Friday, September 14, 2018

FIF#60-FLCL: Alternative

High school senior Kana and her best friends: Hijiri, Pets and Mossan, are content just chilling out in their hometown.  The future lies ahead but the present has their full attention and theyre going to live it up how they want.  And then she arrived; a girl with pink hair, a wacky attitude and a penchant for pulling random weapons out of peoples heads.  Haruko Haruhara has arrived and so has the future that Kana and company cant avoid forever.  No one ever said 17 was an easy year to live…especially when you’ve got giant robots coming out of your skull from another dimension.

FLCL: Alternative is set to be the third, and supposedly, final entry in the now FLCL trilogy.  Those of you who managed to catch Toonami’s April Fool’s airing of it’s first episode (in Japanese), id say you were lucky to get a glimpse of future/more FLCL (at the time, not only did I miss it but I was still unsure if more FLCL was a good idea).  Much of what little I heard about Alternative was that it was going to be a whole different beast compared to the supposed direct sequel that was FLCL: Progressive.  Well, now that Episode 1 has come and gone, what are my thoughts on the beginning of FLCL’s final chapter?

Well it certainly does feel different compared to its predecessor.  Kana and her trio of besties have a bit more of an upbeat energy compared to Naota and Hidomi.  The first half of the first episode starts very differently from Progressive.  There are no nightmare sequences, no ones running plowing into a poor kid with a moving vehicle.  Instead, we get a rather tranquil look at the life of Kana, Pets, Hijiri and Mossan.  It does feel like both a slow burn and the furthest from the FLCL vibe of past seasons.  But kind of like Progressive, this new approach helps the series premiere stand out and give a sense as to how greatly things are going to get shaken up when the crazy kicks into overdrive.

While Kana and her friends are the oldest leads thus far in FLCL, being high school seniors, they do seem to behave more like kids than Naota and Hidomi ever did.  The way Kana scoffs at teachers trying to prepare them for post high school grad life is incredibly childish and naive.  Funny enough, the others might just be humoring that world view of hers since they seem to have a sense of direction as to what they might want to do with their lives: Pets as a social media queen, Hijiri as a cute model, and Mossan as an artist.  I did enjoy most of the scenes with these girls together though.  Again, it’s a big change from the dark and brooding atmosphere of Progressive.  Sure it’s not kicking things off at warp speed like the first episode of FLCL did.  But I like the chill of it all.  It’s further helped by The Pillows continuing to provide the greatest rock tunes ever conceived even this late in the FLCL saga.

And what about our resident crazy girl Haruko?  Oh yeah, she’s back and in a big way.  It’ll be interesting to see if the events of Progressive are mentioned in Alternative because Haruko feels very different, despite her zaniness.  As much as she clearly enjoyed teasing Kana about the huge life upheavel  headed her way, she did tell Kana she could just start building her precious group rocket all over again…and not in a demeaning way.  Maybe Haruko has accepted the growth she went through in Progressive.  Or I’m just reading too much into it so soon.  To counter this, yeah, Haruko still gets to kick her fair share of ass in the premiere, with both her fists and a new guitar from Kana’s head.  One thing that stood out was Haruko’s interactions with a man who clearly knows who she is.  This guy appears to work for the same group as Amurao and I wonder if it could be him (the eyebrows do stand out even if theyre not as huge). I’ve heard a rumor he could be another familiar face…but ill stick with my own theory for now.

Overall, FLCL: Alternative takes its time with its premiere to let us hang with the four new protagonists but still lets FLCL do what it does best: crazy action with Haruko Haruhara in the drivers seat.  I liked the lightened atmosphere and the more music we get from The Pillows the better.  That said, if this is the last of FLCL, what is the grand endgame of it all and is everything going to tie together?  Or should I just shut up and enjoy one last ride with my favorite wild child and her kick ass Vespa?  If nothing else, I love the new end theme and welcome the return of mixing Anime with a live action montage of various spots in Japan.  FLCL is back, one more time.  Let’s sit back and enjoy the show.

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