While I didn’t like the fact that season 2’s art and animation bit the dust, I can still enjoy the effect that the music has on the series. While it doesn’t inundate you with as much music as season 1 and instead reserves a few key songs throughout each episode and fills some more of the blank space with instrumentals that hit or miss depending on the scene, some of the old songs with a new twist do achieve their purpose.
The best songs of this season are definitely “Thank You, My Twilight” and “Fool on the Planet.” The former being used perfectly in the opening dream sequence of episode 1—-granted, it does get your hopes up as you watch later on, but the few other times it is used it does enhance the scenes it is used in. While those scenes may not have had the build-up necessary to be great, the song does try to pick up the slack by its great composition and the vocal awesomeness that is Sawayo Yamanaka.
“Fool on the Planet” works in this aspect as well, but just not with as much opportunity. Having “Thank You, My Twilight” be used in the aforementioned dream sequence made its utility that much more visible as a song that enhances its scenes.
I’ll diverge from music for a quick minute to talk about the carry-over between season 1 and season 2.
While I feel as if the story was not executed well in terms of Hidomi and Ide’s built-up romantic subplot and Jinyu’s overall existence in the story, there were some things that I think are implied about season 2 from season one.
First, as I stated before, the ending theme suggests that at some point Haruko found the power of Atomsk but was split into 2 personas by it, the orange-haired Raharu and the white-haired Jinyu.
Based on how puerile Raharu is, even more immature and destructive than Haruko was in season 1, I think it implies that Atomsk reverted Haruko to her younger self. In season 1 it was implied that Haruko was between 18 and 21...In season 2 it is outright stated that Raharu is 16. That definitely threw me for a loop when I saw it. While also reverting Haruko to her younger self, it also made Haruko’s conscience separate from her and turn into a new being known as Jinyu. This is why Jinyu doesn’t have an age, because she’s an embodiment of a person’s conscience and not a separate being with a soul or physical entity that ages.
I also believe that between season 1 and season 2, Commander Amarao faced backlash for the events of FLCLimax. He was probably reprimanded for not capturing Haruko or Atomsk and letting Haruko cause so much destruction in Mabase, maybe even exposing their operations. And so, Commander Amarao and his family were probably in debt up to their eye-sockets to where his son, Masurao, the man we see working with Eye Patch, has to help redeem his family. The only reason we are given to believe this is because the Chief of the Immigration Center comments to Masurao “you have tiny eyebrows just like your father.” The eyebrow thing was a pretty specific tie to Commander Amarao’s character, so that couldn’t just be a subtle nod, it had to imply something.
I also believe that maybe in the time between season 1 and season 2 Commander Amarao captures Canti. In episode 6 he is seen doing chores back in Naota’s home, but in season 2 his body is broken up and in custody of Masurao and Eye Patch.
I also believe that the Immigration Agency forced Masurao to let his daughter be turned into a weapon without her knowledge or consent. In episode 4 Eye Patch does say that Aiko is his daughter, but initially I thought it was just him playing the “crazy homeless man” act and shouting gibberish. That’s why she was trying to raise money to “buy her freedom” as Masurao stated in the final episode. He appears to keep his machinations with Eye Patch a secret, but it’s likely that she already knows and Masurao was just trying not to let her hear the top secret info they were discussing.
Side-bar, I also love how Eye Patch pretends to be a crazy street walker who tries to turn people into boxing champions. That had me cracking up!
Also, I like how in season 2 the Amusement Park is used as a giant weapon that utilizes N.O harvested from hormonal teenagers. In season 1 we saw N.O being something that only Naota had, and in episode 3 we saw that Ninamori was able to also do the same, but the anime suggested it’s because she came into physical contact with Naota. I like how season 2 expanded upon the concepts presented in season 1 in a more.
I have considered buying season 2 and season 3 and seeing if I can look into the Director’s Cut for any insight into how these concepts came to be, but I’m not sure if I will just because I don’t want to be disappointed any more than I already am in seasons 2 and 3 because of what I’ve already seen, seasons 2 and 3 were merely cash grabs throttling money off of the name of the original and although Production I.G was giving new animators and creators a chance to take a shot, they were inevitably pigeon-held by trying to make an adaptation of another existing passion-project, so they were stuck between the rock of FLCL and the hard place of trying to be experimental.
