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FLCL (Japanese フリクリ Furi Kuri, pronounced and sometimes romanized as Fooly Cooly) is a six-episode direct-to-video Japanese animated series (anime), the brainchild of director Kazuya Tsurumaki of Gainax and released by Gainax and Production I.G..
It was also released as a two-volume manga by artist Hajime Ueda, and a three-volume novel serialization by Enokido Yoji. All were released in Japan starting in 2000.
Story
The series focuses on Naota, a twelve-year-old boy on the verge of puberty living in the fictional, strange, and yet ordinary Japanese suburb of Mabase. Particularly, activities which start when a strange pink-haired girl named Haruko Haruhara drives up on a Vespa and whacks him in the forehead with a heavily-modified left-handed Rickenbacker bass guitar with a chainsaw start motor.
It is gradually revealed that Haruko is fighting a company named Medical Mechanica (whose building looks like a giant iron) in Mabase.
Naota lives with his lecherous father Kamon and his baseball-coaching grandfather Shigekuni at their family bakery. Naota greatly admired his older brother Tasuku, a baseball phenomenon who has gone to United States to play baseball, but now resents that he has gone. Note that Tasuku, though often referenced, only appears in the series through flashback scenes. As the series progresses, it is apparent that Naota has grown up without a maternal figure. In addition to being hounded by Haruko, who needs his unique teleportation abilities for some reason never made quite clear, he is under observation later in the series by a man named Commander Amarao, who with his assistant, Lt. Kitsurubami, are attempting to save the earth by stopping both Haruko and Medical Mechanica.
FLCL is both a comedy and a drama, as well as being, at turns, a horror story, a soap opera and a science fiction drama. Its comedic side is most noticeable, as it satirizes pop culture icons such as John Woo and South Park, not to mention other anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Lupin III. Puns and suggestive metaphors fly freely. However, its comedic elements at times overshadow what is, at its core, a very mental coming of age story. The stranger elements often reflect the confusion and awkwardness of puberty (or possibly of mankind in general).
A significant element of FLCL's appeal is its music. Most of the background music was written and produced by the band "the pillows," which has generated mass success and appreciation since the anime's release abroad. Two soundtrack compact discs were released in Japan.
FLCL is an exercise in unconventional, self-referential anime. It is somewhat inaccessible to most viewers on all but the most superficial level. To appreciate the series, one has to first become acquainted with many anime conventions (or simply suspend disbelief and go with the flow.) Otherwise, a viewer who is new to anime will simply be overwhelmed with the amount of unfamiliar content that the series presents in the very limited timeframe of two and half hours.
The episodes were originally released in Japan on 6 DVDs. It has subsquently been released to DVD in North America on 3 volumes by Synch-Point. The manga was released by TokyoPop in two volumes. Both soundtrack discs, "Addict" and "King of Pirates," were released by Geneon Entertainment. FLCL was also seen on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in North America starting in August 2003 and occasionally aired throughout 2003 and 2004.
Characters
- Mamimi Samejima, 17, who was Naota's older brother's girlfriend, but since he has gone away she dotes on Naota. She attends school infrequently, smokes and has arsonistic tendencies, and spends most of her time under a bridge. It is likely that her parents are separated for some reason.
- Haruko Haruhara, 19 (or so she claims), a pink-haired girl from outer space. Her real name is Raharu Haruha. She rides a yellow Vespa and wields a left-handed Rickenbacker bass guitar. She is the Nandaba household's maid and plays on a rival team of the Mabase Martians for extra money.
- Kamon Nandaba, Naota's father. A former pop culture journalist, and currently a freelance writer.
- Shigekuni Nandaba, Naota's grandfather. He owns the family bakery and coaches the local baseball team, the Mabase Martians.
- Eri Ninamori, 12, Naota's classmate. She is the daughter of the mayor of Mabase and class president. She is interested in Naota.
- Junko Miyaji, Naota's eccentric teacher. Her students have given her the nickname "Miya-Jun".
- Canti, a robot with a television set for a head. He was manufactured by the evil corporation "Medical Mechanica". He was tamed by Haruko in the first episode and plays in Shigekuni's baseball team.
- Commander Amarao, who works for the secret part of the Immigration department of the government. This group knows that aliens exist, and try to keep them from the public. Thus, Haruko/Raharu is a big problem for them. Amarao has fake eyebrows made of nori which make him look more mature. It is also believed by some that they somehow protect him from Haruko. In the past Amarao has had a relationship with Haruko similar to Naota's.
- Lieutenant Kitsurubami, a young adult woman who is Amarao's assistant.
Episodes
- Fooly Cooly (Japanese title: Furi Kuri)
- FireStarter (Japanese title: FiSta)
- Marquis de Carabas (Japanese title: Maru Raba)
- Full Swing (Japanese title: Furi Kiri)
- Brittle Bullet (Japanese title: Bura Bure)
- FLCLimax (Japanese title: Furi Kura)
A lot of the Japanese titles are abbreviations. The full titles are really the same as the English ones (except "Furi Kiri"), but because of the Japanese writing system, they sound a bit different.
These are the full Japanese titles:
- Furi Kuri
- Faia Sutata
- Maruki de Karaba
- Furi Kiri
- Buraitoru Buretto*
- Furi Kuraimakkusu
*The proper romanization of "Brittle Bullet" is actually "Buritoru Buretto".
Notes/Trivia
- The name of the company Haruko is fighting is spelled Medical Mechanica. It was misspelled in a scene in episode 2.
- Most of the vehicles in the series (such as Haruko's Vespa, Miya-Jun's Volkswagen Beetle and Amarao's Volkswagen Rabbit) are European.
- Many of the important characters are left-handed due to the director's belief that southpaws have more outgoing personalities than right-handed individuals.
External links
- Production I.G's English FLCL site
- Gainax's English FLCL site
- Synch-Point: Production - FLCL
- Geneon Entertainment Music - Look under "January Releases" for 2004 to find the FLCL soundtrack
- Over-Analyzing FLCL, a fan site with general information and episode analyses.