Short Announcement: I’m taking over for Nikolita because of a family emergency, but she’s writing her final thoughts in here too! Also I wanted to say something nice about this show, so I took so long.
So FLCL. I call it an acid trip of growing up. I watched this show last year when I was in 11th Grade and my favorite person was the guy with the taped on eyebrows, which I’m glad he makes an appearance in this show, he’s so weird. And best character.
Everyone complained this show was too much like the OG and it didn’t have the sense of growing up and Haruko is a b*tch. Well, I want to roast these hoes as much as possible. Just enjoy the show for what it is at face value: a parody show that tries to have a plot with all the craziness that happens around teenagers who a just trying to grow up. Enjoy the acid trip without taking an actual acid trip.
Let’s start with the beginning of episode 5, where the assault of Medical Mechana beginning.
I love how the entire amusement park is turned to a battle fortress to fight Medical Mechana, and how they used couples’ day to harness the energy for it. Perfect way to harness energy safely and legally.
And that poor kid was stuck at his job for 3 days on the same ride going around and around, not knowing what is happening and having his energy sucked out. Ouch. And he just is let go when all the action is done
I want to talk about that gay kid real quick. Was he necessary? Yes, he was definitely in there for comedy purposes, and he made me want to die, esp when he paid a girl to be his girlfriend. Don’t do that. But in the last episode, she fell for him, I found that cute. Everyone knows that kid. He’s probably pansexual or something like that.
To be honest in the middle of episode 5, I got confused, but that happens when you’re watching an acid trip. So those two( bushy brows and the old guy) had Canti the entire time, so they can do experiments to figure out how to harness energy from them and it worked because of the plant and pumpkin( as we see at the end), but in the middle of episode 5, they took him to get recycled and he becomes that lady’s robo pet thing. And then Ike disappears because of Haruko provokes the robot( or thing) living inside of Hidomi. And that battle starts. Hidomii vs Haruko vs. Jinyu vs. (that guy) vs. Mechanical Mechana vs. The whole amusement park crew. And the versus track doesn’t end there. There are Ike’s friends and bushy brow and the old guy and Hidomi’s mom and Aiko on the track, probably.
Then whole thing with a bunch of junk being sucked into the satellite and the old lady. I got really confused there, but it’s not supposed to make sense.
I could talk about the entire plot, I could talk about why so many people hate this show, I can talk about more similarities to the OG, there is so much to talk about, but I want to talk:
What does this show mean? To us as viewers? What does it mean to me and my life while I live here on this Earth?
For some it doesn’t mean anything, but if I look into the this story I feel like it means a lot. There were 2 key messages that were in the show: let go of the past and don’t forget to look to the future. By the end of show, Hidomi and her mom realized they needed to look for their own futures instead living in the past, waiting for the father to come back. I think Jinyu realized that, that Haruko and her(a part of her personality) were stuck looking for something in the past that they are never going to be able to get.
Then don’t forget to look farther than our past. Your past doesn’t define who you are know now. Look to who you will be and who you can be. Who are you?
Overall, all the characters of the show were interesting and show was meaningful to me like the original was. And I noticed the animation changed every episode like some Pop Team Epic stuff. Different people animated different parts of the show and it was amazing.
Rating: 6.9 out of 10
Am I watching FLCL Alternative later this year? 80% chance
Nikolita’s Final Impression
Author’s Note: Hi everyone! I apologize for vanishing off the face of the earth for awhile. Everything important in my life blew up a couple of weeks ago and I was forced to go on an emergency hiatus. But I’m more or less back now. A big thank you to Pandora for covering the last couple of episodes for me.
This is normally where I’d go into my usual spiel about the story, characters, animation and music for the title I’ve finished covering. However I think I’m going to do something a little different this time.
Pandora said that they felt there were 2 key messages in FLCL Progressive: to let go of the past, and don’t forget to look to the future. I agree with both of these and will add one of my own: sometimes instead of asking politely for things and waiting patiently, it’s better to be more assertive and take what you want or need. When the situation warrants it, of course.
Hidomi and her mother Hinae are a good example of this mantra. Hidomi, as a minor who is still growing up, needs her mother more than ever since her father is absent from her life. She has spent years being distant from her mother and putting up a front, trying to hide the pain of having one missing parent and another who’s honestly rather half-baked. But in the end Hinae needed to move on from being the lonely housewife who’s pining for her missing husband and return to the present so she can be a functional parent for her daughter. If her husband comes back, ok great, but she’s not going to lose any more time with her remaining family waiting for him. Hidomi also needed to deal with the pain of missing her father and make more of an effort to connect with her mother, who really does love her in her own quirky way. I’m glad Hidomi decided to help her mother run the café.
Ide’s another good example in that he started to develop feelings for Hidomi and instead of standing back and risking her falling for someone else, he actively chased after her and showed her his feelings. And in the end she reciprocated them.
I loved the music used in FLCL Progressive and am super excited that The Pillows returned to create the OST for this show. I hope they will create music for FLCL Alternative later this year too. FLCL Progressive‘s OST has a nice mix of new songs and old returning classics – something for the new fans, but something for the fans who’ve also seen FLCL too. If you haven’t checked out FLCL‘s ending theme, “Ride on Shooting Star”, it is my favourite song by The Pillows and I highly recommend it. 😀
Animation… I’m not as sold on this new look, nor the switching of styles between some of the episodes. Although I must admit that Hidomi’s dream sequence at the beginning of episode 5 was pretty beautiful despite its content. I think I prefer the look and feel of FLCL over FLCL Progressive‘s appearance, though that’s just my 2 cents.
I still do not like FLCL Progressive‘s dub, but I feel that a great effort was put forth and some characters simply gelled with me better than others. For example Hinae and Ide got on my nerves, Haruko character was alright, and I enjoyed Aiko, Mori and and Marco’s voices.
Overall I tried hard to appreciate FLCL Progressive for what it was, and to limit my comparisons between it and its parent series. FLCL Progressive continues FLCL‘s trend of being like anime on acid, full of chaos and events that don’t make sense until the last minute. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t have more continuity with FLCL, ie an appearance from Naota, but I’m glad that Canti played a role in FLCL Progressive and that we got more screentime with Atomsk.
I will definitely be watching FLCL Alternative when it airs in September!
Final Score: 8/10