Anime: Rinne no Lagrange: Flower Declaration of Your Heart

Any given anime series will usually put more focus on either its story or place greater emphasis on its characters. The centralization on either the narrative or cast does not necessarily mean the ensemble or plot can be almost entirely neglected. Rinne no Lagrange focuses more on its characters but is rather neglectful of its story. While the character development and technical aspects of the show is generally good, Rinne no Lagrange’s storytelling is inadequate even taking into account the anime being character-driven.

Part of the reason for criticizing the narrative development is that it undermines the character development. Throughout most of its episodes, Rinne no Lagrange is more concerned with developing its cast rather than progressing its story to an extent that the more significant plot events occur toward the very end of the series. The neglect toward the story would not be so problematic, were it not for the fact that much of the character development for the cast is very closely tied to the history preceding the story and the preexisting lore creating the underlying plot of the anime. Madoka’s reasons for starting the Jersey Club and the way she behaves, Lan’s motivation for fighting and her status as a Princess, and Muginami’s family problems eventually show their significance to the plot in the anime’s final episodes. However, the abrupt narrative progress at the end of the series calls into question just how important the back story of the characters is. The neglected story development undermines the history of the characters which created the plot in the first place.

Still, the show’s technical aspects are usually pretty competent. The background music though fairly generic does its job of matching the mood of every scene quite well. The fights are not the most choreographed battles anime has to offer but they are consistently animated. The visuals themselves are generally vibrant without being excessively saturated in color. If there is one complaint to be had for the graphics, however, it is the lack of structure variety for the robotic trinity of Aura, Rympha, and Ignis which are piloted by Madoka, Lan, and Muginami respectively. Despite being touted by the story as legendary mechas, little more distinguishes the three robots framework than different shoulder armor and varying weapons. The lack of creativity among the protagonist robots is further exacerbated by how distinct the antagonist mechas tend to be from one another. If nothing else, the color schemes of Aura, Rympha, and Ignis represent their pilots quite well.

Thankfully, the color schemes of the robotic trinity did not become an excuse to let their respective pilots’ personalities remain confined to her assigned “element.” Madoka’s free-spiritedness matches the wind but unlike the air her flaws are not limited to being in the presence of intense turbulence. Lan is perhaps the most dynamic character as she frequently expresses a range of emotions throughout the series quite unlike her cool demeanor or matching water element. Muginami is the biggest surprise as fire does not represent her personality at all but instead shows her alienation from and desire for warmth despite her cheery attitude. As if the subversions on persona and elements were not enough, the chemistry between the three main characters is quite good because their personalities balance each other. The relationship between Madoka, Lan, and Muginami is further bolstered by the fact that their close friendship is not so quickly or easily made; strong friendship is something created over time and perseveres through trouble which Rinne no Lagrange realizes. It might feel wrong to separate Madoka, Lan, and Muginami once their bond is created and makes the finale of the show all the more bittersweet.

Unfortunately, the great character development is compromised by the storytelling’s tendency to undermine the plot which is the effect of the casts back stories in the first place. Despite some noticeable problems, Rinne no Lagrange is not a bad anime; the solid technical execution and well-done character development ensures that the series is not bad. However, it is not good either as the flawed narrative interferes with the overall product to the extent that the show being character-driven is not an excuse for its questionable storytelling. Overall, the series strengths and problems leave Rinne no Lagrange to be a flawed yet enjoyable viewing experience.

Art & Animation: 5/10
"5/10, Why only this much?"
You will probably wonder after seeing the first few episodes.
Indeed, this is an anime putting its emphasis on the visual bling rather than content, and many of the BGs and character drawings look great, yet - who would have imagined! - they cannot pull off this level of quality throughout all of the show, giving us derpfaces, lots of still shots and even more stills sliding across the screen like in good ol' days. Hah! So much for that.

+ some eyegasm backgrounds like for beach during day/night, etc
+ main characters well designed & drawn

- secondary characters and antagonists designed & drawn worse
- main heroines' mech designs seem to be based on the same toy with only head component and color being different
- notable drop of quality in the last few episodes, probably due to money/time restraints
- sliding stills on the screen... really?

Sound: 8/10

Umm... the voice actors were okay for the most part, however some of the roles (especially as for antagonists and secondary cast) were so cheesy that you just can't pull it off good no matter how you try.

The BG musicals, especially during combat, were sometimes devilishly good, adding a certain aura to the whole series with some trance/techno during the clash of the futuristic/mystic machinery. OP/ED was just okay, though.

+ some excellent combat melodies
- this show has done nothing to deserve an epic music like that
- otherwise nothing special

Story: 2/10
This is an ecchi mecha anime about space invaders attacking and girls in slutty suits fighting them back in mechas. What would you expect?

No, it's worse than just that. It is because this show often tends to forget that it's actually mecha, and goes on spending most of its time with senseless K-On! time wasting, girls just having fun etc - only with plenty of yuri fanservice included.

What about space invaders who were going to attack in the previous episode!? Oh, that? Whatever.
The decisive battle is in its peak! Cliffhanger with main heroines in trouble, OMG what will ever come next!? Following episode - everybody's laid back and relaxed while making an indie lesbian love movie. I'm serious! Things like that.

The character shields they have are also incredible (see spoiler.)


Sadly, in one of the middle episodes the actual BG story is told, and IT IS FINE. Only this show never really uses it!!! :shock: We turn out to have a perfectly logical basis and reasoning as to why bad people attack, connections between Earth and insight on Earth's current status in the map of Galaxy, hinting for a more complex situation to unravel as we explore more of it - only we never do.
Neither we meet many of the probably important characters only shown in flashbacks or just getting mentioned, like the brother of one of the main heroines and actually a prince, even though he saves the whole day at the end of the series.
Because it didn't matter for the creators.
Fanservice did. :/

It resembles one of those "free mmos" on facebook where you either play 5 minutes and then wait several hours or pay 100s of real life cash, and the interface is so simplified that you see there are some scroll-down bars with tons of text that's probably story, however you're only asked to click "next" so that you get to make your next payment faster than you would by reading deeper into it.

+ A plausible story setting that unfortunately was never really important for the show

- The way it's presented by this certain studio, the story is a mess
- Out of place fanservice
- Forgets about being a mecha show in order to present us more hurr durr and fanservice, resulting in chaotic pacing
- Unthinkably stupid character shields and seemingly invincible main character mechs

Character: 3/10

- main characters are all dumb bitches, probably written by an all male staff
- half of the main female cast seem to have a trademark cutesy move like "maru!" and "wan!", similar as to how girls made different trademark sounds in Canon. Women are not animals who say "moo!" "woof!" etc... -_- Have those guys ever dated anyone!?
- many characters still not having made an appearance are left unintroduced when the show ends
- the antagonists are lame and would be better fitting for a shounen show

+ at the same time, one episode focused on the daily lives of some of the seemingly shallow and lame antagonists which was a nice surprise for me and probably the only positive edge I can think of writing about here

Value: 1/10
No value.

Enjoyment: 5/10
Well... the only reason to watch this show is pure entertainment in form of yuri fanservice, of course.
Then there's the mecha battles - but less than you'd expect. I did not like their designs, though, but somebody might, so I'm not decreasing my evaluation because of that.
The overall light-hearted mood also makes this an easy watch for the entirety of the series.

Other than that, it's shallow, dumb, and made by Xebec.

PROTIP: An anime made by Xebec can't be good.

PROLOGUE
This is a mecha show planned by Studio I.G. which is very good at sci-fi shows, but is otherwise animated by Xebec, a studio notorious for its bad anime. It is directed by Satou Tatsuo, who has made lots of mecha shows, most of which are unorthodox but otherwise slow and usually anti-climactic (Martian Successor Nadesico, Gekiganger 3, Shingu, Stellvia). He also has Suzuki Toshimasa as an assistant, who in the past directed Heroic Age and the second season of Polyphonica. So ok, he isn’t much of a talent. Thus we have a project based on antithesis, decent director and planner but also bad assistant and animator. So the overall feeling was expected to be mediocre. And yup, I was right.

CHARACTERS
It starts right away with establishing every character through sexual stereotypes, something which is sacrificing a lot from personality in favour of shallow appeal. There is the usual variety of uniform eye candy, such as school uniforms, swimsuits, maid suits, nude scenes, and even combat suits that fit better for erotic foreplay than… well, combat. Also, every single girl in the anime dresses, acts, and thinks like a retard (exactly how the male audience likes them), thus you get that fuzzy feeling of dumb fun out of them, but nothing amazing in the longrun.

- Madoka is the lead heroine, who always acts on impulse and rarely thinks what the devil she is doing. She is following the energetic/positive bimbo stereotype and in a way she feels like a parody of Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis. Where he would constantly try not to run away, she just storms in and then asks forgiveness for messing it all up. She also wears her swimsuit underneath her school uniform because "you never know if it comes in handy." It is also a joke on having two fetishes at the same time. But as I said, since every girl in the show is dumb, she is not smart enough to change after she swims and walks all around the city while still wet and risking pneumonia, even when she is carrying her jym clothes. Oh yes, there is also the issue with the jersey, a third fetish. She is the leader of the jersey club, where girls run around in them doing good deeds and feeling all happy about it. She even has her own signature pose (Maru!), hairstyle, and impractically lifted sleeves that are supposed to be giving her an identity or something. But it’s nothing much.

- Lan is the second heroine, and is following the cooldere stereotype. She acts like a puppy, as she constantly replies by barking and feels neglected (like one) when left alone. She also seems to lack common sense, but is excused because she is apparently an alien. So she doesn’t mind how she walks around in a military uniform that conveniently leaves her half-naked. She cares very much for Madoka and that is why she gave her a robot to go fight some aliens she has no idea what they are all about. But it’s ok, Madoka is so stupid that agrees right away because she wants to help people. In fact, she rushes to it so fast, she never asks anyone to explain what the hell are aliens like Lan want in the first place and just continues her life with her as a friend.

- And then we have Muginami who dresses like a street whore and is so stupid she even talks slowly. She also seems to have a brother complex and get all emo and crazy when not being exploited by him.

And that is all you need to know about the main characters of this show. A dumb energetic one, a dumb dog, and a dumb whore, playing around with robots for some weird alien conspiracy. There are a few others but surely you will remember them for even less that that. Such as the director of the institution always smirking with his eyes closed, the president being a loli who loves molesting underraged girls, and a male alien soldier who loves to cross dress. So as you can tell, the cast is just silly people doing silly things.

STORY
So what is this conspiracy in the story anyway? Well, there are these human-looking aliens on a far away planet who are in the middle of a civil war, and there are three ancient robots that can destroy everything, and the rebels look for them, and they came to Earth, and they… Ok, screw that, nobody cares about the plot, ok? It is mostly silly moments with dumb girls undressing, doing school activities where they are molested by eels, going to the beach where they bathe in the nude, being debriefed by their loli superior before she fondles their breasts, and stopping an alien armada before filming a yuri movie. There are some heavy emo moments too, regarding the alien war but it is completely disregarded in a few minutes. Hell, even the war just ends out of the blue and they all go back to do more silly stuff. Yeah, ok, nothing to see here, moving along to the robot action.

ART/ANIMATION
The robot battles are very cool in choreography and the only good thing I find in the whole series; everything else is just dumb fun. Of course I’ll be damned if I didn’t get Neon Genesis deza vu out of them. It appears to be one big tribute to Hideaki Anno works and it’s not like this can’t work, since one of my favoured retro mecha is Gunbuster, which was also girls and robots fighting aliens. The thing is, both Gunbuster and NGE were directed by Hideaki and animated by Gainax, a combo that beats this show’s team ten times over. Oh well…

So anyways, the overall production values ain’t bad but surely far from amazing. The robots are battling in extremely interesting ways, like pulling out energy swords, creating barriers, transforming to airships, and even using martial arts like German suplex and strangling grabs… although the last one is just Madoka trying to do cool stuff even when they are not necessary. I mean she keeps trying to play wrestling with the enemy robots as if they are humans, yet trying to strangle a mecha that doesn’t breathe is just dumb. Or she keeps trying not to cause too much damage in the city, yet she never thinks about just moving away from it in order to fight. Yes, she is dumb, just like we like them.

Oh, and there are boob/pantsu jokes too in case you are not into robot action. Nothing amazing about them; they are presented in a perky/non-slutty way but we can get a thousand anime like that.

MUSIC
The soundtrack didn’t feel interesting; some j-pop trash I wouldn’t care less about. And voice acting was ok, meaning everybody sounded as retarded as they needed to be. I bet that “Lagrange” word in the title comes from how everybody’s brains “lag” in all “ranges”.

ENJOYMENT
So, basically you get a completely stupid show which can easily be labelled dumb fun. If you can switch off your brain then you may enjoy it for what it is but for me this is a completely passable title. Even when it tries to be a social drama at points, it does it in such a light way before throwing in fan service and school comedy that it might as well not exist at all. Thus although it has a serious aspect to it, it plays out way too light and silly to leave you with fond impressions.

VALUE
It came out at the same time as another similar show named Aquarion Evol, which is far more extreme in all sections and pretty much stole all the spotlight. But even without it, it is not much of a show people will remember. It is way too light and simple for its own good to the point you will easily forget it.