Rinne no Lagrange: Season 2 - Episode 5

Talking their way onto Dizelmine's ship probably isn't a smart idea whichever angle you look at it from, but Madoka and Muginami seem to be having a whale of time joining Lan on her and her brother's rather elegant vessel.

There is at least some method to their madness however, as Madoka seeks to find out more about the current situation regarding Yurikano from Dizelmine himself and, more importantly, be given permission to speak to Yurikano after seemingly coming face to face with her within the Vox Aura a couple of episodes ago.  Although Dizelmine refuses to allow Madoka to see Yurikano just yet, it isn't really in Madoka's playbook to give up just like that, and her persistence ultimately seems to pay off.

Unfortunately for Madoka however, her naive trust in Dizelmine and his needs proves to be hugely misplaced, and our royal highness has rather a sinister plan up his sleeve - a plan involving switching Madoka's mind into Yurikano's body so that he can use her as the weapon he needs to protect his people at the cost of De Metrio.  It seems that this is also the point in time where Lan turns against her friends, having Muginami sent to the ship's jail while she sings the praises of her family via a public broadcast.  But is her sudden outpouring of nationalistic pride really all that it seems?  As her true aim shows itself, Madoka learns of the truth behind Yurikano's current situation, although it seems that her passion for helping anyone and everyone is about to put her in a decidedly difficult situation...

If you hadn't noticed already, Rinne no Lagrange still doesn't know what it wants to be - it simply can't resist invoking a comical turn whenever possible, yet it still wants to bring us a serious plot regarding intergalactic war and the potential extermination of one (or more) entire planet.  At the moment, it just about seems to be pulling this off, even if it's arguably doing better at the comedy part than its "serious business", and I'm sure I'm not the only one who occasionally wishes we could get over all the intense conflict in the name of some more slapstick comedy.  I'm really not sure that Rinne no Lagrange is going to succeed in holding itself together in this way as we enter the real business end of the series, but when it comes to living in the moment I'm still continuing to enjoy this show for what it is as it powers itself along on a heady mixture of colourful animation and characters, a meaty slice of comedy and a side salad of space opera.