Grown-Up Wannabe

"Grown-Up Wannabe" is the second episode of season 3, FLCL Alternative, and the fourteenth overall. It aired on September 15, 2018 at 11:30 PM ET on Adult Swim's Toonami block.
==Synopsis==
Kana and her besties witness Hijiri kissing a college student, Toshio, inside his car; acting more mature than any of her classmates, Hijiri suggests Kana and her besties to do a photo shoot with Toshio.
==Summary==
Hijiri is riding in a car, talking to a guy who has a large amount of equipment about college and photography. Soon, the car is parked and Hijiri kisses him just as her friends round the corner. Kana makes a big deal about it because of her immaturity and a misconception about Hijiri. Hijiri explains in the halls before class that she's only letting herself date Toshio because he's older and decides to introduce them to him after school. During class, the boys hold a peaceful protest to "bring Yajima back" after hearing about her dating a college student, which she all but ignores due to the ludicrous nature of it. Hijiri brings Kana and the others to meet Toshio at a park and they enjoy a photo shoot together. Afterwards, Toshio notices Haruko working at a food stand in revealing clothing and takes an inappropriate interest in her that Hijiri is quick to distract him from. Toshio picks her up later that night and ends up breaking up with her, something that only takes a moment for her to adjust to. Her friends decide to visit her at work for karaoke just after Hijiri gets a text from Toshio asking for a necklace he gifted her to be returned. After another moment of gloom, she enters their karaoke room to take their orders with a somber demeanor and they convince her to take a break to sing. They later describe Hijiri's overall behavior as seeming "off" and her happiness as "forced." The next day, Kana sees Toshio kissing Haruko in his car and devises a plan to fix the relationship. She, Pets and Mossan meet him in a parking lot that night. He becomes confused by their questions, asking if they were there to return the necklace. Pets realizes just as Hijiri arrives that they must have chosen the same time and place to meet him, ruining their plan. Kana tries to defend Hijiri from seeing Haruko in Toshio's car, but she reveals to Kana that they broke up and she's okay with it. This causes Kana to overflow and a robot comes out of her head. Haruko hits Kana in the head to knock the food stand van from the park out of her, having Kana drive while she fights. A light post is hit by a stray laser which begins falling toward Toshio, but Hijiri rushes in and saves him. Instead of checking on her, he begins panicking about his camera that was crushed. However, after the fight he does change his mind about her again as she tries to return the necklace, which really belongs to Haruko. Claiming "I like you more," he attempts to take her back and is met with anger from Hijiri's friends. In stopping them from hurting him, she explains she's "just like him" by acting mature when she isn't and realized she lost sight of what's important. Haruko then tries to create a N.O. channel in his head with her bat to spawn a car, but his channel is so weak it only creates one the size of a toy. She relates this to something else in a suggestive way, hinting at N.O. mirroring what Haruko views as the most disappointing shortcoming in men.
==Songs==
* "white summer and green bicycle, red hair with black guitar" (Fool on cool version) 
* "She stood like the engel" (Fool on cool version) 
* "Freebee Honey" (Fool on cool version) 
* "Take Me All"
* "Star Overhead"
==Credits==
*Original Concept: Production I.G.
*Executive Producers: Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Jason DeMarco, Keiji Ohta
*Production Supervisor: Katsuiji Morishita, Takayuki Oshima
Japanese Cast
*Kana Koumoto: Karen Miyama
*Tomomi "Pets" Hetada: Yuri Yoshida
*Hijiri Yajima: Riho Iida
*Man "Mossan" Motoyama: Mutsumi Tamura
*Mon Sasaki: Takuma Nagatsuka
*Ben Aida: Ryota Suzuki
*Shizuka Koumoto: Miki Itou
*Bunta Koumoto: Maho Masaka
*Dennis Yoga: Katsuji Mori
*Tsukata Kanda: Yutaka Aoyama
*Toshio Shioya: Tetsuya Kakihara
*Haruko Haruhara: Mayumi Shintani
English Cast
*Kana Koumoto: Megan Taylor Harvey
*Tomomi "Pets" Hetada: Marieve Herington
*Hijiri Yajima: Erica Lindbeck
*Man "Mossan" Motoyama: Marianne Miller
*Mon Sasaki: Max Mittleman
*Ben Aida: Ben Pronsky
*Shizuka Koumoto: Erica Shroeder
*Bunta Koumoto: Erick Abbate
*Dennis Yoga: Steven Blum
*Tsukata Kanda: Ray Chase
*Toshio Shioya: Michael Sinterniklaas
*Haruko Haruhara: Kari Wahlgren
==Gallery==
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MechFight.png
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Kana002.png
RoadHaruko.png
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==Trivia==
* Mossan's Japanese voice actress, Mutsumi Tamura, made the cover for "Take Me All" used in the episode.
* Toshio's camera is labeled "Zikon", parodying the Japanese camera brand, Nikon.
* At the soba noodle shop, Kanda is shown watching the television with his eyeglass lenes obscured and his fingers intertwined as they cover up the lower portion of his face. This is a pose commonly referred to as the "Gendo Pose" in reference to the anime character, Gendo Ikari from the anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
**Notably, the Evangelion series was created by Hideaki Anno, who voiced Miyu Miyu and animated by GAINAX, which was involved in the first FLCL series.
*In the English dub, when Haruko has Kana drive during the car chase, she tells her "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" before bragging that she has a big penis while aiming her weapon.
**Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is a relationship book that points out the problems that men and women have in relationships stems from fundamental psychological differences.
**In the Japanese version, Haruko says "Guys have charm, girls have guts, and Nasser is the president of the UAE".
*The yellow car robot that Haruko fights appears to be modeled after the character Bumblebee from the live action Transformers films.
**As Haruko descends down with the donner kebob spit to finish off the robot, she screams out "Michael Bay!", referring to the American director and producer who directed the first five live action Transformers films.
Category:Alternative
Category:Episodes