PART 3: RESTORATION
You can make a myriad of arguments for how beautifully FLCL captures the concept of art imitating life, and this FLCL Week I am using Sameji as my chosen vessel to make another contribution to that argument.
Despite Sameji’s rather tragic background and irrefutable actions in the series, she actually undergoes some maturity that makes me have more respect for the character.
For a person like Sameji, characterized as a socially excluded, homeless delinquent who skips school, smokes cigarettes, and has an awkward obsession with someone who’s no longer around, it’s hard to really care. Not just as a character in an anime, but as a person because whether or not you believe it, have experienced it, or even if you happen to be in a position that’s eerily similar, there are real people that can relate to this character. Some may find it extremely weird that I’m putting so much of my time and effort to analyze and appreciate a fictional character; and to that I say:
(first “What are you doing here? Get lost."
Art imitates life.
If someone were to ask me: “So you think Samejima Mamimi from FLCL is a real person?”
I would respond: “No, but her story is real for some people”
For all we know Sameji could have been inspired by an actual person, or someone is having an experience that is almost exactly like Sameji.
Well I think I’ve made my argument several times over so off of this tangent…
Yes, it would be hard for people to actually care. Naota sure didn’t for quite some time. Nevertheless, over the course of FLCL, Sameji actually had some serious character development. She was able to cope with her obsession with Tasuku, overcome it, and then pursue what she was passionate about.
In episodes 5 and 6 she uses the Terminal Core as a conduit of her will, again, calling it “Takkun.” However, she later abandons her obsession of Tasuku by letting the Terminal Core eat her phone that had his number in it.
In episode 5 after Naota tries to requite feelings for Sameji she rejects (THE SHIT OUT OF) him, letting go of her attachment to Tasuku by denying a response from her proxy. It would take a lot of growth for someone to do something like that—almost like choosing to quit smoking cigarettes or overcoming an addiction by sheer willpower (I would use the phrase “quitting cold turkey” but not everyone knows that).
In the end she pursues photography as her means of finding herself in the world, hopefully now free from her pattern of destructive behaviors. And that’s something that I think everyone can understand. Whether it be getting out of a bad relationship or moving onto the next chapter of your life, it is Sameji’s book-end to the theme of adulthood and maturity that FLCL is prided for representing. That’s something that a 14-year-old me couldn’t comprehend so well, but a now 20-year-old me has somewhat of an understanding about.
While Sameji’s not your typical character, and still not my favorite, after sticking with such an amazing show for so long and still being on the edge of my seat for season 2 to arrive, I look back on how this show has aged on me and still I can find new things about it that can resonate with others in a way that may not be understood the first go-round, and that is one of the most beautiful and amazing features of FLCL that cannot be overlooked.
-Fin-
So that's my project for this year, it only took me a few days to write it, but with all of the stuff I was doing around the time it took a lot longer to post it, so I hope you enjoy it.
