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In a Nutshell
Twelve-year-old Nandaba Naota's older brother has departed for America to play baseball, leaving the confused Naota alone with his brother's 17-year-old girlfriend, Samejima Mamimi. It doesn't help that she flirts with him constantly, or that his brother has sent him a rather disturbing letter from America. When the tomboyish Haruhara Haruko enters the scene, running down Naota with her motorscooter before smashing him over the head with her guitar, things will never be the same again.
The Review
Have
you seen Neon Genesis Evangelion? Did it give you a headache? Well,
Tsurumaki Kazuya, who directed Eva, did the directing for Furi
Kuri. In fact, most of the staff came from either Eva are Kare
Kano, with the exception of script writer Enokito Youji of Revolutionary
Girl Utena fame. Yet, unlike Eva, which gets stranger as the
series evolves, Furi Kuri begins to make the most sense in
the world, all this starting with a strange kid, a horny high-school girl,
a guitar toting, Vespa riding woman and a robot that sprouts from a kid's
forehead.
Simply put, there's no easy way to describe this series. What starts off
as a weird comedy evolves into an incredibly intelligent sci-fi series
with comedic elements to it. You can ask yourself a million questions and
answer them each a dozen ways about the things that go on. Like how does
Haruko fit into the picture or the same thing with Mamimi. At first
glance, Haruko seems like just a troublemaker that gets in the way of
Naota (and the horn growing from his forehead). But when she strikes him
on the head with her guitar, the robot stuck in Naota's head is freed.
Mamimi, is just a distraction for Naota to deal with, because she is her
brother's girlfriend. Although it doesn't make sense why she chose Naota
to flirt with. Even Naota's father is of no help, he just wants to be with
Haruko and will even fight his own son for her. Large eyebrows? An iron on
a hill? It doesn't make any sense. But in the end, it does.
The
animation and art concepts for FLCL are absolutely incredible.
There's no way to put down the art style, even when it switches to a mode
where manga is used to tell the story, the manga is even animated which
adds to further enjoyment because it fits the mood of the scene. The
soundtrack finishes this anime very solidly and is great. The soundtrack
was done by a J-Rock group called The Pillows and their songs from the
title theme, to the various singles used in the anime are catchy and well
used.
Finally, the humor in this was fun and easy to get into. There's a bit of
play on words, some slapstick humor and other forms of humor. Many
intelligent, some just really odd (eyebrows? the hell?), but altogether
the humor is just another plus to FLCL's acclaim. So where does
this end? Unfortunately, its only six episodes long. I wish it had been
longer, and believe me when I say that it makes infinitely more sense than
Evangelion.
Slacker's Final Thoughts
Incredibly original attack to a fairly
"overdone" story line. Great art, music and animation.
Surprisingly funny and a good time the entire six episodes.
Story: 9/10
Design: 10/10
Animation: 10/10
Sound & Music: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Awards:
