Episode 12 Final –
Well it seems that this season has had quite a few rather decent endings. Considering how Lagrange hasn’t really done too much aside from buildup, this final episode had a good mix of foreshadowing and character focus. The climax was puzzling and a little mysterious, sure, but it was a good way to perk my curiosity enough to get me interested in the 2nd season for this series. On a side note, I’m finding it slightly frustrating that more anime are starting to turn into 2-cour “split in half” affairs. It’s already happened with Fate Zero and Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, and now you could add Lagrange to the list.
Anyways, in terms of story, this episode had a rather straightforward climax and resolution. The resolution pretty much just noted how Madoka is, indeed, a strange girl, and has gotten entangled in something huge that she is not yet quite fully aware of. At the same time, the episode emphasized the notion of friendship and how, to Madoka, it is very important. The importance of friendship to her stems back to her own mother’s death, and it seems that traumatic event will have an impact on her worries for a while longer. Madoka’s temporary berserk-state was due to her fear of loss, which was triggered by the potential loss of her older sister figure.
The emotional moments, and the promises to meet each other again, were a strong hook towards the next season (where Lan and Muginami will obviously return). The ending also kept open a lot of questions, such as the intentions of Villagiulio and his groupies, the plotting of Lan’s older brother, and recently revealed, the young chairman’s strange tattoo engrained on her chest. There’s still lots of mysteries left to this story, and while the character development for this 1st half has been a bit lacking, the buildup in terms of plot and worldbuilding has kept things intriguing.
In the end, Rinne no Lagrange went out with a calm, emotional episode that betrayed the action-orientation I had expected of this finale. But in this case, I feel that it was a satisfying way to hook into a second season. The finale focused on the characters, prompted a few more little questions here and there, and kept the ending calm yet fun (and slightly saddening).
Overall Enjoyment: 4.0/5
Screenshots are later in the post.
Distant Paradise 