sadly the damage was done from the failed experiment because the whole world saw a glimpse of how powerful those Vox mecha can be and the same goes for Dizelmine Fin E Ld Si who saw that power for himself. Oh and a quick note to add why is Yurikano still alive and why is she with Lan’s brother and not Vilajulio? Is she a clone or the real deal? I noticed her voice was different from the flashback leaving me to ask is she a new character? Either way that was an interesting reveal! I can only bet that Dizelmine has plans to use this “Yurikano” to pilot one of the Vox machines if he can get his hands on one and turn it into a weapon.

Kara // But wait! Yukiano (who I thought was dead) looks suspiciously like Madoka’s past life. Now, the least season was a while ago for me, but I could have sworn that the whole Vox destroying the world story was a couple of thousand years old. Unless there’s some crazy immortality stuff going on, I don’t think they could be the same person. Maybe she’s distantly related to Madoka’s past self? Cloning? I don’t know. It was implied this episode that Madoka’s past self died in whatever sacrifice she made, but it was never made 100% clear. …Plus Yukiano was Villaguillio’s sister. I forget. Did we ever learn how or why she died? When Lagrange supplies answers, they always seem to bring up even more questions.

Extra fun with Madoka and friends

Madoka-“Wait I can’t possibly eat that!”              Izo-“Stand back I GOT THIS!”            Array-“YAY!!!”

Kirius-“Damn it! WHY IS EARTH SO FREAKING HOT!?”                 Madoka-“Well it is summer time…”

This is a requirement in the anime blogger rule book! 

Madoka-“Noooooo! MAKE THE POPTART CAT STOP! AHHHHHHHH!!”

Dizelmine-“We forgot to give you a brain didn’t we?”           Yukiano-“I LIKE SPACEEEEEEEEEEE!”

End thoughts

Fosh // Damn there is some deep stuff going on in this week and by deep I am referring to Madoka’s cosplay as some high tech bunny girl from the future which means I am required to take several screenshots of her from every angle of course. Oh and this episode just proves how perverted Asteria can be, but I have no issues with that because Hisako Kanemoto is doing a fantastic job with that character! What else happened? Oh right we are preparing for war breaking out on earth between De Metiro and La Garite. So what is the deal with the Polyhedron faction taking sides with Vilajuilo? What are they going to gain by joining him? Can only assume he has plans to use the power of the Vox machines for good; however we really don’t have a true villain quite yet even though I personally have Dizelmine marked as evil. We still have Moid hanging around for all we know he could still the mastermind behind everything so far so what did you think of this episode was it awesome or are you ready for the intergalactic war to start?

Kara // So while Lagrange seems intent on treading down the serious business path, they do still add in the lighter slice of life parts. It’s a good mix. They haven’t given up on comedy either. Overall, it’s been extremely entertaining. Sure, we’ve learned nothing about the planet wars, who Madoka’s past self or Yukiano really are or what the Vox are in the first place, but they do seem to be exploring the Rin-ne flowers more now. On another note, sure Lam’s brother seems to be THE antagonist of the story, but Moid, who was the most suspicious of them all last season, seems to have completely fallen to the background in season 2. Maybe they’ll use him to make Dizelmine look like less of a villain later on in the series? In any case, I’m expecting something to go wrong in the next couple of episodes and the war to break out. Anime likes going into absolute worst case scenarios.

 Preview

Vilajuilo-“Sup bro, how you doing?!”                 Dizelmine-“Quiet! I am learning about bromance from this earthling.”

 Can Madoka get the brothers to talk or are we doomed for war!?