Games - FLCL

	Games - FLCL

FLCL (Japanese フリクリ Furi Kuri, pronounced and officially romanized as Fooly Cooly) 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.

Style

FLCL is a unique and somewhat esoteric production whose myriad oddities are often bewildering. This is compounded by the suckerpunch pace at which the plot progresses. Its hyperactive, occasionally juvenile, and seemingly illogical style can be misinterpreted, generally causing strongly polarized opinions of its value. There are many hidden meanings underneath its surface. FLCL could be categorized as a comedy, drama, soap opera, science fiction, or horror story. 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).

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 two-and-a-half 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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for FLCL ]

Games - FLCL

Style

Story

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