"Fooly Cooly" ("FLCL") is a six part original video animation series by Studio Gainax. It is a coming-of-age story centered around a middle schooler by the name of Naota Nandaba, whose life is turned upside down when a strange visitor collides with him and ends up as a guest in his home.
The first episode is something of an introduction, unveiling many of the characters, including a robot which pops out of Naota's head. The plot truly kicks off in the second episode, aptly titled "Firestarter."
"Firestarter - it's a handheld videogame. 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 Kanti, the God of the Black Flame, and you must stop Endsville from destroying the world. Your only weapon is flame: matches, lighters, and firebombs. Take the weapons, outsmart the firefighters, hide from the police, and torch the city to 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, your battle is endless. There is no final victory. The only thing you can do is burn, and burn, and burn."
This subplot has multiple facets to examine, one of which being the fight club example referenced in the
Masaomi Kida article. But let's not talk about that; instead, why not take a look at an old novel by Ray Bradbury?
Fahrenheit 451 is the story of Guy Montag, a "fireman" whose job is to burn the possessions of those who read outlawed books. In a sense, this would make him a "firestarter" not unlike FLCL character Samejima Mamimi. And while their motivations may have been different, there are still many similarities to be found.
The things which Mamimi burn are all fragments of a depressing past. In
Fahrenheit 451, Montag is ordered to burn books as society has deemed them bastardized fragments of an old world. Also, the words with which to describe "Firestarter" hold within them the true futility of the act; it is a game which cannot be won. In
Fahrenheit 451, the war on books is ultimately lost because even though this city is nuked at the end (killing everyone who lived there), there remain people on the outside to reintroduce books within the rebuilding of society.
What we're left with is something both truly bizarre and completely paradoxical. "Fooly Cooly" becomes both an antithesis and a parallel to
Fahrenheit 451, and that in itself makes it hard to interpret. Also take into consideration that the original work by Bradbury has multiple interpretations of its applications to reality, and the result makes for a truly ambiguous discussion. It would appear that the interpretations are best left to you, the reader.
