Something about Haruko coming back only after He swings the bat is so perfect to me. It’s like she’s saying “I’ll help you but only after you help yourself”. Just so awsome
The writing in the show smart/stupid/perverted/inspiring/depressing/and everything else, all together, at the same time. Add that with the perfect music, and you get something really special.
I think that’s why this anime is goated it exaggerated the world ending feelings that teenagers go through at that age while still fully giving them validity in retrospect as a interesting take on a coming of age story
No, I'm fairly certain that it's actually supposed to be a metaphor for someone's first time having sex. The female agents having nosebleeds when the guitar came out, the guy's seeming annoyance with how big his guitar is (and his competence), and especially with the next episode and how Naota was acting like he's hot shit the whole time.
This scene is what motivated me to finally pop the question and ask out my girlfriend. I’ll forever hold this show to the utmost respect and it’s easily up there in my top 5 for this scene alone. This entire episode just spoke to me at the time. I was too afraid to even consider the prospect of asking my girl out on a date (even though she was very much in love with me too). But by the end I had understood the lesson, that being that you never know what life will bring unless you “swing the bat”. At the best, I’d be in a relationship with the person I love most in this world. At the worst, we remain friends. Regardless, I wasn’t about to sit around and let someone ask her out for me. So I did. We’ve been happily dating for almost 4 years now and there’s even been talk of getting married. Thank you Fooly Cooly.
Legit had this same thing happen with me at Anime Expo about a year ago now. While we're nowhere as far along as you and your girlfriend are, being it's only been about a year for us. I remember spending the entirety of day four of the convention just hanging out with her alone, until we eventually went back to her hotel room so she could change into something more comfortable for Little Tokyo near the end of the day. (She was wearing stilettos for a Lady from Devil May Cry cosplay.) I remember the entire time waiting outside her hotel room with thoughts rushing through my head on what to do and what to say, until I remembered this episode and it's meaning and then everything just clicked. I took a chance and popped the question, and she accepted. Going on a little under a year now, it'll be year on the 4th of July, and hopefully one of many to come. Thanks for sharing your story, mate. Reminded me a lot about my experience as well. Take care. :)
Everyone in the comments praising this moment for being a cinematic masterpiece: Haruko: “Hey, I didn’t know boys felt like this inside! Naota: Hey! Don’t touch me there from behind!!!
Whoever was in charge of matching songs to scenes needs a raise crazy sunshine works so perfectly this is my second favorite scene beside the bridge scene
I read once that they animated scenes to the music. I don't actually know if that's true, but since the soundtrack is mostly pillows songs that had already been released at that time it certainly would have been possible.
I like how Amarao says, "It's a sinker!" as if commentating on a baseball game. Also the scene of the satellite breaking apart and pitching the "ball" is such an amazing sequence of animation. By the way, does this make anyone else feel emotional?
To add just a liiiiittle bit more, ‘Tasuku’ is a deliberate pun on ‘tasukete’, the Japanese word for help me. A shame it was lost in translation but then again, how would you even localise it to begin with. I definitely agree with you though. The only scene that comes close to this one is the end of FLCLimax (emphasis on close).
That's a misdirect. He calls out for his brother's name, only for Haruko to show up, meaning he is being forced to move on, or "grow up". Haruko, being that feminine energy he needs for the "coming of age" to happen.
XeroBeat But he doesn’t say Tasuku in the sub He only says Nii-Chan So there’s isn’t really a pun The dub team probably just though Naota saying big bro sounded awkward I’d guess
Feel like swinging the bat is a metaphor for doing something even though you’re scared. Like leaving your comfort zone/new job/ moving house, something mature. Anyone else?
Thats exactly what it is. The entire episode Naoto fails to accomplish anything, not because he can't do it, but because he doesn't try. Quite literally he doesn't swing the bat early because he's too afraid to. When he does swing, even though he doesn't swing hard enough, Haruko helps him as a reward for at least trying.
Why Mamimi is upset that NAota ended up swinging the bat. Because throughout the series its NAota refusing to do and try things, just like her. And in this one he actually does it.
@@Februarys more than that it’s because now he’s not dependent on her, that’s why Mamimi gets the dog in the next episode and has a cat in the first one, she needs things that are dependent on her.
I don't think I've shown an anime that's so inherently horny/sexual without actually being lewd or fanservice-y. It makes it both hilarious and meaningful.
This is the first episode I ever saw. I felt empty when it went off. Truly a masterpiece. I ended up seeing the whole show like 4 years later. I wish I can go back.
Oh yeah, that happened to me too, this was basically my first piece of anime at age 6 I think. It both scared and amazed me. And even after I forgot the actual context of the episode, it was etched into my mind, this surreal moment... It wasn't until almost 10 years later did I found the series again, and all the memories of that night came flooding in. I sometimes wish to go back to that moment. Where the world was strange and new...
It's a representation of the standing question: "who is going to help you when the chips are down and will you be willing to take a crack at it when help, out of the blue, arrives". Or will you take the strike and make another excuse. Blues drive monster and Crazy sunshine. Make them sexual, identity, and what does it mean to my reproductive futures. To me, viewing them, it's greater understanding to why bother with something I know I can't handle alone firing from the outer reaches of my known universe and I love that I do not have to attack that world ending piece of satellite on my own, regardless of where it came from
I watched FLCL for the first time a few months ago, and it resonated with me in a way few shows have That line though "Nothing can happen till you swing the bat", it stuck with me, and it's been serving as a great bit of motivation since Gainax and Trigger have supplied a lot of my motivation and philosophy (for lack of a less pretentious term), I'm off to go swing some bats then, cheers
i have this scene tattooed on my arm . one of my favorite things about this episode is what everyone else has already said. its a great metaphor for life .
man so meny memories of this show i use to stay up late to watch adult swim i was in high school or was it middle school any way i watched it none stop
i happened to see this the first time it aired on adult swim when i was in high school. I didn't understand it at all at the time, but for some reason it stuck in my memory and i'd think about it from time to time. I think because the animation and music were so striking. Then a couple years ago (about 10-15 years later) i decided to hunt it down and watch it again, and suddenly i understood its themes and metaphors. I'm not an anime fan, but this show is so well written. Made me nostalgic for those high school days. I wish I'd understood it better back then. I can recall so many fucking times i was too scared to "swing the bat" lol.
@@jhk6558 watched it during the first run back in 03 as a 13 year old , already loved anime but this show seemed like a test to see just how much I could understand of the art at the time . I wasn’t too baffled by it when I was younger like most people but I still have an extremely deep nostalgic connection to it . It felt like the show was speaking directly to me at the time. You just don’t get stuff like this anymore
I can't find the comment but I remember reading that someone saying this isn't really a win since he still needed Haruko. I think that misses the whole point the fact that he swung at all even while utterly terrified was the whole point whether he succeeds or not is irrelevant. He just needs to actually make decisions and take action instead of being inactive. Absolutely love this scene my favorite on the show and one of my favorite is all of anime
oh, man! one of the best scenes by far, along with mamimi chanting at the burnt school to the pillows. missed the dialogue right after, though... "the palm of my hand still stings. I wonder if Haruko feels like this all the time..."
Glitch Honestly I love how he thought about Haruko instead of his brother... It has a deeper meaning but I feel it's more than just moving on and accepting that there is a future
There’s simply nothing written like this anymore. There’s so much skill and nuance in this it’s difficult to think this was the norm back then. We were very lucky
Barbara Goodson never did the voice for Ash Ketchum, you're thinking of Veronica Taylor. However, Barbara Goodson is fairly prolific and, probably, her most well known role is as the voice of Rita Repulsa in Power Rangers.
This show really makes me think about all the things I've missed out on because I was scared to take the risk of "swiging the bat", and taking the consequences. I'd always waited for things to come to me, because I refused to live a life with risk, but by doing that, I've missed out on a lot of things in life. Thank you, FLCL. You really helped me through my most desperate times in high school. This anime will forever stay a part of who I am.
Seriously.... Gainax wrote this to get over their post-End-of-Evangelion burnout. This is therapeutic shitposting, and it's one of the best animes of all time.
Literally saw this when it came out and I was 14. It 100% was what made me love animation as an art form. I also got lucky enough to fall into that 'intended audience' category. Only downside is I can't explain how special this show is to any adults in my life. Had to be there, I guess.
I didn't know how raunchy this anime was when I was a kid lol. Literally every scene is riddled with innuendos. Also I didn't know what nose bleeds were supposed to mean at the time either lol.
Usually when something perverted or sexually stimulating happens in anime/or TV, a nosebleed is a sign of excitement. Happens slot in anime specifically.
The original flcl is literally in most people’s (who really know anime) hall of fame , the second season was good but when you have the name flcl on a show you can’t just be good, you have to be great. They should have just made another story about naota mamimi and haruko but with naota and mamimi being adults now , it would have connected with us that have watched this show since it’s first airing , making us feel like the original cast grew up while we all were away from each other . The pillows did a great job on the second soundtrack though , but then again, they’re just a great band lol
having grown up a little, since last I watched, I view it as less a product of puberty and more a product of psychological land mines as a person's mind dev3lops. Lots of hiccups, but nothing will change if you cage your head in the spaces where it first began to gestate. Swing the bat!
I think a lot of people who watched it very young or that have only seen clips don't understand that the show is a large, goofy, but very true metaphor for growing up. . I think the show is very special and hits me pretty deep when I go back to watch it as an adult. (16 year old show! wow!)
The guitar is a metaphor for his masculinity and will, thus a large guitar impresses the women sexually which Japan has generally expressed as a nosebleed
+Chris Hawkins in addition to the virile guitar, the conversation between haruko and naota is sexual innuendo to the extent it sounds like porn; the women in the ship, who were listening, got nosebleeds as a sign of publicly-suppressed arousal, which is due to the belief that the increased bloodflow of arousal can give one a nosebleed. As usual though, FLCL is referencing this phenomenon in anime rather than heedlessly partaking in it.
crimsonalgorithm his older brother is a professional baseplayer in the states. earlier in the episode, he and Haruko were in a baseball game. Haruko was swinging everything out of the park and Naota was refusing to even swing the bat. why do you think the satilite looks like a baseball? its a metaphor watch the show man
