FLCL

~ Nothing happens here, only the ordinary ~

You've heard of abstract anime, right?
You've heard of shows that completely surpass convention, right?
FLCL or "Fooly Cooly" or "Furi Kuri" is a vast expanse of hyperactivity, fast-paced, nonsensical story-telling, abstract presentation, slapstick comedy, innuendo, slice of life, science fiction and more...
(you can take a breath now)
It is the definition of "abstract" in that i don't even consider it to be an anime; and here's why...

FLCL is an "all or nothing", love it or hate it show; because there are 2 fundamental viewpoints and analytical approaches that can be used to evaluate it. To remain relatively impartial, i am ... going to utilize both of these heavily contrasting arguments to become a part of the rare "middle-ground" viewpoint...

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- The "Technical" Viewpoint -
Analyzing FLCL's technical merit as an anime title; with a start, middle, and end...

From a technical perspective, FLCL can only be given low amounts of quantifiable praise for the most part. This is because 2 of the most important parts of any animated title or novel: story and character, are generally quite poor...

FLCL is a highly abstract title after all, with a very vague and arguably non-existent development of a plot line in the form of a journey or growth. Many would argue that this show is nothing but a random and nonsensical arrangement of spontaneous events. It's fast-paced to a hyperactive extent, and so it's a nightmare to keep up with the current happenings. It's full of pointless and meaningless slapstick humor that cheapens the show, makes it impossible to take seriously as an anime, and gives it a "loony toons" vibe of immaturity (which is ironic if you read on).
Therefore most people who reflect on the technicalities of FLCL conclude that in terms of long-term storytelling, and an overriding plot, the show completely lacks fluidity, clarity, and consistency. Therefore rendering it unable to build up a conceivable and/or gripping plot...

It is to be expected of a very short anime, that the characters excluding our main protagonist aren't really "developed" at all. Their design is generic for the most part, uninspiring and conforming to a multitude of cliched stereotypes. Furthermore, they're not nearly sufficiently elaborated upon in the form of emotional growth, changes or back stories to trigger many attachment values. In contrast however, the way in which they all interact is quite clever. It's both crazy and casual at the same time, which leads to an interesting integration of abnormality, into normality.

Due to its time-scale, and it's ever-changing, inconsistent structure, FLCL fails to develop over a long term. Though it does however succeed in the short term, due to it's immediate presentation methods...

If from a technical aspect, there's one light at the end of the tunnel; then it's this integration of casual dialogue/character chemistry, and the way that it maintains an immersive and realistic atmosphere in the midst of all of the craziness. This is helped by the viewpoint of our relatable and therefore arguably the only clearly "considered" character: Naota. He is our realistic protagonist who is critical to the meaning behind FLCL (as i will mention later), and alongside the appropriately uplifting, youthful, casual soundtrack, his existence allows for some slice of life elements to shine through. This means that FLCL is atleast good painting a very "ordinary", therefore relatable, therefore immersive picture; in the immediate term, which provides a very care-free atmosphere to remind you that if you've gotten this far, then you're taking the show too seriously...

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- The "Artistic" Viewpoint
Analyzing FLCL's artistic merit and intentions as an "expression"

FLCL is a show that hides the very heavy topic of growing up and maturing into adulthood, behind an ironically "immature" veil of nonsensical slapstick. Those who are generally more open-minded argue that FLCL intends to defy convention in such a bold way to enhance its meaning. This abstract nature is prominent enough to argue that those who only see a "bad anime" here, simply don't understand atall...

The events that take place in FLCL happen at such a blinding and incomprehensible speed, and the show's duration is short: to resemble the pure chaos of the very small amount of time that it takes for a child to loose his/her youth and reach maturity. It is a show that documents the "race" to adulthood.

All of the characters besides Naota appear as "stupid" and "immature", hence the continuous slapstick comedy: to represent the plight of adolescents who feel as though their "non-adult" status nullifies the relevance of the words they utter. This references the rather dark and isolated viewpoint that mankind itself is nonsensical and that "only I" make sense in this world of barbarians/corrupt/immature "adults" who don't live up to their title. This can be linked to the corruption of mankind's rigid and flawed administrative infrastructure.

Those who evaluate FLCL artistically are likely to conclude that it is a very meaningful and relatable show, disguised in a form so abstract that it can only be seen in a good light; if people look into the reasoning behind its bold methods. FLCL documents the plight of adolescents who feel as though they have to force maturity upon themselves by feigning ignorance in childish/immature things, to become better than the evidently immature/corrupt adult dictators that are responsible for the flawed administration of the modern world in which we live.

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Considering both viewpoints, it's obvious that FLCL is a show that needs to be looked at from an artistic perspective in order to work. It is therefore not an anime... but an artistic expression instead. It's therefore hard to give quantifiable credit with an ordinary reviewing approach, which could misleadingly cause people to think lowly of the title.

FLCL works on some levels, and doesn't on others (though again, arguable this is intentional). I am going to turn a technically "1 to 2" show to a "6" due to its very meaningful, deep and relatable artistic values which could equate to a "10"... therefore averaging out in my opinion just above the half-way point. FLCL therefore serves to show us that there is a limit to how abstract and minimalist an anime can be, and still be easily praised from a "MAL reviewing" perspective...
Which is shown here to be quite a rigid one...

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Do i recommend the show?
- To answer a question with a question, can you be open-minded enough to appreciate it?

~ Nothing amazing happens here, only the ordinary ~

Innovation is a term that is thrown around a lot these days and is used almost interchangeably with the word creativity. But, innovation and creativity are actually two very different things. Creativity is just novelty, while innovation is novelty that has value attached to it. While we do see glimpses of authentic creativity occasionally, true innovation is almost impossible to come across.

In the beginning of the millennium, Gainax tried to do what they do best – innovate. To recreate the magic of the legendary Neon Genesis Evangelion, they utilized the same key members of the staff, appointing Kazuya Tsurumaki as the director and Yoji ... Enokido, the author of the original FLCL novels, as the scriptwriter. And at the end of April of the year, the first episode of FLCL was released and gave birth to what would become yet another Gainax success story.

FLCL (Fooly Cooly or Furi Kuri) tells the tale of a precocious punk named Naota. When his brother left for America, he and Mamimi (his girlfriend) are left devastated and stumble through each day, finding solace only through each other’s thoughts of the brother. However, all this changes when an extraordinarily eccentric (borderline insane) girl, Haruko, barges into their lives and changes Naota inside and out. What follows is Naota’s coming of age story, crammed with outlandish sci-fi incidents that will light the way the way to adulthood.

FLCL takes up the word “chaos”, chews it up, spits it out and moulds it into something that’s preposterous even for Gainax’s standards. The storyline is erratic to say the least. What starts out as a wacky comedy about a kid and an oddity of a woman, turns into an over the top sci-fi series that attempts to showcase the fragility of the human mind. One second it’s about sexual innuendos, the next it’s about giant mecha emerging out of a kid’s head. It lacks any sort of consistency whatsoever and the end result is an indecisive plot that is more confusing than it is entertaining. This “middle finger factor” of the show gives off the illusion that an episode is longer than the thirty minutes of runtime. However, the true meaning and context of the show is still open for interpretation and lacks traits of any particular genre it belongs to.

The randomness and spontaneity of the crazy events does have its charm and works to the show’s advantage at times. But the complete lack of coherence does get to you and leads from “What the hell am I watching?!” to “Why the hell am I still watching?!” The absence of a strong and well directed plot is made obvious by the really cheap and downright silly humor. The jokes are not tasteful and unless you find getting run over by a scooter and whacked by a guitar funny, there’s nothing LOLable. Things even get severely disgusting at times.

Criticism aside, I land on one of the anime’s strong suits – the art. It excels in this department. The artwork is very stylish and exudes creativity. The characters look unique and are recognizable within an instant. You even have different styles employed, such as manga panels, cartoony and even a few scenes where the environments and characters are drawn in a South Park-like fashion. For an anime made a decade ago, the movement is very fluid and there are very few still shots. Here, Gainax innovates and the graphics look dated at no point. A perfect score.

FLCL shoots and scores with the soundtrack as well. The background music consists of several pieces made by the band Pillows. The rock band works well in creating some head thumping English tracks. It would certainly be a boon to the anime industry if these fellows were to make more tracks for anime.

The characters in FLCL are an eccentric group of locals, most of who are mentally deranged. Naota is the standard Gainax “kid-who-wants-the-power-but-not-the-responsibility” protagonist. The silver lining is that instead of just his psychological warfare on whether or not to accept the powers, you also get to see him battling his lusty pubertal desires. There is a certain amount of depth to his personality, but nothing that would top your favorites list. His character design was probably the inspiration for Simon of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Mamimi is, once again, an intriguing character, but she is sidetracked along the middle. The star of the show is Haruko. This disturbing woman takes the cake when it comes to randomness. Her seiyu, Mayumi Shintami does her job perfectly and projects Haruko impeccably as an annoying, yet likeable character.

The enjoyment factor is what splits the audience into two halves. On one side, you have the average anime viewer, who has his/her tastes limited to only a few genres and on the other, we have hardcore fans who are experienced with a wide plethora of shows. Viewers who are part of the former will probably have to turn their brains off to enjoy the mayhem that ensues in order to feel their time well spent. But it is a very difficult task considering that the show attempts to be intelligent and crazy at the same time. It is the exact opposite if you’re a case of the latter. Seasoned Gainax fans will feel right at home with all the hidden references and the troubled teenager hero. It’s just that they would be much more familiar with the spontaneity than those who are yet to watch a lot of the studio’s works.

[ THE WRAP-UP ]
FLCL is an anime that is a total hit-or-miss, mostly relying on your experiences with Gainax’s works. The coming of age element in the plot is completely buried because of the inane lightheartedness and when watched casually, it’s easy to miss. While it can be watched as a fun “go with the flow” show, the arbitrariness of it all irritates more than it enthralls. Thankfully, the animation in this six episode series spices up the scenes and makes for some excellent eye candy. The Pillows, a J-Rock band, play their part in making the anime technically sound by providing some wonderful tracks. Overall, FLCL is something that you would want to watch if you’re looking for something to tingle your taste for the bizarre, but a series that you must avoid at all costs if you’re looking for something thought provoking or well-drawn out.

Ah, Fooly Cooly. I was very excited to start watching this series, as I noticed it was from Gainax of Evangelion fame. There were some elements of this show that I thought were very well done, but for me the overall story and characterizations made me feel extremely disappointed after finishing the last episode.

First I'll start off with what I really enjoyed about this series. The art design I truly thought was superb, I enjoyed it. What is also very unique and creative is how throughout the series different styles of animation emerge, such as bullet-time, manga panels, a South Park-esque style, and many more. ... I felt the art and animation was very fresh and exciting to watch. In addition, the music in this shows has a very cool, modern vibe to it. Expect to hear a lot of really awesome guitar and rock music. The visual and audio aspects of this show are what I really feel shines in this show.

Now, as for the story... I for one will acknowledge that I tend to be very particular about my anime. My favorite shows are typically character driven, with less emphasis on plot. Unfortunately in this anime, I had a difficult time even following the plot. Perhaps this merits another watch-through, but I honestly did not enjoy the show enough to do that. To me the plot was very frazzled. I did not really understand Haruko's objectives, which I am sure is central to the show. Overall, I believe that the show may have been far too fast paced for my enjoyment. I do understand why it was fast paced, seeing as it is a six episode OVA. And I do feel as if there is a coming-of-age story buried in this hodge-podge of a show, but it is so unclear to me.

In conclusion, I would recommend this show to anyone looking for some really well done Japanese ANIMATION, but not story. Stylistically this show is one of the most original I have ever seen, and it does score some points from me for that. And for those of you who enjoy this show, I think that is wonderful; I guess it just isn't my taste.

Going in you have to be open-minded as this anime is not like other anime. The story is about a kid named Naota. He is going about his life with the girlfriend of his his brother who is in another country. Whilst they are hanging out they encounter a young girl by the name of Haruko. She is definitely the most interesting of the cast as she causes all of the problems for the main character. She is a mysterious person who fights robots with a guitar. With only 6 episodes there isn't much character development. The story doesn't get ... too deep either and there are questions that are left unanswered. Even the ending seems a bit odd in comparison to the story. While there could be some sort of moral and ending that helped the character become better through this experience, I personally think this should have had at least 12, the way it is it feels like a mess of spontaneous moments.

There are two conceptions viewers have about FLCL, whether it is one of the greatest anime ever created, or one of the most sub par and overrated show ever made. I believe it to be a mix of both, having an interesting approach on the execution of it, as well through different animation style and soundtrack used. Nevertheless, there is little plot to be made out of the story, as well as being very chaotic in all departments - which isn't a bad thing on its own, it is compelling and is a positive change to the usual approach.

The synopsis of FLCL is quite misleading, ... as it gives a primary impression of being a continuous story, but it doesn't. The story of FLCL initially plays out simple, Naota the protagonist being overrun by a woman on Vespa. This may seem as something simple at first sight, yet as story progresses things become stranger and more chaotic, nevertheless interesting.

This is where the main problem begins with the anime, following no clear and definite storyline to which audiences can guide themselves through. It is very chaotic, jumping from one chaotic event to the other, in particular the first half, as it is a conjunction of random events with no connection to the plot. In the second half some story progression takes place, to suddenly steer onto disarray again, with slice of life moments as well as over the top action scenes that make no sense.

However, FLCL's main focus doesn't lie in narrating a plot; it centralises on symbolisms and excessive allusions to sex, leaving the viewer to make his own interpretations of it, as it vague and random. One thing that mustn't be disregarded is the fact that it follows the storyline to a very basic line, but is being buried with all the randomness and chaos of the show.

The characters of FLCL are one wacky cast of eccentric and mentally unstable people, based on stereotypes. It must be said that the representation of those were well done, in respect that viewers observe and learn what makes them behaviour in a certain way. Audiences will recognize the main protagonist as an insecure teenager with his own problems of love, and the thoughts he has. The woman being the most eccentric one, and Mamini making moves on Naota, while at the same time rejecting him. There is character development to be found, but the problem is - as the series in a whole - that it is buried into way too much irregular and chaotic events, which makes it difficult to relate to characters.

All these erratic events couldn't be represented well without the suitable animation and sound. Through the art style, the behaviour of the characters are transmitted, as well adding a chaotic tone it. There were some inconsistencies to be found, but whether it was intentional or not, I wouldn't know. Other positive aspect of it is that the movements and actions that take place are very fluid.

The soundtrack used in FLCL is well done too, which added to the general atmosphere of the anime. One thing that bothered me were the voice actors: the characters emotions/behaviour didn't match with the characters, and sounded very uninterested and indifferent. For example, the animation shows them in uproar, seemingly screaming, yet the voices are indifferent sounding as if they had a cold while recording. It can be excused by implying that it adds to the shows identity, yet I don't agree with it.

FLCL was overall an interesting watch, yet never really enjoyable as the narrative lay all over the place, in conjuction with the excessive random events alongside undesirable voice acting. Does this mean that it is not recommendable? No, this anime is suited for anyone who has likes this type of random and chaotic anime: after all it is produced by the studio Gainax. Viewers who prefer an anime with proper narrative and deep characters should skip this anime.

Thank you for reading.

FLCL (Fooly Cooly or Furry Curry) Such an interesting anime. you either love it a lot or hate it. I'm like the first person to ever be in the middle. I analyse this fairly and honestly. There are so many things I love about the series and so many things I hate.

STORY (3/10)
The story is one of those things I dislike. There is no real story. No real conflict. Just a bunch of random things moments and a climax filled with a bunch of little "figure it out yourself" scenes. It's one of those things that the creator puts in for no reason and just ... expects fans to put their own "symbolism meanings" into it. I really wish there was a plot some of the characters could have been really good and interesting if they were just expanded on.

ART (8/10)
The art style is really unique. It reminds me of the early 2000 anime movies and its cool how the art style changes and random points in the story.

SOUND (10/10)
All of the soundtrack is performed by one of my favorite Japanese rock band "The Pillows" Their songs are used as insert songs and they are inserted so well into the story. The best time was in the second episode when Mamimi is staring at Canti fly into the air and "Hybrid Rainbow" comes on :D AWESOME.

CHARACTER (5/10)
Yeah, probably the worst part of the show besides the story. The only likable character is Naota and even he can be annoying sometimes. Mamimi is okay and I felt really bad for her but she was a bit psycho and it seems like she subconsciously used Naota because she just wanted someone to hang out with. Haruko was terrible, I hated her since the first episode and always assumed she was evil since the beginning (so no mystery there) Naota has the worst father ever and a (probably asshole) brother. I originally hated Ninamori but then after episode 3 I began to like her a lot.

ENJOYMENT (8/10)
I think this is the reason why people like the show so much. It's just so zany and fun. It's a good show to kill three hours with your buddies on a Friday night.

OVERALL (6/10)
Overall this show has a lot of problems. I can completely see why people hate it and why people love it. It was the most interesting anime have ever seen and will definitely never forget it.

The only reason why this show gets very high marks is due to nostalgic factor. FLCL was one of the first anime to hit America and guess what. 90% of reviewers are Americans.

For example, I still recall some old school anime when I was a kid, and even though I see them as mediocre shows now, they were masterpieces back then. So, if I were to rate an anime I saw when I was 7 years old back in 1991 as my present self (26 years old), I would've rate it way higher than it deserves just because I remember seeing it as a kid ... and was fond of it back then. (Kind of like how gamers who grew up in the 90's feel nowadays towards retro-gaming: awesome in their eyes, pieces of crap in modern kids' eyes)

Enough of that, let's review FLCL:

Story:
Many reviewers rated this anime 9-10 out of 10 and say they don't know the plot of this anime. So, why did they rate it so high? See my first paragraph. All in all, it's a pretty mediocre plot, but you'd most likely have to rewatch/research due to all the distractions and time-constraint this anime has to offer.

Music, Sound, Art, Animation:
These are the best points in this anime no doubt. Pleasing to the eyes for some while induces seizures for some; so no real complaints there.

Characters:
Physically unique and different than your average anime characters. Every other aspects are pretty generic however.

Overall:
It's pretty much a 'hate it' or 'love it' show. Although I'd say 90% of the people who 'love it' only like it because it takes them back to their childhood aka nostalgic factor.

I think it'd be fair to say that you'll either love this anime, or hate it. Or not understand it at all. I certainly belong to the third group. To me, this anime, was pointless and dumb, although a lot of people seemed to really enjoy it.

So...I'd suggest watch couple episodes, if you don't like it don't bother watching the rest, because it only goes onto become more weird and lame.

It's worth noting, though, that art and sound quality are top notch.

FLCL is modern art. By that, I mean that it's that one exhibit at the at the art show that all the critics rave about being "deep, inspired, and shows that the artist is trying to reach out to the viewer to express his inner torment" when literally everyone who is just there to enjoy art is puzzling as to how a floating square next to an empty cereal box has any deeper meaning.

I feel like everyone who worked on this project had to go home and ask their kids what they liked, and they spent the next meeting dropping LSD and mashing what they ... had gotten from their children into an anime. Then they shipped what they had. Which isn't bad, I absolutely loved all the zany shit that happened but at the same time it was just that. Zany shit, and not much else.

At several points it felt like FLCL realised that it hadn't done anything in terms of plot and just crammed something in that would make it seem like there was a plot. Something along the lines of
"Oh shit, we forgot Haruko's motivations!"
"Well my son was talking about space pirates the other day and..."
"Perfect. Add in an ultimate power McGuffin and we're sorted."

Truthfully, FLCL does have some really good parts, for example the episode where Naota struggles with his attraction to Haruko and the fact that his father seems to be in a relationship with her and he isn't. That was great. Until it turned out that it wasn't his dad, just a space robot vibrator Haruko was using as a personal slave that had the likeness of his dad.

Despite all this, I found FLCL fun. In a sort of "turn your brain off and watch a robot pop out of his head so that he can fight aliens with a guitar" kind of way. If you really want to find a deeper meaning, go live as a Buddhist monk.

FLCL is the strangest anime I have ever come across. My friend had recommended it to me boasting it as 'the funniest anime he had ever watched' and his 'all time favorite'. Thats saying something fierce, especially considering this same friend had viewed Haruhi Suzumiya, Code Geass, and Clannad, animes I consider extremely high quality. So I looked it up and was very surprised to see it was a six episode OVA. My thoughts were 'how can a six episode anime be that good?' I shrugged and started watching.

Art: 6
Lots of other reviewers praise the animation as 'fluid', 'robust', 'innovative', 'highly creative', but I don't ... see it. What I saw was lots of scenes where almost nothing was happening on screen, and scenes where they were lazy to animate it so just showed the manga and called it clever. The art style is fine considering it was made in 2000, but I didn't find it to fit any of the adjectives listed above. I thought it was alright.

Sound: 6
Again, lots of other reviewers greatly praise the sound for its opening and ending, its bgm, and the voice acting. Now, I thought the voice acting was good as always (Japan probably has the greatest voice acting in the world), however, I felt a serious LACK of background music. Especially in episode one, there was a scene right after the alien girl hits the boy with her guitar, there's very little animation and a lack of music. It lasted so long I was tempted to stop watching right there out of boredom. I didn't partiularly care for any openings/endings/inserts.

Story: 6
this is where my biggest problem lies. People love this anime for its weirdness and its hidden 'growing up' theme. however, for me, it doesn't matter how deep the anime might have been, it doesn't matter if I, the viewer, am spending the entire time in complete confusion with no idea what's going on, why its going on, and being bored out of my mind. All I got out of the anime's story was that guitars equal bats, the little boy can be devoured for super powers, and the alien girl is a bad guy. no joke, I was that lost.

Characters: 5
I didn't like any of the characters. I didn't like the little boy, I didn't like the alien girl, I didn't like the cast away older brother's girlfriend. Besides the alien girl, everybody was really stale and boring to me, and the alien girl was just an A-hole. I didn't find any of her actions humorous, such as beating the boy with the guitar.

Enjoyment: 3
though I did find the last episode somewhat exciting, it didn't make up for the immense boredom I felt during the rest of it. I was stunned, absolutely. It was only six episodes, I've made it though full 26 episode animes that have also sucked that bored me less than this anime. It takes something incredible to make me want to stop watching the entire time I was watching it. And thats how it was with FLCL. I only finished watching it because it was so short. Had it been more episodes, I would have stopped after episode one.
People say that this anime gets better with more viewings, but that doesn't matter. If the anime can't entertain me the first time, theres no way in hell I'm going to REwatch it. I found this anime extremely disappointing and I don't recommend it.

This is probably one of the most random anime I've ever seen. Admittedly, I understood none of it. It doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the anime, I did. I just had a hard time grasping what it's all about. I even googled it and still came up with zero explanation.

Towards the end I gained more questions rather than answers. Some of the things that I am sure of is that, the soundtrack is awesome and that Furi Kuri has a quirky contemporary charm about it.

That's all I really have to say but MAL is forcing me to write a longer review so ... I'll just pretend to write "quality content" by typing in whatever until it lets me post my short review regarding FLCL.

Insane, bombastic and with a complete disregard for linear storytelling, FL CL is a coming of age story, exploring in particular the sexual confusion tied with the entering the “teen” years.

It is actually quite unusual to see a piece of serial Japanese animation dealing so directly and consistently with one single theme. Despite the visual insanity FL CL is styled with, every element in it is tightly constructed to convey the confusing and messy mind-state of early adolescence. Every episode is a non-stop barrage of punk music, innuendos and not-so-subtle phallic imagery, as the main character gets dragged in a series of non-sensical adventures by ... a series of colourful characters whose insanity stands in direct contrast with his stoicism.

While this consistency and personal touch is extremely pleasant to see in a medium that way too many times seems to over-rely on commercialism and tired tropes, it also ends up being sort of a weakness. Structurally, the choice to distribute this project as a series of six twenty-minute episodes seems not optimal. As the show structures its episodes still with defined narratives that have a self-contained beginning, middle and end, soon the lack of unique direction in which to push the themes starts to make the show feel as if it’s just continuously repeating its one point, not helped by the pretty much flatly constant pace, always firmly stuck at eleven.

While this does obviously does not invalidate the impressively imaginative work behind every aspect of FL CL, it does make those six episodes somewhat tiring, actively going against the feeling of sheer adrenaline that the show tries to convey.

What also doesn’t fully work is how the aforementioned pacing is handled throughout the show. While I get the thematic reason why the whole production is designed as this constantly “hyper” experience, the lack of relief points seem to slowly eat up at the stylistic impactfulness of the whole, partly helped by the combined runtime of about two and a half hours. By the end of it, it is really difficult to be interested in the characters, or anything else in the show for that matter, causing what should be a cool and epic climax to feel just like a relieving whimper.

All and all I can’t say I haven’t enjoyed FL CL though, especially the first couple of episodes are fun, extremely inventive and beautiful to look at, and the whole work feels genuine and personal, which is always great to see in serial Japanese animation. It does feel though that the show would have been a much more structurally effective piece as a movie, without the need to build to repetitive climaxes. Also I’m probably the last person in the world who can relate to that main theme of tumultuous teenage sexuality, so probably that is also a factor in why the show left me slightly colder than I feel it should have.

My problem with FLCL is in the form in which it presents it's characters, storyline, motifs, ideas, themes, ect.

My problem fully lies within the presentation. The story itself is admittedly wonderful and the characters all have some rich depth to them, even as different as they all are from one another, no one ever feels out of place and if you dig deep enough you can see the rational side to everyone's eccentric behavior. The problem with that is, imho, FLCL makes you "dig" too much.

I'm not saying everything should be face value, or that making the viewer think instead of just stuffing them ... with information is a bad thing. What I'm saying is that I'm fucking lazy and FLCL hurt my small pea brain by not presenting me it's content in an easily digestible manner like I'm usually used to, so it kind of put me in a weird place where I really admire the show yet feel like I can't recommend it at the same time.

Admittedly, packing that much information into 6 episodes in the way in which it doesn't stop to spell out every single detail but instead glances over it and let's you put together the pieces is kind of fucking genius. I've heard this described as a show that gets better with every re-watch and I can definitely understand why.

Good show, I just wasn't in the right mind-frame.

FLCL is one of the most over rated anime ever created.

The bad. The animation is lazy when it comes to anything but robot fight scenes. Then outright stealing shots from Neon Genesis Evangelion. And have little to no effort put any other time. except the static backgrounds. The music is only decent and I can say that a single song really stood out for me in the whole anime. The characters were pretty much just cookie cutter characters that were created after their individual character types had been used in Evangelion. And you may notice that I am mention Evangelion quite a bit, why, because ... it has some of the same people on the production team, when I say people, I mean big people. They worked on projects like End of Evangelion, my personal favorite movie but then went on to do this shit.

There were a couple good things about it though. The story was original, I will give it that. And I'm not saying that it's horrid, in fact I gave it a fair rating, though I gave that rating accidentally to my least favorite anime, gotta change that. The static backgrounds were amazing, even though they didn't really move.

Final Verdict:
Watch it if you want a weird afternoon, it's a short series that you could probably marathon in that time.

6/10

Kazuya Tsurumaki doesn't have the pedigree to properly explain the supposed greatness of his consensus masterpiece Fooly Cooly. The parts of Kare Kano which he directed are infamously mediocre, his half of End of Evangelion is far less special and emotional than Anno's, Diebuster is always dull and sometimes worse, and who even remembers Dragon Dentist? I revered Fooly Cooly for many years for its density of ideas, creative animation and endearing soundtrack. It is becoming clear to me now, though, that although it is Tsurumaki's best work by far (until 4.0 baby, fingers crossed!!!!), it is not as big of a jump from the ... rest of his career as I had thought.

FLCL is famous for its experimental and humorous shifts in visual style, and that is done skillfully to an extent. The opening episode, with its slow-mo 360 camera moves, moving manga sequence and fluid mecha battle scene, is the best showcase of this visual insanity. There is an aspect to which Tsurumaki is using this kookiness to hide not being as competent at visual pacing and storytelling as his teacher Hideaki Anno, but that is not debilitating. The help of experienced director Masahiko Otsuka, who directed episodes 1, 4 and 6 is a big reason for the style being able to work, though. If all 6 episodes had been as weightless as episodes 2 and 5, the show would have soon been forgotten. In fact, in my mind, episodes 1, 4 and 6 have pretty much always been the reason to actually watch Fooly Cooly as an adult, as opposed to just reading about it on the internet or something. Those episodes have the most striking imagery, sure, but more importantly they have pathos on top of backbone. None of the episodes are wacky nonsense, but those three don't even feel like wacky nonsense. They feel like controlled, exciting nonsense, and Naota's emotional development in those episodes is atypically vivid for this show's standards, with clearer beats and structures than the other three episodes.

Everyone knows FLCL is a coming-of-age story but how many ask themselves if it's an especially good one? Naota is a decently human protagonist, more understated than Shinji, but he's so sedate he borders on unremarkable. At least half the episodes move forward with so little stability or weight that its difficult to be affected by what's going on without multiple watches, and even then it's more intellectual acknowledgement of a linear narrative than anything else. It's not as if his maturation is especially moving, comparing his bold declaration of self in Episode 5 to a similar scene in Gunbuster Episode 4 makes that pretty clear. The metaphors in the series for different aspects of puberty are also too materialistic and literal to be profound. A dull horn appears on Naota's head, representing an erection and, as far as I can tell, nothing else. It serves only to disconnect from Naota's actual feelings, not express them. The same is true for glasses without lenses, bubbly soft drinks, and bushy, removal eyebrows. These qualities are so blatantly metaphorical that it's difficult to take them as narrative (perhaps that's my fault for watching and studying the show so much when I was younger), but not especially meaningful in a nonliteral context.

It would be dishonest to say FLCL's metaphors don't serve any genuine artistic purpose, because I can think of three. Firstly, some of them simply are traditionally effective. One particular character burns down buildings with borderline subconscious pent up rage. It's absurdism with emotional history, which combines action, character and feeling. Another important purpose that the metaphors serve is that of tone-setting. The iconic opening scene, in which Naota's peaceful relaxation (which he hates) is interrupted by Haruhara Haruko smacking him in the face with a guitar, would simply not be the same if Naota realistically fell to the ground in pain and was then taken to the hospital. Absurdity is still one of FLCL's greatest strengths, especially on a first or second watch, and I wouldn't take that away from it.

Unfortunately, the third purpose that these metaphors serve is not a good one. This is a personal philosophical point, but then again so are all of these. It becomes increasingly obvious to me as I get older that FLCL quite strongly resembles conformist propaganda. Left-handedness, historically the sign of a black sheep by virtue of being far rarer than its starboard equivalent, is shockingly a symbol in FLCL for essentially being "one of the bad ones". Haruko and Naota's big brother, Tasuku, are the two left handed characters, and both are shown by the narrative to be "incorrect" in how they live their lives. Haruko by the series' ending, though I won't spoil that here, and Tasuku by his adultery and his choosing to leave Japan to go to America, which of course is a sin in the eyes of this nationalist construction. That the only image we ever get of Tasuku is a truly bad vibes polaroid of him with his new girlfriend is twisting the knife, I suppose. Once you notice it, the anti-rebellious (or anti individualistic?) mentality of FLCL becomes laughable, as if it was directed by a parody of a religious father from the 1960s. Motorcycles? Guitars? America? Sports? Get those things out of here! Stop chasing cool girls you actually like and get married to your modest, wealthy classmate that you hardly know.

This aspect becomes even more insidious when you place it in the context of the show's legendary rock-and-roll soundtrack. The soundtrack, performed by the Pillows, is of course very good in the realm of anime, though many of the tracks blend together to an extent, and they definitely don't improve the songs they take inspiration from (listen to Don't Look Back in Anger and then go back to One Life and weep at the Pillows comparative inadequacy.) Still, many of the best vibes in the series owe much to the Pillows, and even the most impressive action scenes are only able to have such rhythm because they're timed to the music. The problem is not the music itself, or how it's used, but that it's included at all in this show. By promoting the series with (dorky) punk iconography and ostensibly stylish rock and roll tunes, Tsurumaki and his team are attempting to rope in particularly rebellious kids, as they are the targets of the propaganda message of FLCL. The irony of this being that The Pillows are hardly edgy at all. Their earlier albums were thornier, but the soundtrack for FLCL basically sounds like the Beatles with some added, surface level, flair. I don't think anyone in 2000, or 2020, thinks listening to the Beatles, or Oasis, is in any way punk or rebellious. The fact that the music, the element that was intended to grab the punk crowd, ends up being dressed up Dad music is the real kicker here.

I must admit I am personally saddened by the bait and switch of this seemingly fun, creative anime which reveals itself to be a trap to encourage nothing especially good, as if they intend to flatten the Japanese youth's spirit with Medical Mechanica's iron. I may be looking too deep into things but if these themes are not intentional then the show is gibberish, as I've never heard interpretations that say much different, they only phrase it in a nicer way. These conformist themes are also very in line with Neon Genesis Evangelion and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, there's historical precedent for it. It's disappointing that so much effort and artistry went into something so negative, but then again that is the history of cinema and animation in a nutshell.

FLCL - what many call awesome, crazy good, a classic, a masterpiece, and something that is entirely unique. As for me, it was none of those.

FLCL (Furi Kuri; Fooly Cooly)
Directed by: Kazuya Tsurumaki
Written by: Yoji Enokido

Story (1/10):
There is no story whatsoever. Just a bunch of random ridiculous things that happen to each character in each episode. Pathetic.

Art (8/10):
... One of the few good things about FLCL. I wasn't surprised by how good the animation was considering it was done by GAINAX (the studio who did Neon Genesis Evangelion). It was great but nothing breathtaking.

Sound (9/10):
Hands down the best part of FLCL. The music is fantastic and works with all the weird parts of the show. Ride on Shooting Star by The Pillows is a great ending theme as well.

Characters (3/10):
Naota and his dad were the only 2 characters I liked. Haruko Haruhara has to be EASILY one of the WORST characters in anime of all-time. She was so annoying and essentially what ruined this anime for me ever since she appeared in the beginning of Episode 1. Mamimi I liked at first but she grew to be just a plain jerk and all of the other characters were forgettable or just plain crude.

Enjoyment (5/10):
I enjoyed Naota as a charcter, and the fantastic music and art. However, I couldn't stand everything else. Therefore, making my enjoyment of this anime split or mediocre.

Overall (6/10):
I give FLCL a 6 out of 10 making it slightly just above average. (Mainly just because of music and art). However, it's not something I recommend unless you have nothing better to watch and want to watch something extremely weird.

I have been waiting more than 10 years to watch this, it better be something special.

Story:
According to the last 2 episodes, FLCL indeed has a story. It makes no sense and it is completely unimportant. This anime is so random, my head still hurts thinking about it. You could pretty much watch this in any order and you'd get the same. Is this a bad thing? Well, usually this is the case, unless you manage to make the anime a pretty funny one. FLCL did not make me laugh however.
3/10

Art:
Much of the randomness comes from the constantly changing art style. From classic comics over manga ... pages and regular shounen anime up to South Park, FLCL has everything. It's artsy for the sake of being artsy, but in this department, it succeeds. The regular style isn't too shabby either, it looks a bit different from the rest of shows that were on around that time.
8/10

Sound:
The Pillows are the only contributers of openings/ending/background music. I didn't know them untill now, but I like their sound. Rock is always a good choice, especially in an anime with a couple of fighting scenes. The voice acting is a mixed bag. The main characters are all sounding interesting and fine, but some of the sidecharacters were rather mediocre.
8/10

Characters:
Naota was the only normal person in this anime...untill the final episode at least. Everyone else is a complete lunatic. That's actually kind of cool, but I found it to be a little too much in FLCL. Haruko was surprisingly unlikable, but I could at least tolerate her antics. The one person I really disliked was Mamimi. I dunno if I was supposed to feel sorry for her, but I just hated her selfish ways.
6/10

Enjoyment:
Maybe I was expecting too much, but FLCL didn't entertain me much, despite it being a very short anime. Maybe it was the meaninglessness of everything that happened, maybe I'm just too stupid to see the bigger picture. I wouldn't go so far and say it was boring, but it didn't hook me one bit. It was an interesting experiment, but sadly not much more.
4/10

Overall:
5.8/10

One word to describe this anime is WEIRD! Of course the genre is dementia. While watching this anime you will (I know you will) blurt out "What am I watching?" The story is out of this world. You will not know what the story aims. The art is good. The initial release was in the year 2001 but the art is high technology. The sound is also good for The Pillows is the one who sang the songs. When it comes to the genre of Mecha, some of the anime executes it elegantly but the way it transforms is undignified. The characters are breaking the ... fourth wall. This anime is definitely not for kids. The character of Haruhara, Haruko is the most crazy I've ever seen. Somehow, this anime will not bore you. Even if how weird is this anime there is a rumor that it will have a series. So, I don't know if I will recommend you to watch it, but if you are the type of person who doesn't bother the genre. Yeah, watch it, since it only has 6 episodes.

FLCL is a one-of-a-kind anime, or at least something I've never seen been done before. It is very chaotic, dense and extremely fast-paced. It has a unique and very over-the-top style, jumping from one art style to another, one just as good as the other along with great BGM. But that being said, this isn't a show for everyone, and certainly not for me.

Just as I said, it's very fast-paced and so "extreme" it turns into a nonsensical mess of a story that is quite impossible to follow, except there's actually no story at all nor any kind of coherence and connection between the 6 ... episodes. Moreover, the characters just kind of appear out of nowhere without an introduction or any depth to them, and they don't develop at all, they practically remain the same throughout the whole thing. And even being so flat as they are, some of them managed to annoy me to the point I almost dropped it.

Nevertheless, I ended up finishing it because in spite of how much I disliked it, some moments were a spectacle. This is the first time I watch a show that had very distinct highs and downs, the highs being all the fight scenes which are very worth it, while the downs which consisted of the slice of life/"character buildup" parts which are pointless given you practically know nothing about the characters at all and the show does not make an effort to explain anything to the viewer. Not even in the slightest.

On to the rating, I must say this anime is anything but average. It's a love it or hate it anime. The problem is I love the art, and I would rate it a 10 solely based on the art, animation and music, but hate the story component to this, which I would rate 0 out of 10 if possible. So, I guess it balances out.

If you're able to appreciate the visuals and the meaning behind this fever-dreamish show as well as the references to other media (which, by the way, is plagued of) then maybe you'll enjoy FLCL. If not, then maybe you'll get to enjoy some cool music and nice visuals.

Since this show is a Coming-Of-Age story about a 14-year old boy with rebellious "all adults or either stupid or selfish" themes running through it, and I am a 15-year old boy, I feel that I am especially qualified to review this here anime.

It's meh. Decent. Fair. However you want to say it, this anime is not particularly remarkable in terms of quality.

The Story:
The story is as minimalist as this type of series can be, which I can get behind. It's a bit liberating to not be overwhelmed with plot like a LOT of other anime are wont to do. However that doesn't mean it's ... great. FLCL's story is good, but only good. It's not as deep or engaging as some more plot-heavy anime like I was referring to earlier, but it does have some subtlety despite what you may have heard about this. There are some good themes and still manages to hook you in at the end. Now onto the bad. The show has a terrible habit of breaking the 4th wall or making references every chance it can get, and it isn't even funny. Firi Kiri also has a habit of thinking of something it thinks is cool, (i.e. guns) and then having that thing all throughout the episode ad nauseam. And it seems to think it can get away with all manner of sexual references just because it is a CoA story. It sort of does, but still, some may get tired of it like I did. All in all, pretty mixed. 6/10.

The Art:
Why does it matter? What show could have such good or bad art that it makes or breaks the anime?
Mini-rant aside, the art style is fantastic with some great shots every now and again. Nothing more to say, except there a couple of CGI cycling shots that look horrendous. 9/10.

The Sound:
How much do you like Grunge? If you don't care for it, congratulations on having horrendous musical taste. (Just kidding, but I'm pretty sure you knew that already.) Pretty good. 7/10.

The Characters:
They suck and there's pretty much no development for any of them and 2 of the 3 female characters are pretty bad people and arrrrghhhg. They do a thing at the end where two of the characters turn into villains but one of them stops like 30 seconds later and it doesn't make much sense. The protagonist functions as a kind of straight man to any of the adult antics in the show (and there are a lot) and to all the weird BS going on around him. He works alright in this role, but he is quite the Grumpy Gus at times and some viewers may find that grating. The writers put in a (kind of) love interest, she can get rather irritating at times, especially in the finale, but she's not horrendous. There's a robot. Not much else to say. 3/10.

Enjoyment:
It was fun. I was entertained at least somewhat throughout, I got quite invested in what little plot there was at the end. "Fooly Cooly" had some annoyances as I mentioned earlier, but those don't quite break the anime. 6/10.

Overall:
A cautious recommendation, though numerous amounts of people would tell you it is a must watch. It kinda is, just because it's old Gainax and has the reputation it does throughout the anime community. 6/10.