The Fall 2023 Anime Preview Guide

FLCL: Shoegaze

Two rebellious high schoolers break into the mysterious Tsuganei tower on a mission to save the world.

FLCL: Shoegaze is original anime. The anime series is airing on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on Saturdays.

This may be a controversial take, but I've got to be honest: I've always had a soft spot for these FLCL sequels/prequels that Adult Swim has been turning out over the last few years. It's easy to see them as very cynical ploys to capitalize on the nostalgia of the Millennials who still remember getting their minds blown by staying up late to catch the original airing of the classic OVA back in the early 2000s, and there's obviously a degree of Sisyphean futility that comes with trying to create decades-late follow-ups to one of the most respected and genuinely perfect anime productions of all time. I'm not trying to say that any of the new FLCL seasons have even come close to recapturing the lightning-in-a-bottle that was FLCL, because they haven't, and they almost certainly never will.

That said, I tend to think of each Nü- FLCL season as cover or remix of the untouchable original. Like with any cover song, the odds of getting something that truly stands up to (or even surpasses) the original — like Johnny Cash's cover of NIN's “Hurt”, for example — are so infinitesimally small that it's probably best to avoid thinking in those terms. Instead, I went into the first episode of FLCL: Shoegaze with the same expectations I had for Progressive and Alternative before it (I still haven't seen Grunge). If the show can give me some of the same, satisfying vibes as FLCL, I'll be willing to take it as it is, even if I sometimes think that it plays things a little too close to the source material for its own good.

That's pretty much exactly what I got from this first episode, too, and I ended up enjoying it a lot, all the same. Our new protagonists Masaki and Harumi (which sounds a lot like a certain someone we all know, get it?) fill in as our existentially fraught teenager and his Manic-Pixie Maybe-Secretly-An-Alien Girl, respectively, and they're once again taking on the mysterious influences and goals of The Adult World, only this time it's a giant tower with a weird ghost-bird-blob-thing on top of it instead of a giant clothes' iron with a disembodied hand attached to it. There aren't any giant robots or godlike space entities to contend with yet, either, though appearances from some key FLCL: Alternative characters make it clear that we could still very much get there over the next couple of weeks.

The biggest mistake to make with FLCL: Shoegaze (and any of its counterparts) would be to think that all of the capital-L “Lore” of the franchise matters enough to fuss over. I promise you, it does not. What I cared about, here, was whether or not I got invested in the relationships of its adolescent characters (I did); whether I wanted to see where their strange little terrorist mission in Tsuganei Tower takes them (I do); and whether the new Pillows OST sent my brain to its happy place (abso-gosh-darned-lutely). At only three episodes, one wonders if the story will have enough time to make a mark, by the end of it all, but that also means that the risk of investment is low. If the cost of admission is just another hour or so of my time, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be here next week to see what FLCL: Shoegaze has in store for us.

Remember a few years ago, when a teenager on twitter meme'd their way into getting the band Weezer to cover “Africa” by Toto? That's kind of what the now four long-unawaited sequels to FLCL have reminded me of. In both situations, it feels like the driving force isn't some creative spark from the parties involved, but a desire to capitalize on an obvious marketing opportunity. Maybe I'm wrong, and both Rivers Cuomo and Production I.G were just aching for decades to make their nostalgic follow-up, but that's sure as hell not what it feels like from the outside. I found stuff to like about Progressive and Alternative, considerably less-so with Grunge, but collectively these have all felt like diminishing returns that are more concerned with reminding you of the original than doing anything half as original or iconic as the thing they're referencing. That's definitely where Shoegaze is at as of this first episode.

Honestly, this episode would probably have been way better if it wasn't trying to be FLCL. If this was its own world, unburdened with tying itself to any pre-existing lore and free to wallow in its own brand of teenage malaise and sci-fi mysteries, there's room here to be fun. Our main character is his own distinct kind of sadsack teenager going through the ennui of puberty, and while his narration can get a little overbearing, with the right execution and interesting narrative he can totally work. If this entire episode had just been focused on Masaki and Harumi meeting and bonding in their weird plan to homecook a bomb, it would probably have been pretty charming.

Unfortunately, this thing also has to remind you every second it can that it's a FLCL sequel – specifically contiguous with the director's previous addition, Alternative. So we have to cut away from the teens to reintroduce familiar characters, explain what they've been up to since last we saw them, and name drop as many lore nuggets as possible so people who know what “medical mechanica” is (read: everyone watching) can feel a ping of recognition. That takes up just enough room that it drags down the whole episode, and it frankly feels antithetical to what made the original Furry Curry so special. Also, guys, I love The Pillows and their music too, but you can't just put them on in the background of every scene and call it a day. That's not how the original used those needle drops at all, and all you're doing is diluting the impact of those songs when you play an entire EP through the whole episode.

In all, this episode isn't without merit, but it feels so boring and self-defeating. An actual spiritual successor to FLCL would have the confidence to just be its own thing rather than playing the same covers over and over, yet that's what we have here. Shoegaze is a perfectly mediocre tribute band, but we're all probably better off just seeking out new albums rather than listening to the same set again.