Mamimi Samejima (サメジマ・マミ美?, Samejima Mamimi) is a high school truant and Tasuku's ex-girlfriend. She is a lonely and depressed chain-smoker, and a pyromaniac. She adopts several pets and names them all "Ta-kun" (タッくん, Takkun) as a replacement for Naota's brother, including Naota himself, but later grows uninterested when Naota exhibits independence. Her name is written in Katakana in the manga panel scene, which suggests she is not entirely Japanese.
Profile
Mamimi is Tasuku's ex-girlfriend, though she has seemingly begun some sort of relationship with Naota since his brother left Japan. A truant, smoking, pyromaniacal 17-year-old high school student, she spends most of her time loitering under Mabase's largest bridge. She is often seen with a camera, photography being her principal hobby and greatest talent, and near-constantly smokes cigarettes with the words "Never Knows Best" written on them. In episode 3, it is hinted that her parents are separated or gone, suggesting that she is homeless or leaves her home to get away from something. She gets bullied by her peers and doesn't appear to have any friends.
Personality
Mamimi has the peculiar tendency to name people and things "Ta-kun" (sometimes spelled "Takkun"), after her personal nickname for Naota's brother and Naota himself. It is possible she does this because she is trying to replace the relationship and feelings she had with her ex-boyfriend, Tasuku. She holds an almost-quixotically weak grip on the difference between fantasy and reality. For example, she believes Canti to be the manifestation of Cantido, the Fire Starter video game god to whom she burns things as sacrifices. She also emanates an aura of benign vapidness that causes much of the cast to look upon her with disdain. Her speech suggests stupidity and her actions naïveté, such as when she believes (and continues to believe) that "Canti-sama" is a god based on the simple fact that he has wings. Mamimi can be seen as lacking control over her life or willpower, hence the near-constant smoking and child-like reliance on others, whether it's Naota or his brother, Tasuku. In fact, Mamimi can be exceedingly destructive - although only when nobody is watching. She is hinted at being the cause of many fires started under mysterious circumstances that become part of Mabase's rumor mill. Naota confirms this by connecting her love of Fire Starter and Cantido, sacrifices, and smoking to the burning down of her old school years ago. That was also the incident that started her obsession with Tasuku, who she recalls saving her in a very romanticized fashion.
Appearance
Mamimi has medium-length, reddish-brown hair, brown eyes and full, pouty lips. She seems to be always wearing her school uniform, but often loses her shoes when she gets bullied and is forced to go around barefoot. She carries around a light blue bag with a white cross on it.
Items
Mamimi's camera is an Olympus XA and the one object she keeps (or doesn't lose) throughout the whole series. The Olympus XA was a 35 mm rangefinder camera built by Olympus of Japan. It was one of the smallest rangefinder cameras ever made. It is small and light in weight, made with a protected lens for pockets. Mamimi's model, the XA2, is a scale focus camera with automatic shutter and a 35mm f3.5 lens.
Her second favorite possession would seem to be the handheld game console she uses to play the Firestarter video game. However, she is only shown using it in episode 2 and it is not seen again until it falls out of her pocket at a convenient time, confirming that she set her old school on fire to Naota. Presumably, she let Naota keep it instead of taking it back because she "didn't need it anymore".
A more precious object is her cell phone, which has Tasuku's phone number in it. She uses it to call Naota sometimes, but what she really wants is for Tasuku to call her. This is shown on episode 6 when she at first stops the Terminal Core from eating the phone, but seems to realize then that Tasuku will never call her and lets the robot eat it.
Relations
Naota
To Mamimi, Naota is little more than a plaything for her sexual frustrations. Usually, he finds her to be immature and can be quite harsh to her. Despite this, he develops a crush on her, but is confused about how to deal with it. When he finally realizes that Mamimi will never return his feelings, their relationship comes to a messy end.
Haruko
Mamimi and Haruko do not have much in the ways of interaction, but as Naota's personality changes because of Haruko, Mamimi finds herself liking him less and rejecting him more. While Mamimi never shows jealousy or anger toward Haruko directly, she cuts off all ties with Naota and leaves completely in the final episode, even though Haruko is gone.
Canti
Mamimi is convinced that Canti is an angel. She calls him "Canti-sama" after "The Lord of Black Flames" in a video game she plays, leading to the rest of the cast calling him by this title throughout the rest of the series.
Tasuku
Mamimi first met Tasuku when he saved her during the burning of their school, an event later revealed to be caused by Mamimi herself. The eldest Nandaba brother has clearly had the largest impact on Mamimi from the start of FLCL. From nicknaming everything "Ta-kun" to her closeness to Naota, Tasuku's leaving is the center of her world. She spends a majority of the series trying to replace him through intimacy with Naota, sacrifices, and pets. She believes herself to be his girlfriend, or at the very least his ex-girlfriend by circumstance, and is unaware of a photo sent to Naota that shows he has a girlfriend in America. She gives up on him in episode 6, demonstrated by the destroying of her cellphone with his number on screen and departure from Mabase.
Gallery
Trivia
- Mamimi’s English voice actor, Stephanie Sheh, is famous for her dubbing career, most notably for being the English voice actor of Hinata Hyūga in the Naruto series.
- The band Copneconic released an EP in 2015 titled "Never Knows Best", which got its title from Mamimi's cigarettes and uses her likeness in its art.
- She cameos in the FLCL Progressive ending cinematic.