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Character Designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Rock Band The Pillows to Return for FLCL Sequel Series

Anime News Network's Anime Expo 2016 news coverage sponsored by Yen Press.

Production I.G vice president and producer Maki Terashima-Furuta announced at the FLCL 2 panel at Anime Expo on Sunday that the first series' original character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto will return to design the characters for the sequel. Terashima-Furuta additionally announced at the panel that Japanese rock band The Pillows will also return from the first season to handle the music for the sequel, and Psycho-Pass anime and film's chief director Katsuyuki Motohiro will supervise the series.

Sadamoto also previously served as the character designer for Neon Genesis Evangelion, many of the entries in the .hack franchise, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water, and the two Attack on Titan live-action films, among other projects.

The Pillows has also performed music for BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad and Moonlight Mile.

Adult Swim's Jason DeMarco, as well as original FLCL creator Kazuya Tsurumaki and Haruko's voice actress Mayumi Shintani were also in attendance at the panel.

Adult Swim's Toonami block announced in March that it will co-produce 12 new episodes of FLCL with Production I.G. The 12 episodes will be a sequel to the 2000-2001 original video anime, and will be split into two seasons. The show is slated for late 2017 to early 2018.

Adult Swim describes the new seasons' story:

In the new season of FLCL, many years have passed since Naota and Haruhara Haruko shared their adventure together. Meanwhile, the war between the two entities known as Medical Mechanica and Fraternity rages across the galaxy. Enter Hidomi, a young teenaged girl who believes there is nothing amazing to expect from her average life, until one day when a new teacher named Haruko arrives at her school. Soon enough, Medical Mechanica is attacking her town and Hidomi discovers a secret within her that could save everyone, a secret that only Haruko can unlock.

But why did Haruko return to Earth? What happened to her Rickenbacker 4001 she left with Naota? And where did the human-type robot ‘Canti’ go?

Production I.G announced in August that it had acquired the rights to the FLCL anime, and mentioned it would use the rights for a "new anime remake" and other ventures.

Synch-Point and later Funimation have released the anime in North America. The anime was the first directorial effort from Kazuya Tsurumaki, who served as assistant director on the Neon Genesis Evangelion television anime and would go on to direct the new Evangelion films.