Watching FLCL all the way through after 20 years
I saw this show on Cartoon Network back in the early 2000s and loved it. I still love it. but it’s interesting what 20 years and fatherhood do to your take on a series. Trigger warning for discussion of SA.
This show is, at its heart, a work of experimental art, and I will always love it on that level. It had a lot of effect on my own work and sense of humor. Amazing soundtrack too. I listen to it more than I have watched the show. I also think it is a touching coming of age story in a lot of ways. But the way I read it now is very different. I now see Naota as a victim of abuse, both by Mamimi and Haruko. Mamimi is a 17 year old near adult who is doing really physically inappropriate stuff with a 12 year old. Even if Naota wasn’t visibly bothered by it, it would still be abuse. And what’s worse, the more self aware Naota becomes, the less interested in him she is. She likes that he’s naive and not into it. The lack of consent is part of the appeal.
Haruko is even worse because she’s a possibly ageless alien posing as a 19 year old. Her abuse is not just physical, but emotional as she claims she is in love with Naota and insists on the same from him. There is some joy in an older woman mentoring a kid on the fine art of goofing off and sticking it to the man. But it goes too far beyond that.
And I see Amarao completely differently now, too. He’s as much a victim as Naota and I don’t see his emotional stuntedness as funny or pathetic anymore. It is a symptom of being abused in a similar way by Haruko when he was Naota’s age (another sign Haruko is much older than 19). There’s a real Mary Kay Letourneau feel to it now.
Basically, this show is really uncomfortable to watch now. I feel like it both handles it’s subject matter well and poorly. Mamimi can be forgiven. She is mostly a child herself (and a possibly abused one as well) and I’m glad that she finds happiness and creative fulfillment at the end. Haruko, though, really is a monster and she just goes on to continue being one. I have not seen (nor am interested in seeing) the later series to see how much more or less so.