I remember when the watch order for FLCL was “the first series, then the first series again to try to figure out what you just watched.” It moved at such a rapid pace that there was no hope for a first-timer and a rewatch was almost mandatory.
However, those days are gone now. FLCL has expanded itself as a series greatly in the past few years in an effort to recapture some of the original magic. While the new FLCL anime entries are easier to grasp, none of them really capture the magic of the first. That’s not aged rose-colored glasses speaking either, between the clumsy CGI and plots that feel like they are actively trying to be as random as possible, the newer FLCL anime are nothing special.
Now, we have approached a new age where FLCL actually needs a proper watch order. However, given the nature of the series, a watch order only minimally helps the series make more sense.
FLCL Watch Order
As FLCL moves at the kind of cocaine-fueled pace that allows details to fall through the cracks, the general best way to watch the series is in its releases order.
FLCL Release Order – Recommended for First-Timers
- FLCL
- Progressive (Movie)
- Alternative (Movie)
- Grunge
- Shoegaze
For first time watchers, FLCL in this order will be a bit jarring in animation quality as it jumps from the original that was made in 2000 to Progressive that was made 18 years later. It is a jarring change in animation as well as storytelling.
FLCL Chronological Watch Order
Watching FLCL in chronological order, as it is for so many different anime series, is the watch order for people who have watched the series before. To be perfectly honest, I don’t even recommend trying to watch FLCL in chronological order since the newer FLCL entries add minimal new details to the universe.
Furthermore, the nature of FLCL makes it so events can happen anywhere in a timeline, and there are only small details that even suggest there is an actual timeline to things. There is no “watch FLCL in this order and everything will suddenly makes sense” sort of clarity to be found in watching FLCL in chronological order, if that is what you were hoping for.
How to Watch FLCL in Chronological Order
- Alternative (Movie)
- Shoegaze
- Grunge
- FLCL
- Progressive (Movie)
Do note that, in theory, Grunge could be chronologically wedged in before Shoegaze as Shoegaze happens ten years after Alternative and there is nothing to suggest that Grunge happens before or after Shoegaze. Again, chronology has little meaning here.
