Synopsis
Every day in Mabase is the same for 11-year-old Nandaba Naota. He has a high school girlfriend he inherited when his brother Tasuko left to play baseball in America, a father who publishes a subversive local zine with a limited readership. Everything is ordinary.
But then a loud alien woman runs him over with her Vespa and swats him with a bass guitar; the iron-shaped factory on the edge of town spews clouds of steam; and strange things begin to sprout from Naota’s head.
Impressions
People’s general impressions of FLCL are usually along the lines of “It has some pretty funny random humor but almost no plot to speak of. It makes no sense at all.”
These people didn’t pay attention.
While FLCL’s brand of comedy is laced with physical gags and pop culture allusions, the plot is pretty meticulously crafted and—through design or happy accident—multilayered.
On the most basic level, the story of FLCL is “boy meets girl,” or to be more accurate, “boy meets zany guitar-wielding alien girl who uses him to chase her white whale while she is in turn pursued by a galactic police organization.” No nonsense there.
The beauty of FLCL is that it can be enjoyed strictly on this most basic level or looked at more symbolically. It’s a coming-of-age story. It’s about being a man and finding your inner child. It’s about stepping up to the bat and hitting one out of the park. It’s about ironing out the wrinkles in your brain. It’s about the music in your life. It’s about time to stop listing metaphors.
Except that last one bears repeating: it’s about the music.
FLCL’s soundtrack is unique in that almost all of the background music is songs by Japanese rock group The Pillows. And if FLCL wasn’t already dazzling enough in its visual and vocal performance, The Pillows’ music is the wind blowing to right field that pushes the towering homerun out of the stadium and into McCovey Cove.
Damn metaphors.
Random Thoughts
Sync-Point has crafted one of the finer dubs around. The voice actors match their Japanese counterparts wonderfully. The translations are accurate where appropriate and Americanized where neccessary for the jokes to make sense. While I’m not normally a fan of such nonliteral translations, Sync-Point was extremely deliberate in their choices.
Neko Factor
These boots are made for walking. That's just what they'll do. One of these days this Puss is gonna walk all over you. And Ta-kun, too!
- 2005-11-30 23:19 -