IF YOU'RE SURE YOU WANT TO GET INTO FLCL READ THIS INSTEAD OF THE REVIEW: (Let me just start off by saying that I've watched FLCL twice. The first time I saw it, I honestly really liked it, and it was an easy 8/10 or 9/10 for me. I loved the soundtrack, art, dick jokes, and weirdness. The next time I watched it, which was only a week later, I knew it was a 10/10. You'll see why I'm saying this.
FLCL might just be the fastest paced anime I've ever seen. It has the content of 25 or 26 episodes packed into 6 24 minute
...
episodes. This is a reason why I think that FLCL should be watched twice to understand it. You can enjoy it the first time you watch it, but you would have to be paying attention to every single line of dialogue and make sure not to miss anything. I would recommend taking notes while you watch it, which is what I did the second time I watched it. A big part of the enjoyment you will get from FLCL is how rewarding it is to finally understand the plot. In total that would only be 12 episodes you have to watch, and It's definitely worth it.)
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS:
At its core, and what FLCL is constantly called, it's a coming of age story. The story is about Naota maturing going through new experiences relating to that maturity. This is true, but saying that is like saying that a bed and a pillow are the same thing. That would be ignoring the rest of the characters that have equally amazing development like Ninamori, Haruko, and Mamimi who I will be talking about in this review.
I usually don't like to break down anime into its core elements (Story, Art, Sound, Character and Enjoyment) because that can't really highlight what makes the show special. But FLCL has a lot to offer in every one of these elements, so I will break it down like that. Starting with:
STORY (10)
When it comes to the story, FLCL is very strange. It doesn't have the most complicated Steins;Gate level plot ever with constant twists or an amazing philosophy. It does have some good moments, like when Naota hits his father with a baseball bat in a dream. Instead, FLCL's plot excels in 3 different things:
1. Means to develop the characters: Most of the below surface-level happenings in this anime are just a way to develop the characters further, and I can't really say much about this here, because I'll talk about it when I get to talking about the characters.
2. Thematic writing: I'd say that FLCL has 3 general themes: Pretentiousness, lies, and maturity.
Pretentiousness is the main theme in Naota's character. He frequently tries to seem cooler and more rebellious in front of others because he starts to care more about his image and he craves attention. But in reality, he's just a fool. Fool + cool= Fooly Cooly = FLCL. An example of this would be how in episode 3 he doesn't want to play the role of a cat in his school's play. He desires attention because he wants to have a more fun life full of interaction with others. This is why he loves Haruko, because she brings him that fun life.
Lies is an extremely saturated theme within this anime. It seems like almost anything that the characters in this anime do is actually a way to manipulate someone else for their own good or just a half-truth. This creates a feeling of not knowing what will happen next, and makes the plot feel more unpredictable in a good way. This is what births Naota's popular line: "I don't know where the truth ends and the lies begin." Some examples of lies and manipulation would be how Haruko uses Naota to get closer to Atomsk. Mamimi uses Naota as a replacement for his brother to push her sexual frustration and loneliness onto because he can be easily manipulated. Naota lies to himself and doesn't act like his true self. Lots of small lies also happen like how Ninamori lies about her glasses being fake because she's embarrassed to admit it or how Amarao's eyebrows are fake, which is only used for comedy.
Maturity is by far the most obvious theme in FLCL's story. It's all about teenagers growing up, and experiencing new things. This is particularly special with Naota and how he experiences love for Haruko, jealousy towards his father, and his craving of attention which is shown when he is praised by his friends for piloting Canti and tries to hide the fact that their praise inflated his ego. He even tries to ask Mamimi out, which shows us both the state of his ego and how much he's matured.
3. Rewarding the viewer: When it comes to rewarding the viewer, FLCL is an absolute masterpiece. FLCL's plot is one of the fastest paced plots I've ever seen. And it executes upon this in a perfect way. Every single scene is immediately followed by another and so many interesting details of the lore of FLCL are hidden in small lines of dialogue that you need to be paying lots of attention to notice. And it somehow doesn't feel like the plot is being rushed. It actually feels like it's going at the pace of a real event unfolding before your eyes. As a side note, I love how unrealistic yet realistic FLCL is. Everything that happens is so weird and random, yet the characters and events just feel so real that you feel like you could reach out and touch them. Yet they somehow behave like completely unrealistic people. It feels like you're watching a rare story that is part of a very strange and hidden part of society. Back to what I was saying, it feels so satisfying when you learn a new detail about the lore of the story, like how Medical Mechanica's goal is to get rid of the "wrinkles" in society, which is why they are represented by an iron. Another example would be learning about the very few things we know about Atomsk, which is that he possesses so much N.O that he can steal entire galaxies, which is why he is called the pirate king. When you first watch FLCL, the plot is also very hard to follow. All of this makes the experience of watching FLCL and understanding it that much more enjoyable and satisfying.
As a final note in this story section, I want to mention the feeling of FLCL. The feeling I'm talking about is rebelliousness. Everything about this anime feels rebellious. Other than how the characters look rebellious and act rebelliously, the music and visual style really contribute to this teenage atmosphere. The innuendos also contribute to this, and it just feels like this anime was made by a rebellious teenager, and that has to be the first time someone has ever said that as a compliment. It's such a difficult thing to describe. Also, if you view the story of FLCL as a character itself, it doesn't follow most existing rules of writing, so it really is rebellious too.
ART (10)
For this part of the review, I will talk about two different definitions of art and how FLCL excels in each.
1. Art (As in visual art and animation): I don't really have much to say here other than that the animation in FLCL is fucking amazing. Everything about it is just so high quality, from how Canti sprouts out of Naota's head, to the action, and even how the characters' lips move is just awesome. My favorite scene when it comes to the animation in FLCL is when in episode 5 Naota yells at Mamimi and says:
"Listen! I'm Naota! Don't ever call me Takkun again!"
This not only is already an amazing line for him to say because of how he stands up to her proves his individualism to her and how he shows that he is his own person that cannot be manipulated to become someone else, but how Naota moves and how the animation shows the built up rage he has to express is amazing. The animation is also used a lot for the frequent slapstick comedy in the anime. I don't think I even have to provide any examples of this humor. It's already dense in the first 10 minutes of episode 1.
2. Art (As in an artistic expression): Fundamentally, art is a way for one person to share emotions with the consumer through a form of media, like a painting or a story. This art doesn’t necessarily have to make complete sense. It can be abstract. FLCL is just that. Someone might watch FLCL and enjoy it for different reasons. Someone might love the music and art in FLCL. Another person could enjoy the characterization and themes of FLCL. None of them are wrong, in the end, you don’t have to interpret the story how it was originally intended. Who knows what the original intention was. From what I’ve heard the creator just decided that if he wanted to make an anime, it would have to be filled with things he liked, like cats, like baseball, probably like dicks.
SOUND (10)
We got to it, to the aspect that FLCL is best known for. The soundtrack. Let me just say something: Ride on Shooting Star, Instant Music and Little Busters are some of the best anime songs of all time. I’d say they even transcend anime and are some of the best songs of all time in general. Let’s take a look into the meaning of some of the lyrics.
“Sponge's pride, being dangled”
This line in Ride on Shooting star might represent Naota’s relationship with Mamimi. She views him as a “sponge” that absorbs information that can help her make him more like his brother. His pride is dangled when Mamimi rejects him. He had gained this pride after being praised so much for “piloting” Canti.
“I want to have colored dreams”
Naota wants to have a more wild and enjoyable life, which is why he loves Haruko, because she provides that for him.
“Grungy hamster, be grown up”
Naota’s father mentions to Amarao that he used to take care of his class pet, which was a hamster that couldn’t take care of himself, but he says that Naota is different because he can, so he is acting like an adult.
Sniper
I'll say, "What can you see
In that fringed world?"
The city in FLCL is fringed, or bordered, because of the gas coming from Medical Mechanica, and almost nothing can be seen of the outside of the city. The sniper is Kitsurubami.
“Searching for you, and in withdrawal syndrome
I told a lie”
This is clearly said by Haruko towards Atomsk, because she was searching for him, which required her to lie to Naota. I’m not sure about the symbolism with withdrawal syndrome, and I doubt that Haruko was literally doing drugs.
All of these lyrics are from Ride on Shooting Star, the ending theme. Little Busters fits with the rebelliousness of FLCL, with how “Maybe kids don’t need the masters.”
CHARACTER(9)
When I think of what makes a character good, I usually think of 4 things: Personality, ideology/philosophy, psychology and character arc. You could say that their psychology is part of the character arc, but sometimes I’ve seen that it’s separate. I’m going to take a look at the 4 main characters of FLCL in order of how good they are as characters and I’ll talk about all of these aspects of their character for each of them. Keep in mind that I think they are all amazing characters, I like them all.
Ninamori:
First, you might question why I put Ninamori in here as a main character, and it’s because she is the main focus of episode 3, and a whole episode is what I would consider enough time for a character to be considered important for a fast-paced series like FLCL. Let’s start with her personality. It’s pretty obvious that she has a very strange obsession of hiding aspects of her life from others. She doesn’t want others to see that she uses glasses, so she wears contacts when she goes to school instead. The way I interpreted this is that she sees showing others information about her life as a sign of weakness, or immaturity, because she is forced to act maturely because of her parents’ situation. She also might have this drilled into her because her dad is the mayor, and naturally people would have high expectations of her. I find it clear that she knows that this is a situation she needs to get out of, because she seems to start acting strangely when she is talking with Naota and his family while they eat and they bring up her father. I think it means that she doesn’t want to be only acknowledged as the mayor’s daughter and feels like she is not being recognized by who she truly is. In the final episode, she performs an impressive jump in front of her classmates during gym practice, which shows how she matured.
Naota:
I’m just going to get right into this. Naota, of course, is growing up. Anyone who watched FLCL knows that this is the most important plot point in FLCL, and it’s why the series is what it is. Naturally, he shows the “symptoms” that most teenagers start to have. He tries to seem mature in front of others, not only because he wants attention and praise, but he also wants a more adult-like life, which is why he loves Haruko. I’ve already mentioned most of this before, but because of his maturity he experiences new things like his love for Haruko, jealousy towards his father due to his apparent “mouth-to-mouth” relationship with Haruko as he calls it to the point of attacking a mannequin shaped like him out of rage (Thinking it was him), and even large ego boosts because of his friends’ praise which leads to him trying to ask Mamimi out and later confessing his love for Haruko. He also has a similar situation to Ninamori with how in episode 4 he is constantly called “Tasuku-chan’s little brother” by the baseball team and they end up expecting more of him just because he is Tasuku’s brother. His relationship with Haruko is also very interesting because of how even though he is being used and he later finds out due to Amarao’s warning, which he ignores, he still can’t deny his feelings for her. Similarly to Ninamori, he maybe also does not want to reveal much personal information to others, because when he talks to Amarao, Naota says that he doesn’t like spicy stuff, to which Amarao replies that Haruko seems to like him, though. This could be a metaphor because Haruko is quite a “spicy” woman. Naota also represents rebellion in FLCL. Medical Mechanica is the symbol of absolute power and undeniable authority in FLCL. Naota even mentions this in episode 6. He says that the hand of Medical Mechanica is like a prison ward telling prisoners not to move. This means that if Medical Mechanica is authority, Naota is rebellion, because he is the one who steals robots from them using his N.O. This is why he possesses so much N.O that Haruko wants to use. It also represents rebellion, or freedom. Just think of it, in episode 1 he gains N.O for his general attitude, in episode 2 he gains it for siding with Mamimi the arsonist instead of with the police, in episode 3 he gains it for rebelling against the decision of being the cat in the play, in episode 4 he gains it for loving Haruko despite her apparent relationship with his father. In episode 5, he gains it twice, first it actually causes his “sin” against authority when Haruko pushes him down and cucks his dad, and the N.O sprouts and pushes his head towards hers and causes him to kiss her. Maybe this means that Naota was already lusting for her at that moment. The second time it activates is after he asks Mamimi out, which is when he defies his own brother that he admires so much by asking out his girlfriend. In Episode 6, it activates and releases Atomsk from his portal because he kisses Haruko, which not only did Amarao not want because he thought it would give her Atomsk’s power, but also Haruko didn’t want it because she needed to destroy Naota to properly obtain the power and she didn’t want it to be released. This rebellion is why N.O is called how it is: N.O = “NO”, as in to rebel against someone asking him a request. Other than the fact that it’s a dick joke, this is why N.O is overall a brilliant piece of the lore in FLCL. He rebelled so hard that he released Atomsk himself. Part of Naota’s character is also how he feels like he is the only proper adult in his life, because everyone around him seems to act immaturely, even though he is just a kid. It is mentioned by his father how mature he is when he says that he is not like the hamster that he kept as a kid, because he can take care of himself.
Haruko:
Haruko, without a doubt, is the most wild character in FLCL. Everything about her personality is carefree. She only seems to care about having a good time and enjoying herself. I’m saying that it seems like that because it’s completely true. But that exact personality has a much darker side to it. She has no problem with lying to and using a kid like Naota to get what she wants, which is the power of Atomsk. She manipulates Naota to any point that she needs to. Which is a good thing for both of them. This is a depiction of a beneficial, but dishonest relationship. Haruko brings Naota excitement and a more wild life through her “spicy” personality, which as I’ve mentioned many times, is what he was missing in his life that he calls boring. This relationship also benefits her because she gets an opportunity to gain the power of Atomsk, which can only be activated through N.O., which Naota has an exceedingly high amount of. However, this relationship could not last because it was founded through a lie. Haruko also represents absolute freedom, which can be negative because of how she uses Naota and has no problem with lying, but it also contrasts with the negative absolute authority of Medical Mechanica. She also contrasts well with Naota because he in a way is a kid that is adult-like because of how he feels like he is the only mature person he knows, while Haruko seems like an adult that never left her childlike nature.
Mamimi:
Mamimi is without a doubt my favorite and the best character in FLCL. She is a broken person. She has already given up on the future, which is hinted to by her cigarette that says: “Never knows best.” She is clearly a suicidal person, which explains why she was near the edge of the bridge in episode 1, and some people even believe that we never see her arms because she harms herself. She starts off depending too much on others, especially her boyfriend. Which is why it must have broken her so much for him to leave. He was the only source of happiness in her life, because it is mentioned that she is bullied and is completely lonely. As soon as he left, she tried to look for replacements, like Naota himself and a cat. She calls both of them Takkun, which was the nickname that she gave her boyfriend. She still completely depends on others. Another important aspect of Mamimi is how she is a pyromaniac. She often plays a game called Fire Starter, which involves literally committing arson. In the same episode where she is seen playing this game, she burns a small school house she and her boyfriend used to go to. I think this action can be interpreted in many ways. The first way would be that she was so broken to the point that she could not tell the difference between a game and reality and burned it down, which has some evidence because she also called the robot Canti because she thought he was the Lord of Black Flames from Fire Starter. Another way to interpret this would be that she coped with her loneliness and completely abandoned her past with her boyfriend by physically burning a place where she spent time with him, this may have also been because at some point she felt guilty for using Naota as a substitute and felt like she betrayed him, so to not think of them as separate people, she burned the building down. The final interpretation that I would have would be that she simply needed a way to escape from her reality and cope with her issues, and to her that was fire and also smoking. I think it’s a combination between the three. Back to her substitutes, I think she lost interest in using Naota as a substitute because he showed independence because of how much confidence he gained after everyone started praising him. This definitely contributed to the future that she decided to have. Naota showing his independence and telling her never to call him Takkun again helped her realize that she is only viewing others as a way to cope with her loneliness. So she decides that she needs to stop depending on others like this. What she does after this is definitely the most healthy thing she could have done. She decided to chase after and settle with the only hobby she had that she could consider healthy and usable for a long time, photography. This is definitely what I’d recommend to anyone in a situation like hers. If someone can’t do this because they don’t have a passion like that then they should look for a hobby like that and never stop looking until they find it.
One more thing about the characters that most people already know is that they were created to have a contrast. While there are a few characters that are accepting of the personality that is typical for their age, like Naota and Ninamori’s classmates, characters tend to act unlike the stereotypes for their age. Examples of this would be Haruko and Naota’s father, who are adults, but act immaturely. On the opposite side you could say that Naota and Ninamori are kids who accept their responsibilities and act maturely.
ENJOYMENT (10)
Something that I think is very special about FLCL is that despite having so many different levels of depth, it can still be considered a masterpiece without noticing them. What I’m saying is that it offers a lot of surface level enjoyment. It has some amazing animation and music that fit perfectly with the strange feeling of the series. The sex jokes are enjoyable, and a lot of moments in FLCL are just awesome, like when Naota deflects the satellite away from earth using Haruko’s guitar like a baseball bat. I think that this moment in particular stands out because anyone can notice how epic it is and why the build up was important. I’m going to break it apart by pointing out a few things:
The stakes: He had to save the world from the asteroid.
The item: He had to use an N.O guitar that Haruko pulled out of him, which is similar to Haruko´s.
How it was used: He had to use the guitar as a baseball bat to bat the asteroid away. His brother left to play baseball in Japan, which shows how Naota is maturing like his brother. Baseball related events also happen often in FLCL.
FLCL itself even says that you should enjoy the surface level enjoyment in episode 6, when Naota says that it doesn’t matter what “FLCL” is, and you shouldn’t be thinking so far into it. It also says this when it makes fun of Naota’s dad for overanalyzing the fact that Canti is living in their house and that he wrote a whole book about Neon Genesis Evangelion a year ago.
OVERALL (10)
I don’t really have much to say here in this “overall” category, because I think I’ve covered all I really wanted to cover except for three things. I’ll start with talking about Episode 6.
FLCLIMAX:
If episode 5 brought an end to Naota’s character arc, with him being turned down by Mamimi, then episode 6 was the “epilogue.” In this climax of the series, not only did it conclude the story itself, but it also concluded Naota’s character arc completely by having him accept and confront not only Haruko, but himself. Let’s start by talking about Medical Mechanica. We don’t really know much about it, but we do know their goal: to get rid of the “wrinkles” in society. It represents absolute authority, like a prison warden. It represents perfectionism. The hand that looms above Mabase produces white smoke and doesn’t allow the city’s inhabitants to see the outside world. It traps them. Despite all this, Naota chases after what he wants. But he must rebel. He decides to run away from home with Haruko, which makes perfect sense, because to him, Haruko is freedom. Remember this. Aside from what I said, this episode acts as a conclusion to Mamimi's character arc, because she ended up using someone else as a replacement for her boyfriend. She used the Terminal Core as a substitute. I think that the fact that it ended up being so deadly helped her realize why it's wrong to use others as a substitute for someone you love, because they are their own self, and you can't just replace that loved one with someone else completely. That's in a way disrespectful towards the person you wanted to replace. Mamimi leaves town after the climax in order to become a photographer. She wants to do something where she won't depend so much on the comfort of others. Back to what I was talking about before, I find it absolutely beautiful how despite the fact that Naota has been told that she is using him by Amarao and that she doesn't care about what happens to the world, only about what she seeks, he still loves her. He gains the power of the Pirate King and I think that the reason he ended up rejecting it is so that he could show her that he isn't Atomsk or a means to obtain his power, in the same way that he showed Mamimi that he isn't his brother. Even in this situation, where the world says that what he's doing is wrong, he's still willing to say "N.O!" He was able to show her who he is. But just because you can be yourself doesn't mean that you're perfect in the eyes of everyone. Haruko still wants to keep searching for Atomsk because Naota got rid of it. She considers that maybe Naota could come with her, but she openly says why she doesn't need him. He's still just a kid. Haruko acknowledged who he really is, and I'd like to think that was enough for him. It was able to help him to stop being such a fool that tries to act cool. The arrival of Haruko not only affected Naota, but it affected the whole town. And once it's over and everyone's grown a bit more, they will move on. FLCL is a story about lies, about pretentiousness, about enjoyment, about maturity, about being abstract and about individuality. And lastly, it's a story about someone coming down to Earth, interacting with others and changing their lives forever. All of this is packed into 6 amazing episodes.
THE DUALITY OF FLCL:
From what I’ve been saying up to now, you’d think that FLCL is some kind of extremely deep masterpiece that you need to watch twice to properly understand. I’m not saying that’s not true, because in a way, it’s both. Possibly the thing that I find the most amazing about FLCL is how it can provide so much lore to analyze, such deep characters, so many infinitely deep themes, and be so rewarding to find, but then tell you that that’s not the point. I’ve already mentioned this, but FLCL makes reference itself to how you don’t need to look into it so deeply, because not only does it really not matter what “FLCL” means whether it represents Naota’s personality, or nipple play. It doesn't matter what the anime “FLCL'' is really trying to say either. This brings me back to the point of it being abstract, because everyone could enjoy FLCL in a different way and try to understand different themes in it. It’s a duality between being infinitely deep, and just a Foolish series that tries to seem Coolish. This is not the only duality in FLCL however, you could say that FLCL also has a duality with the concept of being a teenager, because teenagers must maintain the freedom that a child has, but also accept the responsibility and maturity they must have when becoming adults. You could also say that N.O is a duality between being a symbol of freedom and rebellion against authority and literally just looking like a boner.
THE FEELING OF FLCL:
Despite saying all this, I don’t think I have perfectly described the enjoyment that I received while watching FLCL. To me, FLCL is a feeling. I’ve called it a feeling before in the story part, but this time I will be talking about something slightly different. It’s an expression of the feeling of a Sunday afternoon as a teenager. It’s the feeling of not knowing where to go next in life. And FLCL is a celebration of this feeling, or even something to watch during times when you feel FLCL-ish. Or because it’s music is so good, just listening to a song like Little Busters or RIde on Shooting Star can bring you back to times like these, while thinking of a masterpiece like Fooly Cooly.
May 30, 2021
IF YOU'RE SURE YOU WANT TO GET INTO FLCL READ THIS INSTEAD OF THE REVIEW: (Let me just start off by saying that I've watched FLCL twice. The first time I saw it, I honestly really liked it, and it was an easy 8/10 or 9/10 for me. I loved the soundtrack, art, dick jokes, and weirdness. The next time I watched it, which was only a week later, I knew it was a 10/10. You'll see why I'm saying this.
FLCL might just be the fastest paced anime I've ever seen. It has the content of 25 or 26 episodes packed into 6 24 minute ... 
Apr 26, 2021
Owarimonogatari 2nd Season
(Anime)
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THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS
Since the Monogatari series started, it's been a series about confrontation. It was all about the girls learning how they should confront their past. Senjougahara had to confront her past with Kaiki. Hachikuji was not able to fix her problems, but was able to establish how she was happy with her current state and understand what she enjoyed about it. I don't want to include any major spoilers for the rest of the series, so I won't talk about anyone else, but I'm sure you can think of this theme yourself. Kanbaru, Nadeko, Hanekawa, and Oikura's situations are pretty obvious. Many ... |
