Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Flip Flappers
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Hakajin
Posts: 46 |
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I really enjoyed this episode, it was jarring how Cocona and Papica didn't notice the creepiness of their surroundings or their new "friends." But my favorite thing about the episode is that it wasn't just creepy-- there was a warmth and a comfort there that made it easy to see why the two would want to believe in it and stay there.
I really do feel like this is commentary on yuri. Actually, I've been thinking that since episode... Well, I started noticing (meaningful) sexual subtext in episode 2, where Papika gives into knawing on everything with her rabbit teeth, while Cocona fights it. It was a great illustration of how Papika lacks a sense of shame; she hasn't been socialized into thinking that there's something wrong with expressing her desires. Episode 5 seemed to emphacize this a little, too, with Papika doing better in nature than Cocona... while also pointing out that Cocona is better at studying (which has more to do with society). So, there's definitely something going on in this show about the struggle between desires (nature) and the pressure to suppress those desires (society). But I digress, what I was going to say is that I started noticing commentary on yuri in episode 5. The villain in that episode used Cocona and Papika's innocent relationship for her own entertainment and, um, enjoyment (interesting link between sex and violence there). Not to mention the fact that she kept scantily clad women around to serve her. To me, it seemed like a commentary on how many yuri and shojo-ai series objectify their characters (who are often enough under-age), If that's the case, then... Seems a little hypocritcal to condemn exploitation while at the same time making full use of it. But that's the problem with commentary-- it's kinda hard to criticize sex and violence without showing sex and violence (especially if you want to implicate the viewer for enjoying it). But yeah, I'm not sure what was going on with this episode. I really like the idea about yuri-teasing, how relationships often aren't allowed to go anywhere in shows because, while viewers like relationships between girls, society still deems it inappropriate. My take on it was that it was a take on the frilly way yuri is often shown. It's so sugary-sweet and chaste... and that's not real. I felt like it was saying something about society pressures girls not to show sexuality, which does have an effect on their behavior. That part is like episode 4, where again we see Cocona, especially, manipulated into doing something against her will. So this episode is kind of a counter-point to that one-- it's about unrealistic depictions of chastity, as opposed to over-sexualization of women and their relationships. My English Major brain just loves this show. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Does episode five wish to embrace its tender moments or subvert them? Seeing our couple embroidering playfully amidst conspicuous orange lights cannot be be a charade, can it? I shall say this: It would be a bold move for a scene to both nourish a relationship and use it as a device within a horror environment, as if its participants are enchanted yet acting in earnest. The viewer is accordingly torn between seeing Cocona as either a victim of the time loop or an insouciant companion whose affections are to be taken at face value.
Matters like this can only be posed for the sake of passing the time, sadly. Quaint and unsettling though this episode is, it still forms part of a prelude that risks overrunning. Too much is at play in this world for its outings to remain experimental warm-up acts, successful though they may be. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3018 |
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Episode 6:
In case you don't speak Japanese, "Iro" means spoiler["color"], which potentially changes the meaning of a lot of this episode's dialogue. |
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Showsni
 Posts: 641 |
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The colour in this episode is really symbolic. spoiler[Iro has two memories of herself in her mind of different colours, the sad blue of her home life with her parents, who neglect her and fight, and the happy yellow of the times she escaped home to visit Oba-chan, a retired teacher in the neighbourhood who befriended her. Cocona and Papika live her past memories, alternating between which one sees the memories of happy yellow Iro and sad blue Iro (switching over sometimes). One day Oba-chan's dementia progresses to a state where she no longer recognises Iro. Happy yellow Iro runs away into a blue world, becoming washed with blue as she desperately tries to switch back to yellow with the other Iro - who is also blue. There was only ever one Iro/colour... After betraying her promise Iro feels unworthy to wear nail polish as Oba-chan once hoped for her. Her final memories of Oba-chan are devoid of colour, washed out greys. Papika and Cocona confront the memory, though, and mend the broken promise, bringing back the happy yellow.] Something like that, anyway. |
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Radrappy
Posts: 78 |
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I was completely blown away by this episode and well in tears by the end. The implications of what our duo could achieve for those around them is simply staggering.
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#862687
Posts: 15 |
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For me the interesting thing in episode 6 was how: normal memories inside Iro-sempai looked. I mean compared to the world where Cokona lives, there was no weird architecture, or giant plants. It could mean something, but that might be too easy.
Also has anyone else noticed that Papika has had a different outfit each episode, while Cokona has worn things other than her school uniform only in last two episodes (and the magical girl transformation). Could this mean something or am I just thinking too much about it.[/spoiler] |
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Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
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I am very glad I chose to watch this show in the end. Episode 6 had me in tears by the end. Few anime have truly made me cry before, and bravo to Flip Flappers for being so well-directed, animated, and written to elicit tears from even a depressed person such as myself.
This show is why I watch anime. |
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5502 |
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Episode 6 actually broke me down the second time I watched once I got the color symbolism down. I don't know if subsequent episodes will be able to top this one, but it did leave intriguing tidbits to ponder on. I wonder if that means Yayaka and the others might get magical girl transformation sequences as well in the future.
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Hakajin
Posts: 46 |
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Ugh, I cried. That's unusual for me. At least when it comes to watching stuff.
Really liked this line. I first started noticing the importance of art in this show in Iroha's first appearance, when she and Cocona are looking at the painting in the hall. Because it looks like something out of Pure Illusion. It's come up before, how the show seems to be commenting on yuri tropes... And I think the art aspect reflects not only visual art, but narrative art as well, and really any other kind. It's about how art is used to represent and communicate our internal states. And yeah, I think there is a lot about how art and fiction change reality, our feelings, ideas, beliefs... There's a strong relationship between art and dreams here, and... we've already seen how Pure Illusion affects Cocona and Papika. There, they can literally transform themselves. |
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Jayhosh
 Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
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This show continues to impress me and the added emotional weight in episode 6 only heightens the appreciation I already had for it. The graceful manner in which they handled the themes of childhood neglect and memory loss was quite admirable to me. There have been practically no missteps this far into the show's run and I'm really anticipating to see where it goes from here. I don't really have anything else to add that Jacob doesn't already say in all of his reviews, it's just an overall really good show!
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Starbuckets
 Posts: 87 |
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I didn't cry but I was really moved the last sequence where Iroha appears outside for the first time and greets the girls with a big smile on her face, showing off the nail polish she finally allowed herself to wear.
I have to admit that much like the reviewer (though probably to a lesser extent), I had been more or less enjoying FliFla until now for its stellar visual direction and the duo's beautifully abstract adventures to the worlds of Pure Illusion, but I always felt it was kinda missing the little something that would push me to actually care about the show beyond the surface level. Thankfully, halfway through the season we're finally there, or at least I hope we are, because episode 6 was by large the best episode thus far. It had everything I've come to appreciate about Flip Flappers, with the added bonus of presenting the audience with a very poignant backstory that was not only littered with emotionally meaningful symbolism but also directly speaks to the core themes of the show. This is definitely the kind of stuff that is worth at least 1-2 rewatches, and I certainly hope FliFla has more of that in store for us, especially for its main characters! Also, all hail Tachikawa-sensei for his work on this episode's storyboard (and obviously the episode director as well for breathing life into his ideas). He blew me away with Mob Psycho last season so I'm never letting him go. 
PS: I don't know if anyone is aware, but apparently the scriptwriter Yuniko Ayana posted a tweet a few days ago to announce that she's leaving the FliFla project as of episode 6. Since after 7 she has no idea how things will turn out, let's just hope whoever replaces her manages to live up to the standard she's set with episode 6. |
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Zin5ki
Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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In my inattentiveness, I overlooked the fact that episode six concerned the past of Iro specifically, something which would have explained the recurrence of the nail polish in a more concrete fashion. Not having been personally affected by the domestic issues this episode depicted, I was not quite as moved by it as others report; such techniques as the shifts in colour palettes—ever this show's wont—were integrated so seamlessly that I failed to notice their significance in the narrative, let alone factor them into my affective response.
This admission aside, to see Cocona and Papika saying Iro's name to her grandmother one final time was as sweet a climax as the circumstances could permit, demonstrating their growing unity while also closing the story arc fittingly. As always, I am glad I read Jacob's review and the ensuing discussion here. They permit an appreciation by proxy that my own emotional torpor didn't provide. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Episode seven shows that no good deed goes unpunished. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber Posts: 3018 |
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Something I found on twitter that I thought was very interesting:
Definitely one possible interpretation of episode seven. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24027 |
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Actually, it's hard to say what episode 7 shows. The show has still not made clear what exactly happened in episode 6. We are left with the impression that Cocona and Papika viewed Iroha's memories but, objectively speaking, we don't know what impact that had on Iroha. We see she's back to wearing nail polish, which can be taken as a positive sign. But what did the girls actually do for her? Fulfilling Iroha's promise to re-introduce herself to her "Auntie" in Pure Illusion (whatever that is) isn't the same as Iroha doing it in RL so I don't really know what to make of the gesture. If Cocona and Papika reliving Iroha's memories then prompted Iroha in RL to go and visit her Auntie and "re-introduce" herself, then that I would get. Then episode 7 simply muddies the waters more because we see Iroha is throwing out her paintings which seems to balance off wearing nail polish again. What are we to make of this? That there are good and bad effects to experiencing Iroha's memories? That seems to be what people are going with, but as always with this show, it's murky. If it's murky simply because I'm not clever enough to figure things out that's fine, but if things are murky because the writers themselves don't have a firm grasp on the material, then that blows. |
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