The episodes of the Japanese

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

series ''

FLCL is an original video animation (OVA) anime series created and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, written by Yōji Enokido, and produced by the FLCL Production Committee, which consisted of Gainax, Production I.G, and King Records. ''F ...

'' were directed by

Kazuya Tsurumaki Kazuya Tsurumaki (鶴巻和哉 ''Tsurumaki Kazuya'') is a Japanese anime director. He was born on February 2, 1966, in the city of Gosen, located in the Niigata Prefecture. He is the protégé of Hideaki Anno, and a longtime animator at Gainax. ...

and produced by the ''FLCL'' Production Committee, which included

Gainax Gainax Co., Ltd. (stylized as GAINAX; ja, 株式会社ガイナックス, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ) is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', ''Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, Roya ...

Production I.G is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise, founded on December 15, 1987, by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. The letters I and G derive from the names of the company founders: producer Mitsuhisa Ish ...

, and Starchild Records. The English adaptation was licensed by Synch-Point, which released the DVDs and soundtrack. After Synch-Point went out of business, Funimation licensed and re-released the series on Blu-ray and DVD. The story follows

Haruko Haruhara The central characters in ''FLCL'' (also known as Fooly Cooly), a 2000 Japanese anime produced by Gainax and Production I.G, with two additional seasons released in 2018. The first season covers the story of a sixth grade student named Naota Nand ...

, a sociopathic alien drawn to the fictional Japanese suburb of Mabase by the Medical Meccanica building while weaseling in the lives of twelve-year-old Naota Nandaba in the first season and fourteen-year-old Hidomi Hibajiri in the second season as pawns in her agenda to acquire the being called Atomsk. The first-season episodes aired in North America on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

programming block from August 4 to August 13, 2003. Six pieces of theme music are used for the episodes; five opening themes and one closing theme. All the theme songs are by Japanese

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

the Pillows. The opening themes are: " One Life", used in episode one, "Instant Music" in episode two and three, "

Happy Bivouac ''Happy Bivouac'' (officially ''Happy Bivouac on the Hillari Step'') is an album released by Japanese band the pillows on December 2, 1999. It marks the band's first record with Jun Suzuki from The Chewinggum Weekend on bass, who would play with ...

" for episode four, "

Runners High ''Runners High'' is an album released by the Pillows on January 22, 1999. It was the last album to feature guest bassist, Tatsuya Kashima. Several songs from the record were later featured in the anime OVA series FLCL by Gainax. The album was ...

", utilized in episode five, and "Carnival" in episode six. The closing theme is "Ride on Shooting Star", the series' main theme song, used for all episodes. Geneon Entertainment has released three original soundtracks encompassing the aforementioned songs, with soundtracks titled '' Addict'', released on January 20, 2004, ''

King of Pirates Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery (20 August 1659after 1696), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used several aliases ...

'', released on September 7, 2004, and ''

FLCL No. 3 is an original video animation (OVA) anime series created and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, written by Yōji Enokido, and produced by the FLCL Production Committee, which consisted of Gainax, Production I.G, and King Records. ''F ...

'', released on June 7, 2005. Six DVD compilations, each containing one episode, were released in Japan by

. In addition, a DVD collection box, containing all six DVD compilations, was released in Japan on August 13, 2005. Three compilations were released by Synch-Point in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. A DVD collection, containing all six was released on January 23, 2007. The series was re-picked up for distribution by Funimation in 2010 and released again on DVD and on Blu-ray in February 2011. In 2016, two new seasons totaling 12 episodes were announced as a co-production between Production I.G, Toho and Adult Swim. The second season, ''FLCL Progressive'', premiered on June 3, 2018, on Adult Swim's Toonami block, while the third season, ''FLCL Alternative'', premiered on September 8, 2018. In Japan, ''Alternative'' and ''Progressive'' had theatrical screenings in September 2018. The first episode of ''FLCL Alternative'' unexpectedly premiered on April Fools' Day 2018 at midnight on Toonami in Japanese with English subtitles. Two additional seasons were ordered by Adult Swim in March 2022, which were announced on Toonami's 25th anniversary, titled ''FLCL: Grunge'' and ''FLCL: Shoegaze''. ''Grunge'' aired from September 10 to 24, 2023, while ''Shoegaze'' premiered on October 1 of the same year.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (2000–2001)

Season 2: ''Progressive'' (2018)

Season 3: ''Alternative'' (2018)

Season 4: ''Grunge'' (2023)

Season 5: ''Shoegaze'' (2023)

Compilation films

In September 2018, Toho theatrically released the ''FLCL Progressive'' and ''FLCL Alternative'' sequel seasons as compilation films. They are exclusive to Japan.

Notes

References

General references

* * * − An official artbook.

External links

Official Gainax website
{{in lang, ja
Official Adult Swim website

FLCL episode lists