Earlier this year I was absolutely floored by the
announcement that they were making not just one but two additional seasons to a
favorite show of mine from high school. That show being FLCL, Fooly Cooly, Furi
Kuri or whatever they were deciding to call it at that particular moment in
time. The original series of only 6 episodes came out a full 18 years ago and having probably seen it all the way through at least 8 times by now I can confidently tell you that no, I don't get it either.
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| This crazy guitar hit and run is early in Episode 1 |
That being said there are certain themes that were always very prevalent throughout the show that become obvious, if not during the first watch of it, at least during the second. The main story is definitely a "coming of age" story for Naota in all the weirdest ways possible. Naota is feeling alone and lost in the world and is trying to find his place. There is a lot about puberty even though I doubt they ever say the word. I mean, why talk about actual puberty when you can instead have the phallic imagery and metaphors literally come out of the main character's head?
By the end of the season, Naota has grown up quite a bit and come into his own and one of the interesting themes that develops during this is that we notice just how immature his parental figures and, frankly, all adults in his world are. In the FLCL world, adults are children and children are adults. Cats are still cats.
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| Except when people are cats? |
As nonsensical as FLCL always seemed, the three things that always truly grabbed me while watching it were:
1) The exploration of Naota's sense of feeling alone, abandoned and unsure of himself along with his development throughout the series.
2) The action scenes which sometimes seemed to make absolutely no sense and yet really drew you in. 18 years later, I somehow still have very vivid memories of watching Naota "swing the bat" on a big TV with surround sound.
3) The soundtrack by The Pillows. Although 95% of the lyrics are in Japanese, music itself is truly a universal language and I think The Pillows really proved that here with how well their music can often set the scene and get you pumped.
With all of that in mind, once I got over my initial shock over the announcement of a season 2 and 3 after all these years, I had a few worries of how it would end up. I quickly heard that The Pillows were returning which relieved a lot of my worries but there were certain things that left me still a bit concerned.
Season 2 was shown to now be following a completely new female character named Hidomi who is a high school student much like Naota was. That left me a little uncertain. So... was season 2 just going to basically be season 1 but with a female lead instead of a male lead? Was that really what they brought the show out of a 18 year hiatus for? I mean, I had nothing wrong with a 2nd season being basically just "more FLCL" but it just seemed anti-climatic.
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| The male lead looking a bit like Naota didn't help either. |
Soon after season 2 came out, I got a chance to watch it and I dove in pretty blind. I have to say that it took no less than 3 minutes 5 seconds for all of my fears to vanish. The show opens with a new incredibly catchy song from The Pillows (Thank You, My Twilight). Hidomi says a few of Naota's lines, enough to draw some parallels with him, but we still get enough of a look at her being a unique individual. The only English words I caught in the song the first time I saw the opening scene was "Life is Beautiful" which was an interesting compared to the images on screen. Soon after the short sequence, Hidomi wakes up in her bed and we realize we just witnessed a dream she was having as the song from her dream continues as her alarm tone. Much like that time I had a dream about a scary ghost following me and woke up to Scooby Doo reruns.
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| I swear it was scarier in my dream. |
From that first scene, I was absolutely hooked and have watched every episode since no more than a day after it was released. Unfortunately, that means I finished season 2 this morning but it was a great ride and I'm even more pumped now for season 3 which is supposed to be a releasing this September. Since season 2 is still so new and I really enjoyed walking into it so blind I really don't want to spoil it for anyone else but I will say that the action scenes and soundtrack were just as great as they ever were in season 1. I also found that Hidomi becomes just as interesting of a character as Naota and a few of the crazy FLCL world mechanics work a bit differently now with a female lead which is fun too. Honestly, if you liked FLCL season 1 at all, I think you owe it to yourself to watch Season 2. I don't think you'll be disappointed and I plan to rewatch it after rewatching season 1 again. Now if you'll excuse me I believe I have to set my alarm to "Thank You, My Twilight" before I go to bed.
