T5W#148-Top 5 FLCL Songs from The Pillows

In the world of Anime, music is always a very important factor in bringing any show to life.  There are a few exceptions that belong to a higher echelon though, soundtracks who absence would make a story incomplete and ones that are so powerful that if you cant watch the show or movie, all you need to do is listen to the soundtrack and you’d get the whole story anyway.  Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus are pioneers in this field (same goes for Yoko Kanno, who did both scores).  And then there’s FLCL.  Oh how much would be lost if The Pillows and their J-Rock tracks were removed entirely.  If you’re trying to analyze the inner thoughts of an adolescent teen or headbanging while battling advanced robots from another world or are just out for a casual drive around the seaside, there’s a song in FLCL for just such an occasion.  With FLCL: Progressive in full swing, containing the return of The Pillows and brand new songs, its time to look back at Season One and figure out which tunes id put on my own Top 5 playlist.  So grab your Rickenbacker Guitar and rev up your Vespa scooter, these are my Top 5 FLCL Songs from The Pillows.

 

#5-Come Down

Come Down perfectly matches the energy of both of the special “Manga” scenes from FLCL.  It’s starts off like you’re waking up from a long nap and are just wandering around aimlessly throughout the house.  And then suddenly…BOOM the strange, the unexpected and the kind of things that totally come out of left field and freak you the frak out happen all at once.  People are acting more out of character than usual and everyones trying to make sense of everything…yeah that’s kind of the heart of FLCL as a whole when you think about it.  You’ll be trying to catch your breath big time when the song finally calms the heck down.

 

 

#4-Stalker Goes to Babylon

Sometimes FLCL can be as surreal as it is hilarious and it’ll take you down some occasional dark roads.  Stalker Goes to Babylon captures the very effective change in tone that is all throughout FLCL Episode 4 “Full Swing”.  To label this one as the “theme of the bad place” I don’t think would be very far off.  It’s a  kind of chaos that most people in a fit of combined confusion and despair would feel.  All in all, this is one of the more darker tracks of the soundtrack and for some reason I was thinking about it a lot during the nightmare opening sequence of FLCL: Progressive’s premiere…could that season be heading down a darker road of its own?

 

#3-One Life

This was the first song we ever heard in FLCL and it’s kind of a high bar to set right out the gate for everything else to follow (thankfully every song matches it blow for blow).  I think you could call One Life “Naota’s Theme” in a way.  After the first minute of the song you can get a feel for a character who is more lost than chill like the emotions the song invokes.  Which is kind of sad because I think One Life is a great, start of the morning kind of song and Naota should appreciate it more.  How can you say “nothing amazing ever happens here” when you have this song to start the soundtrack of your life?

 

#2-Hybrid Rainbow

This is the song I was referring to when I said in my intro that there are songs to jam to while driving by the sea.  Hybrid Rainbow is very chillax and reflective in a way I wish I could describe better.  What’s more, not only does this song play when Haruko is riding Naota past said sea, it’s also when Mamimi sees Conti floating in the sky like an angel.  Not that Hybrid Rainbow gives off a spiritual vibe but it does give off an epic build up kind of vibe to a reveal like that for Naota’s oddball girl who’s his friend who wants to make out with him. 

 

#1-Bran New Love Song

Adolescence and love summed up in two short minutes.  This definitely feels like a song that instantly calls to mind first romances, first crushes, first experiences with those pesky feelings that drive us crazy and, when the moment is right, make us remember how magical they were and how we try to hold on to the good they made us feel.  This song is played during two such moments: when Mamimi holds Naota and tells him about how his brother makes her feel and when Naota breaks down when Haruko asks him to come with her (after being away for a short period of time).  I wouldn’t classify FLCL as a romance but young love is a key component of the grander story…and Bran New Love Song is one of the best “love themes” ever made for any Anime, EVER.