FLCL Characters
Nandaba Naota (ナンダバ・ナオ太), 12, is the main character. His name is derived from the Japanese word for "honesty" and his father named him Naota because of that (Fooly Cooly). Unbeknownst to him, he has the "right kind of head" to be used as an N.O. channel. He is obsessed with appearing mature and attempts to act nonchalant. This is most expressed in his monologues which open and close each episode where he continues to claims that "nothing amazing ever happens here" despite the show's surreal and often absurd happenings. Naota idolizes his older brother Tasuku, carrying around Tasuku's baseball bat, and even hanging out with Tasuku's old girlfriend Mamimi. In Naota's mind, Tasuku is the epitome of what it means to be an adult, as opposed to the other adults in his his life (e.g. his father, his grandfather, and his teacher) who he perceives as being immature. Much like Amarao, Naota is picky about his drinks (disliking drinks which are sour, bitter, or contain pulp) and hates spicy foods. While at the beginning of the series he appears to be bothered by Haruko's presence over the course of the series he realizes his own feelings and admits that he loves her in the final episode. His guitar is the Gibson Flying V which Haruko pulls out of his head in the fourth episode.
Samejima Mamimi (サメジマ・マミ実), 17, was Tasuku's girlfriend though she hits on Naota since his brother left Japan. She attends school infrequently and has pyromaniacal tendencies, smokes a lot, and spends most of her time under a bridge. It is likely that her parents are separated.
She has a rather peculiar tendency to name many things after her personal nickname for Naota's brother (and Naota himself) "Ta-kun." Japanese adolescents often add the suffix "-kun" to the names of their classmates and friends their age or younger. She calls Tasuku "Tasuku sempai" because he is older, but is likely using Naota as a substitute, and she refers to him as "Ta-kun" (which is short for Naota-kun, but also sounds suspiciously close to Tasuku. Naota is well-aware of the similarity between his nickname and his brother's name.)
It is originally set forth in the story that she has a fascination with fire after her rescue from the elementary school by Tasuku, though later it is revealed that she herself set many fires and is hinted that she was the one who started the fire in her elementary school. She is a high school student but is truant much, if not all, of the time.
As far as high schoolers go, she seems to be rather sexually frustrated, as she often pursues an uncomfortable level of intimacy with Naota (most likely because she sees him as his brother's replacement), which annoys Naota greatly. When he asks why she constantly clings to him, she responds "If I don't, I'll overflow."
At the end of the series, she leaves Mabase to become a professional photographer.
Most characters refer to Mamimi simply as Mamimi, but Naota's friends refer to her as "Naota's Wife" and Haruko calls her "Sameji", a shortening of her last name. Amarao refers to her as "that high school girl".
Haruhara Haruko (ハルハラ・ハル子), 19 (or so she claims), is an energetic, spontaneous pink-haired girl from outer-space and investigator for the Galactic Space Patrol Brotherhood/Stellar Fraternity. Mamimi observes that she looks at least twenty years old but, considering that she is of an unknown alien species, neither Mamimi nor the viewer has a relevant frame of reference. She rides a yellow Piaggio Vespa (and is also known as The Wasp Woman, a pun on the word Vespa, which means wasp) and wields a blue 1972 Rickenbacker Model 4001 Bass Guitar. (similar to the 4001 used by Sir Paul McCartney, whom she mentions in Episode 5),with a pull-cord motor on the back, It sees to be left handed, but is in fact just strung backwards. It is a bizarre weapon of sorts. She leaves it for a more powerful double-necked guitar (a fusion of the Gibson Flying V, drawn from Naota's N.O. channel, and the 1961 Gibson EB-0, from Atomsk's, that Naota creates while harnessing Atomsk's power) when she departs from Earth in Episode 6. She becomes the Nandaba household's maid and plays on a rival team of the Mabase Martians seemingly for extra money, but in fact to knock a satellite out of Earth's orbit with the baseballs she hits. She has also apparently had past relations with Amarao, most likely similar to her relationship with Naota. This mysterious character is the catalyst for FLCL's entire plot. She is called Haruha Raharu (ハルハ・ラハル) by Amarao; this may be another alias, however.
Nandaba Kamon (ナンダバ・カモン), 47, is Naota's father, a former pop culture journalist working as a freelance writer, with his own trashy tabloid: "Kamon-Mabase" (the title is a pun on "come-on mabase"). He makes the most references to pop culture: EVA, "monkey-sempai" (referring to the creator of the series Lupin the III), Hamtaro, Mobile Suit Gundam, and MTV to name a few. Kamon has taken a liking to Haruko, but she only wants to use him as an N.O. Portal. In the fourth episode, Naota discovers that Haruko tried to use him but "his head didn't work" and a robot replacement putters around the house. The real Kamon is found dead in a cabinet but is rehydrated back to life in a small bathtub. Haruko's true intentions of coming to Mabase are revealed through her interactions with Kamon. After realizing that his head didn't open the N.O. portal, she discards him and returns to using Naota's head.
Nandaba Shigekuni (ナンダバ・シゲクニ) is Naota's grandfather. He owns the family bakery and coaches the local baseball team, the Mabase Martians. He has a grudge against Mamimi for unspecified reasons, but it is suggested that he didn't approve of Tasuku dating her. Shige-kun values baseball more than anything in the world- he is disappointed in his own son and younger grandson because they are lousy baseball players. He does not defend Naota as the other players mock him, because he holds too much pride for Tasuku. He enjoys taking advantage of Canti as much as Kamon does.
Ninamori Eri (ニナモリ・エリ), 12, is Naota's classmate. In the series, she is referred to as 'Ninamori', her last name. She wears a red shirt with "USSR" emblazoned on the front. She is the daughter of the mayor of Mabase and is class president. While she appears to be a very proper, even stuck-up girl, she isn't above breaking the rules to get what she wants. She cheats during the election for the school play in order to get in the lead role and Naota cast opposite her, which (among other things) has hinted at an interest in Naota. Other hints are an expressed dislike of Mamimi (assumably from jealously) and a scene at the end of the last episode which mirrors Mamimi's interactions with Naota when buying a drink from a vending machine. Ninamori is also very intelligent, if a little jaded. Much like Naota, Ninamori attempts to act mature and though her parents' problems trouble her deeply she refuses to admit it.
Canti (カンチ, Kanchi in Japanese) is a medical robot with what looks like a television set for a head. He was manufactured by Medical Mechanica, but taken over by Atomsk as a way to escape MM. After having his head broken by Haruko he is recruited by her as an assistant, however he proves to not be good for much other than washing dishes and fetching drinks for the family. It is later revealed that Atomsk can manifest through him, with Naota being the catalyst. Atomsk's symbol appears on Canti's screen when he absorbs Naota; the symbol is a corruption of the kanji character for "adult." This symbol also appears on him when Naota "swings the bat" in Full Swing and when Canti is absorbed by the terminal core in FLCLimax. The emotions of Canti are very human-like, despite his looks. He is embarrassed about his broken head (where Haruko hit him) and is looking for the pieces to glue back together in episode two. He wears the box on the back of his head for the same reason- shame. Canti also dons a halo and fake wings (which Haruko was wearing in early episode two). As he schleps around, even Mamimi is convinced she is seeing an angel. (She calls him Lord Canti after "The God of Black Flames" in a video game she plays which is what the rest of the cast call him throughout the rest of the series). Apparently, he can also eat curry with his "mouth," but it is never really explained how.
Commander Amarao (アマラオ) works for the department of Interstellar Immigration. This agency, among other things, acts as a middle man for negotiations between the government and Medical Mechanica. Thus, Haruko/Raharu is a big problem for them as she is bent on provoking an attack by disrupting communications. Amarao has fake eyebrows made of nori which, he believes, serve the dual purpose of making him look macho and protecting him from N.O. Amarao seems to have had a past relationship with Haruko similar to Naota's. It is a likely inference from the story that as a child he was approached by Haruko/Raharu, just like Naota, and she tried using his N.O. to contact/capture Atomsk. However, his N.O. channel is so weak that he can barely pull something the size of a slingshot through. When the prior happens in episode 5, Haruko says "Small, as usual.", again suggesting a previous relationship between the two, or tried it with other men. One could also argue that a youthful entanglement with Haruko could have lead to his career with Interstellar Immigration. There are some traces of him feeling jealous that Haruko has chosen Naota over him.
Lieutenant Kitsurubami (キツルバミ) is an attractive young woman on Amarao's staff, In episode 5, Haruko refers to her as being a commando. Amarao makes a pass at her in the final episode, but she resists him. In fact, Kitsurubami seems to be generally disgusted by the idea of romantic inovolvement with Amarao, though she looks up to him as a superior decision-making power and follows his orders loyally. She also seems to become smitten with Canti, despite her initial efforts to attack him. During episode 4, she and two other members of Amarao's staff get nosebleeds when Haruko pulls the Gibson Flying V from Naota's head. In Japan, it's an old wives tale that nosebleeds are caused by arousal, in this case the size of Naota's guitar being a not-so-subtle analogy to penis size.
Kitsurubami is named after a light brown traditional Japanese colour, which happens to be the colour of her skin. Thus, her name could be interpreted as "Lieutenant Brown", although the colour Kitsurubami is not the common "brown."
Atomsk (アトムスク), also known as the "Pirate King" (海賊王), is an enigmatic character, and apparently the most powerful "space pirate" in the galaxy. His N.O. is great enough to steal planets. His physical appearance is that of a bird-like creature, resembling a phoenix also in episode 6 he is pictured as a humanoid male figure with fiery red hair. He has a nose ring identical to the metal Ring on Haruko's bracelet, which allows her to detect Atomsk's presence or the activation of N.O. in general. Amarao portrays him inaccurately, imagining Atomsk's appearance as humanoid when he describes him to Naota. In an interview, the director clarifies that Atomsk's true form is indeed that of the bird, and Amarao's mental image was of a man because he believed that Atomsk and Haruko were lovers, which was later exposed to be false, and Amarao looks very surprised when he sees Atomsk's true form. It is the desire to obtain him and gain his power for herself that drives Haruko to constantly follow Atomsk, and not care which planet is destroyed, so long as she gets to Atomsk. Atomsk's guitar is an EB-0 1961 Gibson.
Atomsk is named after the novel Atomsk, by Carmichael Smith (a pseudonym of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, better known as Cordwainer Smith.) In the director commentary on the third DVD, the director states that he is unsure as to how its really pronounced (in FLCL it is pronounced "atomisk" or "atomos'ku").
Source: Wikipedia