I love fan-animated projects. I love it when they do what-if Dragon Ball Z and give Vegeta his due. I love it when they emulate Saturday morning cartoons and Dr. Slump. I love it when they put a spin on magical girl tropes. My favorite kind of animated project is when a group of artists unite to craft something that combines the polished flair of a professional animation studio with the charming, rough edges of fan works. FLCL Reanimated has been added to my pantheon of favorite anime fan projects.
A little while ago, I wrote a piece for Gizmodo about the oral history of Bartkira, specifically how its animated trailer came into being. Bartkira was a collaborative fan project that started on Tumblr in 2013, in which 768 artists each contributed five pages to redraw six volumes of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira manga in distinctive art styles reminiscent of The Simpsons. It's all trippy to behold, especially with how seamlessly each painstakingly drawn manga panel blends into the next, creating an almost mural that encapsulates how each artist perceives the formative manga series in their unique styles. The animated trailer, which had 31 animators working on it for nine months, is chef’s kiss. Now, history appears to be repeating itself once more with yet another group of artists who united their forces on the internet to reanimate one of anime’s most outlandish and special series, FLCL, just in time for its 25th anniversary.
FLCL Reanimated was first announced back in 2021 when Twitter user Kobe Kendall, aka Sleptboi, sent out a feeler on an FLCL fan account asking if folks thought it’d be cool if FLCL got reanimated. Like Bartkira, FLCL Reanimated saw over 300 artists divvy up clips to remake FLCL’s fifth episode, “Brittle Bullet,” according to Polygon. Polygon also notes that they went the extra mile by creating cover albums and a zine that emulated Newtype magazine filled with behind-the-scenes production materials, which just so happens to be my favorite thing about an animated work. A joke that the creators poked fun at in a promotional video, the work began to become a question of whether it would ever come out. And come out, the episode did. Clocking in at just over 28 minutes, FLCL Reanimated is sick as hell.
Admittedly, FLCL is an anime series that, despite watching, I’m still not entirely sure I comprehend on a strictly narrative basis. There’s a space-faring robot; a pink-haired, guitar-wielding, moped-riding lady who is also from space; and a boy with a rather obvious metaphor for puberty—a bulge on his forehead. From this bulge, the robot and various other oddities emerge, brought forth by the coaxing of said pink-haired cosmic lady. That’s all you need to know, plot-wise. All that matters is that the show is a fucking vibe filled with iconic one-liners, sick music, and fluid action choreography that only old school Gainax could’ve gotten away with in the span of six episode– a trick that’s proven to be diminishing returns whenever Adult Swim has attempted to recapture lightning in a bottle, time and time again, with its subsequent sequel series that no one asked for. Fortunately, FLCL Reanimated does a superb job of showcasing how bonkers Kazuya Tsurumaki’s directorial debut was when it was first shown in the States on Toonami. Watching the fan-made episode was like gazing through a kaleidoscopic viewfinder, shifting effortlessly between surreal settings. Each flip revealed a new art style that ranged from dogmatically faithful renditions of its manga to quirky, South Park-esque cardboard cutouts, and an eclectic array of vibrant, kinetic visuals that brought a new texture to the already out-there anime series.
What’s more, like Bartkira, the lower third of the fan project features the social media handles of its artists, allowing viewers to explore more of their work. The damn thing even has eyecatches that give off that kind of modern day Adult Swim Toonami commercial break vibe (and spoof commercials to boot). It’s a slight, old-hat anime touch that does wonders for making a series feel just that extra bit special. I’m particularly fond of the D.A.R.E. ad with Mamimi Samejima smoking a bowl.
Watching FLCL Reanimated absolutely delivered, reigniting the magic that makes FLCL a one-of-a-kind visual masterpiece. It showcased a stunning tapestry of creativity, proving fan artists can transcend the label of "fan art" to craft something extraordinary. Here's hoping it sparks a fresh wave of fan-animated projects.
Correction 4/29/25, 12:28pm--An earlier version of this article misstated the number of artists involved in the project.
