40 Fun Facts About FLCL

FLCL is pronounced in English as which two-word name, also the title of its first episode?

Fooly Cooly is how English speakers read the four letters. In Japan the title is Furi Kuri, which Naota's grandfather mishears as a word for a twisting motion.

Haruko Haruhara runs Naota over in the first episode of FLCL while riding which make of scooter?

Vespa Woman becomes her nickname around town. Her scooter is an SS 180, and right after the crash she revives Naota with CPR, then clubs him with a bass guitar.

Which Japanese rock band, formed in 1989, supplied the songs heard throughout FLCL?

The Pillows licensed three of their earlier albums to the show and wrote two new songs for it. The exposure won them a following in the West.

Canti, the robot who ends up doing chores for Naota's family in FLCL, has what for a head?

A television set sits on Canti's shoulders, and a symbol flashes on its screen when he swallows Naota to fight. Haruko cracked the back of it with her bass.

The Medical Mechanica plant looming over Naota's town in FLCL is shaped like which household object?

A clothes iron suits the company's aim of smoothing the wrinkles out of people's brains, which the character Amarao calls the destruction of all thought.

One scene in the original FLCL abruptly switches to the animation style of which American cartoon?

South Park's cutout style takes over an entire scene. Reviewers also noted camera spins in the manner of The Matrix as part of the show's experimental streak.

Director Giancarlo Volpe says staff on which Nickelodeon show were ordered to buy and watch FLCL?

Avatar: The Last Airbender director Giancarlo Volpe recalled that his whole staff were told to buy FLCL and watch every episode of it.

Which hit manga did its creator describe to fans as a wicked version of FLCL?

Chainsaw Man got that label in the thank-you letter its creator, Tatsuki Fujimoto, wrote to readers when the series passed three million copies sold.

What color is Haruko Haruhara's hair in the original FLCL, before FLCL Progressive turns it orange?

Pink comes back partway through Progressive, once Haruko swallows the half of herself that had split away; losing that half is what turned her hair orange.

After running Naota over in FLCL, Haruko Haruhara moves into the Nandaba house by taking which job?

Live-in maid is the cover that lets Haruko stay close to the boy whose head she needs. Naota comes home to find her already settled in his room.

FLCL's director was earlier an assistant director on which landmark 1995 mecha series?

Neon Genesis Evangelion had him working under Hideaki Anno, and he directed half of its film finale before FLCL made him a full director.

Which director made his full debut with FLCL before going on to Diebuster and The Dragon Dentist?

Kazuya Tsurumaki said he set out to break the rules of anime, patterning the show on Japanese commercials and promo videos: short but densely packed.

Which studio made the original FLCL with Production I.G, then sold that partner the rights in 2015?

Gainax almost sold to someone else: Hideaki Anno's studio was close to a deal until the asking price was suddenly raised.

Haruko Haruhara's weapon of choice in FLCL is a blue, left-handed 4001 bass from which guitar maker?

Rickenbacker built the vintage 4001 she clubs Naota with in the first episode, and she leaves it behind with him when she flies off at the end.

In FLCL's Full Swing episode, Haruko pulls which Gibson guitar out of Naota's head to use as a bat?

A Flying V becomes the bat Naota finally swings, stopping a baseball-shaped bomb that a falling satellite launches at him.

Mamimi Samejima in FLCL calls Naota by which pet name, the same one she used for his older brother?

Takkun is the name she gives whatever she is looking after, including a black kitten and a piece of alien machinery she adopts.

Naota's older brother never appears in FLCL, having moved to which country to play baseball?

United States baseball keeps him away for the whole series, and a postcard in the first episode reveals that he now has a girlfriend there.

Eri Ninamori, Naota's class president in FLCL, is the daughter of which local official?

The mayor is caught in a scandal over an affair with his secretary, so the Nandabas put Ninamori up for the night while reporters crowd her home.

In FLCL's third episode, Ninamori rigs a class vote to cast Naota in which school play?

Puss in Boots also names the episode: Marquis de Carabas is the grand title the cat invents for his penniless master.

Commander Amarao of FLCL blocks his N.O. channel with fake eyebrows made out of what?

Nori seaweed strips do the job, and Haruko mocks them as cover for his lack of manliness. FLCL: Grunge shows a sword slicing off the real ones.

Naota's grandfather owns which family shop in FLCL, where Mamimi collects day-old leftovers?

A bakery doubles as the Nandaba home. Shigekuni also coaches the local baseball team and is let down that Naota never swings the bat.

Haruko Haruhara's true aim in FLCL is to seize which space-bending being known as the Pirate King?

Atomsk can steal entire star systems, hence the title. His name comes from a novel that science-fiction writer Cordwainer Smith published under another pen name.

Mamimi Samejima, the truant schoolgirl of FLCL, leaves town in the finale to pursue which career?

Photographer suits her, since she carries a camera everywhere, and it is a last shot of Haruko's abandoned bass that makes up her mind.

Mamimi Samejima of FLCL secretly commits which crime around town, acting out a handheld video game?

Arson is the aim of her game, in which the player burns things to please a god called Cantido. She names the robot Canti after him.

Lieutenant Kitsurubami, Amarao's deputy in FLCL, tries to destroy Canti with which weapon?

An anti-tank rifle fails, and the polite robot then offers her a helping hand, which leaves her smitten. Her name is a traditional Japanese word for a shade of brown.

A robot gripping Ninamori in FLCL's third episode lets go when Haruko feeds it which dish?

Curry is a sore point at the Nandaba table too: Naota hates spicy food, while Canti somehow eats it through the grille on his face.

Naota's teacher Junko Miyaji in FLCL tries to teach her class which skill she lacks herself?

Using chopsticks defeats her in front of a class raised on sporks. Her car is also wrecked twice over the series by the chaos around Naota.

FLCL's English dub swapped a gag about the Japanese soft drink Cheerio for which defunct US soda?

Crystal Pepsi stood in because the script's obscure Japanese pop-culture jokes had to be decoded and swapped for ones English-speaking viewers would catch.

Which song, one of two written specially for FLCL, closes every episode of the original series?

Ride on Shooting Star was new for the series, as was the battle theme I Think I Can; everything else came from three albums the band had already released.

The FLCL sequel seasons of 2018 and 2023 all premiered on which American programming block?

Toonami had rerun the original in 2013 and 2014, and the block's own 25th anniversary was the occasion for announcing the last two seasons.

Adult Swim aired the first FLCL Alternative episode unannounced, in Japanese, on which 2018 date?

April Fools' Day stunts are an annual Adult Swim tradition, and this one landed at midnight, five months before the season's proper premiere.

What cover job does Haruko take in FLCL Progressive to get close to teenager Hidomi Hibajiri?

Homeroom teacher gives her a whole class to brainwash, and she hands out yearbooks full of stick figures that only Hidomi sees for what they are.

Which of Hidomi's accessories in FLCL Progressive is really a Medical Mechanica power inhibitor?

Her headphones have cat ears and lights that shift from blue to red as her power builds. When someone tries to remove them, they screw themselves into her skull.

Which stoic, white-haired woman in FLCL Progressive is really a fragment that split off from Haruko?

Julia Jinyu takes a job at the Hibajiri family café to guard Hidomi, and wants the being Haruko hunts to stay free.

Which classmate does Haruko use as a pawn in FLCL Progressive before he becomes Hidomi's boyfriend?

Ko Ide pays for it first: he is turned into a hollow balloon, floats into orbit and is fed to Canti's head before being restored.

Kana and her friends in FLCL Alternative build a rocket out of discarded bottles of which soda?

Dr Pepper bottles make up the rocket, which is wrecked in a monster attack before Haruko persuades Kana to rebuild it and launch it from the beach.

Kana's friend Pets in FLCL Alternative is evacuated with her official father to which world?

Mars is the refuge in the government's secret evacuation plan. In the finale Kana's power drags the whole planet right up beside Earth.

Which FLCL season, about a boy who sees ghosts, is the only one in which Haruko never appears?

Shoegaze is set ten years after Alternative and brings back that season's heroine, Kana, as an adult working for the immigration bureau.

Shinpachi, the young hero of FLCL: Grunge, works at which rundown family business in mob-run Okura?

A sushi restaurant even serves Haruko's scheme: she slips a robot official a virus-laden thumb drive disguised as a piece of sushi.

The original FLCL is set in which fictional Japanese town, home to a giant Medical Mechanica plant?

Mabase supplies the pun in the title of the tabloid Naota's father writes, Kamon-Mabase, which sounds like a call of 'come on' to the town.