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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne Blu-Ray
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pachy_boy
Posts: 1341 |
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I found myself pleasantly surprised by this series. Sure, not a whole lot about this is "original" per se, but what really makes Lagrange are the trio of protagonist friends and their relationship, and that alone carried everything. It feels there's an inherent charm throughout the series, and the fan service on the whole was more casual than I expected. To think that Tatsuo Sato was also working on Bodacious Space Pirates at the time, which I watched first, and between the two I actually prefer Lagrange, for all the reasons stated. That and it has more of a moving storyline, in my opinion.
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JohnnySake
 Posts: 586 Location: Auburn Hills, MI |
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Once again, another Key review with impeccable timing, I just finished watching the blu-ray last night. Pachy boy states it succinctly and well, the series really is quite charming. All three of the primary female characters have something going on behind the scenes and the glimpses you get add something meaningful to their characterization. There are times when they try to drum up the drama, but it never seems to get that point of stressed-out serious. At least maybe not yet. (?) But there were times I found myself laughing out loud with some of the antics going on on screen too.
Watching the last episode of this first set left a few questions on the tip of my tongue and when I go to see when the next set was to be released, it is not even mentioned for pre-order yet. And that is why I occasionally equate Viz with vex, since they vex me so well. But all in all, I was very pleased with the show. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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It's funny, in an odd sort of way. I dropped Lagrange after three episodes back when it was airing, as I wasn't all that impressed with it. Yet I'm watching Sky Girls at the moment; I'm up to episode eighteen and finding it to be nothing special but still okay. Both shows are somewhat similar (besides the nature of their respective aliens), so I'm confused as to why I've watched so many episodes of one show but not the other. It makes me wonder if maybe I didn't give Lagrange a proper chance.
Anyone seen both shows and can comment on my situation? |
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lesterf1020
 Subscriber Posts: 295 Location: Trinidad and Tobago |
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I suspect it is a matter of focus and purpose. In Lagrange a lot of things just kind of happen e.g. becoming a mecha pilot, plot revelations etc. It comes together and focuses eventually but initially it is a bit random. As silly as Sky Girls can be those girls chose their path and accept their missions and the plot is pretty clear on what is going on and why people are doing stuff until the last couple of episodes where things get a little complicated. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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^
Ah, cheers for that. You're right, Lagrange is a bit of a mess in the first few episodes. But if it indeed gets better and draws the various elements together then I'm tempted to pick it up and give it another chance. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2267 |
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Yeah, I lasted about 7-8 eps because it seemed that the show couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be. Was it a gag show with some fan service thrown in or some dark grim tale involving a prophecy and giant robots? It just never blended these elements well for me. I remember in one episode alone we got a mix of a dark grim background, pseudo eel/tentacle...uh molestation, and the power of friendship thru bonding in nakedness! I was like what the hell? Talk about shifting the mood all over the place. Maybe it got better in the second half, but with that many episodes I feel I gave it a chance. I will say that I was more entertained with Lagrange's mess (I like watching giant robots do suplexes) than I was with what I found to be the boring Bodacious Space Pirates. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3671 |
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The second season definitely adds more focus and purpose, fleshing out the setting and the character of the aliens. I found that once they started working in that information, the show got much better, but the first season alone was decently entertaining but rather aimless.
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Xorasor
Posts: 6 |
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Season 1 of Lagrange definitely does suffer from a good deal of tonal and focus problems; primarily because it doesn't quite seem to get what it wants to be. Is it supposed to be a more fluffy coming-of-age story with fanservice? Is it supposed to be a gag show? Is it supposed to be a relatively serious mecha show about a dark prophecy?
It feels kind of like it tries to do all of them, but doesn't give the respective aspects enough time to properly be fleshed out, and thus nearly fails at all three. I do feel that the show's charm and rather... unabashedness at just being what it is really do carry it, particularly in the first season. The characters being just quirky and charming enough to keep my interest and sympathies really did help. As somebody who watched the dub, I found it around as hit-or-miss as the show itself. I personally felt that Buckland did quite well as Madoka, but the other two leads... not so much. I just could never really get used to the airy nature of Strassman's voice. And Ruff/Roberts never really managed to escape that initial monotonous drone that irritated me from the getgo. Aside from the male leads- who mostly did well- everyone else felt around "meh" to "adequate". |
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jymmy
 Posts: 1244 |
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I enjoyed this title, especially the last episode, but I wouldn't call it particularly good, nor would I be prompted to watch it again. I think it was a combination of the "random genre elements thrown together" quality the review and some other posters have identified - though this didn't really put me off - and just those elements not being done particularly well.
Is there a reason she should be? I've never heard of this.
I believe she's offering her hand to shake in the same way a dog does. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4158 |
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The "beckoning paw"? This is unheard of in anime? It's the most common pose for any girl with nekomimi/cat girls/moe girls? Nothing, just a motion with the hand? I've read through the review; Where's the mention of the fourth main character, Kamogawa? I don't know, maybe it's like Cat Planet Cuties and Okinawa; If you're enjoying the setting and beautifully detailed locale, you're watching for the wrong reasons. Fan service, of course! But isn't that more Cat Planet Cuties? Dusk Maiden gets a gushing review over half baked ideas and characters that go nowhere, Lagrange gets backhanded compliments and half hearted complaints. Ok.
I'd explain it but I don't think you'd really care. Symbolism, who needs it, right? But you noticed the chair "thing" so I don't know. "Used to be?" So the whole blue/red character design motif common to, well, everything but is here as well, is really just the Crips and the Bloods? This really is one of the more amazing review I've read here recently. Congratulations? |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18458 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Based on the first seasons/halves alone, I had the completely opposite reaction. I found BSP much more involving and much of this more silly than it was even supposed to be.
Why should there be? Granted, there were a few nice shots, but nothing all that special; many series in the last year or two have done much better on this front, including the one that you criticize next. . .
DMoA is a superior series to this one in every sense except use of CG. And given the comments that I'm seeing here, I'm apparently not off the mark on not giving this one a stronger review than it got.
No, really, explain to me how the pant leg and sleeve thing (forgot about that!) is symbolic based only on what you see in the first season, because I'm clearly missing something there. (And for the record, I know about the gang thing because the school that I was working at in the early 2000s was an urban school where what Madoka is doing was specifically banned in the dress code because we were told during police-directed anti-gang training that it was a gang affiliation sign in some areas of the city.)
Why, thank you. Last edited by Key on Fri Jun 14, 2013 11:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Key, did you notice any chromatic aberrations, slight rainbow-colored ringing around all the line edges, on the BD? This was an issue with the Japanese BD and I would like to know if Viz's release also has it.
Yeah, normally I'd be surprised at that rating, but then again this is Viz. They've also hard-blocked all access to it online for those under 18 (1 year more; effectively treating it as porn), in contrast to Crunchyroll, who gives everyone the option of proceeding for anything marked Mature.. or sometimes not marked as in Magi's case Compare this to Sentai's rating of TV-14 Motto ToLoveRu and Majikoi, haha. Or similarly Media Blaster's rating of 16 for their shows. |
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jymmy
Posts: 1244 |
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I'm pretty sure it was intentional and that for whatever reason they wanted it. But yeah, I'm curious. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18458 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I didn't noticed the edging effect you guys are talking about, but I wasn't watching for it, either. Unfortunately I'm a couple hundred miles away from my Blu-Rays for the next couple of days or I'd double-check on that. Maybe someone else who has them can comment?
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5936 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Really don't like the MA and Explicit Content labels printed on the BD/DVD cases. Such things if needed should be easily removed stickers inside shrink-wrap so they cannot be taken off in the store.
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