Rinne no Lagrange - Episode 5

This fifth episode of Rinne no Lagrange begins with a flashback/dream provided to us by Lan - an intriguing blend of happier times and sadness, made all the more confusing by Lan's irritation with herself on account of her dreaming about "the enemy".  But just who does she mean?

Such matters aside, this instalment sees the unease and rivalry between Lan and Muginami continue - they might be living under the same roof, but the latter wastes few opportunities to dig subtly at the former, who has no interest in even trying to be polite about things, tolerating Muginami only on account of Madoka.  Even then, and despite the lack of any evidence as to who her new rival is, she wastes no time in trying to warn her enthusiastic friend about the danger she might be in, even if it falls upon deaf ears.

Eventually however, Muginami reveals herself to Lan, to some extent at least - having stolen the proverbials "keys" to the third and final Vox Aura, she's now waiting upon the arrival of her brother, whose introduction she also expects to turn the town into a battlefield; thus, her current goal is to enjoy the simple times currently before her before things get serious.  It seems that there isn't much time left for her to enjoy though, as Madoka's uncle runs into a mysterious man known as Villagiulio - no prizes for guessing that she's the man Muginami has been waiting for.  However, Muginami's assumption that her possession of a Vox Aura will curry the favour of her "big brother" (who just so happens to be a Lord and member of the so-called "Kiss" organisation - although I guess it would be hard to tell when he isn't wearing make-up) proves to be a huge miscalculation on her part, leaving her future part in proceedings unknown... well, okay, it's probably quite clear how that particular plot point will pan out, but regardless a threat from Villagiulio that he'll take serious action unless the Vox Aura are destroyed by morning is certainly one to bring the main gist of the series back into sharp focus.

Despite another episode shorn of any mecha action and the like, this week's slice of  Rinne no Lagrange actually worked rather well - the tension between Laffinty and Muginami swirled around nicely, and Madoka's reactions throughout the episode both fit her character and lended an extra dimension to proceedings.  There's still a lot of confusion surrounding the various factions within the series (for me anyhow), but this isn't to the detriment of the show as they're clearly shaking things out slowly but surely, and the overall blend of humour and more serious story-telling did the job nicely.  I'm still not quite ready to put a seal of approval upon this series, and I do worry it's going to fall into a formulaic hole at some point, but thus far I've enjoyed much of what it's had to offer after episode one and if nothing else it has won a "better than Star Driver gold star" already.  Now, back to listening to Try, Unite! over and over and over again...