An extraterrestial plan to destroy Earth

What can I say FLCL (pronounced fooly cooly or furi kuri)? Produced by anime powerhouses Gainax and I.G. Production, it’s certainly one the craziest pieces of fiction that I’ve ever seen.

The show opens the young Naota being run over by the Vespa riding Haruko Haruhara, a tall pink haired woman claiming to be a member of the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood. She then proceeds to hit him with her guitar, which opens up a portal in his head which allows various alien robots to pass through. As the series progresses this is revealed to be part of an extraterrestrial plan to destroy the Earth, with only the Japanese Immigration Department standing in the alien’s way. Like I said this is a strange show: a show set in a universe in which people don’t find it strange that a ‘company’ called Medical Mechanical has built a giant steam iron shaped ‘factory’ in the middle of their town; where scooters can be used as spaceships and where guitars are the most powerful weapons in existence.

The plot isn’t actually that difficult to understand, at least if you watch the show a couple of times. It’s certainly infinitely more comprehensible than another of Gainax and I.G. Production’s collaborations: End of Evangelion. At its core the story is mix of standard coming of age and space opera elements, albeit with a very touching ending.

The real draw here is the humour. The surreal nature of the show is perfectly complemented by Haruko’s general insanity. There’s also the intentional comically inconsistent art style, with a short but hilarious South Park parody in episode 5. This is one example of numerous references to, and jokes about, other anime, rock music and popular culture in general. Gainax clearly wasn’t afraid of a bit self parody: in the second episode when Naoto’s otaku father begins spouting pretentious nonsense about philosophy Naota explains to Haruko that he “once wrote a book about the deep mysteries of Eva”.

I would also be remiss not mention the music, performed by Japanese band ‘The Pillows’ considered by many to be the best part of the show. I usually have no interest at all in music and so for me to notice it must truly be exceptional. The songs used are fast paced, fun and really fit the show, with the closing theme being particularly good.

This is the very good series. While it might take one or two episodes to get accustomed to the its surreal and silly nature if you stick with it you’re sure to be rewarded. At six episodes it’s also very short, so there’s really no excuse for not seeing it.