Duration: 5:07

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This video is an essay about the classic anime FLCL. I explain the character of Mamimi through the lens of episode 2, where she begins burning down random houses in her home village.

My explanation begins with something we know explicitly from the show: Mamimi started burning down buildings because she was reenacting a video game that she enjoyed called Firestarter. The story of Firestarter follows a devotee of a god called Canti, Lord of the Black Flame, who commands the player to burn down the so-called City of Devils. Mamimi seems to have projected this video game onto her reality. She identifies one of the robots that Naota summoned in episode 1 as Canti, and she burns down buildings for his sake.

But why is any of this happening? Why does Mamimi blend together the fiction of Firestarter and her reality? That's the question I answer in this video.

My answer touches on the hardships in Mamimi's life, which make her a kind of outcast in her village. She has an unstable family life; she's bullied at school; her ex-boyfriend (Naota's older brother) has broken up with her; and so Mamimi is all alone in this world. She loses herself in the fiction of Firestarter and goes on her little arson spree in order to cope with these struggles.

And, as I point out at the very end of this video, this whole explanation can also help us to understand why Mamimi pursues her semi-romantic (and very taboo) relationship with Naota.

FLCL is a great anime. You should watch it if you haven't!