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FLCL Progressive and Alternative | OT | Ride on Shooting Star Overhead

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Dark Knight

Dark Knight

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,252
RoyaleDuke said:
FLCL is art, timeless art, and if you are gonna make a sequel the least you can do is get a real animation budget and animators worth a damn.
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I actually completely agree with some of your points.

HOWEVER. I'm a pretty forgiving person in terms of the media I consume. Where others criticize I often enjoy.

I'm just happy to have it back. I'm happy this is a thing that exists. A studio is trying to honor an American fan-favorite and I'm more than happy to oblige, even if it falls far short of the original. I think we still need to see how it all unfolds before we can have a real sense of what this thing is in relation to the original series.
 
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Midramble

Midramble

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Oct 25, 2017
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I guess some people weren't able to temper their expectations before watching this.

If it bothers that much pretend it ain't cannon.
 
RoyaleDuke

RoyaleDuke

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Oct 26, 2017
1,397
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Dark Knight said:
I actually completely agree with some of your points.

HOWEVER. I'm a pretty forgiving person in terms of the media I consume. Where others criticize I often enjoy.

I'm just happy to have it back. I'm happy this is a thing that exists. A studio is trying to honor an American fan-favorite and I'm more than happy to oblige, even if it falls far short of the original. I think we still need to see how it all unfolds before we can have a real sense of what this thing is in relation to the original series.
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I'm glad you're happy man, but for a lot of people this Really just seems like FLCL only in name with some nostalgia factors.

I expected it to be terrible and it was for me personally but I'm glad some people can appreciate it.
 
grmltr

grmltr

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,747
LOVED ep 1

The thing I'd hoped for most was that the series had something to say (seen in both the "leaked" alternative and progressive eps). I fully look forward to the conversations around this series.
 
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OP
Dark Knight

Dark Knight

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Oct 25, 2017
19,252
RoyaleDuke said:
I'm glad you're happy man, but for a lot of people this Really just seems like FLCL only in name with some nostalgia factors.

I expected it to be terrible and it was for me personally but I'm glad some people can appreciate it.
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Are you going to continue watching it? which of the two series seems more promising, if at all, to you?
 
Midramble

Midramble

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Shauni said:
Much? Most of the reception is positive
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Meaning if it bothers individuals that much.

Even though it's the first episode, I like this new season. Still hits the themes apathy and (potentially) finally swinging the bat. The lore additions so far feel tasteful and are keeping me excited for what's to come.

Some people wanted 6 episodes of lightning in a bottle that the original was, but that was all coincidence. The original creators were just slapping things they liked together. They talk about it incomentaries. The fact that we loved it and it spoke to us was just cosmic chance.

Hell, I've yet to meet a japanese person that cares about this show.

I just expect it to add to lore, and if we are lucky will have some weight and style.
 
RoyaleDuke

RoyaleDuke

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Oct 26, 2017
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Dark Knight said:
Are you going to continue watching it? which of the two series seems more promising, if at all, to you?
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The second series has more appeal but it still seems like it suffers from some of the same flaws. I really wanted this to be good because I've been wrong about some stuff lately in regards to media(BR2049 being the big one). That I try to keep an open mind but I'm also kind of a creative person and I've always been good at interpreting things as a writer and author. So I tend to be picky as shit with what I consume and hyper critical, I love westworld but I hate the rich white mans version of "cowboy world" "samurai world" "imperial/colonial India under British rule world" or as I like to call it "temple of doom world". All three of these are varying degrees of romanticized history and white washing to fit the mighty whitey fantasy and continued inherently racist, imperialist and colonialist nature of these ideas. I understand cowboy world is also a gritty Sergio Leone fantasy but there are media out there that have handled that better, even the video game Red Dead Redemption.

It's an amazing show but I'm not above pointing out its faults.

Same with this show, I'll probably still watch it like I did with preacher just to finish it(I'm out in s3 of that show I thought s2 was the finish because it sucked).

Ugh I'm part of the problem. :x
 
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Ogodei

Ogodei

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Oct 25, 2017
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Yow, that opening sequence. I wonder if this'll be a running thing, of Hidomi dreaming of some future apocalypse.

Here you saw more of the spirit of the original shine through, like when those gangsters started speaking to Iide in Japanese for no reason.
 
RROCKMAN

RROCKMAN

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,810
Ok I'm 99% percent sure this is happing in america now


EDIT: 99.9 percent sure that FLCL progressive is set in america
 
Soma

Soma

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Oct 27, 2017
1,091
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i think i liked this episode?

it's starting to feel like it's trying to do it's own thing now rather than a complete retread of the first season which is nice. i don't feel as much of a connection with the characters as much as i'd like to and with the show now 1/3 of the way over that's kinda worrying.
 
PKthndr

PKthndr

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Oct 25, 2017
1,587
I liked this episode except for the action scene. The climax fell a little flat imo. The next time on makes the next ep look much better in the animation department so that's good.

Also episode 1 was fantastic so i'm still hopeful for the rest of Progressive.
 
Canti

Canti

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
61
The intro was interesting with her seeming to fantasize about dying until she remembered Hide. Unless we've timeskipped, Haruko seems to have implanted memories about the year they've had together into her students but I'm not sure why she's done that. Hide's economic woes were a bit on the nose compared to Mamimi and her bag of stale bread from the original, which leads me to the bluntness of Jinyu just coming out with the fact that the two are a part of each other and with what the device on Hidomi's head does. The show seems a bit less subtle than it could be.

I thought it was a better episode than the first one. I hope they develop Hidomi in the next episode because right now I'm really not a fan.
 
PKthndr

PKthndr

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Oct 25, 2017
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Canti said:
The intro was interesting with her seeming to fantasize about dying until she remembered Hide. Unless we've timeskipped, Haruko seems to have implanted memories about the year they've had together into her students but I'm not sure why she's done that. Hide's economic woes were a bit on the nose compared to Mamimi and her bag of stale bread from the original, which leads me to the bluntness of Jinyu just coming out with the fact that the two are a part of each other and with what the device on Hidomi's head does. The show seems a bit less subtle than it could be.

I thought it was a better episode than the first one. I hope they develop Hidomi in the next episode because right now I'm really not a fan.
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You could see at the end of the first episode that she was sort of hypnotizing them, so it is not a timeskip. Hidomi is even confused by there being a yearbook. Also in the yearbook scene all the photos they are looking at appear as photos to them but Hidomi sees what they actually are, crayon drawings. The students are hypnotized to see them as real photos. I believe Haruko's motive in hypnotizing them lies in her speech at the end of the first episode where she explains that she wants them to live wild and exciting adult lives instead of normal responsible ones, hence the crazy memories they've attained of doing impossible things.
 
GroovySnake

GroovySnake

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Jun 10, 2018
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FLCL is one of my favs, such a classic! And The Pillows are one of the best bands.

I look forward to giving these new ones a try, but for me it'll be in November it looks like. Since I feel the Japanese language track will help the feel of this, based on the trailers, at least for me. I do like some English dubs though.
 
daevious

daevious

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Oct 25, 2017
138
The fact that Hitomi's horn is literally released because of her libido is the most FLCL-thing possible and I love it.

So far, this has been a really enjoyable follow up. Not as good as the original, but I also don't hold that original in as high a regard as other people, so I'm perfectly OK with this show doing its own thing.
 
Shauni

Shauni

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Oct 25, 2017
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An interesting thing that jumped out about this episode,

Jinyu is really concerned about Hidomi both in the beginning of the episode and when she and Haruko fight, but in the first episode she didn't seem to care much about Hidomi. I mean she hits her with her car, and then says how it's "unfortunate" that she is going to live. It seems to be a big turnaround. I'm wondering if maybe there's a hint there at the overall plot. I feel like Haruko is acting somewhat different, too, though I can't place my finger on what exactly it is
 

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So far, I think they've done a great job with this. Both episodes were pretty solid.

I noticed that FLCL Progressive feels a lot moodier and darker than the original FLCL. It has a very macabre tone with it's violent imagery and blood.
 
Mary Celeste

Mary Celeste

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Oct 25, 2017
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really liking Progressive so far, my main problem is that the show seems to have a lot of issues with telling and not showing. the blatant exposition on Ide was a little much, as was "we're one being!" just too forced dialogue to explain something the audience could infer on their own.
 
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Dark Knight

Dark Knight

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^I agree, they're really hammering the point home as if we didn't get it from the first episode's credits sequence.

One of my problems so far is Haruko is slightly more annoying/grating with a lot less allure than in the original. The balance was perfect in FLCL 1.

I guess it could be intentional though if this is supposed to be some sort of lesser fragment of her usual whole. Her design almost looks different enough(seemingly flatter face, more peach-colored hair) that you could consider her a different character(Raharu vs. Haruko?) if the original Haruko-fragments-theory is true as we understand it. Hm.. What if Jinyu and Raharu were originally separate beings sometime before FLCL 1, which is why Amarao refers to her file photo as Haruhara Raharu(his original run-in with Haruko could have been this peach-haired woman who went by Raharu)? Perhaps Jinyu and Raharu fused to reach the same end, finally got Atomsk after FLCL, and he split them back into two because they each had different intentions for his power. Haruko in FLCL could have just been a temporary being that was a culmination of Jinyu and Raharu's best parts.
 
Gravidee

Gravidee

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Oct 28, 2017
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Not really liking what I'm seeing so far. The scenes just lack the energy and hyperactivity of the original. It's not just that though. The characters aren't really fun to watch either, and even Haruko seems like a hollow shell or an imitation of how she was presented in even the first two episodes of the original series. The big scene at the end with the transforming car was pretty 'meh', wasn't sure what was happening and didn't care that it was. At least in the original when you had scenes like that you actually felt something. Here, it's nothing, like Hidomi's character.
 

Fuu

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Oct 27, 2017
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Oh damn, I wasn't aware that the Japanese dub would take that long to come out.

I'm not a purist, but I'm from South America and watched the original in Japanese with subs back in the day, so I reeeeally don't feel like watching it dubbed in English. Sucks, but I'll wait.
 
RecRoulette

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Freebee Honey is probably my favorite Pillows song that's not in FLCL, so when I saw that was the title I was excited, had the biggest grin on my face when it kicked in.



Have to admit that I'm not really thinking too much about what is happening in each episode, just going with it.
 
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MonadL

MonadL

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Oct 25, 2017
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Akainu said:
Pretty meh. Hopefully it gets better. But this still seems like really unnecessary sequel.
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Have to agree. I don't even mind that it's different. I loved the original FLCL because it was fairly different from everything else. My main problem is that it just feels like any other anime released in the past five years wearing a FLCL skin.
 
BaconHat

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Oct 25, 2017
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Really liked the first two episodes so far. Kinda wondering if
Hidomi is suicidal or just a sadist, based on her dreams and getting nosebleeds from seeing iide in pain and/or close to dying.
RecRoulette said:
Freebee Honey is probably my favorite Pillows song that's not in FLCL, so when I saw that was the title I was excited, had the biggest grin on my face when it kicked in.



Have to admit that I'm not really thinking too much about what is happening in each episode, just going with it.
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Since you seem to the know the group songs, do you know if the tune playing at the end of episode 2 before the credits is already released, or if it was made for progressive?
 
Shauni

Shauni

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RecRoulette said:
Freebee Honey is probably my favorite Pillows song that's not in FLCL, so when I saw that was the title I was excited, had the biggest grin on my face when it kicked in.



Have to admit that I'm not really thinking too much about what is happening in each episode, just going with it.
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Yeah probably the best way. The story as a whole will become clearer as the show progresses like the original, although still a lot to think about.
 
RecRoulette

RecRoulette

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BaconHat said:
Really liked the first two episodes so far. Kinda wondering if
Hidomi is suicidal or just a sadist, based on her dreams and getting nosebleeds from seeing iide in pain and/or close to dying.

Since you seem to the know the group songs, do you know if the tune playing at the end of episode 2 before the credits is already released, or if it was made for progressive?
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Yeah, it's a remix of "The Sun That Will Not Rise", I don't know ALL of their music but the two songs in their episode were from the same album I had so I did recognize those.
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

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Oct 27, 2017
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The animation in this latest episode was really bad. Like random Naruto filler bad. I was on /a/ and say this as a possible reason
lYckSEO.png
 
Dimmle

Dimmle

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Oct 25, 2017
312
I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't bothered by the jarring animation dip in this episode. Who would have thought that a contest between two essentially-Harukos would look so static and lifeless? There was some good stuff in episode 2 but I'm still trying to rinse the taste of those action scenes from my mind. Additionally, one of FLCL's greatest strengths was its willingness to go off-model with reckless abandon; perhaps due to the digital animation tools being used here, even Haruko looks rather plain.

I did enjoy the post-apocalyptic nightmare sequence, the MM robot posing as another crossing guard, and the weird Japanese
speaking punk who beat on Ide (does he speak English in the Japanese track?). As someone else observed, the episode has a problem with telling instead of showing, and Ide's suffering is so heavy-handed compared to the extremely poignant plight of Mamimi in the original series.

Also: are we supposed to take Hidomi's nosebleeds as arousal, a trope used by original FLCL as well, or a reaction to trauma? Those are two very different bags of day old bread-- unless they're not...?
 
Shauni

Shauni

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Oct 25, 2017
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Dimmle said:
I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't bothered by the jarring animation dip in this episode. Who would have thought that a contest between two essentially-Harukos would look so static and lifeless? There was some good stuff in episode 2 but I'm still trying to rinse the taste of those action scenes from my mind. Additionally, one of FLCL's greatest strengths was its willingness to go off-model with reckless abandon; perhaps due to the digital animation tools being used here, even Haruko looks rather plain.

I did enjoy the post-apocalyptic nightmare sequence, the MM robot posing as another crossing guard, and the weird Japanese
speaking punk who beat on Ide (does he speak English in the Japanese track?). As someone else observed, the episode has a problem with telling instead of showing, and Ide's suffering is so heavy-handed compared to the extremely poignant plight of Mamimi in the original series.

Also: are we supposed to take Hidomi's nosebleeds as arousal, a trope used by original FLCL as well, or a reaction to trauma? Those are two very different bags of day old bread-- unless they're not...?
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Nosebleeds is a common thing in Japanese anime to signal arousal. If you pay attention to FLCL episode 4, you'll see this also happens to the female agents in the control room as well
 
Dimmle

Dimmle

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Oct 25, 2017
312
Shauni said:
Nosebleeds is a common thing in Japanese anime to signal arousal. If you pay attention to FLCL episode 4, you'll see this also happens to the female agents in the control room as well
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Yeah, I'm wondering if it's meant to be interpreted in the same way as in the original show or if it's more triggered by trauma. It's certainly not played as a gag here like in episode 4 of that show.
 
RadioHeadAche

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Oct 26, 2017
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Not really into Progressive so far. Alternative 1 was much more enjoyable to me than either of Progressive's two so far.
 
Jeb

Jeb

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Hated the second episode.

The animation was garbage and it wasn't very interesting to begin with.

Which is disappointing because I kinda liked the first ep.

Hope the next episode makes up for this one.
 
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