It's funny. There was a time in my life where I would've straight up murdered a homeless man and stuffed a cat into an ATM machine if it meant getting a sequel to FLCL, but now years later my first reaction to this news is [i]fear.[/i] FLCL was an extremely precarious balancing act of coming-of-age life lessons mixed with outright insanty and slapstick, yet never felt heavy handed in its delivery. Someone else already said it best, it was lightning in a bottle. I worry that a new series may not be able to capture the same magic of the original and instead come off as a copycat sequel that's trying a bit too hard to be 'wacky'. Mostly i'm concerned by the fact that Production I.G is the studio heading this project. While i'm a huge fan of Ghost In the Shell SAC, their recent efforts (espically Arise) have done nothing for me.

[quote="Spike"]trying a bit too hard to be 'wacky'.[/quote]

god, FUCK Space Dandy.

I am entertained by it, but did not mean to cause that shitstorm. I was being a bit smarmy, sure, but I wasn't trying to direct it at anyone in particular. I feel like most of us at some point have been that guy who almost gets off on shitting on newer versions of things they like/used to like. I used to be able to go on hour long rants about how much I hate Dragon Age 2 and would sometimes have fun just shitting on it. The Silver Linings Playbook hyperlink was just because all my posts are now sponsored by Amazon Video. Starting from as low as $0.99, you can [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294870/?ref_=nv_sr_1]rent[/url] and buy your favorite movies in standard and high definition without ever having to leave the comfort of your computer chair. Sign up today.

[quote="GoldenRhino"][quote="Spike"]trying a bit too hard to be 'wacky'.[/quote]

god, FUCK Space Dandy.[/quote]

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I actually like what I've seen of Space Dandy. Which is not all of it.

[quote="Spike"] FLCL was an extremely precarious balancing act of coming-of-age life lessons mixed with outright insanty and slapstick, yet never felt heavy handed in its delivery.[/quote]

Yeah, well said. Studio Trigger's stuff has inherited some of this spirit, but more so the slapstick stuff without human drama balancing it as effectively.

Imma rewatch Space Dandy again after rewatching Kaiji, I think. Speaking of which, Kaiji needs sequels.

h2o, how does one sponsor your posts? I want you to advertise for my inevitable small business before it goes under.

[quote="Spike"]It's funny. There was a time in my life where I would've straight up murdered a homeless man and stuffed a cat into an ATM machine if it meant getting a sequel to FLCL, but now years later my first reaction to this news is [i]fear.[/i] FLCL was an extremely precarious balancing act of coming-of-age life lessons mixed with outright insanty and slapstick, yet never felt heavy handed in its delivery. Someone else already said it best, it was lightning in a bottle.[/quote]

I feel similarly--I wish that this might have happened years ago, when I longed for it and would have felt genuinely excited about it. Now I feel slightly intrigued, but to say excited would be too much, I think. I think, in general, I have lost interest in a lot of things that used I used to love when I was younger, anime (and TV in general) being one of them. In general, it's difficult for me to get as excited over things as I used to. I am curious though, and will try to catch this when it comes.

[quote="Jomei"]FLCL to me is like an excellent short story or novella. It may only be a snippet in these character's lives, but it's complete in and of itself. I won't lie and say I'm not curious to see the characters again, but because their arcs were already concluded in the original, I'm afraid any mishandling at all is going to make the sequel ring all the more hollow. FLCL is a story about adolescence. I cringe violently at the thought of later life Naota. His entire essence as a character is childhood on the verge of puberty. [/quote]

I agree with this. As I've gotten older, I've realized this as well--that something, although I might be dying to know what happens next, can be perfect as a small captured moment of time. A story does not need to develop into a never ending soap opera. The momentary quality is part of the beauty.

[quote="Marekenshin"]Imma rewatch Space Dandy again after rewatching Kaiji, I think. Speaking of which, Kaiji needs sequels.

h2o, how does one sponsor your posts? I want you to advertise for my inevitable small business before it goes under.[/quote]
Well, it works through Google Adsense, but the basic premise is for every one hundred [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389860/?ref_=nv_sr_1]clicks[/url] I get, you get $10 and send me $1 of it. Doesn't sound like much, but over [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095489/?ref_=nv_sr_1]time[/url], it becomes some serious [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119695/?ref_=nv_sr_1]money[/url].

If you are serious about those links making you money, I am now obligated to click all of your links.

Please don't goatse me.

Motion to remove the trashposts in this thread and this line once that's over now that the intended parties have seen them.


My desires for a 'rebooted' FLCL:

I recently saw a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXO4A0-vKf8]video on youtube[/url] "Everything you didn't know about Fooly Cooly," and it got me thinking about how a very similar story could be told without as much of the crazy antics. Don't get me wrong, I like the crazy antics, but if you shifted the focus onto Naota as an overimaginative kid entering puberty and trying to deal with his feelings of being in love with his older brother's unrequited love, as well as coming to terms with the fear and tension of experience lust for a more "adult" Haruhara Haruko, who would lead him on, but with a focus on realism over anime, something pretty sweet could be made. In my head, I'm thinking of something like Fight Club meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower (I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know if this analogy is as apt as I want it to be.)

Add in all the side characters like Ninamori who adds to the confusion without necessarily the temptation, and I think you could have a really humanizing anime that's both very identical and dissimilar from the original.

Think about it:
-Naota sees his brother leave home and feels a little abandoned. The girl he loves is literally experiencing the same pain he is and he's even more drawn to her.
-He sees Haruhara on a Vespa with a guitar(bass) on her back, gets intrigued, follows her to a show, and hears rock music.
-Naota thinks rock is awesome, so he picks up guitar to impress Mamimi. His dad pays for lessons when (!?) Haruhara shows up. Naota's heart flutters, but he likes Mamimi! :O
-Even though she repulses him, Haruhara keeps creeping into his mind--there's just something about that chick he can't shake. He tries to get closer to Mamimi, but she's continually been withdrawing from him.
-Frustrated, he tries to make a move on Haruhara once Mamimi seems gone. Haruhara pulls back and things become very awkward.
-Ninamori develops an interest in him due to him playing guitar. Nina's a great girl, but Naota's oblivious and he just can't shake the attraction to Haruhara, which part of him hates, and he feels like he's betraying his feelings for Mamimi, who he still does have a crush on.
-Things with Haruhara heat up. She teases him. He hates himself for feeling so exposed and for betraying Mamimi.
-He goes to Mamimi. He sees her committing serial arson. His image of her has shaken. She's no longer a perfect angel, but a flawed being like himself.
-He wants to confide in Haruhara. When he goes home, he sees she is flirting back and forth with his dad. (massages, ooo~)
-Gets angry at her; confronts her during guitar lesson. She says something like what does he expect, he's a kid after all. He kisses her to show her he's not. She lets it happen, but begins avoiding him afterward since she knows she's just leading him on and it won't be good for him. Quits being his guitar teacher.
-He goes searching all over town for Haruko, but he can't find her.
-Things devolve for him at school. His mind is always elsewhere, so he enters the school talent competition (puss n boots replacement?) to take his mind off it. Ninamori grows more interested in him, but he ignores her and he keeps brushing her off.
-After a period, he just becomes frustrated at not being able to find Haruko and meets Mamimi at the riverbank. She talks to him about liking his brother and he's finally able to see her for who she is since he can finally empathize with her.
-He finally tracks Haruko down and goes to one of her shows. He shadows her and sees her kiss her boyfriend band member and is crushed.
-He hightails it out of there and, like Mamimi, commits arson.
-Police chase him and he heads to the riverbank like an idiot, where Mamimi covers for him. Her parents move her away after that.
-He goes back to school and brushes Ninamori off for a while. His head slowly clears and he realizes he Ninamori was perfect for him the entire time, but when he does, it's too late for him. She's going to be moving at the end of the school year. There really isn't enough time for him to pursue her, but instead of losing his head like he would have previously done, he lets her go.

Now, this is just a shitty plot outline that I just thought up and would in no way be final, but that aside, I'd like to see Naota as an unreliable character whose imagination gets in the way with the validity of the events of the anime, like Tyler Durden in Fight Club or Ryan in Wilfred. You could keep in some of the crazier FLCL scenes and stuff, but since I grew up with FLCL, I think I'd like to see a more grown-up take on its plot. Scrap Canti and the giant robot fights and replace them with Naota's imagination. Let his imagination serve as the allegorical devices in the story. Unfortunately I'm convinced it won't be like this since it doesn't seem to fall under the typical Japanese tropes in anime.



Anyway, sorry for rambling. I hope you at least liked my wish for a more realistic FLCL, if not my plot outline for it. That being said, I'd still be interested to see the FLCL update.

I feel this thread was useful, but I also feel there was really only a handful of trashposts and most of it was legitimate discussion, which, in public forums with multiple participants, is always going to be a lot muddier than a real one-on-one conversation would be. Especially if and when you start trying to address nuances or clarify differing viewpoints. But whatever, I hear I am the one-man problem-machine dragging all of IM down or something.

Personally I have very little interest in this sequel. The fact that adult swim is involved makes me feel like it is too overtly a cash-nostalgia grab, and, as was mentioned before, the original series accomplished everything it needed in its initial brevity.

the pillows being involved may drive me to check this one out, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it exactly either. Perhaps if I have another old fan actively encouraging me I'll find my way there sooner than later.

[quote="Marekenshin"]If you are serious about those links making you money, I am now obligated to click all of your links.

Please don't goatse me.[/quote]
I'm just essentially nonsensically shitposting so nah, but that's how ads work for a lot of sites in general. Used to do search engine optimization work where we'd write articles that were more or less just ads for random shit then there'd be some google ad somewhere on the page and the owner would get like 10c or a $1 or something for every click. Most sites, including gaming journalism stuff (which I did for two or so years) works the same way.

*~ The more you know ~*

I'm cautiously excited about the FLCL stuff, though I honestly would prefer either a reboot or just a completely original work done in the vein of it. The more I think of it though, I really do hope they use a new band because it'd be nice to be turned on to some good new Japanese rock; haven't listened to much at all in the last half decade or so.

Hilarious nonsensical shitposting. It brought some very appreciated humor to things, imo, lol.

Them using a new band could be super sick, especially if they pulled one none of us had managed to hear of and check out yet, so that people can be all blown away anew and shit. I was about to say I'm not sure what bands have the kind of crazy quirk the pillows bring to the table that worked really well with FLCL, but I remember Jomei recently mentioning Shinsei Kamettechan and they're actually even more full of crazy quirk with pop sensibility, so I guess I really shouldn't worry about it. If they need to find a different band, Japan's rock scene is more than rich enough for them to have multiple great options tucked away.

Dunno if you guys still watch tv, but this got me unusually hype. I am a grown man in his 20s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQcDxUUGSgU

Took me back!