FLCL Progressive

Several years after the events of the original FLCL it returns for this series; set in the same town but with, mostly, new characters. Hidomi Hibajiri is a fourteen year old girl who always wears cat-eared headphones and has strange dreams is the new lead. Her life, and that of those around her are about to get strange when Haruko Haruhara returns to town on her Vespa.

I won't attempt to describe the plot; anybody who watched the original will know to expect the bizarre. I can understand why some viewers didn't enjoy this; at first I wasn't sure I would. Thankfully once I got to know the new characters I found myself enjoying it more and more. The story provides plenty of surreal moments, laughs and action. The animation might not be as good as many new series but I felt the style matched to original which for me was more important. Overall I found this to be a welcome return to the world of FLCL so would recommend it... as it is only six episodes long you won't waste much time if you don't like it.

These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

The original FLCL is one of my favorite anime of all time. There are a lot of things about this show that could be better, mainly when it comes to introducing new characters and making each episode have a big moment for the whole of the series (to me at least, every episode of the original had one big moment that immediately comes to mind). Having the pillows playing the music for the show definitely scores some serious points though. I knew going into this show that most of the old characters wouldn't be back, and while some of the new characters were not likable, I did feel some of the others grow with time. Overall, I liked it, but it wasn't a constant rewatchable classic like the original.

This show is very mediocre. The first FLCL is in my top favorite cartoons ever made list. It was simple, yet manic with well developed characters and an overarching story told subtly here and there with fluid animation and the soundtrack composed by the Pillows. A space opera mixed with a growing up story. It is a masterpiece.

By contrast, this sequel has dull and undeveloped characters with needless focus on side characters who are more interesting than the main characters, stiff and boring animation found in many generic cartoons, the Pillows soundtrack used sparingly instead of often, everything is told with little to nothing shown along with info dumps regarding Medical Mechanica and Atomsk with entire scenes explaining the backstory as though this was an audio book and not a cartoon, and is an overall disappointing sequel to a great cartoon from nearly 20 years prior. Even the return of Haruko fails to bring this series to life.

Most of the problems with Progressive I blame on hiring new directors, animators, and story writers instead of bringing back the old staff. These new people, from what I've observed and with the exception of one guy who worked on One-Punch Man, never worked on major projects before whereas the staff from the original series had extensive experience, esp. on cartoons such as Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Overall, this series feels like a cash-grab or, assuming Production I. G.'s intentions were truly benign, a misguided attempt at recreating FLCL without fully understanding what made that original series work. I doubt that the next FLCL series, Alternative, will be any better.

Where the original FLCL was something you either loved or hated, "Progressive" is a like an echo of the original.

While trying to reproduce and capture the original feel (and fans) of FLCL, "Progressive" fails, making it feel even more "less than" which is a shame considering the story, though a trope filled mess, has some originality and enjoyable points.

Taken on its own it's an interesting watch, but most will feel disappointed if they were expecting a true continuation of the joy and insanity found in the original.

Pro's:

• English Dubbing.
• "Some" of the art is higher quality, making it feel newer.
• Enjoyable and unusual story.

Con's:

• It's not FLCL, don't get your hopes up.
• Art quality dips at times.
• Much is the story is predicable.

My first reaction when I heard that they were bringing FLCL back was one of excitement, which quickly gave way to fear. It turned out to be exactly what I was worried about.

It's really difficult not to compare it to the original. It is a sequel nonetheless. In reality, there is no comparison. The original was incredibly unique, emotional, character-driven, well thought out, and had an amazing soundtrack. Progressive is none of those. It is very generic, bland, and lacking any kind of interesting characters or development. While The Pillows are back to provide most of the soundtrack, it is mostly reused from the original and their new tracks lack emotion, even just as background music.

The animation quality is pretty low and varies drastically from episode to episode. The voice acting is seriously lacking, but it's hard to tell if it's the acting or the crappy script. The story is confusing and boring at best. Much of this stems from the poor character development which is virtually nonexistent. I had absolutely zero emotional attachment to any of them and still do not understand what their motivations were at all.

It is clear that FLCL was meant to start and stop at a certain place for a reason. It was planned from the start to be a 6 episode mini-series. Progressive is only non-canonical filler and it feels just like that. It is virtually impossible to bring back this kind of show almost 20 years later and try to capture that same lightning in a bottle. For many people, the original series is up there with some of the best anime and they truly have fond memories of watching it for the first time. Progressive only cheapens that.

Honestly, I think if the next installment, Alternative, wasn't already made, it would have been cancelled after how seeing how bad Progressive turned out. Overall it is not the worst thing that I've ever seen, but it is most definitely on my list of most disappointing sequels and things that should never have been made. Completely unmemorable and forgettable.