The Series (5/5)

     FLCL follows Naoto, a young, nerdy boy who carries around a chronically unused baseball bat.   One night he is hanging out with the ex-girlfriend of his brother, when he finds himself run down by a woman on a moped. This woman Haruko instead of helping him, whacks Naoto with her bass, before running off. Later, she will charm Naoto's father, and move into their home.    While living with Naoto, Haruko notices something emerging from his head. It ends up evolving and becoming a giant robot, which is followed by another for the first robot to do battle with.  The first robot Canti alongside the duo end up doing battle with the corporation responsible for all of Naoto's "head" issues.

    FLCL is a 2000 anime series that acts as a collaboration between Production  I.G., and Gainax, was directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, an written by Youji Enokido.   With that pedigree something interesting was sure to emerge. FLCL ended up as  one of the most classic animes of the post-2000 era. The series is eclectic, bizarre, and fast-moving. Granted, at the time there were only 6 episodes to cover what they wanted to do (2 additional series have been recently created bringing the total to 18. However, within each episode everything moves quite fast creating the vibe of a music video or television commercial.

    The animation for the series is quite brilliant, with bursting colors, and excellent detail.  The score/soundtrack for the soundtrack is a mix of original pieces by Shinkichi Mitsumune, and more rock related themes by Japanese rockers "The Pillows". The combined soundtrack helps push the crazy rock and roll vibe the show is going for.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    I would love to heap praises on Funimation's Blu-ray transfer of the series, but what we have on this classic re-release is a 1080p upscale from standard definition materials. Everything looks fine for the most part with stable colors and detail, but elements of the transfer do indeed look less than what they could be.

    Audio is 2.0 Dolby TrueHD tracks in Japanese and English. Both tracks are quite servicable and work well for the sound of this show.

Extras (3/5)

    The release comes with with director's commentary tracks for all 6 episodes. Music videos by the Pillows, and clean opening and closing animation.

Overall

    FLCL is one of the best and most eclectic anime series from the post-2000 period. The Blu-ray looks solid, but could have stronger visuals with a more elaborate restoration. There is alos a decent slate of extras. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.