"Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary"
This is one of the first lines in the series FLCL, spoken by the protagonist Naota. This is despite the fact that he lives in a town which is home to a giant robotics factory which resembles an iron. Later, he nearly gets run over by a maniac girl on a Vespa named Haruko Haruhara, who also hits him on the head with a Rickenbacker bass guitar. From the bump on his head from where he got hit with the bass guitar, a giant robot eventually pops out. And this is all in the first episode. And the series only gets weirder from there.
While there is sort of a space opera-type plot in the background of FLCL, it's very hard to make out. And honestly, it's unimportant. The main appeal of FLCL is just how goddamn wacky it is. As the show gets weirder and more insane it constantly leaves you laughing with its cartoonish antics and the fourth wall being consistently broken. In fact, Adult Swim said that this is their favorite anime to air and described it in a commercial thus: "Don't worry, it'll start making sense soon... Well, that's not really true, but it keeps getting better and better and better".
A popular rumor is that the series was created by the animation studio, Gainax, to test out new animation techniques. And it shows. The animation style is very erratic and resembles Loony Tunes in a lot of ways. It's constantly shifting between art styles, at one point turning into manga panels and at another point turning into the art style of South Park.
If anything clear can be said about the plot of FLCL, it's that it's mainly a coming of a age story. Although a very weird one. The main character, Naota, is a middle schooler who is entering high school next year, and is constantly serious and trying to act like an adult. Eventually, after all of the crazy events of the series, he comes to realize that he should enjoy being a kid while it lasts. The strong characterization in the show has helps lend to its appeal.
Another notable thing about FLCL is that it has a very nice original soundtrack by the Japanese alternative rock group, The Pillows. The ending theme in particular is very catchy and the music tends to fit the animation very well. I liked it so much that I have the entire soundtrack on my iPod.
The only real disappointment about FLCL is that it's only six episodes. Although, even that's not too bad because it allows you to watch the whole series in around three hours. And they manage to pack a lot of crazy into those six episodes. All in all, if you're looking for a fun, wacky series to watch, you can't go wrong with FLCL. It recently came out on Blu-Ray and DVD, and is also available as an HD download on iTunes.
Oh, and here's the trailer:
Oh, and here's the trailer:
I love wacky series, that's the reason I watch half the anime that I do, cause they're crazy!!
ReplyDeleteBy the way do you watch these shows in Japanese or in English? Because I've noticed some differences between the two, Japanese versions tend to have better emotional expression
and uncensored as well, both of which is pretty important.
Btw George if you read this most anime are based on ongoing manga(comics) so they tend to go on for a long time and if they're succesfull they get renewed
I usually do watch anime in Japanese, just because the English dubs tend to have horrible voice actors. Although, that's another thing about FLCL, it has one of the few great English dubs.
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese version with subtitles is much better, especially because the voice actress for Haruko is really, really annoying.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with what you said, FLCL makes absolutely no sense but that's what contributes to its hilarity. Plus, it's always a good time when the 4th wall is broken.
Fun fact: the art style of Avatar (the tv series, not the Shama-llama movie) was based off of FLCL.
Are all these obscure shows also all very short. They never seem to being longer then a handful of episodes. Also, as Nickie said, the main girl character doesn't have huge breasts!
ReplyDelete