What does Kyoko Okazaki's 1994 josei manga River's Edge have to do with 2000 cult classic anime FLCL? More than you'd think. Been trying to figure out how to do justice to this piece for at least a month, ever since reading the comic. Hope it's worth the wait!
@wendeego on twitter. crunchyroll writer. freelance: anime herald, ann etc. formerly slashfilm. opinions are my own
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in reply to @pig's post:
this was really intriguing! the original flcl has been an enduring favorite for me as well ever since i first saw it 20 years ago, and yet there's so much i don't know about it. thanks for the great post filling in some of those knowledge gaps. river's edge sounds like an interesting read!
btw, the subheading says River's Edge is from 1993, while everywhere else says 1994
Thank you! It's always amazing to me how much context we miss just because work is unavailable in English. I've seen some folks on Twitter say that Minetaro Mochizuki (who started his career drawing comics in a similar vein) was an inspiration for both Okazaki and the FLCL folks. But while his Dragon Head is accessible, his early work is nowhere to be found over here...
FLCL means a lot to me too, so I'm always happy to see that other work exists in a similar vein. It's why I love Diebuster so much--messy show, but shares the same heart.