FLCL Progressive

This is my first review. Everything that was great about the original FLCL is here, but in a highly watered up version, to the point that it is more of a pointless drag, than something of substance. The original captured the late 90's, early 2000's zeitgeist. Purogure had the late 2010s and early 2020's to capture, but it failed miserably. Alternative rock is now underground (in the west), guitar music though making a resurgence through emo rap (in the west), is still far from the fame that it had 15 years ago (in the west).

Naota's generation, the Millenials have grown up, and it's Gen Z's time to shine. The problem is that Progressive tries to force those small generational nuances onto a different one. The messages in the original are timeless. When is it okay to let go of the inner child and grow up - and what to keep, sexuality, and familiar relations. But this still fricks it up somehow.

What progressive does is take the elements done so right in the original and contort it to the degree that it becomes style over substance. Music played a huge role in the original series. What FLCL 2 could have done, was use pop music, Drake and BTS songs rather than The Pillows'. Instead of guitars, use modified 808s as bats. Perhaps I am looking at the series with too western-centric eyes, since Rock or guitar driven music is still popular in Japan, as it was back in 2018.

The animation was average, except for a few shining moments. The color palette they worked with just isn't for my taste, everything looks shallow much like how Progressive felt. The animation reflects the soul of the series.

The humour is okay, there are funny parts. For example, Ko Ide slaving away at his part-time job.
The characters have basic MBTI personalities (though what to expect from 6 episodes), Hibajiri's evolution of character is inconsistent. She jumps around from being a Doomer pseudo-gamer, to a bubbly, borderline manic pixie girl, and then going back again to where she started. But teenagers, like me are similar. Jumping around from one thing to the next, trying on different acts & personalities, challenging the world or hiding from it. Is this inconsistency supposed to reflect that? I don't know.

There really isn't anything to be said about the main cast either. They are boring, all of them.

To be truthful, the anime is only 6 episodes, not much would be otherwise possible. The original however managed to do so much with it, that it did not need any more episodes. It had the perfect episode count. FLCL 2 however has too much. The crazy boxer hobo is okay, it depends on the person really, if he/she enjoys it.

What's interesting is that the original still resonates with today's youth and probably will for a long time, if not forever. Progressive doesn't even resonate with it's own generation.

There was potential, but they've ruined it.

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

Like Isayama the last arc of Attack on Titan

Progressive should have had the guts to not follow in FLCL's footsteps. Instead, it should have been original, careless and doing whatever it wanted. Like teenagers.

Would moody 808 hi-hats and Jimin's voice be weird for Fooly Cooly? Yeah. Would it be FLCL? Yes.