SwiftKarateChop

Anyone who watches Adult Swim on Cartoon Network is familiar with the fact that they show anime; usually after the comedy block.

Usually these foreign works are in the more mainstream styles of anime, usually being licensed by Shonen Jump (a publishing that specializes in action anime and manda series geared toward boys). Because of this, in my opinion atleast, much of the series shown on adult swim tend to sometimes be extremely generic and predictable, full of cliches. Series that i include in this catagory include Inuyasha and Bleach (don’t get me wrong i enjoy Bleach quite a bit, its just there’s not much to the series, especially after the Soul Society story arc.)
Keeping this in mind, imagine my surprise when i stumbled upon the little animated gem of Fooly Cooly (also known affectionatly as Furi Kuri to some.) This anime aires for maybe one week every year at around 12 AM every morning on the channel, and is probably the most brilliant series that Williams Street has shown (rivaled next to Neon Genesis Evangelion of course)
This series followed the story of twelve year old Naota Nandaba, and his run ins with the alien, Haruko Haruhara; The mysterious Medical Mechanica and the King of Pirates, Atomsk; and Commander Amarao, who believes that Medical Mechanica is out to take over the universe. These characters are well developed throughout the series, and all have very diverse personalities.
A staple of the series is the fact that throughout each episode, a variety of animation styles is present, from bullet time sequences to manga-esque stills. This always keeps things new in the animation, never becoming boring to the fact that so many different styles are present.
The entire soundtrack was done by japanese pop band, The Pillows, and is one of the best sountracks I have heard yet. Action sequences within the series were actually written around the music, and not the other way around (as a side note many guitars are used within the series as weapons. These guitars are very rarely used musically, and are more for a physical and symbolical representation.)

Sadly, the series only runs 6 episodes, but so much goes on within each episode that it leaves little more to desire. This was due to the fact that the animations were created first before the manga series. I found myself sad when the series ended, but only because i was sad to see the characters and the story end.