The previous new FLCLs weren’t great, but they tried. While not really innovating on the coming of age story, they at least tried to put a new spin on it with protagonists of different genders and ages than Naota. And they were at least in 2D animation that was never less than pleasant at the very least. With ugly CGI animation and a protagonist that emulates Naota right down to the phallic forehead and the old erection jokes that implies, you’re down to only two reasons to watch this: The Pillows’s electric music and Wahlgren as Haruko having as much fun as she did over two decades ago.
The attempts at kinetic, impulsive, stream of conciousnes gags and energy already felt artificial in Alternative and Progessive by virtue of being sequels made a decade or so after the fact. They were clear replications, often obligatory, not natural and wild like the original. In fact, Alternative fared best for how it did it the least, trying for its own, almost slice of life tone. Grunge’s attempts aren’t obligatory. They’re worse; they’re desperate. They want to be the original so bad, they want you to like it so bad, and it falls on its face, constrained by a CGI prison all too clunky and weighted to come anywhere near the freedom it wants.
It’s not that 3D animation is inherently bad, far from it. An easy comparison for something that’s practically bursting at the seams with creativity, where visually the sky is the limit, is Spiderverse, but nobody could expect that level on a TV budget. I haven’t seen Trigun Stampede or the new Lupin, but I hear they manage alright, and they certainly look more polished and inspired. Grunge looks amateurish, from a CGI studio that’s done nothing major until now and it shows. Every attempt at spontaneity feels constrained and lifeless, every over the top joke forced and breathless.
I don’t know how far Wahlgren and the Pillows can take this, quite honestly, but I’ll give it my best shot to see this through
Review by JCVIP 4BlockedParent2023-09-12T03:57:40Z
The previous new FLCLs weren’t great, but they tried. While not really innovating on the coming of age story, they at least tried to put a new spin on it with protagonists of different genders and ages than Naota. And they were at least in 2D animation that was never less than pleasant at the very least. With ugly CGI animation and a protagonist that emulates Naota right down to the phallic forehead and the old erection jokes that implies, you’re down to only two reasons to watch this: The Pillows’s electric music and Wahlgren as Haruko having as much fun as she did over two decades ago.
The attempts at kinetic, impulsive, stream of conciousnes gags and energy already felt artificial in Alternative and Progessive by virtue of being sequels made a decade or so after the fact. They were clear replications, often obligatory, not natural and wild like the original. In fact, Alternative fared best for how it did it the least, trying for its own, almost slice of life tone. Grunge’s attempts aren’t obligatory. They’re worse; they’re desperate. They want to be the original so bad, they want you to like it so bad, and it falls on its face, constrained by a CGI prison all too clunky and weighted to come anywhere near the freedom it wants.
It’s not that 3D animation is inherently bad, far from it. An easy comparison for something that’s practically bursting at the seams with creativity, where visually the sky is the limit, is Spiderverse, but nobody could expect that level on a TV budget. I haven’t seen Trigun Stampede or the new Lupin, but I hear they manage alright, and they certainly look more polished and inspired. Grunge looks amateurish, from a CGI studio that’s done nothing major until now and it shows. Every attempt at spontaneity feels constrained and lifeless, every over the top joke forced and breathless.
I don’t know how far Wahlgren and the Pillows can take this, quite honestly, but I’ll give it my best shot to see this through