FLCL is a nonsensical anime that is either terrible or genius, I can’t tell and I don’t care. The very first scene depicts our protagonist walking in a pale dream like world as her hands fall off. Then she bumps into a large monster or creature and upon seeing it’s eye open, she transforms into a robot. FLCL is a series that requires multiple watches, your guaranteed to miss a lot and misunderstand even more. After our title character, Hidomi Hibajira wakes up to her phone alarm the first thing I notice was the music playing in her dream was also the same that played when her alarm went off. Does it matter? Is it connected? Maybe.
Another thing I noticed is that her mother come across as younger that she is. Hidomi barely seems to care too interact with her classmates and give monotone response to their hello’s. We are introduced to another character is introduced, Ide. He comes across as a bit of a “ladies man,” but I doubt it. Hidomi’s teacher is . . . well . . . odd. She asks the class to “repeat after me,” then tells them to “sit down,” even though they all sat down when she walked in the room. She begins to speak at a rapid monotone pace asking the “youth,” “what is the most important thing in the world.” She even calls them the “weakest links in our society,” and when one student answer “I don’t know,” she responds “correct.”
I had no idea what to make of this teacher, but kinda wish I had a teacher like her. However, then this teacher shows the students porn. Why? I guess we’ll find out. Of course at the end of the episode she turns out to be Haruko in disguise. We’re introduced to another character, Jinyu. She’s another odd character that wields a guitar. She runs Hidomi over with her car and then apologize to her mother for “not” killing her. Jinyu also reveals that Hidomi’s headphones aren’t actually playing music or anything else. Apparently she uses it to avoid conversation. She finally leaves as she warns Hidomi of “the girl on the vestba.”
Later that night Hidomi is attacked by a robot. The robot then throws up Ide. He tries to protect her but is knocked unconscious, Hidomi has flashes of her “dream,” and begins to release her powers as Haruko watches on. However, Jinyu saves them leaving Hidomi alone with her new red horn. This episode captures the very essence of the original FLCL, some might not like that but I find that there’s enough difference to make this sequel stand on it’s own. I didn’t get into Ide’s funny friends or Hidomi’s weird mother. This series never really makes sense at least not completely and weirdly enough that’s why I like it. FLCL maintains the visual style of the previous series, with bright colors. The animation is as fluid and wild as ever.
I’m interested in seeing where this is going, although I think Progressive is less intense than the original.
If FLCL is anything its interesting. Progressive seems to be tonally different from the original.