Mamimi Samejima (サメジマ・マミ美?, Samejima Mamimi) is a high school truant and Tasuku's ex-girlfriend. She is a lonely and depressed chain-smoker, and a pyromaniac. She adopts several pets and names them all "Ta-kun" (タッくん, Takkun) as a replacement for Naota's brother, including Naota himself, but later grows uninterested when Naota exhibits independence. Her name is written in Katakana in the manga panel scene, which suggests she may not be entirely Japanese.
Profile[]
Mamimi is Tasuku's ex-girlfriend, though she has seemingly begun some sort of relationship with Naota since his brother left Japan. A truant, smoking, pyromaniacal 17-year-old high school student, she spends most of her time loitering under Mabase's largest bridge. She is often seen with a camera, photography being her principal hobby and greatest talent, and near-constantly smokes cigarettes with the words "Never Knows Best" written on them. In the third episode, it is hinted that her parents are separated or gone, suggesting that she is either homeless or leaves her home to get away from something. She gets bullied by her peers and doesn't appear to have any friends. It is also heavily implied that she's poor as she had asked for day-old bread from the Nandaba Bakery in the first episode. At the end of the sixth episode, it is explained by Naota through an epilogue that she left Mabase to become a photographer, and this is shown through the picture she took of Naota at the end of the climax, briefly being shown in a magazine.
Personality[]
Mamimi is a pyromaniac and loner who has the peculiar tendency to name people and things "Ta-kun" (sometimes spelled "Takkun"), after her personal nickname for Naota's brother and Naota himself. It is possible she does this because she is trying to replace the relationship and feelings she had with her ex-boyfriend, Tasuku. She holds a very quixotically weak grip on the difference between fantasy and reality. For example, she believes Canti to be the manifestation of Cantido, the Fire Starter video game god to whom she burns things as sacrifices. She also emanates an aura of benign vapidness that causes much of the cast to look upon her with disdain. Her speech suggests stupidity and her actions naïveté, such as when she believes (and continues to believe) that "Canti-sama" is a god based on the simple fact that he has wings. Mamimi can be seen as lacking control over her life or willpower, hence the near-constant smoking and child-like reliance on others, whether it's Naota or his brother, Tasuku. In fact, Mamimi can be exceedingly destructive - although only when nobody is watching. She is hinted at being the cause of many fires started under mysterious circumstances that become part of Mabase's rumor mill. Naota confirms this by connecting her love of Fire Starter and Cantido, sacrifices, and smoking to the burning down of her old school years ago. That was also the incident that started her obsession with Tasuku, who she recalls saving her in a very romanticized fashion.
Mamimi often has a very difficult time accepting changes in her life such as when she heard about Tasuku's American girlfriend and as a result had a mental breakdown which she called an "overflow". Another example is when Naota began to develop into his own person, and she responded by becoming aloof around him. When Naota cut ties with Mamimi her mental health further deteriorated as Mamimi went after people on her "revenge list" by going after the cellphones and then the vehicles of everyone who ever picked on her. She did this by feeding them to the terminal core who she adopted as a "pet" not realizing it was merely using her and in her unstable state of mind, Mamimi could not fully grasp the repercussions of her foolish deeds as the core went out of control. After Atomsk left earth, Mamimi seem to have actually matured by a small degree and started to face her issues instead of escaping into her little fantasy world and not give in to destructive impulses. The most prominent example of this growth is when she finally realized Tasuku was never coming back for her, and she just needed to move on with her life, which is why she left Mabase but not before she made amends with Natoa by calling him by his real name, showing her remorse of how she acted.
Appearance[]
Mamimi has medium-length, reddish-brown hair, brown eyes and full, pouty lips. She seems to be always wearing her school uniform, but often loses her shoes when she gets bullied and is forced to go around barefoot. She carries around a light blue bag with a white cross on it.
Items[]
Mamimi's cameras are a white Olympus XA2 and an Olympus OM-2, the two she keeps (or doesn't lose) throughout the whole series. The Olympus XA2 was a 35 mm film scale-focus camera.The XA2 was renowned as one of the smallest rangefinder cameras ever made sporting a 35mm f3.5 built-in lens with automatic shutter features. Her Olympus OM-2 single lens reflex has an expanded set of exposure controls over the XA2 while still featuring an automatic shutter mode and one of the best (if not the best) exposure meters of that era. The OM-2 is speculated to be outfitted with G.Zuiko 50mm f1.8 lens.
Her second favorite possession would seem to be the handheld game console she uses to play the Firestarter video game. However, she is only shown using it in the second episode and it is not seen again until it falls out of her pocket at a convenient time, confirming that she set her old school on fire to Naota. Presumably, she let Naota keep it instead of taking it back because she "didn't need it anymore".
A more precious object was her cell phone, which had Tasuku's phone number in it. She used it to call Naota sometimes, though she presumably never used it to call his brother despite having his number though it's likely she wanted him to call first. Her attachment for her phone was during the sixth episode where she at first yells at the Terminal Core, preventing it from eating the phone but lets it eat it a few moments later, likely understanding that waiting for Tasuku is pointless.
Trivia[]
- Mamimi’s English voice actor, Stephanie Sheh, is famous for her dubbing career, most notably for being the English voice actor of Hinata Hyūga in the Naruto series.
- The band Copneconic released an EP in 2015 titled "Never Knows Best", which got its title from Mamimi's cigarettes and uses her likeness in its art.
- Despite Mamimi finally having called Naota by his real name in "FLCLimax", she actually did refer to him by his real name one other time, that being in "Fooly Cooly" where she explains to Haruko that he isn't called "Taro-kun" but rather Naota but that she also calls him "Ta-kun" for short.
- According to the novels, instead of submitting a picture of Naota holding Haruko’s guitar to a photo contest she sent in a completely different picture, that being of Naota being run over by Haruko’s Vespa, she would also decide to leave Mabase after winning a photo contest. Furthermore, she would title it “Goodbye Naota” instead of “Fooly Cooly”, marking the only other time she ever referred to him by his real name.
- In The FLCL Archives, it is stated in one of the original project outline pages that the cigarettes Mamimi had been smoking actually belong to Tasuku.
- It's also stated during an early draft for Fooly Cooly that she was actually getting her cigarettes from Naota as he would go through his brother's desk drawer to find any for her sake.
- According to a production sheet, Mamimi's cigarettes are modeled after Lucky Strike cigarettes
- Within the same draft the concept of “overflowing” is further expanded upon and is suggested that it was originally going to be more sexually oriented compared to how it was depicted in the final draft, where it’s more to do with her overwhelming emotions.
- Additionally, it is stated that she was originally going to set fires as a way to cope with stress.
- She was also initially going to be 16 years old.
- Mamimi was at some point going to quit school altogether after an altercation with one of her teachers.
- It is suggested that Mamimi may have had some sort of connection to N.O. early in development as it's stated that N.O. phenomenon also occurs in her midst, this idea was ultimately scrapped.
- One of Mamimi's cameras was originally going to be a Konica BM.
- While it is never stated in the series, an early characterization suggests Mamimi is a fan of Hiromi Toshikawa who went under the pen name "Hiromix". Toshikawa being famous for a photo diary and self-portraits, her camera of choice was the Konica BM.
- In the same characterization page it is stated that Mamimi doesn't take self-nudes which is also something that Hiromix is known for.
- In an early script for Fire Starter, Mamimi reveals that years ago there was a large fire in Mabase that burned down the house of a classmate who was bullying her and states, "I 'used to' get bullied".
- The idea that Mamimi would burn down the houses of those who bullied her would eventually be reused in the novels.
- In another concept page, Mamimi was originally going to have a different personality altogether, being referred to as "the kind of kid who used to get bullied and now poses as a jock".
- It's also stated during an early draft for Fooly Cooly that she was actually getting her cigarettes from Naota as he would go through his brother's desk drawer to find any for her sake.
- She cameos in the FLCL Progressive ending cinematic, one being of her viewing the shooting stars and the other being in a panning shot with other characters.
- She can be briefly seen in the last episode of FLCL Alternative when Haruko and her Vespa travel through the portal. The scenes include her looking at Haruko in horror as she kisses Naota and later, looking at Naota while offering him a drink from her can of juice from the ending scene of "Fooly Cooly", followed by her looking in horror as Naota is eaten by the robot in "Fire Starter".
- Two images of Mamimi can be briefly seen in FLCL: Shoegaze as Masaki sees the massive bird perched on the tower: One of the images is of her with a cigarette from "Fooly Cooly" and the other is of her looking up to the sky after seeing Canti in "Fire Starter".
- Another cameo featuring her hugging Naota from the opening scene of "Fooly Cooly" can be seen after Masaki throws the bomb out of the tower window
- In the third episode, she is briefly shown sitting with Naota, who is in his baseball uniform, by the river from "Full Swing”