Haruko shows up and immediately reminds you why the original owned your brain for six episodes, except now the show can't decide if it's trying to recapture lightning or admit it's already gone. The animation swings between frames so inventive they make you rewind and frames so rushed they feel like someone else finished the episode. It's FLCL running on fumes and adrenaline, chasing its own ghost, which is either frustrating or exactly the point depending on whether you came here to relive something or watch a show eat itself trying.

Hidomi Hibajiri is a young teenage girl who keeps her headphones on at all times and expects nothing remarkable from her life of school, shifts at her mother's cafe and music. That changes when a new teacher named Haruko arrives at her school. Medical Mechanica soon attacks her town. Giant robots tear through the streets. Hidomi finds she holds a hidden secret that could save everyone, and only Haruko can unlock it. A horn sprouts from her forehead, and a classmate, Ko Ide, is swept into the chase alongside her. Years after Naota's adventure with Haruko, this six-episode sequel mixes action, comedy and mecha battles, with open questions about why Haruko has returned to Earth and what became of the robot Canti.