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FLCL is a three-volume novel series adaptation of the FLCL anime.

The story was written by the anime's screenwriter, Yoji Enokido, and illustrated by Kazuya Tsurumaki (FLCL director) and Hiroyuki Imaishi (animation director for "Brittle Bullet").

The novels were published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan and released between June 2000 and March 2001. The English-language versions were published by Tokyopop and were released in North America between March 2008 and March 2009.

The novels cover all 6 episodes of the anime, with each volume covering two episodes. In contrast to the manga, the novel remains rather faithful to the anime, but also expands on parts of the story by introducing elements that were not present in the original production. The book also features a few illustrated scenes that differ from the original anime version.

Gallery[]

Differences between the novel and anime[]

Fooly Cooly[]

  • It is mentioned that the story is taking place during autumn and that the season holds some sort of special meaning to him.
  • Naota mentioned that he had just started attending junior high, while in the anime, he began attending junior high during the epilogue.
    • It should be noted that he is described as a "cool, sixth grade junior high hero" in the profile section of the novel, but elementary schools in Japan covers grades 1 through 6, which would actually mean he is still in elementary school.
    • In the anime, he specifically states to his father that he is still an elementary school student during the manga scene in the first episode.
  • Naota seems to fully acknowledge that Mamimi is using him and that he is merely a "substitute boyfriend" for her.
  • Naota reveals that he had previously tried to kiss Mamimi, but she would always turn him down and reminded him that their actions were limited to just her nibbling on his earlobe and neck.
  • Naota mentions that he hates gum and likes "Cool Mint" (likely referring to LOTTE Cool Mint chewing gum), while implying that Mamimi likes papaya flavored bubblegum.
  • Medical Mechanica is described as a "medical machinery factory", that was controversial at first, as it was believed that the townspeople would benefit from turning Mabase into an industrial town. It is the biggest source of employment in Mabase, with nearly all of the adults working there, as well as kids who are doing part-time jobs. It also owns several other businesses including Medical Mechanica Hospital, Medical Mechanica Library, and Medical Mechanica Croquet Park.
  • The story about Naota's mother / Kamon's wife is explained, stating that she had met Kamon while working at the same magazine publisher. He then married into his wife's family and took her maiden name, making him Shigekuni Nandaba's son-in-law. She had apparently died when Naota was in kindergarten, though he noted that the rest of the family told him that she was not dead, but her whereabouts were unknown.
  • The origin of Miyu Miyu is explained: Kamon picked the cat up off the street sometime after his wife died in order to keep the bakery safe from pests and forced him to take the baking business more seriously. Though Naota suspects that he may have been a kitten that he saw several months earlier that got caught in a typhoon near their house.
  • After checking on his new horn, it is revealed that Naota wears eyeglasses.
  • Naota's horn is described as being dark blue, while in the anime, it still flesh colored.
  • Naota first greets Ninamori at their school's gate and then explains to her that he is wearing a bandage on his forehead due to his grandfather and a door-to-door salesman getting into a fistfight while he tried to intervene.
  • Ninamori is described as having a "princess" persona, due to her father being the mayor. Naota mentions that she tends to meddle into her classmates' lives and is the first to offer her help even when no one asked for it as well as seek the approval of their teacher. He also mentions that she treats him with a strange sense of comradery due to the both of them having high grades.
  • Masashi Masamune does not appear in the conversation when Gaku Manabe talks about the "Vespa Woman" to Naota and Ninamori. The conversation is also slightly longer as Gaku mentions that the "Vespa Woman" stole a curry roll from a girl named Kumiko and that she was sharing a diary with a boy named Koji from class 3.
  • On his way to the hospital, Naota reveals that he would normally take one of two routes for when he left school: one was a normal route that kids normally take, while the other lead to Mabase Bridge, the spot that serves as a safe zone for him and Mamimi. He also noted that his meetings with Mamimi there were typically not planned and that sometimes, only one of them would be there.
  • The Medical Mechanica Hospital is described as a hi-tech hospital, due to Medical Mechanica being a world class leader in medical equipment manufacturing. Its quality and number of beds in its ER and Intensive Care units exceeds the requirements of Mabase's population of 60,000.
  • It is revealed that Naota and his family eat together due to it being a rule that Kamon strictly enforces. Naota further explains that this activity was odd to him as his classmates rarely eat together with their family and that his family were the type of people that he could not talk to about his problems.
  • After Haruko tried to sleep in Naota's bed, he tried to climb into the top bunk, before she reminded him that it was his brother's bed, causing him to stop and feeling stunned, as he had just said to her those same words only moments earlier. Earlier in the novel, Naota mentioned that it was the only sacred spot that the brothers had in their shared bedroom and that getting the bottom bunk reminded him that he always was on the bottom of things.
  • When Naota heads downstairs and finds Kamon in the darkened kitchen, he mentions that Mamimi had stopped by. Unlike the anime, he does not ask about Haruko running Naota over or show the pictures that Mamimi took of the incident. He simply mentions that Mamimi had asked for leftover bread and that he suggested that she fries it up a little bit, before asking Naota if her family is not well off.
  • When Naota finds Mamimi at the bridge, she asks him if he wants a piece of the crusts that Kamon gave her, before noting that there are not very good.
  • Unlike the anime, Haruko did not look at Tasuku's letter to the family when her bracelet alarmed her about Medical Mechanica. Instead, she had just been laying down on the floor when she heard the siren and immediately bolted out of the house.
  • Inside Medical Mechanica, there is a host computer that is transmitting "message received" signals and is keeping track of the fight between Canti and the robot.

Fire Starter[]

  • The story opens with Naota being jealous of what is happening outside of school, as his class has to stay afterschool to participate in a debate about the recent arson incidents organized by Miya-Jun, while the other classes had already left.
  • Junko is portrayed as a "young, energetic, vitamin-filled person", who acts like a spoiled princess. He also mentions that despite her enthusiasm, he is willing to question her teaching ability, believing that she would lead her students astray if they followed her teachings too closely.
  • Miya-Jun scolds one of the female students for being somewhat absent minded while she was in charge of the class activity. The girl continued to cry in front of everyone, causing Miya-Jun to stand next to her and sing "The girl who shed crocodile tears was a geisha girl" while clapping. She then tried to justify the bizarre song and dance to her students by claiming that her grandmother would sing that song to her whenever she cried, though Naota and the others did not believe that the student was crying fake tears in the first place.
  • Throughout the debate, Naota indicates that he desperately wants to see Mamimi again and indicates that it has been awhile since they last met up by the river bed.
  • After getting out of the debate, and trying to run to the Mabase Bridge to see Mamimi, he is stopped by Gaku and Masahi, who are described as his closest friends and live near him. Naota then changes his original plan to avoid suspicion and agrees to go with them to see the burnt house. Ninamori, acting as class president, then tells them to stop loitering and go home, before suddenly deciding to join the trio, much to Masashi's annoyance.
  • After finding Mamimi waiting for him outside of his elementary school, he reveals that he is wearing a new hat because of a second horn. He then reveals that the previous night, Haruko had drugged him, stripped him naked, and was now examining his skull, revealing that his brain is completely empty.
  • After telling the story about being drugged, he eventually decides to go home and leave his friends and Mamimi at the school. He then arrives home and see Kamon making Canti work outside of the bakery. Aside from mentioning that Kamon wrote a book about Evangelion, the other pop culture references that he made in the anime are removed.
  • When Haruko is detained by Medical Mechanica security, there is only one security guard there. Naota mentioned that he had to walk 20 minutes after she called the bakery. The guard then informed Naota that she had damaged the gate and was concerned due to the recent arson attacks. After taking Naota's information down, he told the two that she would only be given a warning since the gate was not permanently damaged, but he would call the police if she made another attempt.
  • The scene where Naota finds Mamimi underneath the bridge while it was raining and hands her a pair of sandals takes place after Naota helps Haruko at the MM factory, while in the anime, it takes place before.
    • Naota also reveals that he had just arrived at home from school when Mamimi called him and asked him to meet her underneath the bridge, telling him that she lost her shoes in the river, which made him think to give her a pair of sandal from home. He then notes that it was the first time that she had ever called him as well as the first time that she had visited him at his school the day before. He then gets annoyed that she did not think to ask him to bring an umbrella as well, as she said said did not have one and would not mind being a little wet from the rain.
    • When Mamimi asks Naota to stay and "play" like they normally do, he coldly tells that he is busy and walks off while she continues to play with Takkun, as he is becoming more annoyed with her for not thinking about his feelings. In the anime, he tells her that he is busy in a less cold tone, with her acknowledging that he always seems busy now. He then tells her that it is because he has to take care of a lot of people before grinning and opening his umbrella.
  • It is revealed that the townspeople have become more aware of Canti's presence, noting that he been seen reading adult magazines in the convivence store for 3 hours at a time, picking up loose change from the vending machines, sitting in barber shops to read manga and even hitting on girls who stopped by the bakery. Mamimi then used the gossip to follow Canti around and take pictures of him before finally finding out that he lived at the Nandaba residence. She then showed her pictures to Naota after the family had dinner.
  • When Canti arrives at the Nandaba residence, Haruko had received both a spicy curry roll and orange juice, before pointing out that Canti got the wrong one.
  • Instead of Canti turning to give Shigekuni his adult magazine before being scolded for getting the wrong one, Shigekuni opens the door upon hearing Haruko's complaint. After seeing Mamimi, he then brags about how Tasuku recently sent him new clothes from America, in order to make Mamimi jealous (while Naota mentions that Shigekuni is jealous of Mamimi for trying to Tasuku away from him, as the two men bonded over baseball). As Mamimi takes a quick picture of Canti again, Shigekuni becomes angry and threatens to call the cops on her, saying that she has no right to take pictures of their robot.
  • Naota then suggest that Mamimi stop following Canti, pointing out that she has been skipping school in order to take these pictures. He then warns her that Tasuku will not like her anymore if she gets kicked out of school. Mamimi gives him a sad look before slowly walking away and leaving her photos behind.
  • When Naota and his friends visit the charred ruins, the scene is described as a burnt house and there are several police officials still doing investigative work, while in the anime, Ninamori mentions that it was a boathouse and Masashi saying that it was ok to enter as the police had already finished up their investigation. Naota also spends some time in the novel believing that Canti is the one who is setting the fires.
  • Naota eventually leaves his friends at the ruins and walks home alone before spotting Mamimi being bullied by several high school girls. After the bullies leave and she tries to wring her skirt out, Naota and Mamimi make eye contact and look at each other in silence for several minutes. In the anime, Naota and his friend walked home together, before they notice Mamimi's shoe and then see her already wringing out her skirt. While Naota looks at her, she appears to be looking off to the Medical Mechanica building as it blows out a white cloud of smoke.
  • Sometime after Naota and Mamimi see each other, they head to a smaller nearby bridge, where she takes a seat and tell him that her skirt will dry faster this way. She then proceeds to just sit and play her video game while smoking, as Naota tries to figure out what to say to her. After asking if her skirt is finally dry, she discards her game and Naota picks it up, noting how he, like many other kids, tried the game when it first came out, but gave up after a few tries. After playing around with it for a few moments, he then notices that Mamimi already left and proceeds to look for her.
  • During her disappearance, Mamimi walks to a back alley and finds Canti playing with a few stray cats, while Naota desperately searches for her by calling her cell phone and house number, while feeling that he is slowly losing her. He is then stopped by a police car who asks if he has seen a "suspicious-looking high school girl" before noticing a fire on the other side of the bridge.
  • The story of how Tasuku saved Mamimi is explained, implying that Tasuku was trying to be a hero when the fire broke and that he may have known that Mamimi was the one who burned down the old elementary school. Naota also implies that she burned down the school as she was also being bullied back then as well.
  • After Naota is excreted from Canti, his face and body are coved with numerous scratches. It also described him being covered in some sort of acidic smelling goo.
  • When the police begin approaching the scene, Naota takes Mamimi's hand and they get on Haruko's Vespa, noting that awkward configuration of the trio riding on the Vespa would likely get them pulled over. While the cops try to stop them, Haruko eventually accelerates and drives off into the night as Naota and Mamimi hang out.

Marquis de Carabas[]

  • The story opens with Naota discussing Ninamori and how she was special, noting that she is the tallest girl in their class, before pointing out that there a few female fifth graders who were taller and that she had caught a reptile with her hands. He then proceeds to point out that the actual reason as to why she is special because of her family's political connection, and tells a story about how four years ago, she had been in an advertisement for a study desk. But then he points out that she has not been in another advertisement since then and those who had praised her were simply trying to get some favors from her father, the mayor of Mabase.
  • Mayor Ninamori is heard explaining to his daughter as to why he is separating from his wife, with Eri noting that the secretary was standing there next to him when he gave is explanation.
  • Ninamori
  • It is explained that while students were not permitted to take a car to and from school unless they had an injury, Ninamori was able to be driven to school through a side street and exiting in a spot where she would not be caught.
    • It is also noted that the car that the secretary is driving was originally the family's new car, but the secretary has since turned it into her own personal vehicle.
  • Instead of King Midas and the Donkey Ears, Mamimi tells Naota that she had been in three plays during her school years, with each character being connected to fire: Sailor Mars in kindergarten, The Little Match Girl in elementary school and Carrie in middle school. This further provokes Naota to think about the events of Fire Starter and Mamimi possibly being the arsonist, before noting that the police still do no have any leads on who set the fires.
    • Since Mamimi did not reenact her scene from King Midas and the Donkey Ears to reveal Naota's cat ears like in the anime, in the novel, she had simply removed his hat while kissing and nibbling on Naota, who was enjoying their renewed relationship and was not paying attention to his hat.
    • Before losing his hat, he had explained that since the events from the previous episode, she no longer followed Canti around and put all of her focus back on Naota and their "playtime" under the bridge. He was also feeling proud as Mamimi acknowledge that he had saved her by piloting "Lord Canti", though he admits to himself that he does not remember anything after he was absorbed.
  • After Miya-Jun confiscates the boys' copy of "Come On, Mabase", the trio are actually forced to stand up as she demanded that everyone who read it stand up, causing the rest of the class to snicker at them.
  • When Ninamori goes to the Moniwa shop and sees Kamon trying to get the shop owner to carry his magazine, she is described as giving Kamon a dirty look and indicating that she knows he is the author, while in the anime, she has more of a dejected look and lets out a sigh when he offers her a copy. She also mentioned that while Kamon would not have known who she is, she felt it was odd that he would give a magazine to a grade schooler and describes the magazine as something written by a person who had a personal vendetta against her father.
  • The scandals about the Mayor involve both his personal and business life:
    • The mayor had partnered with a property company to convince Medical Mechanica to build their plant in Mabase and received illegal money.
    • Prior to becoming mayor, he had been receiving dirty money from buying and selling land illegally, which was then used to fund his mayoral campaign.
    • The mayor engaging in unscrupulous behavior showing several photographs of him with his secretary at his house.
  • When Ninamori decides to wait it out until the news reporters left her family's front gate, she wandered around town for several hours. She then stopped at a store to buy a curry roll and "Crystal Pepsi", while remembering that her father had warned her that "Junk food is bad; good girls don't eat that." After feeling like a fugitive, she stopped by the riverbed, where Naota eventually finds her.
    • In the anime, she had simply sat on the steps of a nearby train station with a bottle of "Cheerio" soda before Naota finds her.
    • When Naota finds Ninamori, he threatens to tell Miya-Jun about seeing Ninamori eating junk food, while the anime he threatened to tell the class about her not living up to her role as class president.
  • Haruko speeding down the road is explained as her brakes failing rather just her accelerating
  • After Haruko warns Ninamori to not touch Naota's cat ears, instead of getting sick and hunching over, Ninamori appears to be unharmed while Haruko steals her curry roll and eats it in front of the girl. Haruko then relents and offers to take her to the Nandaba residence.
  • During the ride home, Haruko reveals that she does not have a license while Ninamori begins to question her feelings about Naota and remembering that she had been to his family's bakery before, noting that it did not have many customers.
  • Upon entering the bakery/living room, Ninamori is shocked to see Kamon, the man who gave her the magazine as Naota, while Shigekuni offers his approval believing that she is Naota's girlfriend. Haruko is still wearing her biker outfit instead of the maid outfit in the anime.
    • Additionally, Ninamori, Kamon, and Shigekuni are eating leftover spicy curry and suffer from its effects, with Ninamori describing the spiciness as something beyond normal human comprehension and spice tolerance. Naota simply eat the rice and accompanying pickles as his way of protesting, before Ninamori continues to eat it and pretend that it is normal, to show that she is more mature than Naota.
  • It is revealed that Kamon had actually known who Ninamori was when he gave her the copy of "Come On, Mabase", while Naota is apparently shocked about his father knowing about his classmate, as well as the fact that he was the person behind "Come On, Mabase".
    • After Kamon tells Ninamori, "You're pretty famous now, aren't you?", she is described as being speechless and staring in horror, while in the anime, she kept her head down and seemed rather emotionless.
  • Ninamori said she was "half forced, half suggested" to take a bath at the Nandaba residence by Kamon, but also indicates that she did it to satisfy her curiosity about Naota and his family's home. She also said that she felt Kamon staring at her nude body when he stood by the glass partition to ask if she thought he was a bad person.
  • It is revealed that Ninamori had been wearing glasses for about 4 years, noting it was around the time she modeled for the advertisement.
  • After Ninamori sat next Naota on the bed, he immediately gets up and offers to sleep downstairs. She then grabs his arm and suggest that he stay with her since she is not familiar with his house and just wanted to relax.
  • The next day, Naota had fallen asleep during a Saturday rehearsal at school while having a vivid dream. He is then woken up by Haruko who kisses him in front of his classmates and Miya-Jun.
    • The dream involved the small black kitten that he had tried to save during the typhoon, which was mentioned in the novelization of "Fooly Cooly" and that he ran through the darkness to get to the cat as it floated away in a box. After losing sight of the kitten, Miyu-Miyu stood in front of him, wearing boots. He is able to talk, addressing Naota as "Your Highness". While Naota tries to deny being royalty, Miyu-Miyu points out that he is and that he has donkey ears underneath his crown. The cat then warns him that if he does not remove his crown, he will be consumed by the "man-eating demon", described as a girl riding a Vespa and carrying a metal guitar, with a bloodthirsty laugh and a red mouth that was wide open. He desperately tries to remove the crown as the demon gets closer until he is woken up by the sound of Haruko kissing him.
  • Upon seeing the robot that emerged from Ninamori's head, Naota compared to a lemon squeezer that he saw the one time that he went to Mamimi's house with his brother.
  • When Naota is knocked out of the way by Haruko and flies upward, he eventually drops down onto the school's rooftop where Canti was waiting and immediately caught him. In the anime, Naota's fall is significantly longer and away from the roof, as Canti was standing on the road after destroying Miya-Jun's car.

Full Swing[]

  • The opening baseball game and the backstory of the Mabase Martians is explained in more detail:
    • The team that they played against is the Umaguma Fragments, who are from the next town over.
    • They are the in the first of a three game series against the team.
    • The Martians are described as "perennial bottom-dwellers", but had once monopolized the top spot when they joined the amateur leagues.
    • Their proudest moment took place in 1988, after defeating the toughest school, PL Gakuen in a practice game.
    • Shigekuni was the team's ace pitcher and cleanup hitter prior to becoming the coach.
    • Tasuku had been on the team since he was a child, playing as a sub who pulled off miraculous wins for the team. Upon entering middle school and becoming busy with his own sports activities, the team became weaker as they had to refrain from asking Tasuku to rejoin the team.
    • Naota had joined the team primarily because Shigekuni forced him to and that the other teammates believed he had potential, since Naota always walked around carrying his brother's bat. In the game, he is given his brother's uniform to wear. He also noted that the team would refer to him as "Tasuku's brother" rather than his own name.
    • Haruko flirts with the Martians and blows kisses at them. Shigekuni also had to keep it a secret that Haruko is the family's maid to his team.
    • After Naota is knocked out by Haruko's pitch, Canti stood by and took a picture. His screen then revealed an x-ray of Naota's skull.
    • Canti and Medical Mechanica have a bad reputation among the Martians, as the team is based in the old shopping district and do not care for the plant being in their town. After seeing Canti's catching skills, the team cheers, and become even more excited after Shigekuni revealed that Tasuku will be come home to visit soon.
  • When Naota leaves the field and walks up to the road, he saw Haruko counting several bills as her payment for playing. Upon seeing Naota, she then put the money in her pocket and comments on his bandages. In the anime, she was already looking at him as he came up and had her bass guitar.
  • After Haruko gets on her bike and tells Naota, "If you don't swing, nothing will happen", the conversation is slightly extended compared to the anime, with Naota trying to justify his inaction, saying that it is impossible to hit her pitches. She then says "Takkun, you think you're special don't you? That's why you don't swing. If you swing, people will know you're not special", before speeding off and leaving him standing alone.
  • When Naota exits the bakery after seeing Haruko eating eggs from Kamon's mouth, he proceeds to hit a guardrail in front of the house with his bat. Amarao then appears, standing underneath a street light and warns him that he is damaging public property. In the anime, it was a vending machine that Naota hit, with Amarao appearing on his Fuji Rabbit and suggesting to the young boy that he should have used a baguette instead of a bat.
    • As Amarao shops at the bakery, Naota begins to think that Amarao is a policeman and believes he may be investigating Haruko, noting that he seems to know quite a bit about the her and the Nandabas.
  • During his walk home after "playing" with Mamimi, Naota begins to feel slightly guilty for what he is doing with Mamimi. He proceeds to tell a story about when he was in kindergarten and his teacher made the class play a game where the students said the name of the person they liked. He mentions that he did not want to say the name of the girl he actually liked, indicating that even as a child, he did not want people to know about his true feelings. Instead, he said the name of the girl who occasionally sat next to him in class. Sometime later, the girl invited him to play and snuck away to the closet to eat candy. He finishes up the story by admitting that he had forgotten the girl's name since then and that kindergarten was a much easier time in his life.
  • When Naota finally makes it back home, Haruko is practicing her bat swing as the 2nd game between the Martians and Fragments will take place the next day. Naota watches her and notes that he admires her swinging technique as much as his brothers. After she sees him and insists on coaching him, he eventually agrees let her do so and admits to himself that she is a good person, as he notices the sincere tone in her voice as she gives him tips on swinging.
  • The Mabase office of the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration is revealed to be directly below the Mabase Police Station. The station is serving as a "war room" for the bureau. It is mentioned that the operators who are working the monitors have been studying the satellite for several weeks with no rest.
    • Unlike the anime, Kitsurubami does not appear in this section and there is no mention of what Amarao did with the spicy curry roll.
  • After Naota hit the robot Kamon, it is revealed that he walked over to the Mabase Police Station to turn himself in. He was then put into an interrogation room and thought about how this event will be portrayed in the media and what people will say about him. He starts to panic and asks Tasuku to help him before hearing the voice Amarao informing the police officers that he will talking to Naota.
    • The accompanying illustration depicts Naota sitting in a chair with a shocked look on his face as Amarao arrived at the interrogation room. He then leans forward towards Naota with a somewhat menacing grin.
  • Amarao uses an electronic organizer to read off the details of Naota and his family, while in the anime, he had a clipboard.
  • After putting the sugar cubes in Naota's coffee, Naota then watched Amarao put several cubes in his own coffee, turning it into "sugary soup" and concluded that the commander must really like sweet drinks.
  • Amarao activates a monitor in the room to show Naota the satellite, further explaining how it will annihilate all of Mabase and its citizens, even if they were able to evacuate. He then tells the young boy to keep the information to himself, hinting that Kamon is still alive. Naota then takes a sip of the coffee that Amarao gave him and noticed how incredibly sweet it was.
    • In the anime, Amarao and Naota are standing outside and looking up at the sky when he informed the young boy about the satellite.
    • Additionally, the explanation about N.O. and Naota blurting out "eyebrows" are not mentioned here.
  • The satellite is noted to have the Medical Mechanica initals on it, while in the anime, it is implied that it not connected to the company.
  • As Amarao refers to Naota as a victim of Haruko, he noticed Amarao getting emotional every time he said her name, causing the boy to believe that Amarao may have also been a victim of Haruko when he was younger.
  • After finding the real Kamon in the closet and looking like a mummy, Naota joyfully hugged him and kicked the android out to the balcony. He then quickly took Kamon to the bathtub to rehydrate him. He continues to be happy upon seeing his father coming back to life.
    • In the anime, Naota is frigtened upon seeing the real Kamon and screams in horror as he runs down the hall to the bathroom with Kamon, as Miyu Miyu flys around and attacks Naota. After Kamon is revived, Naota does not seem very happy at all.
  • As Naota finishes rehydrating Kamon, he hears Haruko's Vespa pulling into the backyard. He proceeds to head out and give her a piece of his mind, before tripping over the robot Kamon's body and falling off the balcony into the yard. Haruko, who is still in her baseball uniform, then tells him he should be more careful. After he asks her what is the deal with android version of Kamon, it actually sits up and says "If Naota sees, there's going to be trouble". Haruko then proceeds to kick it, causing a panel door on its chest to open and reveal its inner working. It then mentions the love marks, reveal that those were also panels on the robot's neck.
    • In the anime, as Naota poured bottled water over Kamon, who was sitting in a metal bucket in the living room, Haruko suddenly breaks through the wall with her Vespa and runs over the android, causing both of them to scream while Haruko has a grin on her face. She then turns to them and simply says "Yo!", with the android's severed head in Naota's hands and one of its feet on Haruko's helmet. She is also wearing her regular biker outfit instead of her baseball uniform.
  • Naota then proceeds to ask her who she really is, cauing her to jokingly say that she is the manifestation of his boyhood dreams. He tells her to stop fooling around and answer his quesiton. She then calls him "Takkun" and says that she saw him first, before flashing him a smile, causing the boy to blush. He then catches himself and quickly changes the topic, asking if she knows about the satellite.
    • In the anime, as Haruko, who is still sitting on her Vespa, says that she is the manifestation of Naota's boyhood dreams, she does the splits and puts her hands on her breasts, before squeezing them and grinning. He then asks her if that line is from some sort of anime before asking about the satellite.
  • Mamimi is revealed to be watching the satellite form her rooftop with Canti next to her. The robot is able to use its monitor to display the satellite's descent into the earth's orbit. As she says that the "Lord of Fear" is late and wonders if there will be school tomorrow, Canti's monitor shows Haruko and Naota setting up at the baseball field, causing Mamimi to wonder what Naota is about to do.
    • In the anime, Mamimi was sitting on Canti's shoulders and they were perched atop of an electrical tower. She also saw Naota and Haruko at the Medical Mechanica building from her vantagepoint.
  • Haruko is revealed to be driving Naota to the baseball field to the hit the satellite, while in the anime, they drove to the top of the Medical Mechanica iron building.
    • Also when Haruko begins digging into Naota's head via the N.O. channel, she forcefully removed his bandage on his head, while in the anime it flew off during the drive to the building.
  • When Haruko pulls out Naota's "bat", it is described as looking a lot like Haruko's bass, while in the anime, it is a distinctly different guitar altogether.
    • Amarao describes the bat as looking like the "guitar shaped time-space interference weapon" used by the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood and that he knows Haruko is considered a top notch expert when it comes to handling the weapon.
  • As the satellite approaches Mabase, Haruko is depicted as being helpful and encouraging to Naota in order for him to finally swing the bat. He eventually develops the courage to hit and knocks it out by himself.
    • In the anime, Haruko fled and left him by himself as it got closer. As she rides off, she appears to be somewhat lax about the possible destruction of Mabase while the frightened Naota calls out to Tasuku and eventually gets the strength to stop it in its tracks. Haruko then returns to help him by giving the satellite the extra push to send it away from Mabase.
  • After knocking it out of the park, Haruko and Naota are depicted as happily celebrating, with Haruko giving him a hug and saying that she knew he could do it as Naota laughs and enjoys the moment. At the Bureau, the operators breathe a sigh of relief due to Mabase and their base not being destroyed and note that the satellite has been sent back into space and flying towards another planet at warp speed 2. Amarao then simply wonders if Naota could have killed his father while quietly observing the celebration between the boy and Haruko.
    • In the anime, it immediately jumped to the Bureau, with the operators seeming to be just focused on their tasks, note that the satellite has been launched back into orbit before losing track of it. An angry Amarao observes Haruko riding off with Naota alseep, before she burst out in laughter. As Kitsurubami looks over, one of his eyebrows suddenly falls off, causing her to scream in horror.

Brittle Bullet[]

  • The opening scene involving Kamon dressing up as Arsène Lupin III and being thrown into the television as Haruko shoots him is omitted.
    • Instead, the story starts shortly after the events of "Full Swing". Naota is practicing his bat swing in the backyard while Shigekuni proudly watches and tells his grandson that he is improving. Shingeki then acknowledges to himself that while Naota is still a second rate player compared to Tasuku, he is still young and that there is still time for him to improve or at least appreciate the sport more. He also mentions to Naota that Haruko had told him about how he had improved his swing.
  • Instead of angrily charging up to his room to confront Haruko after shooting Kamon, Naota is depicted as happily walking up the stairs after his grandfather had praised him.
  • When Naota sees Haruko in just a towel as she talks to Miyu Miyu, in the novel, she eventually removes her towel and reveals her bra and panties to Naota before they share a kiss. In the anime, while the towel stays on her body throughout the scene, she has nothing underneath the towel, as it eventually slides up and shows her bare buttocks after falling on top of Naota before they kiss.
    • The manga also omits the scene where Haruko dresses up like Elvis Presley and lists off several bands, while explaining how learning to play the guitar will make Naota look cooler.
  • It is explained that Kamon chose to fight Naota in sabage ("survival game", a.k.a. Airsoft) due to him being an avid fan of the sport. He had been involved in the sport since it had been introduced to Japan in the 1980s and was an avid collector of air guns. It was also noted that he mocked those who collected model guns, believing that an air gun was a real toy (as they are able to fire off bb rounds despite looking like toys), but model guns were fake guns (as they look very realistic but have no functioning parts)
    • It is also noted that Kamon wore a camouflage uniform for the match, while in the anime, he wore a Nazi uniform.
  • Kitsurubami is introduced in this part, though it is noted that she was actually in the monitoring room during the event of "Full Swing".
    • She is depicted as being a gun fanatic who had joined the bureau three months prior to the story simply for her love of military weapons rather than patriotism or responsibility. brought her own Degtyarev sniper rifle from home to fight Canti and was determined to shoot him, despite being told to only keep track of him until Amarao arrived.
    • She is also described as a late bloomer when it comes to dating, as she had only been in three other relationships: an assistant professor during her time as a university student, a supervisor at a previous job, and a married man that she eventually broke up with.
  • When Kitsurubami aimed her rifle at Canti, Haruko was able to spot her, despite the distance, and prevent her from pulling the trigger. Haruko was even able to fire several BBs into the railing near Kitsurubami's spot with accuracy. Then, when Kitsurubami went to inspect the damage, she ended up losing her balance and fell into the river. In the anime, Kitsurubami had fired off several rounds before Haruko swatted one back to Kitsurubami with her bass, which caused an explosion and sent her into the river.
  • Ninamori does not spray water on Naota after Haruko hugs him, before noticing Mamimi looking down on them. This happens due to Ninamori not receiving her squirt gun prize from Masashi until after they and Gaku continued their delivery drive and left Naota behind.
  • During the drive, Ninamori mentions that she is no longer the "Marquis de Carabas" and explains why she wore fake glasses during the play. Ninamori mentions that she normally wears contact lenses in order to appear like an adult, so wearing fake glasses while onstage allowed her to show her true face, that of a young child. Though after the play, she then realized that she did not need to use fake glasses to prove she is still a child.
    • She then learns about Mamimi's relationship with Naota's brother from Masashi, before questioning if it is inappropriate for both a high schooler and a 19 year old housekeeper to have feelings for the same 12 year old boy.
  • When Naota and Mamimi are by themselves near the riverbank, he mentions that she is playing around with his airsoft gun and pretending to be a character from a television show. She mentions that her crew need to defend against the A.T. field (a nod to the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise), before he warns her about where she is pointing the gun at. She then asks if Naota is starting to like the canned orange juice with pulp, as the narrator notes that Naota had only drank canned coffee prior to Haruko's arrival and that she is start to make an impact on his choice of cold drinks.
    • In the anime, it starts with her holding the airsoft guns and aiming them at herself while asking if Naota is starting to like the canned orange juice with pulp and noting that Haruko also likes that type of drink.
  • When Kitsurubami encounters Canti while in the river, she attempts to shoot him with her pistol, despite noting that she had studied the data files on him and that those types of bullets would be useless on him.
    • It is also noted that despite her being a gun fanatic and working as a field agent, she had no formal military training and was not prepared to fight up close upon seeing Canti approach her.
  • As Amarao prepares to fight Haruko at the salon, it depicts him as running outside to his subordinates, who then grab their guns and immediately shoot at her, despite telling his men to wait first. They are then forced to watch her slice all of their bullets in half with her razor blade. The subordinates are also described as lacking any sort of combat training.
    • In the anime, Haruko had sliced up the bullets that Amarao fired at her. He then holds his spot inside as the subordinates run in and line up behind him.
  • When Naota drags Mamimi along by her wrist, they eventually stop at a "coffee shop", though it is hinted that it is actually a love hotel. He then tells her that he chose the place because he believes that she had previously gone there with his brother. The narrator explains that Naota believed that a "coffee shop" was a place where real lovers went to spend time and expressed their words of love and that if he and Mamimi went inside, they would become real lovers, as he was already tired of simply playing around like lovers.
  • Upon Mamimi rejecting Naota, it is explained as to why she did not share his feelings: despite seeing Haruko and Naota getting closer, it was not jealousy that she was feeling in order to reject him. Rather, seeing Naota hit the satellite out into orbit at the end of "Full Swing" made her believe that Naota was acting more manly. Yet, despite this act improving her perception of him, it also made her no longer want him, as she believed that a man could easily throw her away. In the end, she only wanted a substitute Takkun instead of a manly Naota.
  • The robot that spews from Naota's head is noted to be significantly different from the previous ones and described as being an overflowing "liquid metallic snake firework". Upon finishing, it takes its final form, described as being massively tall with a thin metallic sheet for a body, wearing a poncho with two legs and manipulator arms, making it looking like a giant long cactus.
  • Haruko and Amarao briefly pauses as they watch the giant robot take shape, while all of the subordinates fled in terror. In the anime, Haruko had defeated all of the subordinates as she used her bass as a gun and left Amarao as the only survivor.
  • As Haruko begins to swing her bass around while Amarao looks for his eyebrows, it also noted that he used these eyebrows for the specific purpose of keeping his horn sealed within him, after his previously run-ins with Haruko and seeing her true form caused his horn to grow and leave him with cruel memories of her mocking the size of his horn.
  • After the robot finished spewing from Naota's head, both Naota and Mamimi are sitting on the pavement and watch, before feeling the tremors as it began to move forward towards the Medical Mechanica building. In the anime, they are both carried up onto the robot's hat and desperately try to cling on as it starts to move forward.
  • As Naota becomes frustrated with Mamimi calling out for Tasuku, Canti flies over and then hovers over Naota. Then when he calls to Canti, the robot quietly lands and then opens his mid-section like a cockpit hatch, as Naota quickly jumps in.
    • In the anime, Canti appears after Naota calls out to him and he lands hard behind the boy.
    • As Haruko's slingshot bullets stopped working on the giant robot, it was noted that Medical Mechanica is using a seventh generation alloy on the bodies of its products. The alloy, which was made through human-subject testing, was being used in various ways and could allow it to adapt to a particular situation
  • When Canti pulls out the Gibson EB-0 from his monitor, Haruko watches him do this from a nearby rooftop as she took cover from the blast. In the anime, she was being held onto by Canti when he pulls the instrument out.
  • Gaku, Masashi and Eri are shown driving into the town and eventually stop by a building where they see Mamimi staring at the side where Naota eventually lands, whereas in the anime they are forced to stop as Mamimi landed inside of the truck.
  • When Naota lands and roll out, he is described as having his eyes closed and quietly breathing, before Mamimi said that it looks painful. In the anime, Naota rolls out from the glowing ball after Eri sprays him with her squirt gun and looks to be nearly exhausted. He then has a more painful look on his face after Haruko lands on top of him while admiring Atomsk.

FLCLimax[]

  • The story takes place 10 days after the end of "Brittle Bullet". It also noted that the day after the robot was defeated, Miya-Jun warned her students not to go near the giant hand that was now near the Medical Mechanica building.
  • The segment about the students wanting to use a spork instead of chopsticks before Naota gets up and leaves the classroom to get them is changed.
    • Instead, during lunch, Masashi invites Naota to join him, Ninamori and Gaku at their part time job, with Ninmori mentioning that with the job, she will be able to buy a new computer game by next month. Naota, remaining silent, gets up and leaves the room, as Gaku notices that he did not eat anything on his plate, which was against school policy. Though it was mentioned that he was able to get around the policy by telling Miya-Jun that he is sick and will be going to the nurse's office.
    • It is then revealed that Masashi was inviting Naota to work with him out of concern, as he knew that his friend had not been the same since the giant robot was defeated and that he had carrying around a big responsibility.
  • It is revealed that Amarao and his team at the bureau were able to manipulate the public into believing that Haruko and Canti were responsible for the giant robot and destruction, claiming that they had broken into the Medical Mechanic factory and looted in-development projects, forcing the duo to flee town. They also convinced the public that the hand does not pose a threat and that Medical Mechanica will compensate all of the victims from the incident.
  • Upon seeing Mamimi in the rain looking for Takkun, it is revealed that he had not spoken to Mamimi since she rejected him in front of the coffee shop. It is also indicated that his self-image is destroyed as he believed that piloting Canti would make him look more manly to Mamimi, but instead he realized that he was nothing more than a bullet for a giant robot and that Mamimi did not want a manly version of Naota.
  • When Ninamori notices Mamimi searching for Takkun, Ninamori looks down at her from the bridge and vows that the high schooler will never find the cat. Ninamori then explains that during the previous week, she had found Takkun freezing in the rain. She had noted that Takkun had injured one of his legs, his skinny frame was convulsing and that he was too weak to even meow. After realizing that the cat was the one that Mamimi had been carrying around with her, she became angry that the high schooler would be that careless to let a pet suffer like that. As she continued to watch Mamimi search in the rain for Takkun, Ninamori whispered to herself that Mamimi will never find the cat, because it is now at the Ninamori residence and that she should learn to do things properly if she ever gets a pet again.
  • As Naota walked home, Amarao rides up behind him on his Rabbit scooter, causing him to stop in the middle of the road, while in the anime, Naota came across Amarao as he hid himself and his scooter in an empty drain pipe.
    • During their talk, Amarao hands Naota a small paper bag with the fake eyebrows in them, while in the anime, Amarao slaps them onto Naota's face.
  • Takkun's backstory is explained, describing him as a small, weak cat that was being bullied by several elementary school children (with Mamimi believing they were actually demons from Endsville). Despite having been bullied herself a few moments earlier, Mamimi had ran over and picked up the cat from the children, and threatened to hit them with rocks if she saw them again. While she did have good intentions, she then noted that the place she lived at would not allow pets (and if her parents had the money, they would have moved to a place that did) After two hours of searching, she had hoped that someone would have taken him in as a pet, before realizing that she is now alone without the cat.
  • After giving up her search for Takkun, Mamimi checked her phone, with Tasuku being the only number listed there. It is mentioned that while she had his international number and he had hers as well, neither one of them made an attempt to call the other person.
    • It is also mentioned that just before he left, he suggested that she find a new boyfriend. She began to imagine that would call her, telling that he doesn't like any of the girls in America and that she was the only woman for him, before boasting that he would be returning soon with gifts for her.
  • Upon seeing Haruko back at the Nandaba residence, Kamon explains that he permitted Haruko to take a vacation to Hawaii. The narrator further explains that during her disappearance, police investigators would stop by the bakery and demand to know where she was at, to which Kamon would put on a cold and distant tone, acting as if he hated her and told them that she had nothing to do with the family. Naota becomes enraged upon hearing this, beliving that adults truly are selfish.
  • The gift that Haruko gave the family is described as a wooden bear with white chocolate, something that Naota quickly points out that it not from Hawaii.
    • The wooden bear would imply that she went north to Hokkaido, as they are considered popular souvenirs in that region.
    • In the anime, Haruko brought them Fukuya Mentaiko, which is a popular brand of mentaiko (spicy cod roe) from Fukuoka prefecture which is south of Tokyo and are often sold as souvenirs.
  • In the scene where Miya-Jun's students are practicing their high jumps during P.E., it is explained that it is taking place after Haruko had returned to the Nandaba residence, and that Naota had not returned to school since then.
    • During the week that he skipped school, Naota would hang out with Haruko around town, either using his meager allowance money or Haruko quickly running out of the restaurants to skip paying the bill. The narrator mentions that the duo did things such as going to a movie theater, horse track, hanging out at a hotel pool and visiting some shady parts of town and even evaded the police after spotting her speeding on her Vespa with Naota sitting behind her, causing the officers to eventually crash into a barrier. Despite those things, Naota mentioned that he felt safe since he had Haruko with him and reminded him of the times he spent with his older brother.
  • Instead of stealing phones from people from her classmates, Mamimi visited several stores that offered phones in exchange for a name and addrress in order to feed robot Takkun. She then began to teach Takkun to burn down the house of several people on her list, with witnesses noticing a four legged creature with several cigarettes in its mouth within the vicinity. She eventually gives the robot the nickname "Holy Beast" based on the Endsville game.
    • The next day, the narrator mentions that while arson was Mamimi's preferred method for revenge, she was willing to adjust her battle plan and would allow Takkun to eat the car or motor in front of a house that she wanted revenge on instead of setting it on fire.
  • When Miya-Jun arrives at the Nandaba residence/bakery, it is depicted as being empty of staff and customers. Instead, she finds stacks of freshly printed copies of "Come On, Mabase" all around the storefront. Upon picking up a copy, she begins to have a bad feeling, not realizing that she had confiscated a copy of it from Naota and his friends a few weeks prior.
  • The conversation between Kamon and Miya-Jun is noticably longer. He mentions during his story about missing school while being in charge of a hamster that he spent his sick days watching Monty Python. He then tells her that he will kill Naota as believes that a son's failings are a father's failings.
    • Kamon points that Naota was not boycotting school as Miya-Jun thought, but rather, he had not returned him since running away with Haruko, making Miya-Jun even more concerned. He then quickly interjects and points out that Naota has been receiving good grades on his report card anyway, with only a remark by Miya-Jun about how he should be more obedient.
  • When Ninamori finds Naota and Haruko sleeping on a bench during the morning rush hour, she notices Naota's calmed breathing, before noting to herself that he apparently cried and stopped trying to be an adult. She then lets out a feint smile and says, "I couldn't buy you boots, but try your best, Mr. Cat" (alluding to him playing "Puss in Boots") and a few moments later of looking at the pair, leaves.
    • In the anime, upon seeing them, Ninamori briefly looks at them with slightly concerned look, then scoff and walks away.
  • During a drive with Commander Amarao, Kitsurubami discusses how she had been called to the central office a week earlier and watched footage of a Medical Mechanica building literally iron another planet flat and destroying all life forms and ecosystems. The footage made her realize just how serious of a threat Medical Mechanica is to their own planet. Amarao then reassures that they will be fine, so long as they get to the terminal core first.
    • She then talks about the "Red Pirate King Atomsk" and expresses her concern about him being on the planet, as a narrator explains that the Galaxy Space Police Brotherhood was trying to fight Medical Mechanica. But the company was not so much concerned with the brotherhood's top member, Haruko, but rather Atomsk, despite him not belonging to either fraction, as he had thwarted the company's ambitious plans to flatten several other planets. Amarao then tells Kitsurubami that the Bureau can't rely on Atomsk as well, as he will not side with anyone and that it is possible that he is not on the planet anymore.
  • When the terminal is finally found, it is described as constantly changing shapes and consisting of multiple machines in contrast to the anime.
  • When Amarao notices Mamimi choking from being caught in-between the machines, he rushes over and tries to help her, causing Kitsurubami to slightly change her opinion about him, before part of his suit gets caught on it.
    • In the anime, he had moved Kitsurubami aside as she fired her gun at the approaching robot.
  • When the MM alarm goes off and Haruko wakes up, she is able to see what is going on from a distance. She then violently kicks Naota to wake him up, and tells him "It's the climax!".
    • In the anime, she says the line when they are already on her Vespa and speeding towards the robots.
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