FLCL

[DB]

Hmm. Let me see, what can we say about FLCL that hasn't been said before?

How about, it sucks?

I'm afraid that was my reaction to the much heralded and acclaimed 'masterpiece' brought to us by the boys from Gainax, whom I've never seen in quite the same light as so many anime fans. While in my opinion, the folks from big 'G' seems to have good ideas (Evangelion, Nadia) they botch things up, either unable to execute the idea correctly, or mire it with useless material. This is not the case with FLCL, Furi Kuri, Fooly Cooly, or whatever name it goes by.

Here they don't even have a good idea.

No, that's not quite true, they have too many ideas. Here's a hint, if someone comes up to you and says 'I have an idea for this sci-fic-coming-of-age philosphical-parody-hip hyper-political-religious-angst-sublime giant-robots-and-everything-else-I-can-come-up-with anime, and I'll do it in six episodes, slap them for being stupid.

That's probably the primary problem with this anime. It tries to be everything, and therefore succeeds at nothing. They try to do too much in every single second, and it instead ends up a stream of consciousness mishmash rather than anything truly coherent. They can't figure out what to do, so just spew out whatever they feel like at that moment. Oh, sure, there is a small segment of the population that likes that sort of thing, but then there were people that enjoyed 'Dog Soldier' too, so that's not really a good argument, is it? When you jam too many things into your bag, it tends to break, and FLCL did just this, overflowing with a bunch of ideas, rather than producing anything of worth.

It's backed by what is possible the most unlikable cast of characters ever created. Anyone that dares to claim they enjoy Haruko's character is now legally obligated to never complain about an excessive manic character they see ever again. She's like a parody of Excel, who's already a parody figure.I like parody, but there are limits to it. Naota is your obligatory teenage angst type, who as near as I can tell, was too short and not shoujo enough to fit into Karekano, so ended up getting stuffed into this. He whines excessively, but really, who cares? He's a caricature of this archtype, and lacks any real depth and reason to feel sympathy. This isn't really surprising, since we aren't given any time to get to know him. He's thrust into our faces, and we're screamed at to identify with him. Pass. Mamimi? Same problems there, but at least she doesn't whine as much about it. Aimless and self-destructive? Yes, and again, annoyingly so. Naota's father? Well, his annoyance factor is outshined by Haruko, but not by much. The lumbering robot? Well, he's not annoying, which makes the mechanical man the most sympathetic of the lot. It's kind of sad when the only character you find tolerable has the charisma, and dialogue, of a toaster.

With this cast, I'm personally rooting for the irons to make them flat, then I might actually be able to stomach some of them.

Not surprisingly, FLCL is the sort of thing that, when people have the audacity to complain about its shortcoming, will get its legions of adoring fans suddenly taking on airs identical to that of elitist movie critics, stick their noses up in the air, and will insist 'You just don't get it,' with the understanding you're an idiot for not seeing it. No, I get what they're trying to say. They screwed up their way of communicating it so badly the whole thing now sucks. "You just have to strip away some of the more distracting things to get to the core of the story". No, if the story was being well told, I wouldn't have to strip away anything. Framing your masterpiece in soiled newspaper is not a good way to go about showing off your work. In fact, it makes it smell pretty bad. "It's just a little manic." Yes, and Dale Earnhardt drives "just a little over the speed limit". Sure, if I pretended it doesn't have any flaws, it would be perfect. But you can say that about anything, even Mike Rhea's works. I somehow doubt you'll see people bending over backwards to explain how his stuff is readable the way they try to make FLCL watchable.

FLCL has that feel of people claiming they like it 'Because it's unique' as opposed to liking it 'Because it's good', and I've never been one to buy into that line of thinking. I'll deal with what's actually there, not what someone intended, and dubbing something good on the basis that 'No one's done it before', is ridiculous as well. Originality alone is never a criteria for something actually being good. While I can comprehend people liking FLCL for its delivery, it's certainly not one of the best things ever put out, and is terribly overrated.

There was saving grace about this little piece of tripe: it is visually stimulating and makes for some great AMVs. The music didn't suck, and the animation was strong. For these reasons, I give it 3 out of 10.


DB Sommer

"Here's my idea, we'll pull the robots out of his head."
"Dude, all you're doing is pulling an idea out of your ass, and it smells like shit."

[Bjorn]

Now, I'm one of the people that liked FLCL.  My immediate reaction to DB's review is:  everything he says is true.

To enjoy FLCL, you have to wilfully disregard what the creators meant to do with it.  Screw the messages.  Forget the morals.  Use the plot to line your cat's litterbox.  Instead, treat it as full-motion modern art in stereo sound.  Love it for its over-the-top manicness, and its bizarre surreality, and utter nonsense.  It's a Rorshach anime -- you can find whatever you want to find in it, but it comes into its own when you treat it as a near-random assemblage of quality animation.  Those emotional, "plot developing" moments are just there for contrast.

This way of thinking about it isn't going to appeal to everyone.  Moreover, I'm pretty damn sure that this isn't how the creators wanted you to think about it.  But if you look at it their way, all DB's objections apply.

[Dracos]

Hmm...I agree with Bjorn.

The main reason a lot of people 'get into this' is they don't get the fact that it was indeed a mishmash of 'a little bit of meaning' with a lot of 'wouldn't it be cool if we did this'.

And you know, taking it from a perspective of 'wouldn't it be cool', it's pretty darn fun to watch.

Dracos

[Sinom Bre]

Hmmm, well, please, don't hold back, DB. :)

As a rule, stream-of-consciousness-style works don't play well for me, but FLCL did, although I don't really care to include 3,000 words as to why. I thoroughly enjoyed it's insanity, but I also enjoy Di Gi Charat and Monty Python, so take that as you will.

Oh, well. Each to his own.

[Brian]

Never noticed this before....

I'm going to disagree with Bjorn and DB, but say I liked it anyway.  OTOH, I also enjoyed it in a very, "This appeals to me, and very few others will see it in the same light," sense.  I could tell as I was enjoying it that it wasn't for everyone.

It's a simple story with a lot of angst.  The action is all implied, or hyperbole for the purposes of the story (as far as I'm concerned).  We're not really seeing what's happening, just an interpetation that involves robots, and Naota literally pulling things from his head (usually, more robots).

I thought there was certainly significance to a lot of the events, and while it's small, and very simple, I liked the overarching story.  Well, two stories, really, and then, many more smaller ones from there.

I didn't like the 'manga' shots, though.  I nearly wept in relief when one of the characters said the animators complained about doing them, so it was their last one.  Outside of that, I found it a solidly enjoyable tale of one boy's challenge to learn to deal with girls, his father, his brother (...), and of course, robots.  Some of which are giant.

=D