Fire Starter

"Fire Starter" is the second episode of the first season of FLCL. Its English dub aired on August 6th, 2003 on Adult Swim.
==Synopsis==
Mamimi has been seeing weird things, including a black winged angel from a pocket computer game she keeps playing. Naota has yet even bigger and weirder lumps coming out of his head. Haruko scans Naota’s head and reports that he doesn’t have a brain. Robots seem to be coming out of Naota’s head.
==Summary==
Mamimi is obsessed with a hand-held video game called Fire Starter, which involves the player performing the role of an arsonist in order to please the Lord of Black Flames. The robot who had emerged from Naota's head is kept occupied doing chores at the Nandaba residence, while Haruko, despite being the maid, performs little to no work. Mamimi comes into contact with the robot while he is recovering the parts from his head that Haruko had damaged, and names him Canti, believing him to be the Lord of Black Flames from her game. Haruko tries to break into the Medical Mechanica plant in town, which is in the shape of a giant iron, but fails and is taken home by Naota.
Meanwhile, a series of fires are erupting around the city, and Naota visits the site of one of these fires with his trio of friends. On the way home, he sees Mamimi down by the river and learns from his friends that she is being bullied at her school. Naota realizes that Mamimi is the one behind the fires, and that she truly believes her game to be reality and the robot to be Canti, the Lord of Black Flames from her video game. Naota finds her performing a 'fire ritual' by the water bank. She explains she burnt down her old school house when she was younger because she 'hated this place' and wished it would go away, but had been saved from the flames by Naota's brother, which is the reason she loved him. A robot emerges from Naota's head then, and starts to battle Canti. Naota merges with Canti, and is able to transform into a large, howitzer-like weapon to destroy the robot. At the end of the episode, Naota wonders what he can do for Mamimi, and decides to stay by her side, forever. 
==Monologue==
Naota:
Exactly where does the truth end and the lies begin? Samejima Mamimi and Haruhara Haruko. A lot of lies are flowing around me. These two new horns that sprang up. A true story that seems like a lie.
When you're on a bike, the ocean's a lot closer than you think. The autumn salt wind went right through into the back of my nose and maybe it's because, like Haruko said, my head was empty.
"Fire Starter", it's a hand-held video game. No one knows how Endsville, the city of devils, was created, but as soon as it appeared, it started to grow, and slowly eat up the world. You are an agent of Canti, the god of the black flame, and you must stop Endsville from destroying the world. Your only weapon is flame: matches, lighters, and fire-bombs. Get the weapons, outsmart the firefighters, hide from the police, torch the city, and purge its devils. But you must be careful; you cannot burn everything. If the entire city burns down, there will be no place to live. Thus, the battle is hopeless: there is no final victory. The only thing you can do is burn and burn and burn. Your highest goal is to receive the personal blessing of Canti, the god of the black flame.
At the time, I didn't notice the sirens that were coming toward us. I don't know where the lies end and the truth begins. I asked myself what I could do for Mamimi. I decided to stay by her side... forever.
Mamimi:
I saw a god the other day, by the river on a rainy afternoon. He helped a kitten that was left all alone. It's a god that only I can see. A black-winged angel that came down from the heavens just for me.
==Songs==
* "Instant Music"
* "Sad Sad Kiddie"
* "Hybrid Rainbow"
* "Carnival"
* "Beautiful Morning With You"
* "Stalker Goes to Babylon"
* "Stalker"
* "Advice"
* "Little Busters"
* "Ride on Shooting Star"
== Credits ==
* Original Concept: GAINAX
* Directors: Kazuya Tsurumaki, Takeshi Ando
* 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
*Shigekuni Nandaba: Hiroshi Ito
*Eri Ninamori: Mika Itou
*Gaku Manabe: Sho Miyajima
*Masashi Masamune: Kazuhito Suzuki
*Junko Miyaji: Yukari Fukui
*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
*Shigekuni Nandaba: Steve Kramer
*Eri Ninamori: Melissa Fahn
*Gaku Manabe: R. Martin Klein
*Masashi Masamune: Steven Blum
*Junko Miyaji: Jessica Straus
*Miyu Miyu: Steven Blum
*Takkun: Barbara Goodson
==Gallery==
Fire Starter/Gallery
==Trivia==
* Initial airings of this episode on Adult Swim were edited for broadcast and removed Haruko uttering the word "shit" when she heard the police sirens. As of 2018 this edit has been undone.
*During Naota's head examination, after Haruko mentions her connection to the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood, he quips that it is a terrible band name. Haruko then hits him with her bass and tells him that they are not on Ika-ten.
**Ika-ten is the shortened name of Miyake Yuji no Ikasu Band Tengoku (三宅裕司のいかすバンド天国, "Yuji Miyake's Cool Band Heaven"), a weekly Japanese music competition show featuring live performances by amateur bands from 1988 to 1990. Japanese Bandstand
***In the English dub, Haruko calls it Star Search, an American talent show competition that aired from 1983 to 1995. In contrast to Ika-ten, Star Search focused more on pop singers, dancers and comedians rather than bands.
*The part that Haruko uses to fix her Vespa while being questioned by Medcial Mechanica security appears to be modeled after RX-78-2 Gundam from the Mobile Suit Gundam anime series.
*When Canti is putting boxes into the car, Kamon goes into a speech and list off several anime and pop culture references:
**"Initial D" - Japanese manga and anime series about drifting.
**"Robot Detective K" - Titular character from the live action Japanese series, Robot Detective.
**"Nakamori Akina's Young Girl A" - Referring to Japanese actress and singer, Akina Nakamori and her 1982 single "Shōjo A" ("Young Girl A").
**"Satsuki Midori's Passionate Woman B" - Referring to Japanese singer and AV actress Midori Satsuki, who became known for increasing interests in "mature woman" porn during the 1970s and 1980s. She released a single titled "Jukujo B" (lit. "Mature Woman B") in 1983, in response to Akina Nakamori's "Shōjo A".Midori Satsuki: Japan’s first ‘mature’ woman can still ‘get naked’
*After Kamon's speech, Naota tells Haruko that his father previously wrote a book about "EVA", referring to the anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
**Evangelion was created by Hideaki Anno and animated by GAINAX, which also animated FLCL.
**Anno also has a brief cameo in this episode, voicing Miyu Miyu when Naota explains how to play Fire Starter.
*When Canti is shown at a convenience store reading a magazine, Haruko said that he was looking Delabe, the shortened name for Deluxe Beppin, a Japanese men's magazines featuring nude women.
**In the English dub, Haruko says that he was reading Hustler, an American men's magazine that is more sexually explicit compared to other men's magazines.
*When Canti returns and gives Shigekuni a magazine, he throws it back at the robot and yells out that he wanted the one with "Shaku-chan", referring to Yumiko Shaku, a Japanese actress, model and gravure idol.
**In the English dub, he said "Anna Nicole", likely referring to actress and Playboy Playmate, Anna Nicole Smith. Though in real life, she did not appear in Hustler magazine.
*After Shigekuni threw the magazine back at Canti for getting the wrong one, Mamimi looks down and says that it was Bomb!, referring to a Japanese magazine that features gravure idols in swimwear or skimpy outfits, but not nude.
**In the English dub, Mamimi says that it is Hustler, which is far more explicit than Bomb! in terms of content such as prominent nudity.
*When Canti gave Haruko the curry bread and a can of orange juice from the convenience store, the can has a frowning face and おっちゃん (otchan. uncle / middle aged man) written on it.
**The can is a parody of なっちゃん (Natchan!), a brand of orange juice by Suntory, known for its distinctive orange color and smiling face on its cans and bottles.
*Right after Haruko chastises Canti for being late a brief sentence appears on his screen which reads, "The stupid clerk at the store was slow...".
*When Naota and his friends visit the charred ruins, Ninamori says that a stressed out housewife set the fire, due to her having to do too many chores at home. In the Japanese version, the line is meant to be a joke using the homonym, kaji (家事, housework, chores) and kaji (火事, fire, conflagration).
*During the group's discussion about what started the fire, Gaku claims that UFOs started the fire and claims that the pictures were published in Focus, a Japanese weekly magazine that covered the latest news and gossip. It was one of the 3 major weekly magazines in Japan before it shut down publication in 2001.
*In the book, FLCLick Noise, character designer Sadamoto explained that the scene where Mamimi is sitting on the porch at the Nandaba residence while waiting for Canti and its rather unique look was done by Shinya Ohira.
**Ohira is an animator and director who is known for his particular style of art, drawing characters with rough lines, undulating figures (sometimes described as the “Ohira wobble”), constantly adjusting perspective as well as incorporating realistic movement.
*In the preview for the next episode, in the Japanese version, Haruko talks about the relationship between humans and cats and then concludes by asking if it would be funny to see Nekohachi and Koneko greet each other with cat sounds.
**"Nekohachi" and "Koneko" refers to a father-son duo known for their particular skill of mimicking animal noises. The duo has spanned multiple generations, with Edoya Koneko now set as the fifth generation member.Edoya Nekohachi entertains with animal voices.Edoya Nekohachi The son of the previous generation Edoya Koneko will succeed to the name of the 5th generation
***In the English dub, Haruko talks about how anime directors love cats because they do not have to take care of them, as directors already have trouble taking care of themselves. She then concludes by saying that "Oshii" is the only director who likes dogs because he thinks he is one.
****"Oshii" refers to Mamoru Oshii, an anime director who is affiliated with Production I.G., the studio that produced FLCL and its sequels. He is best known for directing films such as Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor: The Movie, and Urusei Yatsura. As Haruko noted, Oshii is a dog lover, particularly basset hounds and uses them as a common motif in his works, where they serve as a representation of himself.The filmic identity of Mamoru Oshii: reality, dogs, and adaptations
*An early episode draft found in The FLCL Archives reveals that there was originally going to be a scene where Mamimi explains to Naota that years ago there was a big fire in Mabase that burned down the house of a classmate who was bullying her, with Mamimi stating, "I 'used to' get bullied". 
==References==
Category:Episodes
Category:FLCL