Steve Martin Movie:

		List Price: $29.95		Label: Broccoli Int'l Salesrank: 26874 Released: August 27, 2002
		Our Price: $34.99
		Used Price: $19.99
		MPAA Rating: Unrated Media: DVD

FLCL (Fooly Cooly) - Vol. 1 Reviews:
Farscape of anime....
2008-06-17 - Fooly Cooly, Volume One, has two episodes, commentary and out takes. Oh, and a nice booklet inside the holder. The story is about an alien girl, or so she says, who attacks robots that come out of a kid's forehead. A kid she ran over herself with her scooter. Much of the future plot or details of the story was given away in the commentary, so much of the mystery, if any, was destroyed for me before I even got past the first DVD. But that's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem I had was with the fact that, new or used, this DVD held only two episodes.
Two episodes? Only two? Sure, the artwork is interesting, the story line WAS interesting and the voice work is great, but that is no excuse to make me buy this series two episodes at a time. I didn't take that from Farscape, why would I take it from FLCL? Come on, give me a break. I've heard lots of good stuff about this anime series but I'd become a pirate before I pay full prices for this. I just don't have that much money!
I guess what I am saying is the same as the rest of the reviews. Great Anime. Bad Marketing.

One of the best modern animes
2007-12-11 - FLCL (short for Fooly Cooly) is a 6 episode long, beautifully animated show bursting with charm and memorable characters. Great humor, action sequences, music, and story make for an overall wonderful anime. Short but undeniably sweet.

Nothing ever happens
2007-07-19 - Anime can be pretty weird -- just look at series like "Paranoia Agent" and "Boogiepop Phantom." Total confusion.

But for sheer strangeness and kookiness, the one on top has got to be "Fooly Cooly (FLCL)." As it pokes fun at anime conventions, the first volume tells the weird story of an atypical coming-of-age -- surreal storytelling, oddball characters, and robots sprouting out of a young boy's head.

Naota is a twelve-year-old boy living what he sees as an oppressively dull existance, in a quiet city dominated by the Medical Mechanica building. The closest thing to excitement is fending off the advances of his brother's troubled girlfriend Mamimi.

Then sudenly a girl on a Vespa runs him over, resuscitates him with a smooch, and then bashes him over the head with a bass guitar. That evening, Naota finds that instead of a bump, he has a horn growing out of his head, and no idea what it is or how to get rid of it.

Despite his efforts to avoid her, Naoto's kooky father has hired the crazy Vespa girl, Haruko, as a housekeeper. To make matters worse, his "horn" turns out to be a robot and a giant mechanical hand -- springing out of his head.

Things don't improve much in the second episode, where the now-tamed robot is being used for household duties and errands, including fetching Hustler and moving boxes. Naoto isn't pleased with this weird twist -- or with Haruko's continued presence -- but he's powerless to stop either one.

Then the troubled Mamimi sees the robot (wearing a pair of dark wings), and mistakes it for the Dark Flame god Cantide from her favorite pyromaniacal video game. And Naoto finds that he's got some new horns -- and they're about to set off a massive robot battle.

For newbies, "FLCL" is probably the WORST anime to start with. It's a parodic mishmash of anime in-jokes -- giant robots, fanservice, boy falls for kooky abusive alien girl -- and a storyline that is bizarre to the point where you may not be able to understand what's going on. But oh, is it a fun ride.

Even the animation is done in an exaggerated, crazy way, full of distorted faces and crazy robot battles. Lots of hyperactive action and overdramatic dialogue ("OH NO.... OOOOOOOOO... an American GIRLFRIEND!"). And it's sprinkled with hysterical little metafictional moments, like the characters griping to the audience about doing "slow motion" shots.

And the characters are as bizarre and spoofy as the story itself -- Naoto is a typical bored preteen, who idolizes his big brother and wants a quasi-normal life, while Haruko is a completely off-the-wall kook who says she's an alien. And Mamimi makes the story even more bizarre -- and a little poignant -- as a lonely pyromaniac.

The first two episodes of "FLCL" are enough to blow the top off of your head, with the strange characters and wildly surrealist plot. Fooly Cooly!

I'll remember this.
2007-04-27 - This Anime means a lot to me (this is Elisa's teenage son). FLCL and my Ramones Cd's and hackey-sack, learning how to play guitar, the Beatles, discovering Classic Rock, these things all remind me of growing up with my friends. FLCL is very nostalgic. I hate how people bash this Anime for not having a plot. It's all there if you know the significance of the little things. But I guess with this, you either get it or you don't. Of course, probably not everybody loves this anime for the same reasons. It's got soul, though. And the music is great. I loved Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo too; I don't see why people shouldn't also like FLCL. You've just got to remember how it was to be immature and inexperienced. To be a kid, you know? Who cares who's laughing? There's nothing wrong with listening to Lead Belly and the Ramones. And I don't think there's anything wrong with reading Bukowski as well as Stephen King. FLCL rocks.

Overrated
2007-03-30 - Okay, the animation quality is great. CG quality actually looks good in some scenes (it seems trendy nowadays to pause a picture, turn it around a bit in a 3D-type motion, and unpause it - you've seen it in commercials, and here it is in anime).

But the plot! (Or lack thereof.) It's ... well ... a quick summary would be "Twisted Metal meets Plymptoons meets a soap opera". And the love aspect seems artificial ... if Naota's brother had never existed, there would be no reason for Mamimi to be in this anime supporting him (is she really?) Then there's Haruka, an alien, but don't be expecting Lum now! She carries around an electric guitar (what, is it trendy to have them now?) that sounds more like an electric saw for some reason. She also has some VERY flawed logic - one does not apply mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on someone who just got nailed by a moped, then proceed to smack the victim on the head with a guitar as they stir.

Well, as if the unsympathetic characters weren't bad enough, there's even more flawed physics and utter nonsense (why, oh why is Gainax so obsessed with apocalyptic themes and "cool looking mecha"? Is it trendy?). And to turn a Japanese street-punk soap opera into a sentai show midway seems ... well ... indecisive! Which audience are they trying to capture? The shoujo fans, or the "Yeah, let's see blood and guts and mecha" fans? Make up your minds! Now, mecha sprouting from a horn growing off of a lump on someone's forehead??? (Are they nuts? Or is it that the animators are turning more and more to drugs for inspiration?)

This anime's main purpose seems to be to showcase the Japanese punk rock band du jour (The Pillows), and to bewilder the viewer while they're at it. My guess is that they tried to combine the soap opera sweetness of KareKano and the cool mecha and futuristic look of Evangelion in hopes of appealing to both. But the result, Furi Kuri (which, incidentally, means "to fondle someone's butt" in slang Japanese), reveals that they're incompatible.

(Why do they come up with such names for their anime recently? First KareKano, now FuriKuri...I expect the next Gainax anime to be called ChumbaWamba - oh, wait, that's taken. Must be trendy.)

Only the animation style, which reminds me of Bill Plympton's cartoons (which I'd rather watch anyday!), is the saving grace of this anime. Perhaps I simply don't get the symbolism this anime may be trying to administer during the thirty minutes it's on ... much the same way as I don't get WWF or WCW wrestling ... or maybe Gainax should be more straightforward in the future. (But symbolism is trendy, I suppose.)

This anime DOES leaves room for questions, and for a diversity of opinions from its viewers, too. However...


Hey, the animation was kinda cool. But I like meat AND potatoes, not just potatoes. -- Eric Gaede