It’s not everyday you find a show as interesting as FLCL. Spelled out it’s “Fooly Cooly”. The original anime series was directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, and written by Yoji Enokido. It was produced by Hiroki Sato and Nishizawa Masatomo. It’s a very short anime with only 6 episodes lasting 23 minutes each.

I would say that you shouldn’t watch this show with your kids because it might elicit some awkward questions like, “What is Fooly Cooly?” Yeah, you’re not going to want to answer that one. So what is this show about? Well, it begins with two kids, Naota Nandaba and Mamimi Samejima, just hanging out under a bridge by the water. You then hear Naota saying that nothing happens in the town and that it’s ordinary. He goes on to talk about a factory, the Medical Mechanica plant, that has caused quite a bit of excitement in the town he lives in. He mentions the smoke that comes out of the factory. He believes it to be an omen, which is a foreshadowing of things to come in later episodes. The main story revolves around Naota and a quirky character named Haruko Haruhara. She runs him over with her Vespa and from here odd things begin to happen.

From start to finish I can’t say that I wasn’t entertained. It’s not one of my favorites, however. This is a coming of age story and you can see sexual themes throughout the series.  I can honestly say that I was intrigued by the story. At first I really didn’t like it but watching a couple episodes again made realize that there’s a deeper meaning to the show than what it appears to be. It is an interesting way of showing how a boy grows up in his hometown. Instead of writing a generic story about a boy and his ordinary life, the writers of FLCL decided to add a bit of action.

The voice acting is very good. I only watched the English dubbed version. I usually prefer not to read subtitles if I can avoid it. It makes the experience of watching an anime better for me because I can concentrate on the beautiful artwork and the anime itself. As with many anime shows, the artwork is amazing. I like how they mixed scenes that are beautifully colored with manga-like clips. There are parts where the anime is drawn in manga style with voice-overs. I thought that was a nice touch. I really liked the soundtrack in the show. It was catchy and upbeat. I believe a Japanese rock band called The Pillows sang all the songs.

So ultimately, I would recommend that you watch this anime. It may seem weird at first but give it a chance and you may end up liking it.  Just remember that it’s not for kids so don’t watch this with your 12 year old.