FLCL(FOOLY COOLY): THE MANGA AND ANIME
Fooly Cooly is an amazing Anime series and a great Manga. I find it hard to talk solely about one or the other independently as they are very connected, and its easier to understand the full concept when you understand the stories of each of them.
The basic story is that Naota, age 12, has a run in with an Alien girl named Haruhara Haruko, who hits him in the head with a bass guitar causing bumps on his forehead to appear. This bump then turns into a portal that allows fighting robots to shoot out of his head randomly. The bumps are the Medical Mechanica robots being pulled through Naota's N.O. channel in his head by Haruko.
Except the robots don't come randomly. Metaphorically, they represent the strange new feelings that a young person Naota's age might feel, A.K.A. one going through puberty. This is being likened to aliens and robots, as this major emotional and physiological change can indeed feel "alien." In the anime, they shoot from his head whenever he gets into an emotional situation, such as when Samejima Mamimi rejects his advances in the 5th episode since he is too young. It's no surprise that with the pubescent metaphors that the robots coming out of Naota's head are extremely phallic in nature, save for the cat ears which eventually come out of Ninamori's head anyway.
The whole concept of Fooly Cooly is a metaphor for becoming an adult and learning what that means. Naota trys to act like an adult, like his brother, as a reaction to everyone in his life acting immaturely. His father acts like a fool flirting with Haruko and generally being obsessed with gossip, like when he wrote the zine about Ninamori's father. He avoids anything that he deems "childish" such as the school play in the 3rd episode.
Naota try's hard to be like his brother, he even carries around a baseball bat(his brother is currently in America playing baseball) although he never uses it, a fact that Samejima makes note of in the first few minutes of the show. In the 4th episode, Naota learns how to "Swing The Bat" from Haruko, and and uses his new found skills to save the city from being destroyed by a Medical Mechanica bomb. In addition, he also swings the bat to hit his Father/Robot in the head, which Commander Amarao describes as only being able to practice his swing on machines, and his tone denotes ridicule.
A major difference in the manga and anime is Naota hitting his father with the bat. In the anime, Naota's father has been replaced by a robot, but in the Manga Naota actually hits and most likely kills his father. This is, of course, a reference to the Oedipus Complex.
Another thing different about the anime versus the manga is that the Anime depicts Haruko as just being indifferent towards the destruction she causes. In the manga, she's much more blatant about not caring about the destruction of earth. The manga, since its only the two volumes, contains much less in the way of character development, we don't get to see the characters as well rounded off like they are in the anime.
The last thing I want to talk about is Samejima Mamimi's delusions. While re-watching the anime and reading other peoples reactions to the story, I learned something that I never realized. The only reason why I assumed that Samejima and Naota's brother were dating is because she says so, but it may just be that she fell in love with Tasuku(Naota's Brother) because he saved her from the fire when they were younger, and that because he hasn't contacted her since he moved to America means that the feelings weren't reciprocated. She then latches onto his younger brother, Naota, and even gives him the same nickname, Ta-kun, until he abandons her. When he does, she finds a stray cat that she also names Ta-kun. When that cat then finds another cat, she finds the data core from the robot and names it Ta-kun and feeds it other electronic things she finds around the city, especially things that belong to people who have wronged her. Another factor in her "finding a new Ta-kun" is when the old Ta-kun shows signs of being independent from Samejima and what she wants.
As for the name Fooly Cooly(in Japanese "Furi Kuri") WikiAnswers says:
A common mistake by English-speaking fans is to say that the meaning of "Furi Kuri" in Japanese is "Breast Fondling." This mistake arises from the fact that "kuri kuri" is occasionally used by manga artists as a sound effect for breast fondling. In the anime itself, they make references to "kuri kuri" during the first manga scene, when Shigekuni describes kneading bread by making hand gestures that unmistakably resemble groping motions. Due to incredibly fast pacing of the scene, many fans mistake his statement as referring to "furi kuri" instead of "kuri kuri." Much Japanese onomatopoeia follows a pattern of being four kana long and having a sound repeated. "Furi furi" is also used as a sound effect in a later episode when Haruko is petting Naota's cat ears. FLCL's direct Japanese to English translation is: A Pretend Chestnut. Kuri or chestnut can also mean to twist. It would seem the best translation might be pretend twisted (distort, pervert) or pretend disarrangement (disturb the operation or functions [as in twisting]; also to make insane).
...Fooly Cooly is a term to express what can't be manifested. Naota's father uses it to suggest sexual topics, as that's his disposition, and what he THINKS about. Naota's Grandpa just says it over and over, because he's old, and senile, and can't even try to comprehend it. Haruko says it in all sorts of ways, since she's a rather random woman, and can change gears without notice. Mamimi asks Naota, abotu why he is wearing a hat "Is it Fooly Cooly under there again?" Back to the normal crowd. In short, Fooly Cooly is uncertainty. The newness of sexuality for Naota, the uncertainty of his possible relationship with Haruko for Naota's dad. It's the entire world for the old Grandpa. And it's the unexplained weirdness from Naota's head for Mamimi.
