The other day my buddy, in a group chat we share dedicated to posting music, posted the song "Crazy Sunshine" by The Pillows, otherwise known as the FLCL band. FLCL, for those not in the know, is one of my absolute favorite pieces of media. Anyway, it hasn't been that long since I re-watched it, but listening to Crazy Sunshine almost always throws me back. The guitar riff, the lyrics, everything gives me a Ratatouille-ass flashback to when I first experienced FLCL as a kid. That night, I drove down the road to pick the love of my life up from work and blasted The Pillows as loud as I could, and I cried a bit.
I feel like most kids who watch FLCL don't get FLCL at all. We just saw the pretty colors and frenetic animation and heard the incredible soundtrack and just got sucked in on that alone, but as I revisit it throughout the years it hits me just how much shit there is in it. Like, for a six episode OVA it crams in so much style and passion and substance that it's almost suffocating. Many people hate FLCL after an initial watch, even, due to how much it is. Which I totally get. When something is this frenetic, this jam-packed with imagery and with a whip-fast script and visuals that are so detailed and fast-paced, it becomes a lot to take in. But it's a show that, I feel, is so worthy of analysis and dissection.
There's this reoccurring "theme" in FLCL
(original). Characters are constantly asking "what is FLCL?" And I feel
that FLCL is at the same time undefinable, since there's no clear
answer, and also that FLCL is FLCL. It's this idea that life is always
going to be crazy and unpredictable. One day you will feel like
everything is going a mile a minute, some zany or intense shit will be
going on and you cannot catch a breath. But the next day you'll have a
quiet moment to yourself. One where you can reflect on things, catch up
with a friend, etc. Also, obviously FLCL means that you're never not going to be, at least to some degree, "childish."
Every character in FLCL is clearly reaching for
some concrete form of "maturity." And the whole damn point is that true
"maturity" is dumb bullshit for idiots and that you're always going to
be a kid inside, even if you feel like you aren't. You're always going
to have your "childish" preferences, how you don't like sour drinks or
spicy foods or have a soft spot for a cartoon you loved as a kid. And
that that's OK. It's OK to feel like a kid, that you're not fully "grown
up" because life is about "growing up." And sure, yeah, lots of media
has that theme, don't get me wrong. But how many pieces of media deftly
weave its theme into basically every facet of production?
Like,
how the frenetic animation style mimics cartoons that I'm sure much of
the production staff watched as a kid, or how the music sounds like
music that a high-schooler would blast loud on his headphones late at
night in bed. Or how everyone and everything in the show pushes the
thematic through-line to the end. How there's constant allusions and
references to media from the (relative) past, or how the kids in the
show all try and mimic adults, but all the adults act like kids.
And sure, people will pull the "it doesn't mean anything" card because of how "zany" the show is, but I feel that betrays the artistry of the piece as a whole. Something can be wacky and zany and still, on the same hand, be poignant and thought-provoking. Subtext isn't just for slow, contemplative literature. Subtext can also exist in a show about a lil' boy and his goofy robot friend and hot alien roommate. But anyway I'm just repeating the same shit every other person talks about. If you want some good-ass FLCL analysis go watch the copious amount of Digibro videos, or Goat Jesus' video on FLCL and Bildungsroman. What I think I'm here to haphazardly gush about is how FLCL makes me feel in my soul. To gush about what I think FLCL means.
How the music of FLCL, the visuals of FLCL, the quotes and characters and themes of FLCL all make my heart warm. FLCL, much like many of my other favorite pieces of media, is this comforting thing to me. This wonderful piece of media that resonates me on like, a cellular level. Even if I didn't quite understand what my brain was processing as a kid, I felt I was experiencing something special. Even if I didn't have the cultural and authorial contexts in mind, how it's some of Gainax's best and brightest pouring their hearts and souls into their dream project, I felt its energy radiate from my shitty iPod touch screen and into my life.
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