Marquis de Carabas

Marquis de Carabas
Episode:	3
Kanji Title:	マルラバ
Romanji Title:	Maru Raba
English Title:	Marquis de Carabas
US Airdate:	August 7, 2003
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"Marquis de Carabas" is the third episode of the first season of FLCL. Its English dub aired on August 7th, 2003 on Adult Swim.

Summary

Ninamori is one of Naota’s schoolmates. Her father, who happens to be the mayor, has been accused of having an affair with his secretary. Ninamori has also put Naota unwillingly into the lead role of the school play. Naota has even weirder shapes coming out of his head!

Synopsis

The mayor of Mabase, and father of Naota's classmate Eri Ninamori, is caught in a scandal involving an affair with his secretary. The mistress assures Ninamori that she won't ruin her father's reputation, but Ninamori claims indifference, saying she's much more focused on her upcoming school play, Puss in Boots, in which she got the lead: the Marquis of Carabas. Naota was likewise voted to play the role of the cat, opposite her.

At the Nandaba resident, Haruko teases Naota about his hat and insists they go out and buy spicy curry together that night. This in part causes Naota to be late to school and miss the play's morning rehearsal: which Ninamori scolds him for. She also disparages his choice of hat.

During class, Naota learns of the mayoral scandal from Masashi, who found the community zine which broke the scandal ("Come On, Mabase") at a mini-mart in Sakai. After seeing the two whispering, their teacher Miya-jun confiscates the zine, and in the process of chiding them inadvertently spreads the scandal further among Ninamori's classmates. Naota is sympathetic towards Ninamori's position as a victim in her parent's troubles, and empathizes given his own contempt for the negligent adults in his life who he views as poor examples. Even so, he still skips the play's after school rehearsal, self-conscious about the notion of portraying a talking cat.

Instead, he meets up with Mamimi by the riverbank, where she takes pictures of them and teases him for being a 'delinquent' and finally skipping class. Upon hearing about his school play, Mamimi fondly recounts her own experiences with them; she says they were embarrassing but fun, and her parents came to see her perform together. She then discovers Naota has cat ears growing from his head, much to his embarrassment.

Back in Sakai, Naota's father Kamon pitches the owner of the mini-mart to buy more copies of his community zine: revealing he broke the mayoral scandal. Kamon considers his actions 'investigative journalism', saying his 'mini-zine of justice will be the key to community reform'. His sales pitch is interrupted by Ninamori herself, who evidently overheard Masashi during class, and thus traveled to Sakai after school to verify. Kamon tries to sell her one, confirming to her that it's the same zine Masashi brought.

Later, the media circus outside her home leaves Ninamori unable to return, and so she holes up at a train station. Naota finds her drinking melon Cheerio from the Sekai mini-mart and distracting herself by reciting lines from Puss in Boots, for which she again scolds him for missing rehearsal after school. He tries to assure her not to worry about tabloid gossip, but Ninamori admits her father's scandal is true. She then proposes they go elsewhere. Naota declines, saying he's waiting for someone, Haruko, who arrives racing down the street on her Vespa. After causing a pile-up and swerving to avoid hitting a cat, the Vespa slams into Naota, knocking him into Ninamori: and revealing his cat ears. Haruko warns Ninamori not to touch his ears, but she does so anyway, causing her to experience stomach pain.

Ninamori accompanies Naota and Haruko back to the Nandaba residence for dinner, where they eat Manhattan style "Little Prince Goes to New York Curry" together with Kamon and Shigekuni. None except for Ninamori can tolerate the spiciness, which she calls an 'adult taste'. Naota deflates her boast, revealing she was served a milder "Little Prince Curry: Very Sweet" version. Due to her troubled home situation, Kamon invites Ninamori to spend the night, despite Naota's objections. Ninamori repeatedly minimizes the scandal's personal effect on her throughout dinner, even downplaying the possibility of divorce or even prosecution, insisting that she and her parents live separate lives. This causes her stomach pains to worsen: earning the attention and concern of Canti.

That night, while Ninamori is showering, Kamon addresses their earlier encounter in Sakai, which had gone unspoken during dinner, asking if she thinks he's a bad person for breaking the scandal. Ninamori again deflects any notion of victimization from her father's affair; on the contrary, she's gratitude Kamon ousted her father's mistress, revealing her disdain for the secretary. Kamon tells her that she's very mature, and offers her a shampoo hat.

After assuring Canti of Ninamori's maturity, Naota finds her in his room: wearing his pajamas. She's also wearing glasses, saying she normally wears contacts. They agree to keep the sleepover a mutual secret. Naota even suggests they avoid contact at school. After learning Ninamori saw his cat ears while unconscious, Naota brings up the play again. Ninamori explains she used her position and reputation as class president to rig the class vote: casting Naota as the cat and herself as the lead, the Marquis of Carabas. She justifies cheating the system using an anecdotal comparison to the play. In Puss in Boots, the titular cat, inherited by an ordinary miller's son, deceives a King and Princess to think his owner is highborn, 'the Marquis of Carabas'. This lie leads the princess to fall in love with him, bringing her great happiness. Likewise, the life of the once-impoverished miller's boy also appears to have greatly improved; by hiding his true identity under a false pretext of nobility, his lie becomes more and more true over time, until eventually the reality of his new life is indistinguishable from the cat's initial deception. Ninamori interprets this lie as purely victimless, which Haruko—revealing she was on the top bunk all this time—challenges her directly on. Haruko, veiling her advice as simply questioning the morality of Ninamori's blackmail (i.e. the fact that Ninamori is holding Naota's cat ears over his head so as to force him to participate in the play) challenges the girl's view that a deception which comes at the cost of one's identity can ever be truly harmless.

The next day, after class, Naota is visited by Canti and Haruko (who kisses him on the cheek in front of the class). The two bring him a curry bento to eat during his after school rehearsal. Naota again insists he's not doing the play, and when he tries to go home, an argument breaks out with Ninamori. When he questions her obsession over the play, she finally admits it's because her parents will be attending together and she wants to make them proud. In his continued frustration, Naota smacks her costume's hat off her head. Ninamori does the same to his hat: revealing Naota's cat ears to the whole class. Embarrassed, he retaliates by revealing that Ninamori rigged the vote. This triggers the emergence of a massive spider-like creature from Ninamori's head, which Haruko and Canti defeat with help from Naota's curry bento.

After dealing with the robot, the school play went forward as planned, with Ninamori as the Marquis of Carabas and Naota as the cat. Naota watches backstage with a heavily bandaged Miya-jun as Ninamori performs a solo scene. Surprisingly, she is wearing her glasses with the marquis costume: only, they're fake.

The other crises were resolved in kind. The mayor avoided prosecution. Rumors about Ninamori switching schools were unfounded. Her parents even decided against a divorce, soon after the play, and although she claimed to be indifferent: when Ninamori told Naota the news, 'she smiled'.

Monologue

Naota: Kids can’t choose the adults in their lives. They can’t choose their parents. Ninamori’s father is the mayor of Mabase. I don’t really get it, but it must make it tough for her. Of course, that didn’t stop me from ditching the rehearsal after school. Playing a talking cat is really too dumb.

Music

• "Instant Music"
• "Sad Sad Kiddie"
• "Runners High"
• "Selfish"
• "Carnival"
• "Stalker"
• "Advice"
• "Yorii Gallop"
• "Little Busters"
• "Ride on Shooting Star"
• "Galop Of The Comedians" by Kabalevsky from The Comedians - Suite, Op. 26

Credits

• Original Concept: GAINAX
• Directors: Kazuya Tsurumaki, Shouji Saeki
• 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)
• Secretary: Yuriko Yamaguchi
• 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
• Eri Ninamori: Melissa Fahn
• Gaku Manabe: R. Martin Klein
• Masashi Masamune: Steven Blum
• Junko Miyaji: Jessica Straus
• Miyu Miyu: Steven Blum
• Secretary: Jessica Straus
• Takkun: Barbara Goodson

Gallery

Marquis De Carabas/Gallery

Trivia

• During the scene where Mayor Ninamori's Secretary escapes, the brawl amongst the press has several black-and-white photos of a man's face inserted in place of animated faces. Due to the lower quality of the crowded background, only a few faces are shown between the alternating frames.
  • In the book, FLCLick Noise, director Tsurumaki revealed that the man's face is of Kazuhiro Takamura, an animator and director who has worked on several popular anime including Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, Strike Witches, Gurren Lagann and Queen's Blade.
  • More specifically, Tsurumaki revealed that the scene was based on the 19th episode of the anime, Kare Kano, which he directed and Takamura served as an animator. The episode utilizes cut out drawings to animate the characters, while photos of Takamura were used to portray the character, Kouhei Fukuda. Those same images are the ones used in FLCL, albeit with just his head.
    • Notably, the anime was also the debut of voice actresses, Mayumi Shintani, who did the voice of Haruko, and Yukari Fukui, who voiced Miya-Jun.
• When Miyajun explains to the class about cats, in the English dub, she briefly mentions several topics about them then goes on to mention cartoon characters Tom from the American cartoon series, Tom and Jerry and Doraemon from the anime series of the same name.
  • In the Japanese version, she simply talks about how cats want to be stroked and babied, as well as noting how a cat begins to purr like a kitten when its neck is stroked.
    • Later in the episode, in the English dub, Mamimi says Naota is like Doraemon after finding out about his cat ears underneath his hat, while in the Japanese version she says that he is like "that robot cat", a more subtle reference to Doraemon.
• After Masamune shows Naota a copy of Come On, Mabase and tells him that he found it at a shop in Sakai, Gaku slides in and joins the conversation.
  • In the English dub, Gaku asks if the shop has "Crystal Pepsi" and mentions that its commercial featured music by Van Halen. This is referring to the clear cola soft drink from the early 1990s and the American rock band who permitted their 1992 single "Right Now" to be used in commercials to promote the product.
  • In the Japanese version, Gaku asks if the shop sells Cheerio, a Japanese soft drink. While it can be found in plastic bottles across Japan, the more popular glass bottle version is currently sold in certain parts of Tokyo.
    • Several melon flavored Cheerio in glass bottles can be seen in the shop that Kamon stops by to sell his "Come On, Mabase" and then later Ninamori is seen drinking a bottle just before Naota finds her after school.
• It was never made clear how the Medical Mechanica robot came out of Ninamori's head instead of Naota's, though the collision of their heads earlier in the episode is a strong possibility which suggests that N.O. type capabilities can be transferred over from a user to a non-user.
• The cat and Marquis of Carabas are characters from the 16th century fairy tale Puss in Boots.
• Mamimi tells Naota that she was in a play before where she had to reveal that the king has donkey ears.
  • The play that she is referring to is known by several different names such as King Gyeongmun's ear tale in Korea and King Midas and the Donkey Ears in English speaking countries, all with the same story of a person who tries to keeps the king's secret to themselves before finally blurting it out.
• When Junko's car is destroyed by Canti, a figurine of Kenny McCormick from the animated series South Park can be briefly seen flying the air along with parts of her car.
• During the scene where Ninamori eats curry with Naota and his family, Haruko shows off a package of curry called "Little Prince Goes to New York Curry". Later, Naota points out that Ninamori got the mild version, labeled "Little Prince Curry Very Sweet", showing a blue box with a prince from P&P.
  • The curry packages are based off a brand of mild curry for young children by S&B Foods called "Prince Curry" (カレーの王子さま, karee no ouji-sama).
  • The "Little Prince Goes to New York" title is a reference to the 1988 comedy film, Coming to America. In Japan, the film was titled 星の王子さまニューヨークへ行く (Hoshi no ōji-sama nyūyōku e iku, The Little Prince Goes to New York)
• After Naota complains about the spice level for the curry he and the others ate, in the Japanese version, Haruko asks if he would prefer a Mont Blanc-flavored curry, with Mont Blanc referring to a type of French dessert made from pureed chestnuts and is quite popular in Japan.
  • In the English dub, Haruko asks if he wants chocolate icing on his curry instead.
• The silver pouch drink that Naota and Ninamori consume in his bedroom is a real life health supplement called Weider In-Jelly by Morinaga. Specifically the pouch that they have is the multivitamin version.
• Near the end of the episode, Miya-Jun is shown standing backstage during the school play, with her forehead wrapped in bandages, wearing an eyepatch and her right arm in a cast. This is a reference to the character Rei Ayanami from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.
  • The Evangelion franchise was created by Hideaki Anno who voiced Miyu Miyu and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki who also directed the first season of FLCL.
  • Megumi Hayashibara who voiced Rei in the Japanese version of Evangelion also voiced Haruko Haruhara in FLCL Progressive.
  • Additionally, Yuriko Yamaguchi, who voices Mayor Ninamori's secretary was also involved with Evangelion, voicing the character Ritsuko Akagi.
• In the preview for the next episode, Haruko talks about "Maeda-san" from Hiroshima and how he quit the Kuma high school baseball team due to his looks, but was then called back to play for his senior year. She then mentions "Okoshi" and how he had quit playing for Waseda but is now playing for Daiye.
  • "Maeda-san" is in reference to baseball player, Tomonori Maeda, who played for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp from 1990 to 2013. He had attended Kumamoto Technical High, where he played on the baseball team before quitting, due to bullying (with Haruko implying that the bullying was due to his good looks).
  • "Okoshi" is in reference to Motoi Okoshi, a baseball player who played in college at Waseda University but quit after they won the championship in 1990, likely due to bullying. He eventually went on to play professionally for the Fukuoka Daiye Hawks.
    • In the English dub, Haruko talks about how "Ichiro" came to America to meet Tommy Lasorda after his second year as a professional baseball player in Japan. But after a few rounds, he was told that he would have to develop bigger arms if he wanted to play professionally in America.
      • "Ichiro" refers to Ichiro Suzuki, who spent the majority of his baseball career in the U.S. playing for the Seattle Mariners.
      • Tommy Lasorda was the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1976 to 1996.