Flip Flappers

Episode 4

This week, Flip Flappers pulled off the truly unexpected feat of having a pretty straightforward, normal-ass episode for a change. Well, normal by Flip Flappers' standards, anyway. This episode still featured our heroines hoverboarding to a deserted island, the sun turning into a black hole, and Uxekull threatening to rip Bu-chan's little robot head off with his teeth, but everything else was almost shockingly simple to follow.

Head FLIP-FLAP scientist Hidaka informs the girls that, despite its dual compartments, their teleporting device should have sent them both to the same location, so the real problem lies with the girls themselves. It seems they have too many "impedances" in their auras, which need to be minimized if they want to unlock their true dynamic duo potential. Simply put, the girls' hearts and minds need to be as one when moving between Pure Illusion and the real world if they want to stay together and transform into magical girls. This technobabble metaphor for intimacy should be extremely familiar to anyone who's seen even a sliver of anime in genres ranging from shonen battle anime to mecha anime to (of course) magical girl shows. The only solution is a classic "both of you, fight like you want to win!" training field trip for the girls to learn more about each other and become closer as teammates.

The island excursion that follows is almost quaintly familiar, forcing Cocona and Papika to confront each other's emotions as they scrounge for food, build a shelter, share a bath in an oil drum, and build a raft to make their way back home after most of their mutual issues have been resolved. From the straightforward illustration of how their strengths balance each other to the unsubtle yuri fanservice teasing throughout, most of this episode is very what-you-see-is-what-you-get. (That's by no means a bad thing! It just means I don't have as much to talk about. If you've seen one desert-island-bonding anime episode, you've seen most desert-island-bonding episodes.) It's a cute adventure that definitely has me rooting for their relationship going forward, and while transforming back into Pure Blade and Pure Barrier might still prove difficult for them in the near future, I have no doubt that Cocona and Papika will warp to Pure Illusion hand in hand in the future, now that they truly understand each other a little better.

So the things that stuck out to me most about this episode were the tinier details, the shadows of mysteries that still sneak into the show only in drips and drabs. First of all, Cocona didn't get much of an answer out of Yayaka about why her mysterious organization is collecting the amorphous fragments. Yayaka's uncomfortable response of "for world domination" was too vague to either take at face value or see as just a crude joke. (The truth is probably somewhere between those two extremes.) Something tells me Cocona's childhood friend has an entire jumbo jet's worth of baggage under that sardonic smile, and it may be a while before we find out what's really going on.

Using food as a metaphor for emotional connection also continues into this episode, as Papika still horks down wads of onigiri packed with twenty flavors, while Cocona sticks to light sweet breads for lunch, with Yayaka observing that she's always limited her appetite that way. Cocona's inability to be comfortable with herself emotionally finally comes out in dialogue on the island, when she tries to scrounge up edible wild veggies, but only ends up crushing her harvest instead, before Papika tells her the stuff she found wasn't good to eat anyway. ("Those burn when you eat them.") When Papika offers the tastier alternatives she found, Cocona finally expresses her jealousy, backed by her insecurities about being "empty" inside. Papika reassures her that all the "normal" things Cocona knows how to do seem special to Papika, who has no idea how to be normal, and maybe they're at their best when they're together. It's not a permanent fix to their issues, but it's a start. They share a bath and a bed in the evening (Papika sleeps naked like the little moe wild animal she is), and they depart from the island on the raft they built together with smiles on their faces.

So will Cocona be able to use the fragments to see her dead parents again? What was Papika's life like before she met Cocona? Where does that barred hollow in Cocona's nightmare-tree lead? We probably won't find out next week, but the journey is probably more fulfilling than the destination when it comes to Flip Flappers.

Rating: B

Flip Flappers is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Jacob would use his wish fragments to get a second season of Blood Blockade Battlefront. You can follow Jake here on Twitter.