It’s legitimately hard to believe this, even as I’m typing it, but another season of FLCL is in the books. It is actually surreal to think that this surprise cult hit of six episodes made such an impact in the west that we’ve gotten four additional sets of episodes spinning off from what was essentially a tech demo of new animation software by a studio that is now a shell of its former self. And even then, when we did get the first two batches of these, Progressive and Alternative, they didn’t exactly get the warmest reception, including from me. I thought Progressive felt like hollow aping of what made the original great, and while Alternative felt like it had a better idea of making its own mark over blind nostalgia, it was mostly not doing much with it (as well as an odd hinting at being a prequel, which it shares with Grunge, weirdly enough). So, while I was certainly curious where FLCL and all it symbolizes could go in the 2020’s, I went into these new stories, Grunge and Shoegaze with quite a bit of trepidation. So, I am happy to say that I was , pleasantly surprised with what came out of Grunge, so come as you are and see what I thought.There are a number of things throughout Grunge that take big swings away from the expected format of FLCL. The first thing that stands out about Grunge compared to previous FLCL installments, including Classic, is a very different art style making heavy use of CGI and 3D modeling. This already gave me genuine curiosity and interest when the first trailer dropped and proved to be a change used quite economically in the show itself. In addition, the story was cut down from the usual six episodes to just three, something that only became apparent to me when the commercials for Shoegaze started up after only the second episode. However, this actual ended up being done to the show’s advantage, as the story focuses mainly on the culmination of a single night, shown in each episode from the perspective of the character whose name is the episode’s title. My one potential issue with this is mostly just that each episode being aired a week apart meant that seeing where these perspectives intersect is not as obvious going week by week as it is watching all three together. Only by shotgunning all three can you see that this is a story about three kids in a dying town that’s falling apart because of institutions that they had no control over and caretakers who have long since given up on making a difference, so the three, Shinpachi, Shonari (who just happens to look like Ben Grimm), and Orinoko, have to make the change themselves, helped by everyone’s favorite bird chasing alien on a Vespa, Haruhara Haruko.Where Grunge peters out is usually when it insists on being a prequel to Classic, or really any connection to it that feels crammed in there. Remember Amarao, a former victim of Haruko’s manipulations who tried to guide Naota away from her? Well, he’s here, he doesn’t really talk to anyone or do anything of note, and then gets soundly tossed aside. What a great use of that character. Oh, and did you ever wonder how Haruko got her classic Rickenbacker? Well, she got it out of Shinpachi’s head. I mean we saw how Naota got his Flying V in the original series, so we gotta find out who made the Rickenbacker right? No, we actually never needed to know that, and now that we do, I don’t feel like we learned anything of note. Oh oh oh, and we get to see a shot for shot recreation of Atomsk stopping Medical Mechanica from ironing the unnamed planet the series takes place on…but then we’re hinting that Haruko will go on to see these exact events take place again and not comment on them in any way? Basically what I’m saying is that they could remove all the explicit references to Classic and this would be improved greatly. Even if I actually like how Haruko is implemented here compared to Progressive and Alternative, and how many sides of her we get to see that feel like natural extensions, the references just held it all back.Now, putting all of that aside, I still believe that this is the best of the new seasons to come out of this venture. I haven’t seen Shoegaze yet, so it could surprise me, but I doubt it. If FLCL must continue, and it might after this for all we know, I don’t want it to rely on reminding people of the first season all the time. I want it to do what Grunge has done here, to actually take risky steps forward, play around with what’s expected and turn it on its head, keep the soul and what the original tapped into but with an acknowledgement that animation has advanced in the past twenty years and different messaging for timeless ideas may be necessary if you want to stay relevant. FLCL is never going to be a sleeper hit it became in the 2000’s, but I’m fine with seeing what they want to do with it until they run out of money or ideas. I just wanna be entertained at the end of the day, even if I never find out what FLCL truly means.