As an adolescent, I would stay up to watch Cartoon Networkâs late-night, âbig kidâ block, Adult Swim. In a streaming era, admitting this fact makes me feel 100-years old, but to my generation, Adult Swim was importantâits esoteric, low-as-highbrow programming made you feel like you belonged to an exclusive club, even if all it really meant was that your parents paid for cable.
There have been many excellent (and terrible) shows on Adult Swim, but the channelâs biggest contribution is the role it played in popularizing anime in America. Cowboy Bebop debuted in the States on Adult Swim, and close behind it was FLCLâpronounced âFooly Coolyââa similarly beloved series that aired on Adult Swim in 2003.
But unlike Cowboy Bebopâwhich is a beautiful albeit staid take on the cyberspace westernâFLCL is impossible to put in a box. At its heart, the original, six-episode series is a melancholic coming-of-age tale: Precocious Naota Nandaba has his life upended when a Vespa-riding alien named Haruko arrives on Earth and smashes him in the face with a bass guitar. The resultant bump on Naotaâs head becomes a portal that robots start popping out of. Giving away anything else would do a disservice to this insane, mile-a-minute show; the only other thing you need to know is that much of FLCL is scored by Japanese band the Pillows, one of the best guitar-pop bands of the last three decades.
And now, 15 years after Americans first saw FLCL, the showâs second season, FLCL: Progressive, starts this Saturday, June 2, on Adult Swim, with another season, FLCL: Alternative scheduled for the fall. For a series known for its succinctness, thatâs a suspiciously ample amount of new content all at onceâbut not only are the Pillows back to score this new season, the footage so far looks fucking gorgeous. Iâll be staying up late for this one, too.