2018 has seen not one, but to sequels to classic 90s Gainax anime FLCL. But while FLCL Progressive took the slapstick hijinks and over-the-top action of the original and turned it up to 11, FLCL Alternative instead focuses much more on the themes and personal drama surrounding the characters–i.e., what made the original so much deeper than how it appeared on the surface.
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FLCL Alternative is the story of ordinary high school senior Kana. She spends each day in relative happiness with her friends Hijiri, Mossan, and Pets. But all this comes to an end on the day when the pink-haired Haruko arrives, pulls a guitar right out of Kana’s forehead, and uses it to fight an alien robot. Now, even though Kana doesn’t realize it, the end of the world is nigh and she may be the only one capable of preventing it.
Like the original, FLCL Alternative is, thematically, about lies–the ones we tell others and the ones we tell ourselves. It is also about the secrets we keep from those who are supposedly our closest friends. And after all, what is a secret but a lie of omission?
Outside of the introductory episode, which simply sets the stage, each episode focuses on a secret or lie directly relating to one of the four girls.
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Kana’s lie is that she likes Sasaki–i.e., the boy she is supposed to like. She has kept him safely at arm’s length–in the “will they, won’t they” zone–but when Haruko starts seducing him in earnest, Kana is forced to either confess her feelings or let Haruko steal him for good.
However, the twist is that, when forced to confront her own feelings, she discovers that she doesn’t actually want to date him. What’s most important to Kana is preserving the status quo–and having to deal with a boyfriend for the first time would certainly shake things up in an unwanted way.
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For Hijiri, her lie is that she’s already an adult. A published fashion model, it’s no doubt she already has one foot in the working world. Because of this, she acts more mature than she really is–as is expected from a “professional.” But this bleeds into her personal life as well. She all but dismisses the boys at her school and instead has a college-aged boyfriend. But in front of him, she feels the need to keep up the act and be the stereotypical “cool girl” who isn’t upset by anything–up to and including being dumped by her boyfriend who then asks her to return a necklace he gave her.
Of course, on the inside, she is hurting, and through her friends’ meddling–and an attack by a transforming robot car–decides that it’s okay to just be a highschooler. There is no hurry to grow up.
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Mossan’s episode deals with her secret dream, her family situation, and why she’s decided to keep both secret from her supposed best friends. To Kana and the rest of the group, Mossan has always just been a reliable, hardworking presence. However, unlike the other girls, she is actually dirt poor and from a large family.
She dreams of being a fashion designer–and has labored in secret to become one. She has spent countless nights slaving over a sewing machine and countless evenings working on construction sites. And, as she is one of the few allowed to compete in a fashion design competition, it’s clear her hard work has paid off.
Having come so far on her own, it’s understandable that she has such a resistance to Kana and the others trying to help–especially because it’s not like Kana bothered to ask before “helping.” But despite this, by the end, Mossan’s happy to have her friends with her in her moment of (albeit stolen) glory.
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Pets’ episode is by far the most interesting thematically. After bumbling into Hijiri and Mossan’s secrets–making everything worse before it gets better–Kana discovers Pets secret when Pets suddenly disappears from school. From there we learn that, despite how she seems at school, Pets’ home life is terrible. Her mother is obviously an abuse victim, she rarely sees her controlling father, and her room is bare–she isn’t allowed personal belongings.
When the two finally meet again face to face, Pets tears into Kana, talking about how selfish she is–how Kana tramples over the feelings of her friends because she thinks she knows better than them. But beneath this is an accusation: Why did you never try to find out about me?
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Pets is Kana’s oldest friend. They’ve been together since elementary school when Pets first approached the chronically alone Kana. But Kana never recognized this cry for help for what it was. Kana, perfectly fine with the outer trappings of friendship never delved deeper–even as Pets made personal sacrifices in the hopes it would encourage Kana.
And in the end, Pets moves away with her abusive family–punishing Kana by neither making up with her nor saying goodbye. However, she does take Kana’s hairpin while leaving her own–showing that while she hasn’t forgiven Kana, she is still connected to her. It’s just too bad that the purposefully oblivious Kana once again misses the message Pets tries to send her.
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As the individual episodes delve into the secrets and lies of the four school girls, the series as a whole is tied together by the one huge lie that Kana tells herself: that things will continue on as they always have.
This is why Kana has never noticed any of the problems facing her friends–Hijiri’s trying to grow up too fast, Mossan’s struggles to obtain her dream or Pets’ abusive homelife. Kana likes the outward face her friends present. It’s safe. It’s nice. It’s fun. Everyone gets along perfectly.
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Kana remembers all too well her lonely school life before she met Pets. She has no want to ever experience that again. Thus, she overcorrects and tries to create no waves in her friendships. She doesn’t want to know anything that could lead to a conflict between her and her friends–a conflict that could end with her being alone.
But here’s the thing, it’s only a matter of time till she is alone again. Whether it’s graduation or the impending end of the world, she and her friends will soon be going their separate ways. No matter how much she butts into her friends’ lives in a mad attempt to reset the status quo, she’s only treading water. And deep down, she knows this.
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That’s why, in the end, Kana realizes that she needs to accept that some people are just not going to like her–that she can’t just keep the peace forever if she ever wants truly meaningful relationships. It’s alright for her to be mad at her friends–to feel hurt that Pets left without ever saying goodbye.
Of course, she never would have made that realization if it weren’t for the constant guidance of Haruko.
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While change is one of FLCL Alternative’s pivotal themes, it’s interesting that Haruko claims that she does not. As she puts it, she has been 19 forever. However, this is as big of a lie as any other in the series.
The Haruko we see in FLCL Alternative is vastly different from the Haruko we see in either Progressive and the original FLCL. Haruko has always used people as little more than stepping stones to reach her own goal–capturing ATOMSK. In FLCL, she emotionally manipulates a young boy, stepping into (and out of) the roles of mother and lover as it suits her. In Progressive, she throws subtlety out the window and makes putting humans in mortal danger her tool of choice.
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The closest we get to real humanity from her is at the end of the original when she purposefully does not ask Naoto to join her in chasing after ATOMSK–freeing him from being used as her tool and allowing him to have a normal life. However, in Alternative, she takes up a new role–one of a wise mentor.
While she can still be slapstickishly violent and/or downright silly at times Haruko is there to help Kana from the get-go. She gives emotional support and words of advice when needed. She protects Kana when things get violent. But most importantly, she teaches the tough lessons–even if that means temporarily casting herself in the role of the villain. While Kana clings to the status quo, Haruko is there to upset it and make Kana see the truth underneath.
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Now does Haruko have an ulterior motive for why she is helping Kana? Sure, but it’s not a selfish one. Rather, Haruko genuinely wants to use Kana’s powers to save the earth from its impending destruction.
There is a simple reason that Haruko is so far removed from how she appears in other parts of the franchise: this is Haruko without her obsessive drive to capture ATOMSK at any cost. She lacks her tracking bracelet and doesn’t even mention him in this series. It seems that she has found meaning in fighting Medical Mechanica–and keeping the earth safe.
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Perhaps this Haruko has once again merged with Jinyu (as her hair and eye color would suggest), leading to a calmer, more balanced person. After all, Jinyu was focused on protecting ATOMSK’s freedom by stopping Haruko and Medical Mechanica in their attempts to capture him. Fighting Medical Mechanica on Earth to keep it free does seem like something Jinyu would do.
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Over the course of the three series, we have seen Haruko evolve. She begins in FLCL as a once good police officer corrupted by her obsessive love for ATOMSK and his power. In FLCL Progressive, we see her at her most evil, when she is literally split into her best and worst parts. And finally, in FLCL Alternative, we see her transformed back into the good person she once was–though perhaps a bit older and wiser. It is a fitting cap to her redemption arc and, should this be the last we see of FLCL, a great note for the franchise to end on as well.
FLCL Alternative can be seen on Adult Swim.
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