FLCL
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is a six episode Japanese animation OVA series, the brainchild of director Kazuya Tsurumaki of Gainax and released by Gainax and Production I.G. The series has been broadcast on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block numerous times. On June 4 it was announced that Adult Swim will run a marathon of FLCL showing all six episodes on Aug 5 2006 .
Style
FLCL is an esoteric production whose odd style, hyperactive pace, and obscure plot logic sets it apart from other contemporary anime. There are many hidden meanings underneath its surface. FLCL could be categorized as a comedy, drama, soap opera, and/or science fiction. 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 (which was also produced by Gainax), Lupin III, and Hamtaro. FLCL also brings up minor but notable pop references such as the Tomino Hammer which is referring to Yoshiyuki Tomino's original Mobile Suit Gundam series including an unrealistic hammer weapon in a relatively plausible Real Robot Universe. FLCL also parodies slightly nostalgic Japanese culture itself, by switching styles to traditional kabuki at one point, presenting now defunct brands of drinks, Japanese style bread, and nostalgic 3-wheeled automobiles that were prominent in Post-war Japan. Puns and sexually suggestive metaphors fly freely. However, its comedic elements at times overshadow what is, at its core, a coming of age story. The stranger elements often reflect the confusion and awkwardness of puberty (or possibly of life in general), often incorporating very, very heavy Freudian imagery to express this change; (fans with some knowledge of psychology often have a field day picking psychological symbols out of the seemingly irrational action of FLCL.)The characters are all highly eccentric: Mamimi obsesses on the past, Haruko's mood changes with the moment; Kamon actually dresses up as a Nazi and challenges his son to a shootout for Haruko's love. Naota is the least erratic of the cast, but constantly finds himself at the center of attention. His complaints of hatred for his boring town are in stark contrast to the surreal shenanigans that escalate throughout the series.
FLCL is an exercise in unconventional, self-referential anime. To appreciate the series, one has to first become acquainted with many anime conventions, and be able to see a second layer in the production. 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 three hours.
A significant element of FLCL's appeal is its music. Most of the background music was written and performed by the band "the pillows," which has generated mass success and appreciation since the anime's release abroad. Shinkichi Mitsumune wrote the rest of the music, but only one track made it into the show itself, the others are on the soundtracks. Two soundtrack CDs and a one-CD "best-of" compilation were released in Japan and later America. Another interesting note is that the action sequences were choreographed around the individual tracks used and not the other way around. There is also a significant amount of reference to guitars which are used symbolically throughout the series.
Story
The series focuses on Nandaba Naota, a twelve-year-old boy just starting puberty, living in the fictional, strange, and yet ordinary Japanese suburb of Mabase. Naota lives with his lecherous father Kamon and his baseball-coaching grandfather Shigekuni at their family bakery. He greatly admired his older brother Tasuku—a baseball phenomenon who has gone to the United States to play the game. Note that Tasuku, though often referenced, never appears in the series (though he can be seen in one flashback scene wearing his baseball uniform, and he is partially visible in a photograph never entirely shown). Naota seems to be very frustrated with his life, and in the opening episode is musing about how uneventful and boring Mabase is.
Events kick off when a strange and mischievous girl named Haruhara Haruko runs him over with her Vespa and then whacks him in the forehead with a left-handed Rickenbacker bass guitar with a pull cord start motor. Soon afterwards, Naota discovers that being hit with Haruko's bass left more than just a bump — it opened an N.O. portal (see below) in his head and things are starting to come out of it. Later that day Naota finds Haruko in his house, hired by his father as a live-in maid. It is gradually revealed that Haruko is in a confrontation with a company named Medical Mechanica (whose factory building looks like a giant clothing iron) located on the outskirts of Mabase which is holding a being named "Atomsk" which she is after, and she's using Naota as a means to her own ends, which are revealed in the final episode.
In addition to being hounded by Haruko, who uses the portal she opened in his head for her own selfish purposes, he is being watched by a man named Commander Amarao. He and his assistant, Lt. Kitsurubami, are monitoring Haruko and Medical Mechanica for intergalactic legal reasons and are attempting to save the Earth as the conflict between Haruko and Medical Mechanica (MM) escalates.
The plot also involves Mamimi, a delinquent girl who fancied herself to be Tasuku's girlfriend. Alone and friendless, she leans on other things, such as Naota, her pet cat, or the terminal core, all of whom she calls "Ta-kun" (referring to both Tasuku and Naota), and cigarettes. Japanese adolescents often add the suffix "-kun" to the names of their classmates and friends their age or younger. She calls Tasuku "Tasuku sempai" because he is older, but is likely using Naota as a substitute, whom she would call "Naota-kun," or "Ta-kun" for short (which would also be suspiciously close to referencing Tasuku.) There is also a girl named Ninamori who goes to school with Naota and seems to have romantic interests in him.
The power of N.O. is what lets items be pulled out of characters' foreheads. N.O. comes from the cooperation of the right and left sides of the brain. When it is activated (usually from extreme scenarios including stress and duty) things can be pulled from anywhere in the universe. After the activation of his N.O., an x-ray of Naota's head shows that his brain is seemingly missing, but this is actually due to the x-rays being pulled into the vortex created by N.O., though Haruko uses it as a joke at Naota's expense. Naota's N.O. is responsible for the appearance of Canti (pronounced "Kanchi"), Naota's Flying V, Atomsk's Gibson EB-0, three other MM robots, and in the end, Atomsk himself.
The main story plot revolves around Naota's exploits with Haruko, and are more an exploration of Naota's adolescent sexual coming of age.
Characters
The plot revolves (mainly) around Naota as he interacts with several groups of people, including his schoolmates, his relatives and the government, as well as rogue individuals, such as Haruko and Mamimi.
Notes and trivia
Further trivia is also available on the FLCL page at the [IMDb], and episode-specific trivia can be found on each episode's individual page.Translation
To try to make the dialogue easier to understand in the English translation, there are some places where dialogue is different from the Japanese version. Some examples are:
- In the same manga scene the Japanese version uses the term "kuri kuri" repeatedly. Kuri literally means "chestnut" but is slang for clitoris. "Kuri kuri" means to "feel up" a woman.
- Haruko uses the term "mouth to mouth" repeatedly throughout the series, though the "th" sound does not exist in Japanese so it sounds like "mouse to mouse". This is used in a pun in Full Swing while she crawls out of the Kamon puppet's mouth wearing a mouse suit.
Cultural
- In late 2003, one of the Adult Swim bumper sequences listed some of the favorite random things of Adult Swim's staff. FLCL was among them.
- While the sour drink in the black can that appears in the series seems to be a drink called , an actual lemon-flavored brand of soft drink in Japan, the pamphlet accompanying the third DVD of the series explains that the drink is named "KaraC" as a pun on the Japanese word "karashi" (which means "mustard" or something spicy) and beverages that end in "C", like Hi-C.
- Haruko's bass guitar is a left-handed azureglo (blue) Rickenbacker 4001 that's slightly different than the typical left-handed model. Azureglo is not to be confused with midnight blue, a similar color that was used by Rickenbacker much later. Also the 4001 is discontinued, replaced by the nearly identical 4003, which is why some people confuse the two. Atomsk's is a 1961 Gibson EB-0. Naota's appears to be a 1967 Gibson Flying V. In the final episode when Naota transforms into Atomsk, he fuses the Gibson EB-0 and the Gibson Flying V to form a double neck guitar with may or may not be a Gibson EDS 1275
- Haruko's Vespa appears to be a 1963 GL 150
- If you look carefully at Haruko's bass, you can see that the headstock is identical to the right-handed headstocks, only left-handed. i.e. The swoop at the top swoops downwards. 4001LH Rickenbackers had a reversed headstock. i.e. The swoop at the top points upwards like a hook.
Title
- A common mistake by English-speaking fans is to say that the meaning of "Furi Kuri" in Japanese is "Breast Fondling" This mistake arises from the fact that "kuri kuri" is occasionally used by manga artists as a sound effect for breast fondling. In the anime itself, they make references to "kuri kuri" during the first manga scene, when the grandpa describes kneading bread by making hand gestures that unmistakably resemble groping motions. Due to incredibly fast pacing of the scene, many fans mistake the grandfather's statement as referring to "furi kuri" instead of "kuri kuri." Many Japanese onomatopoeia follows a pattern of being four kana long and having a sound repeated twice. "Furi furi" is also used as a sound effect in a later episode when Haruko is petting Naota's cat ears.
- The title, Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly, meaning is unknown even to the characters in the show, even though they use the phrase repeatedly. One explanation for the title is explained in the manga-style scene in Episode 1, though many people did not understand this explanation. One theory maintains it to be a Japanese shortening of "Flictonic Clipple Waver Syndrome," a fictional medical condition used as a plot device in the show. However, considering the phonetic structure of the Japanese language, it is far more logical to assume that is actually born from the term Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly, rather than vice versa. The unknown origin of the title is one of many quirks pointed out by even the characters, who frequently use the term, but its meaning is never specifically explained. This is important because it plays a strong role in the puberty theme that continues through out the series. This may also be why in episode six, Naota is not aware of the word's meaning, because he is still unaware of the pre-pubescent changes in his own life.
- The Title "Fooly Cooly" actually comes from a song the director had heard, liking the sound and meaning of the lyrics. To quote Synch-point producer Shizloo from the synchpoint forums "The official title is "FLCL." He may have shortened it to this to make it easier to read the title.
- FLCL was referred to with "furi kuri" in Japan for several reasons: Director & creator Kazuya Tsurumaki wanted a title that was a contraction of words... like Pocket Monsters becoming Pokémon, Family Computer becoming Famicom, air conditioner becoming EaKon. (there's a rumor that Square Enix named themselves Square Enix instead of Enix Square, because SukuEni rolls better on the tongue than EniSuku, even though the English shortening would be SquEnix.) He liked the way furi kuri sounded, and put together letters that became FLCL. Fooly Cooly pronounced in Japanese would be Furi Kuri, afterall.
- Synch-Point and Production I.G. decided to subtitle FLCL as Fooly Cooly in the US. They wanted to make sure fans knew how to read FLCL. The producer says he still has people come up to him and say how much they like "eff-el-see-el." [link]
Characters
- There are examples of scenes in which Naota yells out "Tasuk--"; the Japanese audience, at first assuming that he will exclaim "Tasukete" (help!), may be surprised when he instead says "Tasuku," the name of Naota's older brother.
- Atomsk is named after the novel Atomsk (novel)Atomsk, by Carmichael Smith. And in the director commentary on the third DVD, the director states that he is unsure as to how its really pronounced (in FLCL it is pronounced atom-isk or atomos'ku)
- Naota calls Haruko "Haruko", Kamon calls her "Haruko-san", and Mamimi refers to her as "Haru-san".
Production
- Most of the vehicles in the series (such as Haruko's Vespa, Miya-Jun's Volkswagen Beetle, Kitsurubami's Fiat 126 and Kamon's Citroën) 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. The same distinction is shown in the difference between those characters who enjoy spicy food or sour drinks, and those who don't, as well as those who swing the bat or don't. Note that both Haruko and Mamimi are left handed.
- It was rumored that the whole series was merely an experiment by Gainax to test out new techniques (such as perhaps, bullet time), and they used a 26-episodes worth of budget to produce the high quality animation. The IMDb says the series was created as a break from regular anime. More information can be found on the director's audio commentary on the DVDs.
- the pillows did much of the soundtrack, with Shinkichi Mitsumune doing one remaining track for the dinner scene in Episode 3. His unused incidental music appears on the soundtracks for the show.
- The show contains numerous sexual innuendoes which were the lead artist's ideas, contrary to that of the director, though some innuendos were written into the script (the 'split fronts' is one of the most thinly veiled examples).
- The Vespa shown in the ending credits of the series actually belongs to the director and at the time of the Japanese DVD release was not in working condition.
- During episodes 1 and 6 the show temporarily uses a unique manga-like animation style. Due to uniqueness of the style, it required much time and effort to create, and the two scenes became the most expensive in the entire anime. An inside joke in episode 6 is that Naota's dad says that they were told to never do that again, which is true - the CG artist had complained to the director about the complexity of the first "manga" scene, and initially refused to believe it could be done at all.
- The hand shown in episodes 5 and 6 is actually the hand of the director. The movement was captured on film and then spliced digitally into the animation.
- In episode 4 the original idea was for Naota to hit his robot father in the head with the bat instead of the TV. But due to a string of kids beating their parents to death with metal baseball bats hitting Japanese news around production time, Naota attacks the TV instead.
- Amarao's eyebrows are real pieces of nori that were scanned.
Episodes
The total run-time for this show is three hours with commercials. The episodes are:- Fooly Cooly (Japanese title: Furi Kuri (フリクリ))
- FireStarter (Japanese title: FiSta (ファイスタ))
- Marquis de Carabas (Japanese title: Maru-Raba (マルラバ))
- Full Swing (Japanese title: Furi Kiri (フリキリ))
- Brittle Bullet (Japanese title: Bura-Bure (ブラブレ))
- FLCLimax (Japanese title: Furi Kura (フリクラ))
Reception
The reception for the series, although not widespread in the United States, has been enthusiastic. As of April 2006, the show has cleared the 1,250 vote barrier on the IMDb (which classifies it as an OVA rather than a TV show) with a rating of 8.8 out of 10.Releases
The episodes were originally released in Japan on six DVDs. It was also released as a two-volume manga by artist Hajime Ueda, and a three-volume novel serialization by Yoji Enokido, who also wrote the script for the show. All were released in Japan starting in 2000. The manga is a much darker and more violent take on the story (Naota accidentially kills his father with the baseball bat in a rather grisly scene; Shinguki has a war buddy who helps him suicide-bomb the Medical Mechanica building), while the novels are a more straight adaptation. The anime has subsequently been released on DVD in North America in three volumes by Synch-Point which feature exclusive extras not on the original Japanese DVDs, while the manga was released by TOKYOPOP in two volumes (ISBN 159182396X and ISBN 1591823978). All soundtrack discs, Addict, King of Pirates and FLCL No. 3 were released by Geneon. The CDs also contain 'drama tracks' which continue the story in the usual joking manner, such as one segment that has Naota meeting girls with similar names to Haruko and Mamimi.FLCL has also been seen on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in North America, starting in August 2003. Starting on August 4 and continuing for three weeks, the entire series aired twice. This was the first time it had been aired in the United States on network television, and from there it quickly ballooned in popularity. It also occasionally aired throughout 2005, usually during the Saturday night "ACTN" (action) lineup. In response to a viewer mail adult swim said that on August 5 adult swim will air all Fooly Cooly episodes. From the start of 2006 through February 5, the series ran once through on Monday nights until being replaced by Fullmetal Alchemist, and is making its return on August 5, 2006. It has gained a cult following in the U.S. thanks to the exposure on Adult Swim and the popularity of the DVD release.
The original releases of the Region 1 FLCL DVDs contained booklets with interviews and insight into the series. Later releases of these DVDs did not include the booklets.
Fandom
While never mentioned in the anime or the manga, a large number of FLCL fans refer to Haruko's race as Rehus. The original source for this name seems to be a fanfiction series entitled WGYWKY.External links
- [Synch-Point], North American distributors of FLCL
- [Open Directory links for FLCL]
- [FLCL Anime Image Gallery]
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| Addict - King of Pirates - FLCL No. 3 |
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