»

FarawayAdmirer's FLCL Tv Review

FLCL

FLCL tv Review

Story & Characters

Fooly Cooly (yes, its Fooly Cooly :P Check Episode 6, last few scenes ) is one of the most strange anime series that you will ever see in your entire life. Created by the people at GAINAX, FLCL is a viewing experience you wont forget. One might say that FLCL lacks in story department, but this, upon closer inspection, is untrue. The basic idea, a semi-coming of age genre-ish story, but is much more. The story delves into philosophical ideas and has many themes that intertwine throughout the 6 episode series. From Naota's brother leaving for America, to the flavor of Naota's curry, most happenings have some deeper meaning that says something special. The story will force you to actually look at the plot, look at the story, look at the scenes, and think about why its relevant. You have to think about what each thing represents. To start you off, pay attention to the references to tastes and taste preference. The tastes reflect the personality or mind set of each of the characters. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself.

Rating: 10

Art

The art in Fooly Cooly is quite good. The quality of the animation starts out great and stays at that quality throughout the series. The physical character designs are pleasing to the eye, and the setting is drawn quite well. Now for a bit of FLCL trivia. Have you ever tried to find FLCL cels and find none? Don't be so surprised, because they don't exist. FLCL was done entirely in CGI. Most (if not all) viewers would never know the difference until they are told so. The quality of the art is that good, good enough to pass CGI for hand-drawn perfectly.

Rating: 10

Sound

The sound in FLCL is of very good quality. The first thing a viewer will notice (at least what I noticed at first :P), is the background music. Almost all of the music in FLCL is done by a band known as The Pillows. Their j-rock music fits the many different moods of FLCL as if they were born for each other. Each scene syncronizes flawlessly with the mood of the music. The music will have you scrambling for a copy of Ride On Shooting Stars (it's the guitar rifts, I tell you :O) or singing along to Little Busters. The sound quality stays constant throughout and is good. The original VAs are awesome. Naota's voice was one of my favorites. Throughout the story, Naota would make comments, thoughts, some of them profound. When it was something he was thinking about, that was important philosophically, you could hear it in his voice. That, unfortunately, is lost in the dub, but the dub has nothing major to complain about. Also, the made fine choices for the VAs for Haruko in both versions. They both handle the crazy nature of the "wandering helper person" quite well.

Rating: 10

Presentation

FLCL was presented in a way that was unforgettable. From the very first scene, to the very last, GAINAX had a unique way of approaching FLCL that can't be described in words. It will weird you out. It will intrigue you. It will blow your mind. It will confuse you in such a way, that you will feel strangely satisfied with the anime. It has quite a bit of humor, and parodies a few animes and American Pop Culture references along the way. It is an anime that will bring you back to watching it over and over, whether it be to get a better understanding of it, or just for your enjoyment. Some say they find FLCL confusing. At times, it is. It is a plot, with complex themes tied around it, with an insane, action-packed exterior. Some scenes will seem quite weird, and when threaded together, make you feel that this was made while on an illegal drug. But that is just something that makes Fooly Cooly what it is. FLCL is definitely one of the best animes I have seen. If anything, FLCL will be something you will never forget.

Rating: 10

Final Verdict

10.0000 (excellent)

Reviewed by FarawayAdmirer, Oct 12, 2004

Comments

  1. hikarujm Oct 14, 2004

    Very good review, I like the series a lot but I have only seen it once a long time ago, I'll repeat it soon :D
    Anyway, thanks for the hard work, you make a great description of the serie XD

  2. bluegender Oct 16, 2004

    i love the series i just wish it was longer. all of my friends that i showed; loved the show after they figured it out. FLCL is anime of it's own type and i know i will never forget it.

  3. GaiJiN Oct 17, 2004

    Very good review for a very good anime :) . I agree with all what you said. Btw, for those who have trouble in understanding the serie, there is also a manga which may help out a bit :) .

  4. FarawayAdmirer Oct 18, 2004

    Quote by bluegenderi love the series i just wish it was longer. all of my friends that i
    showed; loved the show after they figured it out. FLCL is anime of it's
    own type and i know i will never forget it.

    In my opinion, if it was longer, it would not have ended in quite the same way. Something tells me it would not have been as good of an ending if it was longer.

    Quote by GaiJiNVery good review for a very good anime :) . I agree with all what you
    said. Btw, for those who have trouble in understanding the serie, there
    is also a manga which may help out a bit :) .

    I heard they changed a quite a bit of stuff from when they transfered from anime to manga, though I haven't read it myself. I'm interested in how they did the manga scenes from epi one and epi six, though.

    Thanks for the comments, everyone ^_^

  5. candy-chan Retired Moderator Oct 29, 2004

    good review but I see 2 flaws in it: perfect mark is impossible, a good crittic never gives 10/10. And your not giving any setting explanations, I know furi kuri (I remember seeing it written furi kuri, besides its nearer the real jap pronunciation XP) isn't the normal anime where there is no problem explaining the story but someone who has never heard about it should at least know how it begins and the kind of things that happen during the show.

  6. FarawayAdmirer Nov 08, 2004

    It clearly says "Fooly Cooly" in the magazine near the end of Episode Six under the photo of Naota holding the guitar. Anyway...I wasn't going to give FLCL a full score, the Plot was going to 9.5 :P Though I wish I could edit my review, since I noticed something about the artwork over the weekend, watching FLCL over again :/

    First, another new tidbit about the art. I find it funny that gainax would be very detailed in certain scenes (usually kind of unnessicary), but are a bit sloppy in the rest. If you notice, in almost all the scenes, the drawing is defined and clear in the center, but as you move farther away from the center, it gets fuzzier and fuzzier until its just white space. Just look the next time you watch. And now for the very, very detailed. If you freeze frame Episode 6 after the manga scene, you'll, at some point, see Naota's Grandfather in a Superman costume flying away. Very weird, eh? So Art goes to 8.5 /10 (round up to nine, I suppose), since the details do fade away on the edges, but I never noticed it at first, and all of you probably didn't either :P Also, I'm wondering if they did it on purpose for thematical effect...

    And I suppose I had skipped that part about how it begins ^_^;; I guess I was afraid I would reveal too much...though thats not much of an excuse, is it? Well...to poorly make up for that, I'll place a short synopsis right here...

    "Fooly Cooly is the story of a boy named Naota, who lives his life in town called Mabase, where 'Nothing amazing happens. Only the ordinary.' That is, until a girl named Haruhara Haruko rides into town on her Vespa and runs him over, turning his world upside-down. Soon, Robots start sprouting out of his head, all that is there to combat them, are Haruko and her heavily modified Rickenbacker bass, and...well, if I told you more, I'd ruin the first epi :P So, go watch it for yourself. Watch out for eyebrows :D"

    btw, you are right. I'm only an amateur reviewer, as this is the first review I've ever written.

  7. Valenth Nov 13, 2004

    woah O.O full scores for a fully great anime haha. Loved the first episode best, one of the most interesting anime I've seen so far.
    Has great anime Art as many differant styles were used including a nicely done 3D matrix style graphics in ep1 haha.
    Story is great but too bad its quite short =(

  8. Deedles Nov 25, 2004

    Thank you for your review! This is certainly one of my favorite Animes of all time, I have watched it so many times and I still find it just as weird, funny and interesting as I did the first time!

  9. Autumn Nov 26, 2004

    Oh great anime. The manga even better but still at first it confused me but then near the last episode they played I got it.

  10. Monkzup Dec 05, 2004

    I'm glad there are so many people who appreciate FLCL for how good it is. Though I don't agree entirely with giving it 10/10 on everything (Though it's still my favorite anime ever) I think you did a good job reviewing it.

  11. Shishkabible88 Dec 06, 2005

    yes i agree with u totally finaly sum 1 else that gets this show so hard to find ppl that get it cuz its so bizarre well any way good going man u made an awesome review of an awesome show i wouldnt of given it a 10/10 maybe a 9.5 cuz its art work and music are for sure 10's

  12. foxmagic71851 Banned Member Jan 29, 2007

    i cant stand it!

  13. nainoi Sep 26, 2009

    I agree with you. Thanks.

  14. Siri Nov 13, 2009

    I'm with fox magic. I guess this anime is a hit or miss?

  15. rukasu44 Dec 25, 2010

    Funny anime, what is that maid? xD

  16. mbeckley Apr 27, 2011

    Very nice review on FLCL. I didnt understand and liked the anime at first. As I gotten older, I understood it, and I learned the hidden themes and msgs within it. I enjoyed watching it. Great job on the review. :)

  17. angelxxuan Banned Member May 23, 2012

    seriously would not have rated it so highly, but this has got to be the most random of random anime to ever be seen by the naked eye. any fan of comedy anime (and since I'm not) is still going to enjoy this anime because it's so refreshing and unique.

  18. Drakill Jun 04, 2012

    This was a cool (and weird) anime. Pitty it wasn't longer.
    I wouldn't have given it 10/10 though. Maybe 9/10.

  19. ThePromiseLand Jun 14, 2012

    Awesome review, I like how you went to every detail about the show just by breaking it down into categories, and I must say I learned a liitle bit more of the show just by the way you set it up. Thank for sharing your review to us :)

  20. YHE Jan 20, 2014

    Yeah I agree with the high rating. This anime is so amazing. The six episode is so efficient and they put out a good story, although I want it to still continue. The comedy, action, and a little romance is awesome. It enlightens my mood. Nice Review :)))

  21. back07 Jan 26, 2014

    nice review, i want to try to watch it
    :)

page 1 of 1 21 total items

Only members can post replies, please register.

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Read more.