It takes an idiot to do cool things... 

Let's start this thing off with an Anime review. FLCL Grunge. The animation was bad, but I could tolerate that, if the story was fine. You could say it was a mistake to split the seasons and make them 3 episodes each, but I beg to differ. Do you really think, that this bloodless, boring stuff would have been any better, if it was 3 episodes longer? We don't need any FLCL-"lore", if you are even kind enough to call the things in FLCL Grunge lore. Haruko does weird things that make no sense, she hunts after Atomosk, she rides the Vespa, same as it ever was. Claiming that FLCL Grunge is a prequel to the original is absolutely pointless, nothing in it justifies any kind of chronology, we learn nothing new of the big players that makes us view the original in a different way. Not, that this would be desirable, the creators shouldn't try to give us any explanation on the symbolism of the original, it would only deminish it Star Wars prequel Trilogy style. I'm just trying to counter some of the comments online about how it was great to see FLCL lore and learn more about Haruko and Medical Mechanica. We saw no lore and learned nothing, it failed as a prequel. 

Yet FLCL Grunge also brought nothing new. Yes, there are Stone People now (who conveniently don't have to move their mouths all that much while talking, I wonder why...) and there is a planet were Iron is rare and people are hopeless, but what does this really add? The protagonists are in similar situations as Naota, disappointed by the adults in their lives, just 1000% more melodramatic. The original accomplished the difficult act of combining a weird and energetic tone with the troubles of being/becoming a teenager to create a story that is both fun and melancholic and, despite it having robots that come out of foreheads, weirdly realistic and insertable. You didn't even have to watch it as a teenager to be able to see yourself in either Naota, Mamimi or Ninamori. Who will be able to see themselves in the characters of FLCL Grunge? What is even the point of the first episodes protagonist Shinpachi? That he wants to feel hope again because his Town is taken over by the Yakuza? That he wants change in his boring life? And how is any of that accomplished by the end of episode 3?  

Songs by the Pillows were inserted just for nostalgia, they didn't even fit all that well to the situations, unlike in the original, where they were absolutely on point with the action on screen. Even FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative managed to do that better. And as a last point of critique: the Yakuza Guys having no animated faces wasn't charming or symbolic, it just felt incredibly cheap. Let's see if FLCL Shoegaze is any better at bringing something original to the table. My hopes are close to zero.