Full Swing

Full Swing
Episode:	4
Kanji Title:	フリキリ
Romanji Title:	Furi Kiri
English Title:	Full Swing
US Airdate:	August 8, 2003
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"Full Swing" is the fourth episode of the first season of FLCL. Its English dub aired on August 8th, 2003 on Adult Swim.

Summary

Haruko has joined the opposition’s baseball team and is getting along a little too well with Kamon. Naota doesn’t have any strange bulges on his head, however he does have some sort of beacon in there that the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration are tracking.

Synopsis

Haruko Haruhara proves a star baseball player, both at hitting and pitching, single-handedly defeating the Mabase Martians. The team complains about Haruko's skill, claiming her last homerun appeared to escape Earth's gravity into space. Haruko is paid 10,000 yen by the opposing (and flamboyantly effeminate) team from out-of-town. The Martians are coached by Shigekuni Nandaba, Naota's grandfather, who is humiliated and incensed by their 44-0 defeat, failing to score a single run before the 5th Inning mercy rule was enacted. Shigekuni laments their lack of star players. His team reminds him they had a star before he went to America: Naota's brother, whose name is finally revealed as Tasuku Nandaba. Shigekuni badgers Naota to play, saying he's "all they have". Naota sat out the 5th inning after taking at-bats in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings against Haruko. Naota's first three at-bats ended with him stirking out looking, on nine pitches total, having refused to swing the bat at all. During his fourth turn at-bat, Haruko simply threw a fastball at his face. The Martians wonders whether Naota is any good, having no way of knowing unless he swings. Just as the team loses hope, they notice Canti grooming the infield with a field roller and shagging fly balls, throwing them all the way into the basket: with perfect accuracy. Shigekuni tests hitting line drives at Canti, who fields them perfectly, even flying up in the air to catch one. After seeing his grandfather snicker about the Martians' new secret weapon, realizing they don't need or want him, Naota skulks off alone.

He runs into Haruko, who compliments his forehead bandage. Apathetic, Naota claims he doesn't care about baseball. Haruko calls him a liar, threatening to hit him with her bass again. Just before she rides off, Haruko reminds Naota: "nothing can happen until you 'swing the bat'". Meanwhile, a satellite passing by overhead is seen being struck by Haruko's last home run.

Back at the Nandaba residence, Kamon Nandaba massages Haruko suggestively. Irritated, Naota interrogates her about playing for another town's baseball team. Haruko calls it a "part-time job" to help with the electric bill. At dinner, Kamon and Haruko share food suggestively. Naota remembers Haruko's first night at their house, when she said Naota was "the one [she] met first". Feeling betrayed and resentful, Naota withdraws emotionally.

Later that afternoon, Naota swings his bat at a vending machine outside his home. There he meets a man with noticeably-strange eyebrows who came to the family bakery. A monologue about how spicy foods are addicting melds into a warning about Haruko; he advises Naota not to tell people about her and that he'll soon learn how dangerous she is. When the man rides off, Naota tells himself "adults are stupid".

That evening, he meets Mamimi by the riverbank, who asks about his bad mood and if he's fighting with Haruko. Naota doesn't engage, still emotionally distant.

Afterward, he finds Haruko waiting for him outside the bakery. She offers to be his "hitting coach", but Naota lashes out about her behavior with his father. Haruko claims she and Naota are in it together. Then, after a disorienting moment in which he briefly sees his father's severed head fall to the ground, Haruko insists only Naota's head will "work".

That night, she coaches his swing: telling him to aim for the sky, specifically an oddly-flickering "star".

The "star" in question is shown to be a spacecraft operated by the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration: tracing the radioactive special satellite Shiosaki from Nobeyama to the Central Command Center as it entered Earth's atmosphere. The Bureau of Interstellar Immigration is a secret government department tasked with handling interactions between Earth and extraterrestrial entities, such as the Medical Mechanica corporation. From the spacecraft's Command Post, Lieutenant Kitsurubami explains that Haruko's home run baseball struck Shiosaki ten hours ago, instantly destroying sectors 6 through 11 of the satellite and knocking it into orbit. The baseball also displaced all three of Shiosaki's antennae, destabilizing its systems and causing the satellite to launch a self-programmed attack and making a quantum leap onto the central processing sector: compromising its core unit and thus the spacecraft's control over it. While Kitsurubami is explaining, the eyebrow man sniffs bread. He's finally identified as Commander Amarao, a special agent for the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration in charge of the spacecraft for the Immigration Department. Commander Amarao hands the "Fresh Bread Shigekuni" he bought earlier to Lieutenant Kitsurubami for disposal: not because he suspects poison, but because he "doesn't like spicy".

Later that night at the Nandaba residence, Naota ostensibly 'walks in' on Kamon and Haruko. Triggered by an overwhelming mix of shock and jealousy and anger, the N.O. channel in Naota's forehead emits a beacon of light, tipping-off Commander Amarao to the N.O. channel's source: as expected, it's in Mabase.

The following day, the Mabase Martians play baseball with Canti as their Starting Pitcher. By now Shiosaki is plainly visible within Earth's atmosphere; Mamimi thinks "it's the Great Emperor of Fear, or something", but Naota is skeptical. Nostradamus predicted it, she says, and that it must've just gotten lost. Haruko interrupts them to say the game has begun, urging Naota to prepare himself to "swing the bat". Naturally, when Mamimi learns that Canti is playing, she immediately ditches Naota to watch him pitch with Haruko.

Rather than follow, Naota returns home. There he finds his father Kamon: in a puddle of blood on the floor, dead. He turns aside and suddenly finds Kamon behind a curtain. His father's appearance distorts, melding with Haruko's as he makes suggestive comments about her, provoking Naota to attack with his bat. And though he merely swings it aside, shattering the television and sending a clock flying, Kamon lurches away, falling to the floor: where Naota had already, previously, found him: in a puddle of blood on the floor, dead. From a purely literal reading of this temporal distortion, assuming that such a reading is meant to be made at all, the cause of this loop is unclear. Interference from—or resonance with—the Special Satellite Shiosaki, which was previously stated to be capable of initiating quantum leaps, is one possible explanation. Lastly, the Nandaba residence's kWh electricity meter has drained fully: to zero usage.

Back at the baseball diamond, Haruko pitches to Canti, ending in a hit-by-pitch for the second time in a row; the Martians suspect she's beaning him intentionally. Suddenly the game is interrupted by a blimp overheard, declaring Mabase under a state of emergency and calling for all citizens to evacuate the city.

Sometime after the temporal loop incident with Kamon, Amarao interrogates Naota. Amarao reveals that, ten years ago, Kamon worked at a Tokyo publishing house as an assistant editor of a counter-culture magazine. By this point, one month has passed since Haruko arrived; as implied by their initial conversation, Amarao has history with her, and appears to be actively pursuing the alien. Amarao then prods Naota about hitting Kamon. Naota fervently denies this, as well as the notion that Haruko has at all influenced his behavior. Distressed, Naota accidentally spills the truth--and the overly sweetened tea Amarao had prepared for him--that he tried hitting Kamon out of jealousy. In response, Commander Amarao mentions the 'Galactic Space Police Brotherhood', which Haruko/Raharu is evidently associated with, as well as the mysterious Pirate Lord Atomsk. Amarao reiterates not to speak of these matters to anyone, just as he said during their first meeting at the bakery. Only this time, he adds, "that includes your father", implying that Commander Amarao suspects Kamon is still alive.

Sure enough, Naota examines the corpse to find its attached with a long electrical cord: revealing the Kamon he almost struck to be, what Amarao later calls, a high-tech mannequin. He finds his real father in a storage closet. Kamon is skin-and-bones, his flesh desiccated and covered in bugs, practically mummified. Panicked, Naota grabs him and rushes to the bathroom, where he crashes through the door to moisten Kamon with hot water. This saves his father's life. Kamon confides he offered his head to Haruko, but it was no use because he lacked the power; in trying to draw out an N.O. channel from Kamon, Haruko killed him. Hearing this, Naota suddenly remembers Commander Amarao's briefing on N.O., which he now understands; Haruko's X-Ray revealed Naota's head was brainless because of this N.O. channel, a gateway which simultaneously utilizes the right brain and left brain's difference in thought processes as a conduit for opening intergalactic portals through which instantaneous object transportation across light years can be achieved. Naota's head is specifically compatible with opening N.O. portals. Though uncertain what for, Amarao insists Haruko's ultimate objective involves abusing this power to some end. Therefore, because Naota's timidity has hindered her progress, Haruko's flirting with Kamon was specifically intended as a "push" to speed up Naota's development as relates to his role in her plans. Furthermore, Haruko's part-time job playing for the out-of-town baseball team was her way of paying the electrical bill, which she then used to power the 'Kamon' mannequin and carry-out her plan to spark Naota's jealousy. Lastly, Amarao briefs Naota on Shiosaki, saying the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration had armed the satellite with a secret bomb heading towards Mabase and that it’s too late to save the city via evacuation; however, Haruko can save Mabase by "hitting one more out of the park." Amarao calls himself her "hometown fan," again hinting at a past relationship.

When Naota tells her, Haruko acquiesces: for a price.

Mamimi, atop Mabase's TV Tower, invokes the Lord of Fear's presence and hails him. She wonders if the explosion will get school canceled tomorrow.

Aboard the Immigration Department vessel's Command Post, Lieutenant Kitsurubami suggests filing a complaint about Shiosaki, but Amarao admits this bomb was the Immigration Bureau's secret emergency contingency defend against the Medical Mechanica corporation, the knowledge of which can't by any means leak to the public. Commander Amarao then refers to Haruko as Raharu, which he believes to be her real name. He says Raharu plans to interpose herself between the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration’s foreign embassy and Medical Mechanica: therefore, Raharu must've fully planned out the events of the past two days, knowing full well her plan might end with Mabase's destruction. Haruko takes Naota to the top of the Medical Mechanica plant, where she extracts a Gibson Flying V guitar from Naota's head, which she calls his "bat." When Shiosaki's altitude drops below 20,000 meters, the flight crew of the Immigration Department spacecraft initiates the purge sequence upon the satellite. Then, at 10,000 meters, the falling satellite unfolds into the shape of a baseball glove as it enters the troposphere and launches a bomb at Naota that looks like a baseball. Naota tries looking to Haruko for help: only to realize that, at some point, she disappeared. Left alone with no choice, he instinctively calls out for his brother Tasuku: and next he knows, Naota is swinging the "bat". The impact isn't head-on, described by Amarao as a 'sinker' pitch, and thus Naota can only manage to halt the bomb, rather than deflect it. As the clash between bat and bomb-ball continues, the latter begins to unfurl at the seams, with detonation imminent. After claiming his actions would determine the fate of their city, suddenly Haruko returns to save Naota--and all of Mabase--swinging her bass alongside him and knocking the bomb into space. It explodes far enough away to cause no damage.

Mamimi, having watched the whole event unfold from the TV Tower with Canti, reacts despondently towards Naota’s dramatic change, fearing how it may affect their relationship. Notably, when Naota called out for Tasuku before swinging the bat, the symbol appeared once more on both his own forehead and Canti's screen-face.

Not long after the crisis, Haruko rides a sleeping Naota home on her Vespa, and she begins to laugh hysterically.

Lastly, when Amarao asks for a status report, the Command Post confirms on their PPR tracking radar all systems are back online and the bomb was neutralized; the satellite dramatically exceeded Mach one and escape velocity, even reaching Γ4. As the commander contemplates his next course of action, Lieutenant Kitsurubami looks over: and is shocked to see one of Amarao's (evidently fake) eyebrows fall off.

Songs

• "HAPPY BIVOUAC"
• "White Ash"
• "Stalker"
• "Carnival"
• "Stalker Goes to Babylon"
• "Beautiful Morning With You"
• "Come Down"
• "Crazy Sunshine"
• "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
• Commander Amarao: Kouji Ohkura
• Kitsurubami: Chiemi Chiba
• Miyu Miyu: Hideaki Anno (uncredited)
• Takkun: Jun Mizuki

English Cast

• Naota Nandaba: Barbara Goodson
• Haruko Haruhara: Kari Wahlgren
• Mamimi Samejima: Jennifer Sekiguchi
• Kamon Nandaba: Joe Martin
• Shigekuni Nandaba: Steve Kramer
• Commander Amarao: Dave Mallow
• Kitsurubami: L. Villa
• Miyu Miyu: Steven Blum
• Takkun: Barbara Goodson

Gallery

Full Swing/Gallery

Trivia

• Haruko's line about being "an illusion of Takkun's youth, the memories from an adolescent heart" after crashing into the Nandaba residence is reference to the anime Galaxy Express 999.
• In the book, FLCLick Noise, director Kazuya Tsurumaki mentioned that the animation director for this episode, Nobutoshi Ogura, wanted to included several scenes that were deemed too vulgar for Tsurumaki to include.
• In the manga, rather than hitting a robot clone of his father, Naota actually kills Kamon and later has a vision about him as an angel.
• In the preview for the next episode, Haruko talks about how John Woo films make people relax because they show how shallow the world is. She then states that coolness is in full force because of manly aestheticism and concludes by saying that only idiots do the cool dangerous things and that's what makes them cool.
  • John Woo is a Hong Kong filmmaker who is known for pioneering the "gun fu" and " heroic bloodshed" (crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) style of films.
  • His motif of using white doves and stylized gun fights are featured in the next episode
  • The English version follows the same story about John Woo with very minor tweaks. Previously, the English dub version of the previews were changed significantly to make them easier for westerners to understand. The story was likely kept intact for this episode, due to Woo already being well known in both Asia and the west when this episode originally debuted.