Brittle Bullet

"Brittle Bullet" is the fifth episode of the first season of FLCL. Its English dub aired on August 9th, 2003, on Adult Swim.
==Synopsis==
Naota has another horn, everyone’s playing paintball, and anime parodies abound. The Department of Interstellar Immigration are trying to take someone out.
==Summary==
Haruko begins to switch her attentions from Kamon to Naota, arousing the former's jealousy. They resolve to "duel" for Haruko, which amounts to little more than an intense airsoft firefight with Canti allied with Kamon. During the fight, Lieutenant Kitsurubami tries to unsuccessfully blow Canti away. Mamimi, observing Naota's intimate relationship with Haruko, questions him as to how much he really likes her, leading him to confront her about their relationship. Finally, his N.O. channel erupts with one of the largest objects yet, a leviathan robot, while a gunfight rages between Commander Amarao, his group of backup gunmen and Haruko.
Trapped on top of the robot, Naota is outraged that Mamimi called his brother's name for help instead of him. Before he fuses with Canti he angerly tells her that his name is Naota and to never call him "Ta-kun" ever again, leaving her speechless. Despite his and Haruko's best efforts, they are unable to stop the giant robot, which rampages towards the Medical Mechanica plant. Canti then manifests the power of Atomsk by producing his EB-0 1961 Gibson bass guitar, to the amazement of Commander Amarao and Haruko. Canti defeats the giant robot, which is actually a gargantuan hand, rocketing over the Medical Mechanica plant and straight into the ground, where it becomes a petrified monument, presiding over the plant.
==Songs==
* "Runners High"
* "Sad Sad Kiddie"
* "Nightmare"
* "Patricia"
* "Sleepy Head"
* "Advice"
* "Blues Drive Monster"
* "Little Busters"
* "Ride on Shooting Star"
== Credits ==
* Original Concept: GAINAX
* Directors: Kazuya Tsurumaki, Shouji Saeki
* Executive Producers: Toshimichi Ohtsuki, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Hiroyuki Yamaga
* Planning: Hirotaka Takase, Masatoshi Nishizawa, Hiroki Sato
Japanese Cast
*Naota Nandaba: Jun Mizuki
*Haruko Haruhara: Mayumi Shintani
*Mamimi Samejima: Izumi Kasagi
*Kamon Nandaba: Suzuki Matsuo
*Eri Ninamori: Mika Itou
*Gaku Manabe: Sho Miyajima
*Masashi Masamune: Kazuhito Suzuki
*Commander Amarao: Kouji Ohkura
*Kitsurubami: Chiemi Chiba
*Miyu Miyu: Hideaki Anno (uncredited)
*Takkun: Jun Mizuki
English Cast
*Naota Nandaba: Barbara Goodson
*Haruko Haruhara: Kari Wahlgren
*Mamimi Samejima: Jennifer Sekiguchi
*Kamon Nandaba: Joe Martin
*Eri Ninamori: Melissa Fahn
*Gaku Manabe: R. Martin Klein
*Masashi Masamune: Steven Blum
*Commander Amarao: Dave Mallow
*Kitsurubami: L. Villa
*Miyu Miyu: Steven Blum
*Takkun: Barbara Goodson
==Gallery==
Brittle Bullet/Gallery
==Trivia==
* The first part of the episode involving Haruko, Naota and Kamon makes various references to the anime and manga series, Lupin The Third.
** Kamon's red jacket, khaki pants and Walther P38 pistol are based on the main character of the series Arsène Lupin III.
** Kamon asks Naota if he prefers the green jacket, in reference to the first animated Lupin TV series, Lupin the Third Part I, where Lupin wore a green jacket.
** Kamon also mentions The Castle of Cagliostro, which is the second Lupin film and also features him wearing a green jacket.
** He then states, "Monkey-Sensei said he prefers the red one, you know?", referring to Monkey Punch, the creator of the Lupin series.
** Kamon jumping out of his clothes to join Haruko in bed, only to be punched into the wall by a spring-loaded boxing glove between her legs, is a direct reference to the opening for the second animated Lupin series, Lupin the Third Part II.
** The episode title is typed on a typewriter in the same fashion as the Red Jacket episode titles.
***In the book, FLCLick Noise, director Tsurumaki noted that the inspiration for Kamon dressing up as Lupin was based on a stage play performed by Suzuki Matsuo, the Japanese voice for Kamon, where he imitated Lupin.
*When Haruko explains why Naota should learn to play the guitar, she list off several Japanese bands,
**Yuzu
**19
**Oh-Sama
**Watana Baby
**Kaji Hideki
***In the English dub, Haruko lists off several American bands and musicians:
****Filter
****Slash
****Red Hot Chili Peppers
****Rage Against the Machine
****Richard Cheese
*After listing off various bands, in both the English and Japanese versions, Haruko tells Naota that he needs to learn how to stand with his guitar and mentions musicians Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney.
*Upon seeing Haruko having brought only her bass guitar during the battle, in the Japanese version, Naota tells her that they are playing saba-ge before she starts doing wordplay:
**sabe-ge (サバゲ) - shorted name of "sabaibaru geimu" (サバイバルゲーム) or "survival game", a term used to describe a team based shooting game where participants use airsoft guns.
**asage (朝食) - Breakfast
**hiruge (昼食) - Lunch
**yoruge (夜食) - Dinner
**yabage - Trouble
**The words that Haruko uses are actually part of a jingle for Nagatanien, a Japanese company that makes various instant food mixes. Each word is the name of their instant miso soup products. Though she uses "yoruge" instead of the actual flavor "yuuge".CM 1980 永谷園 あさげ ひるげ ゆうげ 納豆汁 とうふ汁 柳家小さんWhat kind of miso soup do you like? Red, white or mixed?
***In the English dub, Naota tells her that they are at war, she says "and squeegee and bungee and grungy" before realizing that they are in trouble.
*As Kitsurubami fires her rifle and says "Blue. Blue. Blue. Blue. Cobalt Blue", in the Japanese version, she then goes on to explain how the characters for "Fish" (魚 sakana) and "Blue" (青 ao) form the word, "Mackerel" (鯖 saba) when put together. Mamimi then points out that it is common to mix the characters up, followed by a caption at the bottom that explains how to correctly write "saba".
**In the book, FLCLick Noise, director Tsurumaki mentioned that this particular scene was tricky due to its use of word play, as Haruko and Naota are playing saba-ge ("survival game"), associating it with Kitsurubami mentioning saba ("mackerel") and then when Haruko launches Kitsurubami's round back at her, she yells out "sabageruge" ("mackerel game").
**In the English dub, Kitsurubami says "If Seven of Nine heaves a sigh, you get a 'sigh-borg'!" which is a reference to the cyborg character, Seven of Nine from the television series, Star Trek: Voyager. Mamimi then explains that cyborg is commonly mistaken for robot (as a cyborg is a human who has been augmented with robotic parts, while a robot would be purely mechanical).
**Additionally, while the joke is changed in the English dub, the caption explaining how to correctly write "saba" in Japanese is still shown.
* The scene at the salon alternates its animation style with some parts mimicking the art style of the animated series, South Park.
** When Mamimi asks Naota if he is growing a horn again, he covers his face with his hood and begins to act like Kenny McCormick from the series, giving her a muffled response.
* Kamon dresses in a nazi uniform complete with a swastika band on his shoulder during his firefight with Naota. It is unknown why he does this.
*As Naota and Mamimi are stuck on the robot, Haruko appears in a bunnygirl outfit and air surfing on her bass guitar, before screaming out "Daicon V". Her outfit and "Daicon V" are references to the 1980s anime shorts, Daicon III and IV.
**Hideaki Anno, who voiced Miyu Miyu, is credited as one of the films creators, as he and the group that created the films eventually created studio GAINAX, which worked on FLCL.
*The giant hand is a rotoscope of director Kazuya Tsurumaki's hand.
*In FLCLick Noise, Tsrumaki noted that the opening scene where doves fly out of the television set after Kamon flew into it as well as the gunfight between Haruko and Amarao were inspired by Hong Kong film director John Woo.
*In 2021, this episode was chosen to be reanimated by over 250+ artists and animators in a collaboration project titled FLCL Reanimated.
**While several brief clips have been teased on their YouTube and Instagram page, it is slated to be released sometime in 2024.
*In the preview for the next episode, Haruko laments that they have reached the finale but do not have much to say. She then asks the director if the show will end properly, to which he replies, "Uhmm... 多分" (tabun, Perhaps). She then finishes up by say that the viewers will have to take his word for it and watch.
**In the English dub, the dialogue is essentially the same as the Japanese version. Though the notable difference is that the director's line is changed to "Mmm... 如何んですかね (do nan desu ka ne, How do I put it?), as Haruko asks how is it going to end (rather than if it will have a proper ending). Also, it concludes with Haruko asking what exactly does "Fooly Cooly" mean.
**During the preview, in the background, there are several scenes with texts that offer explanations of what "FLCL" could possibly stand for.
***Flick Clock
***Foolish Cleverness
***Flimsy Claim
***Flighty Clipper
***Flint Cleaver 
***Fleming, Clemet 
***Flection Climate
***Fleecy Crew
==References==
 
Category:Episodes
Category:FLCL