FLCL

FLCL (Furi Kuri) is a 6 episode sci-fi, action, comedy by the minds at Gainax.  The series came out in Japan originally in 2000 and aird in North America in 2003 on Cartoon Network

    Naota Nadaba is a sullen 5th grader living in a miserable town occupied by a mysterious factory.  His older brother moved to America to play baseball and his perverted father and grandfather run a bakery.  Naota is secretly 'dating' his older brothers delinquent high school girlfriend Mamimi Samejima.  His life is uneventful and dull until one day a crazed woman runs into him with her scooter, then slugs him in the head with a bass guitar.  When a horn starts to grow on his head the crazy woman, calling herself Haruko Haruharu, moves into his family home and pretends to be their house keeper.  Trying to hide the horn and the woman Naota's life becomes more miserable than before.  His situation goes from bad to worse when the horn grows out of his skull and into a robot.  Haruko battles the robot, defeating it but that's only the start...

    I watched this series when it aired on TV in America, it only mildly sparked any interest.  I thought I would watch it again and do a proper review after all these years.  I still have my reservations with this odd ball title.  The constant J-Rock in the background is still annoying but I can still appreciate the scatter brained antics of the show.  As a whole the series is OK, it's unique, or was until Gurren Lagann showed up.  That's to be expected since its from some of the same people and the series has now been trumped again by Kill la Kill.  As with pretty much everything Gainax, the animation for FLCL is better than most of the anime that came out when it did.  Even today it looks good.  The characters are fun, the story is interested but some aspects are confusing until the end when things are explained.  Another interesting note is with the voice acting, it's not in the typical professional style/fashion found in anime.  The voices are sometimes odd and over dramatic but there is a more natural quality to them, as if they were not done by professional seiyu, maybe just Gainax staffers (which isn't the case).

    Either way, FLCL isn't much my cup of tea and like it's brethren series' (Gurren and Kill) I respect the quality of the work and its creators.  So, if you like Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann, Panti & Stocking with Garter Belt or Puni Puni Poemy you have most likely seen and live this series.  It has been available for a long time in North America on DVD and Blu-Ray in both sub and dub formats.