FLCL

flcl references a lot of other stuff. There’s a Naked Lunch reference in one of the manga scenes in the sixth episode , and its part of a rhyme , which means there's about a 50% chance its not extant in the original Japanese . But Japanese cultural exports ( ie anime lol ) seem to be pretty savvy on western culture and literature, on the whole. FLCL also references south park and the matrix. The matrix one is where Eyebrows goes all agenty and his duplicates football pileup Haruko , in a mirror of the scene from The Matrix Reloaded ( where neo is covered in agents and then explodes them off him ). I particularly appreciate visual only references like this. The final episode is a grant Morrison level mindfuck . Atomsk seems to be some extra dimensional construct , a sentient being that can also be subsumed into a creature on our level of reality , but which has a will and power of its own even without a person to " ride on "... Haruko is in love with atomsk but she also says " Only one of us can eat him and its going to be me " ... so perhaps her love is only a lust for the power she will gain when she assumes the mantle of Atomsk ( pron. atomusk ), the pirate king. In any case, upon my umpteenth viewing of the anime, it seems to me that what happens at the end is , because takkun also loves Haruko, he releases Atomsk who was riding him so that Haruko will lose him and have to chase him down again , rather than " turn him over " on a silver platter for Haruko , thus letting her use Takkun. This has always been the most confusing and ambiguous part , a very classic " gainax ending " - one in which the motives of the characters at the end are suddenly unclear as well as the final score as it were.