This show is very mediocre. The first FLCL is in my top favorite cartoons ever made list. It was simple, yet manic with well developed characters and an overarching story told subtly here and there with fluid animation and the soundtrack composed by the Pillows. A space opera mixed with a growing up story. It is a masterpiece.
By contrast, this sequel has dull and undeveloped characters with needless focus on side characters who are more interesting than the main characters, stiff and boring animation found in many generic cartoons, the Pillows soundtrack used sparingly instead of often, everything is told with little to nothing shown along with info dumps regarding Medical Mechanica and Atomsk with entire scenes explaining the backstory as though this was an audio book and not a cartoon, and is an overall disappointing sequel to a great cartoon from nearly 20 years prior. Even the return of Haruko fails to bring this series to life.
Most of the problems with Progressive I blame on hiring new directors, animators, and story writers instead of bringing back the old staff. These new people, from what I've observed and with the exception of one guy who worked on One-Punch Man, never worked on major projects before whereas the staff from the original series had extensive experience, esp. on cartoons such as Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Overall, this series feels like a cash-grab or, assuming Production I. G.'s intentions were truly benign, a misguided attempt at recreating FLCL without fully understanding what made that original series work. I doubt that the next FLCL series, Alternative, will be any better.
