Insanity is Fun, Right?

Review: Furi Kuri/FLCL/Fooly Cooly

Anime/Manga/Music/Fandom/Merchandise

Reviewed by: Bad Jew

Title rating: PG-13/R for animated violence, robots doing stuff, some sexual jokes, puns that might be sexual if I understood them

-6-episode OVA (video) anime series (2000-2001), complete
-2-volume manga (comic) series, complete
-3-volume novel series, complete

There are many kinds of humor: puns, sarcasm, visual humor, cute humor. But in my humble opinion, both as an otaku and as a bad Jew, I would have to say that the hardest to pull off is random humor. It seems easy--guy walks down the street, gets hit by a bat. While he bleeds to death, the audience is laughing in the aisles, right? No. Random humor is very hard to pull off correctly; when overdone it takes away any chance of character development, when underdone it's just a guy getting hit by a bat. In order to make random humor work, you need to find a good medium between too much of it and too little. The good people at Gainax (have I mentioned that they are godlike in their abilities?) have found this happy medium in Furi Kuri.

Anime

There is, I believe, a special spot in heaven for those who understand the plot of Furi Kuri. Like enlightenment, once one understands the convoluted plot of this show, they are immediately taken from this Earth and installed in this place where they talk about things such as Jungian archetypes and Japanese coming of age rituals. Do not believe anyone who says that they understand this show (unless, of course, they come to you while you're dreaming) because they're just dirty liars; kill them for their sins.

 


Umm, yeah, this is one of those awkward moments right?

Meet Naota, an elementary school student with a small problem: after being hit in the head with a guitar by the pink-haired, Vespa-riding Haruko, reality flips and his standard angst (dealing with his feelings toward his brother's former girlfriend) pales in comparison with the perplexing, robot-involving insanity he is now a key member of. And that's all I can give away without spoiling everything, believe it or not. The show does make a valiant attempt to try and explain the plot, but Gainax has fallen to the same demons as *shudder* X: The Movie and Akira--it has far too many storylines and tries to explain them all in far too little time. The entire series is just 6 episodes, people. When I watch Furi Kuri with others I simply tell them to ask no questions, as I have no answers.

"But Bad Jew," you might ask, "if it's so confusing, what's the point of watching it? Won't I just be left a blithering idiot?" I would then strike you down for daring to question the gods of Gainax, and in your dying moments as you choke on your own tongue I would explain that this show is not about plot. It's about damn good animation, kickass music, great voice acting, fantastic visual jokes, parodies, and simple insanity. If you want a plot that you can wrap your mind around, check out Escaflowne or Kenshin, but never, ever look to Gainax.
Gainax is not particularly known for their high-quality animation. This is, I believe, due to their inability to employ an accountant who would keep them from spending all their animation budget on catering and resin Rei dolls by the 10th episode. Luckily, Furi Kuri is a scant 6 episodes, so the animation staff finally gets to show their stuff. The fight scenes (remembers those robots mentioned? Well, they're not peaceniks if you catch my drift) are excellent. The effects are amazing, and the animation team certainly picked up a few hints from the battle scenes Gainax did earlier in Neon Genesis Evangelion. And the monsters share the same odd designs as the angels from Eva (oh dear God, a giant Octagon is destroying Tokyo! Where's Raymond Burr when you need him?). Two of the featured Furi Kuri robots are a giant hand wearing a poncho, and a small metal dog that grows quite large.


Don't touch me, you have leprosy. UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!

The visual humor is the meat and potatoes of this show, and they are extremely well done. "Matrix Shots," where time slows down and the camera pans around the subject, are used twice. The Guy With The Eyebrows (more people should be given names relating only to their freakish appearance) suddenly turns into a "South Park" parody for a few seconds. And let's not forget the manga scenes ... ah, the manga scenes, when the action suddenly switches to a ridiculously fast, 2D comic visual for no apparent reason. The first such manga scene, which appears in the first episode, is basically an extended Japanese pun on the name of the show; somehow the words Furi Kuri are connected to bread, breasts, feeling of said breasts, and for some reason, Gundam. I cringe to imagine what the dub of that scene will be like. And, by the way, congratulations to the original fansubtitlers for dealing with those scenes--and this entire show--in the first place.


Vespas are fun, no?


Disclaimer: Do Not Walk On Bridges While Fighting Robots.

However, I cannot stress enough that you should not watch this show if you want any semblance of an understandable plot. Behind all the great jokes, great animation, and great scripting, there is the hubris of the director thinking that he could adequately explain all the multiple plot lines in 6 short episodes. It would take a good 2 seasons of episodes to even scratch the surface, but the show acts as if it plans to explain everything the next episode, so it's okay that it just introduced 2 new characters. And on a cultural level, this show will be very hard for American audiences to understand; Synch-Point is planning (if the rumors are correct) to bundle 20 pages of translators' notes with the first disk. That's all well and good, but the first disk covers only 2 episodes. Entire disks of other anime, containing almost triple the number of episodes, get maybe a page of notes if they're lucky. I can understand the importance of these notes, as the uncultured American audience might even miss the references to Gundam and Lupin if they blink for a second, and they have no chance, unless they are native Japanese speakers, of getting the bakery-related puns. While the story of this show doesn't demand thought, in fact it actively attempts to avoid it, the subtler points of the show (which are many) require a very good knowledge of the Japanese culture to get--which might detract from its widespread adoption.

<Update 10/3/02>

I just finished watching the first American DVD of Furi Kuri, and I take back every death threat and mail bomb that I sent to Synch-Point for their delay of the DVD. The dub is great, it makes the insane pun scenes actually make sense, and unlike the fan subs that I have, the subtitles are readable and aren't confusing. My hat is off to Synch-Point, and even though I am now a pennyless college student, I will be buying the rest of the series as it comes out.

Manga

Given the manga scenes in the show you would think Furi Kuri was based on a manga, but you'd be wrong (what's with you and being wrong, do you enjoy it?). There are 2 manga volumes that cover most of the series; they feature a unique drawing style, a sort of minimalism mixed with surrealism. I've read fan translations, and the manga differs greatly from the show, but it still doesn't explain anything. The best thing about the manga are the Play-Dough models of the characters on the inside jackets--they're pretty amusing. Unless you're a super-fan of the series like me, I couldn't recommend picking them up.

Music

If Furi Kuri didn't have the soundtrack that it has, it would still be a good show--we would all still laugh at the jokes, ooh and ahh all the fight scenes, and scratch our heads trying to figure out the plot. But Furi Kuri has quite possibly the best soundtrack in all of anime. The Pillows, the Japanese rock band that supplies most of the music, is superb. The ending theme song "Ride on Shooting Star" is one of the most addictive songs ever, and with its interspersed Japanese and Engrish accurately captures the insanity of the show. And let's not forget "Crazy Sunshine," which is simply the best song ever made, by anyone, at any time, anywhere. The soundtracks, which go by the name OST 1 and 2 respectively, are a definite must buy for any fan of the show (or any fan of music in general). Unfortunately, each CD has its share of useless songs, the ones on the first disk being songs made by other people (because, of course, The Pillows can do not wrong), and the ones on the second being the audio drama tracks. I'm sure I would enjoy those if I understood Japanese, but, you know.


Hey, this isn't 'X', we can't do crucifixions.


Radiation does funny things to kids.

Fandom

Furi Kuri's short run and confusing nature make it hard to write fanfiction about; how can you write something you don't fully understand? (Of course, this doesn't stop people, so check out FF.net for a good list of Furi Kuri fanfics.) The fanart that does exist is high quality to be sure, but you'll have a very hard time finding it. I do predict that when the domestic DVD comes out, the fan community will grow larger--but then again, I predicted a swift and bloodless end to the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, and boy was my face red 4 years later.


J0.

The show is still waiting for an online fan community; there are a whole lot of fans out there, but nothing to rally behind. Right now, we're still anxiously awaiting the domestic DVD release. Synch-Point has for the past several months announced release dates and then cruelly broken them, and judging by the amount of flames they get on message boards, I would say that a very many loud and inarticulate people are waiting for this show to come out (myself included, have been beaten down on AnimeonDVD.com message boards for daring to speak ill of them). But the fans that Furi Kuri does have now are very much hardcore. Some of the best anime websites I've seen are shrines to Furi Kuri, such as flcl.fr.st, FuriKuri.com, and NERV Furi Kuri. All of these sites provide great analysis, pictures, and other goodies for any fan. And Gainax has an outdated but information-packed English website on FLCL, too. See it now! NOW!

Merchandise

If you have a hankering for wallscrolls and posters you came to the right place, as Furi Kuri has about 4 or 5 different designs for each. All of them are great, and I would recommend getting any and all of them. As for artbooks, this show has one of the best I've ever seen--called FLCLISM, it's a combination of 2 books, the first being a photography book featuring designs and original drawings, and more interestingly, the live-action scenes that inspired many of the scenes from the anime. The second book is filled with design sets, weapons designs, and interviews and commentary by the director, producer, and other people involved with the show. If only I could read Japanese, I might be able to appreciate it more.

With the imminent release of the Region 1 DVDs, we've seen the release of 2 toys: Canti and Haruko action figures. Both of them are very cool, Canti being a completely poseable figure around 6 inches tall, and Haruko all riding around on her Vespa and whatnot. They both retail for about $16.
Overview

This is a show to watch with friends, so lure them in any way you can--food, drink, roofies--and then tie them to a chair and make them watch "Clockwork Orange" style. However you do it, make people watch this; if you try to explain it to them, they'll run away. This is for their own good and they'll thank you afterwards.

Who would I kill in order to thank the people who made this show?

I would travel back in time and kill the Pharaoh Ramseys if Gainax asked.

In other words, I give this 4 stars out of 5.


Dodge this.

Lianne: 4.5 stars. I think it makes way more sense than you give it credit for, though it does get a bit too weird and too dirty at times for my tastes. Otherwise, it's remarkable.

Amethist: pi+1 stars. Three words: lewd conduct eggs.

NotHayama: 4 stars. FLCL will burn your brain faster than crack, which is probably what the writers were on when they came up with it.