Kyouno Madoka is a young high school student and the only member of the Jersey Club, a group that aids other student organisations. One day she's approached by a strange girl and taken to a battleship to pilot a giant robot called a Vox that everyone seems to want to possess or destroy. To make things more complicated, there's a disturbing legend about the Vox. That's the basic story, it seems like there's a lot of material, especially for a relatively short anime, but all the material gets covered really well. There's a lot of intrigue and the mixture of occasional serious moments with mostly light-hearted fun is well executed. The only real story issue is the pacing. Everything does get covered, but some parts have a really hectic pace, especially at the very beginning and end, while others are more relaxed and it makes the story seem like it's moving far too fast at those points which is a bit disorienting.
The anime focuses more on the characters than it does the story, which does make things interesting. The main cast is well developed and they get a lot of great interactions. The major interactions revolve around Madoka, Lan and Muginami (who can't seem to figure out when things between Madoka and Lan are getting intense and polite people would leave the room). The three of them are spectacular characters. Even the supporting characters and antagonists feel fleshed out and interesting.
The art is good. It's nice and vibrant, which suits the content well. The backgrounds are lively. My one issue is that there's quite a bit of pointless fan-service and it gets pretty facepalm worthy at some moments. That being said, at least it's equal opportunity fan-service.
The voice acting is well done. Seto Asami, Ishihara Kaori, and Kayano Ai especially do well with their roles. The music is upbeat, catchy and really well done.
The yuri factor is a 6.5/10. You can probably guess this from the characters paragraph, the relationship between Madoka and Lan is extremely homoerotic, and Muginami gets a few moments with them, so maybe it's not that she can't read the mood maybe she just wants to be involved. Youko and Machiko also get a couple moments, but the main les-yay focus is on Madoka and Lan, the last episode especially.
My final rating for Rinne no Lagrange is a 7.5/10. It has some awkward pacing and far too much fan-service, but overall it's a delightful series with lots of fun moments and wonderful characters. If you're a fan of Sky Girls or Canaan you'll probably like this as well and the best part is that a sequel is set to start airing in July. Here's hoping that it's even better and that Madoka and Lan get to officially become a couple instead of just being really homoerotic.
