FLCL

Furi Kuri
Also Known As: Fooly Cooly
Genre: Comedy
Length: 2 Volumes
Allegiance: GAINAX
Mangaka: Ueda Hajime
Vintage: 2001
Intelligence Agency Report by: Dave K
Naota has your average hypocritical preteen life. Or at least he would if he lived anywhere but in Mabase. Naota lives with his perverted father and nutty grandfather. His older brother who Naota looked up to left to play baseball in America; and now his girlfriend Mamimi won’t leave Naota alone. Naota’s life is pretty strange, but when a girl riding a Vespa shows up and hits him in the head with her guitar, things start to get a lot stranger.

Research Agent Report by: Dave K 
Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
7.00
9.25
9.50
7.50
Overall 8.75
(not an average)
FLCL has a reputation of sorts as perhaps the oddest conception ever. The only way this storyline could possibly have been created is by picking random words out of a dictionary, sticking them on a dartboard, and seeing where you hit. 

With such randomness to its creation, it’s not surprising that FLCL has a rather loose plot line. However, the story itself isn’t what tries to grab the reader’s attention, but rather the use of symbolism. To try and name all of the symbolism in just the first volume alone would probably take an eternity. All the symbolism is artfully done in a way that provides humour as well as contributes to the overall theme of the manga. 

Artistically, FLCL is not one of the greatest manga. In fact, since it was made after the anime, which has excellent artwork, I was rather disappointed with the mediocre (albeit not terrible) art in the manga. At times you may wish that manga was done in colour like American comic books, because it can become a bit disorienting as to who is who; especially in the case of Haruko and Mamimi. 

As with the anime, the characters are the most important focus. All of the characters have some interesting flaw or trait to them that makes them seem both realistic and unrealistic at the same time. Naota is by and large a hypocrite; he says one thing but believes another on a consistent basis. Haruko is definitely evil, but she has a caring side to her as well making her a very interesting, albeit confusing as well, character. These conflicting traits are portrayed in such a way that you want to keep reading to see which side wins. If nothing else, FLCL grabs you and interests you enough to want to keep reading. 

Now I’ve heard from people that they like the anime over the manga and vice versa, and I’ve even met a person who likes neither. But while the manga may have more flaws, it is still rather interestingly themed and is a short read if nothing else.