First Impressions: Lagrange: The Flower of Rinne

8:00 PM on 01.10.2012   |   Elliot Gay

Up until now I've stayed clear of trailers and promos for this season of anime. Save for a couple of shows, I can't really say I've been looking forward to anything in particular. In fact, my choice to pick up Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne was purely based on aesthetic appeal. I liked the look of the main characters and I happen to be a somewhat passive fan of mech anime, so why the hell not right?

By staying away from any promotional material for the show, I've effectively gone into the first episode with no expectations, no hype and no idea what Lagrange is even about. So the question is, did it manage to overcome my admittedly nonexistent expectations? Is it the most amazing thing I've ever seen, passable, or an absolute train wreck?

I honestly have no idea. Follow me after the break as I try to find the answers to these extremely deep, mystifying questions.

Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne appears to be the story of Madoka Kyouno, a quirky high school girl who's the sole member of the Jersey Club. This club of hers is pretty open ended; she simply helps anyone who needs a hand. In fact, our introduction to Madoka comes in the form of her dramatically and heroically saving someone drowning in the ocean. A girl after my own heart! This being the case, not too many people seem enthusiastic at the idea of joining up. 

If nothing else I'm willing to stick with this series for at least a few more episodes on the power of its main character alone. I'm a sucker for fun, determined and strong female characters and while it's still too early to tell if Madoka will end up that way, she at least left a good impression on me. The final attack she uses to take down her enemy at the end of the episode managed to force a giggle out of me, despite how generic the rest of the episode was. Which brings me to my main point.

Nearly everything about the show strikes me as generic. These are all tropes and plot points I've seen in countless other series, oftentimes with much more success. There isn't anything inherently bad about Lagrange, actually. It's the fact that there isn't anything great either. Madoka's older sister didn't strike me as particularly interesting and the one moment they shared together felt forced and awkward, almost as if they felt they had to slip some random fanservice in at some point. 

The only other character we get a chance to spend time with is the mysterious alien girl, Lan. I'm hoping this changes as the series goes on, but as of right now she strikes me as the same old quiet female you find in anime these days. However, I will say that I like the idea of playing her up against Madoka, considering how opposite they are. If that serves as a way in which she can develop and grow, I'll have no complaints about her generic beginnings. Fingers crossed.

Animation on the whole was attractive, as expected of a first episode in a series such as this. I will say that the sight of laser beams made me all kinds of happy. The mech designs aren't doing much for me right now, but that hasn't ever really been a deciding factor for me. The art slips a couple of times, particularly on profile shots of the characters. Outside of that though, I found the show as pleasant to look at as I expected. I'm a big fan of the ocean and blue skies, so if there's one thing I'm loving about Lagrange it's the setting. I think it feels really natural and warm. I also dug the trippy opening, "Try Unite", and the strange visual that accompanied it. Music on the whole was perfectly serviceable to the point where I didn't ever really pay much attention to it. It set the atmosphere but that's about all. 

I'm sorry if I'm coming off as unenthusiastic, but save for a couple of things here and there, nothing in the first episode of Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne managed to get me terribly excited. It was entertaining enough that I'm willing to see where it goes, but I do hope it finds a more unique voice. The character designs, visuals and lead are all there. Now it just needs to wow me.

Success? Only time will tell.

[You can catch Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne over at Viz Anime]