'FLCL' Returning To Toonami

Adult Swim recently shocked anime fans when they revealed that their annual April Fool's Day stunt was anime focused this year, and turned its Toonami block completely Japanese and aired its anime in their native language with English subtitles.

Fans got a taste of the FLCL revival project during the stunt as well, and Toonami is following the hype of its premiere by bring back the original FLCL run to television later this April.

As the promo for the return states, the first season of FLCL is set to return to Adult Swim's Toonami block on April 14 at 11:30EST. This will be a good way for old fans to refresh, or for new fans to discover what the hype is all about, the series before the second season, FLCL: Progressive, begins in June.

The most interesting thing about its return to television, however, is how jarring it must be for fans to hear "FLCL season one" out loud as the series was only known for its initial six episodes until the announcement of a revival project last year. For those unfamiliar with the comeback project, Adult Swim released a press release detailing FLCL: Progressive and FLCL: Alternative:

"Up first, FLCL: Progressive tells the story of 14-year-old Hidomi, her classmate Ide, and two otherworldly beings, "Jinyu" and "Haruha Raharu," who are determined to unlock their hidden potential. Mixed up in this is an all-powerful force known as "ATOMSK," a gorgeous vintage car… and a certain Vespa Scooter.

Following FLCL: Progressive will be another new season, FLCL: Alternative, which hands the series over to a totally different team of young creators who will redefine the meaning of "sequel." The series centers on the misadventures of 17-year-old Kana, a high school junior who spends her days hanging out with her besties, Mossan, Hijiri, and Pets. They live unremarkable lives, until the day a Mecha falls out of the sky, along with a strange woman named "Haruko." Her plans for Kana and her friends involve the force known as "ATOMSK." Kana will have to risk everything to decide whether or not to help… like she really has a choice!"

FLCL, pronounced in English as "Fooly Cooly," was written by Yoji Enokido, directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, and produced by Gainax, Production IG, and King Records and released in Japan from 2000-2001. It came to the United States as part of the Adult Swim block in 2003 it was frequently re-aired from 2003-2014. The coming-of-age story focused on the 12-year-old boy Naota Nandaba who become bored with his life in a working-class town. He gets more excitement than he bargained for when the alien Haruko Haruhara bursts into his life on her moped, trailing chaos in her wake.

FLCL: Progressive is currently slated to officially air June 22 on Adult Swim, with FLCL: Alternativepremiering later this September. More information is expected to be revealed at the FLCL preview panel taking place at C2E2 in April.