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EP. REVIEW: Flip Flappers

I was wondering about the significance of the rabbit's name being Uexküll, because that sounded way too specific not to be a reference. I think it's safe to say that it's a reference to Baron Jakob von Uexküll, one of the creators of the concept of Umwelt. There are other people with that name, but this man is the only one with an article on Japanese Wikipedia, which even includes a brief section about the reception of his ideas in Japan, so I think it's a very deliberate choice. I'm more of a database than a critic though, so I'll let others draw their conclusions about what this might have to do with the show's themes

@ meiam

Except it was not any of those things. No, this was the first episode and a first episode needs to set up the main character, and it was not at all about what she was going to happen about her, it was about who she is now. And who she is now was described by the main prop in the Pure Illusion, snow. The cold and isolated world was not accident, and it being actually sweet was no pure random detail, it actually was not even new information. The entire first half of the episode was really about how Cocona can appear cold and distant, it was a defining trait we picked up, but you could also pick up from her interactions with her friends that she is not really as cold as the appearance. The following plot was about how Papiko liked her despite that, finding the sweetness and wanting to get along with her, but Cocona had to open up herself.

The second episode is even less contextually random as Pure Illusion largely mirrored what had happened in the real world, that Papiko had chased Cocona's rabbit and it had gotten stuck in the vacuum machine. It was literally what just happened, but with some context about more of what the rabbit means to her, Papiko learning a bit of what Cocona feels about fears of danger, a major part earlier where Cocona refuses to continue going to Pure Illusion. It really was not some random setting that you could read anything from, in both episodes they have been directly relevant to what happens in the rest of the episode. Why do you think Papiko showed up first as an unfocused and wild shape instead of like Cocona?

Saying that any random thing could have happened and you could have made meaning is like saying the characters could have said anything in an anime and you could have got meaning from what they said. The only difference is that instead of the writing showing up through dialogue, it is showing through with everything else in the show. And really that is what animation should do, use all of their tools to tell a story.

I was wondering about the significance of the rabbit's name being Uexküll, because that sounded way too specific not to be a reference. I think it's safe to say that it's a reference to Baron Jakob von Uexküll, one of the creators of the concept of Umwelt. There are other people with that name, but this man is the only one with an article on Japanese Wikipedia, which even includes a brief section about the reception of his ideas in Japan, so I think it's a very deliberate choice. I'm more of a database than a critic though, so I'll let others draw their conclusions about what this might have to do with the show's themes

But you didn't learn anything about Cocona from the setting, you're applying what you already know of Cocona to the setting. If the first episode had been shoot in first person and Cocona didn't say a word you'd never have noted the symbolism of the cold and isolation saying something about Cocona. That's why I'm saying it's just random stuff that would work no matter what, no new information is obtained you just apply what you already know to the setting. And the fact that different people can interpret the same stuff different way is just more proof that its just random, there's no deep meaning there, if there was everybody would reach the same conclusion.

But you didn't learn anything about Cocona from the setting, you're applying what you already know of Cocona to the setting. If the first episode had been shoot in first person and Cocona didn't say a word you'd never have noted the symbolism of the cold and isolation saying something about Cocona. That's why I'm saying it's just random stuff that would work no matter what, no new information is obtained you just apply what you already know to the setting. And the fact that different people can interpret the same stuff different way is just more proof that its just random, there's no deep meaning there, if there was everybody would reach the same conclusion.

That's pretty much it, it hasn't broken any rule because there are none to break. The first time they went into the world because the robot activated something, second time they just entered it from some random vacuum under a statue. First time the setting had nothing to do with the object they went into, the second time it was kinda the interior of it.

-snip-

Perhaps you are not paying full attention, because there was an explanation beyond being sucked into random things, Papiko said that they both have to be thinking about the same thing. Now what does that mean? Well clearly both girls were thinking about the vacuum machine in the second episode before they were sucked in, so the key to entering the worlds may be just as much what shapes those worlds. And that means that the likely subconscious thoughts that makes those worlds, and that extra meaning can be gathered from them. Cocona even commented on the type of ice on the trees with some glee, to me this conveyed an interest she has on experiencing things she had only read about. That is something we learned about her. And as I said earlier, the form that Uexkull took is reflective of Cocona herself, something that might be hard to have explained otherwise.

the lady looking away does not also look like an old woman

So in the same paragraph you talk about both the girls having to think about the same things to enter the world, then you talk about how what they think about shape the world and then you talk about Cocona wanting to experience ice on tree... So was Papika thinking about those iced tree in episode 1 when they entered the world too? Why was Cocona even thinking about those when they were on the pipe? If she wasn't thinking about that, what exactly were the two of them thinking about when they entered the ice world for it to be connected to what they were thinking about AND be something that both would think at the same time? See how the rule just arbitrarily change to suit whatever is happening.

The river Nyx scene near the start of ep 1 is also interesting. Why and how did she get there? Based on the on the girls words she wars there at least ones.