FLCL

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The FLCL manga and anime is the quintessential "you just don't get it" duo.

This is a super odd manga read. It's FLCL targeted at only those who really enjoyed the anime (so people like me).

It's story is a complete clusterfuck to an even greater extent than the anime. There's constant time skips back and fourth between different scenes making it really hard to comprehend if your only casually reading it. Stuff that had some explanation in the anime now goes unexplained and seems to occur at random. However, many things that were left ambiguous in the manga are now out right stated so it sorta ... works both ways. A lot of the plot has been changed, pretty much to the point wheres it's straight up a different story which only follows the same basic beats as the anime. It's also full of all sorts of fanservice (even the horny type, for better or for worse) like *SPOILERS* the bunny costume appearing right at the end, Haruko actually admitting to falling in love with Naota eventually (although this is skeptical) and a really out of place implied sex between characters which was super weird

The characters have also been changed quite significantly. Naota and Mamimi are similar to the anime (however, Mamimi's mental state is shown to be much worse and is explored to a much greater extent) but the biggest change is to Haruko who is less of an ambiguous space agent and more a sadistic god in the manga. She has no qualms with ending a person's life to further her own goals and even goes to the extent of almost executing Mamimi with a rifle for posing a threat to her plans. Amarao has a very insignificant role in the manga, only appearing for one panel. Eri also plays a much bigger role in the manga and has an extremely obvious crush on Naota unlike in the anime where it's more hinted that she has a liking for Naota. The biggest inclusion though is Naota's brother actually being given a face and personality, appearing in a few flashback pages to flesh out Mamimi's past.

The art is this manga's biggest strength. It's sketchy, hyper-stylized and looks purposefully unfinished, which isn't to everyone's taste, but perfectly captures the zany and creative nature of FLCL. The only problem with the art being the puzzling panel layout which paired with the mess of a story, makes this manga a confusing read.

Unfortunately, there are a few inherent drawback of adapting FLCL into a manga. Firstly is that you (obviously) can't have music which was one of FLCL's major selling points and is where a lot of the praise for the anime is directed at; many scenes that were lifted from the anime don't have the same impact in the manga due to losing such an integral element. Secondly, FLCL was a display of GAINAX's raw animating prowess after Evangelion. Adapting some of the manic scenes in the anime to fit onto paper is a neigh impossible task. What they do here is close enough but doesn't create nearly the same buzz as it's anime counterpart does.

This manga doesn't reach the heights of it's anime brethren but is a good supplemental read for those who enjoy and understand the insanity that is FLCL. It's a different interpretation which strips back some fluff to tell a more focused, character based story. If you want a slightly darker, more cruel FLCL as reprieve for the god awful FLCL sequels than this manga is probably for you.

Plus, FLCL Omnibus (a full collection of every volume) is a extremely cheap buy on amazon so it's pretty much a no brainer for anyone who really enjoyed FLCL.

I don't think it's a hot take to say that the anime is WAY better than the manga in this case. The FLCL manga is VERY hard to follow and figure out what's going on, not just from a plot and story standpoint, but the paneling and art itself. If I hadn't watched the show beforehand, I would've been completely lost reading this (not that I wasn't confused regardless), so I pity the wretch that goes into this manga blind. Even if you are a fan of the FLCL anime, I can only recommend this manga to the utmost fans of the show. The manga ... is basically just a worse retelling of the events of the show, with a few interesting, yet minor, changes; at the end of the day this only serves as a novelty or a footnote for the series as a whole. Cool to check out, but doesn't have much value.

One of those rare instances where the anime adaptation is actually MUCH better than the manga. The manga is basically unreadable. It's incredibly hard to follow, and makes no sense. It erratically jumps around... It's just a very hard read, to say the least. I would go back and forth between the same few pages trying to figure out what was going on before eventually giving up. On a positive note, the art is pretty good. It's not ground-breaking by any means, but is rather nice.

Watch the anime first! The manga will make you not want to watch the anime, and you will be missing ... out.