'FLCL' Gets Risque With New Key Visual

FLCL will soon hit theaters with the FLCL Alternative film, and in order to celebrate, it was announced alongside a new key visual drawn by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, character designer and one of the founding members of Studio Gainax.

While the original visual was enticing enough, the full Haruko spread is far more risque than previously implied. It's certainly a way to get eyes on the series.

new FLCL key visual from Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, full sized from r/anime

Adult Swim's gearing up to release the third season, FLCL Alternative, in September. FLCL Alternative is described as such:

"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!"

This is following the successful release of the second season, FLCL Progressive, which has just wrapped up its six episode season and is described as such:

"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."

The English dub cast for the second season includes Kari Wahlgren as Haruha Raharu, Allegra Clark as Jinyu, Xanthe Hunyh as Hidomi, Robbie Daymond as Ide, Jon Allen as Mori, Yuri Lowenthal as Marco, Christine Marie Cabanos as Aiko, Julie Ann Taylor as Hinae, Jason Griffith as Marurao, J. David Brimmer as Eye Patch, and Steve Kramer as Tonkichi.

The staff for the second season includes directors Kazuto Arai, Toshihisa Kaiya, Yuki Ogawa, Yoshihide Ibata, Kei Suezawa, and Hiroshi Ikehata with Katsuyuki Motohiro serving as Chief Director for Production I.G. Hideto Iwai will write the script for the series, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Chikashi Kubota are handling character design, Taeko Hamauzu will serve as editor, R.O.N. is composing the music for the series, Noriko Arisawa is overseeing the color design, and famous band from the first series the pillows are returning for the series' opening theme "spiky seeds."

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.