FLCL

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About

FLCL (also known as Fooly Cooly) is an anime and manga series from the early 2000s. The series was written by Yōji Enokido, directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki and produced by Studio Gainax. It attained an influential cult following due to its critical acclaim. In 2016, Adult Swim announced that it would be releasing a two-season sequel to the original series.

Premise

The story of FLCL revolves around the life of Naota Nandaba (also known as Ta-kun), a 12 year old boy who is bored of his life style and wants to become an adult as soon as possible. He then encounters Haruko Haruhara, who crashes into him and hits him on the head with a guitar, leading to a bump growing out of his head. Later, he discovers that Haruhara is now living with him and his father and grandfather as their maid, and that the bump has created an inter-space portal which allows giant robots produced by a company known as Medical Mechanica emerge periodically, drawing Nandaba into a plot of intergalactic warfare.

History

FLCL was directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki (who previously worked on several animes like Neon Genesis Evangelion) and was produced by Gainax, Production I.G and Starchild Records, who joined together to create the FLCL Production Committee. During April 2000 and March 2001, six OVAs (original video animations) were released, along with a manga and novel series.

Toonami Sequel

On March 24th, 2016, Adult Swim's cartoon block Toonami announced on its official Facebook account that it was entering into a coproduction with Production I.G to produce 12 new episodes of the series, split in two seasons, which were set to begin to air in late 2017. The post gained over 29,000 likes and 40,000 shares in the following days.^[1] The announcement was reported on several anime news websites, like Anime News Network.^[2]

Reception

FLCL has recieved positive reviews from critics. In 2003, the series won third place for Best Animation Film at the Fantasia Festival,^[9] and in 2007 was nominated for "Best Cast," and won "Best Comedy Series" and "Best Short Series" at the first American Anime Awards show.^[10] As March 26th, 2016, FLCL has a score of 8.04 (scored by over 160,800 users) on MyAnimeList.^[7]

Fandom

The series gained a cult following, both in real life and online. As of March 26th, 2016 the Japanese artist community pixiv leads to over 840 results under the tag "フリクリ",^[6] and the artist community DeviantART has over 24,000 results under the keyword "FLCL".^[4] On February 12th, 2012, a subreddit dedicated to the series discussion was created, having over 1,600 subscribers as March 26th, 2016.^[8] Fandom presence can also be found on other communities like 4chan^[5] and Tumblr.^[3] There is also a complete Wikia for the series, with 66 pages.^[11]