The main story is as easy as it gets. It is basically just growing up. That's it The background story includes but is by no way limited to a Space King, a conspiracy that involves irons and aliens. On the surface this might seem interesting but it only ever serves as a nebulous background to the struggles Naota, our MC, faces when puberty hits him and provides another way to throw some more allegories in the viewer's face. And speaking about throwing, that's a little bit what Haruko does when she first runs over Naota with her Vespa. Oh, Haruko. I like Naota well enough, he is just a kid thrown into a confusing wolrd, but Haruka. She is way over the top so there is some apprecation for her because of sheer rule of awesome. A much larger part of me really dislikes her because of one and one thing alone and that is sexual harassment. I get it. Naota is struggling to be all grown up while still being a child. Allegories regarding sexual content are unavoidable. But why does a 12-year-old have to be molested not only by a (self-proclaimed) 19-year-old but also by Mamimi, a high schooler who sees him as a replacement for his older brother? What the actual fuck? And no one seems to think this is concerning. Not his father, not his fellow friends, no one. I am being honest here: this is one of the reasons why I can't rate this higher. Sure, it is all very symbolic and I do love my symbolism and my allegories but there comes a time when all that gets simply too much and becomes a disjointed mess.
The other characters are under-developed and most of them annoying and childish. I especially despised the father of Naota. Of course they are meant to be this way and I suppose their characters can be seen as a reflection of how teenagers generally see people around them and constantly think they are misunderstood; doesn't change the fact that I immensely dislike them.
I fear the slapstick humour didn't work for me most of the time precisely because of the characters. There were times when I chuckled but largely I thought that the behaviour of most characters were simply too anoying to be funny. As noted that might have been intentional but did nothing for my enjoyment.
The truly amazing parts of FLCL are the art and the music. This is an anime that will still look awesome in ten or twenty years and there are some truly good art changes within a single episode, especially the manga segments. The music is still stuck in my head and The Pillows did an amazing job. Sometimes the songs were the only things that really helped me get through certain parts.
FLCL while polarizing for others is rather difficult to rate for me. Some parts worked for me but I feel that the anime and its at the core simple story and message was bogged down by its own almost slavish devotion to cram in as much symbolism and allegories as humanely possible in six episodes.
I appreciate the message FLCL tried to convey but unfortunately I still wasn't too impressed with the final product.
