Episode 2: "Fire Starter"

Warning! This page contains "spoilers" for Episode Two of the FLCL animated series and may ruin the enjoyment of this episode for those who have not yet seen it. This page is intended to be read by none other than those who have already seen the first and second episodes of FLCL in their entirety.

After a brief flashback, this episode opens with Mamimi playing a game entitled "Fire Starter" (on a system which bears a resemblance to a WonderSwan). This game sets the theme for the episode; fire and arson.

In the scene on the bridge when Mamimi drops her game as she reaches for her lighter, Naota, and us as an audience, are led to question whether Mamimi may be the arsonist. Certainly it is odd that she becomes obsessed with Fire Starter (and the robot, now dubbed Canti, as the god of flames in the game) around the same time these arsons happen. A definitive answer is never given; but, if we assume she is, what reason would Mamimi have for lighting these fires? Recall that it was at the fire of her old school where Mamimi met and was rescued by Tasuku, Naota's brother. Also note the two very quick flashbacks around 17:58, right before Naota cries "Tasuku!" and Canti "eats" him. Canti changes. Canti/Naota fights for Mamimi; "saves" Mamimi. And, right before Canti ejects Naota in that utterly fascinating manner, he strokes Mamimi's head as the inferno lights up the sky behind them, just as his brother did six years earlier. And in the end, Mamimi and Naota seem to have come to an understanding of the roles they will play in each others' life.

And, of course, Mamimi has other issues. But this doesn't defintely answer the question of Mamimi's guilt or innocence.

Aside from possibly being an arsonist, she has picked up another Takkun; the black kitten. Why do you think that is? What is Mamimi's attachment to that name? There's no proof of it, but I suspect Mamimi called Tasuku by the name Takkun (or Ta-kun) as well, and he is the original Takkun…

Kamon's diatribe about robots in the beginning of the episode, as Canti is loading the family minivan, is something of an in-joke for Japanese animation fans, as evidenced by Naota's line "He wrote a whole book on the deep mysteries of Eva." Eva is a common abbreviation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, a production by Gainax (the parent of the company that produced FLCL) that spans twenty-six television episodes and three movies. Eva, in a nutshell, is about a sexually frustrated fourteen-year-old who is mad at his father; I suspect that description also fits Eva's target audience just fine. ☺ Anyway, Shinji, the main character, is also burdened with the task of occasionally having to save Tokyo III from "Angels" bent on destroying it by piloting the only weapon that can kill "Angels," a living robot called an Eva Unit. As it's all post-apocalypticky and Shinji is fighting "Angels" and there's a bunch of other random Christian imagery (when an Angel is destroyed, it blows up with a cross-shaped explosion for no reason whatsoever), some people on both sides of the Pacific have been fooled into thinking it's really "deep." Really, though, it's just about an angsty teenager trying to get laid.

"There's no brain. Did you lose it or something?" Yes, there is a void in Naota's head; but I suspect Haruko is playing dumb here. She likely knows full well what's going on. Do you think this is the first time she's whacked someone with her Rickenbacker? And what's up with her Vespa? "It's a normal Vespa. See for yourself;" yet the security guard at Medical Mechanica said "What year is this? I've never seen parts like these." And then Haruko proceeds to fix her Vespa with what looks like a Gundam model. But this all fits in perfectly with the new theme introduced this episode: truth and lies. "Exactly where does the truth end and the lies begin?" Naota asks us. A good question. Look for more about truth and lies in future episodes.

In the second part of the episode, with the interesting animation style, the subtitles that appear beneath the characters just say their names and ages. (Kitty Takkun's age is four months.) The text that appears on Canti's screen as Haruko is ragging him out for being late says "The stupid clerk at the store was slow." Poor Canti; with shopping for drinks and porn, as well as lifting boxes for Kamon at the beginning, he has been reduced to a lowly errand-runner. Of course, we've seen that'll change soon enough

For reasons not explained, Naota's grandfather, Shigekuni, does not approve of Mamimi; we saw this briefly in the first episode during the comic scene, with the line "She's cursed, I tell ya." Here, along with Naota and Haruko's discussion, we see it with the stern look on his face and Mamimi's equally stern reaction when he opens the door to get his parcel from Canti.

While we're looking at this scene, did you notice that Naota is looking at Mamimi's photos? But in the first episode, perhaps in a bad mood, he had refused to see Mamimi's pictures and had hung up on her.

The headline in Haruko's magazine (probably the magazine mentioned by Gaku in the next scene) reads "Scoop! Mysterious UFO! Apparition in skies above Mabase." The photo is a blurry picture of Canti, of course.

If you'll allow me to keep going all over the place here, I'd like to touch a bit on the idea of Canti and Mamimi's relationship in this episode, and about Canti as a "god." If you turn on the director commentary track and fast forward to 7:40, as Canti is ascending into the heavens (again, the commentary track contains many spoilers and I do not recommend hearing it in its entirety until after you have seen the whole series), you'll hear the director worry that "Mamimi's god won't quite be understood in America." This discussion leads me to believe that, despite the Christian symbolism with Canti's wings and neon-bulb halo (what's up with those?), we should see Canti not in the sense of the single Christian deity, but in the animistic Shinto sense, in which "Whatever seemed strikingly impressive, possessed the quality of excellence and virtue, and inspired a feeling of awe was called Kami." Instead of "I saw God yesterday," perhaps Mamimi's line at the beginning should have been "I saw a god yesterday" (as the subtitles go) or "I saw my god yesterday."

The first and most major Adult Swim edit appears at the end of this episode. As Haruko hears the sirens, she panics and blurts "Wah! Shit! Woah!" The offensive word was deleted, so she just says "Wah! … Woah!"

Confused, first-timers? Don't worry; like I said, we're still in the character-development mode at this point. While we are indeed seeing plot, it has yet to really kick in. That being said, let's check out what might be the most fun of all the episodes, Marquis de Carabas.

Note that, when Haruko breaks into the Medical Mechanica plant, the name below the logo on the floor is spelled "Medical Meccanica." Is this perhaps the correct spelling of Medical Mechanica? ("Mechanica" is used on the backs of the DVD cases.)

Home/News
About FLCL
The Animation
The Comic
Media
Anti-Otaku Disclaimer
About/Contact Me
☆Forum☆
1: Fooly Cooly
2: Fire Starter
3: Marquis de Carabas
4: Full Swing
5: Brittle Bullet
6: FLCLimax
Unsolved Mysteries