It’s called “Kichijoji dake ga sumitai machi desu ka?” or, roughly, “The only town you want to live in is Kichijoji?” and is by Maki Hirochi
It’s about two sisters who work do real estate in Kichijoji, Tokyo
They’re both fat girls, but as far as I can tell so far, they aren’t fetishized or are the butt of a joke???
They’re both super cute, and drawn proportionally and realistically, seriously I can’t think of the last time I saw a manga with fat girls as the main characters/protagonists, or if I EVER have period.
AND THEY LOVE METAL/HARD ROCK?!?!?
LIKE WOW IM IN LOVE!??
Also the stories are all just really sweet, it’s basically just the sisters helping people who come to their real-estate agency find the perfect home, like, it’s really cute and sweet and good?
Also it has a live-action drama going on rn which is super exciting!
Basically, I don’t know if this story will get more popular or if the manga will get an English translation, but I was just super hyped about this and wanted to share ~ <3
Where the recent Yuri Kuma Arashi unsurely managed to weather its own invisible storm, Flip Flappers is showing able to project its themes and ideas without the mistake of slipping into the very patterns it was intended to critique. Where Yuri Kuma was fun to watch, and referentially artsy, it didn’t manage to be subversive or insightful like it wanted to, and hasn’t had much lasting impact once the initial excitement wore off. The manga may be a different story, but I Imagine at least one of Morishima or Ikuhara were ultimately disappointed with the results of the TV anime, if not both.
Meanwhile Flip Flappers to me feels like a knowing and heartfelt attempt at an old indie ova very much like FLCL, and with a name like FLFL (FuriFura to evoke FuriKuri with an borrowed touch of F/F), the style and tone, and numerous ideological similarities, I am absolutely certain this is deliberate.
But even still Flip Flappers is clearly taking its own pace and establishing a place and a statement for itself, presenting a lighthearted and whimsical adventure and thorough undertones and symbolism.
The use of pulpy whimsy, a thick quilt of weaved homages and pop references, and the vibrant, painted art style really shows the goals and believe the staff had in the property.
On the surface, Flip Flappers follows Cocona, a shy and reserved girl who meets the excitable and outgoing Papika, and is quickly dragged along into a magical fantasy dream world called Pure Illusion, forcing Cocona to open her mind as she experiences new danger and adventures while they search for fragments of a mystic stone to grant them anything they wish, seeking to free that world of imagination from a restrictive organization wishing to control it.
When looking deeper, Flip Flappers uses each and every one of its characters and fantastic adventures to examine a piece of a girl’s repressed sexuality. Her fear, her loneliness, her desires, her internalized disgust, as she is carried along a path that forces her eyes to open up and learn about herself, and others; each dreamscape vividly depicting an idea that haunts her, scares her, tempts her. And how she can grow and handle her thoughts and feelings as she comes into her own alongside a carefree friend who shows her how much more there is to life, and to herself.
Frankly, it’s about a gay girl learning how gay she really is, and experiencing both the hardships and triumphs of being true to herself. Holding the hand of a cute girlfriend.
I can’t say much more than that without examining individual episodes, but anyone with an interest in either nuanced anime with a hand crafted, art driven appeal, cute girls having colourful adventures, or subversive Japanese queer theory will have a great time with Flip Flappers this season.
