Popular anime FLCL is truly a show like no other. The surreal coming-of-age story of sixth-grader Naota Nandaba and his out-of-this-world housemaid, Haruko Haruhara, has been a long-time favorite for anime fans ever since its 2000 release. The way FLCL juggles the relatable anxieties of puberty with the absurdities of its awe-inspiring world is nothing short of brilliant. It's funny. It's touching. It's beautiful. And it's all set to the rocking tunes of Japanese alternative rock band The Pillows. It's also short (six episodes long), which can be seen as a godsend for anime fans with a never-ending backlog, or a serious drawback for anyone really invested in the show.
If you just finished watching FLCL and want something that's more of the same, then give the anime listed below a try. Also, don't forget to check out the official sequels to FLCL called FLCL: Alternative and FLCL: Progressive.
10 Punch Line
Punch Line follows the nonlinear storytelling of FLCL to deliver a hilariously nonsensical anime about a wondering spirit that's powered up by the sight of panties. After a bus hijacking goes awry, Yuuta Iridatsu discovers his soul has been ejected from his mortal body.
Until Yuuta can regain his body, he uses his new life as a spirit to watch over the female tenants of the Korai House apartment complex. While a single glare at a girl's panties can increase Yuuta's strength, seeing two in a row will cause an asteroid to crash land on Earth and destroy everything in its wake. The absurdities of Punch Line are ramped up from FLCL, no doubt. but both also deal with themes of sexuality and self-discovery.
9 Dead Leaves
Dead Leaves is a 52-minute OVA (original video animation) from Production I.G.; the same anime studio behind FLCL.
The story revolves around two intergalactic outlaws named Pandy and Retro, who are taken into custody after committing a crime spree on Earth. They soon discover that their new penitentiary surrounding is actually a top-secret cloning facility filled with genetically-experimented horrors. In comparison to FLCL, Dead Leaves pushes more boundaries with its adrenaline-rushed animation.
8 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
While told in a more traditional way, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann carries that same passionate point-of-view at adolescent as FLCL.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a sci-fi anime about a young timid boy named Simon and his hot-blooded adult mentor, Kamina, as they pilot an ancient mecha of great power through the mysterious wastelands above. The gorgeous visuals and fast-paced action are enough to get anyone hooked on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, but the show's honest look at adulthood and the pain and sacrifices that come with makes it a must-see.
7 Kill la Kill
Kill la Kill is a sexy and stylized action show that turns the anime high school genre on its head. The series follows 17-year-old high school student Ryuko Matoi, who transfers to Honnouji Academy to find her father's killer. Honnouji Academy, however, is under authoritarian rule by the cold-hearted student council president Satsuki Kiryuuin.
After losing to one of Satsuki's underlings, Ryuko encounters a symbiotic uniform that gives her tremendous powers through a ridiculously skimpy outfit. Not only does Kill la Kill embody the animated chaos of FLCL, but it comes from Hiroyuki Imaishi, the anime director behind Dead Leaves and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
6
Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi is another zany anime comedy in the same vein as FLCL. 12-year-old Satoshi "Sasshi" Imamiya and his best friend, Arumi Asahina, are risked away from their mundane lives at the Abenobashi commercial district in Abeno-ku, Osaka to magical (and dangerous) variations of their hometown. While each new reality is different from the last, Sasshi and Arumi are continuously greeted by the buxom Mune-mune and a mysterious blue-haired loner named Eutus.
While Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi shares the same absurdist humor and juvenile charms of FLCL, it also takes a melancholy look at childhood.
5 Excel Saga
If you loved all the crazy anime parodies in FLCL, then you're gonna love everything Excel Saga has to offer and more. Excel is a young hyperactive woman who has dedicated her life to making the mighty Il Palazzo's dreams of world domination come true. Unfortunately, due to Excel's rash and brainless actions, most of Il Palazzo's plans end in unbelievable failure.
Excel Saga is an incredibly wacky show filled with hilarious parodies of mainstream and niche anime series; all performed by a bizarre cast of loveable, yet, deranged characters.
4 Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt follows in the footsteps of FLCL by delivering a visually surreal comedy that's cranked all the way up to 11. Two fallen angels, Panty and Stocking, must buy their way back to Heaven by eliminating the evil spirits that haunt Daten City. But even with the leadership of Father Garterbelt, Panty and Stocking are too preoccupied with their vices to take their angelic duties seriously.
Just like FLCL, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is loaded with risque jokes and WTF stories, but depicted in a Cartoon Network-like art style.
3 Kyousougiga
Kyousougiga is a fantasy action show that shares the same over-the-top humor and animation of FLCL while focusing on the themes of adulthood and family. The series takes place in a magical world called the Looking Glass City, which was created by a monk named Myoue, who could turn his drawings into real life.
After being exiled by his former home, Myoue lived in the Looking Glass City with his wife Koto - a black rabbit in human form - and their three children. However, Myoue and Koto vanished from the Looking Glass City, leaving their children to run their father's imaginative world. Making matters worse, a young girl with a large hammer - who also shares the name of Koto - has crash-landed into the alternate world in search of the black rabbit.
2 The Tatami Galaxy
The Tatami Galaxy and FLCL both deal with the hardships of maturity. However, while FLCL is told through a child's perspective, The Tatami Galaxy presents its story of regret and wasted youth through a young man's perspective.
Watashi is a third-year college student who regrets how he lived out his campus life. Thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with a mysterious man with an eggplant-shaped head, Watashi is continuously hurled back into the past as a freshman until he achieves his ideal college life. The surreal, fast-paced storytelling and unique art style of The Tatami Galaxy will make FLCL fans feel right at home.
1 Space Patrol Luluco
Space Patrol Luluco is a 13-episode anime series about an everyday girl trying to balance middle school life with her duties as an intergalactic cop. Luluco was just a 13-year-old girl who wanted a normal life in her abnormal home of Ogikubo: a space colonization zone populated by humans and intergalactic aliens. Unfortunately for Luluco, her dreams of living an average schoolgirl's life are destroyed after her father accidentally swallows a sleeping pill that freezes his body, forcing her to take his place as a member of the Space Patrol.
The absurd sense of humor is similar to FLCL, but Space Patrol Luluco also invokes a Western-animated style, such as its seven-minute runtime.