- Dylan Lopez
Fooly Cooly
Updated: Feb 9, 2023
"Nothing can happen till you swing the bat"
-Haruko Haruhara
Yearning for Adulthood
For Naota Nandaba, growing up is anything but easy. It’s a complicated, liminal space between the sweet naivety of childhood, and the increasingly sour confusion of adulthood.
Like many 12-year-olds desperate to appear mature, he embodies a feigned air of stoic apathy, a flimsy mask which cover his growing insecurities. The awkwardness of puberty hits him like a train, a weird soup of hormones and chemicals mix into new, uncontrollable emotions.
Unsure of himself, and lost in other people’s perceptions of him, Naota is completely incapable of stepping up the plate. He can't swing the bat—revealing his authentic self.
That is, until a manic pixie dream girl rides into his life, and bashes his brain in with her sapphire Rickenbacker 4001.
Legacies and Robots
If you made it passed that somber opening to the big reveal of Fooly Cooly, you're in for a wild ride. Fooly Cooly-stylized FLCL--is the hyperactive, avant-garde lovechild of the legendary Studio Gainax, and Kazuya Tsurumaki, the longtime protégé of Hideaki Anno--creator of Evangelion.
Released in 2000, Tsurumaki's anime for the millenium plays it fast and loose, with blazing abstract visuals, giant killer robots, and a kickass soundtrack from Japanese alt-rock band, The Pillows. Despite this audiovisual hooks, FLCL is grounded in the interiority of its young, maturing characters. Following in his mentor's footsteps, Tsurumaki places his characters in the forefront, content to having the giant robots and an intergalactic pirate conspiracy play second fiddle to Naota and his friends' struggles with adulthood. Though, the robots play a key role, externalizing the kids' emotions and bringing about real change through their brilliantly-animated conflicts.
With just six 30-minute-long episodes, Fooly Cooly is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious, densely--packed stories ever animated. In fact, a story as strange and expressive as FLCL couldn't possibly exist as anything other than anime. It defies all attempts to be explained or summarized, and its success is due in no small part to the rebellious, boundary-pushing Tsurumaki.
Grown-up Wannabes
The overarching narrative centers on Naota Nandaba--that confused goober from the opening--exploring the world through a series of overlapping, uncertain relationships. The absurd kicker here, is that Naota and his friends have the power to "overflow," or summon giant fighting robots made by an evil space corporation when they become emotionally unstable. With a cast of aimless, confused, and socially inept youths, they frequently disturb the ordinary town of Mabase with their manifested desires.
The first girl in Naota's life is Samejima Mamimi, the troubled high school ex-girlfriend of Naota's older brother, Tasuku. When Tasuku left Japan for America, she clung onto Naota as an emotional pillow, forming a debatably problematic relationship as she dumps her romantic frustrations onto a much younger--equally confused--boy, anchoring Naota to her past.
Haruko is an alien--no seriously--adult woman who invades Naota's life after striking him with her guitar.
With pink hair and green eyes, and a lean figure, Haruko makes a lasting romantic impression on Naota, and uses her influence as his first adult crush to further her own goals.
This toxic bond is further complicated by Haruko's own mixed feelings for Naota. She struggles as a surrogate mother, girlfriend, batting coach, and all-purpose robot fighter. FLCL's leading lady struggles to be everything at once, but one thing's for sure: she knows how to swing the bat.
If Fooly Cooly teaches us anything, it's that sometimes the people older than us don't have our best interests at heart. FLCL rounds out its trio of romantic interests with Eri Ninamori, Naota's classmate and the daughter of Mabase's mayor.
While her crush on Naota is out in the open, Ninamori is often frustrated by the other girls, who exert a stronger control over him.
Ninamori's not as...outright cruel as Mamimi or Haruko, but the ways she expresses her love for Naota aren't healthy--and like him, she still has a lot of growing up to do.
Full Swing
Fooly Cooly engages the central coming-of-age plot for various perspectives, showing that all the kids--and some of the adults--are figuring out their confusions on their own terms, and that growing up is a chaotic, ridiculous endeavor.
While viewers may be drawn in by the more traditional giant robot fights, or the increasingly frantic mayhem between what's real and what's metaphor, it doesn't matter to Fooly Cooly. A giant nuke-carrying satellite is hurdling towards the city, "Little Busters" by The Pillows is blaring, and the only question left is, "do you think they'll cancel school tomorrow?"
Verdict
There is no singular way to define what Fooly Cooly is, or what it's even about. At its core, Fooly Cooly is a short coming of age story. Yet despite its compactness, the show refuses to contain its messaging to one singular audience, or one moment in time.
Fooly Cooly speaks to its audience wherever they are--in life, as individuals, as friends or lovers, as adults who still don't know what they're doing. Growing up and seeing late night showings of FLCL on Adult Swim, Fooly Cooly felt like one of the few shows that understood me, going through that confused space between adolescence and adulthood.
The show is effortlessly relatable and, at times, we've all been one of the characters in FLCL. Maybe we've all been like Naota, desperate to seen, perceived as adults. Or like Haruko, shirking responsibilities and playing with other people's emotions. Or Mamimi, stuck in our pasts, and ambivalent to our futures. Or like Ninamori, caught up in various public disguises, unsure of who we-the people behind the masks--even are anymore.
Fooly Cooly shows us that everyone, at every age, is going through some transformative change--and adulthood is not some static goal with a set of recognizable traits. Maybe we're all grown up children, masquerading as well-adjusted adults.
Whoever you are, and wherever you are in life, this fever dream anime about growing up, relationships, identity, sex, robots, and the incredible sound of Japanese alt-rock has something to say to you.
