FLCL and the Bildungsroman: A Literary Analysis of Coming of Age

[00:00:00]the whole show is actually a Coming of Age story about one boy's journey through his adolescent mind trying to together behind a fake a of craziness but seriously even after watching it several times I can't help but think to myself what the [ __ ] did I just watch foly coolly is my shin dig the bees knees you know what I'm saying the thing I go to when I feel like going down memory lane I first saw it on Adult Swim back when I was seven I had a robot living in my house all six episodes in one night I thought it was a dream at the time but who could blame me it wasn't until I was 14 or so that my friend brought it over to my house and I saw the whole thing soon after again and then I figured out it existed take note that I shall be using the dub for this one it's about time because as far as I'm aware it's one of the more accurate dubs out there except for some of the jokes and references which you know I prefer that to be more culturally relevant to an American audience me that is speaking of being nuts foly coie isn't at all a cluster [ __ ] despite being weird as hell H it's coherent both symbolically and thematically if you really care about the confusing plot both Digi bro and cuer have written posts about it online explaining it links below regardless fly kulie is not about the plot I don't even get why the Sci-Fi story of this anime would even be important at all the staff over at gyx built the show off of a collage of things that they had lying around in nostalgic motifs including music so a lot of the show feels like '90s Garage Band lyrics brought to life and that's something that I really [ __ ] love about this series any kind of anime that gets you to think outside the box and how a story can work should be upheld I'm pretty sure almost none of this [ __ ] is literal now to his dad gets [ __ ] freeze dried and the characters brush it off like it's nothing I'm embarrassed oh by the way going to be spoilers for the entire thing now I know that we're going to be doing an in-depth analysis of its core themes and stuff but first we've got to be talking German there's no way we can be a fully-fledged analysis video without talking about obscure German [ __ ] in my good old Japan Nation know what I'm saying I have one word for y'all build Doug's Roman what the hell did I just say you ask well let me explain Carl Morgan Stern a philologist coined the term back in 1819 citing the novel series wilhem Meister as the first main source to Define this literary structure this structure is what I believe to be the foundation of all modern Coming of Age wilhem Meister Jane iron David Copperfield and Great Expectations these four books are the pillars of the buildg Roman or the novels of building as defined by The Scholar Anakin telis Iverson in 2009 Bild Doug's Roman is in a way the precursor to the modern day an Vick L Roman God I'm butchering this or in loose English terms The Coming of Age story Ed VI LS rman is about typically a young man learning through experience basically it's a broader variation of the builds Roman since we'll be using Iverson's method of categorization this will help us to understand what a buildg Roman piece of fiction looks like and in turn how it differs from the modern day coming of age Story the main characters of the four Classics get an inheritance towards the end of the novel or else fail to get an expected inheritance inheritance is an enormous theme in build's Roman this is perhaps more metaphorical as inheritance can be granted through obtaining knowledge rather than something tangible perhaps even more important is the theme of maturity going from being a kid to an adult is strictly psychological here not physical the protagonist of the buildo Roman starts off immature then experiences loss and sacrifice as the path to maturity usually these stories are told in retrospect from a grown narrator looking back on their youth commenting on society along the way the protagonists are typically plain and not really talented though generally mean well usually middle class and an orphan they stand in contrast to a character or presence who is and usually through a contrasting love the characters often Friends of the protagonist help them to grow without changing all that much in themselves but they present our hero with philosophical questions so that hirosi may re-evaluate their own stance on life these are the core features of what defines a build's Roman it might seem very broad but it really isn't there's a lot of nitty-gritty nuances that clash with some of the great Coming of Age novels and films particularly when the coming of age story is from [Music] Demas comparing fiction like DAV Copperfield to the works of Huckleberry Finn will reveal subversive elements taking apart conventions established by the 1800's literary archetype now we'll be taking my favorite subv verion of build du's Roman and figure out how this one ticks let's do this [ __ ] first off in The Catcher And The Ride the protagonist opens up the story by slamming one of the four pillars of the builds Roman if you really want to hear about it the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me and all that David Copper field kind of crap but I don't feel like going into it if you really want to know the truth even Holden C Field's name is a direct reference to Copperfield Eugene McNamara a journalist from the 1960s observed how different they really were saying that there were more contrasts than similarities just like in a build's Roman Holden is recalling the events of the past however he does it not over a span of years but days David assumes you're interested in him Holden does not Holden tells his story unreliably in a vague elery World while Copperfield takes narration and World seriously some of the biggest differences between Catcher And Copperfield is at its very core though build's Roman is all about people guiding the protagonist philosophically questioning them and teaching Holden is ignored by literally everyone in the narrative including his teachers Holden's development is strictly through his sister Phoebe sisters are hardly a focus of build Do's Roman thematically Holden doesn't inherit much he doesn't mature much he's a protagonist who achieves his goals from a meta perspective through the reader actually reading the story instead of achieving it tangibly the build's Roman index a measurement system designed to see how well something fits into the genre and yes it is a genre catcher Falls flat with 38% compatibility in truth catcher in the r is much closer to an invic lugs Ramen ha I hear you exclaim what does all this rambling stupid gem nonsense have anything to do with fly Kuli fly Ki goes against this right besides isn't this all intrinsically related to the written medium well dear View where you're exactly [Music] right a coming of age has an extremely loose definition according to Mariam Webster honestly the best source I could find on it all it is is the time when a person becomes an adult going by that definition it's like whatever homie all you need is a character who grows up in some way then we have a coming of age but I think Fuki is almost like this weird Japanese bastardized adaptation of Catcher And The Ry sprinkles of the build du Roman it has subversive elements it borrows from catcher while staying true to the nature of the buildo Roman than the aformentioned but anime this is of course all simply an evolution of things you could say that it's unintentional Meister leads to Copperfield which leads to catcher which leads to Ava which leads to foly [ __ ] which leads to G and logon this is like a thread of how development Works to understand the genius of flyi we must examine our her na nandaba will compare Na's journey to that of both Holden Coffield and a little bit of David C field discovering how fly cooli might just be the quintessential modern day variation of the same story but even have enough subversion to be itself in Catcher Holden's younger brother Ally was left-handed and had bright red hair he died at 11 leaving Holden grief stricken Holden loved Ally so much and thought he was really just the most perfect brother ever too perfect like an idealized caricature it's the reason he wears his famous red red hunting cap to comfort him and remind him of his brother meanwhile he resents his older brother DB for being a sellout and a Hollywood screenplay writer he doesn't see DB all too much for being longdistance and working this is almost exactly adapted in fly coie though in a strange combination Nat's older brother abandons him in his hometown M for America to play baseball professionally you know what my brother in the US we constantly are reminded of older brother's departure through the airplane imagery and sound effects I dreamed about my brother he was batting and I was dazzled by his swing it seemed impossible that anything could have been so perfect his brother was left-handed symbolizing uniqueness [Music] na carries his baseball bat to remind him of how much he admires him this isn't helped by mimimi who uses NAA as a replacement for his brother having dated him in the past and obvious parallel is to Haro who is also using NAA to get closer to her own boyfriend you smell like cigarettes the strong ones I haven't been smoking it looked to me like smoke that signified some kind of omen smoke that spreads out and covers everything I haven't been smoking what you thought that the smoke that covers everything wasn't a direct parallel to mimimi smoking these Jezebels are blind in this boy no wonder he has an inferiority complex the brother figures in these two stories are unseen but hold a major presence and levity over the protagonist the major difference here is that now to sees tusu his bro as a Hemingway code hero a perfect representation of an adult instead of a perfect representation of Innocence likeing catcher tusu is across the ocean because he symbolizes something unattainable from now to a vague sense of maturity being the only person now ever saw is truly being a man and who could really blame him now's world is one full of adults who act out sexually invasively wacky and the like the world of flyi is a surreal one painted with the guys of American television such as South Park with references all over the place to anime the staff grew up with why this guys so everything thematically together when you're dealing with a coming of age you need those penis Illusions but you also need a strict dichotomy between the adult world and the world of the youth this fine line is captured perfectly throughout the imagery [ __ ] and ice cream anyone the thing is despite now to self-indulgent Declarations of maturity na is perhaps one of the most childish characters on the show he bottles up his feelings until they break out and attack the world what you thought that the robots coming out of his head was literal come on man now to stands on the sidelines condescending in his inner thoughts about people around him adults are really stupid a stupid adult who doesn't know how to grow up pretty similar to the way holding calls the world phony acting grown up I'm not a child is exactly how you act when you're in the middle of being childish as buuck copper field is a Time capsu book it lends insight into what it was like in the mid 19th century England foly [ __ ] is sort of like that but with wacky japanesey stuff and 90 [ __ ] he wrote a whole book on the Deep mysteries of ever in my opinion the most important theme in David Copperfield is the search for happiness all the characters in Copperfield are looking for it some of them such as mobbers believe it's found through monetary gain while other characters like Peg find it through family Charles Dickens keeps things balanced and makes us as the reader decide if David finds true happiness or not like Holden now to spouts profound internal monologues about his life and thoughts but it's up to us to decide what we get out of foly [ __ ] naota isn't exactly happy nothing amazing happens here everything is ordinary so it's not a punishment like when I go see samima Mimi it's just something I always do each episode of foly coie ends on a revelation for the character then constantly counters or builds upon the message previously established the first episode ended on a note for now to we're growing up essentially boiled down to gritting your teeth and accepting something you might not enjoy like adults who work instead of play this is metaphorically displayed through him drinking a soda he doesn't care for the soda representing meaning look he's even posed in the same way reflecting his attempts to kiss her later on the second episode pretty much has now to realizing that being an adult is protecting the people closest to you this is reflected constantly throughout the episode with Guardian Angel imagery and especially with Nat taking action to protect Mimi it doesn't matter if he likes her or not as long as he keeps her safe like a parent caring for a child or a spouse caring for their other spouse you saved him a stray cat I'm like a god huh a a protector of the weak yeah you're always busy cuz there's a bunch of people I have to take care of see you episode 3 is Nina Mor's story essentially it's about the Fig till you make it kind of deal paralleling stories like Puss and Boots and to a large degree the great gadsby where gadsby believed in his story until he made others believe it too Nina Mori gets exactly what she wants and even keeps her family together at the end with the illusion of maturity she puts on leading the way in the end n Mor's father wasn't prosecuted and he didn't get a divorce they're fake while this isn't directly important to na he will also come into his own in a similar way to clarify through the actions of swinging the backat despite thinking him fail this is of course thanks to hoko who until this point in the story didn't act like a true role model yeah yeah that's the right stance but you have to swing the bat get into the sky don't hold back before he swings the bat a real Slugger imagines an arc inside his heart AR directly to Heaven episode 5 through6 is a major paradigm shift for now to as a character he realizes he was wrong as mimimi still doesn't care for NAA but rather the idea of his brother that exists within him don't call my brother I'm the one who's here hey look at me I'm the one who's going to save you Ki now listen my name is na don't ever call me ton again the only way to be a man is to be your own person well that's the conclusion that he comes up with in episode 5 he had been dictated by mimimi and tasu the entire time the only way to help mamimi come into her own instead of letting her be an emotional parasite is to let her find her own path in life it wasn't about protecting her rather leaving her to her own devices to cope with her own rejection this sort of writing that challenges the protagonist's ideals the stellar and continues to do so up until until the climax of the series much like Copperfield happiness fata and the rest of the characters are found through experience each finding their own answers or not at all like build's Roman now to inherit something at the end he accepts Hova and what she represents taking with him a piece of herself this is represented by the guitar poo is lazy arrogant and selfish but she also is sometimes wise experimental and fun all these things are things that come with being a young adult he figures out just how much he loves being exactly where he is is in life philosophically questioned and shaped by Amar ninamori Mimi and of course hoko herself whether or not he truly finds the answer to maturity is up to you in the end he continues to be who he is perhaps that is the answer fly coly doesn't have to have great philosophical aspirations but is in fact something very close to home hiding depth amongst insanity if you look a little closer you might find just a little bit of yourself in between the craziness hey even if you think fully cooly [ __ ] you can't deny the objective truth that is the pillows are [ __ ] awesome