Introduction #
Section “Alternative” looks at Alternative unrelated to FLCL. Section “FLCL” looks at Alternative as an FLCL entry. “Overall Conclusion” is self-explanatory. There are some comments in the “Alternative” section that are influenced by me having seen classic first but that is unavoidable. I tried my best to separate these angles so I hope it is satisfactory.
Alternative #
Alternative misses it’s potential evident in the show while also having a weak foundation to the point the lost potential is the only remnant of something good.
Visuals and Sound #
Alt’s first few minutes shows promising visual creativity by displaying cute doodles scattered around scenery. The next creative snippet would be at the opposite point of the show, the end. Even that snippet is a style rip-off of Diebuster. This quality is absent from the rest of the show. Alt has the capability of being visually creative as shown yet doesn’t capitalize on that. It doesn’t use the quality seen in select few cuts sprinkled throughout the show often either. In-between these cuts Alt could be mistaken for any other show. The only visual highlights are the plenty of fun faces but they don’t shine bright enough to get through the muck of the other visuals. The character designs are another part of the muck. The one thing that does shine through is the visual flair in the ending theme, unfortunately found nowhere else.
The vast majority of the music is forgettable BGM. It hardly compliments or adds anything to the show. It’s filler in-between Pillows songs. The Pillows re-recorded 12 songs from their past albums and one new song for this. The re-recordings are hit or miss compared to the originals but they are still pretty good, albeit in low quantity. Despite having such a great band onboard not only are there few songs done in total, they are hardly used at all. There are two episodes with only one song used, one used at the start of an episode and another at the end. The scarcity of the songs makes the BGM stick out like a sore thumb. It begs the question, why didn’t they go all in? The one song made for the show, Star Overhead, is an awesome song and a delightful ending theme.
Plot & “Characters” #
Alt at large focuses on what it calls characters but unfortunately none exist. The things called characters in Alt are plot devices and to the best extent have one to two traits. Kana likes having friends and doesn’t like change. Mossan likes Dr. Pepper and clothes. Hijiri is “mature”. Pets doesn’t have much of a trait. She gets a few lines before the plot uses her. Her time in the spotlight is short-lived and nowhere near enough time to develop even one trait. Haruko is fine which is the best of any character’s quality, but still ends up feeling pointless. There’s a few more with even less to say about them, but those are the “main” devices. Alt’s focus on these devices manifests as an episode for each device, plus an introduction and conclusion. This format has the side effect of highlighting the shallowness of the devices. Throughout all these episodes, one of the focal points is Kana resisting change. She attempts to stop anything around her changing, even if it’s for the best. She does fail at times but it has no effect on her. She is unable to look back at what’s happened and change herself from it. None of the other characters change at all either. They have some things happen to/around them then continue on like nothing ever happened. Eventually when a change comes about that cannot get ignored, denied, or “solved” through traditional means, Kana does not accept it nor move on. In the end the show sends the message to resist change and preserve the status quo. Preserving the status quo is fine and all in some cases, but in others, you need to accept change and move on with your life. Kana doesn’t, and she gets what she wants. Most of the time here in the non-anime world, you won’t. What is there to get out of this? Anime characters don’t have to accept change? Because that doesn’t apply to the real world.
Conclusion #
Alternative fails at being CGDCT-like by forgoing the characters. It makes me question what exactly it was trying to be, to which there is no clear answer.
FLCL Alternative #
Despite classic’s legacy, having the FLCL name is not a death sentence due to impossible expectations. But not understanding what made classic a classic nor understanding it’s own weaknesses and strengths is.
Visuals and Sound #
The absurd amount of sakuga is one of the many aspects that makes classic shine and one of the hardest aspects to recreate. With that considered, there are a fine number of anime coming out today with stellar animation. None quite compare to classic, but a sequel could still be satisfactory with a similar amount. Then other aspects could have made up for the missing bits. Comparing FLCL Alternative’s visuals and animation to the even the mediocre anime coming out is still a sad affair. Yet it’s not only the animation quality that made the classic’s visuals so good, it was the creativity. All sorts of interesting angles and styles meshed to make classic’s visuals. FLCL Alternative shows little glimpses of visual creativity but in the end the number of glimpses is two. With neither of these aspects anywhere near something decent, it fails.
FLCL Alternative shares it’s entire soundtrack with FLCL Progressive. In total, there are 14 songs, with one end theme for each so there are 12 used in the meat of the show. Three of these twelve were present in classic. Classic had already perfected the usage of it’s entire soundtrack, you’d be asking to get yourself compared by using the same ones. The tracks seem to be a compromise between the two sequels because none of them fit either show quite right. Instead of making the best of it, Alternative opts to push the tracks to the sidelines. In episode three, there is an instrumental used at the start and that’s it for that episode. In episode four, thirty or so seconds of Little Busters plays at the end and that’s it. The other episodes are bad when it comes to music usage too but these are the worst. Classic wouldn’t be what it is if it did something like that. Due to the lack of Pillows overall, the instrumentals stick out. Only a few of the few songs used included lyrics. The instrumentals in classic worked well because they got used in harmony with the full songs, not because they were alone. The Pillows are a core part of FLCL’s identity, another part that FLCL Alternative discards.
Plot & “Characters” #
The plot devices pale in comparison to characters like Haruko’s classic depiction, Naota, Maimimi, Amarao, Ninamori, and others. While not all the characters in classic may have been notably complex, none of them were one-notes. They were all a joy to see on screen. But it is a strange decision to bring Haruko back. No one character is the face of classic, it’s all the elements together that creates classic. She feels shoehorned in because they had to make it FLCL, almost like they didn’t even want to make an FLCL entry. Even if not, all of the character’s in classic ended in classic. That story ended, but the spirit could move to a new cast. FLCL Alternative resists moving on. Yet, FLCL Alternative throws all other classic aspects out the window. It’s a show of contradictions on it’s own identity. Classic made it’s identity and has lasted 19 years and counting. Classic could get enjoyed both on the surface and at a deeper level. FLCL Alternative does not have anything going on at the surface to enjoy, and the “deeper” level is to resist change. It’s an insult to compare that to classic.
Conclusion #
Classic worked because every aspect is perfected and worked in unison. FLCL Alternative lacks aspects with depth and flows suffering from discord, bringing shame to the name FLCL.
Overall Conclusion #
Alternative keeps Haruko, but ignores Atomsk. Alternative keeps Medical Mechanica, keeps the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration as a side note. Alternative keeps N.O, but doesn’t understand what it is. Alternative keeps The Pillows, but uses them as little as possible. Alternative discarded most of what made classic good, yet keeps these classic elements. The CGDCT inside of it holds the FLCL inside back, and the FLCL inside of it holds the CGDCT back. Alternative suffers from an identity crisis, failing to be FLCL and whatever it was that it wished to be.
2/10