MAMIMI SAMEJIMA SPOILER!
MS
Mamimi Samejima is a seventeen-year-old high school student who spends much of her time away from school, smoking beneath the bridge and carrying a camera through Mabase. She was Tasuku Nandaba's girlfriend before he left for America, and his absence leaves a hole she keeps trying to fill.
Naota becomes part of that pattern. Mamimi calls him Takkun, the same nickname associated with Tasuku, and leans on him for comfort even though the relationship means something different to Naota than it does to her.
Her attachment shifts again when Canti appears. Mamimi recognizes the robot through the religious imagery of her Fire Starter game and treats him as the Lord of Black Flames she has been waiting for. Later she gives the name Takkun to yet another creature, revealing how easily affection, dependence and replacement blur together for her.
Mamimi is troubled, lonely and capable of destructive behavior, but FLCL does not leave her frozen under the bridge. By the end she leaves Mabase and begins moving toward photography as something that belongs to her rather than to Tasuku, Naota or another Takkun.
Naota becomes part of that pattern. Mamimi calls him Takkun, the same nickname associated with Tasuku, and leans on him for comfort even though the relationship means something different to Naota than it does to her.
Her attachment shifts again when Canti appears. Mamimi recognizes the robot through the religious imagery of her Fire Starter game and treats him as the Lord of Black Flames she has been waiting for. Later she gives the name Takkun to yet another creature, revealing how easily affection, dependence and replacement blur together for her.
Mamimi is troubled, lonely and capable of destructive behavior, but FLCL does not leave her frozen under the bridge. By the end she leaves Mabase and begins moving toward photography as something that belongs to her rather than to Tasuku, Naota or another Takkun.
MAMIMI THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
GROWING UP IN MABASE //
Open page →Tasuku Leaves · Naota Fills the Space · The Name Moves Again
Mamimi's relationship with Naota becomes easier to understand once Naota finally admits what has been sitting between them from the beginning.
She misses Tasuku.
Calling Naota Takkun lets Mamimi preserve some version of the relationship she lost, but it leaves Naota trapped between wanting her affection and knowing it is partly directed through him toward somebody else.
When Mamimi later gives the same name to another creature, the pattern becomes impossible to ignore.
She misses Tasuku.
Calling Naota Takkun lets Mamimi preserve some version of the relationship she lost, but it leaves Naota trapped between wanting her affection and knowing it is partly directed through him toward somebody else.
When Mamimi later gives the same name to another creature, the pattern becomes impossible to ignore.
What changed
By the end, neither Naota nor Mamimi can keep living inside the arrangement they had under the bridge. Naota stops accepting the role of substitute, while Mamimi eventually leaves Mabase and begins moving toward a life that is not built around waiting for Tasuku.
Two People Living Around Someone Who Already Left
Tasuku Nandaba never needs to appear on screen to dominate the beginning of FLCL.
He is Naota's older brother, the baseball player everyone remembers and the person whose bat Naota carries without swinging. He is also Mamimi's absent boyfriend, now living in America while she remains in Mabase.
That leaves Naota and Mamimi building a relationship around the same missing person for completely different reasons. Naota wants Mamimi to see him as himself. Mamimi keeps calling him Takkun and reaching for the familiarity Tasuku left behind.
He is Naota's older brother, the baseball player everyone remembers and the person whose bat Naota carries without swinging. He is also Mamimi's absent boyfriend, now living in America while she remains in Mabase.
That leaves Naota and Mamimi building a relationship around the same missing person for completely different reasons. Naota wants Mamimi to see him as himself. Mamimi keeps calling him Takkun and reaching for the familiarity Tasuku left behind.
Why it matters
Naota is not only trying to grow up. He is trying to discover who he is when being Tasuku's younger brother is no longer enough. Mamimi has the opposite problem: she keeps trying to preserve what Tasuku meant to her by transferring it onto whoever is still within reach.
RECURRING IMAGES & IDEAS //
Open page →Mamimi and the Name "Takkun"
Open →Tasuku · Naota · Something to Hold Onto
Mamimi keeps returning to the name "Takkun."
It belongs first to Tasuku, the boyfriend who left Mabase. She then uses it for Naota, Tasuku's younger brother, while leaning on him for the closeness she lost. Later she gives the same name to another creature she becomes attached to.
That repetition is more useful than reducing any one Takkun to a symbol.
It belongs first to Tasuku, the boyfriend who left Mabase. She then uses it for Naota, Tasuku's younger brother, while leaning on him for the closeness she lost. Later she gives the same name to another creature she becomes attached to.
That repetition is more useful than reducing any one Takkun to a symbol.
Why it matters
Mamimi keeps trying to make absence hurt less by placing the same name onto somebody or something that is still nearby. Naota eventually has to recognize that being wanted as a replacement is not the same thing as being seen as himself.
Bitter Drinks, Spicy Food & Acting Grown-Up
Open →Adulthood as Something You Perform
FLCL repeatedly surrounds its younger characters with small performances of adulthood: coffee, cigarettes, spicy food, sexual knowledge, cynicism and the insistence that nothing is surprising.
Naota is especially committed to that performance. He wants to sound bored and experienced before he has actually lived enough to earn either attitude.
Naota is especially committed to that performance. He wants to sound bored and experienced before he has actually lived enough to earn either attitude.
Why it matters
The series keeps discovering that adults are not magically finished people either. Naota's mistake is not wanting to grow up. It is assuming maturity means learning how not to look affected by anything.
