ECP Flash-Forward: FLCL 3 - "Marquis de Calabais"

Ninamori puts on a play, and Naota gets catty.

What I watched: The third 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 Shouki Saeki and written by Yoji Enokido, and was first released as an original video animation on August 23, 2000.

Starring: While Tsurumaki was the series director, Yoji Enokido was the writer for all six episodes of FLCL, and could plausibly be seen as the auteur of the series. Enokido had previously worked as a writer on Gainax projects Diebuster and Evangelion as well as other 90s classics like Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Enokido also wrote the novelization for the series, and is noted on the commentary tracks as being responsible for FLCL’s many sexual jokes and double entendres. More recently, he’s written extensively for the very popular Japanese-authors-solving-mysteries series Bungo Stray Dogs. If anyone knows what FLCL means, it’s Enokido, but he’s kept a fairly low profile in the decades since the series’ release.

What happened: We open with Eri in the back seat of a car, talking to a woman who compliments her on her maturity. We quickly gather that Ninamori’smother and father are getting divorced, and that this woman is her father’s new girlfriend. But it’s all cool with Ninamori, because she got the lead role in the school play.