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*MILD SPOILERS FOR FLCL*
Well, this is gonna heat up, now isn't it? ...
Meh.
Ah, FLCL. What an enigmatic beast of a show. A show that, while not the weirdest anime ever, was popular enough to set a sort of standard in weirdness for viewers to compare to, a standard that isn't entirely easy to break, however, the likes of Watamote and Carnival Phantasm are definitely up there. This is a show that there are really two main opinions are, seeing as this is one of the most controversial anime for the fandom they split itself in two more so than anything Gainax did before or since: You have the guys who think this is some brilliant art-piece meant to symbolize a new take on a coming of age story, and you have the ones who think it's just a pile of random schlock randomly slapped to resemble a poor attempt at a coherent story. Well, judging by the score, you probably know where I stand, but if you SOMEHOW didn't read it, or just wanna find out why I'm ON that side, well, let's find out, shall we?
STORY: 5/10
Let's get this out of the way. If this is supposed to resemble a metaphor about a coming of age story, they didn't do a good job. I get that you wanna make your anime loony, but if you wanna put a story into it, you at least need some coherence and explanation besides an underlying message that doesn't tie everything together and leaves certain moments to the wayside like they were just filler in an already short series. Why does a giant robot come out of a kid's head? What the hell is with that pirate king stuff near the end (it comes out of left field)? Why does Naota suddenly take a liking to Mamimi despite no previous pretenses? I dunno. The show doesn't, or at least, it seems that way at first. The metaphor these seemingly random moments have in common is that it's about Naota becoming more mature. However, Naota doesn't even develop too much or get fleshed out much besides the random, slapped together, love interest part, but at least he (kinda) knows where to start (developing, we still don't flesh him out too well, probably because of the short run time and all we need to knelt is the the misses his brother and that his immature about trying to be mature). In fact, Naota only wants to see his brother (who never shows up), and by the end of it, we get nothing involving that plot point that Naota keeps bringing up as if it was meant to mean something to the progression of the narrative. It had some interesting moments in certain episodes involving things in episodes 3 and 4, and even has the fun quirk of allowing the robot that spawns from Naota's head to join the house as a maid. It's actually hard to describe the ultimate narrative aside from what I've listed because it's nothing but a bunch of poorly slapped together esoteric nonsense about this so-called "coming of age" story. Also, a bunch of irons wanna flatten the world for...some reason... I get what they were trying to go for, however, this is ultimately the story's greatest downfall. The progression of the metaphor may have been cohesive on the inside, but it's wrapped in a surface blanket sheer lack of cohesion and sense that expects us to go along just because things are flashing and moving around. There are definitely moments that add nothing to this metaphor, like the entirety of episode 3, and as times, it feels like it's wasting time. It shoves random plot points with its only justification being that it'll eventually push the progression of its metaphor, which isn't called for when things come out of left field without proper justification. On the surface, there's nothing of a cohesive plot, but underneath, is a metaphor, even if the surface doesn't always correlate to the metaphor. You have to peel it back to get something out of it other than you wondering that the devil is going on, and even then, the metaphor isn't always handled that well, nor does it justify some of the...more ludicrous moments...
Part of why I dislike the plot comes down to this: some of what I've criticized can be explained by the symbolism of the characters' actions. That is a good use of symbolism. Most of it had to be explained via "it's symbolic and can't be logically explained via the text alone", and that is a blatant misuse of symbolism, and it's part of why I hate this show.
CHARACTERS: 3/10
Our biggest problem here lies with Naota himself. Imagine an asshole character who frowns around this stupid world and its stupid people, providing social commentary and one-liners like say, Duckman or Ragna the Bloodedge, except with none of the crucial elements that makes these kinds of characters work. Transfer that to a 12 year old, and you get THIS asshat! Nothing is likable about this little turd. He had this brother subplot I mentioned that dragged on without any actual relevance or closure. His only development aside from that tacked on love crap, is Haruko making him accept that he has to try and DO things, which was appreciated, but didn't help much, that and he at least learns where he may want to start growing in order to reach the maturity he arrogantly pines for. I appreciate him growing, bit I personally hate him with a burning passion. Speaking of Haruko, she's definitely a wildcard to say the least. Selfish, brutal, crazy and unpredictable, she lives life crazy and had all sorts of fun, until Naota gets this "Pitate space King" thing which makes her angry that she can't have it, for she was in love with the pirate King from space. She's not the most pleasant character ever either, but was probably the most pleasant of this weak cast. Quite an oddball. Plus, she's is literally this show's insanity sealed in a can. Other characters are ether minor annoyances, or inconsequential to much aside from being there just to have some semblance of a plot, so they're not worth much, aside from Mamimi, a wierd 17 year old stoned out smoker who only really talks and somewhat flirts with Naota because he resembles her ex-boyfriend, which when you read between the lines, you'd know that she's kind of tragic, even if the show's tone never presents it that way, and you'd have to look really hard to effectively find depth in Mamimi's character. The only other characters of note are Eyebrows guy who kickstarts the plot points of the second half of the series, hat robot who becomes a maid, is a "God of death" and a part of this bunch of irons who wanna flatten the world. The side-characters are good at helping out Naota as discovering where he needs to develop in order to mature, but at the cost of anything to make them memorable aside from quirks, and even then, very few of them stand out as characters rather than parts of the plot. We are simply not given a decent reason to want to tolerate any of these characters, and while they might not be terribly written, I can't stand any one of them, especially not the main character.
ART: 8/10
The animation is often very fluid, more so than some other anime around 2001-2003. Some scenes in the last two episodes are very well directed and feel larger than life. It is very fluid and sometimes, very nice to look at. Too bad that some of the fluidity is for awkwardly drawn nonsense, like the Gonzo looking scenes in episode 1. It also makes fun of a variety of styles, to mixed effect, but overall, this looked better than a lot of anime at the time, which is expected from Studio Gainax. Episodes 5 and 6 have the best usage of fluid and varied animation, while episode 1 looks very different and honestly lower in quality compared to what came after, or is it just me? It doesn't look consistently good in the actual art department is where I'm getting at, but the animation is certainly impressive.
SOUND: 4/10
For me, the background OST is nothing special or noteworthy in the slightest aside from one track: "Last Dinosaur" by The Pillows, which is actually a pretty catchy tune. I had to research each of these themes for this review since I had no idea they existed, and they weren't worth it to me. The OPs vary in quality. OPs 1 and 2 are terrible, OPs 3 and 4 are mediocre, and OP 5 is actually kinda nice. They were all done by The Pillows, by the way. As for the dub, some of the non-mains sound ok. Haruko varies from sounding annoying as sin to actually sounding alright, and same goes for Naota, only more severe. I get that Mamimi's voice actress wants to sound like someone actually smoking in real life, but she sounds WAY to much like she's permanently drowsy! It feels like some are either over-performing, or like sometimes some of them aren't really trying, and before you say "it's supposed to sound different since they are to sound like non-actors", there's a difference between that and either doing a bad job and/or not giving a damn. That just about covers it without getting too angry. At least the side characters sound decent.
ENJOYMENT: 3/10
I couldn't STAND episodes 1 and 2! They were obnoxious and insufferably boring at the same time; a horrific combination so bad, I actually put it on hold (nearly dropping it) to go seek Hetalia to escape, like this was some bad relationship. Episode 3 felt pretty mediocre and a kinda dull, and is honestly pointless given everything. Episode 4 has some nice moments, but made me feel the most uncomfortable an anime episode has ever made me since that rape scene in SAO episode 24. I get that the subjects of sex and puberty are icky and gross but still. Episodes 5 and 6, while still being annoying on terms on trying to slap a poorly conceived narrative, were actually pretty cool in some scenes, espdcially eouside 6, which is the only episode I sort of enjoyed. Too bad that one of the jokes were repetitive and annoying as sin while others really miss for me 96% of the time. That bit episodes 1 and 2 in the ass in particular, since it's comedy isn't very good, aside from thwacking Naota in the head with a bass.
OVERALL: 4/10 RAW SCORE: 44/100
This anime is what happens when you try to do something horribly weird and asinine and try to pass off as clever and cool. There's at least SOME method to its madness, but not enough at the surface level to sell me on this one, nothing I can agree with. There's nothing wrong with being weird if you either actually do a good job cleverly incorporating a well done story like a method to your madness (like Gurren Lagann) or if you go all out with it to have a blast (like Carnival Phantasm), but it tried to do both, and ended up being a mostly awkward failure on both worlds, at east in my eyes since I don't agree with anything its characters do or say, let alone truly comprehend what It wants to tell me (probably due to how insufferable the series was to me overall). It tries so hard to push this metaphor, and to its credit, if you can decipher it, you might be able to forgive its obnoxious aspects and seemingly incomprehensible story, but it shoves all this into the screen expecting you to easily get it and move along with the narrative. If you're unable to decipher the metaphor and instead are stuck in a pool of its insanity that gets obnoxious at times, then you basically have no real reason to wanna come back, which is the show's greatest downfall; showing a metaphor so crazily, esoterically, and so nonsensically that it can turn a bunch of people off, which means that depending on one's tolerance for BS with no surface level coherence, it either succeeds or fails at its job. Well, I know how crazy divisive this anime is, so this is definitely one of the two interpretations you'll get, and whichever one you get from this ludicrous work, is totally fine, as long as you don't try to shove it down the throat of someone who disagrees. With all that said, I bid you adieu.
