...Robots and Rickenbackers

That's right - I'm talkin about that crazy nonsense anime/manga, FLCL ("Fooly Cooly" / "Furi Kuri"). I watched all six episodes of the anime not too long ago and just recently bought the first two volumes of the manga. I didn't think it was possible - but they are even more nonsensical than the TV version. FLCL makes all rational thought implode on itself, and then makes it dinner only to smash it in the head with a bass guitar midway through.

Here's a brief summary of the goings-on in Mabase, the crazy fucking town in which FLCL is set:
A boy named Naota has a dad and a grandpa who act like kids and an older brother who he looked up to, but moved to the US to be a star baseball player. His brother's old girlfriend, Mamimi, hangs around Naota all the time and clings to him. She also sets fire to everything in sight. Then there's Haruko - the pink-haired alien chick who runs over Naota with her Vespa, revives him by making out with him, and then bashes him in the head with her Rickenbacker. This Rickenbacker, which has a motor in it that Haruko has to rev before using it, has a special alien power - it creates a transdimensional portal in the person's head where it hits it, allowing things like huge robots to come through it, and oh do they ever! The first to come through is a big TV-headed robot who Haruko hits in the head like everyone else and makes an ally of, who they call Terebi-kun, or "TV Boy". Also, Naota's brain disappears and he possibly kills his father with a baseball bat.

Lots of crazy shit happens - the main themes being fucked up symbols for growing up and sexual maturity and things like that. Part of the most irking part of the anime and manga are that important plot points and explanations of things that are otherwise completely illogical are only mentioned in passing or in the background - or in little side panels in the manga. Also, insane pop culture references are made - like the opening of the first episode, which is a misquote of a 60s boxing manga. I didn't get to watch all of the commentary, but there seems to be a lot of stuff like that that I doubt even a knowledgeable Japanese would recognize.

That said, I fucking love it. The art in both versions is amazing, and stuff like Rickenbackers and Vespas are just so cool...most manga doesn't have anything anywhere near this cool in it. It's so unbelievably creative and unhinged, yet the art is still defined and controlled...this is the essence of what I am trying to achieve - controlled insanity: the great challenge.