Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: FLCL Progressive
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DreamedLint
Posts: 42 |
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I suppose it would be fairly hipocritical of me to diss new FLCL when I also really enjoyed Blade Runner 2049. Though, as an adaptation of something else, I feel Blade Runner is a less self-contained work than FLCL. (It had a manga but they released simultaneously and tell different perspectives on the same story) And didn't Twin Peaks end on a huge cliff hanger? Someone else brought up The Last Jedi. I really hope that they don't butcher any of FLCL's characters as horribly as my man Rian Johnson did to Star Wars' lol. I think there needs to be some kind of balance. Yes, locking a property in some kind of untouchable vault where nobody can touch it to do new interesting things can suppress creativity. However, I don't think every work should be able to exhumed on a whim for a unneeded sequel.
If FLCL Progressive is just as bad as this first episode, then that's a bummer but I could get over it. What I'm especially worried about is if they throw some nonsense into this fraternity/ Medical Mechanica fight that they're building up. They weren't important. The characters were the A plot of FLCL. If they really are swinging the balance toward this dumb space fight because they couldn't be bothered to write compelling characters and reveal some terrible twist that recontextualizes the original, then I got a problem. The mentality that every open thread needs to get tied up annoys me. Medical Mechanica was neat and mysterious, and I especially liked how the show played its cards so close to its chest that one could even argue Medical Mechanica was just some regular factory. (It's not but there's wiggle room for interpretations.) Progressive already has me worried with its apocolyptic dream. It's a sequel so everything's gotta be biggerer, more irons, mass-produced-eva-Canti, and Haruko going full Atomsk Devil Trigger in the ED. It's only speculation, but I really feel like they're gonna try and pull some, "This was MM's true intentions all along," or , "Haruko's actions were really justifiable because." That'd really suck. Then it doesn't leave the original alone. They could easily retroactively change context, characters, or whatever else they want. Can FLCL make it through 12 whole episodes unscathed? We'll see I guess. I'd honestly rather they take their super creative new animation talent and actually make something ya know... original? New? ... like FLCL was? |
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we love lain
Posts: 145 |
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Hey i hear ya pal, but there's also nothing particularly wrong with new talent wanting to take a shot at their own spin at flcl's weird, eccentric tale of adolescence. Granted flcl had other things in it to unpack, but it's core foundations are being respected by these sequels being told in their way and I want to see what these sequels have to say before its all over. I find that the characters are still the A plot of the show; that regardless of the handling of Hidomi's character being rough around the edges, the premiere still presenting her as a person who intentionally doesn't want to feel anything; that the show is working this HidomixIde angle and foreshadowing how important their meeting with one another is. It seems he may play a role in helping her come to terms with her feelings of abandonment; to help her realize that there are people who care for her and want to see her smile. I don't see these sequels giving us too much about MM; they can easily expand on the sci-fi elements just a smidgen while still leaving us enough in the dark where there is still enough mystery. For me, "bad" is a particularly strong label to put on progressive, but i can somewhat understand why you may feel that way. While i think you're jumping to assumptions not corroborated by what we've been given by these sequels so far, i do share a bit of your skepticism |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4388 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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though people are still griping on whether or not this is an actual sequel or a spinoff!? unfortunately the IGN trailers definitely didn't do much by calling the series season two! |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Oh, that was me who brought up The Last Jedi. I'm on the side that likes what they've done to these characters, but I knew this would be highly divisive--of they depicted characters like Luke and Leia in a different way, I think I would've been less satisfied with the movie. In other words, divisiveness is inevitable when you have a distant sequel--some are less divisive than others (people really liked Toy Story 3, for instance, and few were genuinely unhappy with it), but when you give fans time to heighten their expectations to unobtainable degrees, you're going to get a divided fanbase when new official material comes out. If you ask me, the true litmus test of a distant sequel is to give even MORE time, enough time for both the original and the distant sequel to also become distant. By then, the people who get into the thing will likely consume one after the other and will judge them on their own merits. Who knows? Maybe Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will become a future masterpiece. Opinions have definitely warmed up over time about Lethal Weapon 4 and of Rugrats post-Dil from people who watched them one after the other and thus went in with no expectations. |
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DreamedLint
Posts: 42 |
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Am I allowed to hate it yet?
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Ambaneko
Posts: 3 |
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Hey DreamedLint, I’m with you. First ep. was so-so, but 2nd was just awful. FLCL was perfect as it was, no need to “update” it. It’s my most-loved anime, and I really had a sinking feeling when I heard about the sequels. (spinoffs?) (continuations?) (What the hell is it anyway? ) Getting no sense of the characters or any attempt at a plot. Maybe it’ll all magically come together in a later episode, but I’m not holding on to hope.
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we love lain
Posts: 145 |
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You were always "allowed" to hate it. It just came down to explaining yourself well and not let your bias for the original cloud your insight and prevent you from judging the sequels on their own merits. That aside, there were some things i really liked in this second ep; things that make for some good character material going forward....however, there were also some concerning elements that made me scratch my head nervously. I'm really going to save my analysis of this season's accomplishments and faults for when i've viewed all six eps |
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DreamedLint
Posts: 42 |
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Sorry, I'm not trying to grief anyone who had real opinions, more just trolling the mounds of people (beyond this forum too) who said I wasn't allowed to judge it because only one episode was out.
I know I'm probaby just paranoid but I'm worried they're doing a thing with Haruko's memory replacing / hypnotizing powers to imply that og FLCL was all a dream or something. That's got me worried but I'm prob super wrong. Real issues: What is this shantytown? Why is it here? Why are there child slave workers? What are they even doing? The editing in that segment was so bizarre. Hidomi and skirt man are watching Ide get whipped. (Hidomi let's her S show a little) Then it cuts to him trying to sell his inventions and they haven't moved. He's towing the truck for lord humongous and then just walked 5 feet over to open up his shop? Maybe I missed a continuity thing here because I was still reeling from the apocalyptic shantytown. Also, I know Ide probably isn't supposed to be too bright but handing a guy a loaded gun to just shoot you with and steal is impossibly dumb. I like the angle they're going with Hidomi. Going for a violence over sex angle with her is a nice way to take FLCL's concepts and do something new. But it's still just potential. I'm only interested because I think she'll get interesting later. I'm ok with her and Ide being a thing, it happened quickly but they're horny teens and I'm thinking she's just into how he can take a beating. (Again, speculating) I don't like how they demystified N.O. by showing the robot get teleported to Ide and Haruko. Yes, Amarao straight up explained what N.O. was but he's proven later to be an unreliable source of information (Atomsk and Haruko) so there was room for filling in your own gaps. Only a small gripe. They still haven't shown where the bots are coming from so that's fine. Red Oni / Blue Oni is a thing. It can be cool. We didn't need one for Haruko. I don't see Jinyuu's whole, "You and I are one, we can only reach him together, etc." going anywhere I won't immediately hate. Maybe that's my bias, but it feels like another magical component to tack onto an already pretty magical character. Also, is it just me, or is the ED a massive spoiler? Not a complaint really, but it looks like it's just a shot from the finale of the series with credits over it. They go into a kinda Gurren Lagann ED 1 thing later but that first part where haruko and Jinyuu go full Atomsk mode? It's confusing. (But it's FLCL so it's gotta be confusing woooooo) I saw the Jinyuu vs Haruko DBZ fight in a random trailer and boy, I wasn't a fan then and I'm not a fan now. I'm sure there are slices of strong animation in this production and I fully admit to being bad at spotting those but the red and blue streams bashing into eachother like some generic battle anime kinda sums up most of my complaints about this show's aesthetics/visuals/animation. * I heard someone else complain about the sound design on twitter and I was slightly relieved to not feel completely crazy for struggling to hear the Pillows in the scenes they're in. I may have the sound messed up on my tv but I was sitting dangerously close and could barely make out any lyrics to the Pillows track playing during the fight. To wax poetic about FLCL 1, there are lots of moments where image is suffused with sound to make a really striking shot / scene. The music cranks up and something takes up the shot for a moment to just linger and it's part of what made it stand out. "Never Knows Best", Canti taking off with the wings, or the firestarter sequence. I'm unfortunately out of touch on my Pillows lore to remember the track names but I can't think of a striking visual from FLCL 2 matched with a well timed music queue. It doesn't have to do what FLCL one did, but it should at least make an effort to leverage strong imagery and composition. That just seems like a universal sign of quality, right? (I'm trying to be more objective here lol) *(FLCL 1 totally did this, I just forgot. In my defense it still looked bad in FLCL 2.) Last edited by DreamedLint on Sun Jun 10, 2018 5:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TexZero
Posts: 585 |
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I wouldn't say violence. Her core theme seems more to be inevitability or finality mostly shown through death and decay. Time will tell though, but the certainly have set her up to be something other than the traditional horny teenager story even though that's still an minor tone of the show. |
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DreamedLint
Posts: 42 |
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^Oh, definitely. I guess I'm talking more about her kink's or trigger's theme. She tends to get pretty excited when Ide's getting beat up.
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Alternative Ice
 Posts: 95 |
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Yes, red and blue streams bashing into each other is something the original flcl would never have done. https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/5995 |
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DreamedLint
Posts: 42 |
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...woops. lol.
I'm sorry. I straight up forgot. All I can still say is that Progressive's DBZ streams looked way worse than Vanilla FLCL's and having something like that fits the last episode better than the second episode. But yeah. Super embarrassed I forgot that. Last edited by DreamedLint on Sun Jun 10, 2018 3:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Yazu13
 Posts: 129 |
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I can't help but wonder if splitting this continuation into two seasons was the best decision. This episode felt a little rough visually, and I'm starting to think the show is toned down from the original FLCL for budgetary reasons and not creative decisions. The original show captured lightning in a bottle partly because its animation was so stellar and fascinating at all times. It looks great to this day, which is saying something for the pure talent and resources behind it.
While I am enjoying Progressive because it is more FLCL, I feel like it's discarding a lot of the magic that made the original such a joy by going with a more generic look and being less experimental overall. The visuals stand in stark contrast to the action on display, and sadly, they don't do justice to the fantastic voice acting either. Kari Wahlgren is a treasure and hearing her Haruko again is a joy, but her energy just isn't being translated visually, and it almost feels like she has to force herself to hold back to match the more subdued visuals. Her co-stars as well have equally talented deliveries for their characters, but there are re-used scenes and sometimes very little motion in the scenery and it's like being constantly reminded of what this show is standing in the shadow of. It's a shame really. It's good so far, but we needed it to be great. It's a continuation of one of the most cherished and impressive shows I can recall in creative, wacky anime, and it's just not there. It just feels wanting, and maybe this was fate. FLCL was a confluence of perfect conditions and creative freedom, and a show like it only happens when these incredibly rare elements come together once in a blue moon. I appreciate the effort, and I'm interested in watching more, but maybe I need to seriously temper my expectations. |
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Yazu13
Posts: 129 |
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Except that is vastly more visually interesting than this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3qYJRJT4FM In these similar scenes, the original FLCL also conveyed impacts and weight much better by sending shockwaves out when they struck each other and conveying emotions of the characters during battle better. You can't say the fight between Jinyuu and Haruko was even remotely as visually appealing as the similar one between Naota and Haruko. The visuals simply don't compare and if you can't see that then I feel like you're just playing devil's advocate. |
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Aura Ichadora
 Posts: 2290 Location: In front of my computer |
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For sure, I knew I was watching FLCL because, just as with the first episode, I was only about 2 minutes in and was rendered completely confused and went "Welp, definitely watching FLCL".
I liked this one. The "Lupin style" jumping out of clothes from Ide made me laugh, although Haruko's interruption made it even funnier. And I did like the interactions between both Ide and Hidomi; I thought they were cute. Admittedly, I'm liking these two together as a potential "ship" than I ever was with Naota and Haruko or Naota and Mamimi, and I do hope that maybe we'll get a "happy ending" with them at the end of all of this, or at least as close to a happy ending as you can get with FLCL. |
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