List of FLCL characters
The central characters in FLCL, a 2000 Japanese anime produced by Gainax and Production I.G, with two additional seasons released in 2018. The first season covers the story of a sixth grade student named Naota Nandaba whose life is greatly changed after he is run over by the mysterious alien troublemaker Haruko Haruhara. The second season covers the story of a seventh grade student named Hidomi Hibajiri whose life Haruko also intrudes.
Main characters
Haruko Haruhara
Haruko Haruhara, her actual name Haruha Raharu, is the mysterious pink-haired alien who is the central character in the FLCL series and serves as the antagonistic catalyst for the abnormal events within the series, her goals mostly unknown save her obsessive desire to have Atomsk by absorbing him. She is an energetic and unpredictably reckless sociopath who is nicknamed "Vespa Woman" for riding a sunglow Piaggio Vespa SS 180, claiming to be 19 and later 16 despite Mamimi's observation that she is 20. Haruko is usually seen carrying a midnight blue, left-handed Rickenbacker bass guitar model 4001, displaying knowledge and administration of guitar types the stylings of American classic rock musicians, which is modified to fire bullets with axe and rocket launcher modes. Haruko can also use it to fly and open N.O. Channels. In the manga, she also uses rifle similar to a Mare's leg. Haruko also has the ability to hypnotize weak-minded people into compiling to her demands or believing anything she wants, such as having someone believe a bad drawing to be a photograph of a fabricated experience.During the first season of FLCL, having come to the planet years before and having a history with Amarao, a deemed failure to her expectations, Haruko arrives to Earth under the cover of an investigator for the Galactic Space Patrol Brotherhood to find a human with N.O. abilities to help her retrieve Atomsk from the clutches of Medical Mechanica. She eventually finds Naota and established the channel by hitting him with her guitar, moving into his household as a maid to keep tabs on him while her constant presence endangers him and others on a daily basis. Haruko has connections to the Nandaba family cat, Miyu Miyu, who serves as a "walkie talkie" to her superiors. The cat does not speak but it is obvious that Haruko is getting some kind of reply, as her conversations with Miyu Miyu indicate. With even Amarao unaware of her full intentions, assuming Atomsk is a former lover, Haruko's played with Naota's feelings while endangering the Earth as part of her plan for Atomsk to fully manifest. But the plan backfires when Atomsk made Naota his host, with a furious Haruko attacking the boy before being incapacitated long enough for Atomsk to escape in the universe. Haruko appeared to forgave Naota in the aftermath while tenderly offering him to join her in tracking down Atomsk before retracting the offer, leaving her guitar behind and taking the double-necked guitar/bass that Naota created while harnessing Atomsk's power as her own. At the end of the manga adaptation, a character identical to Haruko appears from Naota's forehead and introduces herself as Haruha Raharu's boss Superior Raharu, hinting that Haruko is actually on the run from the Galactic Space Patrol Brotherhood.
Between the events of the first season and FLCL Progressive, as depicted in the latter's credits, Haruko manages to briefly absorb Atomsk years after leaving Naota. But the experience causes a part of Haruko's being to split off from her while losing Atomsk. The ordeal changed her hair orange while keeping the Gibson EB-0 component of Naota's double-necked guitar/bass, though Haruko remains adamant to capture Atomsk all over again. Returning to Earth under the guise of a homeroom teacher in Hidomi's school, Haruko uses the girl's classmate Ko Ide to weed out Hidomi as her target while being opposed by her discarded fragment in the form of Julia Jinyu. Haruko eventually devours Julia, restoring her original hair color, and focuses her full attention on a defiant Hidomi whom she provokes into attacking her just as Atomsk approaches Earth. Regaining her original guitar while continuing her fight with Hidomi, Haruko manages to absorb Atomsk before he and a possessed Julia separate from her as she emotionally breaks down from failing again. But Haruko quickly recovers from her loss and resumes her hunt for Atomsk.
Haruko reappears in FLCL Alternative, marking a slight departure from her usual intentions. Still representing the Galactic Space Patrol Brotherhood, Haruko has turned her focus away from Atomsk and directly antagonizes Medical Mechanica's endgame, entering Kana Koumoto's life to gauge the potential of her latent N.O. powers. From Kana's forehead she acquires a red 1968 model Fender Mustang, and she is not seen until the finale riding her signature Vespa SS 180, which is left in the care of noodle chef and occasional accomplice Dennis Yoga. Haruko aids and instigates Kana and her friends throughout the season, and is shown to have had a previous relationship with Tsukata Kanda of Interstellar Immigration, before having moved on when she was underwhelmed by his N.O. potential. Nonetheless, they team up in the finale "Full Flat".
Haruko was ultimately sucked through the "Naked Focal Point", a giant wormhole opened by Kana unleashing her full power to end Medical Mechanica's apocalypse event. In the credits she is seen alongside her Vespa in an unknown location, possibly Mars.
Naota Nandaba
Naota Nandaba, is the 12-year old protagonist of the first season. His name is derived from the Japanese word for "honesty". Unbeknownst to him, he has the "right kind of head" to be used as an N.O. channel, form of dimensional energy that seems to manifest through hormonal influxes.Slightly wise beyond his years and heavily critical of others around him, Naota is cynical, obsessed with appearing mature and devoutly acts nonchalant. This is most expressed in his monologues which open and close each episode where he continues to claim that "nothing amazing ever happens here - everything is ordinary" despite the show's surreal and often absurd happenings. His attitude is largely reserved and bitter, though he can be somewhat smug and content at times. Naota idolizes his older brother Tasuku, carrying around Tasuku's baseball bat, and even hanging out with Tasuku's old girlfriend Mamimi. In Naota's mind, Tasuku is the epitome of what it means to be an adult, as opposed to the other adults in his life who he perceives as being immature. Much like Amarao, Naota is picky about his drinks and hates spicy foods, and shares an intimate bond with Haruko. This being said, Amarao and Naota's childhoods nearly mirror each other.
While at bothered by Haruko's presence as she provided him with a Gibson Flying V from his N.O. Channel, Naota begins to develops a crush on her with overlaps with his initial crush on Mamimi. He embraces her with a kiss in the final episode, and prior to that breaks down and cries while hugging her after she had returned from leaving without notice. Despite this, when his chance to be with her comes, he chooses to let her go and not follow her while keeping her Rickenbacker 4001 after she took the double-necked guitar/bass he created from his Gibson Flying V and Atomsk's Gibson EB-0.
Hidomi Hibajiri
Hidomi Hibajiri, is the nihilistic 14-year old protagonist of season two, FLCL Progressive. While sharing Naota's outlook on Mabase, Hidomi frequently has morbid dreams of herself as a corpse and dying in horrific ways with her more perky subconsciousness as the narrator. She also wears a set of cat ear headphones which Julia Jinyu recognizes to be an inhabitation device created by Medical Mechanica that protects her from both her own power and Haruko's mind altering abilities. The headphones' LED lights change from blue to red whenever she is about to "overflow", making her targeted by Haruko as a result. But Haruko's attempt to have the headphones removed activates its security lock mode, drilling itself into Hidomi's skull to prevent removal and causing her to manifest the traits of her subconsciousness as a result of radiowaves from an active Medical Mechanica factory. But once the factory is destroyed, gaining glimpses of Haruko's attempt to contain Atomsk and her intents with that power, Hidomi refuses to help as she became a different person to the point that her dreams are no longer morbid in nature. But the actions caused by Haruko that result in Ide being a causality provokes Hidomi into attacking her, with Hidomi eventually reunited with Ide as they begin their relationship in the season epilogue.Kana Koumoto
Kana Koumoto is the 17-year old protagonist of season three, FLCL Alternative. She is a noisy airhead who works part-time at a restaurant and hangs with her friends, Mossan, Hijiri and Pets in what was an unremarkable time until she crossed paths with Haruko who opened her N.O. Channel.Canti
Canti is a medical robot with what looks like a television set for a head. He was manufactured by Medical Mechanica, but is possessed by Atomsk during his escape attempt and ends up traveling to Earth via Naota's NO Channel. But Haruko's act of breaking the back of the robot's head causes Atomsk to reside with the robot ending up in the service of the Nandaba Family and doing Haruko's work, also fetching things like drinks and porno magazines for Shigekuni. In the latter case, a conscientious attempt to satisfy Shigekuni's request, the manga states the robot would spend three hours at a time looking through "perverted magazines" which gave the impression that he likes porn. When Mamimi first saw the robot while he was wearing a halo and wings, believing him to be a god due to his angelic appearance, she named him "Canti" after "Cantido, the Lord of Black Flames" in the video game she plays.Despite his appearance, Canti expresses human-like emotions as he feels embarrassed about his broken head and spends his free time finding the pieces to glue back together while wearing a box. He is also extremely polite, extending a helping hand to Lieutenant Kitsurubami even after she attempted to destroy him which thoroughly charms her. Apparently, he can also eat curry with his "mouth", but it is never really explained how.
As Canti still contents a fragment of Atomsk, he can be possessed by the being and proceed to "eat" Naota to gradually complete being transferred to Earth. Atomsk's symbol appears on Canti's screen when he absorbs Naota; the symbol is a corruption of the kanji characters for "adult". This symbol also appears on him when Naota "swings the bat" in "Full Swing". When Naota is absorbed, Canti's physical strength is increased and he gains the ability to transform into an antitank gun, called the "Overdrive Technique" in the manga, that fires Naota's essence in the form of a liquid bullet that returns to the gun after being fired. When first synchronized with Naota, Naota fully connects with Canti through a plug that goes in his eye instead of a screw-in light bulb in the back of his head. In the final episode of the first season, his monitor displaying the characters for
"child" instead at the time, Canti is revealed to be a component piece of the Medical Mechanica's Terminal Core and used by both the organization to power their doomsday device and Haruko to complete Atomsk's arrival to Earth.
Remaining with the Nandaba Family, Canti eventually shuts down and ends up in the possession of the Interstellar Immigration Bureau prior to the events of FLCL Progressive in their attempt to reverse-engineer N.O. powered technology. But the robot is eventually discarded and sent to the organization's space base, his severed head coming back to life as a dog-like creature as the result of Atomsk's arrival to Earth while ingesting Ide's being. Possessed by Atomsk, Canti eventually releases the entity and Ide. Canti becomes a maid at Hidomi's café as revealed in the season epilogue.
While he doesn't appear in FLCL Alternative, multiple combat robots modeled after Canti were sent after the protagonists in the final episode.
Ko Ide
Ko Ide, Hidomi's classmate resembling Naota who became Haruko's ideal pawn in confirming Hidomi as her target, opening his N.O. Channel as the youth bragged to his classmates about her giving him special treatment. Ide eventually realizes he has feelings for Hidomi, using his power to oppose Haruko and later fights her using Naota's Gibson Flying V which he acquired from Julia. But Ide ends up being affected by Hidomi's N.O. Channel, turning him into a balloon person that was later grounded up by the Interstellar Immigration Bureau's space base and feed to Canti. This resulted with Ide being held within Canti's restored body before being released and restored to his former self.Atomsk
Atomsk, also known as the "Pirate King" due his N.O. channel enabling him to steal entire star systems, is an enigmatic energy being in the form of a phoenix-like creature with a nose ring identical to the metal Ring on Haruko's bracelet that allows her to detect Atomsk's presence. Atomsk's power to manipulate space made him sought by both Haruko and Medical Mechanica, the latter having successfully captured him before the events of the first season. Atomsk's bass guitar is a 1961 Gibson EB-0. Amarao assumed that Atomsk was a humanoid male figure with fiery red hair and that he was Haruko's lover by the way she spoke of him, but, in actuality, Haruko's goal was to devour Atomsk and take his power for her own use.During the first season, Haruko searched for an ideal human whose N.O. Channel was great enough to enable Atomsk's escape from Medical Mechanica. This led her to Naota, though Atomsk's arrival is incomplete since he is sealed within Canti and possesses the robot to ingest Naota to manifest his power to fight the Medical Mechanica robots sent after him. While Haruko planned Atomsk's full appearance on Earth by allowing Medical Mechanica's doomsday scheme to occur, it ended up with Atomsk using Naota as a host body to fight a furious Haruko using both his guitar and Naota's before combining them for the death blow. But the fight ends abruptly when Naota releases the being while kissing a surprised Haruko after confessing his love for her. Atomsk then leaves Earth while damaging the Medical Mechanica plant, with Haruko chasing after him.
As revealed in the credits of FLCL Progressive, taking place between it and the first season, Atomsk is later found and absorbed by Haruko for the brief moment that resulted in the creation of Julia Jinyu, who attempted to keep him free from Haruko and Medical Mechanica before she was defeated and eaten by the former. While not making a direct appearance, Atomsk appears in one of Hidomi Hibajiri's dreams, alluding a connection between the two. Atomsk eventually returns to Earth to reclaim his guitar as a maddened Hidomi battles Haruko, first possessing Canti and then Julia before flying off.
Atomsk is named after the novel Atomsk by Carmichael Smith. In the director commentary on the third DVD, the director states that he is unsure as to how it's really pronounced.
Medical Mechanica
Medical Mechanica is a mysterious organization that serves as a secondary antagonist in the FLCL series, being of alien origin like Haruko and seeking Atomsk's power for their own agenda. Having placed a Clothes iron-like factory on Mabase, its bottom outfitted with a laser cannon, Medical Mechanica's goal is said to be ironing out the wrinkles in both a figurative sense and as a literally means of terraforming. During the first season, the Interstellar Immigration Bureau having peacefully prevented their actions prior, Medical Mechanica is provoked into attacking Earth by sending its robots to the planet through Naota's N.O. channel as Haruko uses it to gradually steal Atomsk from them. But their attack ends when Naota released Atomsk and the being damaged the factory before leaving. In FLCL Progressive, traces of their presence on Earth are still seen, Medical Mechanica is revealed to have developed the earphones Hidomi wears as Haruko's actions once more cause conflict between it and the Interstellar Immigration Bureau.Original FLCL characters
Mamimi Samejima
Mamimi Samejima is a 17-year old truant high school student with a quixotical grip on reality who carries a camera and smokes more of the time, hinted to have been bullied at her school and apparently from a broken family as her parents are mentioned are separated or are out of her life. She was originally Tasuku's girlfriend since he saved her from an elementary school fire, which she apparently caused due to her pyromaniacal tendencies to burn things she hates like her old school. It became a ritualistic practice for her in worshipping her personal deity Cantido whom she considered Canti an incarnation of. While Mamimi conceals her destructive nature, her aura of benign morbidness does make her an outcast in the eyes of others, save Naota who had a crush on her. Most characters refer to Mamimi simply as Mamimi, but Naota's friends refer to her as "Naota's wife", and Haruko calls her "Sameji", a shortening of her last name. Amarao refers to her as "that high school girl".Her relationship with Tasuku was ultimately based on caring for those who are dependent on her, having a habit of naming things "Takkun" like a black kitten, and leaving them the moment that they show any independence. Mamimi entered a sort of relationship with Naota as a means of coping with Tasuku having left for America and getting a new girlfriend, calling him "Takkun" before he realized she was using him and emotionally explodes about her using him as a consolation prize during the events of Brittle Bullet while vowing to win her love. But a disillusioned Mamimi instead found a Medical Mechanica terminal core which she named "Takkun", used it to enact retribution against those who have wronged her by feeding it her classmates' cellular phones and motorbikes before it goes berserk while enacting its program. It is revealed that Mamimi, unable to return Naota's feelings despite having a genuine affection for him, leaves Mabase to become a professional photographer.
Commander Amarao
Commander Amarao works for the Department of Interstellar Immigration, a middle man for negotiations between the government and Medical Mechanica while seeing Haruko as a legit threat for provoking Medical Mechanica into attacking Earth. Having a history with Haruko, who used him like Naota before abandoning him for not living up to her standards as his portals are small, Amarao wears fake eyebrows made of nori that appear to negate his N.O. channel alongside sweets. But he is revealed to have no eyebrows with Haruko mocking him by claiming them to cover up his apparent lack of masculinity. His vehicle of choice is a Fuji Rabbit, a motor scooter which was initially produced in 1946 six months prior to the initial production of the Vespa, hinting traces Haruko's effect on him in his youth.Amarao first appears in the fourth episode of the series to covertly warn Naota of Haruko and her intentions, giving viewers the impression that he is virtually an omniscient character with his dispensing of background information and fairly accurate predictions. But subsequent events would reveal him to be an extremely weak and very shortsighted man despite seeming to grasp what is happening better than most, having a hint of jealously over Haruko's preference of Naota over him despite knowing her intentions for him and knowing he needs to stop her from endangering Earth with her antics to the point of ordering an attempted assassination of Canti which led to him being confronted by Haruko in all-out gunfight before Medical Mechanica's giant robot appeared. Ultimately, unable to convince Naota, Amarao could only watch the climax unfold before seeing Atomsk fully manifest. In the manga, Amarao's role is greatly diminished but had an important role in visiting Shigekuni and revealed what he know of the N.O. channel to him.
Lieutenant Kitsurubami
Lieutenant Kitsurubami is an attractive young woman and Amarao's second in command in the Interstellar Immigration Bureau, often seen either giving out vital mission data or on the field. Despite Amarao's flirting advances, respecting her superior despite being weirded out by his false eyebrows, Kitsurubami prefers to keep their relationship strictly professional. She also seems to become smitten with Canti, despite her initial attempt of destroying him with an anti-tank rifle while incorrectly calling him a "cyborg". Kitsurubami is also shown to suffer chronic nose bleeds whenever witnessing Naota's N.O. manifestations from his head, though these scenes might be played for comedic effect.Kitsurubami is named after a light brown traditional Japanese color, which happens to be the color of her skin. Thus, her name could be interpreted as "Lieutenant Brown", although the color Kitsurubami is not the common "brown". She appears to be the only "normal" adult in FLCL; however, her apparent dislike of close contact with others adds an element of childishness to her character.
Junko Miyaji
Junko Miyaji is Naota's eccentric sixth grade teacher. Her students have given her the nickname "Miya-Jun". She seems to be constantly troubled by the shallower problems which Naota seems to create, such as the destruction of her car or the terrible interruption of a lesson. Even on 'normal' days, however, she is pathetically inept: her attempt to teach chopstick usage to a generation of students raised on sporks ends with the revelation that she is unable to use them herself.She can be viewed as symbolic of the ineffectiveness of educational institutions imparting any truly important or useful knowledge: Naota constantly characterizes the adults around him as "unable to grow-up". In his mind, Miya-Jun's inability to act like a normal adult confirms his theory. Adults like her are contradictions in Naota's life; he wants to become an adult, but the adults around him don't act like adults at all.
Kamon Nandaba
Kamon Nandaba, 47, is Naota's father, a former pop culture journalist working as a freelance writer, with his own trashy tabloid: "Kamon-Mabase". Compared to the other adults in FLCL, Kamon is the most extremely immature yet shows a surprising amount of seriousness and thoughtfulness. He also makes the most references to pop culture: EVA, "Monkey-sensei", Hamtaro, Mobile Suit Gundam, and MTV to name a few.Kamon has taken a liking to Haruko when she moved in as their family's housekeeper, but she only wants to use him as a potential N.O. portal before deeming him useless to her needs and places him in a deathlike coma while replacing him with a robot double to putter around the house. Naota, believing his father and Haruko are sleeping together, eventually learns the truth when he indirectly deactivated the robot and found the real Kamon whom he revived by being hydrated in their bathtub. Despite this ordeal, Kamon continued to obsess over Haruko to the point of challenging Naota to a paintball gunfight which he lost.
In the manga, the Kamon's robot double is absent and Naota ends up murdering Kamon over the misunderstanding.
Shigekuni Nandaba
Shigekuni Nandaba is Naota's grandfather and Kamon's father. He owns the family bakery and coaches the local baseball team, the Mabase Martians. He has a grudge against Mamimi for unspecified reasons, but it is suggested that he didn't approve of Tasuku dating her. Shigekuni values baseball more than anything in the world — he is disappointed in his own son and younger grandson because they are lousy baseball players. He does not defend Naota as the other players mock him, because he holds too much pride for Tasuku. He enjoys taking advantage of Canti as much as Kamon does. He has an affinity for pornography. In the first episode, he mistakes "furi kuri" with "kuri kuri," a sound effect often used to describe any twisting motion, often breasts or nipples.Tasuku Nandaba
Tasuku Nandaba, who is 17 years old at the beginning of the series, is Naota's older brother who moved to America to play baseball. Mamimi believes that, since Tasuku saved her from the fire at their old elementary school, he likes her and it is continually suggested that Naota serves as a sort of stand-in for his older brother. The actual depth of their initial relationship is unknown. In "FLCLimax", she seems to have lost hope in him, allowing the destruction of her mobile phone just seconds after looking at his number on a screen. In the first episode, Naota receives a postcard from Tasuku, revealing that he now has an American girlfriend.Although he never actually appears on screen, he is very significant to the storyline. As the former star of the baseball team, Naota idolizes him, but is afraid of not living up to his brother's legacy, and because of this never swings the bat when at the plate.
There are examples of scenes in which Naota yells out "Tasuk--"; the Japanese audience, at first assuming that he will exclaim, "Tasukete", may be surprised when he instead says, "Tasuku", the name of his older brother. Naota says in the first episode that, for a moment, Haruko resembled Tasuku.
Eri Ninamori
Eri Ninamori, 12, is Naota's classmate. In the series, she is referred to by her last name. She is the daughter of the mayor of Mabase and is class president. She projects herself as a proper and slightly stuck-up cynic with good grades while concealing personal information to an almost obsessive degree; like needing corrective lenses, instead wearing contacts while at school. Even with her class president status, however, Ninamori is not above breaking the rules to get what she wants. When news of her father's affair with his secretary is made public with the possibility of her parents getting a divorce, Ninamori rigged the classroom ballots to get the lead role in a Puss in Boots play while having Naota cast as the titular character to his dismay. She is ultimately revealed to have a slight crush on Naota, further hinted by her dislike towards Mamimi and later Haruko.Ninamori has N.O. powers as well, though a temporary effect of Naota head-butting her as a result of Haruko's antics sending him flying towards her.
In this instance, an cephalopod-like Medical Mechanica robot which first appeared on Naota's head as cat ears transferred itself over to Ninamori at the time it begins to gradually manifest while using her body as a both a weapon and shield in its attempt to capture Canti before it finally emerged after ingesting curry and is destroyed. In the manga, the robot's role is lessened as more of a minor support character in helping Ninamori save Naota from an angered Haruko.