Fooly Cooly

"Fooly Cooly" (フリクリ, Furi Kuri) is the first episode of the anime FLCL.

Summary

"Everything here is ordinary," says 12-year-old Nandaba Naota, about Mabase, his hometown. Brandishing an ill-fitting "mature" person, Naota is constantly victim of the immature tendencies of his older brother's girlfriend, 17-year-old Samejima Mamimi. While his brother, Tasuku, pursues baseball in the United States, Naota shares an odd and uncomfortable relationship with Mamimi, which is plagued by their distinct age and personality differences. He even refuses a simple soft drink with his infamous series tagline, "I don't like sour drinks." Mamimi hangs all over Naota (whom she nicknamed "Ta-kun", which is also his brother's nickname), and claims that if she can't, she'll "overflow".

As the two stroll along, Naota is suddenly struck by a deranged Vespa driver. Mamimi rushes to his side while the driver comes over, only to declare him dead. Meanwhile, Mamimi is irritated that the driver has done nothing to improve the situation and becomes dumbfounded as the driver reveals her attractive feminine visage and kisses Naota in a mock-CPR fashion (which works anyway). As he stumbles to his feet, the girl strikes him over the head with her Rickenbacker bass, then lifts and shakes him by the ankles (which amounts to nothing) before driving away. Naota returns home and soon discovers a huge blunt horn protruding from his forehead where he was hit, and conceals the abnormality with a bandage. At school the next day, rumors fly about regarding the "Wasp woman" who rides a Vespa and marks ("stings") perverted guys. His friends ask about a hicky Mamimi gave him, and when he offers no answer, they ask if the Wasp woman stung him. He remains silent, which further confirms their suspicions as they begin to brand Naota a pervert. Naota resolves to visit the hospital about the horn, only to encounter his attacker on the route where he was hit. He escapes after explaining away his bandage, which she questions.

At the hospital, a nurse blames the horn on a fake disease ("Flictonic Clipple Webber Syndrome") coupled with an equally cockamamie explanation that calls the horn a result of over-effort in adolescents. Naota completely disregards the obviously fabricated tale and realizes the truth when the nurse unmasks herself as, once again, the Vespa driver. She takes another swing at him with her guitar. Naota narrowly escapes and goes home to rest.

Naota awakens when he is beckoned to dinner, fully expecting a completely normal meal, only to learn during a flurry of stylized animation resembling manga pages, that his father, Kamon, has not only welcomed his assailant, "Haruhara Haruko", into their home, but has elected to employ her as a maid. Naota stomps away and later discovers that Haruko will take up residence in his room. He demands to know who she "really" is, and gets "an alien" as a response. He angrily suggests that she should be in the other room with his father. She is insistent and pleads with him, saying that Naota is the one she "saw first."

Eventually, Naota flees downstairs after he becomes irritated. Kamon, who is still awake and examining some pictures, asks him if Naota was literally struck with the same fate as he. Naota spies the photos and realizes Mamimi had come and learns she took some day-old bread from their bakery. Naota runs off to find her and catches her at a bridge where she cryptically describes her feelings for Tasuku, terminating in the phrase, "I like him more than hard bread." Naota informs Mamimi that his brother has a new American girlfriend. Suddenly, Mamimi puts her hands to her head, exclaiming that she's going to overflow, and passes out.

At the same time, a robot, followed by a detached robot hand, emerge from Naota's head where the horn was, and begin to scuffle. The whole robot (later called "Canti"), fully red, with a TV-like head, easily overcomes his opponent and stands in victorious triumph. The moment is broken when Haruko appears and smashes the victor with her bass guitar. The robot becomes a light blue color and Haruko confusedly peers around.

The next morning, Naota still purports that his town has no unique qualities even after the previous night's otherworldly experiences. Canti, under the tutelage of Haruko, works in the bakery as a simple task-robot. Naota finds Mamimi, who gives him a sour drink, which he reluctantly gulps down.

Trivia

In the Japanese version of episode 1, Kamon (Naota's father) uses the Japanese word "desu" ("is"), which Haruko mistakes for the English word "death". In the English version, Kamon uses the word "desk", which Haruko also mistakes for "death".
Kamon also says "cooly cooly" which Haruko mistakes for "kool-aid" and "new modality" which Haruko mistakes for "noodle" during the manga scene.
"Vespa" is Latin, Icelandic, Portuguese and Italian for "wasp."
"Nurse" Haruko tells Naota that his horn is caused by Flictonic Clipple Webber Syndrome, which is a reference not only to Furi Kuri but to "Klippel Weber syndrome" - which is a real disease that can cause skin abnormalities (though not horns). In the English dub of the scene, Haruko replaces the word "syndrome" with "symptom", likely due to a slight translation error.
Right before the manga scene, Haruko's Vespa can be seen right behind Naota's father's car, also in Naota's room you can see her bass sitting up against his desk. When you hear Naota's father calling Naota downstairs for dinner, it foreshadows Haruko's presence in the house.
During the English-dubbed preview for the next episode, Haruko makes references to Nintendo's line of GameBoy handheld systems.

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