FLCL Will Make Your Collection Whole

-A DVD Review by Darris Pratt-

Final Box Art - FLCL: The Complete Series

Imagine your favorite TV show or movie. What do you like about it? The characters? The plot? The art style or design? Maybe it's the soundtrack you love?

For me, it's all of these things, and in one series. FLCL is a six episode series that demands you to view it more than just one time. It's a series that makes you learn more about the people involved; the artists, the studios, and the musicians. It's a series that makes you understand why every little thing is done for a purpose, and that the smallest noise or action from a character has a meaning. It's a series called FLCL.

Mamimi, Naota, and Haruko

For people that don't know the story, or haven't seen the show, here is a small description. FLCL is a story about Naota, a young boy tired of the immaturity of those around him. Immaturity from his older brothers ex-girlfriend, immaturity from his Father and Grand Father, and immaturity from a stranger that is thrust into his boring, uninteresting town. This stranger crashes her Vespa into Naota, and then after making sure he's still alive, bashes him in the head with her bass guitar. This gets Naota directly involved with a giant corporation, aliens, and robots that start expelling themselves from his head.

A tad confusing, but that's the point.

It's a interesting relationship.

The music for this anime is a very high point. It's all done by the Japanese group The Pillows, and it fits the series like a glove. Every single scene is filled with their music, very subtly easing your brain into the actions occurring on screen. The style of The Pillows is very ranged; from slow, strumming, and silent, to fast-paced, crazy, and intense. The music will stick in your mind throughout every episode, up until the last, action packed scene.

The music makes the scene

This re-release of The Complete Series has been a long time coming. It had been released at one point, but it was a very limited release, making the copies that were out there run for upwards of $200. When it was announced that Funimation had picked up the rights to the series, they then announced that a DVD and Blu-Ray release of the series was on the way, making many a fanboy such as myself very happy.

The series is all on one disk. It includes the original Japanese audio track, as well as the English one, and includes subtitles. Extras on the disk include: Director Commentaries for every single episode, anime videos for most the The Pillows featured songs, the full "Ride On Shooting Star" music video shot by The Pillows, and the Textless Closing video.

They packed so much content into this one disk that I was a little disappointed that there wasn't another disk with even more extras, but the price I paid ($17.99 on Amazon) was well worth it.

Mabase, a town where everything is normal

I've been a huge fan of FLCL for quite a long time, and I've always wanted to be the proud owner of it. I've wanted to have it on my shelf, to have it in my collection next to my Cowboy Bebop DVDs and my Evangelion collection. Now that I have that chance, I've realized it was well worth the wait. It has aged so well, it felt as if I was watching it for the first time all over again.

Well, at least I like it more than old bread...