-Matoi Ryuko
Genre: Action, Comedy
Creators: Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima
Studio: Trigger
Length: 25 episodes
Years: 2013-2014
Highlights: Pure Awesomeness
Kill la Kill is the story of a girl named Matoi Ryuko (纏 流子).
Desperate for answers, Ryuko returns to her family’s abandoned mansion, where she finds something unusual: a talking school uniform. In return for drinking her blood, the uniform provides Ryuko with enormous power similar to that of a Goku Uniform, enabling her to go head-to-head with the students of Honnouji Academy. Dubbing the uniform “Senketsu”, (鮮血, meaning "Fresh Blood") Ryuko returns to the school.
In many ways, Kill la Kill is basically Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann taken up to eleven. I didn’t think that it was possible to make a show even more absurdly awesome than TTGL, but I am very happy that Kill la Kill proved me wrong. Every single character is completely and utterly insane. Every single Goku Uniform is more ridiculous than the last. And every battle is simply unbelievably epic. All the characters are extremely hammy, shouting out every attack at the top of their lungs and elevating even the most seemingly innocuous event to the stuff of legends. This show takes itself even less seriously than TTGL, and in addition is very self-aware of its own medium. Much like works such as Annie Hall and Pulp Fiction, Kill la Kill plays with its own medium; for example, the show emphasizes anything of importance (characters, Goku Uniforms, weapons, everything really) by plastering giant red kanji on the screen; for example...
Not only that, but its own hysteria is actually one of its primary philosophical themes. Like TTGL and earlier works, Kill la Kill continues Gainax/Trigger's tradition of tackling fascinating philosophical concepts using unusual vehicles. Neon Genesis Evangelion talked about the nature of humanity and existential loneliness through mentally damaged teenagers piloting giant robots. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann talked about the power of the human spirit, also through people piloting giant robots. Kill la Kill talks about friendship and the nature of freedom through the lenses of its own self-aware post-modern insanity as well as the concept of clothing. Yes, clothing is a major theme of this work, as well as the inverse of clothing: nudity. The heroine wields half of a giant scissors as a weapon, every enemy is empowered by their school uniform, and defeating them usually means Ryuko has to shred them bare. At what first seems like merely fanservice quickly reveals itself as a core thematic topic, although in keeping with its self-awareness the show is also aware of the sexual implications of the nudity. Yet it never becomes the defining aspect of the show, and the nudity universally played for laughs.
In the end, Kill la Kill is a bizarre combination. It is a show with action so amazingly awesome it would make Michael Bay look extremely humble, a large amount of comedic nudity, and a majorly philosophical look at the nature of clothing, all wrapped together with a heaping amount of postmodern self-awareness. But all in all, it is simply awesome. In the end, it is impossible for me to convey the sheer amazingness of Kill la Kill. It’s awesome, it’s hilarious, and it’s epic. Go watch it, just go watch it now. Your mind will never be the same.