Anime in focus: FLCL episode 6

There comes a time in every boy's life where he must become a super powered energy beam and use a pair of guitairs as a weapon.

Alright, now for the thrilling conclusion to a borderline incoherent series. It ends in the fashion that it started, crazy, fast and interesting.

At the start of this episode, the entire town has been covered by fog, much in the same fashion Inaba was covered in fog at the end of Persona 4. (FLCL came out first) This creates an aura of things not moving forward. Furthermore, Haruko and the TV headed guy vanish, as implied in the beginning of the episode. According to Naota, things have gone back to normal. This realization causes that guy with the huge eyebrows to congratulate Naota and give him a pair of gigantic eyebrows. He then explains to Naota about the great space pirate Atomos and what he was planning to do with Haruko.

This goes on until Haruko comes back, and they do that weird animated manga thing, and ask Naota if he’s figured out what fooly cooly means. I suppose they were going for the “ending in the same fashion it begins” approach. After this, Naota goes on this weird trip thing were he meets Atomos, and winds up in a lot of fights.

As an ending episode, this one wraps up things quite nicely. While I am not entirely convinced that weird stuff will quit happening to Naota, it does give a nice climax to this chain of events. Granted, while I cannot quite express what happened into words, due to the nature of the show, it emits a sense of completeness. To put it bluntly, watching this show is akin to listening to music without lyrics, while you may be getting meaning from it, the meaning is quite difficult to fully express. I’d say the only way to truly understand this series is to go out and watch it yourself.

Please comment and Subscribe

Anime in Focus: FLCL episode 5

I just felt the need to point this scene out. Look at the size of that.... cell phone.

<- Previous Episode 

This episode’s theme appears to be hyper violence with a dash of Looney Toons.

This all starts out when Naota’s dad realizes that Haruko is paying more attention to Naota than himself (isn’t this familiar) and demands a gun battle with Naota. This garners the attention of the guy with the gigantic eyebrows, who winds up sending out his henchperson, whose shirt gets ripped in wonderful places. Still got no idea what these people are actually doing besides spying on Haruko. Anyway, these guys get into a rather large fight with Haruko, which winds up with nobody with a name getting killed. Clearly, everybody in this show has the aim of a stormtrooper. This suggests that every bit of violence was metaphorical and representing the characters internal struggles, or something.

Anyways, some giant thing that gets pulled out Naota’s head winds up attacking the medical building, but thankfully Naota has accepted his fate and fused with that TV headed robot in order to fight it. Haruko joins in, wearing a bunny girl outfit for some reason. While this is weird, it isn’t really enough to make me bat an eyebrow at this point.

Anyway, I’m not really sure if all of this is leading up to a finale, but there’s only one way to find out, right?

NEXT WEEK: FINAL EPISODE!

Anime in Focus: FLCL episode 4

<- As it stands, this man puffing up his eyebrows is on the level of a teenage girl stuffing her bra

<-PREVIOUS EPISODE

After the almost comprehensible third episode, I am given the proper head trip I was hoping for in the fourth episode. I’m not really sure if I had more questions answered or if more new ones were spawned. Frankly, I’m not even quite sure what was a delusion or what was really happening in this episode.

Anyway, this happens to be FLCL’s baseball episode. This one seems to use swinging the bat as its theme, where Naota can’t seem to find it within himself to swing a baseball bat like his brother did. Meanwhile, he’s feeling jealousy issues as Haruko is paying much more attention to his dad than to him.

Furthermore, Naota is being watched by some guy with pieces of seaweed for eyebrows that seems to want him to stay away from Haruko. During the episode, we see Naota hitting things with a baseball bat, presumably in order to vent his frustration about Haruko paying less attention to him. Throughout this ep, I’m not sure if his father is dead, alive, or what. I’m sure most of it’s metaphorical. Furthermore, while watching this episode, I’ve come to the conclusion everybody has super-advanced teleportation abilities, based on the places they wind up at throughout the episode. This is especially likely, since in a previous episode it was established that the medical building has no doors.

While this episode is filled with weirdness and hitting things with guitairs, I’m not sure whether to treat this as an actual anime about growing up and stuff, or a big music video by the Pillows. While it is thoroughly confusing (well, it manages to make more sense if you don’t look at everything at face value) it manages to tell a story, in a very abstract manner. This it to say this show reminds me of the weird sculptures outside the college art building.

Well, I’m more than halfway through the show now, there’s no turning back at this point!

PLACEHOLDER FOR NEXT EP LINK!

Please comment and subscribe!

Related Posts:

The Big FLCL Review

FLCL Episode 1

Anime in Focus: FLCL (Fooly Cooly or Furi Kuri) Episode 3

 <- In this episode we get a bit more focus on outside characters, like this chick in the front.


<-PREVIOUS EPISODE

Well, this episode wasn’t quite as good as the last two, which were pretty solid. Unfortunately, this one keeps up the same pace, which is bad, since I’m used to the pacing of the show by this point. Furthermore, there are fewer surprises throughout the episode, which makes it much less interesting.

In this episode Naota has started growing cat ears for some reason. While they do not appear nearly as phallic as the horns that have been growing out of his head in the last couple of episodes, he is aroused when people touch them, ensuring that they remain just as prone to double meanings as the gigantic horns do. While he has these silly cat ears, he is required to play Puss in boots in the school play, while being bossed around by the class president who appears to have a crush on him. Or maybe it’s all symbolic of something. I can’t really tell.

The characterizations in this episode manage to be relatively easy to understand, making this one the oddball of the episodes I’ve watched in this series. While it has not turned me off from the series, it does not get me as exited for the next episode. However, I would like to believe the next episode will pick up the pace that was left behind in this episode in order to allow in more craziness.

Please comment and Subscribe!

Related Posts:
The big FLCL review

Anime in Focus: FLCL (Fooly Cooly or Furi Kuri) Episode 2

 <-Previous Episode

Well, this episode manages to cram in just as much weirdness in as the previous episode. I believe this makes sense in a six episode series, as time to sit around and stare off into the distance is quite short.

It should be noted that the pillows soundtrack is played quite prominently in this episode. Their borderline incomprehensible music manages to compliment the series quite well, since its insanity manages to fuse with the utter lack of grounding in the show.

 Anyway, in this episode, Naota has another gigantic phallic bump sticking out of his head. Also, the 8-foot tall robot with a TV for a head that crawled out of his head in the previous episode has been living with him and Haruko in his house. Furthermore, Mamimi has picked up some weird game about arson. Like Jack Thompson predicted, this game has been causing her to go out and commit arson for some reason. Also, a bit about Naota’s brother is thrown into the mix, just to force you to comprehend more.

Episode ends with that robot thing that came out of Naota’s head duking it out with another robot that crawled out of his head, with the help of Haruko. While I have no idea why anything is happening, I’m just going to assume that all will be explained later.

I wound up at the end of this episode with a headache, my eyeballs spinning, and having the pillows (the band) stuck in my head. I would say watching this show is akin to having your head sawed open, your brains removed and put into a blender, then put back into your head. Thankfully, it manages to evoke this emotion in a good way, if that were at all possible.

I believe this show has managed to prove itself interesting enough for me to commit to, and maybe by the end I’ll come out understanding a thing or two about what’s going on.

Please Comment and Subscribe!

NEXT EPISODE->

Related Posts:
The big FLCL review

FLCL (Fooly Cooly or Furi Kuri): The big review

Well, it’s time to review that anime that everybody wanted me to watch because it offended them on a deep level for some reason.

Since this series is only 6 episodes long, I decided it was imperative that I watch it, if only get everybody to shut up. Fortunately, I actually enjoyed the series, which managed to be a plus.

This series is about a boy name Naota, who after getting run over by a lady named Haruko, who rides a yellow vespa, and his life is never exactly the same. From this point forward, weird robots start spouting from inside his head, which he must then combat with another robot that spouted from the inside of his head, along with Haruko hitting them with her guitar.

The whole thing plays like a big music video by the Pillows, the band that does the soundtrack for the series. This is to say that the plot flows with the style and consistency of a music video, along with the animation effects mimicking the style of one. The narration is all over the place, explaining the story in an abstract fashion that relies mostly on the viewer’s brain to put together. Basically, it’s not an experience that translates into words very well. It’s kind of like a painting. It’s definitely something that the artistic type needs to watch, just for the weirdness.

In order to understand the series, one can’t really analyze it at face value. It all makes more sense if you just zone out a little and watch as it goes by. It all makes more sense if you watch it that fashion. Watching it is like having your head sawed open, having your brains put into a blender, then put back in your head. Thankfully, this manages to feel good. Oh yeah, and apparently the series is about puberty and growing up, but by that logic, everything is about puberty and growing up.

Should you watch it? From what I’ve gathered, you probably have already. If you haven’t, go ahead and do it. It’s only six episodes, reducing the commitment factor. I will admit, it is very difficult to find the series legally, but maybe a friend has the DVD, or maybe they will show it on Adult Swim again (I don’t have cable)

Please Comment and Subscribe!

Related Posts:
FLCL episode 1

Anime in Focus: FLCL (Fooly Cooly or Furi Kuri) Episode 1

While this show has been out for a while, some people are now forcing me to watch it at gunpoint (people haven’t been so mad at me since they found out I hadn’t seen EVA) Strangely, the first thing that comes to mind is “Why can’t anybody make up their mind on what to call this show?”

Anyway, the first episode starts out with our main, Naota, sitting under a bridge giving a speech about the normality of his life, and the normality of the town he lives in. He’s seen sitting in his usual spot under the bridge, hanging with the usual girl, until he gets run over by some lady driving a yellow vespa. This causes him to get a heavy dose of TV CPR, and then develop a large bump on his head.

The rest of the episode deals with Naota trying to hide this rather large bump on his head, which appears to be growing in a very phallic fashion. While he insists everything is normal, this is clearly not the case. Oh yeah, and that crazy Vespa chick, Haruko winds up moving in with Naota for some reason. This is apparently in order to investigate that gigantic bump on his head. Oh yeah, and there’s a scene where they almost give an explanation to the term “Furi Kuri” in slightly animated manga panels that fly by really quickly. Since I was watching it in subtitles, that scene almost caused my head to explode. I’m just going to assume “Furi Kuri” is a silly teen innuendo.

Well, this episode concludes in a way that leaves me wanting more. I believe some guy on GameFaqs said it best: “Watching FLCL is like having sex in the dark. You’re not entirely sure what just happened, but you’re pretty sure you liked it.” While I have not fully comprehended what just went on this episode, I am in the hopes that it will make sense in the greater context of things. I would also like to congratulate this show on avoiding first episode syndrome, where the first episode is just boring exposition. Since I am being held at gunpoint, I will definitely continue with the series (and hey, it’s only six episodes)


NEXT EPISODE->

Please Comment and Subscribe!

Related posts:
FLCL the big review