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The slum part outside of the fake arms dealing is actually fairly realistic (though exaggerated comedically) outside of Japan. Definitely evocative of actual recycling slums in third world countries, which I have to wonder was intentional. Given some kind of unseen medical mechanica event happened with all those irons around, I have to think it's meant to be a post hyper-disaster Japan. Edit: autocorrect fixes. Ultraklystron fucked around with this message at 09:49 on Jun 22, 2018 |
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Jun 22, 2018 03:41
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If the whole show was a post apocalyptic Japan with third world slums in it and everything centered around pellet guns... that'd be okay.
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Jun 22, 2018 05:13
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I felt the whole slums thing was just an exaggerated/quick way for them to show that Ide was one of those tragic/hardworking but humble anime trope characters. His fat friend's monologue to Hidomi during that segment was pretty tongue-in-cheek. It kinda seems like a FLCL-ish thing to do - using a superfast parody as a story telling technique to reveal that Ide is a stereotypical anime protagonist. I can see what they're trying to do with the story but Progressive feels more like a combination of Diebuster and Kill La Kill with Haruko thrown in. Hidomi and Ide are pretty cute together though so I don't mind it. I did not have any expectations for it to recapture the original FLCL anyways.
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Jun 22, 2018 12:14
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Julias posted:I kinda feel like this might be the point. *strums those chords*
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Jun 22, 2018 14:04
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I think they're also working in a bit of different space than FLCL just by choice of character focus. The original show is largely a boy's coming of age where he learns his attempted maturity is actually more immature than acting his age, while any sort of discussion of the adolescence of girls is an aside or in service to Naota's journey. It has lot Freudian imagery and fast cuts, but it's basically similar to most Gainax teen/preteen boy led stories at the time - boy with missing mother gets God like power, chases after a girl with that power, he has father issues, and he gets over them, intact reality optional, as in Eva, FLCL & even Abenobashi. Progressive is flipping that, both by focusing on Hidomi and her adolescence with the boys' stories on periphery, and by having her core conflict not be so much a Freudian struggle with attempting to be too mature too soon (a borderline Oedipal complex?), but more of Lacanian or even Zizek-like death impulse/drive. This is almost explicitly stated in episode 3 by Jinyu - she and Haruko keep pursuing things because the journey to that goal itself has become it's own pleasure even though it's futile. Noata wanted to be an adult and acted childish, Hidomi doesn't even want to be, but also doesn't just want to let go because then she'd lose the pleasure of not wanting to be. Both are very adolescent conflicts, but the notes that'll be hit will be more harmonic than identical, and that's by necessity. (Aside, Alternative seems to round out the set by having Kana's conflict be one of arrested development. Naota is 12 trying to be 20, Kana is 17 looking back to 7 with her "I wish a magic cat would give me a wand" business and her nostalgia for her warn loafers.) Anyway, Ide's poverty is probably an intentional parallel to Mamimi's poverty, while Mori's compensated dating debacle is probably a parallel to Ninamori's contacts/glasses and her play casting, ballot box stuffing debacle. Also, Hidomi has an absentee dad, while her mom seems relatively together and sharp, the inverse of Naota's missing mom and flaky doujinshi writing dad. Those are probably the kind of flips/parallels to keep an eye out for going forward I'd think.
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Jun 22, 2018 14:19
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I just had a chance to watch FLCL Alternative (episode 1) and found it to be vastly better quality and way more coherent than Progressive. I'm still holding on to final judgment of Progressive until I see the last episodes, but so far I'm pretty unimpressed. I think there are good points by Ultraklystron and others, but it just doesn't grab me like the original FLCL did.
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Jun 23, 2018 00:15
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Haruhara Haruko (16) E: I think this episode did a whole lot of good for the series, wow. Waffleman_ fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Jun 24, 2018 |
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Jun 24, 2018 05:07
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Waffleman_ posted:Haruhara Haruko (16) i don't think she's entirely lying about her age there. hasn't it been 16 years since the first FLCL in this show? It's possible that the Haruko in Progressive (i.e. sans the parts of her that Jinyu represents) is actually 16 years old
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Jun 24, 2018 05:49
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haruha raharu is a scary crazy lady
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Jun 24, 2018 05:55
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This was pointed out in the Toonami thread, but she really IS a Vespa Woman.
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Jun 24, 2018 05:55
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DC Murderverse posted:i don't think she's entirely lying about her age there. hasn't it been 16 years since the first FLCL in this show? It's possible that the Haruko in Progressive (i.e. sans the parts of her that Jinyu represents) is actually 16 years old It's been 18 years since the first episode of the original FLCL was released, so... yeah, that math works with some time for her to track down Atomsk again. Puts Naota in his early thirties, if he does show again.
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Jun 24, 2018 06:32
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The only way he should show up is some dude walking by, noticing Haruko, and immediately turning around and walking the other way. And it's never commented on at all.
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Jun 24, 2018 08:31
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtGDWAJShXc
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Jun 24, 2018 22:58
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I'm curious to hear the oppinion of someone who never saw the original, let alone rewatched it 4 or 5 times. A lot of my initial reaction is how it seems more restrained and less upfront weird, but I can see it being plenty confusing not knowing what happened in the first season. Setting aside the metaphorical for a moment, and looking just at the text of the story as presented, FLCL didn't make any sense until the last few episodes. Going back for a rewatch, the whole thing seemed so much different, and way less confusing. Going in to Progressive, though, I know who Haruko is and what she is doing right of the bat, I know what N.O. is, I know who Atomsk is and why Haruko is after him, I know (sort of) what Medical Mechanica is. From that point is isn't too hard to piece together who Jinyu is and the rest of the story sort of falls into place. I mean, yeah, there's questions left to be answered, but I'm not getting the sense of mystery I got from the original. I feel like it's all being explained, but there are enough points where I've filled in the blanks based on the original, though. If you didn't know any of that stuff it might be incomprehensible.
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Jun 25, 2018 08:20
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Mulva posted:The only way he should show up is some dude walking by, noticing Haruko, and immediately turning around and walking the other way. And it's never commented on at all. Doesn't really seem like Naota. Especially not with how the first season wrapped. I'd figure he'd be more in the "Look up, see Haruko, sigh, return to doing what he was doing" category.
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Jun 25, 2018 10:23
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yum posted:I felt the whole slums thing was just an exaggerated/quick way for them to show that Ide was one of those tragic/hardworking but humble anime trope characters. His fat friend's monologue to Hidomi during that segment was pretty tongue-in-cheek. It kinda seems like a FLCL-ish thing to do - using a superfast parody as a story telling technique to reveal that Ide is a stereotypical anime protagonist. I feel like that whole scene would have read more "FLCL"-ish if the slum was broken down like a set piece and the characters walked off revealing they were actors at the end and just revealed that Ide lived in the generically poor part of town. Maybe just helping in his parents garage. Maybe with Hidomi adding "What? Set dressing?" as they shuffled off. I'd have to go rewatch season 1 to be sure, but I think that kind of joke was used once or twice in the original.
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Jun 25, 2018 13:32
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Is there going to be a longer version of Spiky Seeds? I kinda love that song but it's only a minute long.
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Jun 25, 2018 13:56
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That one episode of alternative has me wanting for more. The way the girls are written remind me of my highschool/university friends.
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Jun 25, 2018 14:01
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Electric Phantasm posted:Is there going to be a longer version of Spiky Seeds? I kinda love that song but it's only a minute long. Probably when the OST drops.
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Jun 25, 2018 14:27
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Crain posted:I feel like that whole scene would have read more "FLCL"-ish if the slum was broken down like a set piece and the characters walked off revealing they were actors at the end and just revealed that Ide lived in the generically poor part of town. Maybe just helping in his parents garage. That sounds more like FLCL tbh. I was a little surprised with how, despite being portrayed comically, Ide's situation was real and not just an exaggerated set piece. It makes the world less similar to our own (barring the teleporting robots and giant iron in the middle of the town) and dampens impact of the wacky cartoon violence of Haruko imo. The original FLCL setting was pretty realistic -"nothing exciting ever happens here", which made Haruko contrast and stand out more. Progressive has wacky poo poo happening all the time, it's really a different feeling compared to the original.
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Jun 25, 2018 17:04
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To be fair the world is a very different place now compared to 2000 when the first FLCL came out. Since then we’ve had 9/11, the Fukushima Disaster, the internet taking off in a way it hadn’t done yet even compared to 2000 etc. To some extent Progressive should feel different, since time has progressed since then.
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Jun 25, 2018 17:31
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Despite anything else you might say about Progressive, the music is still on point. The new tracks give me the exact same feelings the old ones did, even if the show itself doesn't. I already knew as soon as the series was announced that not getting The Pillows would have been a dealbreaker, but I was preparing myself for them having changed enough over time to not be the same anyway, and boy was I wrong.
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Jun 25, 2018 21:35
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Yea the music is still great. Also I would not know how it would be like to not first get to experience FLCL late at night as a kid, being completely confused only to revisit it years later.
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Jun 25, 2018 21:38
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yum posted:That sounds more like FLCL tbh. I was a little surprised with how, despite being portrayed comically, Ide's situation was real and not just an exaggerated set piece. It makes the world less similar to our own (barring the teleporting robots and giant iron in the middle of the town) and dampens impact of the wacky cartoon violence of Haruko imo. if anything, iide's living situation makes a lot more sense in today's world than the nandabas' would a family living in a modest two-story home with attached balcony whose only breadwinner (dohoho) is a manchild baker/tabloid journalist, geddafuckouttahere Funkmaster General posted:Despite anything else you might say about Progressive, the music is still on point. The new tracks give me the exact same feelings the old ones did, even if the show itself doesn't. I already knew as soon as the series was announced that not getting The Pillows would have been a dealbreaker, but I was preparing myself for them having changed enough over time to not be the same anyway, and boy was I wrong. the new tracks are fine, but with the exception of My Twilight in the intro none of them have been allowed to really dominate a scene like they did virtually once per episode in the original series (Hybrid Rainbow, Crazy Sunshine, BLUES DRIVE MONSTER, I THINK I CAN etc) we don't even get a nice crunchy sendoff per ep a la "Little Busters," but i don't mind that as much since Progressive doesn't seem to go for catharsis quite like the original series did Oxxidation fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Jun 25, 2018 |
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Jun 25, 2018 22:03
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Also the “nothing amazing happens here” line is said by the depressed, to the point of death/do nothing until you rot fantasies, girl
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Jun 25, 2018 22:08
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Only sad thing with the new music is that it's gonna be hard to top Last Dinosaur.
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Jun 25, 2018 22:37
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yum posted:The original FLCL setting was pretty realistic -"nothing exciting ever happens here", which made Haruko contrast and stand out more. Progressive has wacky poo poo happening all the time, it's really a different feeling compared to the original. I think a lot of can be ascribed on the main character(s) and the their world focus. FLCL1's Naota was a gradeschooler just barely becoming aware of the world, and he hates it. At that age you're still somewhat ignorant of how weird and strange the world can be. So even if there is a lot of strange stuff, it may not stand out. At the start of the the series he's super cynical of what he thinks the "adult world" is. But suddenly, with Haruko showing up, he's exposed to more and more strange things. That's also not only focused on other worldly elements either; Amarao and Kitsurubami are from earth too, their job and existence is just equally weird. By the end of FLCL1, these elements end up being an accepted part of Naota's world. Canti is/was simply a part of the family, monsters just show up, and Naota simply accepts it and moves on to High School. FLCL Progressive however already starts basically where FLCL1 ended. We have highschoolers instead of gradeschoolers and they're probably already aware of, if not used to, a certain amount of weird poo poo and they're apathetic to it. Plus as Raxivace said, the world has moved on and what happened in Mabase and the potential Medical Mechanica takeover or spread has had a major effect on that. The weirdness of robots and aliens isn't a driving force here, so time isn't wasted on it. Almost all of the characters are more concerned with where they fit into everything and deciding to either hide themselves (Hidomi), struggle to meet expectations (Ide), or just blindly trying to build an identity (Mori). Marco's just sorta here. In FLCL1, the answer to "Nothing amazing happens here" is "Nah, the world is weird". In FLCL Progressive we know the world is weird, so the lesson is "You're weird". Oxxidation posted:BLUES DRIVE MONSTER Nothing will supplant BDM as my favorite FLCL song.
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Jun 25, 2018 23:07
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Crain posted:Nothing will supplant BDM as my favorite FLCL song.
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Jun 26, 2018 00:48
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I've been pretty disappointed in the music usage, personally. FLCL's action setpieces were like music videos and really let the music set their pacing and atmosphere, whereas the music usage here has been typically very much quietly happening in the background of scenes that largely ignore them. Also, pretty much all of the instrumentals used have been vaguely-pillows-ish soundalikes from other producers, which is a shame. With nearly two decades' worth of new pillows releases to pull from since FLCL came out in 2000, the only explanation I can imagine for this is that there were licensing problems or they couldn't get master recordings to isolate the vocals out of. esselfortium fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Jun 26, 2018 |
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Jun 26, 2018 02:18
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Oxxidation posted:if anything, iide's living situation makes a lot more sense in today's world than the nandabas' would Haha, yeah, that did seem a tad unrealistic. Maybe Naoto's dad was retired and had a sick pension or something. Crain posted:
This makes a lot of sense actually. Thanks for the writeup Re: the music Loved the op and the ed for progressive. Twilight got me relistening to the Pillows discography again. I bet they're saving the music showcasing for episode 6 finale though yum fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Jun 26, 2018 |
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Jun 26, 2018 02:38
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Funkmaster General posted:Despite anything else you might say about Progressive, the music is still on point. The new tracks give me the exact same feelings the old ones did, even if the show itself doesn't. I already knew as soon as the series was announced that not getting The Pillows would have been a dealbreaker, but I was preparing myself for them having changed enough over time to not be the same anyway, and boy was I wrong. The tracks feel the same because many of them were recorded back when the original FLCL’s songs were. Thank You, My Twilight was released in 2002. I will agree with the music not dominating the scenes as much as the original, though. I don’t think it’s because the songs don’t hold up as well, I think they’re all very strong, I think it’s more a problem of the direction, unfortunately. I kinda just wish they’d crank up the volume on a lot of them, I JUST WANNA ROCK OUT. Also I'm throwing out a crazy theory that the old man is Naota, and red hair guy is possibly Amarao's son? We have no way of knowing how long it's been since the original series, and there are ruins of old MM factories around, so it could have been a very very long time. We also still have the mystery of who Hidomi's mom was wistfully remembering back in the first episode. CodfishCartographer fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Jun 26, 2018 |
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Jun 26, 2018 17:05
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CodfishCartographer posted:Also I'm throwing out a crazy theory that the old man is Naota, and red hair guy is possibly Amarao's son? We have no way of knowing how long it's been since the original series, and there are ruins of old MM factories around, so it could have been a very very long time. We also still have the mystery of who Hidomi's mom was wistfully remembering back in the first episode. It was her husband / Hidomi's father that her mother was talking about. And I actually expect THAT to be Naota. It would neatly explain why Medical Mechanica had an interest in Hidomi specifically and preventing her from being used as an NO portal by way of the headphones (which are implied to have been a gift from her father), when none of the other students have such devices.
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Jun 26, 2018 17:37
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Funkmaster General posted:It was her husband / Hidomi's father that her mother was talking about. And I actually expect THAT to be Naota. It would neatly explain why Medical Mechanica had an interest in Hidomi specifically and preventing her from being used as an NO portal by way of the headphones (which are implied to have been a gift from her father), when none of the other students have such devices. my good boy is not a rolling stone, you take that back
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Jun 26, 2018 18:19
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I want a show about rent-a-date girl.
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Jun 26, 2018 18:31
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esselfortium posted:I want a show about rent-a-date girl. I want a scene where she is nearly out of things to trade for the money and she hands a boy a stack of old zines that was made by Naota's dad. Whoever the guy is he just has that as "Evidence" along with the robot.
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Jun 26, 2018 18:40
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Oxxidation posted:my good boy is not a rolling stone, you take that back Considering Hidomi would have to be born while Naota was in high school, the thematics seem kind of odd too. Naota's arc was about accepting being a kid, not having to be mature beyond his years. Being a father before he's sixteen doesn't fit too well with that growth. Not impossible to make work, maybe, but odd.
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Jun 26, 2018 19:37
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chiasaur11 posted:Considering Hidomi would have to be born while Naota was in high school, the thematics seem kind of odd too. Naota's arc was about accepting being a kid, not having to be mature beyond his years. Have we seen any kind of proof one way or the other at the timeline? As for things shown in the show itself, it very easily could take place 30 or 40 years after the original.
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Jun 26, 2018 19:47
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With the themes of depression running with Hitomi so far, I’m surprised nobody’s brought up her behavior in ep 4. The whole over-the-top happiness thing, reminds me of depressed people trying to “act” happy and cover up their true feelings. I haven’t rewatched the episode yet, but I’m wondering if there’s more to that or not. Also, RIP Jinyu. I wonder if that weird monstrous version of Haruko is her "real" form, or if it's just cartoony exaggeration?
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Jun 26, 2018 20:45
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chiasaur11 posted:Considering Hidomi would have to be born while Naota was in high school Based on.... what, exactly? We have no idea how long it's been since the events of FLCL. It could have been a hundred years ago, or it could have been three months. The only clues we have regarding that, as far as I know, are the presence of slightly more advances technology (smartphones) and that at this point its been at least two months since Haruko has been stalking Hidomi.
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Jun 27, 2018 02:38
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Also at some point the medical mechanica factory got adjusted to no longer be at an angle, like it was at the end of the original.
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Jun 27, 2018 05:33
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