Rinne no Lagrange - Episode 10

Never mind all of the important space politics and the fact that an invading alien armada is on the way - it's school culture festival time!

Thus, while the members of Kiss ponder their own course of action and what the right thing to do would be, our three-girl group of Madoka, Muginami and Lan get to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the culture festival, satisfied in the knowledge that they did a lot to help the school's various clubs as part of their Jersey Club duties.

However, as the festival goes on, we get to see just how far both Lan and Muginami have come in regard to their place within the school - both of them have made other friends, and end up being dragged away to help with various clubs, leaving Madoka drifting as little more than a spare part.  Despite bumping into Asteria (who seems to have taken quite a liking to Earth's food if nothing else), Madoka can't shake the depression which comes from being left alone, especially given how it's also reflective of her situation in terms of piloting the Vox.  These two disparate elements are brought crashing together, as Asteria informs her that the invading armada are on their way, meaning that it's Lan and Muginami's time to fight.  Is Madoka going to disobey orders and join them, or continue to act as a third wheel in this particular scenario?

Although this episode had some fun moments and was generally quite entertaining, a depressed Madoka doesn't make for a particularly big draw when set against a culture festival backdrop, leaving things feeling pretty run of the mill until the latter stages of the episode where important things really start to happen.  There's certainly no sign of the show's political machinations becoming clearer any time soon, with Asteria effectively talking Madoka into following her friends to pilot a Vox despite the dangers which caused her to ban her from the craft in the first place, and the individuals that make up Kiss that we've seen having rather fluid allegiances of their own.  Hopefully this will make for an explosive finale to the show's first half over the next couple of weeks - it feels like we've reached the point where we deserve one after some pretty casual outings of late.