FLCL. Just your average Slice Of Life.

Eh. The ending credits song in Progressive, or at least the transition to it is way better if you ask me. The music in general I enjoy more. Alt-rock? Indie? Whatever it is, I'm glad the Pillows came back to make it.

I prefer Spiky Seeds over Star Overhead, but I think the visuals for Alternative's ED are better.

Finally watched both Progressive and Alternative. Preferred Progressive, but Alternative did have the better ending. It almost felt like Progressive was building up to basically the exact same ending as the original (Hitomi absorbs Atomsk, easily fights off Haruka, then Atomsk leaves), but then they realized they couldn't do that and half-assed a different ending. I'm probably not being fair. I definitely did like it overall, though.

Alternative suffered from being a bit too slow. Even the giant robot fights were kind of underwhelming. It also had some Values Dissonance in how Japanese people treat graduating from high school, interfering in the lives of your friends, and so on. Pets being annoyed that Kana didn't know anything that she was going through despite the fact that Pets had been lying to her was especially odd. But yeah, the ending was awesome. Was I the only one who thought that Kana was Atomsk? Not that she had consumed him, but that he had incarnated as a human to experience life, which is why she didn't really have any dreams of her own? Just the way the symbol appeared on her forehead and her hair changed color seemed very different from whenever anyone else was channeling Atomsk's power.

According to our pages, Word of God is that these were both prequels to the original, which takes place on the Martian colony. Does anyone have a source for that? It would explain why Naota and Ninamori didn't show up, at least.

You mean BOTH take place on Mars??

I don't have the Word of God, just what's on our page. They seem to say that Progressive and Alternative are on Earth, but Classic was on Mars some time later.

The original was going to take place on mars, but that idea was scrapped. Alt dealing with mars was just a Development Gag to that.

What was up with the pins?

People use pins to hold cloth down so it doesn't move when you iron it.

..... oh. I thought it was just those Google Maps pins. Just a funny shout-out to modern tech.

Really interesting discussion about FLCL Alternative.

I am slightly disappointed Haruka didn't stab everyone in the back this time. I was expecting it and thought it would be extra brutal.

There may be some evidence that Alternative is a prequel at least. Did Haruko actually drive the Vespa outside the last episode? I only remember her driving it then. The bike was usually seen outside the shop, even during Kana's opening monolgue in the first episode, before Haruko appeared in town. And the way the shop owner acted in the last episode when Haruko had the bike seemed to imply it was his and Haruko stole it. Not to mention both Haruko and the Vespa were the only ones that actually entered the portal while everything else faded to white. Maybe they were sent to the planet at the other end of the portal or went into a different timeline? I saw the reairing of the first episode on Toonami, and that got me to thinking about this.

This simultaneously explains everything and nothing.

So Alternative is a loose prequel. That helps. Somewhat. Still a confusing ending.

I think I'll ignore that. I liked that Haruko had gotten over Adamsk and progressed into a much less antagonistic character, and making Alternative a prequel just makes that whole thing a bummer.

I kinda already knew it was a prequel instead of a sequel. I did not know what extent that reached.

Looks like the trope page is also going to need some work done. I believe it treats Alternative as a sequal.

Alternative, done.

• Is the Spiky Seeds song from Progressive playing in the final scene supposed to mean something?
• I had a dream the night before watching this that the final episode involved flashbacks of Naota, and Mammimi running in a crowd of people having started some kind of cult with Nurse Haruko infiltrating the ranks (possibly to use Mamimi's NO), and then somewhere during the episode Simon from Gurren Lagann showed up and motivated Naota to use his NO like Spiral Energy. Then I woke up, watched the actual Episode 6, and discovered that reality is significantly overrated.
• Man the running theme of Progressive and Alternative seems to be "in with a bang, out with a whimper."
• Maybe watching teenagers unlock cosmic gateways as metaphors for their approaching adulthood and underlying emotional issues just isn't as much fun now as it was back then.
• Seeing Haruko regularly smash robots like it was Tuesday is kind of how I feel about this show overall. It's like a Post-Script Season.
• We got a final shot of Haruko on some alien planet and... that's it.

Well, all in all it succeeded. I haven't the foggiest what happened. Kanu resolved her insecurities about friendship and the gradual loss of it. Haruko still didn't get what she wanted and seemed even less obsessed with Atomsk than usual. Hidodmi and Naota just faffed off in another part of town and lived their lives without ever encountering any strangeness.

I always wondered why Haruko always seemed like she never made it into the "anime hall of fame" compared to characters like Yusuke Urameshi, Ryuko Matoi, or Saber. Now I kind of know why. She's a wild, vivacious personality playing second fiddle to some relatively normal children, every time. Every time Alternative spent time on Kana's friends I was more interested in what Haruko was doing. But the show's always reminding me that NO NO NO YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THESE KIDS AND THEIR BORING LIVES NOT THE CRAZY ADULTEROUS SPACE ALIEN CHICK.

• So... Kana > Hidomi > Naota?

Naota could summon and fuse with the Pirate King. But then Hidomi could... it's been awhile what did she do again? She was fighting with Haruko in some kind of berserk state, and her access to NO seemed more reliable than Ide's and even Naota's. Then Kana comes along with this "Naked Focal Point" that apparently nearly destroys space-time? And I'm reading the wiki just for a review of what that is and apparently this made the sky pink, which I didn't notice because I was paying more attention to how blue-balled I felt by all of this, and it's mixing with some distant spoilers I remember about Alternative being a prequel to Season 1.

Which I really hope aren't true because making Stealth Prequel's to explain stuff that doesn't really need to be explained is getting really old. (cough) Metal Gear Solid Phantom Pain and Bioshock Infinite (cough). I'm not sure if Alternative gave any insight into "season 1" at all, if that is in fact the case.

• I didn't find too many notable or memorable moments in Alternative besides the first episode, and how they started the intro song like halfway through the episode. Also, Haruko having a relatively normal conversation with someone, actually sitting down and having a drink with a person she seems to respect instead of like with Kamon or Jinyu - was kind of interesting.
• Progressive was a better experience for me because I didn't know what to expect and it put Haruko into a different dynamic (having somebody wise to her antics right from the beginning, the perspective flip with Haruko doing her thing with Ide off-screen). Alternative felt like more of the same. What was that argument from before - one feels like a fanfic, and the other feels like continuation?
• I wonder what the odds of a Season 4 are.

Edited by Soble on Oct 3rd 2019 at 5:22:35 AM

Funny you should ask.

Before I elaborate, here's a thought: how do you guys like grunge rock?

Because in 2023, FLCL IS BACK AGAIN!

This is FLCL: Grunge!

EDIT: Wait, no! I lied! There's gonna be FLCL: Grunge and FLCL: Shoegaze!

...Shoegaze?

(*looks it up*)

Oh, it's another type of rock music. Who would've thunk it?

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Mar 17th 2022 at 2:19:15 PM

Based on the production studio and director for FLCL: Shoegaze, that one will most likely be be 2D.

The two new “FLCL” seasons are titled “FLCL: Grunge” and “FLCL: Shoegaze,” both of which are currently in production. “Grunge” is directed by Hitoshi Takekiyo and animated by MontBlanc Pictures. “Shoegaze” is directed by Yutaka Uemura and animated by Production I.G x NUT (FLCL Alternative, Deca-Dence).

“What better time to announce two new seasons of ‘FLCL’ and ‘Housing Complex C’ than on our 25th anniversary,” said Jason De Marco, creative director of Toonami and senior vice president of action and anime for Warner Media. “Adult Swim’s ongoing commitment to support Toonami with new original series is something anime fans can celebrate every day.”

Edited by XMenMutant22 on Mar 17th 2022 at 2:25:09 PM

1) I wish Big O would get that third season.

2) I think they need to stop with FLCL.

3) On the other hand after that weird ending Alternative got I feel like I need some proper conclusion to that mess.

The trailer for FLCL: Grunge has been released:

So Amarao's back, Kari Wahlgren collecting that well deserved paycheck, and I still have no idea what on earth is going on but at least the setting seems to acknowledge that Mabase is built on top of a Hellmouth now.

Edited by FOFD on Jul 24th 2023 at 11:16:51 AM

Why the totally different animation style, though?

I'unno.