there's a very specific reason by white
flip-flopper stands out to me it's
forced me to explore fantasy through a
fresh lens giving me a refurbished
perspective on a classic genre a genre
that had been perfected within the
medium by practitioners like Miyazaki
and Takahata decades ago I'm always
doing four shows that will twist my
perspective and expand my appreciation
and that's what flip-floppers is doing
for me it's presenting a fantasy story
in ways that I've never seen before
having looked at flip-floppers I've
noticed some really interesting details
about how this show takes you through
its story using certain techniques
flip-floppers manipulates how you
interact with various storytelling
devices at first the fool might seem
like an overlord of information but
that's an aspect of this sure that I
think is very intentional and
interesting it certainly sets out to be
experienced in a way that's different
from most other shows I want to look
into what exactly flip-floppers is doing
and how we are engaging with that
there's an overwhelming amount of visual
talent in this project that is poured
all over every aspect of the world
creating this beautiful fantasy universe
for the story to take place in having
something that is so initially detached
from realities is what creates viewer
character connections during the first
few episodes when coconut is introduced
to her new fantasy existence she doesn't
just unwittingly embrace it coconut at
first rejects the fantasy world create a
really interesting conflict that was
completely against your expectations
introducing a very unique dynamic to the
story this on its own is enough to
praise flip-floppers they're certainly
not the first thing to reverse genre
conventions but it's a very good
starting point and can be extremely
engaging giving further exploration this
juxtaposition works so well because of
how the shore introduces an uneasy
atmosphere using unnatural editing and
o'the police visual elements the shore
suggests that you as a viewer don't
immediately accept the world's
fantastical positivity yourself and the
characters start having doubts making
coconut initial rejection and
emotionally invested one there's clear
right from the start that flip-floppers
is not about showcasing fantasy by
exploring and forcing us to question the
story the introduction of Pataca for
example initially you should accept
paprika as a good character pure-hearted
with no negative intentions yet cooking
has reaction to her and then
continued distrust makes us think
otherwise for a time we were weary of
such an innocently designed character
and that again just adds to this
interesting dynamic of flip-floppers
this reversal of conventions continues
into the more subtle elements of the
show editing for example this is always
a great indicator of a show it's torn
due to its very simple nature any slight
changes will have a substantial effect
on the viewer flip-floppers cuts fast at
points that would naturally drag out and
holds out on frames that initially seem
of less importance once again forcing us
to approach the series and the fantasy
it presents in a different manner than
how we normally would
this also introduces a theme that runs
throughout the series the idea that the
show wants you to be aware of the
editing unlike traditional editing that
as the task of going completely
unnoticed flip-floppers invites you to
become conscious of the editing and all
the visual elements for that matter
similarly with the dynamic aspect ratios
it deliberately breaks your immersion
and reminds you that you're watching a
piece of media but similar to filmmakers
such as where's Anderson it's completely
intentional the viewer should be aware
of the show's uneasy atmosphere rather
than have it seep in unconsciously the
show wants you to engage with the
feelings of doubt and unfamiliarity
there arouses the editing's random
incoherent feel breaks the illusion of
what's happening in the story but that's
what it needs to do as a story about a
girl being dragged into a fantasy world
against her will and consequently
rejecting that world it's important that
we are removed from the fantasy as well
there's no room for blissful ignorance
here and this has been used before in
cinema Verity a technique that avoids
unconscious filmmaking to inject reality
into its stories it might break the
magical spell fantasy but when that is a
core phim of the story is a very good
quality to have the successful
enhancement of reality flip-floppers
creates is rare especially in an
animated work by offers so many
interesting ideas to absorb and this is
absolutely essential to keep in mind
when we move into one of flip-floppers
more interesting applications of visual
language space see flip-floppers uses
what's oftentimes called flat space
where objects exists on a canvas without
clear Cartesian perspective ilysm the
idea of motion with a fixed point the
characters are oftentimes arranged in
such a way that they share hierarchies
of position in many ways the
presentation
space and flip-floppers is quite overtly
exploded almost as if it were an
orthographic rendition of space
flip-floppers prefers to keep characters
in flat spaces to effectively map out
the location of each character but also
the uses clear location to map out an
approximation of the space it represents
for instance when the girls walk through
the school hallways they are oftentimes
spaced separately to mitigate a sense of
deep space at the same time we
understand who exists in this space in
the awkward conversation between paprika
yoga and coconut there is a hierarchy of
height but ultimately if we understand
the Mazon san as a flat canvas they
don't exist in a hierarchy of imagined
space for instance if we separate the
scene into quadrants yokas position at
the top-right compared to the girls and
the bottom-left separates them
horizontally and vertically but why is
the study of flip-flopper space
important well flip-floppers loves to
use animatism to accentuate its
character movement as well as show how
the characters move through space what I
mean is that flip-floppers takes
advantage of the layers in the
multi-plane arity of animation to
flatten the hierarchy of movement in the
fourth episode when kikuna is chasing
paprika the blades of grass are
foregrounded but they don't exist in a
pure Cartesian space when coconut
attempts to move into deep space the
show cleverly cuts to insects moving
cutting to a position Toto's missiles
against the fragment is quite literally
explosive separating to create shared
ballistic views to approximate that same
space
in fact this specific scene is
particularly notable because of how it
negotiates with shifting objects to
replicate deep space as well
see while flip-floppers loves to use
flat space it does not issue from deep
space in episode 8 you use run is a
stellar example of a pseudo ballistic
movement showing the motion of an object
as it runs within space rather than
approximation of space when Papa cos
searches for coconut her entry into
another world has a brief show of deep
space and when they jump between spaces
we have even more renditions of deep
space space is presented in
flip-floppers as Goa terian and daily
museum machinery stretching out with
several moving points flip-floppers
utilizes thematically and aesthetically
flat systems like the references deep
space is in service to the flatness of
meta structure and this flatness reveals
relative renditions of text and thought
the Cartesian movement brings up
questions of the importance of allusions
it suggests that movement between spaces
are as valuable as within those spaces
there is no hierarchy and this is
critical to speak of flip-floppers on
the theory of its media construction is
to talk about its essence it's an
unbelievably naked fazham cocoons work
of media theory and this is all very
confusing at first but that confusion is
necessary to the show I don't think the
story would have had the same impact if
it was easy to digest and understand you
need to be overwhelmed by flip-floppers
to start engaging with it fanatically we
discussed coconuts rejection as a
trigger for exploration rejection is not
the usual response to fantasy in stories
there might be Dover cautiousness but
very rarely direct rejection the goal of
most fantasy stories is to distract you
from reality if you can get the viewer
to forget about reality then you can get
a viewer to believe in your fantasy but
believability isn't essential for
engaging with flip-floppers Poconos
rejection in the early episodes creates
that engagement instead or attitude
towards fantasy changes as the series
was on but that initial rejection is
what sticks with us throughout the
episodes making future decisions all the
more emotional this rejection also
creates a strong duality between reality
and fantasy as a series goes on the
differences between these two dimensions
start to fade I start to feel more
connected with the fantastical elements
of the show much like how Kolkata
interacts with the situation blurring
fantasy and reality works very well in
this shows case nodding back to the
overarching theme of exploration I felt
a true connection to the characters as
they were as deep into the layers of
indistinguishable fantasy as I was they
allowed me to treat the fantasy elements
of the show with the same amount of way
is the reality a deep exploration of the
Unreal was possible episode six is a
great example of how flip-floppers
creates multiple layers of fantasy that
become confusing enough to create depth
and intrigue but not too confusing is to
lose the viewer in this episode it does
not by creating different visual styles
for each dimension of fantasy like
coloring a dimension blue or orange or
removing color completely this also
becomes an effective way of presenting
emotions like when two dimensions start
to break down color seeps fruit
similarly the art style differs between
dimensions at start of the episode it's
clean and fluid but as the episode
progresses the animation breaks down to
ending up at one of the end points is a
surreal representation of emotions and
this surrealism is critical to
understanding the second major element
of flip-floppers which is well
surrealism
I think flip-floppers is classically
Bertoni and it's an exercise of Andre
mccollins 1924 definition of surrealism
in the manifesto of surrealism that
psychic animation in its pure state by
which one proposes to express verbally
by means of written word or in any other
manner the actual functioning of thought
the connection between flip-floppers
animation and its evocation of the
surreal is incredibly useful because if
we can simplify so realism for the sake
of this video as the psychic imposition
of thought and memory what Britain
defines the dream then there is a
poignancy in exploded views of
spaciality to speak of space as relative
is to speak of reality as relative to
move away from cartesianism is to move
away from Descartes the essentialism of
cogito ergo soup and it's said to
embrace the subjective I think therefore
I am but I am by what I think and what I
think exists is ultimately arbitrary we
can find this imposition of psychic form
affect the world quite literally what
happens in Erica's world can be argued
to be more expressionist than surrealist
but the implications of its connections
are absolutely surreal Erika's
fingernails imply a connection and
imposition of what the show
traditionally treated
as dreamlike States to now be effective
on what we believe to be a Cartesian
realm in other words these spaces don't
exist as separate clean-cut realms their
connections within larger machinery and
where do these connections exist note
the deep spaces when the girls travel
there's no clear hierarchy and
flip-floppers not really we can think of
the world as a nexus but just as how we
affect dream worlds
dream worlds affect us in other words
reality and unreality don't exist not
really rather their spaces that impose
on one another just as how the objects
and later share space to create motion
the worlds do the same with senses of
the real they're all real they're all
fragments and this fragmentation
emphasizes flip-floppers duality so the
do a leti of two elements is a running
theme throughout the series there's a
strong duality with coconut and paprika
almost everything about each character
is a contrast or an alternative to the
other symmetry is used profusely with
paprika and coconut crating scenes of
connection but also scenes of
segregation that can connect the
characters but also through emotional
divides between people and ideas other
visual motifs like the hourglass our
color connections appear and repeat
throughout the series presenting
differences and connections is a very
important part of interacting with the
show story all of this effort to create
a feeling of duality is rooted deep in
the core of flip-floppers it all relates
to the show's fundamental idea of
exploration having options and
differences encourages you to take an
active role in the story instead of just
consuming an episode you really need to
think and explore what has been offered
making connections between symbolic
thiefs or recognizing references it's
all about consciously weaving through
this expansive way of ideas to carve out
a deeper understanding for yourself
it never offers a single conclusion to a
theme or a final destination to a story
instead flip-floppers asks you to
explore even the very core elements of
the series so what does this extended
viewer freedom do for the series quite
simply it makes you feel part of the
show having the same issues in
Asians as the characters is very unique
feeling like you're exploring a puzzle
or being overwhelmed is all part of the
experience flip-floppers creates and you
know flip-floppers continues to impress
me with every single episode just
dumping ideas onto the viewer is such an
entertaining watch one that you can
watch over and over again and keep
digging into it's been one of my
favorites of the year and this has been
one of my favorite videos to make of the
year actually I want to give a massive
thanks to jewel from paws and slect he
came onto the video and gave his very
very unique approach towards
flip-floppers and I was so impressed we
put a lot of work into this video so
thank you to Joe and thank you very much
for watching I've got a lot of really
interesting stuff planned for the next
month I'll be uploading much much more
regularly so expect more videos along
the lines of this yeah I really hope you
enjoyed the video and thank you ever so
much for watching