Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Flip Flappers
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BodaciousSpacePirate
 Subscriber Posts: 3019 |
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Normally I'd say that the BDs don't even come out until next month, so there's no use in armchair theorizing until then, but the reality is that the kinds of shows you're talking about haven't done well for years. Yurikuma Arashi sold @ 1,032, Kyousougiga @ 1,310, Sekai Seifuku @ 2,579, Simoun @ 1,052... Penguindrum was a modest success, but that's about it for these kinds of metaphorically "dense", kooky shows (unless you want to start talking about SHAFT productions). From the outset, Flip Flappers was never going to sell particularly well outside of the "owns every Kunihiko Ikuhara series" demographic. |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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^Well Utena is my kryptonite and I really love Flip Flappers, so...
In any event, I think I like this so much because it's metaphorically dense and complicated but it avoids a lot of the standard 'english lit' tropes. I tend not to like that kind of stuff because if you're using all this metaphor and dense construction, but all you're trying to say with it is something like "in the 1930s american south, some people were racist, and some people weren't" (To Kill a Mockingbird), it's just really not going to do it for me. And more often than not I find those works end up saying something really simplistic or flat-out wrong. Flip Flappers on the other hand is, among other things, an interesting meditation on the causes and effects of people's motivaitons, and how people gain and lose purpose, and where one's purpose comes from. All the metaphor and cryptic references made me think about that in a way that I haven't before.
I actually really want things that aren't afraid of losing the viewer, or at least losing those who wouldn't put the leg work in to do things like ID references to 19th century philosophy, and color theory. Everything isn't going to be for everyone, so you shouldn't try to make it so. To me a lot of things get weighted down by trying to make something that can be appreciated on a surface level to those who aren't invested in it. Sometimes you can't put simply that which isn't simple, and structuring the story so that those who aren't in the know can still appreciate it on the surface level is really limiting-- think of how many ideas you would have to can based on those criteria! |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber Posts: 3019 |
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Yeah, I was originally going to type "was never going to sell at all outside of the 'owns every Kunihiko Ikuhara series' demographic", but then I figured there were bound to be some people who liked this show but disliked Utena for various reasons.  Different strokes and all that.
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motormind
Posts: 90 |
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Yes, I considered that, and it sure makes a yuri-ending between Papika and Cocona very unlikely. Papika also outright states in episode 12 that she has has loved Cocona since she was born (and from that memory with Mimi she might even have loved Cocona before her birth), which is actually very parent-like. Yes, I still haven't totally abandoned the idea that Papika might be involved in Cocona's conception, especially since they still haven't outright stated that Salt is the father. So this may open the road for a yuri-ending with Yayaka. I'd like that. Yayaka deserves some happiness, and I think she and Cocona make a nice match. I only hope Cocona can forgive her. My main concern is what will happen Papika after this. Will she return to the age before the change? Or will she return to her actual age? Maybe Papika can become Cocona's guardian, maybe even together with Good Mimi (which would be a good idea, considering Papika's flakiness). They could also take Yayaka under their wings, although that might make a yuri-ending between her and Cocona a bit complicated, since they'd practically become stepsisters. Salt? He can piss off, for all I care. Rapists need not apply. There's still the danger that this show will end on a very bittersweet note, or even a tearjerker. I hope not. I need some positivity after all the bad stuff that has been going on this season (KyoAni, I'm looking at you). |
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PotatoGirl
 Posts: 82 |
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I actually like the direction the show is taking. If it was just nothing but two girls going through magical worlds without context, it would seem like it was going nowhere. And while the animation took a dive, it was still good enough to tell the story. Besides, if episode 13 ends up being horrible, 12 was a good enough ending for it not to matter anymore. Flip Flappers didn't actually change much once the head writer left and it'll still be a favorite for me anyway.
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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It avoids such tropes, you say? Given how I fared during the earlier parts of this series, perhaps it is for the best that Utena has never been released domestically for me... |
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Luke's Yu-Gi-Oh! Channel
 Posts: 159 Location: Australia |
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Thank you Yayaka for finally sharing your true feelings with us.
I wonder what this thing that Salt is trying to get? Most likely find out next week in the final episode. |
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2902 |
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if the third amorphous child is not an anchor for a next season (because there¿s no time to do anything with her in this one) she was less useful than the bunny or the brain in a spider.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber Posts: 3019 |
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I'm sure that at the very least we'll see a tie-in manga about the amorphous children rambling through Pure Illusion like the moe Fluppies they were always meant to be. They're blank slates who - if handed to a competent mangaka - could easily be developed into characters with much more detailed personalities. |
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PotatoGirl
Posts: 82 |
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If anyone's still hoping for a yuri ending (Like me), Yayaka's still on the table. I mean, not my first choice but she's still there.
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PotatoGirl
Posts: 82 |
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Just finished the anime. While there are still some unanswered questions (Like who was the dead body in ep 1), it ended nicely. Feels like it should be longer though, so it's a shame that it's not getting a second season.
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Zin5ki
Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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The fact that the underdeveloped Papika was one half of the central conflict of episode 12 was less of a concern for me. I would say that her lack of growth did not impede the sense of present tension, haphazardly sustained though it may have been, and that the episode delivered another serviceable but unremarkable helping of drama.
I have a single bugbear though: the fact that the 'real' and the Pure Illusion modes of Mimi were poorly delineated. I was taken aback when, following a scene transition, this paternalistic, molly-coddling villain begins calmly reassuring Cocona that her faults and insecurities are neither abnormal nor necessarily impediments, as if she is not only being a respectable parent but also giving direct expression to everything that Cocona's character has come to represent. This is surely a protagonist's job, I thought! Why would you put these authorial words in the mouth of someone so untrustworthy? It is only on reflection that I realised the character being granted this privilege is, in one respect, not the same Mimi who is causing havoc for the sake of infantilising her daughter. That I didn't realise this divide robbed this quiet scene of any impact, which is a disappointment considering its thematic significance. Not to worry though! On to the finale! |
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motormind
Posts: 90 |
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So, the show comes to an end it at last. And what an end it is.
(SPOILERS) So, very unexpectedly we do get a Cocona-Papika ending. I'm not quite sure what happened, though. It looks like Papika did not merely turn into her younger self immediately. From what Conona said, it seems like Papika changed to different ages: first a baby, then an old lady, then a young woman, until she reached the age she has now. Also, at first it appears to be true that the world Cocona lived in at first was part of Pure Illusion, and we find her in a more dreary, mundane world after Papika pushes her through the exit. Cocona finds that, in that world, Sayuri takes care of her. Yayaka is there too, taking care of Uexküll, who is now a completely ordinary rabbit. Hadaka is there as well, and appears to have gone completely nuts. But no, it's actually the mundane world that is part of Pure Illusion, and Papika and Cocona manage to flee into the real world. And somehow they take the rest with them as they fly into the sunset. Confusing? Yeah. But at least Papika and Cocona are together, and that's something. I enjoyed the scene in which Cocona and Papika meet again at that concrete sewer pipe from the first episode, complete with Papika sniffing a confused Cocona. It was a fun show, and that's that. |
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CrimsonDX
Posts: 171 |
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Just Marathoned the whole show, and I have to say that it was really awesome. So glad we got the Cocona/Papika ending, that senpai is still doing her art, and that the triplets are going on with an ordinary life. Sad that Salt and Mimi had to be torn apart again, but at least one of them remains in the real world to watch after Cocona. Also wasn't very clear on what exactly happened to Salt's father. I guess he become flower dust like the two red cultists, and we just didn't see the moment of his actual demise. A lot of unanswered questions, but it actually made a lot of sense to me.
I dropped this show at first after seeing that it seemed to be going to a very depressing path, but I am glad I went ahead and spoiled the last episode for myself. Made me want to go back and watch the whole thing, and I had a blast doing it. Yuri/haunted school episode was definitely my favorite. |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1009 |
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You seem to have amazingly missed the point of To Kill A Mockingbird (among other things, everyone in the book is at least a little bit racist, Atticus Finch's motivation comes not from being not racist but from believing in law and the duty of a defense attorney, even though he is reluctant to take the case.) The negative actions of antagonists in the book are not motivated solely by racism (though they are racist), being also rooted in a desire to believe their friend and supposed victim with high social status, and a desire to have a simple story. There's also a lot of messages about loss of innocent faith in social institutions and fellow people (when Tom is convicted anyway), and the tragedy of how a vigorous defense didn't change the result of the trial but broke the witness Bob Ewell and caused another trial. Did you perhaps read it at too young an age? So there's a question of what is the motivation to try to effect change or provide a defense when it leads to nothing but more tragedy than remaining quiet. Is courage and doing what is right a sufficient reason, even when it leads to more death, and can you maintain your motivation in the face of that (and should you?) Admittedly, the movie portrayal simplifies the motivations from the book. |
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