Toonami Fans Are Still Loving 'FLCL Progressive'

FLCL's new season FLCL Progressive had its series premiere on Toonami last weekend, and its many oddities were embraced by fans so much they were hanging on to see what would happen in the second episode.

The second episode was just as wild, if not even more so as the first, with a major Haruko battle, sex sounds, zombies, transforming cars, thugs speaking in Japanese with English subtitles, and Hidomi's forehead erects a bulbous protrusion full of explosive energy that changes her into a robot.

It's pretty much business as usual. For those interested, the series currently airs Saturday evenings on Toonami at midnight EST. It's also available online at Adult Swim's official website.

Adult Swim describes FLCL Progressive 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 series 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 series 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.

Read on to see what fans are saying about the new FLCL Progressive episode, and let us know how you feel in the comments!