-Naota Nandaba
A Review of FLCL:
I think it's fair to say that anime is a little weird sometimes. Some of us embrace the weirdness, others abhor it and stick entirely to slice of life shows with realistic plot lines. Heck, I have friends who don't watch nearly any anime because they have seen some weird shows and consider the entire genre as a whole to be weird. Weirdness isn't something people are always accepting of. And weirdness comes in many forms as well such as a shows about sentient clothing trying to wipe out the human race or shows that have an alien creature inhabit a boy's right hand. FLCL (known as Fooly Cooly by many) is a show that's weird. Like, really weird. I'm not kidding, think of the weirdest thing you can imagine and that's what FLCL is like. And it's not like it has a weird plot or creepy animation or anything like that (though the animation is wild at times). The show is just one of those things that makes little sense, but just enough sense to keep you intrigued.
Naota Nandaba is a 12-year-old kid living in a small, boring town. He likes to consider himself more mature than others around him, especially some of the adults (and he often is). After his older brother leaves for America to play baseball, Naota feels somewhat alone, often spending time with his brother's ex girlfriend, probably due to her being a reminder of his brother and also because they're in a sort of relationship thing but not really. Anyway, walking home one day, Naota's ordinary town becomes not so ordinary as a young woman riding a Vespa runs him over, gives him CPR after he falls unconscious, and then proceeds to bash him over the head with her guitar, which later causes Naota to grow a horn on his head, a horn that turns into two large robots that spring from his noggin and begin to fight each other and the one that survives becomes his personal errand boy and the Vespa woman becomes his family maid....are you still with me? Yeah, like I said, this show is quite bizarre in many ways and may take watching a few times before everything starts to click.
The characters in FLCL, in my opinion, are not its strongest point. Some characters, such as Naota and Haruko (the Vespa woman) get plenty of time to shine and are well developed, or as well developed as one can be in 6 episodes. However, many other characters feel as if they're just there for the occasional joke or catalyst of dramatic tension. Even the girl Naota seems to be in a relationship of sorts with gets shoved aside 2/3 of the way through the series and becomes as important as Naota's teacher, that is to say, very unimportant. However, I will say that most of the characters did a good job of leaving some sort of impact on the viewer and being fun and memorable.
Now, animation is where things get interesting. The show was originally produced and released in 2003, definitely not the height of great animation. However, FLCL's animation is actually quite clean for the majority of the series and in my opinion holds up well even today. That's not what's interesting though. What's interesting about the animation for FLCL is just how much fun the animators had with the show. One minute, you have perfectly normal animation for Gainax and Production I.G. Then an action scene rolls around and everything goes black and white and the characters become chibi versions of themselves as they're flung across a battlefield. Then they abandon animation entirely and turn the show into a watchable manga with voice-overs. Building can be all individually designed one second, then everything turns into a blob of color and characters flop around like ragdolls. It's not necessarily a great style or way of doing things, but for FLCL, it works so well, and though it may not be as great as some shows especially from recent years, it's fun to watch and it keep you entertained.
The soundtrack is also quite good. Pretty much all the songs are by the same band and they're all upbeat rock or jazz tunes that go really well with the drama or action on screen. Some particular tracks stick out in my mind, so that's how you know a soundtrack passes the test.
Positives:
+The show loves to have fun with itself and embraces its weirdness wholeheartedly
+The soundtrack is fitting and lively
+Animation is crazy and erratic, but keeps the audience entertained
+Characters are almost all memorable and unique, even if they don't have a whole lot of significance to the plot
+Manages to create a fun story in just 6 episodes
Negatives:
-The show is weird and because of that, many may not be able to get into it
-Consequently, the show can be confusing or misleading at times, causing necessity to go back and rewatch scenes
-The plot is never flat out explained and requires the audience to sort of piece things together
-Some characters are just sort of irrelevant
Overall, FLCL is one of a kind and that's something nice to see, especially after the Nth iteration in the past few years of "We've been trapped in a video game!". It embraces being weird and while the plot isn't super compelling or special, it's just flat out fun to watch and has a good hidden message of growing up vs. being mature. Being only 6 episodes coming out to a total of 2-3 hours, I suggest people at the very least give this show a try.
