I feel like FLCL is one of those series that likes to keep on reusing its ideas over and over and over again. It just never really improves or adapts. This one also decided to stack the deck against itself by going with a really low quality CGI approach and then reusing a ton of animation. I’m sure they saved a lot of money that way but with only 3 episodes it just feels like we don’t really accomplish a whole lot. This is a pretty bad title through and through so you’ll want to give it a hearty skip.

There are 3 main characters here and each one gets an episode. Now you may be thinking, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for a climax right? Well…yeah you’d definitely be right about that. Each episode tends to end in roughly the same way and the third one just expands a little extra onto that. That’s where all the recycled animation I mentioned earlier comes up. It’s a neat excuse to keep on showing the same scenes over and over again and I don’t think this was a good approach at all. I get the idea of showing different perspectives to introduce the characters but you can do that without reusing the animations. The latter just makes it look lazy.

The first episode is about Shinpachi. He’s basically your average kid and he helps his father out at the sushi restaurant. It’s not the most fulfilling work but he gives it his all and even commissioned a new blade from one of his friends. The blade doesn’t come out very well but it’s the thought that counts. One day the mayor walks in with a girl named Haruko who is basically going around causing a bunch of trouble for no real reason. That’s sort of what she does though so it’s not super surprising. She puts a virus in a nearby robot and has started to speed up the end of the world. Can Shinpachi figure out what’s going on and save everyone?

The plot is intentionally weird so if it sounds a bit odd, that’s just how it goes. Haruko is in theory a protagonist always trying to stop corporate but her methods are a bit extreme. Also you cut her less slack than some other main characters because it feels like she never ultimately accomplishes anything. Even in this show she gets a fight scene but beyond that the villains escaped once again so now she has to find another planet. Her adventure always feels like a very futile one and maybe she’s just messing around way too much.

Haruko tends to spend the majority of time flirting with any guy she comes into contact with and basically has no standards there. If she can make someone squeamish then she is all set. Definitely a sad character all the way through. Poor Shinpachi doesn’t really have much experience with girls so it is easy for her to mess with him. In FLCL you unlock your abilities after being flustered and stuff so then he gets the weird bump that turns into a robot. Again it’s all pretty odd stuff but not in an interesting way which is the massive problem.

Shinpachi ultimately is a decent main character at best. At least he tries to resist Haruko and keep going about his business. His business is important after all and he wants to help. His father is oddly quiet all the time though and for a minute there I thought he was a robot or something. So Shinpachi isn’t able to have as much of a conversation as he would like and has to figure things out on his own.

The second episode is about Shonari and he’s an alien made of rocks. His older brother and the rest of his society are heavily involved in gang warfare and criminal conduct so it’s been a tough environment for him to grow up in. He’s tried to keep his head down though and just be a nice guy. For the most part he’s pulled it off but then Haruko shows up to take over the gang and things get pretty hectic. Ultimately Shonari learns what it means to pick up a blade and destroy someone. He’s a nice enough guy but the episode doesn’t do much to really make the character interesting. Then the ending is basically a redo of the first episode so the actual episode isn’t massively interesting or anything like that.

Finally the third episode is about Orinoko and her quest to find some sharp materials to make the ultimate blade. She’s rather embarrassed at the quality of work she puts out due to not having good equipment. Even when Shinpachi asked for a blade she had to give him a cheap one. Well now it’s time to find the ultimate metal and the bonds she has forged will help her with that. Then we get to the end of the episode where the plots all converge and we get a rather weak climax. It all goes back to a rocket launch and how not everyone can leave the place. There is only 1 ticket and 3 main characters who need to get off the planet.

At least the ending does have a good friendship moment, that’s probably the only real complement I’ll give this title. It’s a wholesome ending with characters keeping a brave face even as they make a sacrifice. I’m always here for stuff like that because it’s just such a good moment. When you make a sacrifice you need to keep a brave face on because otherwise you’re basically guilt tripping the other character which doesn’t help anybody.

The soundtrack is definitely on the forgettable side. I can’t say that I really remember any of the tunes. It goes without saying that the visuals aren’t very good either. It’s some of the weakest CG I’ve seen in a while and I say that as someone who isn’t really a big fan of CG in the first place. The show needs to have a higher budget here. Granted it won’t matter much if the writing doesn’t step up either.

What FLCL needs to do is have more of a purpose. Right now it tends to be weird and eccentric just to show that it can. You can be weird in a cool way you just have to try for it and have the whole plot still be interesting. Focus less on Haruko hooking up with every character in the series and really dive into the fight against the government. Metallica seems like an interesting villain in theory but the show never really bothers to explain the plot much. Even here the plot is clearly just a backdrop to the character stories and those aren’t interesting so it doesn’t work out.

I dare say you could skip the first two episodes and you wouldn’t miss much since they all go to the same place anyway. Each episode gives you a little extra context into what’s going on but not a whole lot. So they’re nickel and diming you at every turn and you don’t have much of a payoff to show for it. At its core that is the real problem here. I’m even struggling with what else to talk about for this one so this is going to be a fairly short anime review. I suppose that makes sense with only 3 episodes and not having a ton of plot here. What we really need is a future season with a super confident main character who will resist Haruko’s advances and just take charge the whole time.

Overall, This is FLCL so I wasn’t expecting much but either way it was still no good. You desperately need better characters for a title like this to work out. There also can’t be so many animation shortcuts especially when CG is already starting you behind the 8 ball. There aren’t really many positives here but the worst part is really just that it’ll end up being rather boring by the end. It’s lucky that it was only 3 episodes long as it would probably be even more apparent if it was longer. Hopefully FLCL can rebound at some point because we’re 4 seasons in now and things are still being rough for it.

Overall 2/10