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Apr 13, 2016
What’s “furi kuri”? That’s a question that not even “furi kuri” itself can answer. While watching FLCL for the first time, it is certain that you won’t be aware of what the hell is happening the 70% of the time. Welcome to the anime which features weird head boners which transform into robots, bitter drinks, a batshit crazy alien girl, guitars and basses everywhere, an ugly ass guy with algae as eyebrows, a giant iron which covers periodically the city in steam, mysterious organizations such as Medical Mechanica which were created for the sake… of what? What’s the point of this anime? Why am I
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even watching this turdy excuse for an anime? Ok, animation is cool, music is cool, and that’s great. But… …???????
After watching this, some people most probably forget about the anime and act as if they never watched it at all. A few others will make a fool of themselves and praise the anime just to try to belong (at least apparently) to the goddamn elite of edgy motherfuckers which completely grasped the meaning beyond FLCL. In my case, I looked several videos with explanations about the series, and what I extracted as a conclusion is (I might be wrong tho, is my opinion after all ): forget it. There’s no fucking meaning at all, at least not between the plot-related elements. This artwork is the epitome of nihilism, it is just simply a gathering of over-the-top, random shit which the authors thought would look cool in a single series.
Nevertheless, the thing beyond FLCL is precisely the exact point of all this randomness, the catch beyond this fucked up amalgam of cultural references, bizarre Japanese humour, and awesome animation. An OVA of 6 episodes is just not enough to develop a complex, fully developed series, with its characters’ development and everything it involves. Instead, Gainax decided to spend their money in contracting a shitload of different artists, getting The Pillows for their soundtrack (making up for one of the best OSTs I have ever heard) and mixing all the elements in apparent incoherence but outstanding aesthetic in order to portray effectively one concrete thematic: childhood problems, and the stage of becoming an adult.
While watching FLCL for the second time, I noticed that the only one which was more fucked up in the head than me in that single moment in time was probably the MC, Naota. Naota, whose brother is in America playing baseball, gets involved in the crazy master plan of Haruhara Haruko, which stays in his home as a kind of servant. Meanwhile, he has to deal with other problems regarding incipient adolescence (most of them with girls such as his brother’s girlfriend Mamimi and drinks) and with the fluctuations of NO waves, which apparently are responsible of him getting robots out of his head.
When I look back and think about my childhood, I can relate it’s fast pacing with FLCL, and the overall thinking that the world is awkward and that my thoughts don’t belong in the mysterious world of adults and that shit happens around me and I can’t possibly do anything are things that FLCL show in both subtle and over-the-top ways, depending on your perspective towards the anime. The feeling after watching this anime is refreshing, because through its blatant lack of explanation and the constant thought of wondering what the fuck is happening in every moment that it delivers, it reminds us of that age ago in time when we still were oblivious to how the world worked and how we still had a lot to discover. It is certainly a nostalgic ride, but it is as well a friendly reminder that we still keep inside us, really deep inside, a forgotten kid which is desperately still trying to become an adult, but it never will until we die. “Forever young, I wanna be forever young”, Marian Gold sang. And, in a sense, it is true, because no matter how old we are, there will still be things which surprise us, which encourage us to be wiser, or stronger, or more adult than we already are.
In the end, what’s “furi kuri”? That’s a question that still not even “furi kuri” itself can answer. However, there is a thing that is crystal clear, and it is what FLCL isn’t: your average anime. You will never find an anime which could hold the slightest similarity to this. Ignore the “recommendations” section: this is a completely unique anime, and even though I couldn’t personally said it is one of my favorites although it really grew on me the second time I watched it, I say: go for it. It may not be your cup of tea, but it also could be exactly what you are looking for.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 7, 2016
First of all, even if the score is a 5, I don't wan't you to think that this is an "average" anime. This anime deserves the 5 for having really good pros to watch it, but also some awful flaws. It is funny at a time, then painful at the other. It can be really cute, then suddenly fall into creepyness. It can be hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no, you're in then you're out... (Katy Perry could certainly do a review of this). This is retard let's start this shit ffs.
As it is supposed to be a comedy, I'm going
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to start talking about the lulz. Here it REAAALLY depends on your type of humor. The humor displayed in this show was pretty good if you are a goddamn masochist. I'm not saying that it was painfully bad, it was painfully funny. Gags were 70% awfully pitiful situations suffered by the main character Tomoko while trying too hard to socialize. This are funny...-ish, but also so fucking awkward that if you are not really similar to the main character (hence the "relatability" of the show"), you will feel more sorry for Tomoko's bad luck than actually aroused by the gag. The other 30% were made up of the delusions created by Tomoko's crazy, uncivilized mind. Tomoko is introvert to such an extent that her delusions are out of this world, and honestly, I did laughed quite a lot with those.
Concerning the art, it was actually quite great and unique. Shades of grey and colors resembled perfectly Tomoko's feelings at moments, animation was constantly aboive the average and I find particularly original the cubist-ish deformation that Tomoko suffered when she was let down. Sound was pretty mediocre, but the rest of the art was great.
Now, let's get into the main point of the series, aside for the humor: it's supposed "relatability". I was engaged to watch the anime due to the huge worship around Tomoko's character on the internet. People found it very relatable, and was waifu of many. I personally found the show WAY too exaggerated to ever be relatable to ANYONE, at least that I know. And I can tell you that I'm definitely not a popular guy, but hell, Tomoko was too much to handle.
Tomoko, as a character, although it has literally zero to negative evolution throughout the series, it's really interesting, but just an hyperbole of social anxiety. Time has passed too fast for her, and her egotistical though introvert attitude has made her not capable of establishing any new friendship with anybody in high school. What I definitely could see as the main point of the series (hence its title) is that Tomoko is constantly blaming on society for not paying attention to her and her superiority delusions. Her limited knowledge of human socializing and her days of gaming and watching anime have made her a "solo player", and dehumanized her to a point that she sees becoming popular as no more than a checkpoint on a video game, instead of considering that real life is an evergrowing "final boss" whose effects you can't control. Furthermore, the fact that makes the show much more suffering is that people are actually really kind to her. In reality, she would probably get bullied, but the fact that no one is coercing or bullying her, but just pitying on her and leaving her apart, makes it nearly impossible for Tomoko to blame anyone more than herself for her situation. However, no matter what, she keeps doing. Tomoko is quite of a horrible human being, but also a hopeless, defenceless one. Everyone would be like Tomoko under those conditions of social isolation.
In the end, who is to blame in this show? Tomoko? Society? Her parents or her brother? Her best elementary school friend Yuu-chan for being more popular than her? Imae-chan and Kii-chan for seeing her as a helpless stray dog? Probably everyone, or anybody at all. The fact is that this isn't anymore about the show. People like Tomoko exist in society nowadays, and the fact of leaving them apart is just as wrong as bullying them. Every human being deserves to be treated nicely at the least, but you know what? Let's get further from this point. Think about it the next time you are in school or in college when you see someone on their own for several days. Don't just be polite, but try befriending him or her just as you would do with any other person. Not being condescending, not being agressive, just being friendly. Maybe beneath that defensive armour of lonelyness you will find an awesome human being, forgotten by society long time ago, who may reveal it's own nature to its peers. Seriously, is that easy.
Overall, you may love this show, you may absolutely hate it, but you should understand it's purpose besides comedy: to show the reality of a person with social anxiety, and to teach how NOT to deal with it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 22, 2015
When you thought you couldn't see anything not even close as epic as TTGL series, when you wonder how the hell could enough Spiral energy could be reunited in order to create such a brilliant masterpiece of a series, is when you notice that only one thing can beat TTGL: TTGL itself.
Honestly, I was well deceived by the first film (Gurren-hen), as it was not more than a rushed overview of the series until Tepperin's battle. Furthermore, even while being willing to see more of the TTGL world, I was fondly worried
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about the fact that maybe the second film would be more of the same stuff. I'm glad I was wrong in every way I could have been wrong.
Opposite as his predecesor, Lagann-hen achieves to re-tell the whole TTGL story in 2 hours from the battle of Tepperin without feeling rushed in any moment. Furthermore, literally EVERY little addition that was made before the final battle, either was a wonderful addition for the backstory, or to the characters, or just the appearance of certain characters in certain scenes (don't pretend to spoil anything to you guys) exclusively for the film, which literally put me into tears.
Even though the film until the final battle was amazing, the film was actually nothing but a prologue to the GODDAMN CLIMAX OF EPICNESS that supposes the final battle. Music was epic, art was epic, sound was epic, full enjoyment, shivers down my spine, couldn't just stand the feelings, manly tears all over my face. I'm not ashamed, peeps.
I must say, this is a MUST SEE, but only after watching the series, as the experience is quite more developed in a whole series than in an only film. However, it wouldn't be actually a bad idea to jump the series in the final battle and watch the film instead, as I reckon it leaves nothing behind from that point and it only adds new stuff. BUT, I highly recommend you to watch the series as I watched: first the series, then the first film (just to remember the story, but not too essential, as I dislike a little bit the spin of the end) and then Lagann-hen.
Quite long for a first review, but I couldn't help to create a new account just to share my experience about these amazing series and films :3
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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