The Fall 2016 Anime Preview Guide

FLIP FLAPPERS

Serious-minded Cocona is unsure where she wants to go to high school, even though she has the grades to go anywhere. Her bland world gets turned upside-down when she encounters Papika, a strange and lively girl who rides a flying surfboard, and her robot Boo-chan. They take her to Pure Illusion, a place where the snow tastes sweet and “frozen trees” roam the land. A harrowing adventure there results in Cocona manifesting powers and recovering a glowing stone coveted by a secret organization. Flip Flappers is an original anime work and can be found streaming on Crunchyroll and The Anime Network, Thursdays at 9 AM EST.

Jacob Chapman

Rating: 4

I was unsure going in, but even after just one episode, I'm feeling pretty good about Flip Flappers. With odd little experiments like this, there's always an understandable fear that the balance between artistic freedom and the need for solid storytelling will crumble the creation. Great artists aren't always great writers, and the disciplines can often be at odds with one another as much as they are in harmony, if you put the wrong combo of artists and writers together. There are a lot of insanely talented artists tied into Flip Flappers' production, from directors to animators to musicians, but there were no writers publicly attached to the product, which would be fine for an animator expo short, but leaves its potential as a larger story largely up in the air.

But if shows like Kiznaiver or The Rolling Girls struggled as gated playgrounds for artistic talent that must live or die on the strength and structure of shaky writing regardless of how creative the visual production might be around them, Flip Flappers is already a little more like Space Dandy or Gurren Lagann, where the imagination of its artists builds the foundation for much simpler writing demands. There's actually very little dialogue in the episode at all, with basic character motivations for the two leads limited to "indecisive intelligent wallflower" and "indomitably genki dream girl," but the episode works beautifully by making its dreamlike intrigue the main focus and source of entertainment. Charcoal paintings of barren snowfields and blobular wonderland monsters caresss rather than dominate the frame as Cocona and Papika search for a magical stone that will change their destinies, and the greater details about some secret organization or some kind of prophecy barely seem to matter. If the show keeps its story simple, its dialogue sparse, and the conflict straightforward and engaging, this could be a novel little adventure with some unforgettably unique visuals.

Of course, it could still completely fall apart by betraying this gentle start and leaning too hard on convoluted writing and tired anime clichés, like so many attempts before it. It's too early to say, but for now, Flip Flappers isn't afraid to embrace its cartoonier nature, putting forth a good start for fantastical fairytale fare.

Paul Jensen

Rating: 3.5

Well, that was interesting. This first episode of Flip Flappers is all over the place, bringing an abundance of energy and creative visuals to a story that doesn't seem certain of where it wants to go. It's extremely pretty to look at and goes out of its way to be unique and intriguing, but that originality is the only hook that's really working for me at the moment. Maybe it's just because of a relative lack of exposition, but I just don't feel emotionally invested in it beyond the “look at this cool piece of animation” level.

It certainly is a cool piece of animation, though. The show goes its own way in terms of visual style, and I think it benefits from doing so. Papika in particular exudes a sense of fun and adventure from the first time we see her; there's something about her appearance and her flying surfboard that suggests there won't be a dull moment as long as she's around. Cocona and her hometown look more mundane by comparison, but even the show's more ordinary backgrounds feel like they came from someone's imagination instead of just a reference photo. By the same token, the story feels like it's following its own rules. Rather than jumping straight into the excitement and danger when the girls arrive in the world of Pure Illusion, the script gives them room to go exploring and have some fun on their own terms.

All that creativity is, unfortunately, balanced out by a lot of uncertainty in terms of where this is all going. That spirit of adventure is great in a standalone short, but it needs some substance behind it to work for a full season. Cocona acts as our window into the show's world, but feeling bored and directionless isn't the strongest motivation for a main character to have. It's also unclear who (or perhaps what) Papika is, or what the goals of her shady superiors are. I spent most of this episode wanting to care about these characters, but I ended up just finding them vaguely likable.

Of course, this is essentially how I felt after watching the first episode of Space Dandy, and that turned out to be my favorite series in the year it aired. Even if it hasn't yet found a way to grab hold of my heartstrings, Flip Flappers has set a precedent of doing whatever it wants to do. That gives it plenty of freedom to play with the limits of the medium, and another couple of weeks could be all it needs to really get going. I'm not completely sold yet, but I at least want to see what happens next.

Nick Creamer

Rating: 4

Where do I even start with this one. FLIP FLAPPERS was one of my top prospects for this season, being an anime-original project directed by a star animator known for his work in renowned productions like Dennou Coil and Space Dandy. But as anime-originals go, we started off with very little information about this one - all we had were a couple compelling previews, a general sense of two main girls who can transform, and some lovely art design.

Well, this first episode doesn't get us much further than that. FLIP FLAPPERS introduces us to the timid Cocona and exuberant Papika, has them go on a fantastical adventure in a winter wonderland, and then… ends. Based on the opening song and Papika's mysterious handlers, it seems reasonable to assume this will eventually form into a battling magical girl shell, but as of now, all we have are those girls, that lovely art design, and a fundamental spirit of adventure.

Personally, that's more than enough for me. I actually really appreciated how little overt storytelling this episode engaged in. Instead of harping on Cocona's feelings of entrapment and unease, the episode repeatedly conveyed her feelings through framing: Cocona trapped behind bars, Cocona in claustrophobic test rooms, Cocona looking forlornly through windows. The show's gorgeous backgrounds feel like something out of a fairy tale, and the first episode proceeded according to fairy tale logic - Cocona is uncertain about her path forward, then finds a mysterious path in the woods and ends up entering an unexpected winter world. Where a conventional anime would probably then explain the concept of its alternate worlds and the powers of these girls, FLIP FLAPPERS instead chooses to have the girls simply explore this world, building snowmen and treading through spooky woods and crossing paths with giant beasts. FLIP FLAPPERS seems as enthusiastic and scatterbrained as Papika herself, more interested in exulting in the joy of adventure than telling a straightforward story.

That focus on adventure and immediate experience over conventional storytelling also does lead to some awkwardness. The show's pacing is deeply disjointed, and some of the scenes that are clearly supposed to parse as iconic or evocative are too quick or poorly constructed to get there. The first time Cocona sees Papika should stand out as a clear digression from her mundane life, but the scene is undercut by the intrusion of the show's annoying robot mascot. And the final confrontation with giant snow beasts possesses virtually no tension, because FLIP FLAPPERS fails to ground either its world or the powers of its stars with understandable stakes or limitations.

Still, all told, I'll take a wildly creative and exuberant production with some iffy storytelling over a conventional but bland narrative. FLIP FLAPPERS is a beautiful show, and I'm very taken with its resounding love of adventure. I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

Theron Martin

Rating: 4

Flip Flappers is an original anime production by a first-time director, from an animation studio (studio 3Hz) whose only other credits are Celestial Method and Dimension W. Hence its pedigree isn't exactly sterling. However, the result is an episode which in both visual and storytelling senses captures the essence of high-spirited productions from GAINAX or Trigger. That makes it a thrill to watch – once it gets going, that is.

And that's the most curious aspect of the first episode. It opens with a scene of Papika escaping from whatever facility she's in, but after that it settles into a very serious and sedate look at Cocona's life. Only once she formally meets Papika and gets spirited away to Pure Illusion (whatever that actually is) does the episode kick back into higher gear. It then reverts to Serious Mode at the end for its cliffhanger ending. This is going to be a tricky balancing act to maintain if the whole series keeps doing it, but it's also reflective of the starkly differing personalities of its two leads. Papika is the whimsical girl who's always smiling and out to have fun, while Cocona practically seems incapable of smiling. Doubtless Papika is going to help Cocona open up and actually enjoy life as they explore further aspects of Pure Illusion and whatever mysterious, transformative power Cocona seems to have. In fact, if I had to draw a comparison on the personality dynamic in play here, it's very reminiscent of the relationship between Nono and Lal'C in Gunbuster 2: Diebuster, so the GAINAX parallels continue.

The episode is also interesting to look at visually. While I wouldn't call its animation exactly frenetic, it nonetheless very active, with more scenes of sustained of movement that you would normally expect to see in short cut-prone anime productions. Characters have giant eyes and very expressive faces. The catchy closer, which is suggestive of the girls wondering through a series of fairly tails, is also more of a visual treat than normal. This series may not have the refined feel of a Yuri!! On Ice or Sound Euphonium 2, but it has its own charm.

Where, exactly, the story is going isn't quite clear at this point. It's pitched as a magical girl series, but the epilogue scene and a couple of others suggests some kind of extradimensional mission is going on, too. Whatever the case, this is a series quite capable of catching your attention, regardless of normal viewing tastes.

Rebecca Silverman

Rating: 4             

Once upon a time two children were left in the forest by their parents because the family didn't have enough to eat. Oh, wait, that's the Brothers Grimm's version of AT327, “Hansel and Gretel.” But you could be forgiven for getting it and the first episode of Flip Flappers a little mixed up, because the episode relies very heavily on tropes from the tale type, creating its own retelling of the story known to folklorists as “The Children and the Ogre.”

It's a really interesting variant, and one that becomes more obvious as the episode goes on, culminating in an ending theme that spells it out for you if you haven't figured it out yet. The two kids in question are Papika and Cocona, the one a free spirit who seems to have ties to a mysterious organization lead by the incredibly sinister Mr. Salt. (Could this be a reference to the cruel father who throws out his daughter in the “Love Like Salt” stories?) There's something a little off about Papika, from her flying surfboard to her questionable outfit, but she doesn't appear to notice. There's an air of wonderful whimsy to the character that somehow prevents her from becoming too annoying, although she certainly has the potential to be so. She's joined by Cocona, a disaffected teen who can't make up her mind about which high school to apply to and doesn't seem to be getting the help she wants and needs from the adults around her. They seem to mistake her stoic personality for competence, and despite the fact that she clearly has friends, there's just something about her that suggests that she's always alone. Cocona feels like the character left in the forest in the tale, left to her own devices until Cocona pounces on her and drags her to “Pure Illusion,” a magical land where snow is sweet instead of cold and snowbound trees turn out to be whale-like monsters. The longer Cocona is there, the more we see her open up and become a more comfortable, natural child. In part this is Cocona's doing, but it's also because this is a place where she can make the right choices easily, even if Cocona does eat her breadcrumb trail.

For all of the beautiful animation, crazy colors (I love the one scene in black and white), and fascinating links to folklore, it's also really difficult to tell what this episode is actually about. The more I think back on it, the more I like it, but in the process of viewing, I felt confused and overwhelmed. The twist at the end, where we shift from AT327 to AT333 (Little Red Riding Hood) indicates that this may begin to take a more direct approach to its storytelling, which would be nice as long as it also maintains the whimsy of this episode. There's a lot of potential here, even if I'm not thrilled with the base character designs, and this is definitely something that bears keeping an eye on.