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This Week in Anime - Whatever Happened to FLCL Alternative?

Beatdigga wrote:

I’d say people were skeptical about FLCL needing a sequel so when one came and proved the skeptics right with Progressive most people just shrugged their shoulders and ignored what was next. I mean, Williams Street was pumped for this (although they’ve also said in interviews if they got the opportunity they would fund and produce Cowboy Bebop II which would be like remaking The Godfather to a lot of fans) but really, was anyone else that desperate for more Fooly Cooly?

Isn't Cowboy Bebop II what Space Dandy was supposed to be?.

I view these two shows as similar cash grabbing nostalgia mining. Who was asking for a sequel to FLCL aside from Adult Swim producers who wanted to cash in on nostalgia? Isn't that also why they funded that Trigun movie awhile back? At least with Big O II they didn't wait 15 years and struck while the iron was still hot.

LvlfiveShipper wrote:

I didn't watch it because it was dubbed... Like, it's fine if you like dubs but not releasing both dubs and subs from the start makes me think that they didn't understand the fans

Toonami was going to stream the subbed version online as the dubbed was airing on TV, but the Japanese side of things demanded that they wait until both seasons were over.

Weird, I liked Progressive quite a bit more than Alternative. Felt like Alternative was just some lukewarm teenage melodrama, guest starring Just Vaguely FLCL.

Neither one is as good as the original, obviously, but I genuinely think Progressive is closer and is overall the better season. Definitely don't mind being in that minority.

I liked both seasons quite a bit, but on the whole I liked Progressive more. Mix of being more what I wanted out of it and spoiler[having an actual ending.]

Though I'd say I preferred Alternative's cast. I liked Hidomi more than Kana but on the whole Alternative's crew is a lot more interesting than the side characters in Progressive.

Lord Oink wrote:

I view these two shows as similar cash grabbing nostalgia mining. Who was asking for a sequel to FLCL aside from Adult Swim producers who wanted to cash in on nostalgia? Isn't that also why they funded that Trigun movie awhile back? At least with Big O II they didn't wait 15 years and struck while the iron was still hot.

Huh? When did Adult Swim fund a Trigun movie?

The Trigun movie that actually exists aired on the block like, once.

I didn't watch it because it was dubbed... Like, it's fine if you like dubs but not releasing both dubs and subs from the start makes me think that they didn't understand the fans

My guess is that Progressive's underwhelmingness killed most of the excitement for sequels, so that lot more people were indifferent when Alternative hit. In hindsight, they really should have aired it first as it was a good series and worthy follow-up that deserves more praise.

Pets is still a hypocritcal b word.

With that said, I enjoyed Alternative more because they actually had great characters that both the original and Progressive lacked that isn't just Haruko. Naota just whined a lot and they had no idea how to write Hidomi, and as someone who cares more for characters than plot, it worked...it's just a shame they had to derail Pets with now payoff for her. Sure it worked for Kana, but again...it's gonna make people instantly go against Pets for how she didn't just leave Kana, but the REST of her friends, and no, I still am bothered by this, and I won't shut up about it.

In terms of Alternative, I think it's kind of crazy that we got an FLCL sequel where the people make seem to have made a lot of the right decisions, especially after Progressive where they made so many of the wrong ones. I don't want to imagine an alternate universe where we only got Progressive. Focusing on a completely different type of coming of age story was such a good idea. Having Haruko more in the background was a good idea. Being less crazy than the original was a good idea. There's a lot of good ideas there. I'm sure many FLCL fans think that we could make a better sequel than Progressive. With Alternative, I'm personally not sure I could do better.

The popularity aspect is definitely interesting. There was a palpable sense of buzz when these projects were first announced, and when the trailers were first shown. Even on April Fools when they showed Alternative in Japanese, it seemed like there were a lot of twitter reactions. But the moment Progressive started, everyone (well, the ones who didn't before) realized that this project was kind of a fool's errand. And really stopped caring. Which is surprising. The rationale behind almost every hollow sequel or reboot that comes out these days is, there's a built-in audience. And there always is, no matter how bad the thing is, the fans of the original will watch it. If that doesn't happen it's very rare, the studio would have to really piss off the fans like they did with a certain Paul Feig film. FLCL is one of the most beloved animes in the USA and yet, this built-in audience did not turn up. Anime fans seem like they would be especially willing to go for something like this, yet they didn't. Is it because this was more of a TV event than an internet one??
Or did they just not want a sequel THAT MUCH?

So Toonami showrunner/FLCL sequel producer Jacon DeMarco has confirmed that Alternative is a "loose prequel" to the other two shows, and that Haruko ended up on Mars at the end. The rest is left up to interpretation.

Soon after a new poster of FLCL Progressive/Alternative was released in Japan, the scriptwriter Iwai claimed on his twitter "I wrote for it, but already there are a lot of dialogues I have never seen ;-("「書いたはずだが、すでに知らないセリフ山ほど言っとる…涙　やられたか…」

It may mean that the dialogues are changed from the script, while he doesn’t know.



And Shintani risponded immediately, "We make up our mind to work hard on the project to create something new, and at that time you are already not there. I didn't give up until the last minute. You don't have the right to say that, and it's not the right time to say that. Very disappointed at him."「私達現場の人間がそれなりの覚悟を持って新しいものを産み出そうとしていたときにすでにあなたはいなかったでしょ、私は最後まであがいたよ。貴方にそれを言う資格はないし、言うタイミングでもない。アニメだろうと演劇だろうと脚本家の持つ責任は変わらないと思う。なんてがっかりな奴だ。」



She continues "I have so much regrets. I wrote those feelings in a long sentence like 30 thousand characters long, and delete it again and again. But all of those words would be gauche. So, I will continue to try hard to act in Anime and theater! That's all."「あまりの悔しさに3万字くらい書いては消してるけど　何を書いても野暮になるので　とりあえず　私はアニメも演劇もちゃんと頑張るし楽しむよ！　以上。」



Sorry, my english is poor, and don't know if my translation is accurate. The original tweets are already deleted.

As you know, the original series of FLCL was made by Director Tsurumaki, Scriptwriter Enokido, Characterdesigner Sadamoto. These three are the CORE member of FLCL, and I think it's impossible to make an sequel without them.

I haven't watch Progressive and Alternative yet, and was nervous for the new director Motohiro and his ex-favorite actor Iwai. Iwai originally wasn’t a Anime's writer, but an actor.

I know there are many actors that succeed as writers, but I had doubts about Iwai's abilities on Anime. FLCL Progressive/Alternative was his first Anime script. Before, he have never worked on Anime project.

And then, these tweets comes out few hours ago.

Anyway, I hope Progressive and Alternative are good. In Japan, they are going on theaters both in September...