Marquis de Carabas (FLCL)

Marquis de Carabas
"They're fake."
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Running time: 20:36 (without credits)
Characters of focus Ninamori
New Characters Miyaji Junko
Songs in this episode Instant Music Sad Sad Kiddie Runners High Selfish Carnival Stalker Advice Yorii Gallop Little Busters

"Marquis de Carabas" (マルラバ, Maru Raba^?) is the third episode of the anime FLCL. The title's namesake is a character in the play "Puss in Boots" (by Charles Perrault).

Summary

Scandalous revelations about Ninamori's parents, especially her father, the mayor of Mabase, hardly dent her world as she takes a neutral position regarding their alleged separation which is helped in no way by a devious secretary. Meanwhile, Naota heads to school after a typically strange encounter with Haruko. His day plummets as Ninamori berates him for his lack of enthusiasm in the upcoming school play, Puss in Boots, as he was voted and cast to play the cat. Furthermore, Miyaji catches Naota, Gaku, and Masashi with a gossip-filled mini-zine, which Naota's father produces(known in the series as "Kamon Mabase") in class and overreacts, citing the fact that Ninamori's feelings might be hurt as her father is the center of scandals lately. Naota comments that to have a father as a mayor, "it must make it tough for her." Regardless, Naota ditches the after-school rehearsal for the play and joins Mamimi by the river. She proceeds to remove a "bizarre" hat Naota has been wearing all day and exposes fluffy cat ears sprouting from his head. He hides them in embarrassment yet Mamimi incessantly plays with them. The rumors surrounding the mayor have escalated considerably and the press, catching wind of them, nearly raids Ninamori's house in order to get a statement. She retreats to a solitary train station where Naota discovers her, ditching rehearsal along with him. He assures her that it's only a "tabloid thing" and nothing to worry about. She admits the rumors do have some truth to them and instantly perks up as she changes the subject. No sooner than this, Haruko comes speeding down the street; she barely avoids running over a cat by abandoning her Vespa. The Vespa slams into Naota at full speed and Naota goes flying in a bullet time scene (similar to a similar scene in the first episode); he is knocked straight into Ninamori. The two impact at their lips for a brief kiss, and Naota's N.O. power is transferred to her (the N.O. power is depicted as a red light in the character's head). The whole ordeal knocks him senseless and reveals his cat ears which Ninamori grasps, despite warnings from Haruko, and collapses. Later, over a dangerously spicy meal, Ninamori dismisses any mention of her father as "no big deal." Kamon insists that she stay the night as her life is currently under siege from the press. Naota eventually becomes uncomfortable at the arrangement. Later, when Ninamori is bathing(similar to the scenes in Episode 1 and 6 when Naota is bathing) Kamon speaks to her from outside and asks her if she thinks he is a bad person because he is the journalist behind the gossip magazine that is currently complicating her life. Only here does Ninamori express her approval at his actions and her anger at the situation saying "that secretary had to go". After bathing, Naota is a bit disturbed that Ninamori is sleeping in his room, and that she actually wears glasses when not in public. The night becomes even more strange as Ninamori aggressively divulges her subterfuge regarding the school play, admitting that she rigged the vote in his favor. He is awed by her audacity and is subject to her extended metaphor of Puss in Boots regarding her actions as Haruko overhears the whole thing. The next day in school an argument starts again about the play between the two of them, each one chiding the other on the childishness of the other, with Naota arguing that school plays are for little children, that Ninamori is just trying to show off, and that playing a talking cat is humiliating, and Ninamori arguing that they are all still children and that she wants the play to go on because both her parents will be there together, like a family. The rest of the students just watch. In anger, Naota knocks off Ninamori's hat after declaring his embarrassment of his role, and Ninamori retaliates by exposing his cat ears to the class. Naota, infuriated, shouts out loud that she rigged the votes to get the lead, and suddenly, a massive creature busts out of her head in the tension of the moment (though never explicitly said, it's through the N.O. portal) that was transferred from Naota to her during the vespa crash by the train station. Haruko and Canti quickly dispose of the monster using a ukelele, guitar, curry, and a final blow from Canti transformed into a cannon with Naota inside. Naota proceeds to say that the situation with Ninamori's family peacefully subsided and no consequences came as a result. As the curtain opens on the play, Ninamori is wearing glasses much to Naota's surprise. She then says to Naota that "they're fake."

Trivia

• Ninamori wears a shirt with USSR written on it; a reference to the Soviet Union
• Gaku, when dressed like a mouse, keeps asking Naota about the "chu-lady." In Japanese, chu is the onomatopoeia for both a kiss and a mouse's squeak. (This is translated to English by having the character repeatedly yell "Smooch!")
• References to a drink called "Cherio" were replaced with references to Crystal Pepsi, a similarly discontinued product from America.
• The iconic Japanese animated character Doraemon is referenced twice in this episode. It is first mentioned when Miyaji was talking about cats to her class (Tom and Jerry were referenced here also) and then later when Mamimi is playing with Naota's cat ears by the river, saying "You're almost as cute as Doraemon." It is interesting to note that Doraemon has no ears.
• In a scene by the river (6:01), Mamimi's cat (also named Ta-kun) jumps to the left, getting out of the screen and appearing in the right side, a possible reference to Pac-Man.
• At roughly 06:30, when Canti is rebuilding his head from parts he collected in Episode 2, upon Haruko's discovery of his project, he freaks out, and, if you watch closely, you can clearly see his screen pop free from its casing and that his head is filled with little people.
• Naota and Ninamori drink "Vitamin In" because of proposed product placement. However, the scenes with the drinks were completed before negotiations finished, and the deal never went through. The studio decided to keep the beverages in the scene anyway.
• During this episode, when taking a taste of the curry Haruko prepared, Naota's face changes briefly into the "Scream" mask from the movies of the same name, but unlike the movie versions that have a white mask, this mask was black. (10:01 and again at 10:03)
• Before that, Haruko explains that she took the recipe from a fictional magazine featuring "Little Prince", who may be Saint-Exupéry's Little Prince (the cover shows him dressed mostly in green, like the classic character).
• When Canti lands on Miya-Jun's car at 19:16, a keychain of Kenny McCormick (of South Park), impaled with an arrow, flies up from the wreckage. This foreshadows the blatant South Park homages that appear in "Brittle Bullet".
• When Ninamori is first launched at Canti by the robot coming out of her head, Ninamori's shorts are caught by Canti's head. Ninamori's exposed rear is viewable during this time (17:20) in still frame. Also, at several points in this sequence Ninamori's shirt flies up and her exposed breasts are visible, again in still frame.
• At the end of the episode, Miya-Jun is seen with a bandaged right eye and her right arm is in a cast, a reference to Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion, an anime also by Gainax. Also, a shark-like face is drawn on the end of the arm cast.
• In the scene where Naota's father is selling magazines to the old lady, between 05:21–5:28 and again at 5:45, images of characters closely resembling characters from the Anime and Manga series Lupin III appear on the television screen in the background. This is one of many Lupin III references made throughout the series.
• At 17:42, you can notice Naota rubbing his cheek against Miya-jun's breast (or vice versa), also with a hand on her knee attempting to get out of her lap. The look on her face mixes discomfort and quite possibly surprised pleasure.
• During the curry scene with Ninamori, Naota's curry looks like the anime depiction of poop.
• During the same curry scene, as Ninamori asks about Canti, Naota writhes with his rear-end in the air in a possible nod to the bare-bottom antics of Shin-chan from Crayon Shin-chan
• During the scene where the secretary is escaping from the mob of reporters (7:10), in the fight "cloud" several real-life Japanese faces have been photocopied into the cloud.
• During the fight scene between Haruko and the monster that had emerged from Ninamori's head, when Haruko was on top of the building standing over the monster, she grabs her guitar and proceeds to attack the monster in a fashion that is a homage to the Evangelion Mass Production units in The End of Evangelion: her having both hands on the guitar, as she jumps with the sun directly behind her in a fashion that mirrors those of one of the MP Evas in the movie.
• Marquis de Carabas is also the name of a character in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.