GAY.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
FLCL
If you're looking for an explanation of the plot, trust me, just wiki it. It will explain it a lot better than I can.
As for everything else about Fooly:
Also, TL;DR: FLCL is an amazing tech-demo, and the creator of Eva does a voiceover of a cat in it, which makes it even more amazing.
Very fucking long, rambling commentary:
FLCL is a six episode OVA produced by Studio Gainax (creators of such favorites as Evangelion and Gurren Lagann, among others) in the year 2000.
The best way to explain FLCL is to call it a surrealist's orgasm. The entirety of the anime is an absolute explosion of nonsensical humor, comical philosophy, sweet, creamy robot-action, and Japanese punk-music, all sprinkled with delicious nougatty chunks of pop culture and glorified nostalgia.
At its base, FLCL (full name Fooly Cooly) is a coming of age story for its protagonist (Naota), who finds his peaceful reality shattered in one fell blow by a moped-wheeling, guitar-toting mystery woman. The aftermath finds him an unwilling participant in the middle of an intergalactic conflict, with his own mind being the main route of travel for the other parties involved. From here, the plot becomes nearly incomprehensible (though it involves interdimensional travel, space-pirates, and government organizations), so it's best left to wiki or some other source to explain it. Despite this, the themes are recognizable. Naota is a victim of premature maturity, the only adult individual. The ironic twist is that everyone around him, even "responsible" adults, are juvenile, incompetent idiots.
But enough about the stuff.
The plot plays second fiddle in FLCL. In reality, the anime served as nothing more than an experimental tech-demo for Gainax and the other studios involved. It makes sense: what better way to test out new technology and unused ideas than a short and sweet OVA?
But, Gainax being Gainax, the show struck gold.
Using experimental or rarely used animation techniques, FLCL splits from other anime with the supreme quality of its animation. While characters still retain a classic, low-key anime style, the reality around them is a rich and vibrant landscape of digital animation, bullet-time, expensive manga-esque renderings, and supremely fluid action sequences. One of the best examples is near the series climax, where animators actually scanned the series director's hand into the show (That hand would eventually go on to grasp the medica mechanica building). Whether it's chibi sequences or South Park parodies, FLCL never remains static; each episode offers fresh and exciting batches of art and animation styles. These varied (and constant) shifts contribute to the surrealistic reality FLCL exhibits, clashing with the show's bleak, faded, realistic color scheme.
However, that experimentation doesn't extend to animation alone; Fooly Cooly also explores a variety of construction techniques. Carrying a distinctly Western flair, a good part of Fooly's more grounded humor is rooted in pop-culture references: Japanese, American, and international. Included but not limited to South Park, Elvis, Anime (Such as Evangelion, Lupin III, and even Gainax's obscure video short for Daicon IV), and Star Trek, Fooly reaches deep into the real world in a way that's uncommon in most anime or even most shows in general. Going a step further, Fooly is not beyond breaking the fourth wall, adding yet another layer to its surrealist humor (Dali would be proud).
The writing is sharp. Whereas most anime has that awkward, stilted sort of humor that you can laugh at with friends or on your own but would feel stupid to show to the outside world, FLCL's dialogue is quick, slick, clever, and consistent. I.E.- it's genuinely funny, even on the fourth run through. That's because the comedy also comes in layers; you discover something new about the show each time you watch it. The show's most sophisticated comedy, for instance, probably won't even be noticed by an American audience (if watched in japanese) until their 5th or 6th viewing, or vice versa. That's because in both versions, FLCL employs a very subtle, but very heavy worldplay on our very languages. Remember Mouse-to-Mouse? It's funny to americans. It makes fun of the fact that the japanese can't make the "th" sound. And for the japanese? Naota's dad blathers on in the manga sequence about Empty-V...or is it MTV?
Those are just the most recognizable of a large list of wordplay that FLCL uses in its brief run.
Finally, there is the music. Ahhh the music. Simply amazing. The Pillows are amazing. Having been around long before Evangelion was even an idea, this Japanese band is among the best of today's music. And I don't say that lightly (having a general dislike of J bands). Gainax did a brilliant thing licensing the band's music. They also made great use of it. Every action sequence iin the show is basically an AMV, constructed around the song chosen for the scene, giving each move that extra dash of awesome.
Jesus...that was long. Anyway, yeah, great show.
As for everything else about Fooly:
Also, TL;DR: FLCL is an amazing tech-demo, and the creator of Eva does a voiceover of a cat in it, which makes it even more amazing.
Very fucking long, rambling commentary:
FLCL is a six episode OVA produced by Studio Gainax (creators of such favorites as Evangelion and Gurren Lagann, among others) in the year 2000.
The best way to explain FLCL is to call it a surrealist's orgasm. The entirety of the anime is an absolute explosion of nonsensical humor, comical philosophy, sweet, creamy robot-action, and Japanese punk-music, all sprinkled with delicious nougatty chunks of pop culture and glorified nostalgia.
At its base, FLCL (full name Fooly Cooly) is a coming of age story for its protagonist (Naota), who finds his peaceful reality shattered in one fell blow by a moped-wheeling, guitar-toting mystery woman. The aftermath finds him an unwilling participant in the middle of an intergalactic conflict, with his own mind being the main route of travel for the other parties involved. From here, the plot becomes nearly incomprehensible (though it involves interdimensional travel, space-pirates, and government organizations), so it's best left to wiki or some other source to explain it. Despite this, the themes are recognizable. Naota is a victim of premature maturity, the only adult individual. The ironic twist is that everyone around him, even "responsible" adults, are juvenile, incompetent idiots.
But enough about the stuff.
The plot plays second fiddle in FLCL. In reality, the anime served as nothing more than an experimental tech-demo for Gainax and the other studios involved. It makes sense: what better way to test out new technology and unused ideas than a short and sweet OVA?
But, Gainax being Gainax, the show struck gold.
Using experimental or rarely used animation techniques, FLCL splits from other anime with the supreme quality of its animation. While characters still retain a classic, low-key anime style, the reality around them is a rich and vibrant landscape of digital animation, bullet-time, expensive manga-esque renderings, and supremely fluid action sequences. One of the best examples is near the series climax, where animators actually scanned the series director's hand into the show (That hand would eventually go on to grasp the medica mechanica building). Whether it's chibi sequences or South Park parodies, FLCL never remains static; each episode offers fresh and exciting batches of art and animation styles. These varied (and constant) shifts contribute to the surrealistic reality FLCL exhibits, clashing with the show's bleak, faded, realistic color scheme.
However, that experimentation doesn't extend to animation alone; Fooly Cooly also explores a variety of construction techniques. Carrying a distinctly Western flair, a good part of Fooly's more grounded humor is rooted in pop-culture references: Japanese, American, and international. Included but not limited to South Park, Elvis, Anime (Such as Evangelion, Lupin III, and even Gainax's obscure video short for Daicon IV), and Star Trek, Fooly reaches deep into the real world in a way that's uncommon in most anime or even most shows in general. Going a step further, Fooly is not beyond breaking the fourth wall, adding yet another layer to its surrealist humor (Dali would be proud).
The writing is sharp. Whereas most anime has that awkward, stilted sort of humor that you can laugh at with friends or on your own but would feel stupid to show to the outside world, FLCL's dialogue is quick, slick, clever, and consistent. I.E.- it's genuinely funny, even on the fourth run through. That's because the comedy also comes in layers; you discover something new about the show each time you watch it. The show's most sophisticated comedy, for instance, probably won't even be noticed by an American audience (if watched in japanese) until their 5th or 6th viewing, or vice versa. That's because in both versions, FLCL employs a very subtle, but very heavy worldplay on our very languages. Remember Mouse-to-Mouse? It's funny to americans. It makes fun of the fact that the japanese can't make the "th" sound. And for the japanese? Naota's dad blathers on in the manga sequence about Empty-V...or is it MTV?
Those are just the most recognizable of a large list of wordplay that FLCL uses in its brief run.
Finally, there is the music. Ahhh the music. Simply amazing. The Pillows are amazing. Having been around long before Evangelion was even an idea, this Japanese band is among the best of today's music. And I don't say that lightly (having a general dislike of J bands). Gainax did a brilliant thing licensing the band's music. They also made great use of it. Every action sequence iin the show is basically an AMV, constructed around the song chosen for the scene, giving each move that extra dash of awesome.
Jesus...that was long. Anyway, yeah, great show.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Point Of This Archive
Dat Preamble:
This is here to archive the anime we watch.
Dat Purpose:
To archive for the purpose of archiving because we all like to archive, even if the Archives level in "Goldeneye" was just a sloppy re-do of the Library and Basement levels.
Basically, this is here to tell you what shows we watch, possibly a brief summary of said shows, and more than likely to provide facts and trivia about those shows (if I can find any.) That's the basic purpose, don't be surprised if I add on to that purpose. Reviews, commentaries, observations, and even little history lessons are being considered.
Hopefully I will be able to keep this updated consistently, but we never know how things fold out.
Anyway, viva la Lesotho
-Nik
This is here to archive the anime we watch.
Dat Purpose:
To archive for the purpose of archiving because we all like to archive, even if the Archives level in "Goldeneye" was just a sloppy re-do of the Library and Basement levels.
Basically, this is here to tell you what shows we watch, possibly a brief summary of said shows, and more than likely to provide facts and trivia about those shows (if I can find any.) That's the basic purpose, don't be surprised if I add on to that purpose. Reviews, commentaries, observations, and even little history lessons are being considered.
Hopefully I will be able to keep this updated consistently, but we never know how things fold out.
Anyway, viva la Lesotho
-Nik
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