COMMANDER AMARAO
CA
Commander Amarao works for the Bureau of Interstellar Immigration and understands more about Haruko, Medical Mechanica and N.O. than almost anyone willing to explain things to Naota.
That does not make him a reassuring adult.
Amarao has encountered Haruko before and knows how dangerous it is to mistake her attention for affection. His warnings to Naota therefore come from experience, but they also reveal how much of that experience he is still carrying around with him.
His enormous false eyebrows are the perfect FLCL detail: Amarao is desperately trying to present himself as controlled, authoritative and prepared while looking ridiculous enough to undermine the performance every time he enters the scene.
He is useful because many of his warnings are correct. He is funny because being correct has not made him particularly secure, mature or capable of controlling Haruko.
That does not make him a reassuring adult.
Amarao has encountered Haruko before and knows how dangerous it is to mistake her attention for affection. His warnings to Naota therefore come from experience, but they also reveal how much of that experience he is still carrying around with him.
His enormous false eyebrows are the perfect FLCL detail: Amarao is desperately trying to present himself as controlled, authoritative and prepared while looking ridiculous enough to undermine the performance every time he enters the scene.
He is useful because many of his warnings are correct. He is funny because being correct has not made him particularly secure, mature or capable of controlling Haruko.
COMMANDER THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
ATOMSK & MEDICAL MECHANICA //
Open page →Medical Mechanica & The Iron
Open →The Factory Hanging Over Mabase
Medical Mechanica's enormous iron-shaped factory sits above Mabase long before Naota understands why it matters. The building is so large and so permanent that the town has learned to treat something obviously impossible as ordinary scenery.
Amarao eventually explains the threat through the image of ironing: Medical Mechanica intends to smooth out the wrinkles in people's brains. In the finale, the Terminal Core moves to activate the Iron and turn that explanation into something physically dangerous.
The OVA leaves much of Medical Mechanica itself deliberately remote. We see its machines, its factory and the consequences of its actions more clearly than we ever see a conventional organization behind them.
Amarao eventually explains the threat through the image of ironing: Medical Mechanica intends to smooth out the wrinkles in people's brains. In the finale, the Terminal Core moves to activate the Iron and turn that explanation into something physically dangerous.
The OVA leaves much of Medical Mechanica itself deliberately remote. We see its machines, its factory and the consequences of its actions more clearly than we ever see a conventional organization behind them.
Why it matters
The Iron is FLCL's best version of Mabase itself. Something enormous is wrong, everybody can see it, and daily life continues underneath it anyway.
GUITAR & ORDNANCE //
Open page →Amarao's Guitar
Open →The Adult Tries to Join the Guitar War
Amarao eventually arrives armed with a guitar of his own, which is funny precisely because Haruko has spent the series making the instrument look inseparable from impossible power.
Amarao knows more than Naota about Haruko, Atomsk and Medical Mechanica, but possession of a guitar does not suddenly put him on Haruko's level.
Amarao knows more than Naota about Haruko, Atomsk and Medical Mechanica, but possession of a guitar does not suddenly put him on Haruko's level.
Why it matters
FLCL repeatedly lets Amarao have the information of an authority figure without giving him the effortless control he wants to project. The guitar fits him perfectly: he has copied the shape of the thing without becoming the person who made it terrifying.
RECURRING IMAGES & IDEAS //
Open page →Amarao's Eyebrows
Open →Authority You Can Stick to Your Face
Amarao's enormous eyebrows are visibly artificial, and FLCL keeps framing them as part of the hard, authoritative adult image he wants to project.
He knows enough about Haruko to be genuinely useful. He also spends much of that time insecure, jealous and desperate to convince Naota that he understands her better.
He knows enough about Haruko to be genuinely useful. He also spends much of that time insecure, jealous and desperate to convince Naota that he understands her better.
Why it matters
The eyebrows make Amarao's problem visible before he says a word. He really does know more than Naota, but knowing more and being mature are not the same thing.
