Rinne No Lagrange

The OP is just awesome!

Rinne No Lagrange: Flower declaration of your heart, a robot anime, written by Production I.G, general-directed by Sato Tatsuro, who did Martian Successor Nadesico. He also directs Mōretsu Pirates. But Lagrange seems very good. And its mecha is designed by Nissan Global Design Headquarters!

And its OP, “Try Unite!” sung by Nakajima Megumi, I totally fell in love with it the first time I heard it. And I’ve already listened to it more than 30 times! It’s that good! Very futuristic, a kind of trance/electronics. Nakajima Megumi has such a divine voice. She is the Sonya Marmeladova of our otakudom! Very romantic, and yes, adolescent expression of full potentiality toward the future. Her vocal expands my imaginations.

The story takes place in Kamogawa, Chiba. And Kyouno Madoka, a high school jersey girl, is really energetic, also an avid swimmer. An adolescent teen girl has a powerful energy. She shines with full potentiality. Her vibe makes us want to see how she will grow during the show, this style of growing with the fans like Morning Musume and AKB48, a very Japanese pop idol culture thing. But she will be dragged into a robot fight, by her new comrade, Lan, a self-claimed extraterrestrial, and supposedly one more girl. So, it’s trio. Like the Celtic Triple Goddess, Brigid.

Lagrange, the name taken from a French mathematician, Joseph Louis Lagrange, I don’t know what he has to do with the show. Is robot mechanics based on Lagrange’s theories? Well, I’m not good at math & science, so I can’t tell. So, I’ll leave it to our intellectual Anime Diet writers to explain that.

Oh, yes, Maru! That is the new kiai. Ranka Lee did “kira!” But now, it’s “Maru!” That’s gonna be Madoka’s trademark! Yes, it’s also a technique that Ryuken used against Raoh. Yes, maru means “circle.” And I think it’s related to Rinne (輪廻 “samsara, circle of life”). The concept is very Buddhist or Hindu. Or even Nietzschean for “eternal recurrence.” Samsara is “world, reality” Yes, 3-D. But for this anime, it’s probably totally a different weltanschauung. We like to find out what Rinne refers to in the next couple episodes. Or is this samsara flower related to a flower of Ano-Hana? Or the flower is Madoka herself? Or turn out to be a broken flower, like Bill Murray’s film?

Ah, now I really want to see the next episode! Hopefully this won’t turn into another blunder like Sora No Woto or Fractale. But so far, looks promising. At least better than Aquarion, and even has potential to surpass Macross F. 

Now I want to make a pilgrimage to Kamogawa City!