Watched the first episode of Lagrange, the Flower of Rinne season two anime. This is an enjoyable Shojo Mecha anime (a rarity) set in the seaside town of Kamogawa. It’s pure fluff and friendship by the seaside, and the three main characters, Madoka, Lan and Muginami are adorable. The only jarring note is how much fan service there is, especially with Muginami, whose character design must be seen to be believed. She looks like a 14 year old with the voluptuous body of a 22 year old.
Watched more eps of Lagrange. Good episode where Madoka and the girls leave Earth on King Dizelmine’s ship in order to find out the mystery of his rival’s little sister, Yurikano, an enigmatic young woman who is betrothed to the King and seems to be the key to solving the ‘great collapse’ of the two star systems they lead. There’s a nice onsen scene giving lots of fan service, especially of buxom Muginami. Then Madoka’s curiosity about Yurikano gets her into trouble when Dizelmine plans to transfer her consciousness into the little sister, who is in suspended animation. It all makes very little sense (especially being a second season and I haven’t explained season one) but, as Usagi Tsukino once said in Sailor Moon, I know it’s all gonna turn out fine. I really love the sunny vibe of this show, especially the scenes in Kamogawa. And I love the music. It really takes me to a sunny place.
Watched three more eps of Lagrange. They’re mostly filler eps featuring Madoka trying to keep her Jersey club going. Moid, a character who never opens his eyes, is revealed as a bad guy, surprise, surprise, when he activates a relic found by Madoka’s older sister and uses it for some nefarious purpose. There’s some funny product placement in these eps, particularly to do with some energy drink. A number of the characters, goodies and baddies, are seen taking time out from the story for a fresh swig. In fact, I think the end theme song may include some of this product placement. The song’s main refrain sounds like ‘Jersey energy’, though the lyrics are written as something else. I even suspect the entire series was dreamed up as a way of promoting the seaside town of Kamogawa. Every episode has the name in the title. This is a not uncommon practice in Japanese anime and other media, especially in pop idol music. I don’t mind this because art always transcends commerce.
Watched the last three eps of Lagrange. It was largely an exercise in getting it over with so I can move on, but I did enjoy it. But I can’t say I enjoyed it for the story, which was pretty nonsensical and bland. There was never any sense of a real threat in all of it. There wasn’t even a teary goodbye between Madoko and her friends, Lan and Muginami, who are leaving – because Madoko leaves with them too! I liked the characters and the music and the sunny setting. It often looked beautiful. That was enough.