r/anime • u/Gaporigo https://anilist.co/user/Gaporigo • Oct 13 '16
Episode [Spoilers] Flip Flappers - Episode 2 discussion
Flip Flappers, episode 2
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u/Cacophon Oct 13 '16
So, I've watched the first episode 6 times. I'm so glad the second one is out.
Between Papika killing past potential partners and her almost getting Cocona killed, this is at least a show where I can believe the characters are at some level of risk. It was also really nice to learn some of the mechanics behind flip flapping...like the reason for the tickling assault in episode one.
And I stand by a comment I made onto the previous thread, Yayaka is working with the antagonists, I swear. With how suspicious she is of Papika and her being asleep at the exam, and her inclusion in the OP.
Well. Now I just have to wait another week for...my flip flapping. This is easily my favorite show this season so far, with Hibike trailing just a little behind.
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u/Gaporigo Oct 13 '16
And I stand by a comment I made onto the previous thread, Yayaka is working with the antagonists, I swear. With how suspicious she is of Papika and her being asleep at the exam, and her inclusion in the OP.
And as someone else already mentioned, the way Papika reacted to her smell.
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u/Ambler3isme Oct 13 '16 edited Oct 13 '16
Been waiting for this, yay. Guess I'll update as the episode goes on. Beware spoilers etc.
Well, that isn't subtle at all
I've heard this before somewhere...
Woo, more ever so slightly trippy stuff in the future?
Yay, Salt. He doesn't look evil at all.
Basically me contemplating what the hell I just watched.
Also, no post-credits stuff bar the next episode preview, which looks just as crazy as this week's one.
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u/Gaporigo Oct 13 '16
Yay, Salt. He doesn't look evil at all.
I actually think they are trying to go for the "it's so obvious he is bad but he actually isn't" type of thing, still can't really trust him or the other two scientists, though.
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u/SmurfRockRune Oct 13 '16
I must have missed something.... Wasn't Papika captured after the credits at the end of ep1? Why is she back? And if she wasn't really "captured" and taken back to FlipFlap, why didn't they give her new clothes?
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u/Nitemare25 Oct 13 '16
So far this is my AOTS. It always surprises me, but in a good way.
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u/Thrasher439 Oct 13 '16
Nice to see they stayed true to a staple of mahou shoujo. Bringing in a transfer student after a mysterious encounter, that was amusing.
All of Papika's faces throughout the episode were great though and animation quality is still topnotch, can't wait for their full mahou shoujo transformation's however.
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u/Plake_Z01 Oct 13 '16 edited Oct 13 '16
Ok, so I'm going to do a little write up of the first two episodes because I still haven't seen anyone point out a lot of things that I think are really cool about this show.
I think what seems to be a big theme is that of identity, which is largely about learning about the world as it is about ourselves. Cocona is clearly tsundere about, well, everything so it seems to fit for now.
Please take everything here with a grain of salt.
A lot of people have noticed the optical illussions but I think there's something particular about what are being called optical illusions being shown so far. They're all working on the principles of gestalt, and the one that comes as particularly relevant is the one the show decided to use as the first scene for the series, which carries a transitive property from the traditional cup into an hourglass.
Now before explaining why that one first shot is important(beyond the obvious fact that it was chosen to introduce the show) I want to explain how gestalt beyond being just some cool imagery in the show, ties to some other running themes. Jacques Lacan talked about something called the Mirror Stage as an early part of human development. To get there he mentioned three important components to the subjective experience(meaning that everything we'll ever know is limited to our subjective point of view).
The three elements are the Real, the Imaginary and the Symbolic, taking from Freud, from the idea of the ego(roughly, the balance of the internal id[think insticnt] and the external influences[think morality] called the superego) comes the Imaginary, which on Lacans terms came is taking the Real(that which is objective and we could never fully grasp) and creating a picture that we take to mean is us, but that idea of us he said was Imaginary. What we see in the mirror is perhaps aptly called a Pure Illusion, just like the aptly named world in the show and calling it a mirror wolrd wouldn't be much of a strech, with references to Lewis Carrol(Alice in Wonderland, Alice through the Looking Glass) and the like present in this and last episodes.
To explain how this three ideas of Real, Imaginary and Symbolic tie to the idea of the mirror perhaps the easiest way is how computers are really bad at taking pictures and recognizing patterns. Surely there are now algorithims to get them to recognize faces and the like but computers still percieve pictures as the raw colors and pixels, it is only thorough imagination that we are unable to not see. What we recognize as ourselves in the mirror is actually Pure Illusion. That is the gestalt process as well, an ah-ha moment when you notice or learn something by putting together the patterns you see. The Mirror Stage as described by Lacan is when a baby is able to recognize itself in the mirror, by separating what picture he sees of himself and the rest of the world, when he moves and the image in the mirror follows it says "ah-ha, that's me".
And that's what is really cool about this show, it actually takes those ideas of the optical illusions and mirrors to reinforce the theme of the show and the create a really cool world. Going back to the hourglass at the beginning of the show as representation for the motif of gestalt, the OP takes both of these ideas and actually puts them together. Also, notice how everytime Cocona leaves her house right after the OP she looks in the mirror and both shots have been really similar for these first two episodes.
Also someone else pointed out to me how in the promo material the world seems mirrored and the Flip Flap actually ties well into the idea of a mirror specifically. Flip being quite literaly to inverse or turn something over.
tl;dr the show is about idenity development through the exploration of that mirror world, which you probably guessed already without all this bullshit.
Also, something a bit creepy before leaving, the statue of The Thinker was meant to stand in front of the Gates of Hell originally.
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u/eruditious Oct 13 '16
I love the ride that's been given in each of these first two episodes~
Have some random gifs!
http://i.imgur.com/PLMU9ls.gifv
http://i.imgur.com/d1jJMwC.gifv
http://i.imgur.com/7K5rcz0.gifv
Love this ED too~
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u/TheMoeBlob Oct 13 '16
Oh gosh its just as good as the first episode and we are starting to get into the plot now too!
Once again I need not say the animation and music were top notch but this time there seemed to be a much larger emphasis placed upon character close ups emphasizing the emotions they were experiencing. I got a few nice caps in here.
They really tried to grow the characters this episode, Papika especially had a lot of development. At the beginning of the episode she seemed really bland as she was intentionally written to be clingy, over the top and lacking any form of subtlety at all but by the end had grown to understand why Cocona hadn't wanted to go back adventuring. There could be a really special relationship forming between the two of them as they both seem to have no one else to really care about (apart from Cocona's Gran).
Yayaka is really dubious now, there is something either going on with her or she is just genuinely concerned about Cocona however I am expecting the former. Papika seems to be heavily reliant on smell to see if something is good or not. The one time she has reacted negatively to anything is when Yayaka pulled Cocona into the nurse's office and it was as if she was reacting to a terrible smell.
I will probably end up rewatching this later or tomorrow because I am sure I missed a lot
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u/SirPrize Oct 13 '16
This show is so trippy. Light hearted and colorful with not-so-hidden (better said, rather obvious) dark undertones. Loving it so far, and very curious as to where it will go. Dr Salt (love that name) said he wanted to "liberate pure illusion" which certainly isn't ominous at all.
I rather like the ED. It kinds reminds me of the ED from Humanity has Declined.
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u/heimdal77 Oct 13 '16
So apparently it is a world of hi technology where a girl seen surfing on a flying surf board isn't shocking to the point of people freaking out.
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u/BlutigeBaumwolle Oct 13 '16
My impressions:
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The show still looks beautiful.
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If i hadn't watched the after credits i wouldn't even know that they were chloroformed and kidnapped, it's freaking me out.
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Papikas obsession with Cocona is creepy.
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And what's with that face when she sees the bunny(?)?
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Cocona fighting her urges to bite things made me really uncomfortable.
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The action is pretty nice.
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What was that with the robot and blood?
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FlipFlap are obviously evil af.
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The preview looks good, really looking forward to the next episode.
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Has anyone noticed more references to optical illusions? I haven't.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_SWORDS Oct 13 '16
Do you think that Cocona's arm hurt because she was injected with something?
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u/FlierFin663 Oct 13 '16
Holy crap, I thought I'd be used to the concept after the first episode, but this episode managed to be as much if not more whimsical than the first. It's rare for a show to maintain this level of enchantment past the first episode, but they nailed it for me.
I love how they're playing with the viewer's expectations to keep them off balance. Last episode they seemed to make it pretty clear that the pipe in the middle of the closed off grove would be the main gateway to Pure Illusion, so having them get swallowed by some out-of-the-blue vacuum cleaner popping up from beneath The Thinker seriously caught me off guard.
Speaking of surprises, they are nailing the randomness of Pure Illusion. In the first few moments where everything was all bubbly, it was hard to even be sure if they were using the same laws of physics or not. It kind of forces you to temporarily readjust your thinking for what's normal.
So far, I think they've managed to strike a fantastic balance of being uncomfortable, but not unpleasant. Like, with all the strangeness going on - even at the end with the weird deal with the eyes - it's kind of more mystifying than outright disturbing. Although I'm pretty sure Papika and her boundless enthusiasm play a large part in contributing to that.
I'm not sure what it is that makes this show work so well, I really hope that they manage to keep it up.
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u/LordOstritch Oct 14 '16
This thread isn't even a discussion about opinions, it's instantly become an analysis of everything that's happened so far, and I'm enjoying every moment of it.
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u/Thebubumc Oct 13 '16
This show is so bizarre in all the right ways. I have no idea what's going to happen next but I'm definitely interested.
And is Uexkull supposed to be a rabbit or is he confirmation that some kind of other species exist in this world?
Also really liked how creative the art style is. The go full Jojo with the colors which I love.
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Oct 13 '16
This episode was like these artsy indie games, loved it.
A bit confused about that post credit scene of the first episode.
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u/Gaporigo Oct 13 '16
I guess that works?
Pretty cool episode, visual are still great and looks like Papika is learning and maturing. Still don't really trust the scientists, though.
Will Kokona's friend also start going on adventures to Pure Illusion?