The Texzilla - the World's Reviewer: July 2013

Introduction

Welcome boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, nerds and nerdettes, bronies and pegasisters or whatever you identify yourself as. If you are reading this, you must be bored and have nothing better to do, so while I have your attention, let me share wares and maybe you’ll get a little insight and entertainment in the process.

This review series will look at DVDs and Blu-Rays and all of their contents, so this is not just another film review. To shake things up though, I’ll occasionally review Netflix releases and movies in theaters. If I can afford it, I’ll pick up some newer material to review, but for now, a lot of this material will involve product already owned over the many years.

These reviews will break down our subject matter in to five parts, and each of those parts will receive a grade on a scale of zero through five – a five the equivalent to greatness and zero a crime against humanity. What gets evaluated depends on the medium and genre so only the general set-up remains the same.

Having gotten all of the formalities out of the way, let’s get down to the actual review – an anime with a name which means only what you think it means, just like the anime itself.

FLCL: defending humanity with robots, inter-dimensional space pirates and guitars

Of all the material to start with, you may be wondering why I chose to start with anime. Well, summer is amongst other things, a great time for anime convention. It seemed appropriate to start with a piece of animation that is the very essence of what Japanese Anime really is.

For a little personal background, the first anime I ever saw was “Speed Racer” in the 1980s, along with “Voltron” and “Robotech” (which anime fans will kick the crap out of you and demand you call it “Macross.”). At the end of the 1990s and into the next millennium, Cartoon Network’s Toonami block introduced a whole slew of anime to me, like “Dragon Ball Z” among others. Soon, Cartoon Network brought more adult anime to its lineup by moving anime to its late night Adult Swim block, which is where I was exposed to this gem, and it forever remains my favorite anime.

FLCL was released in 2000 in Japan by Gainax, the same animation studio that produced the infamous anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion (EVA to its fans) and Gurren Lagann, the former being a cross of science-fiction and religion with a cast of characters so contemptible you wish they would all die in the end and the latter a fun, idiotic romp through post-apocalyptic giant robot and monster anime land less thought provoking than an episode of Family Guy.

Between the two extremes in thought, FLCL is the happy medium, provoking more thought than Gurren Lagann ever could while knowing when to lighten up and have fun, unlike EVA, complete with a cast of characters that are at least tolerable.

Now, just because FLCL (pronounced “Fooly Cooly”) is my favorite anime and is considered to be one of the greatest anime of this generation, garnering extremely high praise from critics and consumers alike, it is not without its flaws, and I would not be a critic otherwise if I did not look at it objectively.

Since I will be looking at animation on DVD, I will be grading for story, characters, animation quality, voice acting quality and DVD extras. I will be reviewing the three-DVD volume set released by distributor Synch-Point from Sept. 2002 to July 2003. Without further delay, let’s take a look at FLCL.

The Story (if you can call it that)

***SPOILER ALERT*** IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS, SKIP TO THE THIRD SECTION

FLCL centers around sixth-grader Naota and the world around him. The one person in the world he had respect and reverence for, his older brother Tasuku, has left home to play professional baseball in America (considering this anime was made in 2000, that wasn’t as commonplace as it is today), leaving him to help take care of the family bakery with his man-child of a father and his senile grandfather. Compounding his personal hell is his relationship his with his brother’s ex-girlfriend Mamimi, having both a crush on her that she’ll never return, the unenviable task of telling her Tasuku has an American girlfriend since his brother either doesn’t have the testicular fortitude of doing himself or she isn’t reading his correspondence and all while trying to make her take her take him seriously as a man and not a child.

Enter one the most awesome, yet bizarre characters in all of anime (and that’s quite a feat) – Haruhara Haruko (because if I didn’t write that name Japanese style, with the surname first, anime fanboys and fangirls would find me and kill me by force-feeding whole dry ramen wafers). It is incredible how one character can derail a story and leave it a confusing, befuddled mess taking a dramatic, slice-of-life story and turning it into some bizarre menagerie of science-fiction, comedy, drama, romance and action, leaving more questions in her wake than she answers, and yet, if you aren’t wearing the critic goggles, like I am, you don’t care. If that confuses you, gentle reader, allow me to explain while I bash your brains in with a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar of logic.

The arrival of Haruko at around the 3:30 mark in episode one as the other main character instantly transforms the story the moment she enters the picture, barreling out of nowhere on her Vespa scooter with some odd pronouncement, twirling her Rickenbacker 4001 like a baton and then runs over Naota. From that point on, the story becomes, as concept creator and director Kazuya Tsurumaki calls it a “boy-meets-girl” story as Naoto gradually falls in love with the bizarre, but fun woman from space.

Soon enough, Naota starts sprouting robots out of the inter-dimensional portal inside of his skull, seemingly robbing him of his brain (how else would you explain Gurren Lagann’s existence?). These include the robot Canti and all of the robot things Canti fights in the six-episode mini-series. We soon discover that some (evil?) organization called Medical Mechanica has set up operations on Earth (in the form of factory in the shape of a giant iron) with intentions as we learn later, to iron out all of the chaos (the wrinkles) in the universe.

Haruko is a…umm…that’s a tough one. It is hinted that she is some sort of galaxy police officer sent to investigate Medical Mechanica, but it seems that she has gone rogue searching for some sort of inter-dimensional being of a space pirate called Atomsk who has been imprisoned by Medical Mechanica. Apparently, of all the 6 billion people on this rock, Naota is the only one who can channel Atomsk.

Talk about your rotten luck.

This leads to the conclusion that Haruko isn’t quite the quirky housekeeper we believe her to be. She is willing to risk the destruction of a civilization at the hands of Medical Mechanica just to free the space pirate she has fallen in love with, and really, by love, I mean the love of his power to manipulate galaxies with his very being alone. Chicks love the powerful bad boys.

In the end, in order to save the world, Naota channels Atomsk, defeats Medical Mechanica and does battle with Haruko (who’s pissed that Naota took the power she wanted), only to let his personality break him free of the power to tell Haruko he loves her before the space pirate heads off to the second star to the right and straight on to the final frontier. Haruko blames Naota for screwing her out of becoming one with Atomsk, but she doesn’t hold it against him, leaving her Rickenbacker behind as a memento while Naota moves on with his life.

And that is the best summary of this convoluted story I can give.

The problems with the story involve several stadium-sized gaps that are intentionally unexplained, chief among them being the existence of Medical Mechanica. The closest thing the show has to a villain is never really explained – its existence and motivations – until the very end, and even then, what we’re given is still quite vague. Most of the time, when the story is faced with making giant leaps to explain itself, the animators deliver some cool animation or the writers interrupt with some comedy like someone dangling car keys over a baby.

What story is there, namely the story between Naota and Haruko isn’t even really a “boy-meets-girl” story as much as it is a coming-of-age tale for Naota. Sure, Naota’s life changed because of Haruko, but love is a key element in the “boy-meets-girl” tale and while it does exist, it is in fact unrequited love as Naota’s love for Haruko is never returned. Instead, this is more of a tale of a boy becoming a man, of growing up and understanding life and love from an adult perspective, and if you look at it that way and shove all subplots (and there are many) aside, what you have is at least a coherent tale.

Too bad that’s not what the original creator was aiming for, though; therefore, I give the story 3.5 OUT OF 5. The central story isn’t bad; it just takes a backseat to all of the character-centric elements and subplots within the story itself. It’s only until the last two episodes do we get any clear answers about the main story, and even then, we’re left with more questions than answers. Six episodes were not enough to fully lay out the ambitious story in this anime, and I have a feeling Gainax did that on purpose.

The Characters

The previous section I delved into our main characters somewhat already, namely because their characters drive the story. Each of the first four episodes is driven on character. Episode one introduces us to the main characters, episode two into Mamimi’s backstory and psyche, episode three into the backstory of class president and rich classmate Ninamori and her relationship with Naota (which is sadly underdeveloped in the series), episode four examining Naota’s jealousy with his father’s relationship with Haruko and finally learning to be his own man. The last two episodes are actually more story driven and feel more like a movie unto themselves while the first four episodes are more stand-alone character studies with some continuity to keep them connected.

While all of the characters are flawed, none are so flawed that you wish for their utter ruination (LIKE EVA), and thus have some redeeming traits that endear you to them and make them three-dimensional. Naota is a Shinji-esque whiny, bratty, selfish jerkstore and of all the characters, you really want to smack the kid in the mouth; however, given his situation, you actually feel sorry for him. Naota has to deal with the chaos in his life and make sense of it all while growing up in the process. When you see him open up towards the end, you soften up on him and find yourself rooting for him during the last episode. Haruko is the opposite. When you first meet her, she’s quirky, strange and quite fun, while adopting the role of eccentric sage for Naota; however, by the end of the series, her selfish actions and the revelation of her true motives wear out her welcome and you’re glad she’s gone at the end. You enjoy the ride but glad you got off when you did.

Mamimi is the tragic element in the story. A victim of bullying, she allowed the game Firetsarter to become a bit too real, believing that if she starts burning down buildings, that the game’s god, Lord Conti, will give her his blessing. She burned down her high school, which is how she met Naota’s brother. She loves to hang around Naota because she’s not coping well with Tasuku’s leaving (calling Naota “Takkun,” the nickname she gave to his brother, not to mention giving that nickname to a cat and at the end, a technology-munching robot), enjoying the control she has over him, playfully teasing him, getting touchy-feely and giving him hickeys. Once Naota changes and asserts his own control does she pull away from him and then sets out to get revenge on various people who wronged her through the city with the tech-eating robot.

Probably the next big character is Ninamori, but more for the effect she has on Naota than for herself alone. We find out her backstory and motivations in just one episode. She’s from a “nouveau riche” family with her father being the mayor and she the class president. She takes a great interest in Naota and even goes out of her way to rig an election to make sure she and Naota are the leads in their class production of “Puss In Boots.” While characters like these are usually written to be the characters we loathe, she’s actually sympathetic. Her father was caught in a scandal and faces prosecution. She’s in the car with the very secretary sleeping with her father and seems cool about the whole deal (though she’s quite pleased when the affair is exposed), and the scandal is pushing her parents to the brink of divorce. Though she never admits her feelings for Naota, she does learn to be true to herself. Her conflict with Naota really shows more of his softer side as he seems to genuinely want to help Ninamori with what she’s going through, that is, until he gets understandably pissed when he finds out she rigged the vote to put him in a lead role he never wanted. Of all the characters though, I wish the writers would have explored her more – possibly as a love interest to battle Haruko and keep him grounded, or maybe as just a friend who becomes more of Naota’s conscience – the possibilities are endless, and with only six episodes, they did the best they could to give her what substance they did. It just feels like a wasted opportunity.

Naota’s father serves as both the conflicting love interest fighting over Haruko and comic relief, but does show some more redeeming traits during Ninamori’s episode, showing concern (and possibly guilt) for her and how she’s coping considering he broke the scandal that landed her father in hot water. Canti is quite expressive for a robot that doesn’t talk and is enjoyable to watch. The entire cast does a good job of providing comic relief and moving the story along.

Having said all of that, I rate the characters a 4 OUT OF 5. The unanswered questions about Haruko still leaves her character in some doubt and the underdevelopment of Ninamori keep this from being a perfect score.

The Animation & Art

According to Tsurumaki, a major difference between Japanese and American animation lies in who dictates the art style. In America, the studio directs the art style. Disney animated films have always had a similar, distinct look that merely evolved as animation evolved over time. Warner Brothers is the same with Looney Tunes. Western animation studios wield considerable style direction. In Japan, it’s the opposite – animation studios may have several different art styles as art directors wield heavy control over art style.

While there is a dominant art style in FLCL, art director Hiroaki Ogura and animation director Hiroyuki Imaishi use these six episodes as a canvas to let loose and experiment with combining different art styles and animation techniques. The manga-style scenes and the South Park-esque scene, in particular, are favorites among fans.

Having said that, not all of the experiments are successful – there are some instances where CGI is used and doesn’t fit and some of the art styles used look glaringly low quality compared to the primary art style, but that’s personal preference. If there is less here in this section, well, admittedly, I do not know much about art, but I know what I like.

I give the animation and art 4.5 OUT OF 5. Any complaints I have about the art and animation are just nitpicks.

The Voice Acting

Even if an animated series or full-length film has beautiful art, a well-written story and fleshed-out characters, it all means nothing if the actors giving the characters a voice act more wooden than a redwood forest. In anime or any foreign film there’s the double whammy of redubbing the dialogue into your native language. The predominant school of thought in anime among hardcore American fans (or weeaboo if you prefer the more derogative slang) is that dubbed is dumb and that subtitles are supreme. This opinion isn’t without merit. What is often lost in the dubbing process is the flavor of the dialogue – the way lines are expressed become completely changed, the sound of the voices can become completely (and sometimes irreparably) different, and context can be utterly changed and ruined during translation. This is true for a lot of anime, but then, for every example these fans can give me, excellent English dubs like FLCL’s come along that, in my opinion, match if not surpass the original Japanese.

Particularly, Barbara Goodman’s Naota and especially Kari Wahlgren’s Haruko steal the show amongst a very talented voice cast. They add a passion to their roles that, while their Japanese counterparts deliver a fine performance, add a distinctiveness of their own yet try to stay as true to the original versions as possible. Haruko is wacky, yes, and Wahlgren captures that wackiness, but at the same time adds just enough extra energy to her delivery that really connects the level of energy in the animation and pushes the character to its full potential.

The same goes for Goodman’s Naota. It would have been so easy for her to overact her lines given how expressive the animation makes Naota. The Japanese Naota is more subdued and mature, and while that’s fine, Goodman’s version makes me believe that Naota is still just a kid, one coming to grips with the adult world around him. She makes him a bit whinier, a bit angrier while never going too far, and in so doing she takes his character to the next level.

It’s the voice acting above all else that seals FLCL’s legendary status among hardcore and casual anime fans alike and thus deserves a score of 5 OUT OF 5. Only a few English-dubbed anime ever achieve this level of greatness, the kind that make you love every character from beginning to end.

The Extras

For these DVDs, the only consistent extras are director’s commentaries, outtakes and art galleries. The art galleries are nothing particularly special, featuring nothing but magazine covers from 2000 when the show was scorching the anime scene in Japan – nice to look at for a minute, but otherwise, nothing special. Going in, I thought the outtakes would be more entertaining and interesting than the director’s commentaries, and is it turns out, I was completely wrong.

The outtakes are fine, but there’s very little to really laugh at. Ninety percent of the flubs are just actors tripping over their lines and nothing more, while the director’s commentary actually delves into the cultural and animation differences between Japan and America as well as give us some interesting insight to certain voice talent and shots. The downside to the commentaries is that they are all in Japanese. That’s no slight to the language; I love it myself, having taken four semesters of it, but only those who don’t mind subtitles or are native speakers will bother sticking it out with the commentary.

The second DVD comes with additional art which is nothing more than close-ups of certain art elements from episodes three and four. The third DVD contains a music video for the ending theme, “Ride on Shooting Star” from the Japanese alternative rock band, The Pillows, who provide the entire soundtrack for the series, along with credit-less ending sequences, which only exists so you can keep an eye on all of the many images that fly by during the closing sequence, but you can’t really tell just what they are because of all the text in the way, so…yay, I guess.

The score for the extras is 3 OUT OF 5. For such an awesome miniseries, you would think the American localization team would have added more extras of their own, but did not, and this compounds what little extras the Japanese localization team provided.

FINAL AVERAGE SCORE FOR FLCL 3-DVD SET BY SYNCH-POINT IS 4 OUT 5.

Unfortunately for everyone, I can’t recommend the exact DVD set I have, namely because it is out of print since Synch-Point, the original U.S. distributor, shelved American operations is 2008. However, FUNimation Entertainment picked up the series and rereleased the series in America in 2011 on Blu-Ray, so I recommend picking that up for sure. “FLCL: The Complete Series” on Blu-Ray is on sale at Amazon.com right now for $11.99 – 56 percent off, so that makes it a great buy right now for the summer, which is actually cheaper than just one of three DVDs in the original Synch-Point DVDs.

The Texzilla - the World's Reviewer

Sunday, July 7, 2013

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