FLCLick Noise - Episode 1

[The book contains screenshots amoung the text, primarily just to give the reader an idea of how far along they are in watching the episode. I will include some of those to achieve the same result, as well as screenshots from specific scenes that they discuss. As always, the footnotes included here are from the book itself; my own translation notes will be tagged with TN]

[Table of Contents available here]

Story: “Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary.” That's what the sixth-grade boy, Naota Nandaba, confidently proclaims. However, his "ordinary" life crumbles one day as a mysterious girl named Haruhara Haruko, riding a yellow Vespa, suddenly hits Naota on the head. A few days after, two robots emerge from the giant lump that formed after the blow. What fate awaits Naota, who should have never been involved in anything "amazing," at the end of this new series of events?

---

Interviewer: First of all, I'd like to watch Episode 1 of "FLCL" again, but even on repeat it's a bit much (laughs). It quickly unfolds without much explanation. And it starts with Mamimi's narration, right?

Tsurumaki: Why did it turn out like this? (laughs) I don't really know. Even I don't know anymore how deliberate it all was.

Sadamoto: And the sequence at the beginning of the episode is shot from the perspective of Haruko looking through her binoculars, but for the audience it's like, "I don't understand unless you explain it to me!” (Laughs.) Well, the explanation is given later.

Interviewer: Ah, I see, this is from Haruko's perspective.

Sadamoto: If it had been drawn with a normal binocular-like frame for the scene, it might have been easier to understand.

Tsurumaki: Of course, we thought, "This is great!" while making it. Since it was an OVA, I didn't want to be disrespectful to the people who bought it by making something they could understand just by watching it once, you know? Even if you don't understand it at first, if you watch it again and again, you'll eventually get it.

Interviewer: Ahahaha (laughs). The beginning scene is set at the riverbank, which appears repeatedly later on, and Naota is immediately embraced from behind by Mamimi, right?

Tsurumaki: I like this kind of thing (laughs). At the time, seinen manga magazines often depicted this kind of atmosphere. However, I hadn’t seen it much in anime.

Sadamoto: At the early stages of the project, we had the idea to create something that had a "Young Magazine-like"¹ feel to it.

Tsurumaki: That's right. It's the non-delinquent side of the "Young Magazine" style.

Interviewer: In terms of creators, there is Minetaro Mochizuki²...

Tsurumaki: And there are others like Tetsu Adachi³ and Minoru Furuya⁴. I wanted to try this kind of atmosphere in animation, very consciously so.

Interviewer: To be more specific, what do you mean by the "Youth Magazine-like" style?

Tsurumaki: Simply put, it's the "young adult⁵" genre. It's not the overly wholesome youth genre of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine nor is it the romantic comedy genre of Weekly Shonen Sunday. It's more about actively depicting the twisted and negative aspects of youth. I think it's about portraying young adult stories that don’t always have a happy ending.

Interviewer: Instead of a shonen manga, you wanted to capture the atmosphere of a seinen manga. But you did it with an elementary school protagonist⁶ (laughs).

Tsurumaki: Well, when you aim for that "seinen magazine" feel, you inevitably have to depict sex; but I didn't want to go that far. If the protagonist is an elementary school student, I thought maybe I could portray the mental aspects of a seinen magazine without directly depicting sex. For example, even in "Neon Genesis Evangelion" (FLCL is a post-Evangelion production), in the later episodes of the TV series and the movies, they almost depict sex. But that didn't feel fun or cool to me. Maybe it's overkill to depict it directly in anime? I still felt some resistance to that.

Interviewer: However, on the other hand, "FLCL" is a work filled with sexual metaphors; like the scene in the first episode where the protagonist loses his virginity (where Haruko hits him on the head in the beginning), right? (laughs)

Tsurumaki: It's not that I am opposed to depicting sexual content in general, I just feel a resistance to such open and direct depictions. At that time, regulations were becoming stricter too, with things like restrictions on panty shots on television. "Evangelion" played a role in those restrictions emerging as well⁷. I thought that before long such sexual depictions would not be allowed, even fairly euphemistically.

Interviewer: Ah, I see, indeed.

Tsurumaki: For example, Hideaki Anno⁸ assuredly likes things done ‘directly’ (laughs). That is why in “Gunbuster”⁹, even though you can't see it in the finished version, there is properly drawn pubic hair in the original artwork¹⁰, and conversations about menstruation take place. For Anno, that's what he finds real and cool in his depictions. Even if such things are becoming regulated, you can still depict sexual themes indirectly. For FLCL we approached such themes along those lines. FLCL scriptwriter Yoji Enokido¹¹ likewise enjoys using metaphors to depict sexual ideas.

Sadamoto: By using metaphors, you can add a playful and imaginative element, right?

Tsurumaki: That's one aspect, but it's more that with panties, breasts, and so on, it's possible to express them beyond the realm of the concrete, isn't it? I enjoy the challenge of trying to express such things in non-tangible ways (laughs).

Interviewer: Haruko, Mamimi, and Naota; each of the main characters appear in quick succession. From your perspective [Sadamoto], was it difficult to portray Haruko's character?

Sadamoto: Oh, I had no idea at all about Haruko; while I grasped the rest she was the only character I couldn’t understand. Tsurumaki at first requested a "beautiful older sister" type of character, but then I heard the plan was to have Mayumi Shintani¹² provide the voice. When you think of a beautiful older sister type, various characters like Maetel [from Galaxy Express 999] come to mind, but Ms Shintami has a rather husky voice, doesn’t she? With a voice like that I couldn’t help but imagine a mean face, and as a result Haruko’s face turned out like, well, how it did (laughs). I wondered if I could portray her as an appealing "older sister" type from the perspective of a middle school student like Naota at least. That decision was something that would ultimately be determined by the script and the director. I thought there was no way she could be cute no matter what I did, but I went along with the idea.

Interviewer: No, no, I think she’s pretty cute (laughs).

Sadamoto: Well, I don't really know (laughs).

Tsurumaki: Ahahaha (laughs). When it comes to older sister types, there are characters like Maetel and Misato¹³, and it would have been okay to portray Haruko with that kind of sexual appeal. Originally, I wanted to portray her as an appealing character, including those aspects, but when it came to expressing it, maybe I missed something. I think I was so intent on portraying the thematic appeal of Haruko that I lost the room to depict Haruko's sexual and feminine charm.

Interviewer: Originally, Mr. Sadamoto, you talked to Mr. Tsurumaki about wanting to do something with a cheerful and straightforward tone like "Robot 8-chan"¹⁴, right?

Sadamoto: Well, you know, I was thinking of something “Urasawa Theatre” like¹⁵ - everyone lives in a tenement house together and a maid comes and slots herself into the boy’s family... that is what I envisioned, a Haruko with the image of a "beautiful maid”.

Interviewer: Like Robina-chan in Robot 8-chan¹⁶ (laughs).

Sadamoto: Well, I think that part of her may be reflected in things like the fact that she rides a Vespa.

Tsurumaki: I sometimes say to myself "Oh, she's a beautiful older sister!" as if I suddenly just remembered; but most of the time, she just makes weird faces (laughs). But in the end I do like that kind of woman.

Sadamoto: So, Haruko started shifting towards a cooler look, carrying a guitar and riding a Vespa. As for femininity, we put it in the hands of the director and gave up on it (laughs).

Tsurumaki: Looking back now, I think it was fine to not include it (laughs).

Interviewer: Haha, you're glad you did without it? (laughs)

Tsurumaki: We wanted to convey the message that "this anime is chaotic and anything goes." We wanted it to be just "animation" without any restrictions on expression typical of the genre.

Sadamoto: Oh, what's that technique called when the camera rotates around the scene?

Interviewer: Bullet time?

Tsurumaki: Yes, yes, like in "The Matrix."¹⁷

Sadamoto: We were actually working on FLCL right around the time "The Matrix" came out...

Tsurumaki: Well, we made a joke out of it (laughs).

Sadamoto: We went to all the trouble of putting ‘bullet time’ in an anime because we wanted to turn it into a gag. That's about it, right?

Tsurumaki: There is a tendency to think that the best animation is the one that strives as hard as possible to make the audience feel how realistic it is, how close it is to the real world, and so on. Like "Dokonjo Gaeru" or the things Shinji Higuchi¹⁸ likes, what was it again?

Sadamoto: Pyunpyunmaru¹⁹?

Tsurumaki: That's it. That kind of ‘nonsense’ is considered "quirky" and not seen as "good anime." As opposed to Gainax's "Royal Space Force" or Mamoru Oshii's works; I think those focus on how realistically they can portray their worlds, and say that is the direction animation should aim for.

Sadamoto: Anime itself is not based on reality. It's all fiction, so to make it work it's better to pursue a realistic atmosphere, capture realistic timing and movement, and so on. That's what tends to be considered "good."

Tsurumaki: We have to strive for realism, especially in the directing. Otherwise, the anime we make will just end up being seen as a lie. That's the feeling I was getting from within the anime industry.

Sadamoto: But that feels restrictive, right?

Tsurumaki: ...Well, it's fine as an idea. But personally, I love "Urusei Yatsura"²⁰ and "Sasuga no Sarutobi."²¹ I think it is perfectly fine that they aren't realistic at all. I believe that absurd and fantastical action can coexist with a realistic atmosphere, and by coexisting, neither would negatively impact the other. It's okay for "FLCL" to be perceived as fiction. There's no need to pretend it's real.

Sadamoto: Do you want people to enjoy it with the understanding that it's fiction?

Tsurumaki: Even if they know it's fiction, I believed that viewers would still be able to emotionally connect with Naota while watching, you know? That's what I thought.

Interviewer: Perhaps, this scene here is exactly what is being discussed (laughs). The exaggerated depiction of chaos in the hospital makes you wonder why it's included in the same work as the serious scenes from earlier (laughs).

Sadamoto: Yes, that's the strange part.

Interviewer: Well, now that I watch it again, I see it was a kind of declaration.

Tsurumaki: Of course, even if I personally thought that way, I expected the staff who worked with me to somewhat resist this direction. However, I found I could share that sensibility with Tadashi Hiramatsu²²; I was saved by that.

Interviewer: How far can you push these deformed expressions?

Tsurumaki: For example, there have been many animators I have worked with on other projects who didn't understand that embrace of the fictional. They were concerned with aggressively pursuing a certain kind of realism as the essence of animation, so from their perspective, this level of chaos wouldn't be acceptable. This wasn’t the case for "FLCL," but when you have me as the director and someone like that as the animator, that's when you face difficulties.

Interviewer: ...Even though you say that, for a while now Sadamoto has been making a sour face (laughs). Could it be that you're not particularly fond of this comedic direction?

Sadamoto: Yeah, if we are being honest (laughs).

Tsurumaki: Ahahaha! (laughs)

Sadamoto: What I mean is, I actually would have wanted to see a work that had a more subdued and ‘proper’ tone. A work doesn't have to include comedy, you know?

Interviewer: Though going back to the previous discussion, wasn’t it Sadamoto who proposed the idea of giving the show a comedic, "Robot 8-chan" vibe?

Sadamoto: Well, that was at the stage before the project became what we know as "FLCL." We were thinking of the idea of having Tsurumaki as the director for a new work, and I thought, "It shouldn't be like 'Evangelion’, right? Let's make it something more relaxed." Something where the characters wouldn't die (laughs). So, in a sense, it would have a comedic vibe, but...

Interviewer: You didn't envision it being this slapstick.

Sadamoto: When it comes to the rapid-clip movements of the robot, they are not exactly comedic. It's realistic but comedic at the same time. Like, for example, the stylized characters of Minoru Furuya and Minetaro Mochizuki; they move in a way that feels very realistic in my mind (laughs).

Tsurumaki: I wanted to incorporate the sensibility of Hiroyuki Imaishi into the movement. As an animator myself, I’m not the type to go this comedic with my drawings. In fact, in terms of personal preference for animation, I prefer Hiramatsu’s "subdued-yet-rom-com" style. However, we wanted to utilize the weapon that is Imaishi and play to his strengths, and thus it ended up like this.

Sadamoto: It's more of a matter of taste rather than good or bad, but I did have moments where I thought "That's a bit off" about the production.

Tsurumaki: After "Evangelion," there was a significant change in the lineup of Gainax's animation staff, and we lost that ability to execute realistic movements so easily.

Sadamoto: All that said, though, I think that in the first episode we achieved a perfect level of balance.

Sadamoto: Suzuki Matsuo²³ in this [scene [the moving manga panels scene] is just amazing, don't you think? The way he gets into it more and more (laughs).

Interviewer: ‘FLCLitoris’, ahaha!²⁴ (laughs)

Tsurumaki: We used this kind of manga-esque expression in "Kare Kano"²⁵ as well. When we worked on "Kare Kano", I had a strong resistance to the fact that the manga’s art style would change in the transition to animation. It's not about the individual character’s designs, but more about things like... for example, in the manga the school uniform’s outline and solid black shaded areas are filled with the same black ink. However, in animation, the black lines and the black fabric become different colors. They ended up being painted in grays. In the end, the animation artwork shifts from the manga. Even in terms of art for the background, a soft white would suffice for the manga, but for animation window frames, wall details, or tree branches are drawn; unnecessary information from a manga’s perspective. Even though it should be an empty space with nothing drawn, something that should logically exist ends up being drawn instead.

Interviewer: Because you prioritize the grammar of anime, you can’t directly reproduce the manga.

Tsurumaki: When working on "Kare Kano", I wanted to somehow address that issue and tried various ways to do so. But with "FLCL," I wanted to break through the problem directly. So I actually just drew these manga panels (laughs), wondering if we could capture the charm of manga’s style directly in animation. To get specific, I have a preference for the lines of a G-pen or the use of screen tones²⁶. The moment it's painted as an animation cell with anime-like paint, that charm is lost. So I thought, why not have Imaishi draw directly with a G-pen and apply a screen tone-like effect...

Interviewer: So, in essence, were all the keyframes done by Mr. Imaishi? Was that the idea?

Tsurumaki: Yes, that's correct. There was no in-between animation, Imaishi-kun drew everything. In the end, we could only animate it partially.

Interviewer: Not only the images in the center of the frame but also the ones at the edges are moving, right? Does that mean you drew those in the same way as well?

Tsurumaki: Well, how should I put it? In reality, we drew each frame as a single cut, and then we composited them together.

Sadamoto: Digitally composited them.

Tsurumaki: Yes. And then we filmed that composite, moving (panning) the camera to show the animation. Normally, you would switch cuts and move on to the next one, cut by cut. But the previous cut remains at the edge of the screen in this sequence. So several cuts worth of information was placed within a single cut. That's what made it "difficult" in terms of filming technique back then (laughs).

Interviewer: In episode 6, you mention you were told angrily "Please don't do this again!" (laughs)

Tsurumaki: They said something like, "We can't do it anymore" (laughs). That [breaking of the fourth wall] was also seen in "Time Bokan"²⁷, right?

Interviewer: Like "All the high school girls across the nation~"²⁸ (laughs).

Tsurumaki: I like that kind of thing (laughs).

Tsurumaki: I wanted to ask, how did you approach drawing the eyes, Sadamoto?

Sadamoto: Ah, I drew them a bit rough and messy.

Tsurumaki: At that time, there were characters with round eyes like the designs of Keiji Gotoh²⁹ in "Martian Successor Nadesico”³⁰. Within that style, I felt that the challenge lay in how to draw the interior of the eyes neatly. But in "FLCL," we instead went for a more rough and scrappy approach.

Sadamoto: That was because at that time, I personally wanted to feature the art style of Moyoco Anno-san³¹.

Interviewer: Ah, so using more manga-like expressions.

Sadamoto: Yes, drawing with scratchy lines. Personally, I prefer drawing them this way.

Interviewer: By the way, did you also handle the character's clothing designs, Sadamoto-san?

Sadamoto: Well, they were mostly done by the animation director. They draw the "feel" that we have in mind on the image boards.

Tsurumaki: But you did this part, didn't you, Sadamoto-san?

Sadamoto: Hmm, well, I did design the father's outfit in this scene, but Naota's outfit here, I believe, was done by Hiramatsu. I saw there was a mark with the number "90" on his chest, and I didn't really understand the meaning of it, so I asked Hiramatsu, "What's this?" And he said, "Oh, it's just Naota's ~right angle~."³² (laughs)

Interviewer: Oh, really! (laughs)

Sadamoto: And then, I understood. (laughs)

Interviewer: While we were talking, we came to the scene with Mamimi on the bridge...

Sadamoto: I wonder if it is okay for high school students to be smoking...

Tsurumaki: Well, we can't broadcast it on TV (laughs).

Interviewer: Did you understand Mamimi’s character right away, Mr. Sadamoto?

Sadamoto: With Mamimi, I kept persistently asking Tsurumaki about her, and even before we started making Episode 1 I heard about her story for Episode 2. From that I think I grasped her character quite well. I wanted her to be a ‘mysterious, eccentric girl’.

Interviewer: Ah, so that was the order, a mysterious girl.

Sadamoto: Yes, particularly in the way she talks and such.

Interviewer: When asked how much she likes Naota’s older brother, Mamimi answers, "More than the smell of chalk erasers, or rainy Sunday mornings right when I wake up." It's this kind of feeling, right?

Tsurumaki: The dialogue in that scene contains Mr. Sadamoto's ideas. Its the concept of, in order to express complex emotions or thoughts that defy one-word descriptions, listing various parallel things and events to represent the general impression and one’s personality at the same time. You can find a similar approach in the self-introduction sections of blogs these days, for instance.

Interviewer: Like cats and curry, huh. Oh, they're going to eat it!³³

Sadamoto: So, at the point where Naota thought, "What is this girl saying?" she says the line "But I like him better [than stale bread]" and I thought, "Ah, there is something unsaid between these two beats" (laughs). Actually, I drew a manga before "FLCL," and a line by the girl in that story was somewhat similar.³⁴ That technique worked well, so I wanted to recreate that kind of feeling (laughs).

Tsurumaki: That technique was also used in the final scenes of the [western] films "Trainspotting" and "Blue Flames," right?

Interviewer: From here on out, it's a furious action scene.

Sadamoto: This part is done very skillfully, as expected.

Tsurumaki: Yoh Yoshinari³⁵ did this sequence.

Sadamoto: Among all of Yoshinari's works, this one might still be my favorite (laughs).

Tsurumaki: He has incredible abilities, so he can naturally do it, but this scene is quite demanding. For example, when you watch "Gurren Lagann," it's certainly impressive. But having robots perform cool action scenes, well, I've seen that in other anime too. So, he can certainly do that better, make it even cooler, if that is the direction you want to take. But in this scene, robots come out of Naota’s head! (laughs). "I've never seen anything like this before!" you know?

Interviewer: And there are two of them! (laughs)

Tsurumaki: We tried to do something that no one has ever done before. Well, that might have been a problem for the person who was asked to do it (laughs).

Interviewer: During the storyboard meetings, did you explain what's happening in this scene?

Tsurumaki: Not really. We explained what was happening in the story at that moment, as a specific event. Naota's head becomes like a warp gate, and from there, a huge spaceship appears, and the robot emerges. We provided some explanation, but well, that's about it.

Interviewer: And those parts about Naota's head being connected to the Medical Mechanica...

Tsurumaki: Animators are not really concerned with things like that. Or rather, whether it's explained or not, it doesn't matter much to them. In the end, it's about whether they can draw it or not. It's more about the problem of how to depict it visually, rather than scientific setting details or interpretations of the story. It's a matter of how the individual animator is motivated to work.

Sadamoto: In this case, if it were me, I would really struggle if I were assigned this. The horns growing on Naota's head, are in the end fingers. But they emerge from the head, and more fingers come out with them... I would really struggle with how to depict that moment of the fingers coming out. But when I actually saw what Yoshinari did, I thought, "Ah, so that's how you make them grow" (laughs).

Tsurumaki: After this, there's a cut where they confront each other on the railing of the bridge. I like that kind of shot, and I was wondering why I liked it. I remember in "Robot Detective K"³⁶ there's a scene where K and the enemy robot are fighting on top of elevated train tracks, and the people in the city below are unaware of what’s happening. For comparison, a similar situation can be seen in the final episode of "Lupin III," but the crowd notices and chaos ensues. That direction is interesting, but I didn’t want that; in "Robot Detective K," there's an intense battle happening overhead, but no one else notices it, and that's what's really cool. Down on the road passing beneath, people and cars are moving as usual, going about their everyday life, but on the railing it becomes an extraordinary world. I think we were able to convey that feeling well.

Interviewer: Did Yoshinari-san also handle the storyboards in this scene?

Tsurumaki: Yes, he drew the storyboards here.

Sadamoto: Did you not edit them at all?

Tsurumaki: Oh no, of course I edited them, and I also gave him some instructions during the storyboarding stage.

Sadamoto: And yet it looks like such a neat and well-connected sequence when you see it frame by frame.

Tsurumaki: Yeah yeah, skilled animators are usually like that. They tend to draw a lot of keyframes, so when you watch it on a cut-by-cut basis, it looks incredibly cool. However, if you don’t connect them well enough in the editing process, the action can become a bit tedious and excessive.

...The pulling on the cords here and the hand moving frantically as if trying to escape, I think those were Yoshinari’s ideas.

Sadamoto: You know, when that black figure [Canti] emerges from the light and suddenly his colors appear in the middle of the scene, it looks incredibly beautiful, don't you think?

Tsurumaki: I think Yoshinari wanted to try a shot like this. Actually, it's a common type of expression in American comics. In a backlit panel, you have a figure entirely in black, but in the next panel, it's filled with regular colors. In animation, however, most of the time when a character is backlit, they are already colored normally. In that sense, it feels like we haven't reached the level of comic expression. So, being able to do that here, where it's just a black silhouette when they are far away but you can see the details when they come closer to the camera, is an achievement in itself.

Sadamoto: It may sound strange to say, but things like that have become easier with the shift to digital... I guess it means that such expressions have become more feasible, right?

Interviewer: With all of that said, it's still hard to understand what this is all about from just one viewing (laughs).

Tsurumaki: Definitely, I have no clue either (laughs).

Sadamoto: And on top of that, it ends on a cliffhanger. Can we really just move on to the second episode after only that? (laughs)

Tsurumaki: Probably when we made the first episode, we ourselves couldn't straightforwardly explain what the story was about. For example, when you explain a project as "this is a robot anime," people can easily grasp the concept and agree. Similarly, when you say "it's a young adult anime," at least partly people will say “oh okay, I get it”. But if someone asks, "What kind of anime is FLCL?"...

Interviewer: You can't really say "what kind of anime" it is.

Tsurumaki: It includes all of those things, but as a result, its identity becomes rather ambiguous. So, when people looked at the project proposal to understand specifically what kind of anime it was, at the time probably only I understood it (laughs). Even for me, trying to convey it in words was really difficult. Perhaps that feeling still lingers, where the format of the show has elements like boy-meets-girl, conflicts between the protagonists, robot battles, and the typical tricks used in anime, but it is none of those things at its core. The story ended as it did, and now, when I watch the first episode again, I can't help but think, "What is this?"

Sadamoto: Ahahaha! (laughs)

Interviewer: Can the director say that? (laughs)

Tsurumaki: Well, starting in the second episode, the concept becomes a little clearer, but in the first episode I really didn't know what kind of anime it was. It was like, let's include all kinds of anime in it; that feeling remains strong. Of course, I didn't think it was okay to leave it completely unclear back then. I didn’t want to deceive the audience after all.

Sadamoto: Well, I do think there are some parts that are underexplained, like when Haruko tries to see the picture of Natoa’s brother's girlfriend (laughs).

Interviewer: People don't really focus that much on the visuals (laughs).

Sadamoto: Furthermore, that scene leads to the next scene with Mamimi, right? She doesn't want to hear about his brother.

Interviewer: Mamimi's love for Naota's brother is only mentioned in that scene, right?

Tsurumaki: And also the opening scene. But even in the opening scene, it's not depicted explicitly, so yeah... maybe that is true (laughs).

Interviewer: Additionally, I don’t understand why these robots are fighting and why Haruko was able to solve everything by hitting them with a guitar (laughs).

Tsurumaki: It just means that the fighting ends, nothing more.

Interviewer: I’m not attacking you or anything (laughs), but if we try to make sense of it, its about how Haruko was trying to save Atomsk from Medical Mechanica, right?

Tsurumaki: That's right. Atomsk was being held captive by Medical Mechanica, and she was trying to rescue him by using Naota's head as a gateway. Or rather, she was trying to retrieve him. But when Atomsk emerges, he is not the Atomsk that Haruko knows; he is trapped inside a robot named Canti. So at first, Haruko doesn't realize that Canti is Atomsk.

Sadamoto: When we were making this, people who liked "FLCL" often said, "Its an illogical, fun show!" But from my perspective, it's full of logic (laughs). Or at least the director created it with logic explaining it all!

Interviewer: Yes, when people think of "FLCL," they tend to see it as a work with appealing visuals and no logic (laughs). But I don't think that's the case. It's meticulously crafted, but maybe that craft is not being expressed clearly in the show.

Sadamoto: Maybe it's not being expressed clearly, or maybe it's being deliberately obscured. For you, Tsurumaki, you wanted that sense of obscurity, right? (laughs)

Tsurumaki: Hmm, I didn’t want a work that had everything depicted and comprehensible right on the surface, that depth is what makes it interesting. I'm fine with people finding the humor and action entertaining, or enjoying how the music from The Pillows³⁷ perfectly matches the battle scenes and looks cool. Even if someone were to say, "It's just a promotional video for The Pillows," if they can enjoy it that way, that is fine. However, beneath the surface, there are hints of a more complex science fiction setting, and even further below that, there are contemporary emotional themes. If people can delve into those depths and enjoy it on that level, that's perfectly fine too.

Interviewer: So the show has a multi-layered structure to it.

Tsurumaki: If I tried to put everything on the surface, what I wanted to do would never fit into just six OVAs (laughs). So, I created it with several layers in mind. Looking back now, while I don’t think he believed this literally, in an interview about "Patlabor 2: the Movie"³⁸, director Mamoru Oshii said, "Patlabor 2 is a story about birds, dogs, and a bridge." In other words, on the surface, "Patlabor 2" could be seen as a story about the love triangle between main characters Nagumo, Tsuge, and Goto, or a drama about power struggles within the police bureaucracy. There's also all the intrigue and ideologies surrounding the coup d'état, which add to its appeal. However, on a completely different layer, there's a story that revolves around birds, dogs, and a bridge, and these elements are enough to make their own story. At least, I thought that Director Oshii had that in mind when making the film, the idea that even if Goto, Tsuge, Nagumo, Noaki, Shinohara, none of them were present, the movie would still work. I had thoughts about finding a way to craft such a story back when I was making FLCL. Of course, even after watching "Patlabor 2," I don't know if it truly became that kind of film, a story where the main characters are birds, dogs, and a bridge. But I wondered if I could possibly depict such a thing myself.

Sadamoto: That might be a bit far-fetched (laughs).

[Episode 1 END]

1. Officially known as "Weekly Young Magazine," it was launched in 1980 by Kodansha as a weekly comic magazine for young men in the seinen demographic. It was initially published twice a month, but switched to a weekly schedule in 1989.

2. A manga artist born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1964. He first gained attention in 1985 with the serialization of "The Bathtub Goldfish," which was followed by the popular stories "Ochanoma" and "Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl". In 1997, "Dragon Head," which depicted the survival of boys and girls in a collapsed world with overwhelming artistry, won the “general” category Kodansha Manga Award.

3. A manga artist born in Tokyo in 1968. He made his debut in the Newcomer Award of "Weekly Young Magazine" in 1986. He gained popularity with works like "Sakura no Uta," which depicted the darkness hidden behind the daily lives of high school students, and "Otenki Oneesan," which was adapted into a TV drama. He won the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival with his series "Baka Kyoudai", ongoing since 1999.

4. A manga artist born in 1972 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Debuted in 1993 with the work “The Ping Pong Club". In his following work “The Same As Me”, his style gradually shifted to more serious themes, relentlessly depicting the madness, weariness, and frustrations that lurk in the everyday. His later major works include "Himizu," "Ciguatera," and "Himeanole”.

5. TN: This is literally “youth stories”, a specific genre in Japan; its often translated as “coming-of-age” stories, but there is no implication of or focus on reaching maturity in the genre, so I have rendered it as “young adult” to avoid that.

6. TN: You probably know this, but Naota would be in middle school in the US system; junior secondary school in Japan doesn’t start until one is 13.

7. TN: While Evangelion itself was not unduly censored on broadcast, how transgressive it was resulted in TV broadcasters becoming more cautious about what they aired, and several shows post-Eva were (probably, sources aren’t definitive) censored as a result.

8. An anime director born in 1960 in Yamaguchi Prefecture. He produced independent films while attending Osaka University of the Arts, and helped produce the "DAICON” films alongside Hiroyuki Yamaga. After moving to Tokyo, he contributed as an animator to works such as "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" and "Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?". Afterward he joined Gainax to work on the production of "Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise", and has since been active as a key staff member. Currently, involved in the production of "Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition" at his self-managed studio, Studio Khara.

9. A 6-episode OVA directed by Hideaki Anno and produced by Gainax, released in 1988. It is a science fiction action series that depicts the battle between humanity, which has ventured into space, and the space monsters they face. As evident from its title, which combines the films "Top Gun" and "Aim for the Ace!", the series is filled with parodies, meticulously researched science fiction settings, and a storyline that goes beyond typical hot-blooded narratives, showcasing an overwhelming level of quality (TN: really objective reporting from a book published by Gainax!). It is said that Tsurumaki decided to join Gainax after watching this series. The mention of "drawing pubic hair" refers to the second episode’s bathroom scene.

10. TN: Tsurumaki is actually a little wrong about this; you can see the public hair in the original VHS release of Gunbuster. It was only removed from subsequent releases due to changing regulations & standards.

11. A screenwriter born in 1963 in Shiga Prefecture. Worked on scripts for "Sailor Moon S" (1994), and gained attention serving as the lead series composition in the following season, "Sailor Moon SuperS". At Gainax, he worked as a scriptwriter for individual episodes of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and also worked on Tsurumaki's directorial productions such as "FLCL" and "Gunbuster 2: Diebuster", contributing to the writing.

12. An actress and voice actress who voiced Haruhara Haruko. Born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1975. She has participated in numerous stage productions as a member of the theater company "Nylon 100°C," led by Keralino Sandorovich. She performed her first voice acting role as the character Tsubasa Shibahime in "Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances" and has since participated in several anime works. She has also been active in television and film in recent years.

13. "Maetel" refers to the heroine from "Galaxy Express 999." "Misato" refers to Misato Katsuragi, the mentor to Shinji Ikari in "Neon Genesis Evangelion."

14. A television tokusatsu program that began airing in 1981. It depicts the turmoil caused by a clumsy robot named "8-chan" and the people around it. Created by Shotaro Ishinomori, it is the first installment of the Toei Fushigi Comedy series, and gained great popularity due to its heartwarming and occasionally surreal storylines.

15. Referring to the distinctive slapstick style of the screenwriter Yoshio Urasawa's work, fans often called his work the "Urasawa Theater." While Urasawa contributed to individual episode scripts for "Robot 8-chan" (series composition by Yamatoya), he took on the role of the main writer starting from the second installment of the Toei Fushigi Comedy series, "Batten Robomaru." Additionally, Urasawa has been involved in numerous anime works such as "Tottemo! Luckyman" and "Nerima Daikon Brothers".

16. A children's tokusatsu program that aired in 1974. Its official title is "Ganbare!! Robocon" (created by Shotaro Ishinomori). “Robina-chan" is a girl-type robot that is the object of admiration of the main character Robocon and his friends.

17. A theatrical film released in 1999, produced by Joel Silver and directed by the Wachowski siblings. Set in a virtual world as part of a desolate near-future, it depicts the fierce battle between artificial intelligence and humanity with striking visuals. The "machine gun shooting" [TN: which I just translated as bullet time directly] being discussed during the interview refers to a filming technique called "bullet time," where the camera moves around the characters while motion is stopped.

18. A film director born in Tokyo in 1965. He is known for works such as "Lorelei" (2005) and "Japan Sinks" (2006). Shinji Higuchi has a deep connection with Gainax, and he was involved as a director for parts of "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" and contributed storyboards to "Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone" and "2.0 You Can (Not) Advance." He is a key figure in Japan's anime and tokusatsu industries.

19. A television anime series that began airing in 1967. It is based on Jiro Tsunoda's "Ninja Hattori-kun," and it was produced by Toei Animation.

20. A television anime series that aired from 1981 to 1986. It was produced by Studio Pierrot and Deen. Based on the popular manga by Rumiko Takahashi, it depicts the lighthearted protagonist Ataru Moroboshi, the alien Lum who intrudes into his home, and the chaos caused by them and the people around them. This work, which became instantly popular, is known for featuring the talents of Mamoru Oshii, who was involved as the chief director for much of its run.

21. TN: A 1982 zany comedy anime about a ninja in training. No clue why this show alone doesn’t have a footnote in the actual text!

22. TN: Tadashi Hiramatsu was the animation director for episodes 1, 3, and 6, amoung many other roles.

23. An actor, director, and writer born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1962. After graduating from university, he worked as a salaryman before launching his own theater company, "Otona Keikaku" (Adult Project). He gained attention for his unique style that combines humor with dives into the darker aspects of human nature. In "FLCL," he delivered a remarkable performance as Kamon, Naota's eccentric father. The character design is also based on the distinctive features of Matsuo.

24. TN: He is playing off a line of dialogue from the manga panel sequence; its a pun that works in both English & Japanese, the kana used for the “CL” of “FLCL” in Japanese are also the first two kana in the Japanese word fo- look, you get it.

25. A television anime that aired from 1998 to 1999 (jointly produced by J.C.STAFF and Gainax). It is based on a comic of the same name by Masami Tsuda. It garnered attention as the first directorial work of Hideaki Anno after the success of "Neon Genesis Evangelion". Tsurumaki participated in several episodes as a storyboard artist and director.

26. TN: G pens were discussed in the prologue, but to refresh are a type of nib for a pen used for drawing thick, moving lines and are the most common tool for things like character outlines in manga art. Screen tones are a technique in manga where pre-made hatching/shading patterns on an inked sheet are applied to the paper to color in areas, often used for things like fabrics or backgrounds.

27. An anime series that started with its first season in 1975 (produced by Tatsunoko Production), commonly known as “Time Bokan”. It is a television anime series characterized by slapstick plots, comedic robots, and a female boss with two subordinates (called the "Three Evils"), and this format was carried on throughout the run of the series.

28. TN: Catchphrase of one of the Three Evils from Time Bokan (Boyacky, specifically).

29. An animator & director born in Tokyo in 1968. He has been active as an animator since the late 1980s and took on character design for the first time in "Bakuretsu Hunter" (1995). As mentioned in the interview, his distinctive feature is the design of round, shiny eyes. He has also served as a director for works such as "Kiddy Grade" (2002) and "Uta kata" (2004).

30. A television anime series directed by Tatsuo Sato, which began airing in 1996 (produced by XEBEC). It was a hit series that attempted to combine romantic comedy and science fiction drama while incorporating parodies of anime "conventions" in clever ways. In 1998, a direct sequel, the theatrical anime film "Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture – Prince of Darkness," was released. As mentioned in the interview, Keiji Gotoh was responsible for the character designs.

31. A manga artist born in Tokyo in 1971. In 1989, while still in high school, she made her debut in the magazine "Bessatsu Shoujo Friend DX Juliet". She achieved later success with the serialization of her work "Happy Mania" (1995), making her one of the most acclaimed manga artists of the time. In 2002, she married film director Hideaki Anno.

32. TN: I believe that its a wordplay/pun on the ‘reading’ of Naota’s name - the word for right-angle starts with ‘Nao’, like his name does, and it probably has a deeper meaning around the kanji/kana used in his name and the word.

33. TN: ...It’s probably a reference to the ‘typical’ intro & hobbies those kinds of blogs mentioned before would have; the stereotypical interests in pets and food of a lifestyle-focused, feminine-coded blog.

34. TN: The manga in question is likely the 1997 one-shot called Dirty Work, which Sadamoto co-wrote. If you want to really deep dive into the dialogue parallels between this manga and FLCL, I wrote a small essay about it here!

35. An animator born in Tokyo in 1971. After first being in charge of key animation for "Bousou Sengokushi” (1991), he participated in numerous projects throughout the industry. For "Neon Genesis Evangelion," he contributed key animation to 10 out of 26 episodes, gaining attention as part of a new generation of mecha animator. Currently affiliated with Gainax, and was responsible for the mecha designs in "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann."

36. The official title is "Robotto Keiji" ("Robot Detective"). It is a tokusatsu TV series that aired in 1973 (based on the original work by Shotaro Ishinomori). It depicts the battle between a crime investigation robot named "K" and a criminal organization.

37. Correct name being “the pillows", a band formed in 1989 by Kenji Ueda, Sawao Yamanaka, Yoshiaki Manabe, and Shinichiro Sato. They made their major debut in 1991 with the single "Ame ni Utaeba." Since then, the band has continued as an alternative rock group despite the departure of their leader, Ueda.

38. A theatrical anime film directed by Mamoru Oshii, released in 1993. Set in Tokyo, where unsettling incidents occur one after another following a missile attack on the Yokohama Bay Bridge, the film portrays the activities of the Special Vehicle Section 2 police officers as they pursue unidentified terrorists. With an emphasis on realism in the story and the depiction of Tokyo as a city with an undercurrent of war below its surface, it is an unconventional work within the "Patlabor" series.