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Forum - View topicSpecial Report: FLCL Alternative episode 1
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AnimeLordLuis
 Posts: 1626 Location: The Borderlands of Pandora |
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Yeah watching Toonami last night I knew that they were going to do something for April fools day but I never expected a night of original Japanese language Anime series and a movie with English subtitles. But as for FLCL Alternative I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode (even if I never watch subtitles and hold off until the dub) and it really did feel like Alternative had the heart of the original series though only time will tell if Alternative can be called a true successor to the original FLCL.
Last edited by AnimeLordLuis on Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4597 Location: New York |
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This is sort of symbolic of our modern pop culture retreading ad nauseum. Williams Street have made no secret of their love of FLCL, they called it their favorite anime ever before they actually aired the show, so in an era where Netflix is making an armada of original anime, the idea of making a sequel is something that they jumped on because they could.
The problem is it feels like something fans of the original made, not the original creators. It's in essence, FLCL fanfiction. It doesn't look like FLCL, it doesn't feel like FLCL, everything is just a little off, and a little misplaced, between the totally not gender-flipped protagonists to the conversations between Haruko and who is heavily implied to be an adult Naota. It's all just...off. And it lacks that spontaneous soul of the original because it wants to be the original so badly. |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5579 |
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This. And it's probably largely BECAUSE it wasn't made by the original creators. The original writer and director are not involved and that's a large factor in what made the original great. This is an official "fanfic" and nothing more. |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2062 |
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Uhh.. you both know that the original director is actually involved in this, don’t you? He’s supervising the whole thing. You can treat it however you want, but this IS an official sequel to the original FLCL. It’s only been one episode, anyway. It can still be fun on its own. |
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Sam Murai
 Posts: 1051 |
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It was the first episode and all, but it felt too much like it was pantomiming "FLCL" and its essential themes without seemingly understanding what made FLCL "FLCL". It was subdued to a fault and when it tried to cut loose, it felt out of place. The original had its reflective, more "serious" bits, but it fit the edginess of its style. Here, it was just bland slice-of-life with some wackiness interspersed, all done with a perfunctory tilt (which also showed in the production quality, itself.)
On one hand, it might have been better suited going in one direction or another (crazy and rambunctious, like the original, or a slower, "live-action" pace and spirit like it appeared to be going for with here). On the other hand, it didn't do the latter that well, either. I don't have a problem with doing something different with the sequel(s), but going halfway and/or merely replicating aspects of the original would be a waste. I don't want to snuff the show out this early, but my skepticism hasn't been assuaged, either, after Ep. 1. |
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SaitoHajime101
 Posts: 285 |
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After the initial air of nostalgia hearing some nice Pillows track and see Haruko on-screen, I had to spend some time really soaking it in. I think the hardest part, which has been mentioned in the article, is the need to separate this a bit from the first FLCL OVA. While FLCL Progressive and Alternatives are direct sequels, it is clear there is an intention to tell a more direct story.
The story in the original was more subtle and spaced out due to the amount of zaniness the OVA had. The closest, I feel, to a pretty coherent episode was Firestarter. While I'm all for the craziness (like the episode where they went off in a manga-esque sequence, hilarious), but I was personally curious more about the world and the space element. The original felt was all over the place and it is nice to get a more defined show. Somehow, everytime I think of the first FLCL OVA, I think Dead Leaves. 
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5504 |
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StarchildStorm
 Posts: 72 |
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I liked it quite a bit. It doesn't feel like the same show but it did feel to me like a pretty good follow-up. Certainly not the same kind of feel to it between the slower, more plot-heavy pace and having a group of teenage friends as the protagonists instead of just one irritable kid (which sounds dismissive but I freaking love Naota) but I liked it enough that it at least makes me eager for more.
Although I do hope it falls a bit more in line with the series standard for the rest of it. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11591 |
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If by "young creators who will redefine the meaning of sequel" they mean, "take a completed idea, suck all the life out of it, and shoehorn in old plot points in a belated attempt at CPR," then I guess they've "redefined" it. I've been skeptical of a FLCL sequel since I first heard of it, but I thought at least they wouldn't make it dull. How in the hell do you make FLCL boring?
 Somehow they managed. The scenes at school seemed to go on forever. Then the scenes at the clubhouse and making the rocket put the nail in the coffin. Well, I guess they did get across the idea of a town where nothing ever happens.
The one good thing is that waiting 5 months for the rest of it won't be hard at all. Aside from Mind Game (which I'd already seen and didn't care for the first time), I loved the Japanese Toonami, complete with katakana [adult swim] logobug. It let me realize both Jet and Joseph had the same seiyuu (Unshō Ishizuka). 
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Kikaioh
 Posts: 1205 Location: Antarctica |
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I don't think Japan is culturally, or even animation-wise technically, in the same place that it was when FLCL was first released. FLCL was loud, rambunctious and wild, largely I think because the culture back then reflected that kind of devil-may-care attitude. I think in the years since, Japan has significantly toned down its wild energy quite a bit, and the fact that this new show focuses on a group of somewhat tepid teenage young girls I think is a pretty accurate reflection of modern attitudes and tastes in the anime space.
This doesn't seem so much like a fanfic to me, as it does a cash-in that's trying to harness the original spirit of the original FLCL, maybe in the same vein as when Ghibli hoped to strike gold twice by giving Goro Miyazaki a chance to follow in his father's footsteps. To be honest, though, I don't think the new generation generally cares to make that sort of work anymore, and so you can't expect the same level of vibrant energy from people who don't naturally have it already, or even innately want to express it. |
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anddo
 Posts: 670 |
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None of the charm of the original, the character design is also decidedly generic. It's like watching K-ON.
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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FLCL sort of symbolized why we couldn't depend on CN/AS to be "America's friend of anime": It was the first anime comedy they ever aired and embraced to heart as their corporate-image "own", and that because they were convinced it was "on drugs". They likely say that about every crazy comedy, except this was the first time in US-anime history that they were likely right. 
Ever since, they haven't aired comedy unless it's either pottymouth-dubbed like Shin-chan, stoner-friendly like Milk-chan, or...well, isn't "pottymouthed" and "stoner-friendly" pretty much the same thing, if you scratch the surface? It's the reason you shouldn't wait up nights for Ranma 1/2 or Azumanga Daioh to show up on Toonami/AS, or for Tenchi to come back. You could probably place bets that Pop Team Epic would air on AS, though, and I'll betcha can guess why.
That's the key point: The revival's treating FLCL like some symbol of Crazy All-Out Pop-Reffing Drug-Ambiguous Anime-Dada as fan legacy, but apart from that, it didn't have enough affection or "soul" among the fans for the characters or story to merit a real labor-of-love resurrection like other 90's-throwback series have been getting lately. Seems like there's more of a push for resurrecting old 90's titles for fans who miss the good reliable mainstream-anime taste of the pre-otaku-bashing era, just like WE'RE in the middle of a "revival" boom for X-Files, Twin Peaks, Roseanne, and other shows from When TV Was Still Fun. But without the fans who were there to remember why it was good, all you've got is an artificial cloning of various DNA patterns, and a hope to recapture why their parents must've had fun. And FLCL was remembered for being "extreme", but not for being loved. |
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1574 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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Now, I'm not saying you aren't allowed to have opinions or anything, but you Alternative haters are being a bunch of buzzkills. Can't I enjoy something after watching it without your takes on it implying that I'm an idiot for thinking the opposite of how you reacted?
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Random Name
Posts: 651 |
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revolutionotaku
Posts: 896 |
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Sadly, I missed it. But I'll watch it once the dub is released.
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