FLCL: Progressive Or FLCL: Regressive

Home , Feel (animation studio), FLCL, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Pillows, Toonami

Degree Thesis Bachelor’s level (First cycle)

The FLCL Sequel Through the Perspective of the Fans

Author: Erik Strandman Supervisor: Herbert Jonsson Examiner: Hiroko Inose Subject/main field of study: Japanese Studies Course code: GJP23Y Higher education credits: 15 Date of examination: 2021-01-15

At Dalarna University it is possible to publish the student thesis in full text in DiVA. The publishing is Open Access, which means the work will be freely accessible to read and download on the internet. This will significantly increase the dissemination and visibility of the student thesis. Open Access is becoming the standard route for spreading scientific and academic information on the internet. Dalarna University recommends that both researchers as well as students publish their work Open Access. I give my/we give our consent for full text publishing (freely accessible on the internet, Open Access):

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Dalarna University – SE-791 88 Falun – Phone +4623-77 80 00 Abstract

The 2001 Anime, FLCL (Fooly Cooly) by Studio Gainax garnered a large following when released. A coming-of-age themed story accompanied with inventive animation and rock music by the Japanese rock band, The Pillows. A true passion project by the series’ director, Kazuya Tsurumaki. 17 years later, Production I.G, the studio that co-created FLCL alongside Studio Gainax released two sequels, FLCL: Progressive and FLCL: Alternative. Embarrassing, generic, boring, are just a few of the words commonly used to describe these sequels by its audience. The aim of this paper is focused on the first sequel, FLCL: Progressive, to figure out why such a large portion of the FLCL fanbase did not enjoy it. By utilizing the reader-response theory and analyzing reviews from FLCL: Progressive and categorizing the responses this research paper gives an insight to the FLCL fanbase’s thoughts of the series and comparisons to the original. Table of Contents

1 Introduction ...... 1 2 Background ...... 2 2.1 Overview ...... 2 2.2 FLCL ...... 2 2.3 FLCL: Progressive ...... 3 3. Previous Research ...... 4 3.1 FLCL ...... 4 3.2 Fan Criticism ...... 6 3.3 Reader-Response Theory ...... 7 4 Theories, Method, and Material ...... 8 4.1 Theory ...... 8 4.2 Method ...... 10 4.3 Material ...... 11 5 Results & Analysis ...... 12 5.1 Story ...... 12 5.2 Characters ...... 16 5.3 Art/Animation ...... 20 5.4 Sound ...... 22 6 Discussion ...... 24 7 Conclusion ...... 26 References ...... 27 Bibliography ...... 27 Filmography ...... 27 Online Sources ...... 28 Non-Academic Sources ...... 28 Review List: ...... 28

List of Tables Table 1. Total number of reviews and coverage for each category ...... 11 Table 2. Number of discussions regarding story...... 12 Table 3. Number of discussions regarding characters...... 16 Table 4. Number of discussions regarding art & animation...... 20 Table 5. Number of discussions regarding sound...... 22 Acknowledgements

I wish to show my gratitude to my supervisor and professor, Herbert Jonsson, whom over the duration of this course have provided me with much valuable support and feedback that helped me shape both research question, methodology and ultimately the final result of this project.

I would also like to thank the rest of the lecturers that have guided me during my time at Dalarna University, Hiroko Inose, Mariya Aida Niendorf, Masako Hayakawa Thor, and again Herbert Jonsson for the outstanding performance in education.

Lastly, I would also like to pay special regards to my parents for supporting me and pushing me to achieve my goals. 1

1 Introduction

After the massive success of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Kazuya Tsurumaki at Studio Gainax took on a passion project and directed Fooly Cooly (or FLCL for short). This six-episode OVA1 became massively popular and garnered a cult following. At first viewing the series can be perceived as pure chaos. The animation switches back and forth between different styles, even copying other animated series such as South Park at times. The plot is hard to follow and the visuals on screen is not helping you to understand what is going on either. Robots sprouting from people’s heads, and chainsaw-like bass guitars being used as weapons to defeat said robots. But behind all the craziness going on there is a coming-of-age story about a young boy who is struggling to act his age. 17 years after its release, Production I.G., the studio that co-created the original FLCL, made an announcement that together with the American streaming website, Adult Swim, they will be releasing a second and a third season of FLCL called FLCL: Progressive and FLCL: Alternative. With a new lead studio, new directors, and a new production team, the fans were skeptical but hopeful. And so, in the autumn of 2018 the two sequels were released, but the fan response was rather poor. It is not uncommon that sequels and remakes of old classics do not live up to the originals. This research focuses on the FLCL fanbase regarding this phenomenon. Why is FLCL: Progressive not as well received as the original? Utilizing the reader-response theory and analyzing reviews from FLCL: Progressive, this thesis offers an insight to what the FLCL fanbase thinks of the franchise’s first sequel. What parts about it were appreciated as well as what parts about it were less appreciated.

1 Original Video Animation. A Japanese animated series released for home video formats prior to having a televised or theatrical release. 2

2 Background 2.1 Overview

The original FLCL was released in Japan from 2000-2001 as a six-episode OVA. Produced by Studio Gainax, the same studio that made the massively popular Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-1996) and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, who was the assistant director for the Evangelion project. Screenwriter for the series was Youji Enokido who also served as screenwriter for Neon Genesis Evangelion. The series was also co-produced by Production I.G. and music licensed by King Records. Outside of Japan however, the series was not released until 2003 when the American nighttime television network, Adult Swim, picked it up. This caused the series to garner a noticeable audience. Over the years the series would continue to air on Toonami2 as well as being available for stream on Adult Swim’s and Funimation’s3 websites.

In 2018 a second and a third season was released with a total of twelve new episodes produced by Production I.G, Toho, and Adult Swim. The new seasons, FLCL: Progressive and FLCL: Alternative were written by Hideto Iwai and had Katsuyuki Motohiro as lead director with Kazuya Tsurumaki acting as supervisor for the project. Uncommonly, both FLCL: Progressive and Alternative were released on Adult Swim’s website with an English dub before it was released in Japan with its Japanese dub. The sequels did not perform as well as the original as many fans were disappointed or did not agree with the direction they were going.

2.2 FLCL

The original FLCL revolves around 12-year-old Naota Nandaba. Naota lives in the town of Mabase, a mostly normal Japanese town, except for the giant iron shaped building discharging large amounts of smoke from time to time. Naota spends most of his free time with Mamimi Samejima, a 17-year-old girl. She is also the ex-girlfriend of Naota’s older brother who moved to the US to become a professional baseball player. Naota’s mundane daily life is one day interrupted when he gets hit by a speeding vespa. The person riding the vespa is Haruhara Haruko, a pink haired alien woman who proceeds to hit Naota over the head with her bass- guitar. This causes a horn to grow from Naota’s head. This horn acts as a “NO-channel” to

2 An Adult Swim-owned late night television programming block. 3 Streaming website specialized in Japanese animation. 3 teleport things from one place to another. In school Naota hides this horn by pushing it back in and putting a band aid over it to cover it. Later, Naota’s head starts to hurt as the horn grows bigger and eventually sprouts two robots that climbs out and starts fighting. Haruko shows up and ends the fight with a blow to one of the robots with her bass-guitar. The other robot, which Mamimi names Canti, becomes a cleaner at the Nandaba household while also acting as a guardian to Naota in times of crisis. Haruko reveals that she is on earth to save a godlike creature named Atomsk that has been captured by Medical Mechanica. The Medical Mechanica headquarters being the giant iron shaped building in the center of the town and are the ones creating the robots Haruko and Canti fights throughout the series (FLCL, 2001).

2.3 FLCL: Progressive

FLCL: Progressive also takes place in the same township of Mabase, but several years later. It is never revealed exactly how long has passed since the events of the original. This time we follow the 14-year-old girl, Hidomi Hibajiri, who lives together with her mother that runs a café in the same building where they live. Hidomi keeps mostly to herself and shuts herself out from everyone she meets. She has a very nihilistic outlook on life stating she just wants the world to end so everything can start over. The reason for this is later revealed being due to her father leaving Hidomi and her mom behind in Mabase. One day when Hidomi helps her mother close the café for the day, a speeding vantage car hits Hidomi. The woman riding the car is Julia Jinyu, a woman of the same alien species as Haruko. When Hidomi regains consciousness, she warns her of the woman riding a vespa before she rides off into the distance. Haruko later shows up disguised as a new teacher at Hidomi’s school wreaking havoc on everyone’s lives again in her pursuit to re-capture Atomsk. Jinyu’s purpose is to stop Haruko and set Atomsk free which causes a three-way war between Medical Mechanica, Haruko and Jinyu. Hidomi and her classmates gets caught up in this war as Haruko needs their potential “NO channels” in her pursuit, while Jinyu tries to protect them from Haruko’s ways (FLCL: Progressive, 2018). 4

3. Previous Research 3.1 FLCL

Regarding the FLCL franchise, little research has been done on the subject. However, the research that has been done usually covers the themes, the meanings, the symbolism, and character analyses of the series. ‘I Like You’ Desire for an Alien Other in FLCL by Satoko Kakihara (2017) gives a background on the characters of the series as well as giving a possible explanation to why FLCL have such a lack of academic research done in that it may be due to the complicated plot. However, the main focus is on how the original FLCL represents the relationship between Japan and the US in both story and characters. Kakihara does this by comparing it the “Cool Japan” ideology. “Cool Japan” is an initiative by the Japanese government to market Japan to the rest of the world. This is done by showing cultural highlights to spark an interest in Japanese culture and products. This ideology therefore embodies being wanted by an “Other”. Kakihara compares Naota, an emasculated male to an emasculated Japan and Haruko, to an “Other”. Afterall, she is a pink-haired girl riding an Italian vespa, carrying an American bass guitar as well as being a literal alien. Kakihara also argues that not only did story and characters follow this ideology but the production and release of the anime turned out to do this as well. This due to the series having such an unexpectedly large impact outside Japan too.

The Robots from Takkun’s Head: Cyborg Adolescence by Brian Ruh (2006) gives us an in- depth analysis about the sexual aspects of the coming-of-age theme in FLCL and discussing what part the robots took in this. After being struck in the head by Haruko’s bass guitar Naota grows a horn on his forehead which he pushed back in and hides with a bandage. This according to Ruh is symbolism of Naota suppressing the sexual feelings caused by Haruko. It is from these horns; the different robots emerge from later. While Haruko being the trigger for Naota’s sexual development, the robots and the guitars of the series is what is carrying the sexual meaning. One example is the guitar pulled from Naota’s head causing onlooking females getting a nosebleed, i.e., being sexually aroused. While when Haruko pulls one out from one of the supporting [adult] character’s head she berates him for being “tiny as usual” and that Naota’s “was manlier”. Canti, during times of danger, absorbs Naota to become more powerful. This causes Canti to turn from a blue color to red, as well as a distorted version of the character for adult (大人) to appear on the screen of its TV shaped head. Later, when the crisis is resolved Naota is shown expelled from Canti being completely drained of energy. This being a symbolism of Naota’s relationship with adulthood. 5

The essay also covers a couple of the series’ many pop-culture references to other anime, manga, movies or TV series as well as drawing parallels between FLCL and other mainstream films such as the 1983 Videodrome. Furthermore, Ruh gives a short background to the story of FLCL, a background on robots in other pieces of Japanese pop-culture as well as the series’ success and controversies in the US.

While not being an academic paper, “My hugeass FLCL research paper” by the user “stanteau” (2003) posted on animesuperhero.com offers an in-depth character study of all the major characters. In the same way as Ruh, the author also covers the symbolism, sexuality aspects, postmodernism, and the coming-of-age themes. The author writes that one of the most prominent symbolisms used are the ones connected to baseball as that was the reason for Naota’s brother leaving for America. Even though Naota has no interest in baseball he always carries around a baseball bat. Canti is seen being very skilled at baseball as well as becoming a substitute for Naota’s brother throughout the series. Canti also becomes a substitute for Mamimi, the ex-girlfriend, as he takes care of her and she sees him as a god, much like her old relationship with Naota’s brother. Naota must also “swing the bat” as he saves Mabase from a falling satellite in the shape of a baseball when he in facts swings a guitar. Guitars in FLCL is also a prominent symbolism used for one’s soul or inner strength. In the climax of the series Naota merges with Atomsk and manages to pull out two guitars which later fuses into a single guitar with two necks symbolizing Atomsk’s immense power. On the contrary when Haruko tries to pull out a guitar from one of the supporting characters all she gets is a tiny guitar shaped object. The postmodernism in FLCL consists of two things according to the author. That being self- reference/self-reflection and parodies. In the first episode we can see a “behind the scenes” sequence where the characters discuss the details of doing slow motion scenes with Haruko explaining to Mamimi that you must hold your breath during the shot. FLCL also has two manga sequence scenes. The second time it happens one of the characters breaks out from the manga and stops the scene saying that these scenes are too expensive and time consuming for the production team to keep doing. Some of the parodies in FLCL include Neon Genesis Evangelion, which also happens to be a series made by Gainax. Daicon IV, also a series produced by Gainax. “Bullet Time”, an effect popularized from the 1999 The Matrix. And South Park, an American animated series. 6

3.2 Fan Criticism

While there was not any research of fan criticism regarding FLCL to be found, bigger franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings have had more activity. The first two articles discuss how criticism was handled by the Harry Potter and Star Wars fandom. And the third article compare the difference in fan criticism of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

Disappointing Fans: Fandom, Fiction Theory, And the Death of the Author by Lesley Goodman (2015) discusses fan backlash to poor writing or writing that contradicts the fan interpretation of the media. She uses the popular book series Harry Potter and its fandom as an example for this research and discusses how fans rewrite parts of the books to make them fit more into the fan’s version of what is canon as a form of criticism. Goodman also discusses the fan reactions to the epilogue of the last book which many fans was displeased with, as well as the retcon of Dumbledore’s sexuality.

The Star Wars Franchise, Fan Edits, and Lucasfilm by Forrest Phillips (2012) focuses on fan edits of original works. Specifically, the Star Wars movies in this case. The biggest example that is made in the article is Episode 1, The Phantom Menace where a fan had edited out certain scenes in order to make this “George Lucas film, more George Lucas-like”. This included cutting scenes with certain characters such as Anakin Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks as they were just there to sell toys according to the editor.

Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and participatory fandom: mapping new congruencies between the internet and media entertainment culture by Elana Shefrin (2007) goes in depths into the production of the widely successful movies by Peter Jackson and George Lucas. What is relevant to this project is the section about the relationship between the fandom and the directors. George Lucas received quite a bit of backlash from the Star Wars fans for the prequels saying he should have listened more to his fans, but Lucas argued that his movies will always cater to the 12-year-old audience. The Lord of the Rings films that was released around the same time as the Star Wars prequels had a much more positive fan reaction. Shefrin argues that the reason for Jackson’s success could be due to his close relationship with Tolkien’s online fanbase when directing the movies. 7

3.3 Reader-Response Theory

Cyber Literature: A Reader – Writer Interactivity by Fathu Rahman uses the reader-response theory to find different forms of reader response online, find the pros and cons of the interaction between reader and writer on social media, and finding out the reason for the reader to respond. Rahman does this through analyzing groups on Facebook focusing on poetry and the responses the literature received. The author chose poetry as the source of study due to the prevalent interaction between the writer and the reader. They also carried out a questionnaire to students if they read cyber literature and why. This questionnaire also included if the reader usually responds or react to the writers’ piece. This study deals with a large number of subjects as 257 students answered the questionnaire. They first got to answer if they read cyber literature and what they think of it to where 63% answered that they do, 36% answered that they do not and 1% had insufficient answers. The 63% that answered that they do read cyber literature then got to answer to what extent they interact with it i.e., comments and reacts to where 71% answered that they do give a response through commenting. Rahman concludes that cyber literature on social media is a double-edged sword in that it is very accessible in that it is available to anyone and allows for interaction between writer and reader but also allows for cases such as cyberbullying, spreading false information and provoking. Even though the goal of the study is different from my own the method used is very similar to the one used for the present research paper. Collecting data about interaction of a piece of media in large quantities is something very relevant to both studies and can be used to achieve different results.

The social reader-response theory is often used in classrooms to analyze children’s reactions and ways of interpreting literature. “The Soldiers Came to the House”: Young Children’s Response to The Color of Home by Julia Hope (2018) and Reader-Response to Dr.Seuss: Middle School Students and Social Issues by Susan M. Cobb (1992) are two examples of this. While both their method and aim are very different from this research these are included here for subsistence. 8

4 Theories, Method, and Material

4.1 Theory

This thesis centers around the reader-response theory. Rather than focusing on the literature itself, a reader’s response focuses on how that piece of literature was perceived by its audience. The idea behind the reader-response theory is therefore that the audience’s subjective opinions take an active role in a piece of literature’s existence. And because one’s life experiences, upbringing and expectation affect the way one consumes literature, no two people will ever experience the same piece of literature the same way. This means the audience’s subjective opinions can vastly differ from each other but still be just as valid. However, this does not mean that the person responding cannot be wrong as their response is open for criticism from others. There are five sub-theories in the reader-response theory. These are the Transactional, Subjective, Psychological, Affective Stylistics and Social theory. (Tyson, 2006, p.169-173) (A Research Guide for Students, n.d.).

The transactional theory analyzes the transaction between the readers’ subjective opinion and the intended meaning of the text as both are just as important (Tyson, 2006, p.173).

Subjective theory focuses completely on the readers subjective opinion and that the authors intention of the text has no meaning (Tyson, 2006, p.178).

The psychological theory is about analyzing the reader’s response and interpretation and use that as basis to analyze the reader, not how they perceived the literature (Tyson, 2006, p.178).

Affective stylistics theory is about closely analyzing a text to see how to the stylistics affects the reader over the course of what is being read (Tyson, 2006, p.175).

The social theory, and the focus for this thesis, commonly associated with Stanley Fish as it is a continuation of his previous work, the “interpretive communities” theory. Fish argued that whether you are aware of it or not you belong to a “community” that interpret a piece of literature in a certain way. A “community” is a group of people who share a similar strategy to interpreting literature. Depending on the location and what kind of literature is being read the strategy of the reader will change. For example, reading a religious text in a church will cause the reader to try to find another meaning in the text than reading an academic paper in a college (Tyson, 2006, p.185). Not only do the assumptions and surroundings affect what strategy one will use as they read 9 but also personal history and way of thought. Hans Robert Jauss argued that because we as people develop and evolve, so does our interpretation strategies. Therefore, not only does the history of literature matter but the history of the reader being just as crucial to the literature itself. Because the perception of a piece of literature is constantly changing as the readers evolve the literature is evolving alongside with them (Creating literary analysis, 2012, p.300- 302). For example, a very common theme in anime is following the life of a high-school student. A person born and raised in Japan that has attended a Japanese high school will relate differently to certain events in that anime than that of a person born and raised outside of Japan. Therefore, you could put this audience in two different “communities”. The Japanese audience and the non-Japanese audience. And these two communities will have different interpretations of the anime due to this. The community that is the focus of this thesis are the people who are fans of the original FLCL and have watched at least the first sequel, FLCL: Progressive. 10

4.2 Method

To analyze the FLCL fanbase, reviews from FLCL: Progressive have been collected. Reviews stating that they have not watched or are not fans of the original have been excluded for the purpose of this study. These reviews have been analyzed and placed into four different categories depending on their contents. The categories are story, characters, art/animation, and sound. These are the four most common categories reviews tend to discuss. Reviews covering all four topics are used in all categories. Each review is listed in the reference section and includes the username of the author, which year it was posted, the given score (if any), and the source of where it was posted. Because scoring varies from person to person, one cannot determine if a review is positive or negative by that alone. On that account, the content of the review is the primary source when determining if the rating is a negative or a positive. If none or little to no context is given 1-5 is considered a negative score and 6-10 is considered a positive score. After placed into the categories the criticism is analyzed and compared to criticism within the same category. The arguments for why each reviewer did or did not like the sequel are then analyzed to give an overview of the given criticism. This is similar to Rahman’s (2017) study where he analyzed a large number of comments of interactions between the writer and reader of poetry online. Rahman also carried out a questionnaire to ask questions directly to students. While this method differs from the present study the questions that are relevant to this project are already answered in the form of the collected reviews. Rahman’s study was not to find out why or why not students read cyber literature but why they do or do not respond. That is where the major difference in these studies lie. Because this study is to find out why FLCL: Progressive were not that well received, the categories are used to pinpoint what about the series the audience did and did not enjoy. The quotes from the Japanese reviews featured in the results have been translated with the help of a native Japanese speaker to convey the meaning of the quote as accurately as possible. 11

4.3 Material

A total of 49 reviews have been collected. The websites used for this were MyAnimeList, IMDb, YouTube and Eiga.com. MyAnimeList is an online forum hosting both an anime and manga community as well as a database, discussion boards, review boards and rating systems. Users can create lists, write recommendations and reviews, write blogs, and sign up for newsletters about anime or manga of their choice. IMDb or Internet Movie Database is as the name suggests is a database containing information about movies and TV-series. While the website is American and focuses mostly on English speaking content the site also offers information in French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and German. Here you can find information about production, cast and crew, trivia, as well as both user and critic reviews. YouTube is an online video sharing platform where users can view, comment, rate, and upload videos. YouTube also has features such as subscribing which allows users to be notified when certain users upload new videos and playlists which allows users to put videos of their choice into a list that is then saved on their profile. Eiga.com is a Japanese database for movies and TV-series. The website contains of information about a movie’s or TV-series’ production, cast and crew as well as interviews, news updates, and critic and user reviews. The website also offers services such as finding and booking shows at theatres. Because the quantity of reviews they have been selected by sorting “by most helpful”. This means the readers of said review found the author’s insight of value. In the case of YouTube, the videos have been sorted by most relevant. And in the case of Eiga.com that did not have a sorting function, reviews were selected by the amount of criticism given as well as by the community response. The total amount of reviews for each category can be seen in the table below. And as mentioned before, reviews have been analyzed for every topic they covered.

Table 1. Total number of reviews and coverage for each category

Platform Total Story Character Art/Animation Sound 49 35 33 25 28 My Anime List 26 22 23 16 16 IMDb 11 6 4 4 5 Eiga.com 8 3 4 2 4 YouTube 4 4 2 3 3 12

5 Results & Analysis

5.1 Story There were three different topics of discussion in the reviews covering story. These were comparisons to the original & nostalgia, discussions about themes, meanings, & symbolism, and discussions about production & writing. There were two reviews that consisted of a brief summary without any insight to the reviewer’s thoughts. These have been placed in the “Others” category.

Table 2. Number of discussions regarding story.

Total Positive Negative

Comparisons to the original & nostalgia 18 6 12

Discussing themes, meanings, & symbolism 7 3 4

Discussing production & writing 22 7 15

Other 2 0 2

Out of the reviews discussing comparisons to the original the strongest criticism against it seems to be that it relies too much on the original and fails to become its own series due to this. There are so many callbacks and references to the original that is there just to feed into the nostalgia and because of it becomes more distracting than entertaining.

The personality of the show comes off as a straight attempt to replicate the chaotic tone of Haruko’s presence from the original FLCL series (VoidTheDark) The fundamental problem with FLCL Progressive is that it is more FLCL than the original FLCL (Phaetons_Folly) Why does Ide wear a bandage on his forehead? Because Naota did in the original. Why do characters talk so much about “overflowing”? Because Mamimi used that term in the original. Why is the robot Canti here? Because he was in the original. Why is Haruko back on Earth trying to break Atomsk out of Medical Mechanica's facilities AGAIN? You know why. (WhiteWolfKiba)

Another heavily criticized point is how Progressive’s story relied on explaining concepts from the original such as N.O., Medical Mechanica, and Haruko’s origin, which is argued to have no meaning in the first place. Tackling these issues took away from what could have been a good FLCL story. One argument stated that the team behind FLCL: Progressive completely misinterpreted the original due to their attempt to try to explain these concepts, as that was not 13 the focus. Another argument compared the narration between the main characters of the original and Progressive: Naota’s narration was flawed by design because it was from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy, while Hidomi’s narrations in Progressive just worked as to give the audience exposition and further information. Further stating it comes off as lazy writing.

The real origins of Haruko and her Progressive counterpart, Jinyu, are not only stupid, but also somewhat contradictory to FLCL 1 and raise some questions the original was never equipped to answer. (CodeBlazeFate) Progressive's obsession with mythology is the reverse of the effect that the writers wanted to emulate. (bitchassdarius) It focuses so much on plot elements of the original which literally no one gave a fuck about and most people barely understood because they didn’t fucking matter. (Digi) I feel like there was a lack of focus that definitely impacted my enjoyment of this season. (_Austin) Hidomi's narration is artificial, rarely utilized, and mostly in the service of reminding the audience of what the shows fears they may not have picked up on. (NatureJay)

However, some were happy that the story explained these concepts and in turn made the story more straight-forward and easy to understand. And because of that it works not only as a sequel but also as its own series.

I Thought it got its weird story across better than the original did. (blazeisachicken) The story is structurally similar to FLCL if not thematically. Yet the show works on its own merits (SpikeykoaLa)

There were also fans content with the story not being the best because that is not what FLCL is to them. They were fine with the nostalgia being used to deliver the craziness, the action and the overall FLCL feeling and that is exactly what they got.

[Like in the original] The story is just there to show off the incredible animation and listen to an incredible soundtrack. (IcoOfSeele) Nothing else really has FLCL’s brand of bombastic, artsy, psychosexual, adolescent madness. (The Pedantic Romantic)

Reviews discussing themes, meanings, and symbolisms criticized the series for doing a poor job executing these themes as most of the time they have little to no impact. Being a FLCL sequel, it was expected to be filled with metaphors and symbolisms, but it is argued that at times it seems like the series itself have a hard time knowing what is metaphorical and what is not. User Digi made an example of this from episode two where he explains the scene where the audience is introduced to Ide’s life outside of school.

[Ide] lives in a third world shantytown where he works a literal slave, pulling junk cars by rope while some guy whips him. At this point my brain twisted into a pretzel trying 14

to figure out if this was meant to be literal or metaphorical (Digi) One of Progressive's biggest problems is its lack of nuance. It feels rather artificial and shallow because of how much it clocks you over the head with them, preferring style over substance (deli_) The crazy shit is no longer there to accentuate the intimate character moments, it's there to REPLACE the character moments and to distract you from the fact you don't care about anything that's happening. (Dontcome)

Some reviews argues that it is all about what mindset you have when you go in. Meaning that after all it is a FLCL story. It is not going to make sense and it is all up for one’s own interpretation.

It only means as much as you let it mean something. (Sheller) I was told about going into this was "understand that it's all a metaphor and listen more than watch." I'm glad I was told that because it made me go in with a different mindset. (Caninse)

The Cartoon Cipher on YouTube have a very interesting theory in that the entirety of FLCL: Progressive is a meta-commentary to the original and how creating a sequel that could surpass it would be impossible. In this case, Haruko representing the producers trying to recapture Atomsk. And Atomsk in this case representing the love for the original. Doing this by using Hidomi, Ide, and everyone else in her way, reflecting how the studio uses the nostalgia of the fans to create a sequel. In episode 5, Ide is fighting Haruko in a pointless endeavor to stop her antics. According to The Cartoon Cipher, this could be a real-time commentary on how the fans trying to stop the studio and the producers before the series is even over.

Like comparisons to the original, production and writing is also heavily discussed in these reviews which gives a lot of similar arguments as well. Fans argue that the writing of the story was poorly handled, and the story’s direction were all over the place and often overshadowed by the visuals on screen. Here too, we see a similar argument to before that the story does not have to be so unambiguous by overexplaining the plot elements.

I am not sure what the opposite of "solid" is in English, but I don't even have to thanks to this anime being the perfect representation of it. (Karhu) Why and try and make the story consistent, FLCL was meant to make no sense and have fun, you didn't have to be smart. (Gw-96232) I remember all the theories about this sequel floating around online based on concept art and some animation snippets, and the interesting thing is nobody really got anything right. Not because Progressive defies expectations, but because it completely falls in line with them. (Dontcome) 15

We also see arguments such as disappointment in that the sequel is not actually a sequel to the original story but a completely new story in a new setting. There were many questions at the end of the original that was left unanswered regarding Haruko and the guitar she left behind, Mamimi and her passion for photography, Naota’s brother and his life in America, and of course Naota and his future.

FLCL gave us such a story and then left us hanging in the end, so when the progressive and alternative was announced we were all under the impression that Naota would return trying to express his pre-adolescent love... but instead they abandoned that storyline (Stevehswiderski)

On the contrary however, there are fans such as Boristein, IrishAnimeMan, and The Pedantic Romantic that thinks the new storyline was well written and provided everything a FLCL sequel needed. Exploring a FLCL story from a girl’s point of view dealing with issues such as teenage love, depression, and anxiety, made for a very interesting plot. There were arguments saying that most of the things people complained about being poorly made, such as plot, character motivations and clarifications of old concepts, was all intentional in the spirit of the franchise

It's a purposefully weird and unique show. (Boristein) On its own, the plot is pretty solid. It takes some interesting directions and it add elements that not only enhances the original themes of the series but also makes way for new ideas. (IrishAnimeMan) Getting to do a FLCL exploration of adolescence but from the girl’s side of things this time was really cool. (The Pedantic Romantic) 16

5.2 Characters As seen previously in Table 1, a total of 33 reviews discussed characters. The discussions have been split up by the four major characters of the series, Hidomi, Ide, Haruko and Jinyu. Individual side characters did not see any major discussions and have therefore been grouped as a single category. The “Others” category consists of reviews not mentioning any specific character and not giving any specific reason to their thoughts.

Table 3. Number of discussions regarding characters.

Total Positive Negative Hidomi 23 10 13 Ide 15 7 8 Haruko 13 4 9 Jinyu 10 6 4 Side characters 7 3 4 Other 9 6 3

The most discussed character throughout the collected reviews is the main character Hidomi. And often paired with her love interest Ide. These fans argues that Ide feels more like the main character rather than Hidomi due to her being uninteresting, her lack of will to act, and complete absence of chemistry with the rest of the cast. There are also arguments saying that Hidomi is not fit to be a main character because she does not face any problems, while other characters, such as Ide, do.

Ide acts infinitely more like an active protagonist than Hidomi ever does. (CodeBlazeFate) Ko Ide is the character who would traditionally have been the protagonist. (Phaetons_Folly) The main characters worries are very lacking compared to the old FLCL which made the story feel very unsatisfactory.4 (しばもんた) She has no genuine problems and looks like she could be a fashion model, but for some reason she's apparently drowning in nondescript existential malaise. (Dontcome)

Others arguing that these characters are underutilized and not as developed as they could have been. This making them feel lackluster, boring, and unlikable. Some arguing that the characters have potential to be interesting but that the poor narrative or the studio’s lack of initiative prevents that from happening.

4 Original quote: 主人公の悩みが、旧フリクリほど拗れていないのも、ストーリーに物足りなさを感じさせるところでした 17

It was hard to cheer for Hibajiri [Hidomi] because she is a very aloof character and our other main character, Ide, doesn't seem very consistent. (thesmore) Hidomi is a nothing character. There is nothing consistent to her other than having a secret want to reset the world for particularly incongruous and asinine reasons. (CodeBlazeFate) [Hidomi] Does not even say good morning to her mother which helps little to make this character likeable and the show spends remaining time attempting to convince us to like this walking corpse of a character. (ZingFrelancer) Hidomi Hibajiri and Ko Ide are presented with plenty of depth to work with; however, with a narrative that expresses coming of age themes, there's still much to be desired when it comes to challenging their mindsets (VoidTheDark) Ide and Hidomi are examples of what could have been, their characters largely feeling strangely underutilized for a show about youth and adolescence. (Deli_)

However, some fans thought that Hidomi works well as a main character and that she is in fact not poorly written or underutilized, as she acts much like a junior high school student dealing with emotional problems would. This combined with her relationship to Ide, that is much more caring and open, creating a story that allows her to grow and develop as a character.

Their budding feelings for each other coupled with their opposite personalities and social differences lead to an interesting dynamic between the two. (SpikeykoaLa) Both have more to their motives than you initially suspect and, while the reveals are in some cases too reliant on exposition for my tastes, it works. (NatureJay) Hidomi is interesting because, for once, it genuinely feels like it was written by someone who knows what it's like to be a teenage wallflower with weird feelings to cope with and bad vibes to endure in preparing for life. (Sheller) Hidomi is really good protagonist, initially distant and aloof from the world around her but through the insane situations going on around her, her overall outlook begins to change. (IrishAnimeFan)

Another discussion was that the supporting characters were the weak point as they were mostly generic, and nothing really stood out with them. These arguments instead focused on Hidomi saying she was the only one that really had any motive and reason to be in the series. While the other characters felt out of place for the series Hidomi was fitting for a FLCL story.

Hidomi was on some level, a solid FLCL protagonist material, looking like the main character for a change, and having a motive about her depression. Ko [Ide], on the other hand, was just there to fill up a spot that we expected way more from. (Eoussama) I really thought she [Hidomi] was the only new character who truly felt like a "FLCL character" (WhiteWolfKiba)

Another heavily criticized character is Haruko. Being the only character from the original that is still present in Progressive and being very different from how she used to be, many fans were disappointed with her new personality. In the original she was like a force of nature or chaos incarnate and less of an individual entity. She used people to get what she wanted but it was subtle. She made her “victims” think there was a greater meaning her actions but in 18 reality, it was all for Haruko’s selfish intent. In Progressive she acts more like an antagonist to the main characters; her actions are clearly conflicting with the morals of the ones she tries to exploit for her own gains. Some reviews also express being confused with her motivations, as most of the time there were no real reason or thought behind her actions, she is just being evil for evil’s sake.

Haruko is largely just an adult brat rather than the quirky, ambitious, and amoral vixen from the original (CodeBlazeFate) Haruko's personality in the sequel could be summarized as manic, controlling, and covetous, and not even Jinyu can really overcome the fact that you're watching a character who mind-controls most of a classroom for... reasons?. (NatureJay) It was like introducing a completely near-perfect replica of her, having the same voice and wearing the same skin, but it was still surrounded by an aura screaming this is a stranger. (Eoussama) there isn’t any semblance of her that quite matches her character in the original. (Deli_) Haruko is a far worse version of the original. She acts like an annoying brat here (OG_Gattsu) The downside is that I'm never too sure what side these two [Haruko and Hidomi] are on all the time. (thesmore)

Others, however, did not see a change in Haruko’s ways, or they did not mind that Haruko was acting more like an antagonist for this season as it fits her personality. A Japanese reviewer pointed out that they were happy to see Haruko being more like the original again after watching FLCL: Alternative. An important note here is that FLCL: Alternative was released before Progressive in Japan and is therefore in some cases used alongside the original as a comparison for the Japanese audience.

I was relieved to see Haruko being greedier and more selfish [like she was in the original] than in Alternative.5 (オタンコナス) Haruko was the same Haruko we loved in the original. (WhiteWolfKiba) Hidomi and Ide are both more aware of and discontented with the fact that Haruko is taking advantage of them than Naota was in FLCL. Because of this they are more directly confrontational toward her which is a nice change of pace. (SpikeykoaLa)

Jinyu, the character representing the opposite of Haruko, is also discussed and have a very polarized response with some saying she fits in great as a FLCL character and the other side saying there is no point to her even being in the series. Unfortunately, many of the reviewers enjoying her presence did not elaborate much on to why. However, those who did seem to enjoy her relationship to Haruko as well as filling the role of the robot, Canti from the original.

5 Original quote: オルタナよりも貪欲で自己中心的なハル子らしいハル子が見られて安心した 19

Acting like a mix between Canti and Haruko. Very lively and vibrant design refreshing to the eye, totally something worthy of the original. (Eoussama) Jinyu plays a fun counter to Haruko and her backstory which is implied near the end has interesting implications on her and Haruko's relationship with Atomsk. (SpikeykoaLa)

Among the negative criticism for Jinyu we see arguments such as her being bland and one dimensional and not having much of a motivation to her actions. In the story Jinyu acts as an opposite to Haruko but comes off as just being a copy with not much reason to be in the series other than offering exposition.

Jinyu drives a vintage car like how Haruko drives a vintage vespa, she carries her own guitar, hell she even has the same spurned lover relationship to Atomsk like Haruko. What was the point of this character? (WhiteWolfKiba) Jinyu was too bland and didn’t have much character beyond: “I must protect Hidomi”, “I love Atomsk. We’re the same, Raharu [Haruko], we must let him go!” (OG_Gattsu) Her [Haruko] counterpart, Jinyu, is bland like Hidomi, but at least she is the least obnoxious character of the entire cast. (CodeBlazeFate) 20

5.3 Art/Animation Art and animation were discussed in three different categories. The overall animation quality, both as a stand-alone animation and as a comparison to the original. Character design, where personal thoughts were shared as well as comparisons to the designs of the original. And the last being discussions regarding episode 5. Having a unique style from the rest of the series, episode 5 is often discussed on its own with an overwhelmingly positive response.

Table 4. Number of discussions regarding art & animation.

Total Positive Negative Quality 23 12 11 Character Design 4 2 2 Episode 5 7 6 1

The most discussed topic regarding art and animation is the overall quality where we can see a more positive response than in story and character. However, not everyone is satisfied with the quality of the animation as almost half of the responses had something negative to say about it as well. This criticism was mostly expressed in comparison to the original. The original FLCL had a very colorful and vibrant animation with experimental action scenes that shift in styles and colors. Even the calm scenes were very comforting to look at due to its color pallet. The criticism regarding Progressive’s art and animation is not always that it is bad, it is just not as good as the original, which, when considering the age difference of the two series, was disappointing.

Seeing a 2018 production pale in comparison with a production from 2000 is just utter nonsense, absolutely unforgivable and disappointing. Not to say that overall, the quality was horrible, but the fact that it was unfaithful to what made the original so big is such a turnoff. (Eoussama) The artwork is stunning and the studio *tries* to emulate the experimental scenes from the original with mixed results. I wish they'd gone further with the experimental scenes. (WhiteWolfKiba) The original FLCL was crammed full of fluid, stylish animation the whole way through and hidden single frame gags that served no practical purpose other than the animators having fun, since you have to pause to see them... and most of the time, this new one can't even be bothered to animate facial expressions and basic movement. (Dontcome) While some sequences of animation were spectacular, the animation typically ranged from ok to lazily inoffensive most of the time. (VoidTheDark) Compared to the original, Progressive is a lot weaker when it comes to its visuals-- scene composition, character design and animation quality are all a little lacking compared to last time. (gum-rummy)

Most of the reviews leaving a positive response for the animation quality sadly did not elaborate much on the subject, except saying that they liked it. The few who did, though, said 21 that it still had the same feeling as the original or that the new style works well for the series. One person also stated that they were very fond of the idea that the studio brought in new animators for each episode.

It still retained the wacky, random artstyle that I’m used to with FLCL. (OG_Gattsu) Fight scenes can be really well animated and filled with special effects that wow the eyes. (Dyantier) "Some" of the art is higher quality, making it feel newer. (Daemon_green) Hidomi's dream sequences are highly memorable and unique. I love the fact that Progressive involved younger animators and gave them a chance to leave their mark. (SpikeykoaLa)

While not being so heavily discussed as the quality, character design was a subject brought up in a few reviews. One reviewer stated that the new designs look amazing fit right in in the sequel. Another review stated that the designs started out generic, but after the first half started looking a lot better and more like the old FLCL designs.

The character designs are great if not as instantly memorable as some of FLCL's designs. (SpikeykoaLa) The female character designs could be cribbed from any interchangeable slice-of-life anime from the past few years. (Dontcome) [After the first half] Even the character designs are massively improved as the artists jump off those hideous early episodes' models and start imitating that classy old Gainax look. (Dontcome)

Episode 5 have a very different style from the rest of the series. It has a thicker outline on characters with a more classic cartoon look. Episode 5 also experimented more with different art styles such as watercolor and rough sketch style animation. As a result, it is being discussed separately from the rest of the series. Many that watched the series enjoyed it a lot more than its standard style of animation used in the series. The only negative feedback regarding episode 5 was one stating that the studio spent too much of their budget on that episode leaving the others in the state they ended up in.

The dream at the start of episode 5 is striking and episode 5's visual style is really excellent on the whole. (SpikeykoaLa) Give whoever directed that 5th ep a raise. (Dontcome) Outside of the ending credits and the 5th episode, the show’s visuals are rather dull and even a tad unappealing to look at. (CodeBlazeFate) They blew the budget on episode five and it shows. (NatureJay) 22

5.4 Sound For discussions about sound there were only two topics the reviews brought up. These being the soundtrack and the voice acting, both of which received an overall positive response.

Table 5. Number of discussions regarding sound.

Total Positive Negative Soundtrack 28 19 9 Voice Acting 8 6 2

The soundtrack by the Japanese rock band The Pillows was heavily praised for being brought back. The most popular argument being that it is not as good as the original, but it is in no way bad. Most were more than happy to listen to The Pillows’ rock music again.

The soundtrack of the original can never be matched, but to their credit I.G actually brought back the same band, The Pillows, who not only re-recorded old songs from the original, but also added some killer new tracks! (WhiteWolfKiba) I want to say The Pillows did a fantastic job with the music again, but there were a few tracks I found there were utterly forgettable and wondered to myself if they were done by The Pillows in the first place. (VoidTheDark) Watching anime with The Pillows' music accompanying it just feels inherently cool. (SpikeykoaLa) The music was good, just not as good as the original FLCL. This is more due to the structural faults of FLCL Progressive rather than the music itself. Music can only enhance a scene; it can’t create it. (Phaetons_Folly) The OST has the same songs by The Pillows, and they are all great. (Karhu) We got them [The Pillows] back in this sequel too with some of the reused tracks from the original that added a sense of nostalgia to the show, that was very appreciated. (Eoussama) The Pillows returned to do the music for FLCL Progressive, and it is amazing. The best part of this anime. (onizuka_anime)

Among the negative criticism regarding the soundtrack the most common opinion was that the songs did not have the same impact as in the original. This is also discussed to be due to the direction of the scenes though, as some seem to think that the music choice for certain scenes could have been better. Another argument made is that the songs were not used enough. In the original there was almost constantly music in the background while Progressive have times that stay silent.

Some of the old tracks from the original series did feel very out of place in certain scenes. (VoidTheDark) That said, the music was not always implemented so effectively. (SpikeykoaLa) Unfortunately, the insert songs from The Pillows don't hit as hard. (gum_rummy) 23

The way the music was connected [to the scene] felt unnatural, almost as if implemented by an amateur DJ.6 (makurano_twi) The Pillows soundtrack is used sparingly instead of often. (Duranium)

Voice acting did not see all too much coverage in these reviews and the ones who did discuss it, briefly mentioned it rather than discuss it. However, most are happy over the fact that Kari Wahlgren, the voice actor for Haruko returned to reprise her role. The voice actresses for Hidomi and Jinyu also received praise for their roles in the English dub. Unfortunately, none of the Japanese reviews mentioned anything about the Japanese voice acting.

She [Kari Wahlgren] retains Haruko's zany chops well and gives the character exactly what she needs vocally. The rest of the voice-cast gives perfectly acceptable performances as well, especially Allegra Clark who gives a stern yet adorable performance as Jinyu. (SpikeukoaLa) Hidomi's voice actor, Xanthe Huynh, I had literally never heard of before, but she was legitimately talented in voicing a character that was emotionally muted in spots and utterly manic in others as the plot dictated. I think she even outshone Kari Wahlgren, who was playing the Haruko character for all it was worth. (NatureJay) The voice-over in the dub is quality, just like last time. (Caninse)

One reviewer did not like that the series was only released with an English dub and said they did not know if there would ever be a Japanese dub due to the series being produced by AdultSwim. However, a Japanese dub was later published when the series was released in Japan. Other criticism regarding voice acting compared it to the writing of the series and how that might have affected it.

The voice acting is seriously lacking, but it's hard to tell if it's the acting or the crappy script. (midedegroot) At least the dub was nice given the awful material, I suppose. (CodeBlazeFate)

6 Original quote: 音楽の繋ぎ方も、タレント DJ が繋いでんのかってくらい違和感があった。 24

6 Discussion

A common argument from the FLCL fanbase about the sequels are that the team behind it did not understand the original well enough and did not know what the fans wanted out of a sequel. This is similar to what Elena Shefrin (2007) discussed in her article. Granted, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is not a sequel, it is still an adaptation of the books and require a certain depth of knowledge about the source material and possibly input from its most invested fans. While George Lucas had the knowledge about his franchise, he did not listen to what the fans wanted leading to backlash and controversy of the prequel trilogy. Many fans in the FLCL community argues that FLCL did not even need a sequel to begin with. That it was perfectly fine to have a 6-episode OVA that ended with some questions unanswered. Others wanted those questions answered but got a sequel with a completely different narrative that did not bring up those questions anyway. It would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if the team behind the FLCL sequels would have had a more similar approach to that of Peter Jackson when creating the sequels. Not only would that have given them potentially valuable fan input but also perhaps what many fans thinks would be crucial, a deeper understanding of the original’s symbolisms and meanings.

The articles by Lesley Goodman (2015) and Forrest Phillips (2012) discusses edits of the source material in the form of fanfiction and fan edits. This is done by fans to create a story that better suits that fan’s perspective of what the source material meant to them. However, I have yet to see any kind of criticism for FLCL: Progressive done in this manner. Though this could be because the story of the original and the story of the sequels are not connected in the same way the prequels and sequels in Star Wars and Harry Potter are. While FLCL: Progressive certainly pays a hefty amount of homage to the original, the new main characters are only theorized to have any sort of relation to the characters from the original. The exception of course being Haruko, who is the only reoccurring character. The sequel is not supposed to be a grand finale of the overarching story like in Harry Potter. Nor the origin story of a beloved bombastic space opera. Though fans ignoring its existence instead of editing or rewriting it to make it fit in could also be seen as a form of criticism.

From the beginning, my hypothesis was that the heaviest criticism would lie in the characters and story of the series and that animation and sound would receive mostly positive feedback. And this proved to be correct for the most part. The characters were heavily criticized for being generic, unlikable, and lacking motivation. The story was criticized for being uninspired, relying too much on the original, and lacked focus. The feedback regarding sound 25 was overall positive with the return of The Pillows for the soundtrack. The criticism for voice acting was also mostly positive. What surprised me, was the amount of negative criticism regarding art and animation. Excluding episode 5 which had overwhelmingly positive feedback, this criticism mostly came from the animation quality and lack of experimental and innovative styles seen in the original FLCL. This, however, could be due to FLCL: Progressive having a different lead animator for each episode. And looking at these animator’s previous works, it is easy to see that they were up and coming with little to no experience in creative control over a project. This is probably what caused the changes in quality in the animation that a lot of people criticized. And while personally I liked this idea, I can see why many were unhappy with the result as the changes in quality can be quite considerable at times.

Regarding the method that was used carrying out this research I believe it to be successful for the most part. Through the reviews I was able to pinpoint what parts of the sequels that was the most criticized and the reasons why. Not to say that the method was completely flawless though. This study focused on the fans of the original FLCL. And while one who did not enjoy the original most likely did not watch the sequel, unless stated in the reviews there is no way to guarantee that the author for each review consider themselves to be a fan. I do however believe that if one were to carry out this study again, a different method might be adequate. To ensure that only ones that considering themselves to be fans being a part of this study, an online questionnaire similar to that of Rahman’s (2007) study would most likely provide a more accurate result. However, finding a group big enough to carry out such a questionnaire could be a challenge as even the bigger FLCL oriented forums, such as the FLCL subreddit, does not have too much traction. Considering that, focusing on the whole audience instead of just the fans would most likely be a better way to conduct this study. Also, because of how the English and Japanese releases for the sequels were handled, splitting up the audience between the English-speaking and the Japanese-speaking audience could also provide a different result. Looking at the scores of both the sequels, Alternative have a higher score than Progressive on western websites such as My Anime List and IMDb. While on Japanese websites such as Eiga.com and Anikore, Progressive is ranked higher. It is hard to say if there is any correlation between this phenomenon and the releases of the sequels. Regardless, separating the Japanese audience due to this would probably have been better.

7 Conclusion

Sequels in general have a reputation of being disappointing and not living up to its original. A couple of years ago we saw sequels being made for almost every lovable franchise you could imagine. And lately there have been an increase in remakes of other works too. Sequels and remakes usually share the same critique of being a way for studios to safely make money by capitalizing on people’s nostalgia. This is not to say that every sequel and remake made is bad, but one can question the need for its existence. Was it made to surpass the original? Or maybe to expand upon it? Was it made for the fans? Or to introduce new people to the franchise? If a sequel turns out to be a disappointment to the fans would it have been better to not have been made? Or does it serve as a reminder to how great the original is? Creating a sequel to a beloved franchise requires so many pieces to fall in place. And most of the time that is not happening. In the case of FLCL, a series that is often described as “lightning in a bottle” due to everything in its production coming together perfectly to create what fans would come to love for decades. Making a sequel to live up to the original might have been an impossible task. Would it have been better if the team behind fully understood the original? Maybe. And if that were the case, would it still have been a disappointing sequel? Most likely, yes, because it never would have been able to live up to the sky-high expectations of the fans either way. Could it be that the team behind the sequels actually did fully understand the original and the sequels were carefully constructed exactly how they wanted it and that they are just not understood by the fans yet. The original FLCL have been analyzed by its fans for almost two decades now and there are still new findings about what it could mean and what the bigger picture of it is. FLCL is known for being hard to understand and maybe, if given enough time, the fans perspective of the sequels might change.

Originally, I planned to include the responses for the second sequel, FLCL: Alternative, as well. Unfortunately, the large number of reviews analyzed for this research took up both too much time and space for me to do so. These reviews have already been collected, so making an extension to this research in the future a possibility. And while this research stops at FLCL, I think it would be very interesting to compare the criticism and feedback to sequels in other franchises to see if there are any similarities. My suspicion is that a lot of criticism given to other sequels are quite similar no matter the franchise in question. This can also be extended to remakes of old shows and movies as well. I do believe we would see a similar response there as well. 27

References

Bibliography Cobb, S. M. (1992). Reader-Response to Dr. Suess: Middle School Students and Social Issues. University of Georgia, Athens.

Goodman, L. (2015). Disappointing Fans: Fandom, Fiction Theory, and the Death of the Author. The Journal of Popular Culture, 48(4), 662-676

Hope, J. (2018). “The Soldiers Came to the House”: Young Children’s Responses to The Colour of Home. Children’s Literature in Education, 48(3) 302-322

Kakihara, S. (2017). ‘I like you’ Desire for an Alien Other in FLCL. Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, California State University, Fullerton, 17(2).

Phillips, F. (2012). The Star Wars Franchise, Fan Edits, and Lucasfilm. University of California, Santa Cruz.

Rahman, F. (2017). Cyber Literature: A Reader – Writer Interactivity. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 3(4) 156-164.

Ruh, B. (2006). The Robots from Takkun’s Head: Cyborg Adolescence in FLCL. Cinema Anime: Critical Engagement with Japanese Animation, 139-157.

Shefrin, E. (2007). Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and participatory fandom: mapping new congruencies between the internet and media entertainment culture. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 21(3) 261-281

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Filmography Lazzo, M, Saito, M, Terashima, M. (Producers), & Motohiro, K. (Director). (2018) FLCL: Progressive [Anime Television Series] Japan: Production I.G.

Sato, H (Producer), & Tsurumaki, K. (Director). (2001) フリクリ (FLCL) [Original Video Animation] Japan: Gainax

Online Sources A research guide for students (N/A). Reader Response Criticism – History and Purpose. https://www.aresearchguide.com/reader-response-criticism.html 28

N/A. (2012). Creating literary analysis. 2012 Book Archive. https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/creating-literary-analysis/

Non-Academic Sources stanteau. My hugeass FLCL research paper. (2003) https://animesuperhero.com/forums/threads/my-hugeass-flcl-research-paper.3224761/

Review List: _Austin. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 7/10 bitchassdarius.. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 4/10

Blazeisachicken. (2020) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 8/10

Boristein. (2019) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 7/10 bucketsofrandomness. (2018) A really, REALLY big letdown…. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 3/10

Caninse. (2019) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 8/10

CodeBlazeFate. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 4/10 chrissy_poo_too. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 4/10

Chrono. (2018) プログレッシブ！. 映画.com, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 9/10 dameon_green. (2020) Like an echo of FLCL, it’s lost clarity in reproduction. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 6/10 deandrevidal. (2018) It’s not the original, and I actually like that. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 10/10 deli_. (2020) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 4/10

Digi. (2018) FLCL Progressive …but y tho?. YouTube, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: N/A https://www.youtube.com/wa t c h ?v= k EPi G 9 J kMxU dontcome. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 3/10

DRelish. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 9/10 29

Duranium. (2018) How not to make a sequel to a timeless classic. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 1/10

Dyantier. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 7/10

Eoussama. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 6/10 everedau. (2018) It’s not the original, but it’s still great in a different way. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 8/10 gum_rummy. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 7/10 gw-96323. (2019) Not as good as the original, but it’s okay. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 6/10

IcoOfSeele. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 8/10

IrishAnimeFan (2018). FLCL Progressive (2018) – Anime Review. YouTube, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 7/10 https://www.youtube.com/w a t ch? v = kgjp1KiiBd4

Karhu. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 3/10 makurano_twi. (2018) 作り直してほしい. 映画.com, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 10/10 mikedegroot. (2018) I really wanted this to be good. It’s not. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 2/10

NatureJay. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 6/10

OG_Gattsu. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 3/10 onizuka_anime. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 5/10

Phaetons_Volly. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 8/10 r-26397. (2018) Interesting continuation. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 10/10 sheller. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 7/10

SpikeykoaLa. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 7/10 stevehswiderski. (2019) Why this is so bad. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 1/10

The Cartoon Cipher (2018). WTF was FLCL Progressive Trying to Say!?. YouTube, FLCL Progressive. Rating: N/A https://www.youtu b e.c o m /w a tch ? v=4kVCWA2CsjA

The Pedantic Romantic (2018). Why I Like FLCL Progressive As A Sequel. YouTube, FLCL Progressive. Rating: N/A https://www.youtube.co m /w a t ch?v=Fh l xHdIII3k thesmore. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 8/10 30

Tweekums. (2020) A return to the surreal world of FLCL. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 7/10

VoidTheDark. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 4/10

V8 エンジン. (2018) 擬体化少女恋物語. 映画.com, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 7/10

WeAreLive. (2018) Honestly I actually enjoyed it. IMDb, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 8/10

WhiteWolfKiba. (2020) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 8/10 yousuck00. (2019) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 7/10

ZingFreelancer. (2018) MyAnimeList, FLCL: Progressive. Rating: 1/10

いやよセブン. (2020) ここまでくると. 映画.com, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 5/10

しばもんた. (2019) アングラ感と、the pillows の存在感が足りない. 映画.com, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 6/10

メル. (2019) 作った人はどんな気持ち？. 映画.com, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 2/10

オタンコナス. (2018) ストーリーは面白かった. 映画.com, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 7/10

加藤プリン. (2020) また逢えたね！. 映画.com, FLCL Progressive. Rating: 6/10