Forum - View topicFLCL - Left me puzzled although strangely satisfied
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unhealthyman
 Posts: 306 |
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Apologies if this has been covered before in depth - I've browsed through quite a few dead threads and not found it so felt I would just make a new one.
Just finished watching FLCL, and while I thought it was fantastically animated with great music, interesting (though wholly screwed up) characters and a sweet coming of age story with some great humour, I kinda felt like I missed something. I think I followed it and understood when spoiler[ Naota started pulling random things out of his head and hitting stuff with guitars and stuff which actually turned out to be mysterious but important characters who tried to destroy the world with a massive factory shaped like an iron ] and I'm reasonably used to strange semi-real dream sequences spoiler[ such as Naota and his dad having a massive WWII style fight out over Haruko] But somewhere along the line I think I slightly lost the plot. I'm afraid I'm not even sure if I have specific questions, because I was left confused in a rather vague way... And I possibly feel that this is the nature of the series and I'm not sure if there is a way 'to get it' completely. This may be because I watched it with subs (absolutely no desire or attempt here to reignite a dubs vs subs debate,) because they were reasonably fast and often overlapping (with a subbed conversation going on the background at the same time,) so some parts - like the manga-style sections in episodes 1 and 6 - where extremely difficult to follow. (I would try and watch the dub, but I find girl voices in dubs annoying and with such important female characters, I don't want to be annoyed by 2/3 of the dialogue. Do I need to rewatch it with the directors commentary to understand it? (I always kinda resent something if it is so convoluted I have to watch the directors commentary in order to understand it.) Or am I looking for something which isn't there - should I just accept the confusion as part of the series? Last edited by unhealthyman on Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:54 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Sam-I-Am
Posts: 121 Location: Midwest US |
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Best thing is to just accept the lunacy and confusion. Listening to the director's commentary track won't help a lot, as most of it is about why certain images are there, and most of that is "because he wanted to", not for reasons that are deeply symbolic.
The battle you mention, I'm guessing, is the pellet gun bit (episode five, I think (maybe four)). This is a variation on paintball, using plastic BBs as ammo, and seems to be a somewhat common sport in Japan. The 'battle' isn't really a fight as much as a family outing, and it's not a dream sequence. |
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Hisdon
 Posts: 411 Location: Poquoson, VA |
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first off I'd advise watching it dubbed if you want a better understanding. The characters talk at a pretty fast pace and with a venacular that's hard to carry in subtitles, and it helps you get a better idea of what they are talking about (for example, episode 4 I think, the baseball, one, all the stuff about swinging the bat when it comes down to it, wouldn't make sense and click to be symbolic in subs as easy.)
Secondly, renember FLCL was made as an animation test of new techniques, and most of the things in it were done symply for chaos and being fun/crazy. A lot of the things arn't suposed to make sense, but they were able to tie in a lot of symbolism with it. Far as the plot goes... you are probably on your own with that, but the plot is very literal and you wouldn't have much prob picking up what happened/is happening after a few viewings; it's just a lil dificult to pick up in the randomness at first. I'm sure you can find tons of threads on this site about the symbolism of the series as well and all the allusions (however, a lot of the stuff is just there cause the directer thought it'd be cool; half the stuff you would think is symbolic isn't.) If anything I myself still don't understand with the series, is if there's any symbolism behind making Haruko seem like border line pedophile. |
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selenta
 Subscriber Posts: 1774 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Well, you're exactly right as far as I can tell: the lunacy and confusion are both intentional. Things are often left vague so they can be up to our imagination to fill in the gaps.
To be honest, I far far far prefer subs over dubs, but this series is one of the few exceptions where the dubs are INFINITELY more illuminating. It also makes a LOT more sense when you watch it a 3rd and 4th time 
I'll be honest, I got back into anime with Inu Yasha (that my younger sister got me to watch) and FLCL was the next show I watched... as I'm sure you imagine I had no idea wtf was going on. I watched it probably 3 times with the subs and still was a very very confused puppy, but then I saw it on TV with the dubs and it all just clicked. They actually reveal a lot more information with the dubs, it's like a completely different show at times. I would recommend the dubs highly if you want to really understand this show 
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Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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I just finished this show also for the first time earlier in the day. Much like the above post I was watching it Dub (at first) and I was really enjoying it. I did some sampling to see how the sub version is and I wasn't really into it, I mean there was just a lot of things going on that there going over my head and I was trying desperately reading the subs.
But overall I enjoyed this show, it was interesting to say the least, but I do think that everything that happened in the series happened for a reason, even if it was just pure insanity. Till next time, Delta Kiral |
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Kidder
 Posts: 188 Location: Bat country! >.< |
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The guns they use are called Airsoft Guns and is pretty popular in Japan (many leading airsoft gun companies are japanese) and also fairly popular in the US. They are essentially high-powered BB guns that are usually powered by a battery. There are many airsoft guns modelled to be accurate life-size replicas of real guns which has lead to their ban in several countries. As for your confusion with FLCL... I have to admit, that I felt pretty confused after watching FLCL, but I enjoyed it immensly. I've read on another anime forum, that the story is essentially Naoto's turbulent journey into puberty... I guess you could say that Kanti symbolises Naoto's uber-libido and Haruruka symbolises is budding interest in the opposite sex... you decide  Or you could just say the whole plot was in fact as it was supposed to be told, that there is no hidden meaning. Either way, FLCL is one of my all time favourite animes.
You should also check out Dead Leaves if you liked the whole randomness of FLCL. Made by the same studio as FLCL and is a single 40 minute episode OVA. The character designs and animation are even wackier in Dead Leaves and almost looks literally like a comic in motion (with sound fx text). Very very entertaining and insane 
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omar235
 Posts: 1572 Location: Florida, Jacksonvile |
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Hey its not really that hard to follow if you want I will spell it out for you . spoiler[Haruko is an alien who came to earth to find Atomous, some powerful pirate guy. The little kid ( I think his name is taku or somthing like that, any ways his brother went to America becuse of baseball, taku spends most of his after school hours with his brothers girl frient and at home. Medical Mechanica's iron looking thing is supposed to destroy the world. Haruko finds that taku has a powerful and valuble mind, she uses him to get Atomous. Atomous appears then leaves, Haruko goes after him.] If that isnt what you wanted then ill just put in my 2 cents. It was made to be a little of and often the characters talk in a 3rd person perspective, like when they talk about the directors and what Fooly cooly really means. I loved the show and thought it was awsome. I also have my own bb gun and I have to say those things F***** hurt when they hit. I guess thats obvious. The ending theme song is awsome.
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Space_cowboy64
 Posts: 337 Location: Great Britain...not all that great |
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I thought the show was great because in amongst all the confusion and total chaos, there it itself was a masterpiece. I had really never seen anything like it and was completely taken back by just how crazy it got. I loved it though and though the characters were absolutely superb which is probably the most important factor for any anime, after all it’s the characters that tell the story and drive the narrative so without them we are nowhere.
Anyway absousle masterpeice I never seen anything so orginal and wonderful. space |
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unhealthyman
Posts: 306 |
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Hmm, yeah, I think I got it - the randomness is pretty much intentional and I shouldn't worry about it too much
 . I think for the next time I will do myself a favour and watch the dub - I found following the subs while watching this was definately stressful. Problem is once I've started watching something with subs and I'm a couple of episodes in I hate to change over because the voices will all sound wrong, but I practically needed to pause and rewatch sections in order to be able simply to read the subs let alone look at what was going on as well...
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joel_s95387
Posts: 1804 Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn |
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Well I think the overall plot was made obvious in the last couple of episodes. Pretty much what Omar235 but with much better spelling... sorry that was a low blow.
But anyway spoiler[Medical Mechanica captured Atmosk (correct spelling since I got it from the back of DVD 3), the greatest space pirate and Haruko's arch rival, and Haruko is trying to find him so she can free him because she loves him.] And I think that's about it for the "main plot". I really liked the story because of the setting, a really small town where nothing interesting happens. Reminds me of where I live with a population of 500 people. (Insert symbolisms/morals here) |
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omar235
Posts: 1572 Location: Florida, Jacksonvile |
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Ahh.....so thats how his name is spelled.
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Lainofthenet
 Posts: 44 Location: Canada |
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This one is actually my favorite at the moment. I watched it first with subs and then sampled the dubs. I'm not much for dubs but "Furi Kuri" is totally enjoyable either way. There is so much happening on screen I found it a joy to just watch. I really liked the spoiler[Canti in the beam of sunlight] way the music was used with the characters. This was my first exposure to the Pillows and the video is a nice extra. I found a yellow Vespa (vintage) just after seeing the series. Just wish I could afford it but it's hard to live in one of those.
v me |
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bennyb
 Posts: 477 |
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The Pillows = my favorite JRock band ever.
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b214
 Posts: 142 Location: Connecticut |
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Isn't the pillows more of a punk rock/ progressive rock. I love them immensly also. |
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one3rd
 Posts: 1820 Location: アメリカ |
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They are in no way progressive rock. I wouldn't call them punk either. But even if they were punk or progressive, that wouldn't make them any less J-rock.
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