-~-My 50th Anime-~-
FLCL, Furi Kuri, Fooly Cooly, whatever you want to call it, is unique. Everyone I've ever talked to has referred to it as "strange", "crazy", "insane", or virtually every permutation of something that was at once interesting and perplexing; confusing, funny, wild, or just plain nonsensical. FLCL is just one of those things that you've got to see for yourself. No amount of explaining can ever encapsulate the intensity or liken this to anything ever before, or since.
FLCL is like a microcosm of anime; an amalgam of everything there is to like and enjoy about anime. It's got drama, it's got romance, it's got giant robot battles, mystery, intrigue, sports, super powers, military, conspiracy, plot twists, music, sci-fi, virtually every enjoyable thing one can think of; it's here, and compressed together in a microscopic 6 episode set.
The artwork in FLCL is absolutely fantastic, made even more so by the fact that this series is 14 years old and still holds up so incredibly well. It encompasses so many different styles: on screen comic book/manga parody, a hundred different styles of traditional animation, a South Park styled scene, and so many more. It's incredibly fluid and easy to watch- it practically flies on and off the screen, with so many key frames in certain parts juxtaposed with moments animated in a 2d cardboard cutout manner.
Fooly Cooly also has one of the most incredible soundtracks produced for an anime. I hold Yoko Kanno and Hideki Nagamuna in the highest regard of soundtrack compositions, but my hat is off to Shinkichi Mitsumune and J-Rock group "The Pillows". The alternative, grunge, groove funk sound of The Pillows meshes perfectly with the zany acts going onscreen. It reminded me a lot of the music of "Scott Pilgrim Vs The World", for reference. Almost the entire series has music in the background, and while never overpowering, the symbiosis with the action and dialogue is incredible. Such a combination was radical at the time, using nontraditional background music and a popular group to perform an original OST instead of solo composition, and it really sets FLCL apart in that aspect.
The sub has been whacked for its flat voice performances, and truth be told, they do sound kind of bored. In the dub however, the actors really capture the wackiness that FLCL is known for, give it some real feeling, but still retain a similar vocal affect that the original Japanese cast did. Mamimi sounds just as empty headed, Haruko is smarmy, nasal, and obnoxious, Naota sounds appropriately apathetic and stuffy, as an adolescent obsessed with being grown should. Just absolutely outstanding from all audible points.
FLCL is one of those things that's both extremely satisfying and really pleasantly entertaining without delving into any one thing too much. It's a comedy, it's an action series, it's a drama, it has any one of a number of overarching themes that one could pull from it- but to me, the main one is that of growing up.
Naota is 12, and has a bit of the old Holden Caulfield complex. He wishes more than anything that he was like his brother, Tasuku (who is away in America, playing baseball), whom he considers to be the epitome of 'grownness' and maturity. Extremely cynical and totally annoyed by everything he perceives to be immature, Naota goes throughout the series trying to find himself, which is reflected in the utterance heard throughout the beginning of each episode: "Nothing is amazing here. Everything is ordinary." despite the exceptional circumstances he finds himself in daily after his fateful introduction to Haruko.
Adjacent Naota is Mamimi- the 17 year old, high school truant, mischievious (only when nobody's looking) and absent minded girlfriend of Tasuku, the brother. Drifting through life, she's seemingly lost, hanging out under a bridge most of the time smoking, and just generally being a vagrant. She becomes infatuously attached to and dependent upon Naota, whom she calls (like his brother before him) Ta-Kun. Mamimi is very childish in both demeanor and life, and she signifies the start point of Naota's coming of age journey. Lost, alone, isolated, and misunderstood- she's a walking metaphor for the angst many feel as a teenager. She's often seen smoking as well, with her signature "Never Knows Best" phrase written on the cigarette.
The aforementioned Haruhara Haruko (say that one ten times fast) shows up one day to break up the monotony in the life of Naota (and his skull, at several points), riding her yellow Vespa scooter and wielding a Rickenbacker 4001 bass like a true battleaxe. After their initial train(scooter)wreck of a meeting, Haruko proceeds to knock some sense into Naota, and smash the story into orbit.
Like puberty and adolescent hormonal raging, Naota's life too spirals out of control, from the start of the series until the FLCLimax. From the tame, slice of life style beginning to the brain ironing conclusion, everything escalates, everything heightens to a nearly incomprehensible level until it just explodes. Naota too, who was initially unsure of himself, of Mamimi, and just what the hell is going on with his life finally comes around to seeing the big picture, much in the same way that the story of FLCL does. His relationship with Haruko is what marks his change from being the child he was before, but not yet ready to be an adult and leaves him right where he's supposed to be; a confused, but ultimately more mature adolescent.
It's plain to see where many anime have taken influences from FLCL, the signature style and overall wildness of the show have been immortalized through time and endless inspiration for other anime, past and present. Zany 4th wall humor, crazy situations, over the top ridiculousness, giant robot battles, introspective dialogue, nontraditional storytelling, it's all one giant snapshot of anime as a medium and so many of the things that make it great. Detractors will say that there is no story, and it's just a disconnected series of weirdness in an attempt at absurdist humor, but Fooly Cooly is so much more.
Fooly Cooly is art.
We have Yōji Enokido, Kazuya Tsurumaki and my personal hero, Hiroyuki Imaishi to thank for this product. Much like Mr. Imaishi in more recent days, and Gainax before, I like his head. I never know what's going to come out of it either.
