A Postmortem on the FLCL Sequels
So, with the end of FLCL Shoegaze comes the end of the FLCL series. Or at least, the end until Production I.G. decides to dig it back up and see what they can do with it now that they're no longer co-producing new seasons with Adult Swim. Whether or not they were good will be a debate that'll be as endless as who would win between Goku and Superman, but that's why I'm here to give my thoughts on all four of them, my history with the series, and do my best to analyze the themes encompassing this era of FLCL. So you all better pack your bags, ladies, gentlemen, germs, and every other gender in-between, because you're about to go on a trip.
As far as I can remember, I was relatively new to the FLCL fandom when Progressive first aired in 2018. I was introduced to the original series by my art therapist in 2016, I got the complete series DVD by Funimation for my birthday (along with the first two seasons of Rick and Morty on Blu-Ray), and my life was possibly changed forever. After watching the first episode, I told my art therapist how I thought it was a mix of Rick and Morty and Star vs the Forces of Evil in how they both centered on an average awkward boy (Naota, Morty, Marco) being taken on bizarre adventures by some lunatic from beyond the stars (Haruko, Rick, Star) and learning valuable lessons from having his life repeatedly put at risk.
At first, I didn't entirely pay attention to the messages because I was more distracted by the fun animation, giant robots, excellent dialogue (Kari Wahlgren and Barbara Goodson have such great chemistry together, by the way), and Haruko herself, who quickly became one of my top waifus and comfort characters. A few months later, one Tuesday evening in April 2017, I came up with the idea to have Haruko hang out with Dipper and Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, wrote it down on the notes app of my phone, and so began my fanfic-writing career. I just thought that FLCL's off-the-wall humor would fit pretty well with the weirdness of Gravity Falls, and I also believed that Haruko and Grunkle Stan would make a great duo. And sure enough, the resulting story I called Fooly Falls was successful, and I've been writing crossovers ever since.