Never Knows Best is the hand-scrawled phrase on Mamimi Samejima’s cigarette in the first episode of the anime FLCL. The show never explains it directly, so the line works as a mood piece that tells you about Mamimi: a drifting teen who uses rituals and aesthetics to cope.
Where it comes from
FLCL often drops English phrases as visual motifs. This one feels like something found, not authored, which fits Mamimi’s in-between state. It is less a sentence to parse and more a symbol that colors how you see her.
Why it sticks
Because it is undefined, people project meaning onto it. The words suggest uncertainty, defiance, and a fear of choosing wrong. It captures the push and pull between wanting guidance and rejecting anyone who claims to know what is best for you.
Popular readings
- Never as self-sabotage
If you never try, you never fail, but you also never grow. The phrase reads like a warning against the safety of inaction. - Never as anti-authority
It can be a side-eye at rules and advice. No one outside you truly knows best, so you must own your choices. - Never as purposeful nonsense
FLCL uses fragmented English for texture. The ungrammatical feel mirrors adolescence: intense, sincere, not yet fully formed.
Cultural afterlife
The line shows up in later FLCL media, fan art, and merch. A tiny prop became a shared emblem of teenage limbo and the ache of not knowing.
A practical takeaway
No one fully knows what is best for you, and staying in never will not move you forward. When indecision hits, notice the pull to avoid, then take one small step.
