Canti, however, was faster.
The second it had pushed Mamimi back, the whole robot—not merely its color—transformed. Although it had been an android mere seconds earlier, Canti now had morphed into a giant crimson cannon. The body resembled some strange, scientific weapon; this was Canti's self-propelled gun mode.
A red laser locked in on the one-armed robot. A shot issued from the cannon's mouth. With tremendous noise, it fired an energy cannonball.
Haruko and Mamimi sensed the attack ripple throughout their entire bodies; they felt the blast in the pits of their stomach.
The cannonball headed straight for the one-armed robot, piercing its armor. Upon passing through its enemy's body, the cannonball changed directions, flew up into the sky, and returned to the gun-mode Canti.
Not about to let this opportunity to finish the fight slip away, Haruko swung her time-space interference weapon at the enemy robot, which now had a gaping hole. She couldn't afford any carelessness; this robot's parts could operate as autonomous weapons, which the severed arm previously had demonstrated.
This time, the defenseless robot was hit by the light-emitting guitar. It flew backward, smashing into the side of the wooden building. By all appearances, Haruko's guitar was a super weapon: The entire one-armed robot sparked a brilliant white—and then exploded. A huge pillar of flame rose up, incinerating the remains of the school.
Canti returned to its original form and protected Mamimi from the blast. Its body had changed back from crimson to the original metallic navy; from inside, sounds in its belly could be heard.
Naota's body was excreted from the robot's bottom.
"Ouch."
Although Naota seemed almost unconsciousness as he emerged, he returned to his senses immediately. For some reason, his face had numerous scratches. Looking closely, his entire body was covered in little grazes.
Seeing Naota, Mamimi crinkled her nose, saying, "Takkun, you're all sticky. And you smell."
Naota's nicked-up body was covered in sticky goo. He definitely had an acidic smell.
Looking around, Naota grasped the situation. "So, that nasty robot was beaten?"
The wooden school building was burning ferociously. The flames were quite a bit bigger than those of the fire on the river's other side.
"The remains were blown to bits, too, huh?" Naota murmured.
The ruins made by Mamimi years earlier, which had sat untouched all this time, now were burning into nothingness.
Suddenly, Naota's ears perked up. He heard a siren. Fire trucks and patrol cars were approaching.
"Hey, you two, what are you doing? It's time to hit the road." Haruko was already on her Vespa, ready to flee.
Canti, standing nearby, rose noiselessly and slipped into the evening darkness. Apparently, it could be a shrewd robot sometimes.
Naota and Mamimi, illuminated by the schoolhouse fire, regarded each other. Soiled with tears and cuts, the two of them looked into each other's faces, both completely devoid of expression.
The patrol car was getting closer.
"Let's go," said Naota, taking Mamimi's cold hand. They ran toward the Vespa.
Mamimi is here right now.
They climbed onto Haruko's scooter. Naota sat in front; Mamimi straddled the back, clinging to Haruko. Three people on one scooter—that alone was enough for the police to pull them over. There was no way they could let Mamimi get caught, though. As the three-manned Vespa drove away, the night wind stung Naota's wounds.
Despite that night's events, nothing had changed in his relationship with Mamimi. She still loved Tasuku, and Naota still was different from his brother. He had known all that from the start, though.
Although he knew he was just a substitute, Naota thought, I want to be next to Mamimi for as long as possible.
"Pull over!" ordered a patrol car.
Dammit! Had they been caught? Each time Mamimi and Naota tried to move forward, something else got in the way.
"No-brain, you'd better hold on tight!"
Enjoying their predicament, Haruko grinned and accelerated to the max.
The Vespa cut through the night town at light speed.
«Mission Accomplished 20:05. Continue to FLCL 2 20:05.»
Commentary by Hiroki Sato (Fooly Cooly Producer)
When reading books, please do so in a well-lit room, keeping a good distance between your eyes and the book.
Reading for extended periods of time may damage your eyesight.
Reading on a moving train has been known to cause motion sickness.
I'm kidding.
I didn't really have to write that stuff, did I? After all, you buy books and read them however you choose. Yeah, that's true. Great, isn't it? This time, we have a medium that you can appreciate however you like. So, why isn't the FLCL OVA (for sale and rental) like this?
Leaving that topic aside…
A boy hero, three female companions, robots—in other words, it's the archetypical "Japanime" story. The set-up is already very familiar, so I decided to twist it quite a lot. The Akihabara district populace demanded, "Please, make it all GAINAX-weird so that the old men who follow subcultures, all the Shibuya teenagers, and the girls who read cute comics won't get it." I kept my end of the deal—but just this once.
When I said I wanted to "twist it," Kazuya Tsurumaki did so without hesitation. Well, actually it took almost a year's worth of hesitation. We didn't want it to be limited by genre. Was it full of gags or was it serious? Was it Sci-Fi or was it comedy? To quote Haruko, "Whether it's a lie or the truth, does it really matter?" We described it as embodying Zeitgeist—"the feeling of now." Then, we were told that phrase was lame, and that people thought it would read like any other young adult manga.
Leaving that topic aside…
As each episode was a little longer than twenty minutes, if we threw in too many gags, it would have become utter nonsense. Or there might have been people who wouldn't understand anything from it and would say, "This is boring." So, we kept it relatively normal. And we decided to do a novelization—an additional link in the greater media mix.
Sharing media is easier now, and one work can have a big impact on other works out there. An element of the novel hints at one of the many interpretations of the anime, but what's wonderful is that the novel is also a completely independent work in its own right. Actually, I've come to realize just recently that a novel, as the medium that further expands the width of our imaginations, might be the most suitable kind of media.
Despite the random jokes, within the Sci-Fi anime genre, you want to keep telling the story whether you've decided on a deep meaning or it never develops one. You might tell the story and it suddenly becomes boring; but if you don't continue until the very end, people often won't understand.
This sure isn't your typical Sci-Fi.
This sure has serious gags.
This sure is juvenile.
We were extremely fortunate to have found a writer who could conjure up the right mix of Sci-Fi and juvenility. Mister Enokido participated in each step of our planning.
So, for all those who've started reading the book by going to this commentary first (Director Tsurumaki definitely will fall into this group), I hope you enjoy Mister Enokido's delicate, creative touch. For those of you who have finished and are looking for the extras, I'd like it if you watched the anime after this. For those of you who've already watched the anime, I guarantee that you will have various new reactions, such as slapping your knee and saying, "I see now!" or "I still don't get it." It's that kind of work.