Naota Nandaba (ナンダバ・ナオ太?, Nandaba Naota), or Ta-kun (タッくん, Takkun) as he is called by Mamimi and Haruko, is the protagonist of the first season of FLCL, obsessed with appearing mature and nonchalant. He idolizes his older brother, Tasuku, who represents for Naota what it means to be an "adult." He also has a crush on both Mamimi and Haruko during the course of the season.
Profile[]
Naota Nandaba, at age 12, is the main character of the first season of FLCL. His name is derived from the Japanese word for "honesty" (素直, sunao) and his father named him Naota because of that, as stated in episode 1. Unbeknownst to him, he has the "right kind of head" to be used as an N.O. channel.
In the novel, he mentions that his mother had apparently died when he was kindergarten, though the rest of the family told the young boy that she was not dead, but her whereabouts were unknown.
Personality[]
Naota is a sullen and snarky person who is obsessed with appearing mature and attempts to act nonchalant at all times. This is most expressed in his monologues which open and close each episode where he continues to claim that "nothing amazing ever happens here", despite the show's surreal and often-absurd happenings. He is the least erratic of the cast, but constantly finds himself at the center of attention. He seems to be very frustrated with his life, and, in the opening episode, is musing about how uneventful and boring Mabase is. Naota is internally struggling with the recognition of his existence and independence from his brother. It is the journey of the series, however, that is the coming of age for Naota, and by the end, he has reached young adolescence, and is ready to start exploring life on his own.
Appearance[]
Naota has short, dark brown hair and blue eyes. The clothing he wears most often consists of a light blue sweatshirt with what appears to be a hood on the back and brown shorts, blue socks and brown sneakers. He also wears a variety of different hats and bandages to hide his horns throughout the series. Naota is short compared to others his age. In the final scene, he is shown wearing wearing a gakuran, indicating that he has started attending middle school.
When Naota fuses with Canti, he transforms into a glowing red sphere. As shown in episode 5, the sphere is apparently very hot, as Eri Ninamori had to spray water on it before Naota could return to his human form. It also appears to be very heavy, since it crashed into a billboard and cracked the center, then fell onto a building, making it shudder, before crashing onto the ground and creating a small crater.
Story[]
Main: Naota Nandaba/Story
Powers[]
Horn
Naota has a very powerful N.O. channel that draws giant robots to Mabase, which was opened by Haruko. His N.O. is so powerful it garners Haruko’s attention and is the reason he is chosen for her plans over other candidates such as Amarao. In episode 4, he can halt the satellite falling towards Mabase with his newly acquired bat, but ultimately requires Haruko’s help to push it back. When using Atomsk’s power, Naota can fly, summon his guitar and Atomsk’s Gibson EB-0, fuse them into one guitar, and overpower Haruko, who could somewhat keep up, but failed to actually harm him. Naota can be absorbed into Canti and the robot gains Atomsk’s power due to his N.O. channel.
Items[]
Naota has a strong attachment to his older brother's baseball bat, which was left behind when he moved to play baseball in America. He very much wants to be like him, seeing him as an ideal goal for adulthood, but chooses not to play the sport as a result of the pressure to live up to Tasuku. He still, however, carries the bat around occasionally and leaves it readily available against a wall in his room.
Haruko summoned a Gibson Flying V guitar through Naota's N.O. channel for him to use, which he used to stop a satellite from hitting Mabase. He later uses N.O. power to combine it with Atomsk's 1961 Gibson EB-0 during his fight with Haruko into a double guitar.
Trivia[]
- Naota bears a certain resemblance to Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both shows have the same character designer, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.
- He cameos in the FLCL Progressive ending cinematic. He is briefly seen sitting on a pile of rubble with a blue bass guitar and gig bag nearby, wearing a grey hoodie, green pants and eyeglasses. He is then shown from the back, standing on the rubble and looking up at the sky, similar to when he watched Haruko leave in "FLCLimax".
- His physical appearance as an adult appears be to be based on a drawing by Kazuya Tsurumaki of an adult Naota that was featured in the artbook, FLCLick Noise.
- There is also an image of his younger self next to Eri and Mamimi briefly shown as Haruko rides past the characters from the FLCL franchise.
- He also appears in flashbacks in episode 6 of FLCL Alternative. The scenes with him are taken from:
- "Fooly Cooly" with Naota being kissed by Haruko as Mamimi looks on, Haruko hitting Canti as Naota looks on in amazement, and Naota catching his breath before Mamimi offers him a drink from her can of juice.
- "Fire Starter" with Naota being consumed by the robot in front of Mamimi.
- "Marquis de Carabas" with Naota holding onto Ninamori as Haruko tries to fight the robot.
- Naota briefly appears in the first episode of FLCL: Shoegaze when Masaki looks up and sees a giant bird perched on the tower. The images include Naota being held by Canti in the first episode, Naota standing on a hill with a bass guitar near the end of the final episode and a close up shot of Mamimi hugging Naota from the opening scene of the first episode.
- In the third episode, there are two additional clips featuring Naota inside the bird: One is showing him, Miyu Miyu, and Haruko in his bedroom after she first arrived in Mabase in "Fooly Cooly". The other clip briefly shows Naota in his baseball uniform sitting with Mamimi by the river from "Full Swing".
- In the novel, Naota appears to be a fan of Japanese actor Tetsuya Watari, viewing him as a "true adult", while also believing that there were no other real adults left in the world.
- According to an early draft for Fooly Cooly found in The FLCL Archives, Naota is suggested to be the person Mamimi gets her cigarettes from as he would rummage through his brother's desk drawer in order to find some for Mamimi's sake.
- His name was originally going to be Shisan.
- Barbara Goodson, who voices Naota in the English dub also voiced Takkun, as well as Tami Hanae in FLCL Progressive.