English Dub Review: FLCL Alternative “Full Flat”

Tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down…

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Above one of the giant irons, Haruko fights off and finally beats a Canti bot, but just in time for a giant hand to descend and activate the iron. Kanda’s base estimates that every iron around the world will activate in 34 hours, but Kitaki couldn’t care less since she’s leaving Earth. Kana’s been depressed for days and skipping school, but finally decides to get up and go to work before meeting up with Hijiri and Mossan. They go to the beach across from where Pets’ family’s shuttle may be taking off and wish her luck while holding the stuff she traded with them, but Kana’s not as eager to let go. As the rockets take off, she sheds a tear for her lost friendship…until Haruko comes riding on her signature Vespa to take Kana away.

SEVERAL HOURS EARLIER, a dejected Kanda has another chat with Haruko the imminent destruction of the Earth, but they come up with a plan. If they can get her to use her NO power to transport the remaining people of Earth to Mars, then humanity might not be doomed even if the Earth is.

In the present, Haruko tells her that only her forehead can stop the irons and Kanda reminds her that things can’t say the same forever. Kana gets on top of a car and…shouts about how much she loves her friends? I mean, if it works it works, and her forehead does start to glow AND lure Cantis to the area so Haruko and Kanda can fight them off. When her honesty rant starts to peter out, Haruko reminds her that she should shout her feelings and not care what others think.

And then…Kana’s hair turns red and sparks?

And the Atomsk symbol appears on her forehead?!

And admits that her being overly nice was due to her wanting people to like her and being afraid of being lonely and that she’s no longer afraid and tells Pets she loves her?!?!?!?!?

A giant portal opens in the sky, making a gateway to Mars and sucking up the iron and hand. Then, in one glorious flash of light, everything vanishes except Haruko and her Vespa, which zoom through the portal into nothing.

Sometime later, the Earth has been completely flattened, but Kana begins her day same as normal and goes to see her two remaining friends…only now they’re on Mars…possibly.

OUR TAKE

I guess someone ordered 12 CCs concentrated Gainax Ending right up the ass because SWEET AND MERCIFUL HIDEAKI ANNO did that go off the rails, achieve escape velocity, and then fracture itself into the infinite multiverse! Basically, this is the most FLCL either of these new seasons has ever been, which I guess is appropriate for the finale. And a little bit Diebuster too. Actually, there was quite a bit of Diebuster in there. Fitting, since the director of FLCL Classic also directed that, but it felt a bit on the nose.

But as such, my thoughts and feelings on this episode are pretty scattered, so I’ll try my best to center them enough. And whatever I miss can just go in the Season Review anyway.

The whole Kana and Pets situation was and is something I don’t think was handled super well, but a week to think on it has given me a chance to think on how much raw emotion it opened up for fans who liked it. Then this episode came and concluded in a way that, had I watched it right after last week’s, I would have only hated more because Pets does not even show up to help resolve this. Two weeks ago she was basically a background character, now her leaving is massive crushing emotional fallout that is happening alongside the end of the world.

But given how much I like to mention the better sides of the Classic were having intense adolescent angst alongside grand and epic clashes and events, which we most certainly have here. What Kana is fighting here isn’t just losing one of her friends, it’s also losing the status quo she was comfortable and a sense of herself that was apparently a lie all along. Her whole world is both figuratively and literally crumbling around her, and staying still will only get her flattened, so she has to change.

That said, this need to speak her mind ALSO seems like it hasn’t been set up super well, and the ending scene being the same as the beginning scene in the first episode makes me confused as to how much Kana has actually changed, but maybe going over the season again will help me figure things out.

Aside from all that, we also get some resolution in regards to Kanda’s whole Amarao-like position in this series, but in a more positive way as he actually ends up working with Haruko and accepting some profound lessons about not staying in the past and looking to the future, which is nice. I think he represents some part of the adult kids should become, even if he didn’t turn out to be an older Naota like a lot of people wanted.

And of course, the ending. A visually captivating and cathartic conclusion that encourages just as much confusion and confounding…as I said, pure Gaianx. Aside from a brief shot of Haruko looking at a domed city from across a canyon, it’s hard to say how everything really turned out after the big explosion. It seems like the Earth was abandoned to be flattened, but then what happened to that iron that was right in the path of the portal? Was the whole city teleported there or was it just the humans there being put in a fake city? Why did Haruko and the Vespa have images from FLCL Classic on them as they went through the portal? There have been theories this may mean Alternative is a prequel (pointing to how Haruko never used the Vespa until now meaning this is how she first got it, as well as apparently first witnessing Atomsk’s power through Kana), but that just raises more questions that I can’t possibly hope to fill in right now. For the time being, we reflect give one last look at Alternative before the tale of FLCL flies off into the cosmos once more.