Items and concepts in FLCL
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The anime and manga FLCL is built up around numerous concepts, many of which are never fully explained. It is set in the fictional town of Mabase, an industrial town where the single largest building is that of Medical Mechanica.
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[edit] Drinks
[edit] Sour
From the very first minutes of FLCL, Naota expresses his disgust of sour drinks to Mamimi, who promptly offers him one after drinking much of it. After taking one look at the liquid, Naota throws it to the ground in anger. As the episode progresses and Naota begins to uncover the strange events that Haruko has brought upon Mabase, he finally succumbs to his own will and tastes the sour drink at the very end. Perhaps as sour drinks remind him of immaturity (and ergo Mamimi), Naota rejects these symbols. In Brittle Bullet, Naota instructs Canti to fetch drinks and "not to get the sour ones." It must be noted that by that point in the series, Naota has almost completely shunned Mamimi in favor of Haruko.
[edit] Pulpy
In "Brittle Bullet," Mamimi uses Naota's newfound penchant of pulpy drinks as a guilt trip for ignoring her so readily and plunging himself in such an intimate relationship with Haruko, disregarding years of "friendship" between them. Mamimi succeeds in striking a chord in Naota as he does begin to regret his quick rejection of Mamimi and imitating Haruko without a second thought. Pulpy drinks can most clearly represent the rough connection between Haruko and Naota as well as one of the many barriers between Mamimi and Naota, as she says to an embarrassed Naota, "And Haru-san, likes the pulp?"
[edit] Bitter
As the beginning of the end approaches in FLCLimax, Naota is spotted by Commander Amarao, who observes that he's now drinking "the bitter ones." Amarao finally questions Naota's attitude, saying, "That makes you feel grown up?" He suggests sweet drinks would clear his head. However, in the last episode, Naota breaks down to Haruko, straying the farthest away from anything he would have previously considered "grown up." Though he may drink the bitter drinks, Naota knows he is still after all, no matter how much he feigns otherwise, "just a kid".
[edit] Spicy Foods
Both Amarao and Naota have an extreme aversion to spicy foods, particularly bread and curry. The two first meet at the Nandaba's bread shop wherein Amarao purchases some spicy bread and informs Naota that, even though one may hate it, the flavor can become "addicting," using it as an analogy to his relationship with Haruko. Later on in "Full Swing," Amarao is "dissecting" the bread he previously bought, and determines that it's not poisoned. However, neither he nor Naota ever partake of the spicy foods in question. During "Marquis de Carabas," Ninamori, whilst dining at the Nandaba's, calls the curry flavor (and therein encompassing the "spicy" flavor) a "grown-up" taste while Naota disgustedly looks at his food. This taste may yet represent another grown-up thing that Naota feels his "maturity" has no need for.
Kamon appears to enjoy the curry (though excessively sweating from the taste), while Naota's grandfather silently drowns in his own plate of curry after making the remark (in the Japanese version) that "even Indians would be surprised [by the spiciness]", and falls down in cramps. When Haruko returns from a mysterious vacation allegedly spent in Hawaii (accompanied by Canti), she produces spicy fish eggs which seem to delight Naota's grandfather.
[edit] Baseball
Baseball, like guitars, is used as an unclear but running metaphor for the entire series. Naota's brother Tasuku moved to America to play professional baseball. Naota's grandfather coaches a baseball team named The Martians, and Haruko is actually an excellent baseball player. Perhaps the most profound use of this baseball metaphor can be found in the episode Full Swing, where Mamimi, Haruko, Amarao, and even Shigekuni's baseball team constantly point out the fact that Naota never swings the bat, hinting to viewers that he is too afraid of failure to even make an attempt at something. In the end of the episode, however, Naota is faced with the life-or-death decision to either swing the bat and attempt to save the city, or just stand and watch as a bomb hurtles into his hometown, destroying everything. Haruko, already riding her vespa down the side of the building and fleeing for her life, sees Naota swinging the bat, stopping the bomb in place until she attacks the bomb herself, sending it out into space.
[edit] Guitars
Despite the fact that none of the cast has more than a rudimentary amount of musical ability, guitars are featured prominently throughout. Haruko's chief possession, other than her Vespa, is a heavily modified bass guitar (details can be found at the trivia section of FLCL) which has been equipped with a rip-start gasoline engine. The motor actually runs, although its significance is nebulous, inasmuch as Haruko's chief use for the guitar is hitting robots (and at times people, often Naota) with it. Throughout the series, guitars seem to have the concept of maturity and manliness tightly associated with them.
- Haruko uses a Rickenbacker Bass, customized with a power cord and a motor. She leaves it behind with Naota on her way out of Mabase in episode 6, "FLCLimax".
- Haruko pulls out a white Flying V guitar from Naota's head in episode 4, "Full Swing". (It should be noted that this Flying V has spilt-diamond fret markers, much like Jimi Hendrix's custom Flying V from the Isle of Wight performance.) This guitar is also shown to have a rip-start engine, so this technology might actually be quite prevalent where Haruko comes from, and could be speculated to have something to do with N.O. In this instance, Naota's guitar also plays into a popular anime joke; once his big guitar is removed the screen cuts to the satellite station where the females all have nose bleeds. Used often when the size of someone's "manlihood" is above average, as nose bleeds are traditionally linked to overwhelming sexual arousal.
- In episode 5, "Brittle Bullet", Canti pulls out a 1961 Gibson EB-0.
- In the final episode, Naota, with Atomsk's power, combines the Flying V and the Gibson into an, as of yet, unidentified double neck guitar; The top neck being a four string bass, the bottom a six string guitar. At the end of the episode it comes into Haruko's possession.
Haruko's bass guitar is a left-handed azureglo (blue) Rickenbacker 4001 that's slightly different from the typical left-handed model. Azureglo is not to be confused with midnight blue, a similar color that was used by Rickenbacker much later. Also the 4001 is discontinued, replaced by the nearly identical 4003, which is why some people confuse the two. Atomsk's is a 1961 Gibson EB-0. Naota's appears to be a 1967 Gibson Flying V. If you look carefully at Haruko's bass, you can see that the headstock is identical to the right-handed headstocks, only left-handed. i.e. The swoop at the top swoops downwards. 4001LH Rickenbackers had a reversed headstock. i.e. The swoop at the top points upwards like a hook. The original 4001's were designed for flatwound strings, which have a lower tension than roundwound strings. When Rickenbacker made the 4003, they completely redesigned the necks on their basses to withstand the higher string tension of roundwound strings. When they did this, they decided to make the necks true left-handed necks as opposed to just a right-handed neck with a left-handed body. Therefore, Haruko's bass must be a 4003 due to the fact that Rickenbacker only made headstocks that mirrored the right-handed models on the 4003's. The 4001 was discontinued before they switched the necks and headstocks, so there were no 4001's made with headstocks that match the bass Haruko has. Also, very few 4003's were produced in Azure-glo as the color was replaced by Midnight Blue in 1985. Sources: Google Images, RickResource.com
[edit] Mabase
Mabase is a large industrial town located in Japan. It is seated on an unnamed river, which is spanned in three places by bridges. The dominating feature is the iron-shaped Medical Mechanica building, which is seated prominently on a hilltop.
Although Mabase is initially presented as a normal, dull town, events there become continually stranger over the course of the series. Most of the citizens, even those who know what's going on, completely fail to care. An example is Naota's grandfather, Shigekuni, who, when presented with a sapient robot, uses it to run errands.
In comparison to Mabase is Naota's concept of the outside, which is where interesting people go to and come from. Both Tasuku and Mamimi go to the United States, and Haruko claims to be an alien. In fact, the entire series takes place within the city limits of Mabase.
[edit] Medical Mechanica
Medical Mechanica (officially spelt as such, but as "Medical Meccanica" in their floor logo in "FireStarter," abbreviated MM) is an interplanetary corporation whose goal seems to be acquisition of intergalactic real estate. The form of their factories ultimately fits its function, as the factories smooth out the planets, making them ripe for purchase. They build a whole array of robots as well, and their ultimate plan appears to be interplanetary domination. The local branch has an edgy relationship with the town of Mabase, and is extremely secretive. Their building - shaped like a large hand iron, which, according to the thoughts of Commander Amarao, is their standard building design - has no doors. In "FireStarter", Haruko enters simply by driving through a wall; this is at first displayed as a reckless accident, but it was likely planned long before she even met Naota.
[edit] Steam
Every day steam pours out of the MM plant, described by Naota as "smoke that signified some kind of omen; smoke that spreads out and covers everything." Often, the steam appears at emotionally tense or climactic parts of an episode which does indirectly imply tension. It also seems to billow out of the factory when a new robot appears, almost as though MM is trying to hide their robots from the citizens of the city (this is usually accompanied by a sort of "alarm" sound coming from the plant, but this is very much the same sound heard at the beginning of Episode 1). After the events of "Brittle Bullet," the factory seems to endlessly issue steam upon Mabase, hiding the sky and stars, separating the town from reality, mentally trapping Naota who says that it seems "outside of this town, nothing else exists anymore; a town where you can't go beyond the edge."
[edit] N.O.
N.O. is a mysterious, vaguely defined ability that lets items be pulled out of characters' foreheads. N.O. comes from the difference in thought processes between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. When it is activated (usually from extreme scenarios including stress and duty), things can be pulled from anywhere in the universe. After the activation of his N.O., an x-ray of Naota's head shows that his brain is seemingly missing, but this is due to the x-rays being pulled into the vortex created by N.O., though Haruko uses it as a joke at Naota's expense. This joke also crops up in "FLCLimax" in an apparently unrelated incident: Naota's classmates say that Miya-jun is going to have a conference with Kamon "to see where Naota put his brain."
The term N.O. itself may stem from the Japanese word for "brain", 能 ("noo", pronounced as "no" in "no, I don't want that"). The term may also refer to NO (Nitric Oxide), which, in keeping with the show's sexual overtones, is a key component in the male sexual response, principally erection. The overt phallic imagery when objects appear out of Naota’s head lends credit to the idea.
Naota's N.O. is responsible for the appearance of Canti ("Kanchi" in Japan), Naota's Flying V, Atomsk's Gibson EB-0, three other MM robots, and in the end, Atomsk himself. The theme of guitars in the series is also closely related to N.O. Every character that posses the ability to use the energy field has or produces his own guitar. The stronger his field, the more stylized and powerful the instrument. Amarao's guitar is as weak and small as his N.O., while the guitars produced by Atomsk and Naota are large and expensive. It can be said that, while Haruko desires Atomsk's power, she has no N.O. at all, since she is never seen using her own field, and steals Naota's more powerful guitar, abandoning her original. Interestingly, Amarao mentions in background dialogue at one point that only one in several billion people (a number that was several times Earth's populace) has the ability for N.O., yet at least 3 people in Mabase have the ability (Naota, Ninamori (though hers may have happened when she bumped heads with Naota), and Amarao himself). Commander Amarao gives the most succinct explanation of N.O.'s mysteries in "Full Swing":
| “ | N.O. utilizes the right brain's and left brain's distinct thought processes to open up an interdimensional channel capable of pulling things through, sometimes from light-years away, in an instant. But you can't just use anyone's head. You've gotta find the right one. | ” |
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| Characters - Items and Concepts |
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| Soundtracks |
| Addict - King of Pirates - FLCL No. 3 |
