History Anime / FLCLProgressiveAndAlternative

* DarkerAndEdgier: While still retaining the comedic antics, ''Progressive'' starts off with Hidomi in a destroyed city when her body begins [[BodyHorror rotting and falling apart bloodily.]] Along with that, some aspects; such as Hidomi getting hit by a car and Iide getting injured by a robotic machine, are taken seriously. [[spoiler: There's also the first on-screen death of a named character in the form of Haruko devouring and forcibly recombining with Jinyu.]]
** Also, the final episode is rated TV-MA, compared to the TV-14 that consistently carried throughout its run, though only because of Haruko using the phrase "cockblocking".

The series is followed up by ''FLCL: Grunge,'' which is set to debut on Sept. 9th, 2023.

%%* XRayOfPain: At one point, Hidomi's headphones drill into her skull to prevent removal. This is shown with an X-ray effect that shows even her [[BeyondTheImpossible skull wincing in pain]].

* XRayOfPain: At one point, Hidomi's headphones drill into her skull to prevent removal. This is shown with an X-ray effect that shows even her [[BeyondTheImpossible skull wincing in pain]].

** In the BeachEpisode, at one point, [[ADateWithRosiePalms Hidomi grasps at her breasts and short skirt]].
** ...same episode: Iide charges into a room and stumbles upon what effectively amounts to a bondage situation. His response: the anime standard nose bleed? No, no, no... a glob of... slime... erupts from his... head. Its tentacle attacks are even less subtle. Its probably not that much of a coincidence that Haruko ends up taking control of it.

And, once again, it's pronounced "Fooly Cooly", [[NoPronunciationGuide not "Eff-ell-see-ell" or "Flee Klee"]].

* AprilFoolsDay: For Adult Swim's 2018 April Fools' Day gag, Toonami aired the first episode [[UpToEleven in Japanese with English subtitles]], ''five months'' before it was supposed to air.[[note]]All the other anime shown on Toonami after 12 AM EST that night ran in subtitled Japanese as well.[[/note]]

** Episode 5 of ''Alternative'': Pets has gone missing. [[spoiler: Turns out because YouNeverAsked, Kana was oblivious to Pets' crappy and abusive household life, just as the girl is about to be sent to Mars. And then when trying to rescue Pets from a Terminal Core, Pets lays into Kana with a RantInducingSlight, leaving the episode off on ambiguous circumstances as shit prepares to really hit the fan.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: The WhamEpisode of Episode 5. [[spoiler: Throughout the previous episodes, Kana had been forcing herself into her friend's personal lives with the goal of helping them. It's pretty transparent to the audience that she's really motivated by rather selfish desires and a skewed perception of how a friend should be, and that she doesn't actually seem to really know much about her friends beyond the surface level ideas she's labeled them with. In most comedic [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age stories]], this would just be a quirky character trait brushed under the rug. Instead, when Kana tells Pets that friends shouldn't keep secrets from each other while the latter is under a lot of stress in the middle of that episode's monster situation, Pets breaks down crying and goes into a RantInducingSlight pointing out just how self-absorbed and selfish Kana actually is, and ends by saying she regrets ever befriending her.]]
* DelayedReaction: In episode 3, after Mossan ends up in the infirmary due to overwork, Haruko tells the girls to strip. They strip Mossan, and then themselves, when Haruko clarifies she meant them and only wonder afterwards why they had to get naked too.

* PantyShot: After a case of MagicSkirt all first episode long for the cast, Kana's is lost the moment the pin drops and her skirt is flown all over in the chaos.

* AdultFear: Hidomi's mother freaks out when she sees Hidomi get hit by a car... but after the driver (Jinyu) talks to them and Hidomi is mostly unharmed, Hidomi's mother comments almost starry-eyed that the driver seems like a cool person.

** Goro shows up at school wearing what he calls a unisex outfit, which includes a DangerouslyShortSkirt. Iide begs him to please stop showing his underwear.

And, once again, it's [[ItIsPronouncedTroPay pronounced "Fooly Cooly"]], [[NoPronunciationGuide not "Eff-ell-see-ell" or "Flee Klee"]].

** [[spoiler: Haruko and Hidomi start off NotSoDifferent, both of them wanting something they're unable to obtain: Haruko wanting Atomsk and Hidomi wanting her father to return. While Hidomi eventually learns to move on, however, Haruko refuses to learn from her second rejection and continues to chase after Atomsk.]]

-->'''Hidomi''': In the end you're [[NotSoDifferent no different from the rest of them.]] It's all because you like that weird bird, am I right? How stupid! You're just a girl in love!

* AnAesop: Being young at heart is fine as you grow older and enter into the rigors of adulthood, but you still should be aware of your surrondings and how it affects people.

* OneHundredEight: In the second episode, Mossan told the others that 108 guys confess their love for Hijiri, with Tomomi saying that number is unlucky.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Hidomi's response to Haruko's last attempt on her power, in the finale, leads up to the end of her character arc.
--> '''Haruko''': If you want something that you don't have, you must hand over what you do have. That's called balance.
-->'''Hidomi''': You're making a deal? That isn't really appropriate for a teacher.\\
'''Haruko''': This is the last thing I'll teach you. You just have to give your power to me.\\
'''Hidomi''': Is that your final answer?\\
'''Haruko''': You're responsible for your own responses.\\
'''Hidomi''': Despite what you may think, I have learned. It's time to stop acting childish. And that's why... ''I'm just going to take it.''

* MusicalThemeNaming: Both seasons are titled after a different type of rock music, [[ProgressiveRock Progressive]] and [[AlternativeRock Alternative]] respectively.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Despite having failed again at capturing Atmosk, Haruko leaves Earth to give it another shot, parting ways with Hidomi and Ide.]]

** The opening sequence is depicted in a style akin to traditional oil paintings and ink caligraphy.

** [[spoiler:Jinyu]] was literally consumed by [[spoiler:Haruko]] at the end of episode 4. She gets expelled, along with [[spoiler:Atomsk's power]], at the climax of episode 6.

* GenkiGirl: Hidomi turns into one in episode 4 as a direct result of [[spoiler:Her headphones locking into her skull at the end of episode 3]]. [[spoiler:The headphones are receiving bizarre radio waves from Medical Mechanica]], which is causing her to act that way.

* CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel: Official word is that ''Alternative'' was originally designed to be a prequel, but there's nothing in the series itself that confirms one way or the other. The series features smart phones, flatscreen televisions, space travel, and other more modern concepts that didn't exist in the original FLCL. .

* GoldDigger: Hirji mentions in the first episode that she wants to marry rich, like to a famous rapper. The other girls immediately compare her to Creator/KimKardashian.

** As mentioned in the CallBack section, how well characters can handle spicy food being reflective of their maturity makes a comeback. Pets and Mossan can handle them just fine, Kana can't, Hijiri is clearly affects but tries to play it off as if it's no big deal (reflecting how she's immature at heart), while Tsukata plays around with the metaphor by accidentally pouring an entire pepper shaker worth of spices on his food, but forcing himself to eat the whole thing anyway to prove how mature he is, even though it makes him look far ''less'' mature.

''FLCL: Alternative'' features the 17-year-old Kana, a teenager who fully ascribes to GrowingUpSucks, and whose worry about the impending responsibilities of adulthood are interrupted when a mecha falls from the sky, along with a 19-year-old Haruko. Soon, Kana and her friends find themselves being pulled into the alien's chaotic orbit.

In the United States, ''Progressive'' premiered on [adult swim]'s Creator/{{Toonami}} block on June 2, 2018; ''Alternative'' followed on September 8 of the same year. You can watch the trailer [[https://twitter.com/FLCL_USA/status/976127680746868737 here]]. In Japan, both series were presented as films and released in theaters in September 2018.

** Episode 5 of ''Alternative'': Pets has gone missing. [[spoiler: Turns out because YouNeverAsked, Kana was oblivious to Pets' crappy and implied abusive household life, just as the girl is about to be sent to Mars. And then when trying to rescue Pets from a Terminal Core, Pets lays into Kana with a RantInducingSlight, leaving the episode off on ambiguous circumstances as shit prepares to really hit the fan.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: The WhamEpisode of episode 5. [[spoiler: Throughout the past three episodes, Kana had been forcing herself into her friend's personal lives with rather selfish intentions and a skewed perception of how a friend should be without bothering to know any of her friends in-depth, on top of being super angry about Haruko flirting with Sasaki only to not bother dating him because she couldn't feel a real romantic spark for him on impulse. In most comedic SliceOfLife series, this would just be a quirky character trait brushed under the rug; instead, Kana telling Pets that friends shouldn't keep secrets from eachother while the latter is massively stessed out and in danger, causes Pets to break into a RantInducingSlight pointing out just how messed up it is to work on ProtagonistCenteredMorality and just how self-absorbed a person must be to treat friendship as revolving around oneself.]]

* HiddenDisdainReveal: Episode 5 has [[spoiler:Pets do this to Kana, before giving a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that deconstructs Kana's actions throughout the previous episodes as being motivated more by a selfish need to maintain her own ego and worldview than any sense of altruism]].

''FLCL Progressive'' and ''Alternative''[[note]](Previously known as simply ''FLCL 2'' and ''FLCL 3'')[[/note]] are the {{sequel series}} to the 2000-2001 Japanese {{OVA}} series ''Anime/{{FLCL}}''. The new seasons were commissioned by Creator/AdultSwim and produced by Creator/ProductionIG, which had co-produced the original OVA with Creator/StudioGainax. Character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto returned for the production, with original series director Kazuya Tsurumaki supervising the project alongside Katsuyuki Motohiro (''Anime/PsychoPass''). Japanese rock band "The Pillows" also returned to contribute songs to the soundtracks.

''FLCL: Progressive'' focuses on the 14-year-old classmates Hidomi and Ide, as two alien beings--one of them a familiar 16-year-old woman riding a Vespa scooter--battle over control of the pair's latent powers.

''FLCL: Alternative'' features the 17-year-old ordinary high-schooler Kana. One day, a mecha falls from the sky, along with a 19-year-old Haruko, who has designs on Atomsk. Kana and her friends find themselves being pulled in to Haruko's chaotic orbit.

In the U.S., ''Progressive'' premiered on [adult swim]'s Creator/{{Toonami}} block on June 2, 2018; ''Alternative'' followed on September 8 of the same year. You can see the trailer [[https://twitter.com/FLCL_USA/status/976127680746868737 here]]. In Japan, both series were presented as films and released in theaters in September 2018.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_inline_p5oj2wy1nk1tgfdew_1280.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Madness returned in 2018. LUNCH TIIIIIMMEEEE!!!]]

''FLCL Progressive'' and ''Alternative''[[note]]Previously known as simply ''FLCL 2'' and ''FLCL 3''[[/note]] are the sequel series to 2000's ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' produced by Creator/ProductionIG and Creator/AdultSwim after the sale of the series by Creator/StudioGainax in September 2015. A large number of the original series' staff members return for the sequels, including director Kazuya Tsurumaki and designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Music/ThePillows also return to provide the soundtracks.

* TwoDCartoonThreeDEffects: Any vehicle that isn't the classic Vespa ends up rendered in CG.

* CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel: Official word is that ''Alternative'' was originally designed to be a prequel, but there's nothing in the series itself that confirms one way or the other. The series features smart phones, flatscreen televisions, space travel, and other more modern concepts that didn't exist in the original FLCL. There's also the continuity issue of Haruko being 19 in ''Alternative''; she was 14 in the 2000 OVA and 16 in ''Progressive''.