There's a lot of anime out there that will make you go "WTF!" when you watch it. These types of shows usually have two extremes: either they are really good, or really bad. "FLCL" is closer to the former, and is immensely enjoyable if you are in the right mood for it. "FLCL" (or "Fooly Cooly," as the title seems to refer to) is about a typical 12 year old called Naota. He lives in a small boring town where, as he puts it, "nothing ever happens." He hangs out with his older brother's ex-girlfriend (who obviously has psychological-problems of her own), and with his friends at school who love to talk about rumors, and also the class president who seems to have a crush on him as well. But in episode one, Haruko comes in out of nowhere on a vespa motorcycle and whacks him on the head with an electric guitar. After that, this strange girl stays with him and his family, causing all sorts of problems. Oh, and giant mechanical robots start bursting through Naota's head where he was hit. The story is weird, no question. In fact, that's the only real problem I had watching. If you asked me to describe what exactly happens in each episode, I couldn't tell you. I know what happens, but it is almost impossible to explain. Despite the other-worldly style and humor used in the show, all the themes here are really about male puberty and becoming an adult, and other things that everyone knows and experiences. It just happens to be pushed to the extreme, with sex jokes and awkward moments and scenes where characters finally gain confidence amongst giant robots and baseball. Studio Gainax was involved with this show, and if you've seen any of their past work, you know this is very common to their style. This show deals with love and loss, manning up and admitting to yourself your true feelings, jealousy and anger, imagination and creativity, a metaphor for growing up, adolesence and puberty, and all within only six episodes. Another problem that this show has is that it feels like it ends way too soon (it is a six-episode OVA rather than a full series), although I couldn't tell you how they could have extended it. There's also the humor to talk about. This show breaks the third wall, uses a variety of art styles, and uses references to shows like "Lupin the 3rd" and "South Park," as well as standard exaggerated anime faces, to get its jokes across. It's very Japanese, and yet it feels like it caters enough to other audiences for people to get it. I guess both the story and sense of humor are really extreme that it could ruin the enjoyment you have watching, or it could make it the greatest thing you've ever seen. It's hard to say that the jokes aren't clever even if it isn't your style. It sounds like I'm questioning the show's humor and story a lot, but I think I really liked it. Heck, I know I LOVED it. I just don't know exactly why.
The animation and music is clearly well-done, even if the previous things might not be for everyone. The animation was done in 2000 and tragically in 4:3 ratio, but it still comes off as looking better than most shows today. Some use of 3d rotations look great, and action scenes are especially impressive. The music is catchy rock and roll, perfectly fitting the madness of the show, unique to other shows and worthy of buying the soundtrack for everyday listening. The English dub is also a great fit, with each voice matching almost perfectly with their character, either normal or completely wacky. Some Japanese words get mixed in though, and speech is sometimes too fast to understand, but you won't mind much. You won't see other shows quite like "FLCL." It may fly clear over your head, but it'll likely come back and hit you so hard that you what know what hit you. And you'll want it to hit you again so you can find out what it was in the first place. Even if this style of anime isn't for you, I highly recommend watching it, as the themes it presents and how they are presented are a rarity in any medium. In its own way, it is perfect. The rest is up to you.