Fooly Cooly (episode)

Fooly Cooly (episode)
Episode:	1
Kanji Title:	フリクリ
Romanji Title:	Furi Kuri
English Title:	Fooly Cooly
US Airdate:	August 5, 2003
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"Fooly Cooly" is the first episode of the first season of FLCL. Its English dub aired on August 5th, 2003 on Adult Swim.

Summary

Fooly Cooly starts out with Naota walking home with his older brother’s ex-girlfriend, Mamimi. Out of the blue he is hit by an alien girl on a yellow Vespa bike carrying a 1976 Rickenbacker bass guitar.

This all happens in the town of Mabase, dominated by the Medical Mechanica factory. The very next day Naota finds that the alien girl, Haruko, has been hired as the housekeeper at his father’s bakery.

Synopsis

Mamimi hugging Naota

Naota Nandaba, a 12-year-old elementary school student, is sitting by the riverbed doing his homework, while his older brother's delusional "girlfriend", seventeen-year-old Mamimi Samejima, swings a baseball bat. As he tries to finish his work, Mamimi hugs him from behind and nibbles his ear, saying she needs to do this or else she will "overflow". After collapsing with Mamimi on top of him, Naota says nothing amazing ever happens in their town of Mabase as smoke from a nearby building blows up into the sky.

Naota being run over

Sometime later, Mamimi uses Naota's money to buy a can of lemonade from a vending machine, despite telling her that he hates sour things. She teases Naota about the hickey she gave him then offers him the remaining half of the drink. Realizing his lips would touch the same area as hers had, leading to an indirect kiss, Naota throws the can aside. He attempts to tell her about what his older brother is doing in America, causing Mamimi to freeze and tense up, sensing bad news. Suddenly he is struck by a Vespa driver, knocking him out. Mamimi takes a picture of the event, then runs over to protect Naota from the woman who ran him over. The Vespa-driving stranger then performs CPR on the unconscious boy, much to Mamimi's shock, which briefly revives Naota... only for her to hit him in the head with her bass guitar and drive off. Unbeknownst to Naota at the time, this creates an N.O. channel from which objects and other beings can be extracted.

That night Naota discovers a horn protruding from his head where he was hit, and conceals it with a bandage. He conceals it from his classmates the next day, due to rumors of a "Vespa Woman" spreading around school. After school, he goes to the hospital, but on his way, the woman from yesterday spots him and asks if anything has happened, causing him to run off. During his examination at the hospital, he learns that the nurse conducting the exam was the same mysterious woman. As she attempts to hit him again with her bass, she continues asking him what is beneath the bandage. Naota flees before she can strike him again and makes it home, falling asleep for several hours.

Haruko eating with the Nandabas

Upon waking up for dinner, Naota screams in horror: as he sees his mysterious assailant sitting at the dinner table with his father, Kamon Nandaba, and his grandfather Shigekuni. The mysterious woman calls herself Haruko Haruhara. Naota is even more upset to learn Kamon has hired her as their live-in housekeeper; apparently, she ran over Kamon as well earlier in the day. Dinner turns hectic as Haruko reveals to Kamon and Shigekuni that Naota was hanging around Mamimi, causing Shigekuni to remark that Mamimi is nothing but trouble. Haruko then tells them she is in a "mouth-to-mouth" relationship with the young boy, causing Kamon to go after Naota and ask what is under the bandage.

That night, after taking a bath, Naota finds Haruko in his bedroom, learning they will be roommates. Haruko says she is "an alien" and continues to prod him about what is underneath his bandage. Frustrated, Naota goes downstairs. In the kitchen, he is stopped by Kamon, who asks if Naota takes issue with Haruko living with them. Naota says Kamon can whatever he likes. Kamon perks up and reveals he knows Naota had also gotten run over by Haruko, holding up a few photos. Realizing they're the photos Mamimi took, Naota asks when she came by. Kamon says she came for leftover bread and crusts, which he gave her in exchange for the photos, before asking Naota if she and her family are really so poor.

Mamimi smoking

Naota runs off into the night and eventually finds Mamimi hanging out by the bridge, smoking a cigarette. After clutching the bag of crusts Kamon gave her, she hugs Naota from behind then explains what she likes about Naota's brother. Unable to hold back any longer, Naota finally tells Mamimi his older brother sent him a letter and that he is now dating a blonde woman in America. Upon hearing the news, Mamimi tears up and clutches her head, as she claims to be "overflowing" before suddenly collapsing.

Haruko snooping around

Back in Naota's room, Haruko mulls whether or not to peep Tasuku's letter when suddenly she is distracted by the chain on her bracelet, which inexplicably starts to clink on its own. The sight leaves Haruko eager, quickly rushing off towards the bridge on her Vespa.

Haruko hitting the robot

Back on the bridge, a now-frightened Naota tries to revive Mamimi, but then he suddenly hunches over in pain: as a red colored robot, followed by a detached robotic hand, suddenly emerge from the horn on his head. A fight between the two ensues. The clothing iron-shaped building Medical Mechanica activates, and so Haruko speeds off to the bridge on her Vespa. As the robot triumphs, Haruko strikes it with her bass guitar. Upon seeing her deliver the final blow, Naota thinks to himself that Haruko's swing briefly reminded him of his older brother. Once the scene of their battle has settled, a visibly-confused Haruko looks around and wonders to herself where 'he' is.

Naota drinking the sour beverage

The next morning, Naota's horn has disappeared. His family and Haruko are in the kitchen as he leaves for school; the robot is now being trained to work as a baker's assistant. On his way to school, he finds Mamimi by the bridge, drinking another can of lemonade. She says he didn't have to run to meet up with her and offers him the rest of her juice. After looking at the can, and her lips, Naota says he still doesn't like sour things. But, after a brief pause, he finally forces himself to drink it.

Monologue

Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary. The huge factory that can be seen from our town, the Medical Mechanica plant. All the adults got excited when it came here, like it was a really big thing. The white steam that bellows out everyday at the same time, it looked to me like smoke that signified some kind of omen, smoke, that spreads out and covers everything.

Songs

• "One Life"
• "Runners High"
• "Stalker"
• "Come Down"
• "Bran-New Lovesong"
• "Advice"
• "Sleepy Head"
• "Little Busters"
• "Ride on Shooting Star"

Credits

• Original Concept: GAINAX
• Directors: Kazuya Tsurumaki, Masahiko Otsuka
• Executive Producers: Toshimichi Ohtsuki, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Hiroyuki Yamaga
• Planning: Hirotaka Takase, Masatoshi Nishizawa, Hiroki Sato

Japanese Cast

• Naota Nandaba: Jun Mizuki
• Haruko Haruhara: Mayumi Shintani
• Mamimi Samejima: Izumi Kasagi
• Kamon Nandaba: Suzuki Matsuo
• Shigekuni Nandaba: Hiroshi Ito
• Eri Ninamori: Mika Itou
• Gaku Manabe: Sho Miyajima
• Masashi Masamune: Kazuhito Suzuki
• Junko Miyaji: Yukari Fukui
• Miyu Miyu: Hideaki Anno (uncredited)

English Cast

• Naota Nandaba: Barbara Goodson
• Haruko Haruhara: Kari Wahlgren
• Mamimi Samejima: Jennifer Sekiguchi
• Kamon Nandaba: Joe Martin
• Shigekuni Nandaba: Steve Kramer
• Eri Ninamori: Melissa Fahn
• Gaku Manabe: R. Martin Klein
• Masashi Masamune: Steven Blum
• Junko Miyaji: Jessica Straus
• Miyu Miyu: Steven Blum

Gallery

Fooly Cooly (episode)/Gallery

Trivia

• Mamimi's opening line about "Legs spread, shoulder width apart..." is a reference to the boxing anime and manga series, Ashita no Joe.
  • In both the Japanese and English dub, she finishes the line by saying "Kakin!", which is the Japanese sound effect of a bat hitting a ball.
• As explained in the FLCL Ultimate Edition accompanying guide, the name that Mamimi gives Naota, "Takkun", is a contraction of his brother's name, Tasuku Nandaba and "kun", an honorary suffix added tp a person's name. It is typically used to address males who are the same age or younger than the person speaking to them, such as a teacher talking to a male student or a senior manager addressing his male employees. It can also be used by females to show affection to their male partner.
  • Additionally, the guide also explains that in their first meeting, Haruko refers to Naota as "Taro-kun", which is a rather common boys name in Japan that starts with "Ta".
• While at school, Gaku mentions that the "Vespa Woman" has a bike like "Yuusaku".
  • This is in reference to the television series Tantei Monogatari and lead actor, Yūsaku Matsuda. In the series, he played Shunsaku Kudo, a detective who drove a white Vespa.
• During the manga sequence scene, Kamon says "It's Naota's Gundam Hammer.. that Tomino-Esque thing.. saying it's Gundam but basically it's Giant Robot Anime, right?"
  • The line is in reference to Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime franchise.
  • The "Gundam Hammer" line is a reference to a large weapon used by the RX-78-2 Gundam similar to a flail.
    • It is also a term used to describe something that contradicts a previous statement. It stems from Tomino introducing the series as being more mature and showing the harsh realty of war and humanity. A few episodes later, when the "Gundam Hammer" was introduced, critics complained that it was nothing more than a ploy to sell toy robots. Tomino says "What do you expect? It's just a Giant Robot show after all".
  • A RX-78-2 Gundam and the Gundam Hammer can also be seen in the panel behind Kamon.
• During the conversation between Kamon and Haruko in the manga sequence, the Japanese version uses wordplay:
  • Kamon:あ、ところで, ハル子さんはどうですか？(a, tokorode, haruko-san wa dou desu ka?, Oh, by the way, how is it, Haruko-san?)
  • Haruko: 銅? (dou?, copper)
  • Kamon: そのクリクリとかそーゆう (sono kuri-kuri to ka souyuu, That "kuri-kuri" and stuff like that)
  • Haruko: 栗? (kuri?, Japanese chestnuts)
  • Kamon: いや栗とかリスとかそういうははなしじゃなくてですね (iya kuri toka risu to sou iu wa hanashijanakute desu ne, No, we are not talking about thing such as chestnuts and squirrels, right?)
    • Note, the line "kuri toka risu" is meant to sound like the word, "Clitoris". The joke stems from the anime / manga series, Oruchuban Ebichu, which was produced by GAINAX, the studio that was involved with the making FLCL.
  • Haruko: DEATH?
    • Note Haruko is mistaking the sound of "desu ne" as Death.
  • Kamon: このこうゆう方面クリックリッてゆう。。。 (kono kouyuu houmen kurii kurii te yuu... This kind of "kuri-kuri" relationship is heading in a direction called...
  • Haruko: 麺? (men, Noodles?)
  • Kamon: だから!! (dakara, Like I said!!)
  • Haruko: 空? (kara, Empty)
  • Kamon: あらーﾝ、元編集長、こォンな若い奥さんがいらしたンですかァァァ。ﾝモゥクリックリィィィていうドリムな方面ですよ (araa, moto henshuuchou, konna wakai okusan ga irashitan desu kaa? Mou kuri-kuriii te iu dorimu na houmen desu yo. Oh my! Mr. former editor-in-chief, did you just arrive with your lovely young wife? My dream that is called "Kuri-Kurii" is already heading in that direction)
    • In the English dubbed version, some of the lines are changed noticeably, such as "dakara" turned into "I mean like MTV" and "kuri" turned into "Kool-Aid".
• When Kamon reveals that Mamimi came over to the bakery asking for leftover bread and crusts, in the Japanese version, he makes a joke using the word "mimitabu" (耳たぶ, earlobe), as "mimi" (耳) can mean "ear" or "crust", while "tabu" (たぶ) sounds similar to the English word, "taboo". This can also be seen as a shortening of her name in the context of the English dub, as jokes are often lost in translation.
• In the preview for the next episode, Haruko asks "Who said men think with their brains, but women with their uterus" before suggesting that it was Mizuno Haruo. She then corrects herself and says that it was Fujio, but more specifically it was the "Flash" one and not the "Ace" Fujio. She then finally admits that everything she mentioned was a lie.
  • Mizuno Haruo was a famous movie critic in Japan, who eventually changed his focus and started starring and directing his own films.
  • The "Fujio" she refers is the duo known as "Fujiko Fujio" the creators of the manga series, Doraemon. The duo differentiated themselves by having one use the pen name "Fujiko Fujio A." and the other "Fujiko F. Fujio."
    • In the English dub, Haruko talks about the Game Boy Advance before admitting that the original Game Boy hold a place in her heart. She then points out how the original only came in plastic grey, while it successor, the Game Boy Color had an array of colors. She finally concludes by saying that there is no longer a demand for the Virtual Boy system. It should be noted that in all instances, she is unable to say the actual "Game Boy" name and only uses the model name (Advance, Color, Virtual) to differentiate them.