The Bureau of Interstellar Immigration (入国管理局, nyuukokukan rikyoku, lit. "Immigration Bureau") is an organization that deals with interactions between Earth and extraterrestrial entities, such as Medical Mechanica.
Background[]
In the novel, the bureau is described as "a public safety organization that serve as a special advisory council to the cabinet". FLCL director and producer Kazuya Tsurumaki described the bureau as also being a "diplomatic point-of-contact for other planets."
It is currently unknown if this organization is national, international or whether or not it operates in secrecy; however, seeing as it was capable of orchestrating the evacuation of Mabase, it must have some association with the governance. In FLCL Alternative, the director of the Bureau, Tsukata Kanda, refers to himself as a government employee, and had access to several military hummers and battle tanks. He also has to report directly to the prime minister. In FLCL: Grunge, Amarao's badge states "Government Agent".
The Bureau of Interstellar Immigration appears to have direct contact with Medical Mechanica, but not with the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood. The Bureau of Interstellar Immigration seems to be primarily concerned with keeping Medical Mechanica pacified, so that they don't smooth out the "wrinkles" in the minds of everyone on Earth. They come into conflict with Haruko because of her destroying of Medical Mechanica robots and her affiliation with their rival faction: the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood.
Director Tsurumaki described the relationship between the three groups in FLCLick Noise, using the Cold War as analogy: the Brotherhood represents the United States and Medical Mechanica as the Soviet Union, as these two are the major powers fighting for control of the universe. Meanwhile, the Bureau is the Japanese police in Cold War-ear Japan, who are in a weak position and cannot do much.
Staff[]
The most prominent members of the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration in FLCL are Commander Amarao and Kitsurubami.
In FLCL Progressive, its main members are Masurao, Eye Patch and Tonkichi. Progressive also introduced Tami Hanae, who has experience dealing with both Amarao and the current Bureau members, as well as a familiarity with Haruko, dating back to the original series.
FLCL Alternative introduced Tsukata Kanda, who serves as the bureau chief. Kanda has a long history with Haruko dating back to a time he oversaw her during recovery of some sort, seemingly holding a candle for her back then. He is typically warning Haruko to stay away from Medical Mechanica and 17 year old Kana Koumoto. He also has to deal with bureaucratic issues, as he has to report directly to the prime minister. At one point, he mentions that due to budget cuts, he is the only person left to operate the monitors.
He remains largely uninvolved in the story until episode 6, when he discovers Medical Mechanica's plan to flatten Earth and recruits Haruko in a last-ditch effort to save the planet. Haruko subsequently recruits Kana and friends, all encouraging Kana's attempts to fully unleash her N.O. until she creates what Kanda refers to as the "Naked Focal Point," a unique space-time rift N.O. channel that removes all irons and the pins guiding them from Earth, among other things.
In FLCL: Grunge, Amarao is assigned to Okura by the agency and appears to be the lone agent there. The mayor, as well as the director of Medical Mechanica, began investigating him before his arrival, as he is viewed as a threat to the company.
In FLCL: Shoegaze, the bureau seems to be running at full capacity again, as there are several uniformed operators manning the systems, and tracking the EM pulse created by Masaki Aofuji's N.O. power. While Kanda is still the chief, it is also implied that Kana, who is now 27 years old, is working for the bureau as well, as she had accompanied Kanda to help with the situation at Tsuganei Tower.
Besides the named characters, there are several operators who are dressed in a military-style uniform like Kitsurubami and monitor the events from a control room. They are seen in most seasons with the exception of Grunge and Progressive.
Additionally there are also personnel who are dressed in black business suits, sunglasses and are armed with guns, implying that they are field agents. They are seen in "Brittle Bullet" as they provided support to Amarao as he gets into a gunfight with Haruko. They can also be seen in "Full Barricade" and "Generation Battle", as Kana indicated that following the events of "Full Flat", Kanda had assigned a security detail that continues to follow her around.
Location[]
Throughout the series, each of the cities has some sort of office / monitoring room.
In the novelization of "Full Swing", their office is located underneath the Mabase police station.
In Progressive, Masurao operates a monitoring room from his house. The bureau also operates an "Orbit Area Elevator" in what appears to be the farmland area of Ohzu as well as a satellite warehouse in space known as 遺失物保管用衛星倉庫 (ishitsubutsu hokanyou eisei souko, lit. Satellite warehouse for lost and found items). Tami Hanae is in charge of the it, which has the marking, "九" (kyuu 9), on one of its mechanical arms. Masurao's hat also has the marking, which would imply he works for that particular section.
In Alternative and Shoegaze, their office is located somewhere in the city of Tsuganei as Haruko was able to walk into the monitoring room without trouble and Dennis Yoga was able to deliver a bowl of soba to Kanda.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In FLCL: Grunge, Amarao's badge is written in English and specifically states that he is a government agent, working in the Investigation Department for the "Extragalactic Bureau of Immigration" or "EBI". It is also set to expire on December 28, 2073.
- "EBI" is a a play on the Japanese word for "shrimp" (海老, ebi), as two of them can be seen in the logo on his badge and the United States government agency, FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation).