Full Barricade

Full Barricade
Episode:	22
Kanji Title:	フルバリ
Romanji Title:	FuruBari
English Title:	Full Barricade
US Airdate:	September 30, 2023
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Full Barricade is the first episode of season 5, FLCL: Shoegaze and the twenty second overall. It premiered on Adult Swim on the Toonami block on September 30, 2023 at midnight ET.

Synopsis

Ever since the smoke from an iron shaped building blew through his town ten years prior, 15 year old Masaki has been seeing green ghost randomly appear, though no one else seems to believe him. After transferring to a new high school, he is befriended by an eccentric girl named Harumi. Together, the pair decide to barricade themselves inside the mysterious building known as "Tsuganei Tower", to investigate the big glowing bird perched on top that only Masaki can see.

Meanwhile, Bureau of Interstellar Immigration Chief Tsukata Kanda and agent Kana Koumoto have been brought in to help the local police with the situation.

Synopsis

Construction workers are hauling away rubble as Masaki Aofuji narrates about how everything that's happened is all the fault of a tower that he describes as creepy and ugly and whose existence makes no sense. Meanwhile, police cruisers are headed towards said tower before a certain guitar shoots outwards from the sky, narrowly missing one of the vehicles. Masaki continues and states that there's a large bird perched on top of Tsuganei tower, which only he can see, all the while police surround the building. He goes on to say that it isn't his fault and that there's something wrong with the world before he turns to Harumi Araishu and asks what they should do, as she crudely asks if he wants to drink her urine.

An officer informs Chief Tsukata Kanda that the tower is in lockdown, forces are in place, and they still can’t reach the management company. Kanda warns him not to do anything stupid, saying there’ll be consequences if the building is harmed. Meanwhile, Harumi presses Masaki about drinking her urine, reminding him humans die after three days without water and repeats her “rule of threes.” Masaki points out they still have drinks, though Harumi notes there are only three bottles, fueling her theory. He calls it a coincidence before she launches into another rant, which he internally labels crude despite her cheerful expression. Annoyed by the tag on her shirt, Harumi adjusts it, briefly exposing her stomach and making Masaki avert his eyes. His attention shifts to a green ghost near a register. Harumi asks if he saw another one, and he confirms.

Ten years earlier, a young Masaki sees smoke rising from a nearby mountain and calls for his mother before a giant hand carrying a Medical Mechanica plant appears and the memory blurs. He’s then at breakfast with his mother as he spots a green ghost in another room, he tries bringing his mother's attention to it but learns it's something only he can see. He goes on to say that no one believed him, and the more he tried to explain, the more isolated he felt.

In the present, Masaki enters class and sketches the ghosts he sees until he grows frustrated and kicks his desk, drawing brief stares. He explains he moved to Tsuganei a month ago on his parents’ sudden decision. Looking out a bus window, he spots a giant bird atop Tsuganei Tower and says “This again?” before a mysterious voice replies, “Yes, again.” Stepping off the bus, he points at the tower with a finger gun, admits his first impression of the city wasn’t great, then grumbles and walks away.

In the present, Kanda orders nearby officers to check security footage for the trespassers and cut power to the building. After eating snacks, Masaki tells Harumi they should get moving and that there’s no turning back. She calls his bluff, saying it’s too late to act tough and reminding him again of her “rule of threes” about earning back trust. Masaki suggests searching the tower before police sweep it. Harumi stops him, holding up a plush tower mascot, Mr. Tsuganei, calling it lame. Masaki tells her not to shoplift; she fires back that trespassing is the actual crime. He insists they’re doing an investigation while reading a sign about the tower. Harumi reads over his shoulder, complaining about the uneven height and her tag. Masaki notes the building is tall but the elevator only reaches the twenty-fifth floor. Suddenly the lights go out. Kanda tries to make a call, but the reception is too poor.

Harumi and Masaki take the stairs which Harumi comments on her aching and throbbing legs. Masaki catches a look up her skirt before looking away, Harumi asks if he's throbbing too which he denies as he keeps walking up the stairs. The pair both reach another area of the tower, a museum, Harumi comments on nothing being there while also being irritated while Masaki comments on more photos of Tsuganei showing up ten years prior. He notices that ever since they arrived his heart has been pounding before he experiences a brief but overwhelming instance of N.O. as he stumbles to a nearby window while holding his head, a car is seen driving fast from a distance and drifts onto the scene. The driver exits the vehicle and walks towards the tower, revealing it to be Kana Koumoto.

Both stare at the tower, Kanda asks why she was late, Kana says that it's her day off before he tells her that she has no days off in this line of work. Kana continues and says that whatever his expectations are of her are pointless, Kanda asks when she'll stop sulking, saying that she saved the world. Kana says that they both know she wasn't the one who did so, saying her hair isn't pink and doesn't whack people with a bass, lamenting on her now spoiled plans to go to the salon. Kanda says that as a public figure she doesn't get to have any personal plans as Kana looks behind her and sees some agents behind a police cruiser, she reluctantly agrees but asks that Kanda does something about the agents once its over. She continues and says its been happening for ten years. Kanda gives in and says she has his word as Immigration Bureau Chief, as a close up shot of a taped up patch on her forehead is shown.

After holding his head for a moment, Masaki tells Harumi they need to go, and she agrees. As they walk, he thinks the path ahead is pitch black, but still better than where he is now. A flashback shows Masaki introducing himself to his new class after transferring from Minami. His classmates whisper at how strange it is to transfer right before graduation. He notices a few ghosts sitting in empty seats. He refers to himself an ugly duckling who never fits in, which is why meeting Harumi shocked him.

Sketchbook in hand, Masaki goes to the school roof and finds Harumi on the edge, gripping the railing. She turns and says only, “Who.” Masaki tries to introduce himself, but she clarifies she meant herself—she doesn’t know who she is and doubts anyone else does. She says she comes to the roof to feel alive. As she climbs back over the railing, Masaki accidentally glimpses her panties before she snaps him back to reality by calling him by name and class. Flustered, he drops his sketchbook, catching her attention. As she flips through it, he thinks that nothing she did was normal, but maybe that means they’re alike.

Harumi calls him a freak and laughs that someone like him transferred into her class. Masaki insists he really does see the ghosts. Harumi says she thinks they’re the same. She rants about things that don’t belong, eventually bringing up the Tsuganei Tower and the strange objects appearing around the city. She says the bird perched on the tower also doesn’t belong if it even is a bird. Masaki says he doesn’t know or care; it’s just another eyesore.

Masaki and Harumi climb a spiraling staircase. Masaki struggles to breathe while Harumi wonders what's at the top but says she doesn't care while Masaki agrees as whatever the world’s secrets are, they must be up there. Below, Kanda and Kana review their profiles. Noting they’re only fifteen, Kanda suspects Harumi is trouble and Masaki got dragged in by accident, believing Harumi is tied to Medical Mechanica. Kana thinks he’s overreacting as there’s been no trace of it since the last incident.

Masaki and Harumi arrive at a retro café. Harumi gushes over the display while Masaki spots another ghost. She invites him in for a drink, shaking a sports bottle suggestively, something he really wishes she wouldn’t do, especially with the yellow ones. Harumi explains that shaking “activates the ions” for quick recovery as she pours him a glass.

Suddenly Kana’s voice blasts through the speakers, ordering them to surrender. Harumi, intrigued, views her as the negotiator, while Masaki quietly asks if they can just ignore her. Harumi cheerfully describes how the police would kick down the door and shoot them until they're like Swiss cheese, as Masaki is hit with several visions.

Masaki reflects that he never expected a peaceful death, but he doesn’t want a Bonnie-and-Clyde ending either. Outside, Kana and Kanda debate whether the pair will come out while Kanda doubts it. Seeing Masaki sweat, Harumi asks if he’s backing out. Masaki insists he isn't scared but that rather she is as he chugs the sports drink, and says they should keep heading upwards. A quick flashback shows them at a practice graduation, with Masaki monologuing that life is full of annoying, pointless things and that all you can do with pointless things is to smash them. Masaki is searching a chemical closet when Harumi startles him. He tells her to warn him next time, but she shrugs it off, saying life is full of surprises such as finding out a classmate she just spoke to is trying to make a bomb. Masaki tries to deny it but is thrown off when Harumi casually joins him as they head out on a “date” to a hardware store.

They walk the aisles with a cart full of supplies and snacks. Harumi jokes that nothing says “date” like a shopping trip, while Masaki laments that he has no hope for his adolescence if this counts as dating. She suddenly stops, turns to him, and after telling him to open his mouth slips a lollipop into it. She doesn’t like cherry, she says, and Masaki agrees, saying he wishes it was cola flavored instead. Harumi loudly exclaims that they have everything to make their bomb, causing Masaki to franticly shush her. But when she asks when they'll be able to blow things up he asks in confusion if she's actually going with which causes her to dramatically say that he strung her along and is now dumping her as Masaki argues that she invited herself.

Harumi asks if Masaki is going to bail on their plan, he replies that he doesn't know and she takes it as him wanting to do it and tells him not to overcomplicate things and assures him that no one will stop them as she grabs his hand and starts running and proclaims that the gears of their destiny are starting to turn. Masaki, shocked at first looks at Harumi almost lovingly. In the present, Masaki is panting as Harumi says that its turning her on before asking him if he needs to be carried like a princess. Masaki says he's fine as he keeps walking but gradually runs up the stairs, thinking that there has to be something at the end as he opens a door, revealing nothing but an empty room.

Harumi calls the view disappointing and suggests they set the bomb anyway. As she opens the box containing the explosive, Masaki approaches her dejectedly as she wonders how large the blast will be. Harumi then asks him for a lighter. He reaches into his pocket and admits he doesn’t have one. He tells her they should abandon the plan and that he’s giving up. Masaki explains that he believed climbing the tower would reveal why the world is so messed up, that somehow, something would have changed but now says the world is as messed up as ever.

Suddenly, Masaki gets a headache as a machine starts to power up elsewhere. Harumi asks if he's really going to give up and tells him that he can spend the rest of his life being plagued by the tower and bird, saying that if he can't beat them he may as well join them, calling him a giant chicken. Masaki snaps back saying that their bomb wouldn't be able to bring down the tower, let alone drive away the bird. Harumi tells him that they'll never know because he refuses to try. Masaki tries reasoning with her, saying they could possibly die before she tells him that everyone will die eventually and that he'll never truly be alive if he doesn't accept his own mortality and asks Masaki if he's really content living like a zombie without ever accepting the fact that he'll die someday.

Masaki yells at Harumi to shut up as the entire building is engulfed in a green electrical field. Meanwhile Kana and Kanda are watching from below, with the latter confirming that what they're seeing is N.O. as a stray bolt of electricity ignites the fuse of the makeshift bomb as Harumi tells Masaki to cut the fuse before taking his hand and telling him to throw it. He throws it towards a wall as the device goes off leaving everyone below in awe, the giant bird also moves for a moment before readjusting on the tower.

Masaki and Harumi are momentarily dazed after the explosion but look towards the ceiling which reveals more levels to the tower than they had initially thought. Meanwhile, Kanda says they can use the situation to their advantage as Kana looks away frustrated. Masaki climbs up the next level with Harumi behind him, saying he finally understands and that he was wrong when he said there was nothing in the tower but that it was because he hadn't found what he was looking for. The pair stare at the sight before them, revealing it to be the top of a Medical Mechanica iron.

Songs

• "That's A Wonderful World (Song For Hermit)"
• "Galathea"
• "Split emotion"
• "Subtropical Fantasy"
• "Message"
• "Ladybird Girl"
• "New Animal"
• "About A Rock'n'Roll Band"

Credits

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

Japanese Cast

• Masaki Aofuji: Shoya Chiba, Mutsumi Kaneko (Child)
• Harumi Araishu: Satomi Amano
• Kana Koumoto: Karen Miyama
• Tabata Kanda: Yutaka Aoyama

English Cast

• Masaki Aofuji: Jesse Nowack, Jack Casey (Child)
• Harumi Araishu: Kim Gasiciel
• Kana Koumoto: Megan Taylor Harvey
• Tabata Kanda: Ray Chase

Gallery

Full Barricade/Gallery

Trivia

• In the scenes featuring the bird that is perched atop of the tower, several images are briefly shown featuring a younger Kana and her friends, Man "Mossan" Motoyama and Hijiri Yajima from FLCL Alternative as well as Naota Nandaba and Mamimi Samejima from FLCL.
• In the English dub there is a minor inconsistency. Kana tells Kanda that her hair is not pink and that she does not whack people with a bass guitar, comparing herself to Haruko Haruhara in FLCL Alternative. Yet, Haruko did not use a bass at all in Alternative. Rather, she used a red 1967 Fender Mustang guitar.
  • In the Japanese version of Shoegaze, Kana clearly says ギター (gitaa), the term for "guitar".