The GHZ Forum

Ka-kin! Anyboy ever see FLCL? I think that thats the greatest anime i've ever seen. I wanted to her some comments and opinions on the over all meaning that any of you recieved from the series. Basically what do you guys feel the whole philosophy of the story was about, Chi?

More or less everyone here loves it. I love it. Gibbon loves it. I think Silv loves it too although I'm not completely sure. I don't know what Del thinks, but I bet she loves it too. That's basically everyone, right?

I still don't know what the fuck happened in it, though.

Basically what do you guys feel the whole philosophy of the story was about, Chi?

You shouldn't force yourself to grow up because doing so conversely makes you more immature.

Popcorn wrote:I don't know what Del thinks, but I bet she loves it too.

Indeed.

I rewatched it just the other week. It gets better each time.

I caught the last episode again last night. Delightful.

Anime, Anime, Anime, blah. I want CN to show Megas XLR again!

I think Silv loves it too although I'm not completely sure.

You have my permission to be completely sure.

I love it also, though I wouldn't call it the greatest anime of all time. Just great enough for me to like it.

FLCL wouldn't even top my personal top 10 anime list. It's too damn weird for me, and I've seen it at all at least two or three times. I blame Haruko.

I have similar feelings to this year's The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The awesome thing about FLCL is that, if you watch it enough, you begin to understand what the fuck is happening. Mostly. Once you understand that Naota's forehead is basically a warp hole for aliens and that Haruko came to Earth to find Atmosk, it sort of begins to make sense. You also have to pay close attention to the dialogue and make the connections between different scenes and episodes (though episode 3 seems like filler that doesn't fit well with the rest of the series.) It helps a little bit to read the manga too, though the manga is probably twice as confusing as the show is and not half as entertaining.

What makes FLCL so endearing is how much they were able to stuff into just six episodes. Yes, this makes it confusing as all hell, but the process of dissecting it is a very rewarding feeling. It's also one of the two satirical anime out there that I know of, the other being Excel Saga.

Excuse me for living under a rock, but what's FCLC? Bearing in mind I don't have Sky or cable, I'm pretty behind on these things.

Don't worry too much, I don't know what it is either. But then, I don't care at all about anime.

=O

I don't understand why they didn't release it as a movie, though. Six episodes is just enough to make one long movie . . .

Each episode had its own individual theme while contributing to the overarching theme. That wouldn't have been possible without an episodic format, and it would have been a completely different experience besides that. It's just not what they were going for.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, I am an immature fool and take more enjoyment out of Berserk.

FLCL is the pinnacle of anime. All the anime produced during the 70's, 80's, and 90's was so that FLCL could eventually be made. And it was, and anime is now officially over. ("Anime" in the 2000's actually refers to generic cartoons produced in Korea and labelled as Japanese to sell in America. It's an altogether different medium and one that I care none for.)

There's so much psychological subtext in FLCL it's astounding that they were able to cram it all into 6 episodes. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most important pieces of literature of our generation. Freud would have a field day.

How do you feel about Paranoia Agent, what with the giant adorable huggable puppy of death and destruction?

Actually yeah, PA isn't nearly as crazed in its story as FLCL, but in terms of anime that feels like literature, it's definitly up there and probably very GG!able.

I still haven't seen that. It's from the Perfect Blue guy, right?

Paranoia Agent was a wonderful critique on how the minds of most Japanese people deal with crisis or embaressment, and an overall satire of Japanese culture. Not as sastisfying an ending as FLCL, though. The last episode was really rushed, and unfortunately we don't really find out what happens to any of the characters, except for two.

And the Puppy wasn't death and destruction, it was Pretending Your Problems Don't Exist.

Green Gibbon! wrote:I still haven't seen that. It's from the Perfect Blue guy, right?

Yeah, Satoshi Kon, I think is his name. (edit: I know it's his name)

I've seen a few of his anime's and I wasn't disappointed once with
any of them

What iv'e seen:

Director-Perfect Blue
Director-Millennium Actress (Didn't think id like this one it probably is my favorite)
Director-Paranoia Agent
Director-Tokyo Godfathers(no this one is):lol:

Even though he's not the writer of any of those.The guys work has soul(Cant say the same for alot of Anime). I agree with the whole "animated literature" thing G.silver said about P.A. too.

I have only watched FLCL only once and I was never anle to get into it. Right now, I will say I do not care for FLCL. Supposedly you have to watch it more than two times for the messages of FLCL to sink into your brain, but I don't have the incentive to do that.

Right now, the only anime I consistently watch is One Piece. I've watched anime for a while, but for me, the stuff that sticks out for me in an anime/manga is a cast of lovable characters. That's why I don't really care for series like Monster, even if they are well written, because I don't give a fuck about what happens to the characters, y' know what I mean? If I can laugh and cry for the main cast when I'm supposed to laugh or cry for them, then I think it will be a series I will keep on watching and love (as long as it doesn't lose it's steam).

There are some exceptions for movies that I love but don't really care that much for the cast, like Spirited Away, but FLCL rubbed me the wrong way ever since Haruko seemed to randomly run over Naota with her motorcycle; I was told the anime was a comedy, which was the genre I was in the mood for at the time, so when I was watching it I was all like, "Huh? Am I supposed to laugh at this South Park reference or this comic book styled scene?"

Perhaps I'll watch FLCL again to see if I can pick up all the subcontext I missed.