C&C - FLCL Alternative - "Shake It Off" [10/6]

TnAdct1

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After today's episode, anyone else officially convinced that the source of Kana's N.O. levels is her friendship with others?

After all, the things coming out (and in this case, sucking inside) her head happen in times when her friends were in danger (whereas nothing happened when Sasaki was in trouble due to that being nothing more than a crush).
 

LinusFan303

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Woah Pet's episode got dramatic. Also her mother was kind off and creepy in away. Loved Harako and the V8 enjoyment and the dentist-y thing. Can't wait for next week.
 

Peter Paltridge

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Okay, I have to ask....why do we keep getting the same Gumball and TTG promos between every Toonami show? It's been like this for a month now. If I have to hear that ukelele song one more time...
 

PicardMan

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Did Kana just die? Considering this is FLCL, that would be shocking and uncharacteristic if that happened. This was the most dramatic and emotional episode of either sequel and it seems like they transitioned from slice of life to story and tied together every plot point fairly well. The show is partially about Kana's relationship with her friends and how her attempts to help don't always succeed. The last episode will probably make the themes more clear. Progressive's finale was kind of disappointing thematically, but Alternative seems to be more theme than spectacle to its advantage. Final episode will be major in determining how good this show holds up.
 

Light Lucario

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I thought that this episode was pretty good. Since we're so close to the finale, stuff like the government group and people moving to Mars would be brought up more at the center instead of being in the background. Pets' family being so rich and possibly going to Mars was a surprise too. I wasn't expecting Pets' home life to be so intense. I felt bad for her mother since she clearly was in some kind of abusive relationship with her husband and grabbing Kana like that was also scary. While that scene was pretty intense, I could tell almost instantly that Pets' mother was voiced by Veronica Taylor. Hearing her in a new role, even a minor role like this one, does make me happy and I still hope that she can still get some good acting gigs in California.

Pets being captured by a giant robot monster was pretty intense. Haruko jumping right in with the car and swinging around the cords was pretty cool. Haruko swinging right into its mouth was also pretty funny, although pulling out one of its teeth was pretty gross. I liked how Kana went right into trying to save Pets. While I could understand why Kana was upset over not knowing anything about Pets' home life, she probably could have worded things differently. It made it all the easier for Pets to say that she was being selfish. Kana wanted to help her friend, but there was also a bit of "I didn't know and I'm supposed to know everything about you" with how she confronted Pets about it. While I think Pets was trying to say something terrible to make Kana not be friends with her anymore, I think that they were trying to go with how Kana's good intentions to help her friends do have a bit of a self-centered vibe to them.

While the two of the crying over what Pets was saying was sad, I also thought that it would be more effective if Pets stood out more during the series. Unlike Kana's other friends, she doesn't really have a gimmick or design to make her stand out. As much as I loathe the fat jokes about Mossan, they do make her stand out. Not in the best way possible, but I wouldn't mistake her for a background character. I honestly thought that her name was spelled like Pez instead of Pets, although that could just be the sound quality of my TV too. While the whole group has a nice friendship, Pets has been in the background the most and that might have been the point since we don't know much about her just like Kana doesn't. Since her friendship with Kana was a huge dramatic scene for this episode and will most likely be a key point to the finale, it would have been a good idea to make their friendship stand out prior to this episode.

It was still pretty dramatic to see Kana fall down and absorb the robot this time around. I thought that the beach scene wrapped things up a bit too nicely, but I took it at face value and was surprised when they revealed that it was just a dream. While I do think that it would have helped a lot to flesh out their individual friendship more prior to this episode, Kana clearly does care about Pets, so it was still emotionally effective. Pets leaving Kana on the ground like that crying was a pretty sad way to end the episode.
 

TnAdct1

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Did Kana just die? Considering this is FLCL, that would be shocking and uncharacteristic if that happened.
Kana's still very much alive here. What the final scenes depict is Kana passed out (and dreaming that Pets did change her mind and remain on Earth) and Pets using this opportunity to exchange hair clips and walking away as her way of saying good bye to her.
 

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