Actually, they’re not just making one sequel, but two. The late-night incarnation of Cartoon Network announced that it was helping create two more seasons — totaling 12 episode — of Gainax’s cult classic FLCL to air in late 2017 or early 2018.
If you don’t know FLCL (also known as Fooly Cooly), trying to explain it is tough. Funimation, which releases the original 2000 series in America, has a decent summary:
Naota is a detached sixth-grader afflicted by the pangs of puberty. He’s fooling around with his brother’s ex-girlfriend when a crazed girl on a motor scooter runs him over, brains him with a bass guitar, and moves into his house. She says she’s an alien, and hurls Naota into the middle of a mega-corporation’s secret agenda. And now giant battling robots shoot from his skull when he has naughty thoughts.
That is kind of the plot of FLCL, but it barely scratches the surface of what the anime is. It’s a coming-of-age story (that doesn’t shy away from puberty) that is as deeply personal as it is universal. It’s neither condescending nor naively idealistic about growing up, and yet it’s passionate and realistic and slightly tragic and real, which is extra impressive because it’s weird to the point of near insensibility. (There’s a guy who has seaweed for eyebrows.) And again, it is the coolest anime ever made.
FLCL is my favourite anime ever, and I have no idea how I feel about these sequels. There is a summary for them:
In the new season of FLCL, many years have passed since Naota and Haruhara Haruko shared their adventure together. Meanwhile, the war between the two entities known as Medical Mechanica and Fraternity rages across the galaxy. Enter Hidomi, a young teenaged girl who believes there is nothing amazing to expect from her average life, until one day when a new teacher named Haruko arrives at her school. Soon enough, Medical Mechanica is attacking her town and Hidomi discovers a secret within her that could save everyone, a secret that only Haruko can unlock.
But why did Haruko return to Earth? What happened to her Rickenbacker 4001 she left with Naota? And where did the human-type robot ‘Canti’ go?
Maybe it will be ok. Maybe it will be just as great as the original! But FLCL is one of those incredibly special things that shouldn’t work, but somehow does, and only because against all odds, everything came together in just the right way. I don’t know if Production I.G could have recaptured the magic in a second series in 2001, let alone 2017.
And now they’re making it with Production I.G instead of Gainax, and now an American company like Funimation is investing in it, and is going to have some requests, and I don’t even know if the original director and writer are coming back… I’m just worried that this is going to be a To Kill a Mockingbird/Go Set a Watchman situation. Not that I expect Hauko, the electric bass wielding alien girl to be a huge racist all of a sudden, but I wonder if I’m going to wish they just left this small masterpiece alone.
Comments
10 responses to “Adult Swim Is Making A Sequel To FLCL, The Coolest Anime Ever”
!!!
FLCL is my go to suggestion when people say they don’t know what anime they should watch.
FLCL is an all time favorite for me and I’m on the fence on this one. Like other greats, such as Bebop, I crave more but not if it lessens the overall experience.
Good luck, don’t screw it up.
The great thing about a good story is that at the end, you yearn for more despite knowing it’s ending.
The bad thing about American (and some Japanese) media companies is that they often satisfy that yearning by making a continual supply of bad sequels until you are completely sick of it…
After all the troll links over the years I’m still amazed this story is real.
Holy crap. Best and Worst thing ever. Terrified they’ll screw it up, but FLCL was amazing.
Somewhere in Japan, they smoked a lot of weed and thought doing another FLCL was a good idea…
Eh.. it was a cool anime, don’t get me wrong, but.. it wasn’t anything amazing and seems to be on a nostalgia/hype train more than anything, much like NGE and other similar shows. They may have been amazing for their time, but the worlds moved on and new, even more amazing have, and will continue to show up.
Still cool that there’s more of it though~
Hmm not sure how I feel. The initial reaction was of excitement… until learning that no one from the original will be involved. Studio I.G. is not bad (though not as good as it used to be) and I guess that with Gainax a shambling shell of its former self, it’s preferable… but Studio Trigger would have been a superior choice in every respect!
Time will tell.
FLCL doesn’t need a second season, it said all it needed to and then wrapped things up nicely at the end. I really don’t know how they could make the story not feel like a cheap attempt to appeal to fan’s nostalgia because the charm of FLCL is that it’s a singular event that impacts Naota’s life, changes him and then moves on. As it is, the synopsis is already hewing close to being a rehash of the story but with a new lead and a different setting.
If you could capture the charm and sheer random genius of the first series it would be amazing but I’m not expecting anything great from this.
i remember watching this as a kid and just going WTF!!!, but then being impatiently ready to watch the next episode.
My boy Noata better at least show up. If it is bad, they better at least let my boy show up.