Fooly Cooly (FLCL)

Anime Review- FLCL, Fooly Cooly

Anime fans out there, welcome to my first whacky installment of crazy reviews. Not that I care to change my opinions on matters I choose to write about, but you're free to critique me if you so desire.

Now then, Fooly Cooly, probably one of the oddest creations ever conceived by the human mind. Before I go into it, I want you to first think of the weirdest anime you've ever seen, multiply it three times...and then toss it into the trash can. Fooly Cooly is just that bizarre.

It starts with grade school kid, 12 year-old Naota. Obsessed with being an 'adult' (I stress that you will find no adult in this show who actually acts like an adult), Naota essentially has to solely carry the burden of his older brother Tasuku's departure to America to play baseball, leaving behind his slightly spacey and issue-ridden girlfriend, Mamimi. Naota goes to school in Mabase, Japan, where the town is overlooked by the giant Medical Mechannica plant on the hill, in the shape of an old-fashioned iron. He, as the narrator, says that this town is ordinary, that nothing ever happens.

He's about to get a very rude awakening.

Enter Haruko Haruhara. Breathtakingly gorgeous, gentle, elegant and softspoken; all words you would NOT use to describe her. Haruko greets Naota perfectly normally—for her. I translate this as smashing into him with her Vespa bike, illogically reviving him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and then bashing him in the skull with her Rickenbacker bass guitar (in that order), only to call him 'useless' and speed away with a cloud of smoke.

And so, Naota's insane adventure begins.

The series just gets weirder from here; strange head bumps sprouting giant fighting robots, enormous mechanical hands grabbing the giant iron, guitars serving as baseball bats and flying machines and a guy with seaweed for eyebrows only add to an over-the-top mishmash of nonstop craziness from the moment you pop in the DVD.

(gasps for breath) Now, before you judge, I feel the need to point out that despite all of this nuttiness and seemingly useless info, the six episodes that make up Fooly Cooly are actually very well perpetrated. As an OAV, it didn't have as much time as many other series and luckily, the staff it employed knew how to stretch their talents to where they were best needed. I fancy English dubs over subs, so if a dub is terrible, I'll turn to the English sub instead, a good example being Angel Sanctuary. (I'm sorry, but even with Crispin Freeman in that one, I refuse to watch it dubbed) Fooly Cooly's dubs are actually very well done. They match the mouth movements accurately and, well, except in the case of Ninamori, whom I can't stand for some reason, everyone was cast fairly well.

Despite only having six episodes, the series spans out nicely. There's a lot of information to process and the only problem there is that you have to watch the series a few times to fully digest everything. But in this manner, there's actually very little left unexplained and I actually found myself wanting more when the series ended. Each episode features one of the characters as a temporary co-star working with, or against, Naota. The characters aren't exactly everyday people you may or may not have met before, but they become likable characters for the most part.

This brings me to my first problem. There are several characters I do have bones to pick with for a few reasons. These characters, whether they were developed or not, are noticeably one-dimensional and even at times, grating. Three characters, one of whom his name I don't think is even mentioned, stand out. The first being their school teacher, Nyushun (sp?) as they call her. She's spazzy as a sort of comedic relief, but after watching her wig out over a magazine article for close to a minute, you begin to wonder whether or not she's wanted by the men in white coats. She also has unbelievably rotten luck with cars, as two of them get destroyed in fights between giant robots.

The second character needs very little explanation; these are fifth graders and he's kinky and perverted thirty years prematurely. Whenever Naota, or anyone for that matter, gets kissed or even fondled by accident, he goes on a tangent yelling about said characters combined with a stream of “Smooch! Smooch! Smooch!” that will eventually drive you batty.

The third character grates on my patience in levels I didn't believe imaginable. Ninamori, the mayor's daughter. Even more obsessed with acting grownup than Naota, she takes it to dangerously annoying levels by constantly repeating “I don't think it's any big deal” as if to say she's grown up. Maybe I'm being too critical because in all honesty, her English VA was...well, I'm sure she's good, but this casting was downright wretched. Ninamori is supposed to be a friend and possible love interest for Naota, but she comes across as nothing but a preppy, spoiled, snobby brat.

Actually, those characters were my only problem. The rest of the cast is hilarious, one of them even popping in through a rather humorous South Park parody in episode 5.

As for the music and animation, since this is somewhat of an older anime, the art is actually pretty good. The colors are toned down to believable levels (with the obvious exception of the female characters' hair for whatever reason). The backgrounds, while not boasting heavy detail, are clearly well-drawn in panning images where detail is a must. Other than that, the series wisely ignores sixty per cent of the backgrounds in order to maximize character development. There is some noticeable CGI thrown in, but it's primitive and by this point, you barely even see it.

A running gag is that the fourth wall is routinely broken throughout the series, such as characters addressing how other characters' performances went, how to improve upon a particular scene and what main characters are supposed to know as opposed to supporting characters. Naota actually speaks to the audience at several intervals when Haruko does things that he has difficulty understanding. (I.e, impersonating Elvis—badly) Many references are made to other popular anime such as Gundam, Lupin III, and even anime itself, which is actually pretty rare since many anime shows don't actually acknowledge the existence of anime.

The music score throughout the show is catchy, upbeat, and fits the situations almost perfectly. My personal favorites are Runner's High, playing at Haruko's introduction and the last ten minutes of the final episode with the song I Think I Can, excluding the ending theme. This series has no opening theme to speak of and the ending theme is extremely long, well over six minutes in length and not very memorable. It's mostly still-frame shots of a yellow Vespa in various locations throughout Japan.

In short, while it's a rather old and, frankly, stupid anime, there's something strangely addictive and free about it, sort of like the writer went and rode a roller coaster again and again for an hour and then sat down and attempted to scribble down a story. You'll get plenty of laughs out of Haruko and as a bonus, to keep what little sense of reality it still has going for it, the show will even feature a few minutes of quiet, sane meditation, just to even out the complete and utter chaos that this series is famous for. Definitely worth the time and money spent on it. This leaves one question that even the cast in Mabase can't answer.

What IS Fooly Cooly?

Audience Recommendations: 16+. Plenty of slapstick violence, nothing too severe. Some intense moments might frighten little kids. Lots of raunchy jokes and some sensuality and/or mention of sex. Some slight nudity, typical panty shots, as well as a few bare-butt shots on Haruko's part. Whether or not she was aware of it remains to be seen. In any case, definitely not for young kids. Mostly for older teens and adults.

Side Note: Fooly Cooly (Furi Kuri)- the theory that Naota's father spends the entire series obsessing over. Means to inappropriately fondle someone's butt. You'll probably pick up on that or something along similar lines as you watch the show.