But I still need you, Salt! Please, run away with us!
Thank you for being with me all these years.
Blegh.
For the record, I watched this episode 3 (and a half) times, as well as episode 4 because why the hell not. That’s an indication of how disturbed I am with this swing of impressions from “OMG IT’S THURSDAY” to “ugh isn’t it Friday yet?”. Nonetheless, episode 11 wasn’t that bad as I thought it initially was, and I guess it’s better to start this post with the good stuff first to lighten up the mood.
If there’s one thing I love from this episode, it would be that scene with Salt aiming his gun point-blank range at Mimi. It wasn’t that revolutionary, to say the least, yet I really appreciate how well done it was to sell the irony between their conversation and to hype things up further. I feel like it was pretty ironic how Mimi asked Can you really do it, as kind as you are? …I don’t need you anymore when she, herself, is in full control of the situation and presumably can snap Salt’s head off with her lolKaneki powers. But she didn’t, and neither did Salt make any move. What follows is a pretty tearful moment with a cool, techno-sounding OST playing in the background, plus a haunting montage to cap things off. That’s probably the only instance this episode that I felt something other than ‘meh, okay’, and, the reasoning behind my conflicted reaction from this can also be used to explain why I am feeling jaded from the rest of what I’ve seen recently.
The aforementioned moment had some impact in it — albeit not that much as it could’ve possibly been — simply because, well, I had a foundation to base my emotions from before entering the said scene. You could say that I had more context of what is happening and what is at stake thanks to the flashback that was shown prior to it, but that’s also precisely what I felt was lacking from these last 2 episodes. In a way, I guess it feels more like they’re rushing things at breakneck speed, without so much as giving a breather for these characters to have their motivations and convictions explored. Mimi is Cocona’s mother, yeah, I know — we all know — but how/what is Mimi’s relationship with her daughter? How does she treat Cocona when she was still a cutie baby? What’s baby Cocona’s reaction to being craddled by her mom? Are there more going on behind Salt and Mimi’s love affair? Well, we weren’t given any flashbacks there, and instead they’re more concerned with wrapping the plot, rather than showing us “inconsequential” materials that will allow us to get invested with the characters.
So yeah, I’ll make this part short and I admit I am not feeling Salt and Mimi’s love story at all. Like, did it take one playful push from Mimi to make Salt literally and emotionally fall in love at her? I… seriously I don’t know. But take this memorable moment from Kyousougiga, one anime that is stylistically comparable to Flip Flappers, for example:
Yeah, if you’d asked me, I’d be more heart-wrenched to see Lady Koto break up with Myoue. Salt and Mimi? Just a little.
I know it’s unfair to compare Flip Flappers to a show that isn’t Flip Flappers, so I’ll share this very, very short clip from Kyousougiga again to prove my point. This time, showcasing how a family progressed, grow, and become closer to each other in a matter of seconds. I can’t find a Youtube clip, so I hope Sakugabooru would suffice.
https://sakugabooru.com/post/show/20127
You get where I’m coming from. I don’t have any issues with what is happening, what is being explained or whatever, it’s just that I am more concerned with how they do it. It isn’t to say that Flip Flappers should stay under the cover of its creative and unhinged Pure Illusion worlds, rather, there are myriad of opportunities for the show to flesh its character dynamics out without feeling the need to be quirky, yet, again, I’m forced to swallow and contextualize whatever is I am given instead in such a manner that I felt like they stopped trying to give this new arc introduction some weight and impact. Whatever happened to that sentimental use of laid-back storytelling from Episode 4, where Cocona and Papika went on an all-nighter together? That episode genuinely made me care for these two kiddies more. Whatever happened to episode 6’s near-perfect abuse of the anime medium, where, for some funny reason, I cared more about Iroha’s grandma than that of Cocona’s? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure majority of you enjoyed the past episodes better, right?
Anyways, with that said, I’ll close this post off with more saltiness (heh, no pun intended). I’d probably get flakked from this one, given how disdainful I was with Kabaneri‘s Biba but… hey, shoutouts to Mimi — I still love you as a character. I would love to explore this side more (I haven’t collected my thoughts yet here so I stand by corrected), but I think I’ve already made my point clear.
Short thoughts:
- Yayaka is awesome.
- Fun fact: I was initially more moved by Yuyu’s gesture of concern to Toto, than with this Salt and Mimi feud.
- That Cocona and Mimi interaction at the end was kinda… awkward.
- I remember someone saying how reminiscent of Persona 4 Flip Flappers is. You won, man.
- Worst case scenario, it’s going to end like a generic battle shounen with ass pulls everywhere. Though I trust Flip Flappers enough for that not to happen.
- Nyunyu is weird. I don’t know how she’s going to fit into everything — probably she’s going to be used to subjugate Evil Mimi.
- I kinda stopped comprehending what’s happening with the plot so… why would Good Mimi want the Evil Mimi to take over herself? To protect Cocona? Can’t just Good Mimi use her omniscient powers to teleport themselve to some PI to escape?
- Don’t get me wrong. I really love this anime. The first half was so strong I’d still give FF a top 3 for this season.
- Yayaka is cool.
Anyways, that sums up my thoughts for this episode. I guess what I’m going to wish for this Christmas is for Flip Flappers to prove me wrong with its last two episodes. I’ll see you folks next week!
Nichi Nichi-chan 
Nice write up. I’m kind of over Flip Flappers to be honest. Pretty visuals aside the characters and plot have never done much for me and these last two episodes have just not been very good. Still hopeful for something to resolve this in a way that is at least satisfying but I’m not hoping for much given we seem to now be focused on Mimi and she just isn’t that interesting.
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Evil Mimi lacks something to contrast herself into, which is why I can’t help but feel that her “Villain” status as half-cooked. Probably if they allowed Good Mimi to flesh her character out more, the contrasting effect/plot twist would have more intensity and impact.
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It’s interesting that we have such different opinions on the last two episodes, since some of our actual perspectives are similar. I also don’t care at all about the whole Salt/Mimi thing, but I don’t think we’re supposed to care very much. I think it’s honestly just there to provide backstory. I’d go so far as to say that the show isn’t even slightly interested in fleshing out anyone other than Papika, Cocona, Yayaka, and Mimi, and I’m just fine with that. Not to mention, when it comes to those 4, I think these last two episodes have been on par with the previous ones. What stands out the most to me is everything with Cocona this episode. Cocona crying after meeting Mimi nearly brought me to tears in school, and I still felt very upset when Mimi tried to mold Cocona into a clone of herself. Papika’s struggle throughout the episode stood out to me as well.
The recent episodes have been less inventive, especially in the art department, but the trade-off for that has been some needed plot progression and a tying up of themes and character arcs.
In regards to why Mimi was taken over by her darker side, I think the reason is just because it’s easy. Giving into her overly protective side is much easier than trying to change things while still giving Cocona freedom. She has those ridiculous powers, but I think part of the point is that Mimi never really got to be dark. She never had the freedom to explore her emotions, so she doesn’t really have any sense of how she should actually approach this. It’s fully possible that she didn’t even consciously know how to use those powers beforehand.
Obviously we’ve still got 2 episodes to go(thank god for that, I’d be worried if we only had one more), and I’m still not totally sure they can end it perfectly. I’m really hoping they don’t go for a Papika disappearing ending, since I think too many shows go with the idea of moving past the loss of loved ones in order to become a stronger person. But personally these last two have convinced me that the show is still fantastic when focusing on a more plot-based linear storytelling, and I’m much less nervous than I was after episode 7 or so.
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Darn that’s a pretty long reply lol but yeah, I agree with what you said about Cocona’s part, and I did mention it on the ep. 10 post on how the focus was more on Cocona’s reaction with everything that’s happening. Still, Mimi and Salt’s stature in the series is undeniably pivotal to the plot — it is a family matter, so why not intensify the emotions/bonds within these characters? Shouldn’t that in turn make Cocona’s feelings even more striking (i.e with Iroha’s arc)?
Then again, that scene with Mimi and Salt isn’t exactly a backstory for me per se, but more like a flashback explaining how things got by (which, I think, was redundant given that it should have been apparent that they fell in love with each other, but it wasn’t shown /how/ they fell in love). I guess a backstory I was looking for is something similar to Hidaka/Bu-chan’s arc, where it is inconsequential to the plot, but would still make you appreciate the characters in the long run.
And yup, I’d be arsed to think Flip Flappers is dropping its curtains without a flourish, and despite my lack of enthusiasm from this episode I still found myself rearing for what’s going to come next… specially with Yayaka joining the fray.
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I do agree that the Mimi and Salt backstory could have been done better, but that’s just a flaw of TV anime I guess. You only have so much time, and I can’t see anything beforehand which would be worth cutting in order to flesh it out more. That said, I think Salt’s role here is mostly done, and while he may come back a bit more I don’t think we’ll get more focus on him, or much more backstory on general. At the most we’ll get an explanation of how Papika became younger, but I don’t expect any more than that at this point.
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I guess if I were to sum up my feelings towards the last two episodes in brief, I would say that episode 3-7 + 9 were basically Aria level to me, while all the others including the recent two were at Shirobako or K-On level. All of those shows are tens to me, and I would still give tens to the most recent episodes, but I definitely do think the quality has dipped a fair amount. It’s just that the dip was from such a high level to me that it’s still a ten afterwards.
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Ah man, I’m in a total love-hate relationship with Matsumoto Rie but I always loved that episode and clip of Kyousougiga. I would have killed for something like that in Flip Flappers instead of this more straightforward exposition/flashback style. I’m likely a bit more on board for some of the narrative developments as of late than you are by the sound of it but I have to agree that it’s all very spelled out. Almost all of these things were foreshadowed early on with a great touch of artistry and to see them all hammered out like this, though I like the developments themselves for the most part, is a little plain compared to what came before.
There are still a few questions left, primarily what happens after Papika follows Mimi and young Cocona into Pure Illusion and what brings Cocona to live the way we find her in episode 1 and I can only hope that those answers aren’t delivered as simply as everything else. As for Mimi as an antagonist, perhaps understanding who or what this other persona is will help legitimize things a bit. I like that Mimi, under pressure and in desperation, allowed this persona to occupy her but the implications are currently unclear.
Thanks for sharing and making me yearn for something more with that Kyousougiga clip, haha. Here’s to hoping the last 2 episodes can bring back some of the old magic while still telling the story they want to tell.
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I think my fault here lies for comparing FF to Kyousougiga in the first place lol but yeah, it’s Flip Flappers, and this show already fooled me once with its weird name so it’s highly likely I’d be proven wrong again with my doubts here…. hopefully.
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