Episode 1: Flying Memory
It’s a very generic first episode, and while it doesn’t bode well as an episode of FLCL, I think for a slice-of-life anime, which is the alternative take on FLCL, it does the job. Here you sort of get a look into the man character, Kana Koumoto, and her relationship with the other “main characters” in her friend group: Hijiri Yajima, the older, more mature, and more attractive of the group. Man “Mossan” Motoyama, the big girl with a heart of gold, and Tomomi “Pets” Hetada, the mellow and silent-type who probably writes poetry and takes philosophy classes.
Their antics dominate the screen-time of FLCL: Alternative, and I personally began to enjoy it. My favorite character has gotta be Mossan. I can sort of understand the hate people give for FLCL: Alternative by sort of going on “fat people stereotypes” and on my third watch of the series, I can admit, some of the jokes or tropes did seem a little shallow, but I think her presence on screen and the entire episode that was dedicated to her displayed such a great, dynamic range of emotions and reactions that made her much more likeable than Pets. While I do like the staple of the stoic, intellectual in the group, as a main character I feel as if you need something a bit more grounded than just having her stay silent, smoke cigarettes, and occasionally crack a joke at the tail end of everyone else piling on comments. Anyways, here’s what you get with episode 1.
(1)White Summer and Green Bicycle, Red Hair with Black Guitar-
This song serves as a sort of opening theme to introduce the action. I often get this song confused with “Unrising Sun” and “You Stood There, Like an Angel.” Generally, I hate titles that are too long in anime—anime titles, video-games titles, etc, I think it’s just too cheesy to require a multitude of words to express the idea of what the creation is.
It appears right at the start of the episode and serves as a backdrop of Kana’s quite relaxing narration with the simplistic chalk-line animations that help outline the world around her while she escapes into her music.
There are no lyrics, considering that the slow and melodious instrumental plays for about 30 seconds before taking a quick spike into the lyrics…You don’t even get to hear the lyrics since the song quickly ends upon Kana’s final 2 words of her narration.
Considering I already don’t like the song, not just because of it’s crazy mouthful but because I honestly just don’t like the low-tempo songs by The Pillows, but it also isn’t done justice by Kana’s narration that starts off as something simple and interesting but descends into another copy of Hidomi’s final narration at the end of season 2. At a certain point you get the idea that Kana’s going to make some sort of esoteric point, but instead you just hear Kana say “I will…” and nothing else as a shooting rocket complements the title card. Anyways, moving on you get to hear
(2)My Foot-
It was really difficult to pick this song out of the very many instrumentals that dominate the in-between scenes, but this song underscores the brief shopping montage as the main point of the episode, the team creating a large bottle rocket, occurs in a matter-of-fact fashion. It’s not very appealing to look at since the animation is a mix of still images and brief animations of the girls talking without any actual dialogue until the song ends in a rushed fashion as the project is finished.
I’m not going to go over the lyrics again because the music and the lyrics both carry the idea that the lyrics are not the draw of the music, it serves as—forgive me if I use this term incorrectly—window dressing. It’s just a pretty bow on a solid-colored box that instead of encasing an engagement ring, holds a set of fake diamond earrings. That’s honestly what this anime feels like as it carries the title of FLCL, but if you were looking for a nameless slice-of-life anime, it can get the job done up to a point.
ED Theme: Star Overhead
Now we get to the “good bits.” My bias is showing again, but “Star Overhead” is probably my favorite new song in the “Fool on Cool Generation” album, and the decision to use this song as the ending theme is probably the best artistic decision of season 3 and the best musical decision of the entire series.
Not just the music, but the quaint stop-motion animatic of Kana superimposed on realistic settings and probably the best Sakuga of a Chibi form of Kana and Haruko move in quick, flowing action shots while a lightning-fast kaleidoscope (I spelled that word correctly on the first try) of color paints them in different shades in a matter of seconds during the second portion of the chorus.
In terms of lyrics, here’s what give the song more punch than it already has by being a song by The Pillows.
The scattered dream of a far away day
became a star, it was overhead
I became depressed and cried
for a really long time.
Those days when i was young and a rebel
left some scars, it was unsightly
yet now, recalling them
they are a dear memory, how strange…
While I love the song, the lyrics remind me that season 3 of FLCL rides the coattails of season 1’s intellectual/philosophical statements and the simplicity of the art and animation of season 2, dilutes them both to fit a new genre while also using the title of FLCL.
If you heard this song in season 1, you would think that maybe the songs were setting up a scene where Naota or Haruko or Sameji were contemplating loneliness or their past after an event or action scene regarding their memories or even stars or something like that. But in season 3 you hear this song at the end of a slice-of-life episode where 4 teenage girls shot off a bottle rocket into the sky.
The Sky and Big bang i that saw beside you
they where rampaging, it was beatiful
A Scene that cannot be captured inside a photo
We are alive.
This chorus also reminds me of the action scene. It was pretty good, even though the in-between frames of the animation make for a lackluster viewing experience, I did like the brief action scene since it wasn’t too jarring of a change of pace from what you were just watching. Also, I love Haruko’s design in season 3.
Only 2 songs and the ending theme…You’ll see a sterling lack of music here.
