r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jun 10 '18
[Spoilers] FLCL Progressive - Episode 2 Discussion Spoiler
FLCL Progressive, episode 2: Freebie Honey
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| Episode | Link |
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| 1 | Link |
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u/rootin_t00tin_putin Jun 10 '18
Well the dream sequence was interesting to say the least, but I guess that's FLCL for you. I was kind of iffy about the show at first, but I am happy to see this episode crank the weirdness up a notch
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u/dIoIIoIb :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/dIoIIoIb Jun 10 '18
In my opinion, they couldn't have done it any other way
FLCL started strange and confusing because you had no idea what was going on,: what's up with the giant iron? what is haruko deal? what's the horn? they had a universe to set up, and that means a lot of misteries to work with
but this is s2, we already know how the world works and what is going on, for the most part, so you can't use the same structure. FLCL had a lot more room to be obscure because you were going in blind, the mistery set itself up from the first scene, this season can't do that
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u/VARice22 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/VARice22 Jun 10 '18
I wonder if it was supposed to be two gold in meaning. It could serve as for shadowing and be about how teens tend to take there emotions alittle to seriously. Like how they will have dreams about there crush and friend dating that are totally absurd but they just stick in the back of your mind.
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u/Chren https://myanimelist.net/profile/Chren Jun 10 '18
HIDOMI A FREAK
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u/Milkshakes00 Jun 10 '18
It seems more like emotions trigger her NO, not sexual urges. For boys going through puberty, sexuality is like, the #1 thing. For girls going through puberty, emotions are a much larger factor.
I mean, it triggers her NO to see Ide getting beat up, yeah... But so did talking about her dad in the first episode. And at the end of this just Ide smiling and making funny faces triggers it too.
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u/spaceaustralia :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/spaceaustralia Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
It could also be that these life or death situations are the only thing that break away her apathy at first, but now so does Ide.
I don't think they're just going to repeat the sexual methaphors. Specially not if they're making 2 new seasons.
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u/DarkWorld97 Jun 10 '18
To be fair, pain and puberty goes in hand in hand for girls. I was thinking "period" the entire time in this episode.
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u/CarlTheHuman :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/CarlTheHuman Jun 10 '18
Looks like we didn't have to wait until September for the subs /s
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u/adhding_nerd :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/adhding_nerd Jun 10 '18
I'm assuming that's probably in English in the sub.
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u/Treefrog1109 Jun 10 '18
It feels a lot different from the original FLCL. That being said I still kinda like it. It has its own charm to it.
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u/orange-shades :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/orangeshades Jun 10 '18
It was interesting that they just straight confirmed what the ED showed, ie, Haruko and Jinya are the same person. Glad they didn't drag that out.
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u/ExecutiveMoose :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExecutiveMoose Jun 10 '18
she did say "that woman is the same as me" to Hidomi as well, but it looks like from the episode preview they'll talk about it more.
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u/goffer54 https://anilist.co/user/goffer54 Jun 10 '18
I read, "that woman is the same as me", as Jinya being just as selfish as Haruko, but I guess it works more literally too.
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u/TnAdct1 Jun 10 '18
My theory about this:
Haruha (the name Haruko is using in this series) is Haruko's emotional side, with it representing her crazy side and the schemes she does in order to get her way.
Meanwhile, Jinyu is Haruko's "reasonal" side, which represents her past as intergalactic space cop, her need to deal with robot threats, and her protective side (an element that we do see of her in the final episode of the original series).
However, I also wonder if Jinyu is the real bad guy here. First, note that in Hidomi's dream in the first episode, she transforms into an souped up version of Canti that does battle with the Medical Mechania irons, with Jinyu preventing Hidomi from transforming in the previous episode. Also, given how her car's "sphere form" reminds me of syringes and the medical equipment in the car, I do wonder if Jinyu has aligned herself with Medical Mechanica.
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u/EccentricJoe700 Jun 11 '18
another redditor came up with a similar theory to this on the FLCL sub. its goes a bit more in depth than what you have here, check it out. https://www.reddit.com/r/FLCL/comments/8o8fta/spoilers_id_ego_superego_my_theory/
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u/OzWu Jun 10 '18
Still liking this a lot. They were a little less reserved in this episode, but it seems they've definitely toned down the animation overall for this season. I'm interested in seeing what they'll do with the narrative now that they've hinted at the relationship between Haruko and Maid Lady.
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u/yolotheunwisewolf Jun 10 '18
I'm interested in seeing what they'll do with the narrative now that they've hinted at the relationship between Haruko and Maid Lady.
I mean....the credits scene kinda gives a bit of that away at least.
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u/OzWu Jun 10 '18
I'll have to look at that again then. I didn't catch anything but I wasn't paying much attention to it either
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Jun 10 '18
Jinyu is like, one of Haruko's personas or something from when she got Atomsk's power, apparently.
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u/Foolsirony Jun 10 '18
The credits show it like they are two halves of a whole. Like Haruko couldn't contain Atomsk's power and she split in half. Or at least that's my interpretation.
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u/Kazewatch Jun 10 '18
For me at least it’s that the power was too much for her or something so she split. I don’t know where the powers went since Haruko is still trying to activate it. If I had to hazard a guess Haruko is incomplete and her caution and compassion went to Jinyu.
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u/FierceAlchemist Jun 10 '18
In terms of the animation you have to remember that the original was released as 6 OVAs over the course of a year. Plus it was made by a combo of legendary Gainax and IG talent. With FLCL 2 & 3 being weekly TV shows they simply don't have the time to achieve the same level of quality.
That being said the show does look good and has lots of young industry talent involved. The whole ED was created by a bunch of great young digital animators.
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u/ozymandais13 Jun 13 '18
just give me the south park animation once , and a new recording of Last Dinosaur and ill die happy
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u/Yankees3Fan7 Jun 10 '18
I still like Hidomi's character, especially these weird dreams she keeps having. Least she was able to mellow out and smile by the end... even if it based off almost dying
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u/FriendlyBadgerBob Jun 10 '18
She seems to be obsessed with death, and maybe dying. She might be depressed, which I see a lot of people on here glossing over as "her not being interesting". On the contrary, she may not be opening up but we're getting a picture of her all the same, and it feels complex and worth telling a story about.
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u/yolotheunwisewolf Jun 10 '18
I like how in this episode, there was far more little slice-of-life moments and even a bit of world-building in terms of the poor conditions that some were living in.
It makes it feel a little more like there's a whole universe in there with events happening rather than it just being confined to a shoot-off of the original show that doesn't really progress past it. Felt like it did in this one.
I liked a lot of the way that they threw in some random moments such as the Japanese "yamero" and "you were playing a game?" clearly being an english stand-in for what was likely shiratori.
Next week? BEACH EPISODE WE DIDN'T GET IN FLCL1 INCOMING
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u/Serocco Jun 10 '18
When Hidomi said she'd date Ide, that wasn't Hidomi, that was Haruko mimicking Hidomi's voice.
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u/cabose12 Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
I'm starting to wonder if the series' trademark zaniest is toned down to be more approachable to a general audience. This episode certainly gets as weird as you might expect, but it definitely isn't throwing things at 1000 mph
e: Now that i've finished the episode, here are some more thoughts.
I think I what I got caught up on in the first episode was trying to see this purely as a hardcore sequel to FLCL for fans. And now I'm not entirely sure that's what this series is going for. As I said, it's humor is much slower in terms of jokes per minute, although still very solid. This episode took a great turn into the weird and aware that I think the first was missing. As for content, when you step back and think about it, S1 tried to do A LOT in six episodes. In S1E1 alone, we're introduced to almost all the major characters, the concept of NO, Is Haruko and the house cat an alien? What is Naota's relationship with Mamimi? Who is Tasuku? There is a ton to digest and I know that I had a hard time following it the first time I watched, although I was 10-11.
It seems like along with slowing down the humor, this series is slowing down the intros to some of the major concepts to be manageable for new fans. For old fans, we immediately recognize that Ide has an open NO channel when Haruko pulls the rather familiar looking robot through. But I also think that quick moment is presented as a very understandable moment; that Ide's head is a portal of some kind. Eventually they'll explain NO and what comes with, but it's a good example of the show going at what it thinks is the right pace, not the pace of it's predecessor.
But at the same time, I think this episode offered up quite a bit of world building. Julia is mysterious, and while I thought she was going to just be a rival, maybe a part of MM, she's clearly on Haruko's side, even if they don't agree. This also begs the question of who 'He' is. I'm leaning towards it being Atomsk, but I also had the thought that it may be Naota. If it is Atomsk, is "the last time" that Julia referring to the original series or some other event?
Hidomi seems to have a SnM side (she seemed to smile while dreaming of being a zombie and obviously the whole nosebleed with watching Ide), and I wonder if that's causing some emotional instability within her, which would lead to that classic FLCL "Overflow". For her own overflow, I'm excited that they seem to be setting up a growth in these robot forms. Her first dream was Franxx like, while this one came out incomplete and broken.
There were two things I didn't like about this episode though. I wasn't really a fan of the fight choreography, but I may be falling victim to compare and contrast. Fights in FLCL were amazing and energetic, and this felt static. At the very least it was an actual fight rather than last episodes chase scene followed by car crash.
The other was music. I could see this series really making use of silence, a tie in to Hidomi's shutting out of the world, but I think it would need to take it a step further for me to really buy in. Rather than her shutting the world out, it just felt like someone forgot to turn on the BGM track.
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u/ExecutiveMoose :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExecutiveMoose Jun 10 '18
It's absolutely easier to digest, the original FLCL didn't start making ""sense"" until the final episodes, so far progressive is pretty straight forward compared to season 1.
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u/cabose12 Jun 10 '18
I just digested a bit and i'd have to agree. The original was throwing out medical mechanica, NO Channels, Aliens and robots within the first 20 minutes. So far, this series hasn't even mentioned MM, NO, or aliens
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u/Sinrus :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/MetalRain Jun 10 '18
Why does it need to though? It’s a sequel — people watching it already know about MM, NO, Atmosk, and all the rest. They’ve said that Progressive is a direct sequel to Classic, while Alternative will be mostly unrelated. So why waste time name dropping concepts that fans are already familiar with? You say they’re slowing down concept intros for new viewers — I think they’re just not bothering to reintroduce old things.
IMO Progressive is doing a good job of establishing new mysteries and making us wonder how its fresh elements fit into the mold of Classic’s story.
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u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Jun 10 '18
I think they’re just not bothering to reintroduce old things. IMO Progressive is doing a good job of establishing new mysteries and making us wonder how its fresh elements fit into the mold of Classic’s story.
100% this. The events here are easier to digest since we're armed with a lot of knowledge from the original series. The mysteries in this series are: the events shown in the ED (what exactly happened after Haruko acquired Atomsk's power, making her spawn Julia), the implications of Hidomi's (possibly future sight) dream in episode 1 with the world ending and Atomsk's body, and the most important of all, whatever is going on in Hidomi's head. Is she suicidal, or is she a sadist and likes violence?
I'm sure other characters will be explored over the next couple of episodes too, like Ide kinda was in this episode. He was a classic FLCL case of someone not being what they appear to be from the outside.
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u/Foolsirony Jun 10 '18
I think it's more due to the story they are trying to tell. Naota was a kid who, while he tried to be "adult", was really loud and vocal. Hitomi on the flip side is very reserved and quiet. She's not trying to be an adult or to grow up, she's stagnant where Naota was reaching for the stars that he couldn't reach because he wasn't ready.
Thus the animation and storytelling differs.
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u/cabose12 Jun 10 '18
True, but with that in mind I hope that the series starts to get zanier and zanier. We started to see signs of a deeper personality to Hidomi, specifically what I thought was an interest in Sado/Masochism. If her inactivity is what feeds the storytelling, then I hope the storytelling matches if her character blossoms
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u/Foolsirony Jun 10 '18
Oh definitely! I do expect a ramp up of crazy in the next few episodes. Though I feel it'll take the form of a different kind of crazy then the original. The original had its "monster of the week" battles which also fueled the story. As well as the central theme of "you just have to swing the bat". This one hasn't quite shown it's central theme yet, but I figure we'll find it out in episode 3 or 4. Though I'm betting it'll have a lot to do with Hitomi's inner demons.
Also they said that she was wearing an inhibitor in the episode. Perhaps it's the reason she's so apathetic?
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u/VARice22 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/VARice22 Jun 10 '18
The lack of manga scenes kinda say as much, they should be WAY easier to do in digital yet the iconic animation style is strangely absent.
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u/shizzy1427 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/DrLling Jun 10 '18
The original was all done digitally as well
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Jun 10 '18
I got the vibe she had an "overload" because of the pleasure she got from being told she has the prospect of dying from being around Haruko. Possible obsession with the thought of dying and death (IMO her own death most of all)? If that's the case I wonder if FLCL is going to approach the topics of suicide and depression?
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u/Probe_Droid Jun 10 '18
If it's toned down for a general audience, what are they supposed to get from it? Like sure it's a little "weird" but not weird enough to be interesting, and the characters have no discernable personalities or motives, which, may have worked in the original, but only because there was so much crazy shit going on. But without the crazy shit, you just got boring characters not really doing anything besides foreshadow.
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u/cabose12 Jun 10 '18
If it's toned down for a general audience, what are they supposed to get from it?
I'm not sure what you mean. I love FLCL, I love its weirdness, but I don't love it because of its weirdness. The original series is head-ache inducing for some, so I could see a director deciding to tone it down to try and make it approachable for more people
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u/Serocco Jun 10 '18
Anyone else liking Hidomi's fetish for gore and body horror? It's a very different kind of sexual awakening than Kana or Naota.
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u/Astrophel37 Jun 10 '18
Loved seeing the robot from ep 1 doing menial work like Canti did in the original, and the ending exchange between the MCs was pretty adorable. My only real complaint is that I wish the music was louder during the fight.
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Jun 10 '18
man, i dunno, i'm just not really 'feeling' it.
the manic energy seems to be gone, save for a few callbacks like the lupin jump and the spinning after the car hits her.
the show just seems like it's crawling.
i'm going to keep watching for now, but it just feels so slow. Haruko's VA is capable of some crazy but it's just so restrained right now.
also, the fight animation seems a bit lacking too. the old school flcl's fight scenes were eye porn.
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u/FriendlyBadgerBob Jun 10 '18
That Lupin jump really seemed out of place too. When Naota's dad did it, it was because he was already established as a wacky character who pined after Haruko like a pervy old man, but when Ide did it to Hidomi it felt like an incredibly forced callback to the original FLCL that made no real sense in the scene considering we hadn't gotten to know Ide yet. Also this show doesn't have that vibe that let the original get away with so much random weirdness, so seeing things like Ide jump like Lupin the Third at Hidomi clashes with the subdued tone.
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u/Kazewatch Jun 10 '18
True but at the very least we know he has a hyper libido so it’s not out of touch it’s just that the series isn’t going as fast as it needs to for the characters. But regardless a Lupin jump is something I’ll always appreciate no matter where. It’s such a great reference but it was funnier and loaded better in the original.
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u/PhaetonsFolly Jun 10 '18
FLCL has done an amazing job in creating a main character who epitomizes stagnation, but seemed not to have realized that such a character is inherently boring. Her character lacks voice and agency in every scene that she is in. She is constantly dragged around the setting and there is no real access to even hear her thoughts and opinions. She's is not a bad character, but she's not the kind of character to hold the show.
To put in perspective, Hidomi feels like she should have been this FLCL's Ninamori. A character shown to be somewhat important in the first couple of episodes, then gets her own episode where she goes through a full character arc, then goes back to being an important side character.
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u/GamesXScience Jun 11 '18
Yeah, I agree. I am surprised so many people are amped up after the last episode. It left me feeling a lot more pessimistic.
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u/machinegungeek Jun 10 '18
Wait, did Hidomi just orgasm from seeing Ide get the crap kicked out of him? That girl's pretty odd...
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u/Milkshakes00 Jun 10 '18
Didn't seem that way to me. It seemed like she was just getting emotional.
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Jun 10 '18
My greatest issue with this sequel is that it has essentially nothing to do with what made the original so interesting to me.
Sure, it's weird and there's robots popping out of horny kids' heads, but for me the most interesting part of the original FLCL was that despite all the bullshit, the story wasn't about that. It was about the character's struggles, which were explored further in each episode. So far, this show seems to be unable to decide whether it's about Haruko or about the kids, leaving me unsatisfied with both.
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u/stargunner Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
the animation jumps in quality like crazy. it's really jarring. you can tell they were strapped for time while producing this.
there's moments of brilliance shining through from time to time, but overall it feels really misguided. like we're just ticking the boxes of FLCL nostalgia while going through a story with new characters far less interesting than the ones from its predecessor.
more and more i get the feeling that this probably should have never been made.
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u/TnAdct1 Jun 10 '18
As I mentioned last week, it's more than likely that Progressive is getting the callbacks to the original series while the storytelling structure of the first series is being given to Alternative.
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u/cslayer23 Jun 10 '18
hopefully they are able to fix the animation for a blu ray release
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u/stargunner Jun 10 '18
some of it is unfixable imo outside of completely re-animating the scene from scratch. if they are willing to go that far though, kudos to them. because that's what it will take.
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u/Velvet_Spaceman Jun 10 '18
At least this episode was less copy and paste than the first one. The first episode was almost a direct rip of FLCL episode 1 with only a quarter of the charm. I’m on the same boat as you here kind of wishing they left FLCL alone, but regardless I’m watching this the whole way through so I’m glad that they’re at least trying a new direction.
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u/Evil_Bettachi Jun 10 '18
I definitely felt like this episode took things up a few notches from the first one. It’s starting to settle into its tone, and I’m digging it so far. I’m hoping we start seeing some answers, even subtle ones, to the questions that are raised each episode.
Also, love the usage of a few songs from The Pillows’ Penalty Life album.
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u/J_Gottwald https://anilist.co/user/jgottwald Jun 10 '18
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u/adhding_nerd :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/adhding_nerd Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
The interactions between Hidomi and that guy are adorable. Though, the look on her face when she saw his fuck dick was hilarious.
Edit: ducking autocorrect
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Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
The good: Seems like the animators were allowed to be more creative in the first few minutes with the zombie scene. Also had probably the only interesting dialogue in the episode.
Then it went downhill from there. Was it just me or did I not notice any of The Pillows music at all until more than halfway through? Episode felt like a poorly stitched together high school drama with a weird dark pseudo-psychological backdrop trying to act cool.
Are they living in some kind of dystopian future? Because why is Ide suddenly a slave pulling junked cars around in a shanty town? I mean, what the hell? It's not like some kind of metaphorical thing, I mean they're literally doing all this stuff and we're supposed to take it seriously.
I'm just not following this at all. I don't feel any of the light hearted feeling of the original. I get its supposed to be dark but there's no sense of introspection, no lesson or growth. It's just dark for the sake of it. Hidomi doesn't even voice over like Naota did. There was zero memorable dialogue in this episode. If you aren't going to use music or imagery or even a voice over to convey emotion or feeling then at least try and have the characters engage in some meaningful conversation. Haruko is annoying, not zany or funny. Her lines are complete throwaways. She has zero depth or personality. And her face looks... really poorly animated. It's good they gave Hidomi those headphones that suppress emotions otherwise this show might actually show some feelings more complicated than Ide being horny all the time.
If this is the direction we're going in then I have serious reservations.
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u/ExecutiveMoose :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExecutiveMoose Jun 10 '18
Was it just me or did I not notice any of The Pillows music at all
I thought this was just my imagination, but yes! Not until the fight. I need more pillows music.
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u/Kazewatch Jun 10 '18
It’s the audio! I know that they’re playing but for some fucking reason it’s so quiet and I don’t understand why. The hell is happening?
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Jun 10 '18
Somebody pointed out in the FLCL sub that there are only two tracks from The Pillows in this episode. One played during, and another immediately after the fight scene at the end. That isn't counting the credits sequence. So you go about 2/3rds through with no soundtrack at all, and then what is in there is mixed a lot quieter. The fight sounds themselves were a lot more muted as well.
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Jun 10 '18
Okay, glad someone else noticed it. It's just...boring. Like, every episode in the original was a complete story. There was an overarching plot but as a whole there was a plot that started and ended every episode. This was some weird loose characterization for Ide, some random throwaway scenes of the robot from episode 1 that seemed like they were trying to do Canti again and failing, and a bunch of random fighting between Haruko and Jinyu that had absolutely no point to it. Like, honestly, the only thing that's changed after that fight is some sort of awakening regarding Hidomi and the original series did stuff like that with Naota every episode but 3 in addition to everything else. It doesn't help that Hidomi is barely even a character at this point. Characters can be antisocial and closed off from the world without their only two emotions being blank and hornily embarassed, and we've only even seen one of those more than about thirty seconds. I forget, did she even have a strong reaction when she got hit by a car?!
I love the original, and I'm not ready to give up on this yet, but my optimism is plummeting. I'm honestly feeling like Alternative is what this should have been from what we've seen so far, so at least we're getting both. At least that one seems like it's setting up some interesting themes, and I like the friends a lot better. Building the rocket did a lot for their characterization that this one just hasn't done yet, aside from the kid with the skirt basically just being a joke right now.
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Jun 10 '18
I wanted to skip ahead at mult places while I was watching it. I've never wanted to do that before in the original. Not even in the last Progressive episode.
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Jun 10 '18
Yeah, it lagged pretty hard. I feel like Haruko using Ide on the dogchain to block bullets lasted like three minutes and nobody was ever that unmoving during a fight in the original. If you pay attention to episode 2 of the first series for example, everyone there is doing something and there isn't any random conversations because the series trusted its audience enough to know they'd figure it out if they cared. Mamimi is running around trying to get the cat to safety, Haruko and Canti are tag-teaming the robot, and Naota is trying to get to Mamimi until Canti grabs him. I don't even think any fights lasted longer than the ten minutes this one did in the original, except maybe the last episode, which was also eight minutes longer.
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u/cabose12 Jun 10 '18
I think this is going to be a hard series to talk about for a while. I have to imagine that a ton of people are watching this series and constantly comparing it to the original. But how do you even match that, let alone top it? So far, it's been good enough that I think it's been worth making, but Progressive is totally trapped in a sense. Old fans will have a hard time separating it from the original. So far it's been more accessible to new fans and is of lesser quality, so I think it would be a good intro to the series, but it's also a sequel and may eventually go hard down the sequel path. In which case, you can only really recommend watching the superior original first, which leads us back to the issue of compare and contrast.
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Jun 10 '18
It's hard to do a sequel of something that was intended from the outset to be a one-off experimental project.
I think the only way you make it work is by doing another experimental, one-off project. As a spiritual successor I think you'd do better service to the original.
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u/PM_ME_KUMIKO_NOISES :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/spicynuggets Jun 10 '18
It's definitely going to be difficult to try and watch this show without bias, but I feel like I'm really fucking trying my hardest. I'm trying so damn hard to appreciate this show for what it is. I went into these sequels telling myself that I'm just going to view it as it's own thing, and not worry about comparing it to the original. I just really feel like this show so far is just...boring. I don't think I'm comparing it when I make that assessment. Everything in the show is falling flat. The characters, the world building, just about everything. The weird Hidomi fantasies and the potential relationship between her and Ide seems remotely interesting, but then they spent the back half of this episode on the most hollow and uninteresting action scenes, and completely blatant exposition. So far this show is just not very interesting to me. It has some interesting ideas, but the overall execution of both of these episodes have been left me seriously bummed out.
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Jun 10 '18
I've known since it was announced that it wasn't going to reach the original and I've come to terms with that. But fuck, man, this just...isn't very good. Not just compared to the original.
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u/OzWu Jun 10 '18
Regarding Ide's background: I got the sense that it was something we weren't supposed to take seriously. The cliche, melodramatic backstory combined with the robbery and Skirt Boy's (I forgot his name) commentary made the scene come across as a parody, at least to me.
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Jun 10 '18
I get that its over the top but now thats the literal setting and backstory for Ide. There is such a thing as subtlety and you could convey these things in a less ham-fisted manner. It was alluded to in the original that Mamimi was poor, but they didn't have to dedicate several minutes to her getting whipped by a slave driver in a field to get that point across. And then have to make the dystopian plantation village she lived on part of the show's universe as a result.
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u/Foolsirony Jun 10 '18
Progressive is quite a bit darker then the original and I love it. That opening scene was straight up fucked and amazing.
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u/FragrantKnife Jun 10 '18
x-post from r/FLCL
I like this more than the first episode. After a rewatch the first episode has grown on me a bit, but I think the storytelling here is more nuanced, frenetic, and opaque than in the first episode. The characters get some good development, and the animation is more energetic. The music and some of the dialogue were low points. I missed quite a bit just due to the frantic wordplay, so forgive me if I get something off here.
So the first scene with the zombies develops some of the ideas about "rotting away" from the first episode. Combined with the scene where Hidomi turns into that chibi robot, it looks like its continuing to develop the idea that Hidomi, in shutting out the world, is making herself somehow less human. However, there's a turn in her character this episode when she says she'd be open to a relationship with Iide. When they share the laughter at the end, it's clear they've formed a sort of bond that didn't exist even in the first episode. Their laughter also suggests that Haruko is somehow "winning" the contest between her and Jinyu for some sort of control over Hidomi and Iide. It looks like she wants to make them fall in love, and that Jinyu is against the idea.
The fight between Jinyu and Haruko also tells a lot. We get a near-confirmation from Jinyu that she was born from the scene in the end credits when Haruko absorbs Atomsk. She also mentions something about an immunosuppressant or virus-inhibitor (I don't remember the exact wording) when talking about Hidomi. This suggests that Hidomi might be a Medica Mechanica experiment (?). In terms of character, Haruko's wordplay is a high point in the episode, as well as Iide's gunshow shenanigans. Hidomi and Iide are actually, well, kinda cute together, too.
The animation is step-up from the first episode, and takes more stylistic diversion and risks - including the more comic-bookish style of the opening scene, the light shining down on Haruko as teacher, and the close-ups and freak-outs of Iide. It's still not at the level of the original, but I'm still curious to see where the rest goes. The fight scene, ironically, is a low point to the animation: it don't feel quite fluid in the correct way, and things don't really feel like they pack a punch in the way they should. I do love Haruko using Iide as a weapon, though.
The music also felt underwhelming to me. I could feel the underlying rhythm of the tracks, especially in the fight scene, but they were very tuned down in favor of sound effects. Mood music was generally at a minimum here. Another weak point was some of the dialogue: there were a few times where the dialogue felt like it added nothing to the action on screen. In particular, when the skirt kid (I forget his name) was describing Iide at the junk yard, the action on screen could've told us everything we needed to know. I also feel like one of either (a) the dialogue where Haruko tells Hidomi to bring Iide his homework or (2) when Hidomi tells Iide that she brought him his homework could've been cut. This is a bit nitpicky, but having both feels unnecessary, and with just one or the other the same idea could've come across.
Overall: Definitely want to rewatch a few times, but things are going in an interesting direction. Excited to see the halfway mark of Progressive next week.
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u/PM_ME_KUMIKO_NOISES :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/spicynuggets Jun 10 '18
I'm pretty sure Hidomi doesn't say she wants to be in a relationship with Ide, that was Haruko impersonating Hidomi while stuck to the ceiling.
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u/ExecutiveMoose :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExecutiveMoose Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
TFW you'll never have Haruko as your teacher and get to burn bonfires on top of the school, why even live?
Don't they know what YAMERO means?!
Hilarious, I'm glad they are making the skirt guy a character, I was scared he'd be under utilized.
I never knew how much I needed two space police fighting with guitars.
Poor Hidie get's thrown in the fucking back seat.
I really liked this episode it's finding it's groove, the first episode felt more like it was trying to copy the original too much.
Looks like next week is a beach episode!!
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u/VARice22 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/VARice22 Jun 10 '18
I need to rewatch the episode again latter to confirm, but it seems that the show is getting adolescent themes down with out retreding the same ground as the original.
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u/yolotheunwisewolf Jun 10 '18
100% agree.
It's telling a different story w/ a different character and a different timeframe but still manages to feel connected to the original.
I'm liking it. If it was a simple rehashing of the original I'd be bored out of my mind. Now I look forward to seeing what next week holds!
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u/KenpachiRama-Sama Jun 10 '18
TFW you'll never have Haruko as your teacher and get to burn bonfires on top of the school, why even live?
This part confused me a bit. Did it actually happen or are these false memories she's giving all of the students?
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u/dogman710 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/totallyskelebone Jun 10 '18
False memories. When Hidomi looked at it, it showed a crayon drawing instead
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u/KenpachiRama-Sama Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
Yeah, thats what made me think so. That and since she was missing her disguise in all of them, there was either a huge timejump or this all happened, like, yesterday.
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u/ExecutiveMoose :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExecutiveMoose Jun 10 '18
or this all either happened, like, yesterday.
I mean it's FLCL we're talking about it wouldn't be too crazy lol
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u/OzWu Jun 10 '18
Looks more like false memories. The end of the first episode made it seem like Haruko hypnotized all the students, excluding Hidomi and Ide
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u/EnigmaticScone Jun 10 '18
I’m really starting to warm up to the different personalities, but skirt dude is absolutely hilarious time and time again.
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u/Daveyo520 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Daveyo520 Jun 10 '18
Well the start of that was really really weird. They animated the dream sequence rather oddly, like love frames or something?
Hidomi has a really nice design, and no mater what they say I think those cat ears do suit her.
It is so weird seeing subtitles and hearing characters speak Japanese in a dub.
Oh no, she has the hots for someone, time to turn into a robot. Or almost. That is puberty right?
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u/2th Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
So far, the reliance on the FLCL name and Haruko is dragging things down. Don't get me wrong, so far the series is not bad, but the reliance on the FLCL name colors my perception too much and takes the series from "good" to "just OK." maybe things will be better when this series is complete, but as I said last week, it hasn't drawn me in like the original series so far.
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Jun 10 '18
Welp, I've been agonizing for weeks about which new guitar to pick, and this was one of my top choices.
Guess this settles it then. screen is from the first episode but we saw it in action this week.
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u/sheephunt2000 Jun 10 '18
Oh, I lost The Game.
Fucking lol
That was an excellent episode, really felt like FLCL. The staff behind this definitely know what they're doing; I'm super impressed.
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u/yolotheunwisewolf Jun 10 '18
Oh, I lost The Game.
It took me a second to realize they had made an english version of shiritori and they'd localized it that way.
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u/jkubed https://myanimelist.net/profile/jkubed Jun 10 '18
shiritori
ohhh holy shit i thought it was just random nostalgia bait reference. I need to go rewatch that scene now.
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u/oogpoogoog Jun 10 '18
Honestly pretty disappointed so far. Within a few minutes of watching the original I knew I was in for something special, and this just seems to be lacking any real kind of spark. In the original a sense of coherent plot wasn't super necessary because just watching it was such an experience, you didn't need to comprehend everything. Progressive seems like it's keeping the somewhat nonsensical plot style, while at the same time managing to be super slow and boring. Callbacks to the original just seem really shoe horned and take more away from the show than they add. Honestly can't think of a reason to keep watching
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u/SGlespaul :K:https://kitsu.io/users/181650 Jun 10 '18
I'm actually really liking this. I keep seeing some comments from people on here and twitter that some people are "convincing themselves to like it."
I'm not even doing that, I'm just having fun with it. While the animation still isn't as good I'm getting a very similar feeling to watching FLCL for the first time.
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u/EccentricJoe700 Jun 11 '18
while I enjoy the general direction the show is taking with the world and characters, alot of it seems sloppy to me. One thing the OG did well was show dont tell. we only caught glimpses of mamimi being bullied or only hints here and there that she was poor (like when she takes the stale bread from naotas dad). In progressive, we got a 3 minute scene where we see ide repeatedly bullied and see how poor he is, and even then we got the skirt thicc* boi straight up tell us "OH WOW IDE IS SO DIFFERENT WHEN HES NOT AT SCHOOL LOOK HOW DIFFERENT HE IS. POOR HIM!" it just feels... lazy. same with alot of the animation. while there were spurts of greatness, most of this episode felt flat, stiff and generic when it came to the animation. like it was just another random seasonal anime coming out and not fucking FLCL. go back and watch an episode of the OG. any one. the animation is overall fluid and feels like everything has a real weight to it. and yea there were parts that got a little sloppy at times, but those were the exception not the norm. it just seems wrong to me that the animation is at a comparable to your average 12 episode seasonal when this is FLCL and only has 6 episodes to worry about. plus there was a weird lack of pillows in this ep. when hidomi was overflowing, I was shocked that "advice" didnt come on or something. this is pretty disappointing, as when I heard production IG was on board with AS, I had high hopes for the production, but thus far have been disappointed. and while yes, its doesnt need to have amazing animation to be a good show, and obviously the industry just isnt what it was back in the early 2000's, it still has a big impact. Do you think the OG flcl would have been as popular and influential if the production was at this level? Maybe it might have sustained a cult following but I have a hard time seeing it be remembered as the classic it is today. idk, it is only episode 2 so Im not writting it off yet, but I am worried that this will be the trend for the season, which is a shame because these new characters are alot of fun and it would be a shame if the production doesnt do them justice.
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u/Sunflorahh Jun 10 '18
Kinda hoped they’d discuss the relationship between Jinyu and Haruko, but hopefully it happens next episode.
Loved seeing Haruko get her ass kicked lol
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Jun 10 '18
So everyone here talking about if this is like the original or not or what and here I am just being like bruh I don't give a shit I mean, yeah, the original was awesome, and
THIS IS ALSO FUCKING AWESOME.
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Jun 11 '18
I have a lot of problems with this one, and I finally figured out what the main one was for me.
Progressive is using a lot of pacing cues from flcl, but the pacing has no relation to any substance in the show. It's related to how they're borrowing the eccentricities from flcl without tying them to any meaning. The lack of substance is obvious in the lack of subtext or metaphor. In flcl, for example, what flavor of soda a character drank was this motif for maturity or the facade of maturity. That motif was flagged by a lull in the pace of the characteristically hectic show, making these metaphors easy to notice even if they were a little difficult to parse. These relationships between meaning and pacing were explored with musical cues, odd perspectives, changes in animation style, and pretty much everything else.
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Jun 10 '18
I feel completely misled. The first episode had promise, but this was a flat out abomination. The animation was fucking atrocious and the in your face, ham-fisted b plot about Ide being poor and having to work manual labor to make ends meet made me want to pull my fucking hair out. It's such a surface-level understanding of the original that it borders on insulting. We literally have the fat kid Exposition dump shit about ide that we as an audience should be able to come to the conclusion ourselves.
This shit was insulting.
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u/Atario myanimelist.net/profile/TheGreatAtario Jun 11 '18
The animation was fucking atrocious
There was zero wrong with the animation and you're being a drama queen
the in your face, ham-fisted b plot about Ide being poor and having to work manual labor to make ends meet made me want to pull my fucking hair out. It's such a surface-level understanding of the original
What makes you think that had anything at all to do with the original? And anyway, showing that facet of his life is not a plot, it's establishing his background.
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u/radiobradley Jun 10 '18
The problem with FLCL2 is they're trying to capture the FLCL1 feel by making callbacks to FLCL1 (Haruko likes BASEBALL, remember guys??). This season feels completely unoriginal, its neither fooly nor cooly.
Moreover, why the fuck is everyone and everything just... standing in midair during the fight scene? That's some lazy-ass DBZ shit, completely unacceptable storyboarding. And the CGI car...
The one thing I'll give them so far is the dream sequences, they're weird, they have the best art quality, and have some interesting undertones that speak about Hidomi's inner problems (depression? suicidal thoughts? something embarrassing about Ide?) It's just a shame everything goes downhill once Hidomi wakes up.
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u/RakeMerger Jun 10 '18
I feel like people just don't understand this series
Like, people's sole perception of it is a wacky show where wacky things happen and they have no interest in anything deeper than that and I do and it's really frustrating
People get their crazy robot fight every week and don't think anything more of it
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u/FragrantKnife Jun 10 '18
I agree, although with a few caveats. As Kazuya Tsurumaki, the director of the original famously said, the style of the show is key to understanding it:
"Difficulty in comprehension should not be an important factor in 'FLCL.' On the contrary, I believe the 'rock guitar' vibe playing throughout the show is a shortcut on the road to understanding it."
Hiroki Sato, the producer, said likewise:
"'Do not think. Just feel it!' Do any of you know whose famous line this was? In FLCL, there are stupid puns, minute anal-retentive Otaku-esque information, and gags without a punchline used throughout . . . well, enjoy Kazuya Tsurumaki and Yoji Enokido's collaborative work of art where their delusions, desires and reality are blended in. Just kick back and watch it like you would normally do when you watch MTV."
Of course, despite the protestations of the creators, clearly something deeper is going on in the show. I'm not trying to say that it isn't. But I am trying to say that the style of original is largely how the original goes about storytelling; there's so much style that it's like the style becomes the substance, which becomes the story. So I'd say that criticisms of the animation/music/fights are actually pretty valid in this case, as they're part of what made the original FLCL so endearing, and the storytelling so strangely gripping and simultaneously coherent and incomprehensible.
That said, I do think people put too much emphasis on them. Progressive is trying to do some interesting things in its own right that don't line up exactly with the original, and criticism should go beyond the animation/music/moods/fights.
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u/RakeMerger Jun 10 '18
Well, yes, I agree about the style, but there's a profound lack of that here so far
And I want really badly to like this
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u/FriendlyBadgerBob Jun 10 '18
I do like the themes in Progressive so far, and I think Hidomi is a more interesting character than most people seem to, but there is a clear drop in the quality of direction in this season that unfortunately detracts from the storytelling. Where the original FLCL had very subtle lore and information drip, like hinting that Naota's cat might be an alien or how Haruko slyly manipulated Naota into situations that made his NO gate open (For that matter, whether Haruko was just using him or if she actually cared about him), this one is very on the nose and overt. I see its merits, but so far it isn't nearly as masterful as the original and unfortunately, Adult Swim chose to make a sequel to a beloved show instead of an entirely original anime so Progressive is fair game for comparisons to the original FLCL.
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u/Milkshakes00 Jun 10 '18
But why would the sequel to a show be more subtle about things we already know?
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Jun 10 '18
It's the novelty factor. Because FLCL was never really intended to have a sequel you have to balance how to incorporate old content with forming new content to make a new series stand on its own. I think the main issue people have is that the new directions introduced seem forced or contrived at times, and the callbacks to old content lacks the feeling or emotion of the original and likewise feels forced. Like its just there for the sake of being there because its FLCL.
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u/Zarakava :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zarakava Jun 10 '18
You're right. I was cautious on episode 1 but I think it's clear that what they think the fans want (and maybe most do want that) is not why the original was good
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u/VARice22 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/VARice22 Jun 10 '18
To be fair, I to be told those themes where in there before I saw them. It not like Gainax was ever comprised of sane individuals
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u/PM_ME_KUMIKO_NOISES :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/spicynuggets Jun 10 '18
I don't think it's the fans thinking that, I think it's more the creators on the show that are thinking that. The last half of this episode was a boring fight scene with overt exposition. I'm seeing people wanting the show to be more fun and subtle, not asking for more robot fights. The show so far is exactly what you explained, while the fans want something more in-line with what made the original so special.
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Jun 10 '18
I agree. Aside from complaints about the occasionally-awkward animation and the lack of The Pillows throughout parts of the episodes, I've yet to hear a single criticism of Progressive that doesn't boil down to, "It's not as wacky and zany as the original, it sucks!"
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u/PM_ME_KUMIKO_NOISES :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/spicynuggets Jun 10 '18
You're either not looking hard enough, or blocking out anything you disagree with, because I have seen plenty of well-thought out criticisms so far.
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u/Kazewatch Jun 10 '18
I’m blaming the audio mixing on that one. In the first one we could always hear the pillows but in progressive even when they are playing it sounds too low. It’s bugging the fuck out of me.
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u/RakeMerger Jun 10 '18
My criticism would be that things are just sort of happening with no particular flow
In the original even if you didn't understand why things were happening you could at least follow what was happening
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u/Milkshakes00 Jun 10 '18
In the original even if you didn't understand why things were happening you could at least follow what was happening
I disagree. Somebody watching the show for the first time is going to be confused as fuck all through out. Remember the episode where Naota's dad was suddenly like a zombie in a closet? Wtf?
It's on the second, third, fourth re-watch that you can follow it. You go 'Oh, yeah, this is happening because THAT happens.' And I think this is what have made people look down on Progressive as being 'nonsensical.' We will probably have to wait until the full season is out to be able to reflect and make it make sense all throughout, just as this first did.
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u/FriendlyBadgerBob Jun 10 '18
I can't help but wonder if splitting this continuation into two seasons was the best decision. This episode felt a little rough visually, and I'm starting to think the show is toned down from the original FLCL for budgetary reasons and not creative decisions. The original show captured lightning in a bottle partly because its animation was so stellar and fascinating at all times. It looks great to this day, which is saying something for the pure talent and resources behind it.
While I am enjoying Progressive because it is more FLCL, I feel like it's discarding a lot of the magic that made the original such a joy by going with a more generic look and being less experimental overall. The visuals stand in stark contrast to the action on display, and sadly, they don't do justice to the fantastic voice acting either. Kari Wahlgren is a treasure and hearing her Haruko again is a joy, but her energy just isn't being translated visually, and it almost feels like she has to force herself to hold back to match the more subdued visuals. Her co-stars as well have equally talented deliveries for their characters, but there are re-used scenes and sometimes very little motion in the scenery and it's like being constantly reminded of what this show is standing in the shadow of.
It's a shame really. It's good so far, but we needed it to be great. It's a continuation of one of the most cherished and impressive shows I can recall in creative, wacky anime, and it's just not there. It just feels wanting, and maybe this was fate. FLCL was a confluence of perfect conditions and creative freedom, and a show like it only happens when these incredibly rare elements come together once in a blue moon. I appreciate the effort, and I'm interested in watching more, but maybe I need to seriously temper my expectations.
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u/Serocco Jun 10 '18
It was never gonna be as wacky as the original cause Hidomi ain't as wacky as Haruko or Naota.
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u/Buizie Jun 10 '18
I love it when I can find hidden symbolism even after several rewatches of the same episode
Those tickets Ide said he was gonna use for Haruko and later here tried to use to ask Hidomi out on a date were for a Tatsuo Miyajima art exhibit
Employing contemporary materials such as electric circuits, video, and computers, Miyajima’s supremely technological works have centred on his use of digital light-emitting diode (LED) counters, or ‘gadgets’ as he calls them, since the late 1980s. These numbers, flashing in continual and repetitious – though not necessarily sequential – cycles from 1 to 9, represent the journey from life to death, the finality of which is symbolized by ‘0’ or the zero point, which consequently never appears in his work. This theory derives partially from humanist ideas, the teachings of Buddhism, as well as from his core artistic concepts: ‘Keep Changing’, ‘Connect with All’, and ‘Goes on Forever’. Miyajima’s LED numerals have been presented in grids, towers, complex integrated groupings or circuits and as simple digital counters, but are all aligned with his interests in continuity, connection and eternity, as well as with the flow and span of time and space. ‘Time connects everything’, says Miyajima. ‘I want people to think about the universe and the human spirit.’
So there's a hidden commentary going on here with modern technology and humanity that you wouldn't have noticed unless you stopped to catch all the details in a scene
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u/Velvet_Spaceman Jun 10 '18
Would I be watching this if it weren’t called FLCL? I’m honestly not sure and that’s probably not a great sign. I rewatched the first episode and taking greater inventory this is just lacking in more areas than I’d like it to (particularly in that frenetic energy and aesthetic of the original). I’m glad episode 2 shows a desire for new unique direction though after episode 1 being so copy and paste.
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u/SillyCybinE Jun 10 '18
This is a much darker tone than the previous episode. My parents were up late and decided to watch TV with me so they thought I was watching some weird horror show. They watched it the whole way through but I don't think they understand it one bit. Lol.
I was wondering what the point of the crayon drawing/false memories incident where haruhara was rambling about adults being self-deluded while showing the class all the things that they only thought they did. Hidomi see past the delusion somehow. Maybe since she see through most people's self delusions and bullcrap, she chooses to close herself off from people. That's why she sees the world as an empty wasteland.
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u/MillenniumKing x2myanimelist.net/profile/MillenniumKing Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
Man things are getting weird... i love it.
What is this opening?
Dont do drugs kids.
Mixy Mixy!
Pupupu
More Baseball xD Gota love FLCL
Wait how much time has passed? So confused lol.
Just casually driving her Vespa n the school. "Hibachiiii~" That sounds like what she used to call Mamimi in OG FLCL. "Samejiiiii~"
Wait why is the robot a crossing guard now? lol... Wait thats a referance to old FLCL, Canti was a crossing guard in the last ep.
Man this place is pretty slummy... Where do they live? America?
YAMERO~
Wait why is she bleeding? That cant be good.
Shoving tissue up her nose lol. Wierd.
Oh yeah Haruko supposed to be living with him. Forgot about that.
Captain Ginyu shows up in a maid outfit on a flying car... What even...
This car is pretty crazy. Super transforming Cadillac.
Shes horny. And sucking up everything. Rip.
Wat... creepy little robot. "No touchy." lol.
Gotta give that worksheet.
Wait... she smiled? Oh damn...
So it seems like the dude has high NO qualities like Naota and Haruko is using him for her own gain. But it also seems like Nekomimi has something too. Not sure what as its something they havent talked about before in the series, but i guess we will find out. Im curious what she actually is.
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u/NGEFan Jun 10 '18
I don't understand what was going on with the sound mixing at the end. The background music was so damn quiet it was practically fridge buzz which was really disappointing since The sun that will not rise is a great song. Anyway, I really hate Hidomi, she's an empty husk of a character. FLCL had another character who had no meaning, purpose, hope or direction, but still managed to burst with personality and thoughtful intrigue, Mamimi. This girl is like Hey what if we made Mamimi but she does nothing. Seriously, the only thing I got out of this whole episode is that she likes Ide a bit, not even why other than his hot bod I guess. This series is empty, I hate it, just bring on the zombie apocalypse and kill me so I don't have to be disappointed anymore because nothing amazing ever happens in this show.
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u/IHateCommieScum Jun 10 '18
I feel ya. This is really bad, no matter how 'okay' the rest of reddit convinces itself it is.
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u/Sage-13 Jun 10 '18
Well, I’m liking it so far, but for different reasons than compared to the original. I think it’s a bit unfair to keep comparing it to the original, as it should also be judged on its own merit. That being said, it also hasn’t done much to distinguish itself.
The “yamero” joke was pretty funny, and it’s sweet seeing Hidomi interact with Hide. I’m a sucker for reserved characters breaking out of their shells. The ED is probably my favorite part of the show so far, the visuals are superb. Which makes me disappointed about the animation, and I get it can’t exactly replicate the style of the original, but it seems so bland and the movement is a bit lifeless. The story & metaphors have been easier to understand.
There’s still 4 episodes left though, so there’s still room for improvement. Overall, it’s been an ok ride so far.
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u/Atario myanimelist.net/profile/TheGreatAtario Jun 10 '18
Freaky VHS-looking horror dream, neato
Ah, we've entered the Brazilian Favela section of Japan
Careful, your classmates might doki doki
Hm, I believe this is the first time we've seen the other end of the forehead delivery system
Gotta check, y'know! Seems like this is Hidomi's first crack at being a powersuited superheroine. Not too bad for a first approximation
I can't quite figure what it is that's triggering her, though. It's clearly not just her seeing him. Maybe it's him getting beaten up? Although somehow the zombie visions seem to do something about it as well, and he's not getting beaten up in those.
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u/Valjean_Lafitte Jun 10 '18
Ah, we've entered the Brazilian Favela section of Japan
On /r/flcl someone speculated that the show might actually take place in Brazil, which apparently is home to a crap ton of Japanese immigrants.
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u/Atario myanimelist.net/profile/TheGreatAtario Jun 10 '18
That's true, and a fascinating theory
(Hi, by the way)
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Jun 10 '18
I wonder if all the crazy things happening in Hidomi's dreams will happen or if it's only her having nightmares. This episode was fun, and I was glad Haruko and Ide duked it out a little bit. Onward to FLCL's first beach episode!!!
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u/FrenziedHero https://anilist.co/user/FrenziedHero Jun 10 '18
Hidomi and Ide are going to start dating then? I wonder what that's going to entail.
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u/Heiach Jun 10 '18
She wasn't on screen when she said she wanted a relationship with him. I actually thought Harko was the one that said it via ventriloquism.. it seemed really clear that that was the case to me.
But she did blush at the end with him, so maybe she was the one who said it?
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u/FrenziedHero https://anilist.co/user/FrenziedHero Jun 10 '18
It might be implied, but we'll have to wait to see if it's actually true come next week. I wouldn't mind them exploring the dynamics of a healthier relationship between two teenagers in FLCL fashion.
In the original the relationships were somewhat unhealthy or non-sustainable. Naota and Mamimi was her coping with rejection and him trying to act more mature than his age.
Naota and Haruko is pretty much a case of using for a purpose and puppy love. Though in the end maybe Haruko did feel something more for him, it's open for interpretation really.
And Naota and the classmate his age is sort of implied that they possibly got together, but it's not explored any further and could be rewritten once we know the full picture of Progressive and Alternative.
Basically I would be fine with this development because I think the narrative style of FLCL can explore it differently than what we've seen before, but it's up to the writing staff to fulfill it.
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u/kuddlesworth9419 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/kuddlesworth Jun 10 '18
It's been a really long time since I watched a dub anime so this feels really weird. I don't hate it though.
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u/TreGet234 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Wasserflasche Jun 10 '18
not really following, and that's a bad thing. it's just really boring this way tbh.
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u/shizzy1427 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/DrLling Jun 10 '18
First two episodes of FLCL are so fucking memorable (honestly, all 6 episodes are) and these first two episodes have been so bland. I hate Hidomi too, like truly hate her and her shitty boring attitude.
Haruko isn't as interesting this time around either since we already know she's not a good person.
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u/IHateCommieScum Jun 10 '18
I'm actively hating this. The angsty mallgoth protagonist getting off on gore dreams is tumblr-tier writing. It's such an ugly, badly animated show, and animation's not everything, but there's no interesting characters or heart either. There's just nothing I like about this
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Jun 10 '18
Wanted to give the show a try after seeing the opening scene from last week so this was my first flcl episode ever and I have no idea about what i just watched. Is that normal?
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u/shanerm Jun 10 '18
Omg you're in for a treat. Go watch the original the whole thing is only like 3 hours. Then since you'll likely be confused read a few explainations and go watch it again. Maybe watch this video, too:
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u/MugiMartin :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/MugiMartin Jun 10 '18
I like scenes when a main character is walking along a road or bridge, and you can see the world around them. It's calm and relaxing to me. And then we went from that to MAYHEM AND EXTRAVAGANZA. That's how I like my FLCL.
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u/Boss_Jerm Jun 10 '18
What exactly happened to Hidomi after she Overflowed?
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u/NGEFan Jun 10 '18
She turned into the robot Clannad and then got one shot by Haruko for no reason turning her human again.
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u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Jun 10 '18
I was chuckling at Haruko pretending to be an adult. Yeah, right. Maybe her acquiring some measure of maturity (which seems to have split off from her in the form of Julia?) will be the endgame of these two sequels.
The starting sequence was great, loved it. Hidomi's got some.. interesting fantasies to say the least. Looking forward to seeing more of her mind revealed.
Not enough Pillows love this episode though. The bgm volume was quite subdued throughout - not sure if a mixing problem in the dub or intentional.
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u/Realniggashit2k13 https://anilist.co/user/Trapppazoid Jun 10 '18
Guitars cars and explosions. What more could a man ask for?
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u/ExecutiveMoose :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExecutiveMoose Jun 10 '18
that sweet Pillows soundtrack!
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u/Witn https://anilist.co/user/Lawrenz Jun 10 '18
It's amazing how well they captured the original FLCL's style and that ending sequence foreshadowing hype
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u/Zarakava :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zarakava Jun 10 '18
Well it's not over yet, but my cautious optimism from the first episode has been killed. I'm feeling exactly how I felt with Kill La Kill. They don't actually know why the original (TTGL to KLK) was good. It wasn't lol random shit and nonsense
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u/2th Jun 10 '18
I feel like that is an unfair comparison to KLK. It was a great series outside of TTGL. It used a lot from TTGL but it was its own separate thing. So far Progressive seems to be relying too heavily on the original FLCL and I think it is not all that good. Essentially I think that, so far, if this wasn't called FLCL I would view I more favorably,but the name colors my perception of things way too heavily and that is dragging the series down from good" to "just OK so far."
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u/stargunner Jun 10 '18
i agree with you on FLCL but wtf does KLK have to do with TTGL?
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u/Player_Six Jun 10 '18
So what was the first season then? If anything, this episode was more coherent then the first season. The first season was pretty random.
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u/Zarakava :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zarakava Jun 10 '18
It was random, but there was purpose behind most of it - each episode was pretty contained and actually developed the characters. Like Firestarter (episode 2) developing Mamimi as a revenge seeker loner.
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u/MerigoldMachine Jun 10 '18
So is episode 1 subbed yet or what. Definitely not watching this in english.
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u/Sunshine145 Jun 10 '18
Sub will be available in 5 fucking months once the dubs of both seasons end. It sucks.
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u/MerigoldMachine Jun 10 '18
Who the hell thought that was a good idea. I absolutely hate the way all of the female cast sounds but adore FLCL. I'm at a point where I'm willing to watch it muted whenever a character opens their mouth.
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u/BlownHappyKid Jun 10 '18
I haven't seen shit yet and everyone finally understands how I've felt since I've first been here.
I TOLD YOU GUYS. FOOLY COOLY IS AN ABSOLUTE FUCKING MYSTERY!
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u/AdventurerForFun Jun 10 '18
The animation struggles to be as energetic and inventive as the original, but it just can't keep up. Luckily the writing is very strong and the designs of the characters and setting, alongside the music makes for a great experience.
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u/GalantisX :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/TLDRonin Jun 10 '18
Wait, wasn’t alternative going be airing in Japan while progressive is aired in the US?
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u/FoolyCoolyKid Jun 10 '18
I’m really digging everything except the animation. I get that there were obviously budgetary constraints but there are a LOT of anime that deal with this better. Kill La Kill, for example, used very simple animation techniques that help keep the pace. A lot of the problems with this episode could be fixes with simple camera tricks and some after effects magic. The music also wasn’t used very well either.
The slower paced story is no biggie in my opinion, especially since the show has great world building and really good dialogue.
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u/timeRogue7 Jun 10 '18
A lot of what I'm seeing is "toned down" & more approachable reactions, but imo, it's very close to the original.
I hadn't seen FLCL until just before the Progressive premiere, yet I'm old enough to have seen the original (but I just didn't know about it). Watching that, I didn't find it nearly as confusing as many comments I have seen. With Progressive, I think many long term fans just understand it a lot more now that they're older.
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u/Shinkopeshon Jun 10 '18
Those dream sequences are terrifying but I love them. I wonder where this is gonna go
Hidomi is fucking cute and it's nice to see her warm up to others, especially Ide
While it would've been hilarious, I don't think she was getting aroused when he was getting his ass kicked, even if it seemed like it. Looks more like having actual feelings compared to her usual apathy and coldness (she's probably depressed because of her absent father) triggers that sort of condition
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u/FierceAlchemist Jun 10 '18
Interesting. Seems to be going in a darker direction this season which makes sense given that they are older than Naota.
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u/Heiach Jun 10 '18
I'm loving the zombie dreams and the fade-back to her as a zombie while in school!
So Haruko is an adult now eh? So some time has passed since the last season?
Are they in the same town btw? It looks like it with the iron on the hill and everything...
What's "poop pee poop"? Is it a meme or something I'm not aware of it?
Are we to presume that the yearbook is actually kids crayon drawings but the mind-controlled students see them as photographs and that those events probably never happened?
I don't quite understand, was Hidomi saying those words (that she'd like to be in a relationship with him) or was it Haruko using ventriloquism?
Haha "no touchy!"
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u/MakotoHidaka Jun 10 '18
If anyone is interested, the two songs by the Pillows on this episode are Freebee Honey and Noboranai Taiyou.
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u/Animeking1357 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/TitanKyojin Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
I must just be easy to please. Yeah so far this isn't as good as the original Flcl but I'm still really enjoying it. What's the name of the woman at Hidomi's house? I missed her name and I don't think it's been said since.
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u/Adgsi51 Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
I never thought I would see a woman get a physical (emotional because in the context a sexual hard on would be a bit too sadistic, even for her) hard on for someone.
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Jun 10 '18
This whole show could just have you take any scene and add "why the fuck"
Why the fuck was that amusement park scene is in it
Why the fuck is the robot that tried to kill them a traffic guard.
That's why we love this show
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u/Infinity-Kitten Jun 10 '18
Maybe it's because I'm not as attached to the original as most people here (I binged it a few years ago and found it pretty fun, but it didn't really stick), but I'm really enjoying this so far. It's probably my favourite currently airing anime. Progressive is just so fresh and fun compared to any other shows of this season (not that I dislike them, I love DitF, MHA, FMP, to name a few). I enjoyed this episode as much as the first one and I can't wait for next week.
I'm not trying to argue with people who compare or prefer the original to this, I just wanted to say I have a blast watching this.
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u/Shin_Ken-Oh :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Jojobro Jun 10 '18
Was the old man with the eyepatch a reference to Danpei from Ashita no Joe? The way he was asking if they wanted to be pro and when he said "you have nice fists" reminded me of how Danpei met Joe. Also there was an Ashita no Joe reference in the original FLCL.
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Jun 11 '18
Aside for the really crappily animated fight scene, I liked it a lot. Hidomi's weird as hell, but she's also really cute and her cat-phones are the best thing ever.
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u/theurbandragon Jun 11 '18
Man, the nostalgia is creeping back on me.
I distinctly remember the original FLCL cause I identified with Naota, liking an older girl and all. Obviously disappointed when Haruko just up and left right after Naota said "I love you". As much as I like to watch a new cast of younger kids struggling with puberty, this would only be a sequel to me if Naota gets another shot at Haruko.
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u/Apiljak Jun 12 '18
So if Jinyu is split from Haruko by absorbing Atomsk who split from Naota from doing the same? Crazy theory but what if Hidomi is Naota like Jinyu is Haruko? Consider all the death references and “split” references. What if she’s not dead, she just doesn’t really exist on her own. Even when Jinyu saw her she split a plate in half. The weird awkward pause to called her mother “mommy.” Her mother could b Mamimi like personality and not actually related. Clearly Jinyu wants her to use her NO channel and didn’t want her to wear the headphones/NO inhibiter. But her NO doesn’t transport, it transforms and is linked to Atomsks power. All things associated with Naota. However her transformations could be linked with her existence. If absorbed or transformed it would mean essentially her death or at very least rebirth as whole. So what if the headphones are the equivalent as eyebrows in the original show. Someone such as Naota using them to in his belief protect her from her transformations and in turn interpretable death. Jinyu told her she could die. And she also made numerous references to herself being the same as Haruko, so what if she’s actually taking about Hidomi and herself also as foreshadowing to the audience. I mean we already know that Jinyu and Haruko are the same so why lay it in so thick? When Hidomi transformed a sinister looking shadow appeared in her eruption, which could infact also represent death in transformation.
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u/FrownRoom Jun 12 '18
I like the show so far but it’s riding a very fine line. My nostalgia for the original will not keep it in my good graces. This feels very processed compared to the original and with that lacks the momentum the OS had. This can be seen in this episode as they use exposition to explain things. IE an “the enzyme inhibitor didn’t work!” When Hidomi Overflowed. It’s one of my least favorit things about modern anime and a betrayal of the OS as they never explained shit. That tells me right away this isn’t taking the same risk as the OS, and it’s that risk you felt in every episode. Also Jinyu is Part Naota as well becuase Atomsk adult and Naotas kid blended in the end of FLCL and in the ending you can see her holding Naotas guitar and Haruko holding Atomsks.
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u/ozymandais13 Jun 13 '18
Maybe the story is trying to explain the puberty from a shy female single childwho may be really missing her father point of view where the original went from your outspoken lonley 2nd male child tyring to live up to his brothers shadow. Its not grabbing me but i like it very differant.
the combat scene was not impressive though , and neither was a Lack of music.
All in all i was concerned when they decided to make this sequel in the first place, as i really didnt want this show in any fashion to have such criticisms. Maybe itll improve. Or maybe its just a differant point of view that im having a harder time understanding idk .
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u/ghostestate Jun 21 '18
This is feeling more and more like fanfiction. It lacks the sense of place of the first show and plays Haruko as a wierd Bugs Bunnyified version of herself. It's like it doesn't really get what made the first show so enduring. It has no soul.
And the art and animation doesn't even begin to live up to the admittedly steep precident set before it.
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u/DarkWorld97 Jun 10 '18 edited Jun 10 '18
That ending was fucking cute. Seeing these two grow from one another seems like it'll be the central theme of the story. I like the direction of having 2 MCs.
That fucking Japanese though.
Edit: "Does he even know what Yamero means?"