Episode 4: "Full Swing"

Warning! This page contains "spoilers" for Episode Four 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 through fourth episodes of FLCL in their entirety.

Okay, this is another confusing one, but a lot of important stuff happens here, so again we're going to go through this piece by piece. First, though, please pop in your DVD (if you have it) and go rewatch the scene right after Kamon's resuscitation, around 15:45. Amarao's monologue here actually explains quite a bit.

All right, here's the lowdown. Haruko, in a hurry to get done whatever she came to Earth to do, has given up on Naota's head for now and whalloped Kamon with her guitar, hoping what she's looking for will come out of Kamon's if it's taking so long to come out of Naota's. You see, her Rickenbacker has the capability to open an NO channel in the head of the person it strikes, allowing things from across the stars — possibly light-years away — to be pulled through. However, this NO channel will only work in some people's heads, and Kamon's head was not one of those. ("Your head is the only one that works, Takkun.") Haruko's strike did not have the desired effect; instead, it killed Kamon! Haruko, possibly in a poor attempt to allay suspicions, has created a robotic Kamon to take the real Kamon's place, but it's a poor copy. Still, she flirts with Robo-Kamon to tease Naota and make him jealous — once again, she's messing with his head.

In the meanwhile, the "Immigration Department CP" on the "Outskirts of Mabase" (as the titles at the beginning of its scene read), a secret government institution which tracks the comings and goings of interstellar visitors, has detected that a satellite carrying a powerful bomb is falling toward Earth. Amarao, and officer of some sort of this agency with remarkable eyebrows, also knows that Haruko is in town, and suspects she may be at the cause of this. He knows that Naota knows Haruko to some degree, so he meets with him and advises Naota to steer clear of her. Naota behaves in much the same manner any kid his age would act if some unknown grown-up showed up and started asking him a lot of questions and telling him what to do. But did you notice how they both hate super spicy curry bread?

Then, there's also the baseball plot. Mabase's amateur baseball team, the Martians, has been in a slump ever since Tasuku moved away. Naota is on the team, but nobody knows if he's as good as his brother, 'cuz whenever he gets up to the plate, he just lets the strikes wizz on by; he never swings the bat. He's not one to swing the bat. (Didja notice the de-garmenting when Mamimi took off to watch Canti's game?)

Naota comes home one day to find his father acting odd, plus flouting his "relationship" with Haruko. Out of fear, jealousy and frustration, Naota strikes the television with his bat, which (you have to look really closely frame-by-frame to see it) causes the alarm clock on the TV to fly off and strike his father in the head, "killing" him; but, as it turns out, what it really struck was Robo-Kamon. Later, he finds his real father dried up in a closet, and brings him back to life by drenching him with water.

Meanwhile, it has been discovered that the satellite with the bomb is falling right towards Mabase (is Naota's head a homing beacon?). Amarao tells Naota to ask Haruko to hit another one out of the park as a request by a "hometown fan." Haruko tells Naota to tell the "hometown fan" that it's going to cost him. This hints at a previous relationship of some sort between Haruko and Amarao… what might have happened between them in the past?

The ending is a bit confusing, so allow me to hypothesize. Haruko, knowing the bomb is going to fall wherever Naota's head happens to be, takes him to the Medical Mechanica plant, something she wants to be destroyed for reasons unknown. However, so as to not leave Naota totally helpless, she pulls his "bat" out of his head; a Gibson Flying V, of course. She knows that if Naota just swings the bat, he'll be fine, but she also knows he's not one to actually swing the bat, so she hops on her Vespa and gets outta there.

So Naota is standing upon the Medical Mechanica plant with a guitar held like a baseball bat, and a very large bomb shaped like a baseball is coming right towards him. What should he do? What should he do?

Well, to the surprise of Mamimi (who whimsically thinks the end of the world is coming and would probably be surprised to know just how close to correct she is), Haruko, and Amarao, he swings the bat! Haruko, with a newfound respect for Naota, motors on back to the top of the plant with her Rickenbacker and helps Naota whack the ball back into space.

Mamimi, however, seems somewhat sad that Naota has finally swung the bat. Why do you think that is? We'll find out for sure later, but you could probably figure it out now; think of the nature of Mamimi and Naota's relationship up 'til now, and how Naota may have just changed that dynamic.

The sexuality throughout this episode is hard to ignore, right down to when the girls at the Immigration Dept got nosebleeds at seeing Naota's big, impressively-sculpted… guitar. (A cliché in Japanese animation is for sexually-excited characters to get uncontrollable nosebleeds.) But that's rather appropriate for the episode in which Naota finally swings the bat, don't you think?

Also note that Noata once again evoked the memory of his brother in this episode.

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