ECP Flash Forward: FLCL 2 - "Fire Starter"

Mamimi starts a fire, and Naota gets eaten

What I watched: The first episode of FLCL, an anime series created by Kazuya Tsurumaki and Studio Gainax. The Japanese voice cast starred Jun Mizuki, Mayumi Shintani, Izumi Kasagi, and Suzuki Matsuo. “Fooly Cooly” was directed by Masahiko Otsuka and written by Yoji Enokido, and was first released as an original video animation on April 26, 2000.

Starring: The original voice of Naota is Jun Mizuki, who also does the animal noises for the black cat Mamimi names Takkun. As is fairly common, the pubescent boy character was voiced by a woman, and the English dub would do the same, having him voiced by Barbara Goodson. This was easily Mizuki’s most well-remembered role – IMDb’s second listing for her is the PlayStation 2 game Jade Cocoon 2. She had previously played a voice role in the long running Magical Girl DoReMi franchise, but seems to have left the industry in the mid-2000s.

What happened: The episode opens with a fire on the riverbank, as Mamimi’s voice-over describes how she “saw a God the other day.” It turns out that the fires are actually part of a black-and-white video game she’s playing, with a Tamagotchi/Tiger Electronics aesthetic. Naota interrupts her, and she fusses over him, while a group of Naota’s classmates watch on and make fun of him. Naota has now acquired a new bandage on his head.