FLCL

Why didn't I give this another shot sooner?

I absolutely love FLCL. I didn't feel this way on my first watch at all -- I initially thought it was just mindless insanity in the same vein as most of Trigger's stuff. I sat through all six episodes half-asleep, just wanting it to be over.

However, in retrospect, I don't know what the hell I was thinking. FLCL is an incredible narrative and one of the best stories about self-perception, identity, and maturity out there. I think that regardless of your age, you can get something out of Naota's experience.

The entire anime is laced in tons of metaphor -- people smarter than me have picked apart every second of intelligent visuals or dialogue, but I think a lot of its more obvious symbolism is easy to pick up on with the right mindset. It's important to understand the "limits" of FLCL's world: this is the idealized, heavily metaphorical world of a 12 year old just now entering into puberty. The Medical Mechanica building shaped just like a clothing iron, symbolizing a rigid, wrinkled out adult life. Naota's struggle to swing the bat towards the end of the show showing how a big part of maturity is taking risks. Haruko being a metaphor for adolesence and chasing after adulthood in her own way. I could go on, but it's clear that the story is packed with this stuff.

On my first watch, I didn't really get Mamimi as a character at all, but I feel like I have a much better grasp on her now. Her dependency issues are everything but outright spelled out to the audience, she's constantly searching for the void left by Tasuku leaving to the US for baseball. It doesn't really matter whether they were genuinely seeing each other or not -- the fact of the matter is that Mamimi has begun to chase after an idealized version of this guy, who clearly doesn't share the same level of passion for her. Tasuku is her savior who saved her from the old school she herself lit on fire. It's heavily implied that she's bullied frequently, and likely continues to start fires just hoping for another savior to come in and help her. She's trapped in an unhealthy feedback loop, but like Naota, she's able to move on at the end of the day and live happily as a new person.

FLCL is often branded as a "coming of age" story. While I think that is a totally valid interpretation, I think it's, on some level, a clever subversion of this idea. FLCL has many different symbols of maturity, whether it's Canti being an idealized version of Naota's brother, or the kid just insisting upon taking Mamimi to a date just because that's what grown-ups do. The show consistently points out how our conceptions of "maturity" can fall flat, and that it's okay to not have everything figured out and be a kid. Growing up means facing new challenges head-on, not constructing masks and false ideas of the kind of person an adult SHOULD be. There's no point where you shift to "mature", it's an ongoing process that only continues when you're genuinely willing to improve. You need to be able to look at the ball head-on and swing the bat.

I can't state enough how SMART I think this anime is. It's absolutely manic, but within that insanity, there is a ton of genuine substance. I could touch on every cast member and how they all reinforce the story's themes, and it's absolutely incredible that FLCL manages to do this well in only six episodes.