Anime Adolescence

Episode One
Filming
V/O
Editing Direction

Caleb opens the door, enters with a brown paper bag. Caleb grabs a pot of coffee and a cup,
and pours some Baileys into it, and spills it all over the table. We cant see his face anytime
during this period.

Caleb sits at the couch and puts his coffee onto the table.

The Pillows Beautiful Picture starts playing.

Hi, my name is Caleb, and welcome to Anime Adolescence.

Cut to Anime Adolescence title card.

So, I started really getting into anime when I was about eleven. I had
seen a lot of the kid-targeted shows that was popular in the early
aughts, but it wasnt until I moved to a new town and the kid who
lived down the street from me introduced me to a few new anime that I
became a complete weeb. Thanks, Sean.

Anime was a huge part of my adolescence so I wanted to make a show

about the anime that heavily influenced me as a teenager. Pretty much
everything I saw from 2003, when I was eleven, to 2010, when I
graduated high school, is game.

FLCL is where it all started so I had to talk about it, even if its
been talked about to death. Being the around same age as Naota and
going through the same things as him made it an instant favorite when
I was twelve: and of course it did, its a show about puberty.

The plot isnt what makes the show great to be honest, but pretty
simply its a show about a twelve year old kid and his relation to the
women in his life, and he happens to grow giant robots out of his
head. Sometimes its a slice of life show, sometimes its an absurdist
comedy, sometimes its sci-fi action.

Its very much a coming of age story, though. The reality is that
Naota is in a kind of arrested development: he doesnt want to admit
how he feels about his brother, who left to the US to play baseball,
and he kind of has an issue processing his feelings.
His arc only really ends when he learns to be emotionally honest about
the way he feels. Specifically, the way he feels about the new woman
in his life, Haruhara Haruko.

Harukos pretty much manipulating Naota for what she needs. Shes
looking for this space Pirate called Atomsk and its only through
Naotas power that she can summon him. The thing about Haruko is
shes kind of an Anime Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

The words Anime Manic Pixie Dream Girl is said again, and then said in slow motion.
Emergency sirens roar like its some kind of emergency. Caleb pauses.

Fuck.

Cut to TV fuzz, and then back.

I dont mean that in necessarily a terrible way, its just that Haruko
doesnt really have a story arc, she largely just exists to facilitate
Naotas. While she is manipulating him for her own needs, she
basically swoops in to inspire Naota, be mysterious and teach him
about his own dick.

But I do like Haruko, I mean, she was my first-ever waifu.

Cut to awkward video of Caleb fawning over video of Haruko.

But I feel like theres not a lot of talk about how her character is
honestly a little weak, even in comparison to the other women in
Naotas life.

Ninamori is Naotas classmate and has an entire episode about her, and
even has a running subplot. She has issues with the adults in her
life, specifically her politician father whos just been exposed as
cheating on her mother. She similarly puts on an adult face and
pretends it doesnt bother her, but in reality she has a lot of issues
with them. Admittedly, a lot of the parent stuff is in the background
and we dont see it, but in the final episode, we hear how it ended up
playing out.

Play clip from final episode.

Mamimi is a high school girl that used to date Naotas older brother,
Tasuku, and calls Naota the same nickname she used to call him.

Cut to megaclip of Mamimi saying Takkun.

She ends up sending Naota a lot of mixed messages by forcing her

sexual frustration on him, and is a pretty troubled kid. Shes an
arsonist, shes bullied, shes from a poor family and judging by how
much time she spends under that bridge she probably doesnt have a
 great home life. Around episode four, Mamimi ends up being pretty
jealous of Haruko and Naotas relationship, and treats it like a
betrayal. Naota, due to his confused feelings tries to make a move but
Mamimi knows its because his feelings about Haruko are confused.
When, during a big end-of-episode fight, she pleads for Tasuku to save
her, Naota has this to say-

Cut to Naotas Never call me Takkun again speech.

From then, Naota ends up avoiding her, but after the town is destroyed
in the last episode, her arc is complete.

Cut to epilogue.

These characters come of age and grow up the same way that Naota does,
for Mamimi its about learning to have agency in her life. For
Ninamori, like Naota, its about growing up to be more in tune with
the way she feels. Haruko has a kind of implied end of an arc-

Cut to Youre just a kid.

but its not nearly as strong an ending as Ninamori, Naota, or

Mamimis arcs. Its too vague and loose to really be a strong end to
her character. In a way, this is good, though: theres room for her to
develop in FLCL 2 and 3. Or not, Harukos kind of a great character
with or without an arc: even if her characters kind of flat, theres
a lot to make up for it.

Cut to Haruko doing rad and sexy things.

But what I love about the show is all of the different coming of age
stories about different kinds of people. People say that theres not a
lot to dissect when it comes to FLCL and that it all boils down to
puberty and weiners and id but honestly the show has ideas about
coming of age, like the fact that just because youre becoming an
adult, doesnt mean that youll emotionally or mentally grow up to act
like one.

Almost all of the adults act like energetic children, basically to the
end of comedic relief. But I think that theres a lot to say that
Naotas father, Kamon, is about as emotionally mature as his own
child, if not less so. A lot of the adults act like sexed-up idiots,
ala South Park. Maybe that wasnt the intent, and maybe Kamons only
reason for creation was to look like Hideki Anno and make anime
references I didnt get when I was 11-

Cut to:
An 11-year-old Caleb watches FLCL during the first episodes manga scene and Kamon
mentions Gundam.
 What the hell is Gundam?

-But theres a lot there to talk about, intentional or not. I think

the best character to represent this lack of coming of age is
Commander Amarao. Amara is kind of a great character because hes
essentially what Naota could be. Hes a guy who tries too hard to look
cool, and had a past with Haruko that hes trying to warn Naota about.

The reality is just that hes bitter, and still chases after what they
had before. He fakes his adulthood when it comes to this stuff, and
while he relies on Haruko once as a last-ditch measure, hes still
vulnerable when it comes to anything involving her.

Like nothing fakes his trying too hard to be adult facade like this
line.

Cut to: Im an adult now, I can do my own taxes and everything.

And nothing betrays his jealousy of Naota like-

Cut to: WHAT DOES THAT MIDDLE SCHOOL KID HAVE THAT I DONT?!

Admittedly, thats not the whole story when it comes to Amarao. Hes
committed to save the Earth and isnt really the villain of the story.
Its not like Haruko isnt a threat to the Earth, but hes an
interesting character in relation to the coming of age themes and
Naotas development.

In reality we come of age, but its not just like we go from a kid to
an adult, and neither does Naota, really. He just learns to become a
person more in-tune with the way he feels, and learns to better deal
with people. People dont have to come of age, though, and they
stagnate and become stagnant or immature or have emotional issues.

In reality, theres multiple times we have to adjust to the lives we

live: from teenager to 20-something, to 20-something to 30-something-
it goes on.

If Im being real right now, Im 25 years old, I dont know how to be

a great adult, I just moved across the country and I dont really know
how to be an adult. I guess you could say Im coming of age, however
cheesy or lame that sounds. Maybe Anime Adolescence, whatever this
turns out to be, is apart of that development.

On the technical end, this show has aged phenomenally for a project
that was used to test digital animation. The animation is high-budget,
the shots are beautiful, and both dub and sub are great. I have to
 give a shot-out to the Pillows, as this show was my introduction to
Japanese rock. Ive exclusively used non-FLCL Pillows music in this
video to showcase what theyve done thus far. Id highly recommend
their 2012 album REVIVAL if youd like to hear more. The DVD and Blu-
Ray is in print and available from FUNimation and is streaming on
their website, and Hulu.

At this point, I dont really have to tell people that FLCL is an

absolute classic, you should already know that by now. A sequel is
coming next year and I cant wait to make another video about that.
See you next time, where we learn a little about the power of music.

NEXT EPISODE: BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad.