Toonami

What do you get a 25-year-old who isn’t a person but a specific programming block of content that’s mostly anime series? Why, more anime, of course. This is why Adult Swim has gifted Toonami two new sequels to FLCL , one of its most popular TV series since it debuted way back in 2003, in celebration of the brand’s 25th anniversary.

FLCL has been airing sporadically on Toonami/Adult Swim for the last 20 years, presumably because it’s the coolest anime ever made. It’s tough to describe—the title itself, pronounced “Fooly Cooly,” is wholly inexplicable—but it’s basically a coming-of-age story for 12-year-old Naota, who starts having giant mecha burst from his head after he’s hit by Rickenbacker bass guitar by a pink-haired alien named Haruko while she’s riding a yellow Vespa scooter. And yet that barely scratches the surface, because it doesn’t mention the space pirate, the giant iron sitting in the middle of town, the guy with seaweed for eyebrows, or the six-episode series soundtrack, performed by the outstanding J-rock band the pillows. Here’s a taste:

The two new FLCL series—technically, they’re called seasons, but “seasons” two and three had nothing to do with season one, or each other—will be titled FLCL: Grunge and FLCL: Shoelace , and animated by CG studio MontBlanc Pictures and the original animator of the series, Production I.G, respectively. Adult Swim offered the tiniest glimpse of Grunge via this clip of Haruko wielding her bass:

The other gift Toonami is receiving is a new, original series titled Housing Complex C , which will be animated by Studio Akatsuki and is described thusly: “ Housing Complex C centers around Kimi who lives in a small, low-cost housing complex located in the seaside town of Kurosaki where trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes, and horrific incidents begin to occur…is an ancient evil stalking the residents of Housing Complex C?”

As a major, major fan of the beautiful, bananas, poignant, and often incomprehensible original FLCL , I am less than thrilled at the idea of more of the show, since season two, Progressive , was a watered-down sequel/remake of the first, and season three, Alternative , was another coming-of-age story that had almost nothing to do with FLCL except a few themes and flirting references. I think the original FLCL was so of its moment, and such a personal work by creator/director Kazuya Tsurmaki, that it can’t really be captured again. But then again, my love for it could also be because I saw it at exactly the perfect moment in my life, too, so maybe these new series will be the same for others. Who knows? (But boy howdy am I wary of that CG animation.)

FLCL: Grunge and FLCL: Shoelace are currently in production, while Housing Complex C is due out sometime later this year. Happy birthday, Toonami!

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Good news! There’s new footage from Toonami’s adaptation of one of Junji Ito’s most beloved horror tales, Uzumaki . Bad news! You’re getting the footage

After previously teasing more news to come from the series—adapting Ito’s classic tale about a young girl named Kirie Goshima, who lives in the mysterious town of Kurouzu-cho, afflicted by a horrifying spirali Uzumaki ’s production, leading to a projected release date of

The adaptation was first announced in 2019 , with an expected 2020 broadcast, but has since been postponed

“I think Uzumaki is the most complete demonstration of my artistic ability and imagination,” Ito himself told io9 in an interview about the adaptation last year. “The contrast of the black and white art really leaves a vivid impression, and I wonder if that’s what makes other creators curious about trying to adapt it.”

At least, it seems, the wait will be worth it.

Uzumaki is currently set to hit Toonami in October 2022.

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I don’t know much about the Gundam franchise beyond a few memories of the older shows when they aired on Toonami back in the day. Young Zack liked the big mech battles. And in 2022, I still like big mechs. I also like team-based shooters. So lucky me, Gundam Evolution mashes together the famous mechs from the Gundam franchise with gameplay very similar to Blizzard’s popular hero shooter, Overwatch . The end result is a lot of fun, but also a bit unbalanced.

Released last week on Steam, Gundam Evolution is a new free-to-play first-person shooter set in the popular anime universe featuring a large selection of iconic mechs from the shows. Each of these mechs has its own weapons, abilities, and supers. These powerful super attacks are unlocked during the match as you kill enemies and complete objectives. If this sounds a lot like Overwatch , wait until you see the in-game HUD and visuals. But hey, if you’re gonna copy another game, Overwatch ain’t a bad choice. And Gundam Evolution is more than just an anime reskin of Blizzard’s team shooter.

One of the biggest differences is that Gundam Evolution features a “Down But Not Out” system ala Gears of War or Battlefield . So when you go down, you can request for someone to revive you, and anybody on your team can bring you back to life. However, anyone on the other team can (and likely will) blast you open with a laser rifle and force you to respawn. This wrinkle makes large team fights feel different than in Overwatch , as a single player running away and looping back around to revive a few people real fast can turn a successful rush into a horrible failure.

While the revival system does change things up a bit, anyone who has played a lot of Overwatch will likely feel comfortable hopping into this Evolution. Many of the controls and even the in-game UI feel directly ripped out of Overwatch . What is missing, though, is Overwatch’s balance and polish.

Read More: Overwatch 2 Is Sounding More And More Like A Free-To-Play Nightmare

Gundam Evolution isn’t broken or anything. In my few hours with the game, it ran fine and I was able to find matches quickly with little to no lag. But matchmaking isn’t very balanced. Nearly every match I played was a complete blowout. Either our team would stomp the other team in minutes, or the opposite would happen. And this would lead to players getting frustrated and leaving, making things worse. It’s a shame because the few matches I played with balanced teams were really fun. There’s a snappiness to the combat in Evolution that I enjoy a lot. You both feel like a big, powerful mech but also feel fast and precise. It’s nice. But it’s hard to enjoy that when the game keeps tossing me and others into one-sided slaughter-fests.

If some of the matchmaking issues can be solved and some of the more powerful mechs nerfed a tad to stop them from controlling matches as much, Gundam Evolution could end up being something special. As someone with basically zero interest in or knowledge of the franchise, I still had a blast playing Evolution . And I imagine megafans of the series will enjoy this new shooter just as much as I did if not more, thanks to their history with Gundam . But until things are a bit more balanced and consistently fun, it’s tough to recommend folks check out this Evolution unless they don’t mind some mild frustration and awful matches.

Gundam Evolution is out now on Steam . It’s planned to release later this year on consoles.

For decades, Toonami and Adult Swim have helped boost anime’s profile here in the west through popular shonen like Dragon Ball Z and My Hero Academia . 2021’s Blade Runner: Black Lotus was a joint collaboration between it and Crunchyroll, and now two of the late night block’s upcoming programs see it further team up with a pair of big name Japanese creatives.

Lazarus from Shinichiro Watanabe (famously the director of Cowboy Bebop ) was announced earlier in the week, but received its first look at San Diego Comic-Con. The series, being worked on by Vinland Saga’s Studio MAPPA (and fight scenes designed by John Wick director Chad Stahelski), is set in the year 2052 as a miracle drug called Hapuna has wiped out all diseases and sickness in the world. Shortly after the drug’s reveal, its creator Dr. Skinner up and vanished, and the show picks up year’s later following his sudden return.

Turns out, Hapuna’s got a short life period, and anyone’s who taken it will die three years later. In response to Skinner’s declaration, the titular Lazarus task force—made up of five elite agents from around the world—has been formed to bring Skinner in and find a way to develop a vaccine. A cool premise with an even cooler trailer, as seen above. Expect Lazarus to premiere on Adult Swim sometime in the near future.

Uzumaki , meanwhile, is an adaptation of Junji Ito’s 1998 horror manga. This show was announced back in 2019, and word on it has been pretty quiet since its delay in 2021. Adult Swim released a new look at the upcoming series, which is being developed by Production I.G. ( Kaiju No. 8, FLCL Shoegaze ). While a release date for Uzumaki still hasn’t been set, the trailer here should tide Ito fans over until its arrival.

Like the manga, the show focuses on the fictional town of Kurouzu-cho, which has been plagued for years by a spiral-themed supernatural curse. High schooler Kirie Goshima and her boyfriend Shuichi Saito become more and more aware of the curse and how it affects the rest of the town, leading them both to try and find a way to either escape or break the curse. The manga received strong praise upon release, with some critics at the time calling it one of the scariest manga around, and it could be considered one of Ito’s definitive works.

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