Kamon Nandaba (ナンダバ・カモン?, Nandaba Kamon) is Tasuku and Naota's father, a former pop culture journalist working as a freelance writer, with his own trashy tabloid: "Kamon-Mabase" (the title is a pun of "come-on mabase"). He makes the most references to pop culture: EVA, "Monkey-sensei" (referring to the creator of the series Lupin III), Hamtaro, Mobile Suit Gundam, and MTV to name a few.
Profile[]
Kamon is a would-be editor and Naota's father. Unlike his son, he is clearly outgoing and does what he pleases. Naota often reprimands his father for not acting like an adult.
In the report that Commander Amarao read to Naota, Kamon is 47 years old and currently operates the bakery. 10 years prior to the story, he had worked as an assistant editor for a counter-culture magazine based in Tokyo.
In the novel, it was further explained that Kamon had met his wife while working at the same magazine publisher. He then married into his wife's family and took her maiden name, as she was Shigekuni's only daughter, making him Kamon's father-in-law. It was also explained that after Tasuku was born, they decided to move to her hometown of Mabase. She had apparently died when Naota was in kindergarten, though the young boy noted that the rest of the family had told him that she was not dead, but her whereabouts were unknown.
Kamon has taken a huge liking to Haruko, but she only wants to use him as an N.O. portal. In the fourth episode, Naota discovers that Haruko tried to use him but "his head didn't work" and that she had left a robot replica replacement to putter around the house. The real Kamon is found rehydrated underneath a cabinet in a small bucket. Haruko's true intentions for coming to Mabase are revealed through her interactions with Kamon. After realizing that his head didn't open the N.O. portal, she discards him and returns to using Naota, saying "you're the only one who works." It's also possible Kamon had sex with Haruko, although her intention was to hold his attention for long enough to gauge his N.O. capabilities. However, in the manga, Naota kills Kamon because he believes Kamon and Haruko were indeed sleeping together.
Personality[]
Kamon very much seems to have his head in the clouds. With the family bakery having such slow business, he divides most of his time between working on his tabloid, which doesn't seem to sell well based on the inventory laying around, and reading magazines of the pornographic nature. He also takes a keen interest in any of Naota's dealings with women, often jumping to conclusions about the nature of his relations with them, like most other characters. He occasionally breaks the fourth wall in FLCL, showing his awareness despite Naota viewing him as "immature." His extreme romanticizing of Haruko, to the point that he strips and dives toward her during her first night over, may also contribute to this. Like the other adults in FLCL, Kamon is extremely immature, normally more so than the other adults. However, he shows a surprising amount of seriousness and thoughtfulness at some points in the anime.
Appearance[]
Kamon keeps his brown hair in a short, loose pony tail, with three small hairs sticking out by his widow's peak. He keeps his sideburns short and his eyebrows rather bushy. His face has some wrinkles showing his age, as well as various hairs around his mouth that he neglects to shave when sculpting his goatee. These hairs are most prominent on his upper lip, where they increase in number to form a very sparse mustache. He usually wears square, black-rimmed sunglasses with orange lenses over his black eyes. His outfits consist of casual t-shirts, jeans, and the occasional jacket.
Relationships[]
Naota Nandaba[]
Kamon seems to have a poor relationship with his son, due to his nonchalant attitude and focusing on his writing career instead of taking care of the family and bakery. When Naota's teacher, Miya-Jun stopped by to talk about Naota's absence, Kamon talked about his own childhood and dealing with a class hamster, much to her annoyance, before saying that Naota can take care of himself.
Naota neither likes nor respects his father and usually views him in a very negative light, seeing him act like an immature child despite being an adult and believes him to be an imbecile. In the novelization of "Fooly Cooly", Naota mentioned that he could not study at home as Kamon would mock and bully him for choosing to study. Yet despite all that Naota went into panic and rushed to save his father in the fourth episode.
Shigekuni Nandaba[]
As the elderly man's son-in-law, Kamon speaks to him in a rather polite manner and often tries to appease him, noting that he had hired Haruko to help the elderly man out. In contrast, Shigekuni is typically disappointed with Kamon and his lax attitude. In the first episode, he even went so far as to suggested that it would have been better if Kamon had died when Haruko had ran him over. Upon Haruko moving in and becoming their housekeeper, both men seem eager to win her heart.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- According to his Newtype USA section, Kamon's appearance was made with his Japanese voice actor, Suzuki Matsuo, in mind.
- In the book, FLCLick Noise, director Kazuya Tsurumaki noted that the inspiration for Kamon dressing up as Arsène Lupin III in "Brittle Bullet" was based on a stage play performed by Suzuki where he imitated Lupin.
- In The FLCL Archives, one of the rough draft proposals from March 31, 1999 depicts Kamon (who is only labeled as "Father") as a 46 year old man who retired from the corporate life and now runs a small town bakery, where he is constantly making new specialty items. He is described as being carefree and happy-go-lucky, speaks with a tone of superiority but isn't actually very persuasive and appears to be considerate but can be pushy and overenthusiastic about weird things. It also refers to him as a deadbeat dad and "Adopted son-in-law".
- A second rough draft sheet from an unknown date added some additional notes to the March 31 version, stating that he changes his business every day, says he wants to get remarried to Haruko and drives a classic car. It also listed his first name as "Masatoshi".
- A third rough draft, dated April 24, 1999 had the same description as the March 31 version, but also added that his wife had left him.