FLCL: Grunge is the fourth season of the FLCL series that was announced on March 17, 2022 via a trailer on Adult Swim.[1] FLCL's creative director, Jason DeMarco, confirmed that the series was slated to release in 2023, and was succeeded by another new season, FLCL: Shoegaze.
The season in entirely CGI and continued to use The Pillows for musical scores.[2] It is also the first time that the show was aired on Adult Swim in English, and then made available the next day on streaming service, MAX, in Japanese with English subtitles.
About the Anime[]
The series tells the story of a particular night in Okura involving Haruko Haruhara and the events that lead up to it from three different perspectives that eventually interconnect:
- Shinpachi, a young boy who works at his father's sushi restaurant, when they are visited by the mayor and his new girlfriend.
- Shonari, a rock-like alien and Shinpachi's friend, who is affiliated with a local yakuza group that recently accepted their boss's mistress as the newest leader.
- Orinoko, a former classmate of Shinpachi and Shonari, who spends her days collecting scrap metal for her bladesmith father. She befriends a mysterious woman trying to reassemble her Vespa from scrap parts.
Staff[]
- Director: Hitoshi Takekiyo
- Character design: Yoshiteru Tsujino
- Writer: Tetsuhiro Ikeda
- Sound director: Toru Nakano
- Music by: The Pillows
- Animation production: Production I.G
Cast[]
Japanese[]
- Sakiko Uran as Haruko Haruhara
- Junko Minagawa as Shinpachi (miscredited as "Junko Takeuchi")
- Yuna Kitahara as Orinoko
- Seiyu Fujiwara as Shonari
- Taichi Takeda as Dainari
- Takeshi Maeda as Commander Amarao
- Motoi Koyanagi as Shinpachi's Father
- Hiroshi Shimozaki as Mayor Kuroiwa
- Masaaki Yano as Director Yamaguchi
- Shinya Takahashi as Keishibishi-gumi
- Hiroki Maeda as Samueda-gumi
- Takuro Sakashita as Riot Police Commander
- Taisuke Nakano as Rockian
- Yuna Kamakura as Saya
- Susumu Akagi as Orinoko's Father
English[]
- Kari Wahlgren as Haruko Haruhara
- Casey Mongillo as Shinpachi
- Michelle Marie as Orinoko
- Luis Bermudez as Shonari
- Marc Thompson as Dainari
- Aaron LaPlante as Commander Amarao
- Arthur Romero as Shinpachi's Father
- Dino Andrade as Mayor Kuroiwa
- Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes as Director Yamaguchi
- Marc Thompson as Keishibishi-gumi
- Kamran Nikhad as Rockian
- Samantha Weinstein as Akira / Saya
- William Salyers as Orinoko's Father
Episodes[]
Trivia[]
- This is the last appearance of Haruko Haruhara (and her voice actress, Kari Wahlgren) as she would not appear in FLCL: Shoegaze.
- Additionally, this is the second time that Haruko's original Japanese voice actress, Mayumi Shintani has been replaced. This time, she is voiced by Sakiko Uran.
- Samantha Weinstein, who voiced Akira in episode 2 and Saya in episode 3, passed away from ovarian cancer on May 14, 2023, four months prior to the show's U.S. debut. [3]
- According to the MAX website, Grunge is the prequel to the original FLCL.[4]
- For this season, Commander Amarao is voiced in the English dubbed version by Aaron LaPlante, as his previous voice actor, Dave Mallow, had retired from voice acting in 2019.
- Although the ending credits list "Junko Takeuchi" as the Japanese voice actress for Shinpachi, several sources including Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, MyAnimeList and Anime News Network list "Junko Minagawa" as the actual voice actress.
- Additionally, Minagawa's acting profile on MyAnimeList and Anime News Network credit her as the voice of Shinpachi, while Takeuchi's profile does not have this role listed.