Warning: Spoiler for the full episode follow.

FLCL: Alternative’s second episode follows a similar blueprint to its premiere, but with much more heart and substance. This time around Kana and her friends’ dilemma feels like it carries actual weight, and the fight scene has some of that wild irreverent FLCL action Progressive and Alternative’s premiere mostly missed.

“Grown-Up Wannabe” focuses on Kana’s friend Hijiri, more specifically her scandalous relationship with a college-aged photographer named Toshio. Her classmates are shocked to learn about her older boyfriend, but she cooly shrugs off their concerns to cement her new “mature” personality. Although the theme of maturity does become a little heavy-handed (the word “adult” is used what feels like 100 times) it does give the episode a meaningful throughline. Hijiri’s relationship and Kana’s attempts to understand the complexities of adult life give this episode some emotional weight the premiere was lacking.

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Source: IGN.com FLCL: Alternative Episode 2 Review