Fans of FLCL, or Fooly Cooly, might not know that there is a manga version. There is also a novel, but that won’t be covered today. The manga launched first in 1999 on Christmas of all days. The two-volume collection ended the following March with the anime premiering that April in 2000. All of these dates are for Japan.
The West would not get a taste of FLCL until Adult Swim picked it up in 2003. While it may be short, at only six episodes, it became an instant classic. The bizarre nature of the plot and the drop-dead gorgeous animation were unlike anything on the network at the time. So, out of curiosity, what exactly is the difference between the anime and the manga if anything? There will be spoilers ahead.
8 Missing Characters
Two major characters from the anime do make an appearance in the manga. There is a panel in volume two of the manga that shows Commander Amarao and his subordinate Kitsurubami in the background of the police station. They are shown once and have no speaking lines.
This is strange as the anime turns them, and their organization, into one of the antagonists fighting against Haruko. It’s hard to tell if they are the villains or if Haruko is the villain. In a way, everyone is equally a hero and villain in the FLCL anime except for Medical Mechanica. They’re just pure evil.
7 Missing Plotlines
The manga follows some brief outlines parallel to the anime. For example, there is a plot involving someone burning down buildings but it plays out differently in the manga. A school play is mentioned in the manga but it doesn’t play a major role in the plot.
There is no dog-like core that Mamimi befriends like in FLCL’s anime finale. There isn’t even a baseball game although the subject is still heavily featured in the manga. Also, there aren’t as many things that come out of Naota’s head which might be the strangest difference of all.
6 When Canti Appears
A good example to demonstrate that Naota’s head portal isn’t as important is that Canti appears differently. Haruko hits Naota with her guitar and Vespa, thus giving him his weird bump. He wakes up at home to find a strange robot, i.e. Canti, serving food to his family as a maid. Haruko is also there.
In the anime, Canti comes out of Naota’s head at the end of the first episode along with an evil robot. This still happens in the manga later on. However, this time it is like Canti portals from Naota’s house to his head instead of somewhere else entirely. It’s a smaller change in the grand scheme of things
5 Ninamori Can Control Her Robot
Episode three of the anime is about the school play. It also features Ninamori as a major co-star for once who is dealing with some family trouble at home. She still goes through some media hell via her father and secretary.
However, the big difference here is that when she gets her robot companion, she doesn’t lose control like in the anime. She can control it and keeps it throughout the rest of the manga. Also, how Naota controls Canti when he goes inside of him is more detailed. Both Naota and Ninamori are more like full-fledged mech pilots in the manga of FLCL.
4 Kamon Dies
One of the strangest episodes of the anime sees Naota killing his father. He bashes his head in with a baseball bat. However, that version of Kamon was a robot duplicate that Haruko built. Naota later finds and revives his real father and everything is well again.
In the manga, it is implied that Naota does kill his father. The police take him into custody except it isn’t Commander Amarao that does it like in the anime. Toward the end of the manga, Naota has a vision of his father as an angel. That’s more or less a confirmation that Kamon did indeed die as that is the only time he is shown again post bat to face.
3 Grandpa Is A Secret Agent
Naota’s grandpa has a bigger role in the manga. He also has a female friend. The two of them seem like they are secret agents working for Haruko. If they aren’t secret agents part of the same organization as her then it doesn’t matter. They still do what Haruko tells them.
It’s implied that he also dies along with Kamon. The grandfather and his lady friend go into Medical Mechanica to bow it up and get caught in the blast early thanks to the family cat. In the anime, the biggest role his grandpa has is in the baseball episode.
2 Tasuku Gets A Line
Tasuku is Naota’s brother who moves to the United States to play baseball. He is talked about in the anime but is never shown in full. There is a picture of him cut off from the nose down. That’s it. In the manga, Naota has a flashback of him as they talked in their bedroom.
Naota also gets a call from Tasuku around Christmas. His girlfriend can be heard in the background too. Oddly, the anime didn’t give Tasuku a speaking role. He’s almost forgotten past the first two episodes.
1 Haruko’s Affection For Naota
Haruko plays with Naota’s feelings a lot more in the FLCL anime. She’s trying to awaken the portal more in his head. The anime plays up her role to make it a more risqué anime for the young teen boys out there. In the manga, she isn’t teasing Naota as explicitly.
However, the ending sees the two getting more intimate with each other than they ever did in the anime. She comes back to save his life, kisses him, and then rides away. Also of note, there is still a love square romance present between Naota, Mamimi, Ninamori, and Haruko.