Full Flat

Full Flat
Episode:	18
Kanji Title:	フルフラ
Romanji Title:	Furufura
English Title:	Full Flat
US Airdate:	October 13, 2018

"Full Flat" is the sixth and final episode of season 3, FLCL Alternative, and the eighteenth overall. It aired on October 13, 2018 at 11:30 PM ET on Adult Swim's Toonami block.

Synopsis

Depressed Kana flips over the collection of photos she took with her besties; the next day, the three girls gather by the beach to watch the rocket Pets is supposed to be on depart.

Summary

Haruko is attempting to drill into a Medical Mechanica iron, but fails when her battle with a robot knocks the drilling rig over. The battle ends in a near-stalemate with Haruko landing a blow as the robot's fist touches her skin. She falls over in exhaustion just as a giant hand comes from the sky and begins moving the iron. The city is being left en masse, an army is on standby, and Kanda has determined that the world will end in just over 34 hours. Maki Kitaki calls him, entertaining herself with questions about Mars and completely ignoring the issues at hand because of her escape plan. Meanwhile, Mossan and Hijiri are worried about a depressed Kana, torn up over Pets' outburst in the previous episode. She finally gets out of bed to go to work, though Dennis didn't expect her to come at all. She attempts to serve Kanda his usual moon soba that he always "spills" spices on, but he wants a different order and the resulting conversation causes Kana to crack. She begins expressing not wanting to change it because she wants everything to stay the same, and soon after joins her friends to wander the heat-ridden city. Haruko finds Kanda, who has picked up smoking during his last days, and the two get to talking about her youth as an un-ageing alien compared to his clear changes. As the girls go to the beach, Mr. Sudo is shown arriving at work to only five distracted pupils. They see the rockets bringing the rich to Mars taking off, the same ones Hijiri and Mossan begin shouting their well-wishes to Pets at. Kana is noticeably silent, monologuing in her head about change happening despite her best attempts to keep things the same. All she can do to vocalize her distress is cry before Haruko comes to kidnap her. The girls hop on the Vespa and are given vague details about the plan Haruko and Kanda seemed to come up with for the ironing of the world-- to "blow it up." In a flashback, the two are shown discussing Kana's power and decide the best plan is to make her tap into it like she did to absorb the gargantuan Terminal Core. In the present, Haruko has brought the girls to Kanda and watches the iron destroy their city with Kana. Kanda reminds them of things not remaining the same, giving Kana the push she needs to try to preserve as much as she can. She does so by voicing her true, unfiltered feelings for the first time. The moment she begins to tap into her N.O. power this way, more robots arrive and the iron redirects its path towards them. In the ensuing battle, Haruko breaks her guitar, Kanda's small gun is not meant for group fighting, and her friends are surrounded. With one last verbal push from Haruko, Kana transforms with her power, surrounded by N.O that makes her hair move like flames. She vents her feelings about her mistakes, the reasons she felt she needed to do them, her loneliness as an ill child, and how it relates to her behavior up until Pets snapped her out of her cyclical mindset. A laser shoots from her head, clearing the atmosphere and lowering the gravity on Earth as Kana cries over Pets. A giant "space-time rift" Kanda labels the Naked Focal Point is created, tunneling through space from Earth to Mars. As Kana screams an "I love you," to Pets, a white light explodes outward. It pushes Haruko and Medical Mechanica's irons into the portal, pictures of FLCL appearing on Haruko and her Vespa as she is transported at light speed. A blue planet is shown once the portal disappears, the sky turns pink to fill in the space, and everything seems to cease to exist as the light expands outward. The next day, Kana is leaving on what seems like a mirror of the first day, but her change in hair clip and monologue this time reflects the stark changes inside her and in her surroundings. She accepts that no matter how hard she might try to prevent it or stop it, life will always be in flux, and change is an inevitability she must learn to embrace. She recognizes that this means the dynamic, wistful juncture of life she’s currently going through will be short-lived, and subsequently, that the most important thing she can do for herself at this point in her life is to cherish as many moments and to hold on to as many memories as she can, yet still accept the inevitable changes she will encounter and embrace the gradual, yet steadfast metamorphosis she and her peers will each experience as they mature into adulthood.

Songs

• "I Think I Can" (Fool on cool version)
• "The sun that will not rise" (Fool on cool version)
• "Fool on the Planet" (Fool on cool version)
• "LAST DINOSAUR" (Fool on cool version)
• "Thank you, my twilight" (Fool on cool version)
• "LITTLE BUSTERS" (Fool on cool version)
• "The Sea"
• "Star Overhead"

Credits

• Original Concept: Production I.G.
• Executive Producers: Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Jason DeMarco, Keiji Ohta
• Production Supervisor: Katsuiji Morishita, Takayuki Oshima

Japanese Cast

• Kana Koumoto: Karen Miyama
• Hijiri Yajima: Riho Iida
• Man "Mossan" Motoyama: Mutsumi Tamura
• Kan Sudo: Katsuyuki Konishi
• Mon Sasaki: Takuma Nagatsuka
• Ben Aida: Ryota Suzuki
• Shizuka Koumoto: Miki Itou
• Bunta Koumoto: Maho Masaka
• Dennis Yoga: Katsuji Mori
• Maki Kitaki: Kaya Matsutani
• Tsukata Kanda: Yutaka Aoyama
• Haruko Haruhara: Mayumi Shintani

English Cast

• Kana Koumoto: Megan Taylor Harvey
• Hijiri Yajima: Erica Lindbeck
• Man "Mossan" Motoyama: Marianne Miller
• Kan Sudo: Patrick Seitz
• Mon Sasaki: Max Mittleman
• Ben Aida: Ben Pronsky
• Shizuka Koumoto: Erica Shroeder
• Bunta Koumoto: Erick Abbate
• Dennis Yoga: Steven Blum
• Maki Kitaki: Erica Shroeder
• Tsukata Kanda: Ray Chase
• Haruko Haruhara: Kari Wahlgren

Gallery

An army of evil Cantis

Naota appearing in the Naked Focal Point

Mamimi appearing in the Naked Focal Point

An image of Haruko from the episode "Marquis de Carabas" appearing in the Naked Focal Point

Trivia

• Several references to previous Gainax works were used in the episode, including Diebuster and Evangelion.
• When Haruko and her Vespa are taken through the portal, several scenes from FLCL can be briefly seen. When slowed down, the scenes that are shown are from:
  • "Fooly Cooly" with Naota Nandaba being kissed by Haruko as Mamimi Samejima looks on, Haruko hitting Canti as Naota looks on in amazement, and Naota catching his breath before Mamimi offers him a drink from her can of juice.
  • "Fire Starter" with Naota being consumed by the robot in front of Mamimi.
  • "Marquis de Carabas" with Naota holding onto Eri Ninamori as Haruko tries to fight the robot that emerged from her head.
• This is the only episode in all of the FLCL series that does not credit any of the voice actors.
• A fan theory surrounding Jason DeMarco's claim that this season is a prequel to FLCL is that the brief images appearing within Haruko and her Vespa in the Naked Focal Point is actually a sped up view of her experiencing her time with Naota.